Every day, there is someone starting a new site or transferring an existing site to a different web hosting company. The following are five important things you need to consider before settling for any web hosting provider.
Checklist for Web Hosting Companies
Money-back guarantee/Trial period
You need to find out if the web hosting company offers a money-back guarantee or a trial period. The fact is, no matter how much research you have done before making a choice, there is still the possibility of making a mistake.
In addition, the hosting provider could suddenly change its management, or its services and policies. The quality of support may deteriorate or prices could rise unexpectedly. Therefore, if the company offers you a money-back guarantee or a trial period, then you won’t have to continue paying for your bad decision.
Read: Top 5 Traits to Look for in a Great Web Host
Technical support/Customer service
Regardless of how much knowledge and experience you have, you are bound to experience problems with your website occasionally. This means you will have to get in touch with customer support. Some companies offer support on a 24-hour basis, while some are only available during certain hours of the day. Before signing up for any hosting plan, find out what kind of technical support and customer the web hosting company offers.
Read: The Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting
Track record
Find out which other sites are being hosted by the provider on the same server which is likely to host your site. Viewing such a site will give you an idea about the kind of services being offered by the web hosting company. You can use free online tools to check how fast the pages of the site load. You could also send an email to the site’s webmaster to find out their opinion about the hosting company.
Read: How a Reliable Small Business Web Hosting Can Increase Sales
Core hosting provider or web hosting reseller?
There is nothing wrong with purchasing services from a web hosting reseller. However, you need to know if your problems will be handled directly, or if they will be passed on to the ‘parent’ company. It does not make sense to purchase services from an intermediary when you can reach the source directly.
Read: Top 5 alternatives to HostGator
Special offers
Since web hosting is a very competitive business, many companies would be willing to offer special incentives or wave setup fees if you signup immediately. Usually, special offers are either placed in advertisements or listed in the web hosting provider’s site.
What many buyers don’t know is that frequently, sales people are allowed to give ‘extra special incentives’ to customers who are almost paying for services, but are hesitating. Such offers are meant to ensure that the sale is closed.
Therefore, before you sign up for the hosting plan, find which special offers you can get from the provider. You may be surprised to realize that there are very generous offers available.
What are other certain factors you normally consider before selecting web hosting companies? Please share them with us.
