A client of mine paid for a solo advert to promote his website in the newsletter I publish at e-bizministry about two months ago. As I was about to send his advert to my list, he called me up on phone and told me not to send it yet. Naturally, I asked him why. His reply shocked me out of my wits.
He said he had just discovered that his website had disappeared from the net. He even said the same thing had happened to the same website earlier in the year when it disappeared in January only to reappear for just one week in May. I could not help but laugh because I knew his problem. He had made a wrong choice of web host.
Your choice of web host can either promote your business or ruin your business. You have to be very careful when choosing your web host or you will be consistently losing up to 80% of your income due to your web host's inefficiency.
Here are a few quick tips on how to know which web host is reliable, affordable and right for your website.
1. Check if the web host has a web presence. Face it, if a company claims to be a web host and they don't have a functional website of their own, then they have no business hosting other people's websites. Any web host you will use must have a functional website where you can check for domain availability, get support and order for their hosting services.
Additionally, you should conduct random checks on their website. If you visit their site randomly ten times and the site is not available more than once in those ten times, forget about that company except you want your own website too to be unavailable almost all the time.
2. Any web host you will use must have an appreciable level of relevant experience. A minimum of a full year of operation. A new web host will only experiment with your website and the result may not be good for your business. Visit the web host's website and read about them. If they don't talk about their experience, then they don't have it. Just leave them alone.
3. Look out for their present clients' testimonials on their website. Call or email the clients and ask them questions. If they confirm that the web host is good, then the company has passed this test. However, if you don't even find a single testimonial on their website, they probably don't have any satisfied client. What to do? Just leave them alone.
4. How fast or how well does the company respond to support emails? You can find out by conducting this small test. Visit the web host's website and submit or email an enquiry to them. If you don't get a response in 24 - 48 hours, please run away as fast as your legs can carry you. Why? When you host your website with them and you have a problem, it will take them more than a month to respond to your support emails or requests.
5. You should not forget to check out their prices. The prices must be within reasonable limits and their packages must have the features you desire; adequate monthly transfer, email addresses, MySQL databases, CGI bin, FTP access, control panel etc. Very high prices don't necessarily translate into very good services. Don't be fooled by high prices. It's a common trick, please don't fall for it.
6. It must be easy and secure to make payments to your web host. It is not advisable to fill in your credit card details when making your payment. You should rather use a web host that accepts other forms of payment that do not require you to fill in your credit card details e.g. paypal and egold. If you are in a country where you don't have easy access to credit card facilities, it is even better to use a web host that accepts payment in your local currency. This will ensure that you won't have any problems when you want to renew your domain and your hosting accounts.
7. Use only web hosts that give 24 hour online access to your account. With that, you have total control over your domain and your website and you can change anything including your name servers (DNS)whenever you want.
8. It is better to use a web host that offers additional web services such as web design, website promotion, search engine submission and website management. They can be of help to you in future if you have any problems with your website or you need any additional services.
9. Before you make your payment, read the terms and conditions of the company carefully. If you don't understand or agree with any of their terms contact them for more explanations.
10. Finally, I know it may be very time consuming for you to conduct these tests on the hundreds of web hosts out there before choosing one. I have therefore taken the pains to analyse hundreds of them. I recommend two web hosts that have passed our simple tests. I can put my reputation on the line and guarantee their efficiency, reliability and affordability.
Oyeleke Toye is a web consultant, with expertise in web hosting, web design, web promotion, website management and custom scripts installation. The web hosts I recommend are:
· http://www.netkonsults.com
· http://www.hostplusng.com
The market is good for new Web hosting companies. According... Read More
Nowadays, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting... Read More
In my opinion, free web hosting is one of the... Read More
We often see server uptime statistics when looking for hosting... Read More
This article describes the technology behind multiple server hosting and... Read More
When building your first site the main things that you... Read More
There are literally hundreds of thousands of web hosting companies... Read More
Whenever you have a technical question that needs answering, you... Read More
A client of mine paid for a solo advert to... Read More
This article is meant to all who already have a... Read More
If you've got or are considering a web hosting account... Read More
After the dot.com bubble burst a few years back I... Read More
First of all we must determine the meaning of the... Read More
The Internet represents the most powerful communication revolution since the... Read More
General rule of thumb is not to sign up for... Read More
The best way to explain this is by comparing it... Read More
Ever heard the saying "Penny-wise and Dollar-foolish"?Well bargain priced website... Read More
Whether you are disgruntled with the level of service your... Read More
Here are some things you should know before finding a... Read More
These searchers are looking for a hosting company in a... Read More
Web Hosting in 2005 --- Finding the Niche and Cashing... Read More
If you are looking for a deluxe web site hosting... Read More
With hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from today... Read More
Computers, Internet, Web sites?what do they all mean? Hey, you're... Read More
Web Hosting AdviceChoosing a web hosting company to host your... Read More
If you've ever browsed the World Wide Web and wondered... Read More
Promoting a new company in the crowded industry of web... Read More
It's tempting. There are so many companies offering cut-rate hosting... Read More
Many people think that all web hosts offer the same... Read More
The next concern for you after designing and developing web... Read More
What sort of web hosting options should you go for... Read More
Choosing the right web server will be one of the... Read More
The matter of choosing between the operating system (OS) running... Read More
Are you looking for web hosting? If you want to... Read More
These days, web hosting companies are popping up faster than... Read More
With plethora of hosting companies offering services, choosing a good... Read More
It's tempting. There are so many companies offering cut-rate hosting... Read More
When looking for a Web Host there are lots of... Read More
Choosing a host or switching hosts can be an agonizing... Read More
Professional web designers don't come cheap. A good web designer... Read More
If you're in business, one of the most important things... Read More
"Unmanaged dedicated servers" - this is a pretty uninviting term... Read More
Computers, Internet, Web sites?what do they all mean? Hey, you're... Read More
The Basics of Linux & Windows :Linux (and its close... Read More
Bandwidth explained:Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you... Read More
If you're about to set up your first web site... Read More
Most Internet service providers do not give you static IP... Read More
The internet is one of the world's top sources of... Read More
If you are looking for a deluxe web site hosting... Read More
Many free web hosting accounts are free to use, however... Read More
When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole... Read More
For the "big things" to be build it was certainly... Read More
If you're looking for a professionally designed web site at... Read More
Personal Computers, Servers Or ISP?You need a server to host... Read More
If you operate several websites, each with its own domain... Read More
Although we are aware of Linux adoption by large enterprises,... Read More
First of all, some people are worried that they will... Read More
Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of... Read More
After much Net surfing and looking at all the offers... Read More
What is web hosting? Whenever you visit a website, what... Read More
Most web site hosting services like the one you're probably... Read More
If you're shopping around for an affordable web hosting plan,... Read More
If your web site has outgrown its shared hosting solution,... Read More
One of the important decisions you'll make when you decide... Read More
You've already got a website, but your current hosting provider... Read More
Whenever you have a technical question that needs answering, you... Read More
Web Hosting |