What to Look For in a Web Hosting Company?
That's not an easy question to answer because webmasters range in experience and technical knowledge from someone who is just graduating from the geocities "build-your-template-and-we-provide-all-the-nasty-pop-ups", to those who have been doing it for years and probably know MORE than their web host support people do. But there are some things every webmaster should look for in a selecting a web host.1) Prompt response to e-mails. Don't purchase hosting without e-mailing the sales or support staff first. If it takes more than 24 hours for them to respond, (give them a break on a Sunday though), don't even bother. If they are that unresponsive to pre-sales questions, what's going to happen once they get your money?
2) Information on the data center where their servers are housed. If its not CLEARLY on their website, I would move on to the next host. Why isn't it there? Maybe they don't know? Or it could be a 'bedroom server operation" - a single T1, (though one host actually had a server set up illegally using his cable modem connection!), or maybe 2-3 of them at best. The data center your site will be physically hosted at is among THE most critical components of what will keep your site up and running AND available to the public. Sure, someone with a server in their basement can say their servers are operational 99.9% of the time...what good does it do you if their single Internet connection goes down? If they only have one router and it stops accepting traffic? NONE...but of course that's not something that they advertise...
3) References. Do they have client recommendations displayed on their site? Or maybe a partial listing of the sites they host? Don't hesitate to ask for references. Choosing a host is an important decsion because moving hosts is not always as easy as it would seem.
4) Up to date versions of operating systems, Php, MySQL, etc. Whatever they offer, find out what versions they are running. Part of the expense of hosting websites comes from maintaining the servers. Keeping up with all the latest security patches, stable versions of add-on software etc.
5) How will you get support? There should be at LEAST two different domain names running on two different servers where you can access online support. This will assure you that if one server goes down, you can still get online support. This is especially important if there is not a 24 hour phone number to call for support.
6) What exactly will be supported? Most hosts won't even answer questions about FrontPage or any of the popular add ons like Php-Nuke, Mambo, etc. They just either don't answer your e-mail or trouble ticket, or write back saying, not our job...Hosts dedicated to customer service will at least provide knowledge bases, documentation, and support links to point you in the right direction on ANY hosting question. Lets face it, we can't be experts in everything, but you web hosting company should have the knowledge enough to assist you in FINDING expert assistance. At AlphaOne Tech Web Hosting we make every effort to assist you with any questions you have regarding your website. When we don't have an answer for you, we have knowledge bases and user support forums, as well as support links to provide you for all of the more popular website add-ons. We don't leave you to find it on your own because if you aren't successful, we can never be.