Things To Look For While Chooisng A Web Host

[ashish]

Hi all,

This for for all the novies in the web hosting world, I think these are some of the things I would look for while choosing a web host:



Uptime
A web server should have a uptime of atleast 99.5% or more, however this is not always possible as

Data transfer
First of all you should try and work out what your own requirements as that is most probably going to help you out in determining the amount of bandwidth you require.

Also keep in mind that there is no such thing as 'unlimited' bandwidth, you can only have a certain amount of bandwidth alocated to you, if you go over that limit then you will definitely have to pay for it.

Technical Support
Only go for those hosts that offer prompt 24/7 all year round technical support. If you do not have a lot of technical knowledge yourself you do not want to be stuck when there is a server problem.

Security
IF you are planning to perform business related activities on your web site, then security is a big issue, you should make sure that your host uses the latest security techniques & softwares and regularly applies new patches.

Pricing
You get what you pay for, generally you should not chose a host on the consideration of the price alone, remember the cheapest or the most expensive does not necessarily mean the best.

[Pixelation]

Unfortunatly, the last item listed is the only thing most people look at :\

[GuRu]

Unfortunatly, the last item listed is the only thing most people look at :\

Haha that's so true. Price is what most people look at.. the lower the better.. but if it's too low than it's cheap...

[Tris]

Just remember you get what you pay for.

On the uptime if you see a host which ever promises uptime off 100% dont go with them. I offer 99.98% uptime which allows me 1 hour of downtime per month. I think it could even be less. I havnt been done once so my average at the moment is 100%

[denis]

Practically 100% Uptime is difficult attainable quantity although
most of our servers have almost 100% UpTime
(99.998%, 99.90). More real is offering 99.9% UpTime guarantee.

[Tris]

well we offer money back gaurentee if it isnt met so... its pretty important that we meet it, so we generally say our uptime is 99.8% and we do better than that.

[kieran]

Extra features is always good. What you have that other hosts don't have.

[Tris]

Extra features is always good. What you have that other hosts don't have.

Yes, something to appeal to customers and make them come to you