Things To Know and Avoid When Choosing a Web Hosting Service (or When Switching to a New Service)

Web hosting may seem straight-forward, but it can go awry fast if you do not know what you should avoid. Read on to find out.

Do not pick your host based on one or two pieces of information, look at the overall package, plan, and take the time to read some third-party reviews. Ask other's what they're using and what they like about it. You want to host with a company that treats its customers well.

If a web host cannot bill properly, switch to someone who can handle billing. I've seen some nightmare billing plans and models over the years. If getting billed and paying your bill is difficult or a hassle to get it processed, it might be time to switch to a hosting company that has it under control consistently every month.

If your host has outages regularly, it is definitely time to find a new service. If you're seeing frequent hosting outages that last for more than an hour, there's probably something going on other than maintenance. The servers might be too full or they might be battling hackers. Put in a support ticket to find out what the outage issue is first, but if it continues to happen frequently you might want to switch to a more stable hosting company.

If a single outage exceeds 24 hours at once, there could be very serious issues. If the hosting company sends out an update and lets customers know what's going on, that's one thing. If they're keeping you up to date and you feel comfortable waiting it out, that's cool. If they're not providing information or they don't know what caused the lengthy outage, be prepared to move if you need to.

Back up your website often... or better yet choose a host that does it for you automatically. Backups are important and a lot of hosting services will run a daily backup of everything. Some include it as part of their hosting package, others charge you a fee for it, either way it's good to know if it's an option.

Don't put all of your eggs into one basket, as they say. Use a different company from your host when you purchase your domain name. Your domain name registrar is likely to offer you a cheap discount hosting package when you buy a domain name, but you want to keep the two things separate whenever possible.

Want to know more about the hosting company I use and why I chose them? Check out my review at http://www.nichetwitch.com/464/why-i-switched-from-hostgator-hosting-services/

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