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"The work completed
was excellent! I.T. Web Experts was very
responsive to our needs and got the job
done! It was also easy to go over tweaks
and changes as we went along. Thanks sooooo
much. We really love what you have done
for us! Our users are impressed with our
site as well, we are receiving feedback
almost daily saying what a great site we
have!" |
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Debra
Aldred
Treasurer, United Fan Con Inc. |
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Choosing A Good Reliable Web Host |
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What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the service that stores your web site on a server connected to the Internet. When someone wants to visit your web site, their computer connects over the Internet to your web hosting company server, and the web site is transferred from the server to their computer.
Key Information to Know
1. Reputation/Ratings – This is probably the most important area to start when selecting your web host. Why? Because a web hosts reputation as reflected through customer satisfaction on web sites like webhostingjury.com and webhostingtalk.com say a lot about a company. The other areas of competition are only statistics wars, like: “we’ll offer you 10000gb of space for $1 a month” which of course doesn’t matter if they don’t provide good support or uptime.
2. Windows or Linux? – This depends on if you will be using ASP.net or Windows small business server, or if you will be using PHP and MYSQL. If you don’t know, likely Linux will be the best option for you. Linux is generally less expensive and arguably has more uptime. There are also more open source projects developed for Linux. This means you will have more flexibility in selecting software to run your web site like calendars, content management systems to update your website, and shopping carts.
3. How Much Space Do I Need? Bandwidth and Storage Space – We have worked on many web sites, and the space limits on web hosts are generally more than ample for most web sites. For general web sites, figure 500mb of space is enough. For E-commerce web sites, around 1gb – 10gb of space, and for corporate sites or video intensive web sites, it can go from 10gb – 100gb.
4. Do They Offer 24/7 Phone Support? – For some users this is an issue, because they prefer to talk to phone support over using support tickets/email support. Generally, hosts with good phone support start around $7 and up per month, while web hosts with only email support can be found for under that price.
5. What Data Center Do They Use? – A data center is a facility where the servers are stored as has many high speed connections to the Internet. It is important to know what data center your web host uses and whether they own it or not. Is it a reputable data center? Is it located in the United States or another country? Some of the big data centers are The Planet and Savis, but there are many others. A web host should tell you on its website what data center they use and give you information about their facilities.
6. Dedicated, VPS, or Shared Hosting? - Another decision to make is whether you need dedicated, VPS, or shared hosting. First it is important to know what each term means.
Shared Hosting: You share a server with hundreds of other websites. You can expect to pay about $8 - $25/month.
VPS Hosting: You share a server with a limited number of other websites. Usually a VPS web host will guarantee you a certain amount of server resources like ram and cpu. You can expect to pay from $30 - $100 a month.
Dedicated Hosting: The whole server is yours. No other websites are on the server. You can expect to pay from $100 - $1500 a month.
Usually you can start off with a shared hosting plan. You can always upgrade to a VPS or Dedicated hosting plan if your site popularity really takes off. In some cases you might need to startoff with a VPS plan if you have a resource intensive website or you need to install custom server software like FFmpeg for video sharing websites.
7. Claims About 1500000000000gb of Storage Space?
While this is important to consider, too many web hosts have gotten into this crazy competition about offering 15000000gb SUPPOSEDLY of storage space (yes we are joking) but last we checked their are limits on hard drive disc space, so to truly offer insane amounts of storage space like that is impossible.
Recommended Web Hosts:
We have personally used all of the webhosts below and can recommend them based on our experience and reviews from the web.
Lunarpages.com $ – They are a big web host, and really know what they are doing with their server business. Support is top notch, their control panel is excellent, they offer excellent value, have good consumer reviews, and a nice variety of packages. Packages start at $8/month.
Reviews: Web Hosting Jury Customer Reviews of Lunarpages
Crucialwebhosting.com $$ - They specialize in Magento web hosting. They also offer a nice split-shared plan that gives you a nice step between shared hosting and VPS hosting at $25/month. It gives you more power than with a shared hosting plan.
Reviews: Ratepoint Customer Reviews of Crucial Web Hosting
Servint.com $$$ - for VPS or Dedicated hosting. They also offer telephone and email support. Packages start at $49.99 a month.
Reviews: Web Hosting Jury Customer Reviews of Servint
Web Hosting Talk Thread Discussing Servint
Hosts to Avoid:
We aren’t going to put specifics here, but any web host that charges under $6 a month we would be careful with. Maybe there are a few good ones that charge that cheaply, but how long will they last with such meager income? They will have to skimp somewhere, whether it be support, their servers, or reliability.
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