Really Cheap Web Hosting, Good Or Bad?

How many times have you looked at the profitability of your business and realized that you need to cut some costs? An internet business has less overhead than a bricks ‘n mortar business, but you still need to pay web hosting costs, among other things. Read on for some tips on how to cut down this business expense while still getting quality service and functionality.

When you’re looking for a place to host a website, pick out a company that is located where your target audience is. For example, if your website is for Americans then you should host it in the US. In fact, if it’s geared towards Californians then hosting it in San Francisco would be great!

Keep track of how many often outages occur and how long they last. If they are too long and too frequent, you should think about choosing a different service. Most services encounter issues once in a while but if they are not fixed quickly, you are not getting your money’s worth.

Decide which host to use based on how well it meets your hosting needs rather than on other services it provides. You might not get the best deal on domain names or other extra services from your web host provider. Don’t purchase these extra services when you sign up for web hosting unless you’re confident that you’re getting the best deal.

If at all possible, choose a web host that has 24-hour customer service via telephone. The larger hosting services often provide this valuable service. You do not want to be working late at night and find that are experiencing technical difficulties. Call them before you sign up, and test the level of expertise of the agents, and whether or not they can give simple instructions that are easy to understand.

It’s common for your web host to recommend that you back up your data. This step is critical because it ensures the safety and performance of your website; it is also necessary for compliance purposes. In case your website or host goes awry, you have all of your data secure and poised for quick relaunch.

Always check the speed and functionality of a web hosting service prior to purchasing a plan from them. You can do this easily on your own, by visiting sites they host. Remember, however, that various websites may have their own technical difficulties, and you also may experience delays because of your own computer. Check speeds out from various locations and computers.

If you’re thinking about selecting a particular web host, then you should first check out the reviews of their services. However, you should be careful because a lot of reviews can be faked. Make sure that the reviews provide the domain name that the customer uses with the host. If they do, then it’s likely a legitimate review. If the host has a lot of legitimate excellent reviews, then you can be confident that this is an excellent one to choose.

If you choose to host your site on your home or office computer, you must protect yourself from attacks by hackers. In order to do this, you must check and double-check all of your system configurations to ensure that the files and programs on the system are secured. Unless your website is hosted on a completely secured system, it is at risk for security breaches and malicious use.

If you plan to conduct e-commerce on your website, choose an e-commerce hosting plan that includes shopping cart set-up. Installing your own shopping cart script can be very tricky and time-consuming. If you are unfamiliar with it, many things can go wrong that can jeopardize the security of the transaction. So it is best to go with a plan that includes shopping cart installation.

Be wary of review sites that are also affiliates of a web hosting company. While affiliate marketing is a legitimate sales approach, if a site is being paid a commission for sales of a product or service, they are more likely to review it favorably. After all, they will not make any affiliate money if nobody makes a purchase. Instead, look for user reviews or recommendations from friends and family if you want unbiased opinions.

There’s no question that good, full-service web hosting providers exist. It may not always be easy to find them, but with the tips above, you now have a little bit of an edge over others and should be able to find a quality web hosting service that provides what you need, at the price you want.