What are the Qualities of a Good Web Hosting Company?

There are many web hosting companies to choose from. This makes it difficult for most people to make a decision. Consequently, they end up delaying the start of their online business, or the web presence for their existing bricks-and-mortar business. In order to move forward with a website, it’s important to understand the differences between hosting companies, and the plans they offer. Follow this guide to get started, and you’ll be up and running faster, with a more reliable web hosting service than if you were to do it on your own.

 

Responsive Customer Service

The most important indicator when choosing a web hosting provider is their level of customer service. How responsive are they when you call? When you attempt to engage in a live chat conversation during working hours, do you get a live operator or is your message pushed to email for a response? Are there any indicators on which types of problems will be solved right away, and which problems are converted into trouble tickets that can take a day or longer to resolve? You may not need all of these options, but it’s good to evaluate the level of service available before making a decision. If the hosting company has a helpdesk section on their website, or a customer forum where you may post questions, then poke around. See how long it takes for the company to respond to customer questions. If not, then reach out to them. Pay attention to how long it takes to get a response, and the level of knowledge of the person who replies to your questions. This isn’t a perfect system, but it is a good starting point in narrowing down your list of web hosting providers.

 

Low Downtime

Pretty much every web hosting company claims to have greater than 99% uptime, and low downtime. These numbers should be backed up with actual data. Do they publish charts on their uptime vs. downtime over the course of a year or longer? What other data do they share? And, what are customers reporting?

 

High Number of Good Reviews

This is where you need to spend a great deal of time. You’re going to want to surf the web for web hosting review websites. Go through the reviews, and pay attention to both the positive and negative comments that people leave. After you’ve compared a few companies, you’ll begin to get a sense of which ones are best. To simplify this process, start with a web hosting review website like HostCalc. There, you’ll see a number of companies that have been reviewed. It’s a robust list, yet it’s not an overwhelming list. They’ve curated a selection of websites that will help you to narrow your search.

 

Hosting of Well-Known Companies

This isn’t the most important indicator for a good hosting company, but it can be helpful. If you see that major brands are hosted on their servers, then it might be an indicator that they provide a good service. Generally, top brands will pay more for a better service, because downtime and other interruptions are very costly when lost business is compared to the fixed costs to host a website. Just be careful to confirm that any claims are true. It’s easy to put up a logo for the Wall Street Journal or some other well-known website. You’ll need to verify that the websites listed are both truthful and current. It’s very possible that a hosting company had the Wall Street Journal as a client in the past, and then lost them due to poor service, yet never got around to removing their logo. So, check!

 

Fair Pricing for Different Web Hosting Plans

You can get a shared hosting plan for as little as one dollar per month. Or you can pay $20 or more per month for the same exact plan with a different hosting company. It’s likely that the $1 per month plan has limited customer service, and one would hope that the $20 per month plan would come with a premium level of customer support to match the twenty-fold increase in pricing. Yet, this isn’t always the case. Generally, it’s a good idea to select a plan somewhere in the middle of the range. You’ll get better support, without overpaying.

There are a few beneficial factors that you can consider to pay a bit more. We’ll mention two below.

The first one is that the higher you pay, the higher the quality of the server where your website will be hosted. You get a more reliable website that remains stable and online, is faster, and can support more concurrent visitors.

The second one is that managed hosting costs more as the company takes care of many aspects of your hosting compared to unmanaged hosting. For example, if your website is running into issues, that hosting company will often troubleshoot your website for free and, if they’re unable to fix it, they’ll let you know the best course of action. Malware scanning is usually free. The hosting company will also do certain tasks for you, such as creating email accounts, changing PHP versions, backup or restore your website, set up an addon domain and/or subdomain, and more. We do all of the above for our customers here at Tribulant.

 

Get Started

Why not get started with a hosting plan today? Get to work with your research, and before you know it, you’ll arrive at a decision. You may even choose one of the Tribulant hosting plans available on this website. Be mindful of the functionality, the customer service, and the pricing of your plan, and move forward to the best of your ability.  Also, keep in mind that a bad decision might be better than no decision. It may turn out that you selected a lemon, and that’s okay. You’ll learn about what you like, and don’t like, and any gaps in the service. Apply this knowledge to your search and switch companies. Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to online success.

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