When comparing website hosting providers you should consider the following points. Thinking through what you need at the outset and matching it to the appropriate provider will be time well spent.
Minimum upfront payment period
Whilst most website hosting providers quote a monthly fee this is often just for comparison purposes and you actually have to pay 6/12 months in advance as a minimum. In some cases getting the quoted monthly price can mean paying three years upfront. If you do not want to (or cannot afford to) pay in advance you need a website hosting provider who allows monthly payments.
How long are you locked in for?
If you are happy to pay in advance you need to check the Terms and Conditions to establish your rights to cancel and get a refund. The best website hosting plans will allow you to cancel at any time and will refund unused credit. If you pay monthly it is reasonable to expect to be able to terminate at a months notice.
Is there a money back guarantee?
Some website hosting providers offer you the chance to cancel and get your money back within a number of days of signing up. Whilst this should not be a major factor in choosing a provider it does at least show their confidence in their service and you might find out how good their support is during this period.
Maximum number of domains
The lead-in packages often only allow one domain to be hosted. This may be fine but it is worth looking at the costs for multiple (or unlimited) domains as once you get started you may well discover a need for another domain.
Is there a free domain?
Some website hosting providers include a free domain. Check if it is always free or just for an introductory period. Before using such a free domain consider if it is the best option for you (it will not be a .com).
How much bandwidth are you allowed?
Whilst limits are generally high it is safest to have unlimited bandwidth so that you know that there will not be any issues if your site is successful and attracts a lot of visitors.
What is the limit on disk space?
As with bandwidth it is safest to go for unlimited then you never have to consider this.
How fast and reliable is the service?
Loading time is important both to provide a good experience to users of your site and because Google are now taking this into account in the search results. You can have your site monitored by third parties once operational but at the outset you can only go by existing user feedback. This should not be an issue with any of the top website hosting providers. Your website hosting provider should also provide a guarantee on percentage uptime which should be around 99.9%.
What type of hosting do you need?
Many website hosting providers offer both Linux and Microsoft hosting. There is no connection between this and your PC operating system and I recommend that you go for Linux unless you have a specific reason not to do so. Linux powers the majority of websites, including major sites like Google, and there is a wealth of free software, tools, forums etc. dedicated to it. WordPress has become a very popular tool for building a blog or website and most of WordPress sites run on Linux where installation is quick and easy. I would only recommend using Microsoft where you have had a website built for you and the developers have used tools that require it to run in a Microsoft environment.
Does the Control Panel have all the functionality you need?
You should expect to see:
* unlimited (or a large number) of email accounts and the tools to manage them.
* unlimited (or a reasonable number) of FTP accounts
* access to and control of databases
* backup tools for your site (and database where appropriate)
* it is also good to see support for Fantastico – which makes it very easy to install WordPress.
Customer Support
In many ways this is the most important question. The best service in the world is no good if you cannot get help from your website hosting provider. Look for the support options to include a tool free phone number. Finally it is advisable to search for user feedback on the web to see how a provider performs in the real world.
Recommendation
To see how my recommended website hosting provider stacks up against these criteria Click Here
