Web-Hosting

Steps to choosing a reliable web host.

• How and when can you contact technical support?

  Some web hosts will only offer email support. Choose a web host that offers both email & phone support so that you have the assurance of being able to get a real person on the phone if things go wrong. Find out at what times technical support is available.If something goes wrong, day or night, you want to be able to contact the web host to know that a problem is being resolved; particularly if your website is a 24-hour sales tool. For this reason, 24x7x365 technical support can be a good selling point.

• What backup strategies are in place?

  Depending on how much you are paying for the service, the web host will have one or more backup strategies to deal with faults. To get an idea of the extent to which the web host has planned for unexpected events, try these questions: If the server on which my website is hosted goes down and can't be recovered, is there a backup of my account that you would recover from? If the entire datacentre is destroyed, is there a backup of my account somewhere else? If a malicious person breaches the server's security and deletes my account, could they also delete the backups? Knowing that your web host has an effective strategy in place is reassuring.

• How fast do the websites load?

  There is no technical limit to how many websites a web host can squeeze on to a single server. But the more activity, the slower the server becomes, affecting the load speed of all websites hosted on it. Ask the web host for a list of clients so you can visit their websites and get a feel for how quickly they load (but bear in mind that other factors, such as the complexity of the website, will influence this.)

• What redundancy does the web host have in place for its hardware and network?

  Ask the web host to describe the redundancy of its infrastructure. Modern web hosts will often use some form of cluster that can survive hardware failures, rather than having discrete physical servers. If the web host talks about clusters or virtualisation, they have probably implementing hardware redundancy. Typically, a web host will be connected to the internet through several providers. A well-designed network can survive one of these connections failing without disrupting the service.

• Does your web developer endorse them?

  Your web developer will have certain technical requirements for your website, so you need to consult with them before making a decision. Ideally, they should be involved in the selection process, because they will generally have much more experience with different web hosting companies. The web developer may also offer their own web hosting services, either through a reseller arrangement, or their own server. This situation can work well, as you can then have personalised, one-on-one support directly from your web developer.

• How much does it cost?

  Shared web hosting (the type where you share a server with other customers) can cost anything from $2 per month to $100 per month. What you need to ask yourself is, what can a web host realistically offer for my money? If you are paying $2 per month for a web hosting account, can that company really afford to spend any time at all with you on the phone if you call for help? The answer is typically "no". A web host charging less than $15 per month is most likely cutting away part of the service that you will one day rely on. It might be that they are overselling, loss-leading, or that technical support is outsourced overseas, or that you'll need to wait in a queue for half an hour when you call, or that the servers have too many websites on them and they will run slow, or the backup strategy is not thorough, or... the list goes on. The bottom line is a business should expect to pay at least $20 per month for the type of web hosting where you can expect decent, prompt, professional support and a fast, reliable service.