subject: Factors to select a web hosting provider [print this page] * Price * Price
Although this is often regarded with the highest priority, we think otherwise. A majority of people will go for a company that providers cheap service without even researching online about its quality. Just think about this: If a company provide you with high performance server and superb customer service, why will it charge you cheaply for its service. It is important to note that although many providers seem to have amazing offers, it is rare for a provider to offer high quality service and a large amount of disk space and bandwidth, all at a low price. Therefore, when you are looking for a web hosting provider, remember there is a trade-off for features and high quality service. Disk space and bandwidth cost money, especially when bandwidth is very costly in countries like Singapore. 1 mbps corporate bandwidth can cost $150 to $250 per month, $0.50 to $1.00 per GB per month. We will all like to get a Porsche for a Hyundai or Kia price but unfortunately it is not possible.
If you offer a lot of disk space and bandwidth, it will be expensive for the provider unless they oversell.
* Server Performance
When you create a website, you need it to load fast for the visitors. Just think about this: will your visitor think if your website take more than 10 seconds to load another page. If you want to avoid the situation, ask the web hosting provider about the specifications of their servers when signing up. A web hosting provider 's website should never be slow to load. In addition, do ensure that they have backup hardware in case of any hardware failure.
* Customer Support
Check if the company provide 24 hours support. Just send a simple query to the company support team and wait for their response. If the company take too long to respond to your query, you will get to wait the same amount of time when you need the assistance urgently.
PS. Be aware that a number of "review" sites (and "top host" lists) are websites which are paid for advertising by web hosts - meaning that sometimes the "recommended" web hosts are ones who have paid to get the advertising and exposure.
