subject: How To Find Cheap Website Hosting? [print this page] Once you have decided on one web host, it can be difficult to switch your websites to another one.
Your primary factor when searching for cheap web host should not be price. Yes, price is one factor but you need to take consideration into other factors before deciding.
Here are a few factors you should consider as well besides the price:
1. Customer Service
Ever had a problem with your host and no one to turn to? It can be frustrating when you have a problem with your host and can't find anyone who can offer technical help.
It doesn't matter how much traffic you get if your website is down and you can't get anyone to respond to it. Good web host companies should have a support telephone line, live chat, email support and should be able to respond to any support case in less than 30 minutes. If not, move on to other web host.
2. Reliability
Most web host companies have an uptime guarantee. Look for those that have at least 99.5% and above uptime guarantee. If it's not stated on their website, call or email them to find out. If you can't find the information, move on to the next web hosting.
It doesn't reflect very well on your business or on you if your website is always down from time to time.
3. No hidden charges
Make sure everything is stated out clear and in black and white. I have seen shady web host companies who have hidden charges such as extra charge for transferring a domain name out from their web host, extra charge when adding email or ftp accounts, extra charge for adding another subdomain.
While I understand some web host do charge extra for bandwidth and disk space and others, it should be made clear on the website and not after you already have brought their hosting package.
4. Ease of use
Depending on your technical skills, you should choose web hosting that suit your comfort level. Most web hosting companies uses cpanel for website management. However a few such as godaddy uses their own proprietary management interface which can take some time to adjust to.
Taking into account all the factors above, how do I go about finding a cheap yet reliable web host?
The best way to find is to find web hosting reviews sites and forums and see what others have to say. Beware of some web hosting reviews sites who are biased because they have been paid by the web hosting company to provide a favorable review.
One of the places I visit often is webhostingtalk.com. It is a large web hosting forum where you get unbiased reviews of web hosting companies usually from customers. It's also a good place to find bargain web hosting offers.
However, at the end of the day, you still need to make up your mind which web hosting you want.
