subject: How To Choose The Best Web Hosting Company [print this page]
Before you put up your online site, be sure you are choosing the services of the best web hosting company. To identify the best provider, look at the uptime guarantee, customer support, and security.
Downtime And Service Monitoring Guarantee
A Website that is down when readers and customers visit would lead to loss of online opportunities. While it is true that no online site could possibly take a 100% uptime, there are Web hosts that could offer reduced downtime. It would be best if the downtime could only last a few minutes, not many hours or worse days. The best web hosting company could offer this and even provide refund if it fails to live up to its commitment.
Do not go for a web host that claims to offer and provide 100% uptime. It is not possible. No website could be up 100% of the time. But your online site could be up almost most of the time, or up to 99.9%. That would only be possible if you would choose the services offered and provided only by the best web hosting company.
Reputable hosts post necessary statistics on their home pages. You could have an idea about frequency of interruptions and average downtime percentages.
Ideal Customer Support Service
There is no need to overlook the kind of customer support service provided by a web host. Who would stick with a company that does not offer any support to customers? Just like you aim to provide convenient support to your customers, you should also make sure you would get the support you need the most from your web hosting service provider especially about technical problems.
The best web hosting company is the one that would be there when you need it, 24/7. You should be provided with instant and easy access to technicians who would guide you and help you in solving technical problems. Because the online media has no time boundary, customer support must be up all time, all day. There are ways to facilitate online customer support transactions and activities.
Security And Backups
Of course, the best web hosting company provides overall security to your website. It should be able to provide a shield against attacks of viruses and hackers. The security features should be stated and detailed by the provider first and foremost.
No web host would be fully safe against various types of program and technical glitches. The best among those providers are those that run scheduled backups. Backups are important in case your website suddenly fails. Make sure your web host has cPanel, which is considered as the most reliable web host management software today. It is a comfortable and useful backup-making tool that would enable you to backup your databases and files easily and quickly.