Choosing a web host can seem like a daunting task for first time website owners. Fortunately, as long as you know what features are important to pay attention to, creating an accurate and useful web hosting comparison is not a difficult process. Let's take a look at some of the most important features that you need to take into consideration when choosing a web host.

1.Reliability

There is nothing more important than making sure that your website is always available to your users. The industry standard for uptime bottoms out at 99.5%. Anything less than this is simply unacceptable and a waste of your money. While no hosting company can promise 100%, many of the best companies are currently posting a 99.9% uptime. Many people overlook uptime, because they just assume that the web hosting company will simply make sure that their website is always online. This assumption can quickly ruin the best websites.

2.Support

There is nothing worse than needing to contact your web hosting provider, only to realize that they are not available. If you website goes down, or you are having problems, your web host needs to be there to help you. More and more web hosts are starting to support 24/7 help-desks This ensures that you will get a response within a couple of hours. Some even have real-time chat available to help you solve your problems quickly.

3.Disk Space and Bandwidth

While disk space and bandwidth are inherently related. They both have one thing in common. Many web hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. However, it is important to keep in mind that this promise can never be truly fulfilled When looking at both disk space and bandwidth, make sure to read the fine print. At the same time, unless you are using a large number of videos or images, disk space will probably not be a big issue, especially for websites with only a couple hundred pages. The same is true for bandwidth. However, it is important to keep an eye on the bandwidth that you are using, to make sure that you will not get saddled with overage charges.

Some web hosting companies will allow you to pre-pay for bandwidth overages. While this may seem like a good idea at first, the truth is, you may never max your bandwidth allowance. Additionally, you may find a better hosting company in six months and switch hosts. If you do this, you will not get reimbursed for all of your pre-payments.

4.Flexibility

What your web host allows you to do, becomes more important depending on what applications you want to run. If you are going to need shell access, then make sure that you get it. The same is true if you want to install PHP or Pearl scripts. It also is important to make sure that you are given the programming tools that you need in order to get your website running. Depending on what programming languages are used, this could include: Ruby on Rails, MySQL databases, the ability to create cron jobs, and much more.

Choosing a web hosting company isn't difficult as long as you know what features are important to look for. By creating a useful web hosting comparison, you can choose the right host at the right price.

Choosing a web host can seem like a daunting task for first time website owners. Fortunately, as long as you know what features are important to pay attention to, creating an accurate and useful web hosting comparison is not a difficult process. Let's take a look at some of the most important features that you need to take into consideration when choosing a web host.

1.Reliability

There is nothing more important than making sure that your website is always available to your users. The industry standard for uptime bottoms out at 99.5%. Anything less than this is simply unacceptable and a waste of your money. While no hosting company can promise 100%, many of the best companies are currently posting a 99.9% uptime. Many people overlook uptime, because they just assume that the web hosting company will simply make sure that their website is always online. This assumption can quickly ruin the best websites.

2.Support

There is nothing worse than needing to contact your web hosting provider, only to realize that they are not available. If you website goes down, or you are having problems, your web host needs to be there to help you. More and more web hosts are starting to support 24/7 help-desks This ensures that you will get a response within a couple of hours. Some even have real-time chat available to help you solve your problems quickly.

3.Disk Space and Bandwidth

While disk space and bandwidth are inherently related. They both have one thing in common. Many web hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. However, it is important to keep in mind that this promise can never be truly fulfilled When looking at both disk space and bandwidth, make sure to read the fine print. At the same time, unless you are using a large number of videos or images, disk space will probably not be a big issue, especially for websites with only a couple hundred pages. The same is true for bandwidth. However, it is important to keep an eye on the bandwidth that you are using, to make sure that you will not get saddled with overage charges.

Some web hosting companies will allow you to pre-pay for bandwidth overages. While this may seem like a good idea at first, the truth is, you may never max your bandwidth allowance. Additionally, you may find a better hosting company in six months and switch hosts. If you do this, you will not get reimbursed for all of your pre-payments.

4.Flexibility

What your web host allows you to do, becomes more important depending on what applications you want to run. If you are going to need shell access, then make sure that you get it. The same is true if you want to install PHP or Pearl scripts. It also is important to make sure that you are given the programming tools that you need in order to get your website running. Depending on what programming languages are used, this could include: Ruby on Rails, MySQL databases, the ability to create cron jobs, and much more.

Choosing a web hosting company isn't difficult as long as you know what features are important to look for. By creating a useful web hosting comparison, you can choose the right host at the right price.