Every one faces the hard question of which web hosting service to choose when taking a business online. This can be an exceptionally tough question to answer, especially when there are so many options to consider. The choice made at this point will surely have large implications on your business in future; this makes it even more important to exercise your choice wisely.
In this article, we present to you a set on 10 tips on selecting the best web hosting service for your business:
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Ask for a trial period:
You may want to consider a web hosting service that provides some trial period. In this trial period you can test all the features promised by the web hosting service provider. Don’t be shy to ask for a trial period, it’s a very common thing and is considered as a general practice. Some service providers themselves offer trial periods to their customers, you may choose the one that provides longest trial period.
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Ask for technical support:
Occasionally you might find yourself wondering in the woods while experimenting with an array of features that web hosting service provides you. During such troubled times only an expert can help you find your way back to a safe place. Make sure that your service provider assures you of technical support round the clock and all 7 days of a week. It can be very damaging for your business if your site is down and you are not able to get it up and running because of lack of assistance.
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Choose a third party domain registrar:
You may ask why I should go for a third party domain registrar when my service provider is including it in the package. The answer is that as you will get experienced and as your business grows you will find yourself in a situation where you will have to change your service provider. In this scenario your domain name will be arrested when you change your service provider but it will be safe if you have opted for a third party domain registrar.
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Test their backup service
Do this on an experiment basis when you are in the trial period, make a dummy site and mess it up on purpose. Then ask their technical support to restore it to its previous state. This will be a very effective test of the back services promised to you.
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Pay attention to your contract:
Most of the flashy advertisements are just marketing gimmicks. The promises made in the advertisement have hidden meanings and associated expenditures. You can save yourself from an unpleasant surprise by scrutinizing your agreement/contract. Pay special attention to points marked with an asterisk.
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Monitor the server uptime continuously:
Most of the service providers promise that their servers will be running for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You should not take this on face value. While in the trial period, host a dummy site and monitor it, you can also use special software tools that will continuously ping your site and will notify you if they don’t receive a reply back from the server hosting your website.
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Read reviews:
Try to find discussion forums on internet and start a discussion related to web hosting, ask other users to review the service provider you are going to choose. These reviews can help you to make up your mind or even change your decision about a particular service provider.
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Opt for short term contracts:
Short term contracts will come to rescue if later on you feel that you are not satisfied with your current web hosting service provider. As soon as your contract expires, you will have the option of moving your site to another web hosting service.
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Don’t fall for discount coupons:
Some service providers promise their clients to offer discounts on their services from time to time. These promises are mostly just marketing stunts. Remember you are a business man, not a cheap customer, you must be willing to pay for premium services instead of lurking at discounts. Always remember Quality never comes cheap.
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Use a pay pal account for payment:
Some service providers will charge you automatically after your current contract expire. To avoid this you should use a pay pal account instead of linking your bank account to your service provider’s payment system.
