| These days, every web host there is, boldly | | | | in case you need to contact them fast. |
| claims to be the best value, best speed, best | | | | The Best Web Host's Reliability and Uptime |
| extras... and generally the cream of the crop. | | | | If they aren't offering a 99.9% Uptime guarantee, |
| But how do you really know which web host is | | | | go elsewhere. Downtime is annoying and costly |
| telling the truth, and more importantly, which really | | | | for anyone advertising their websites. Visitors that |
| IS the best host to go for? | | | | visit your site when it's down will become very |
| At the beginning of your decision making, you | | | | turned off coming back. Just think about what |
| need to break down what you actually want, and | | | | you do when a site you've barely seen doesn't |
| what you need... which is either three types of | | | | load. You hit the back button and don't give that |
| web hosting: Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, or | | | | site a second thought. Don't let this happen to |
| Dedicated Hosting. | | | | you! |
| You are most likely after shared hosting, which is | | | | Here's a tip when guesstimating a web host's |
| the entry and medium level hosting for personal | | | | reliability and speed... please note that often this is |
| and small business websites. VPS Hosting and | | | | not totally true... but checking how fast the web |
| Dedicated server hosting web hosting are both | | | | host's own page loads can give you an indication |
| more expensive but can handle the resource | | | | of what kind of speed your site will load with. |
| demands of popular sites. You will be able to tell | | | | The Best Web Host's free scripts |
| when it's time to upgrade later on... but that's out | | | | If the web host provider you want to choose is |
| of the scope of this article. | | | | running cPanel they will very often provide you |
| Onwards then... to learn how to pick the best web | | | | with over 50+ free easy-to-install scripts through |
| host for you. | | | | something known as "Fantastico". This is very |
| The Best Web Host's Control Panel: | | | | useful, as it contains entire e-commerce shopping |
| This is the interface that will let you tweak your | | | | carts, blogging software, forum software and |
| site settings and even view your visitor statistics, | | | | heaps of extras all installable with one mouse click. |
| such as which web site they came from, which | | | | Not necessary, but certainly comes in handy. |
| country they are in and some other details. | | | | The Best Web Host's Per Month Pricing |
| Without a good control panel, basic tasks become | | | | Now if you are like most people. You want good |
| 10 times as hard. Instead of the act of creating | | | | value, and don't want to blow your bank. Web |
| an email account taking 2 minutes, it will suddenly | | | | Hosting has become a "commodity" item with |
| need almost programmer level skills. Just accept | | | | plenty of competition. You can find hosts offering |
| and trust me on that. | | | | hosting for $2 a month. However expect |
| But a Control Panel makes all this easy for | | | | downtime and slowness and emotional distress. |
| absolutely anyone and removes any technical | | | | End result, not worth saving a couple of bucks |
| ability requirements needed from the person. Only | | | | with these cheaper than chips web hosts. Go for |
| go with hosts offering "cPanel" (or secondly, | | | | something around the $8-12 mark. Yes that's |
| "DirectAdmin") Control Panels. If they don't offer | | | | over 4 times the amount of the $2 counterparts. |
| these, don't go forward with them. | | | | But this means the host can afford to give you |
| So note that down: cPanel or DirectAdmin. | | | | good support and put your account on a server |
| The Best Web Host's Support: | | | | that will always be up, and fast. |
| Everyone wants fantastic web hosting support | | | | Believe it or not, you WILL pay far more with a |
| that will answer all our questions. But if you are | | | | super-cheap web host because of downtime, |
| paying $4 per MONTH, you can't expect support | | | | unusual slowness, lost visitors and lost revenue, |
| that's going to be that great. Some support | | | | poor support, and your own frustration when you |
| should be available, but it will either take days for | | | | check and see your website is down and your |
| responses or generally the responses won't be as | | | | host is out of reach to help - or don't offer any. |
| useful as they could be. Check if the host you are | | | | Web hosting is really something that will bite you |
| looking at have a phone number to call (most | | | | in the behind if you go with the cheapest is best |
| won't - which isn't necessary a bad thing). Even if | | | | mentality and that's the truth. |
| they have a "Live Support" chat button, that's a | | | | Now go get your quality web hosting! |
| Big, and very useful thing to have available to you | | | | |