| What Makes Good Web Hosting? | | | | to try and check for them when researching a |
| 1. Speed | | | | web host. In reality, reliability is dependent on the |
| Nothing is worse for your visitors than a slow | | | | maintenance of the hardware, the network |
| loading site. It can cause people to simply leave | | | | engineering, the physical location and safety of the |
| before your page even loads, it can cause them | | | | data centre, the power supply where the data |
| to spend less time on the site than they | | | | centre is located, the quality of staff manning the |
| otherwise would, and it looks downright | | | | equipment and more. It is therefore best to |
| unprofessional. Speed is therefore a critical factor | | | | determine reliability based on user feedback over |
| in choosing good web hosting. | | | | time. Good web hosting companies will have no |
| Slow web hosting can occur for various reasons. | | | | shortage of happy customers. |
| Most low cost hosting you'll see these days is | | | | 3. Value for Money |
| what is called "shared hosting". This means that | | | | I personally am of the opinion that it can often be |
| many users will share the same server. This is | | | | cheaper in the long run to pay for a better |
| advantageous in that it has dramatically reduced | | | | service, rather than get a budget service that |
| the price of hosting, however, exposes you to | | | | causes expensive problems, loss of business, and |
| some risk of lackluster speeds in case your web | | | | inconvenience. With this being said, good hosting |
| hosting company tries to "share" the server with | | | | should be competitively priced, and give their |
| too many customers. Good web hosting | | | | users enough storage, bandwidth. and databases |
| companies manage their hardware so that all of | | | | to have unrestricted web properties. |
| their customers have high speed connections, and | | | | I have found that excellent web hosting can be |
| enough server resources to run their websites. | | | | purchased for around $5 per month when buying |
| 2. Reliability | | | | 24 months upfront. Monthly plans typically cost |
| A website is only valuable if it can be accessed, it | | | | around $7-$10 dollars. I wouldn't settle for a host |
| is good to no one if it is down. Therefore | | | | that charges any upfront fees, or offers less than |
| choosing a reliable web host is critical. There are | | | | 50 databases. Some companies even offer free |
| far too many factors that can cause bad reliability | | | | domains for life. |