Over at webhostingunleashed.com you will find a very helpful article on 9 tips for not getting screwed by your web host. So far I have been lucky with Bluehost, Hostmonster, & Lunarpages. But some people have not been so lucky when it comes to web hosting. So if you are new to web hosting or have had troubles in the past with web hosting companies, these 9 tips are for you.
1. Keep Your Domains Separate From Your Hosting Company
The number one mistake is trusting a hosting company with control over your domains. We get around one review a day from a user whose hosting company is holding their domains hostage so that user can’t move to another hosting company. Keep your domains with a big company like eNom or GoDaddy. That way you only have to change your DNS servers in order to use a new hosting company. People who used RegisterFly found this out the hard way and now thousands of people are loosing their domains because RegisterFly ripped them off and wouldn’t give them access.
2. Diskspace and Bandwidth Are Marketing Terms
Too many people think they actually need 200GB of bandwidth and 50GB of diskspace to run their little blog. The numbers don’t matter anymore because hosting companies now offer more resources then you can actually use! They use these huge numbers to sucker you in and you just need to ignore them. You need to look at what really matter such as how good the hosting companies support is, their reputation, when and how their support is available, and what you need in terms of reliability versus what you are willing to pay. Don’t get suckered into a hosting company because they have bigger numbers then another.
3. Test Support Before You Signup
Before you sign up for a host call them and/or get on live chat and make sure they are available and that they can answer some basic questions. I wrote out 5 questions you can use to test support and you can choose one of these to quiz support with to make sure they know their stuff. Very easy to do and will save you some hassle in the long run.
4. Research The Host – Review Sites, Forums, and Blogs
It is amazing how many people don’t do this and just trust some top 10 site that is probably owned by the hosting company it is promoting. Some trusted review sites are us at Web Hosting Unleashed and WHReviews. The other great resource is to search forums for reviews by users. WebHostingTalk is the best resource but just remember that people there demand everything for nothing so some of the reviews are living in fantasy land when they expect perfect service for $10 bucks a month. Every hosting company is going to have some bad reviews so don’t let that ruin them for you. Some other good forums for hosting reviews are SitePoint, v7n, WickedFire, and DigitalPoint. Just use the search button and type in the name of the host you are researching to find posts about them.
Searching blogs is a little harder but still a good resource, just make sure you can tell when its a real blog post and not a fake blog post made to just promote the host. Just go to Google’s Blog Search and type in the name of the host to get some results or phrases like the host and then reviews. You should be able to find some good reviews by normal web masters on the service they are getting.
5. Save Money With Hosting Coupons
Lots of hosting company have coupons so why not save some money if they do. We have a hosting coupons section at WHU and you can also just search on Google for the host name and coupon, coupons, or discount. Might as well save some money on the host you have chosen.
6. Do Your Own Backups – Trust No One!
If your site is important or even generating you income you need to do backups. I don’t care if your host says they are doing daily backups to a bunker 100 feet underground don’t trust them. If you have recent backups it makes handling a major disaster easier and easier to move to another hosting company. Either download the site files and databases yourself or if your host is using cPanel you can use a service like cPanelBackup.com to have them automate and backup your site. I’ve been through a few disasters where my data was lost and having backups saved me from loosing years of work. This is especially important if you run an e-commerce site or any site that is making you money.
7. Use Paypal or a One Time Use Credit Card
If you follow the steps above you shouldn’t need this but it can’t hurt. Use Paypal or a one time use credit card number to prevent your host from charging you even after you cancel. We get a few reviews each week where a person can’t get ahold of their host who is still charging them after they cancel. Small hosting companies might disappear and keep charging you but if you use Paypal or a one time use credit card number you hold the power!
8. Avoid Really Long Contracts Unless You Trust The Company
If you have done the research on a host it is less of an issue but I always recommend avoiding hosts with a contract longer then a few months. You don’t want to lock yourself into a host for a year or more until you are sure they are good and even then I would avoid a long period of time. I’ve seen too many hosting companies sell to a new owner after six months and that new owner just disappears after a few months. Try to find hosts that offer month to month hosting or a generous cancellation and refund policy on months not used in a contract. I use HostGator and HostNine because they offer month to month billing so if they ever turn bad I can leave without having to mess around.
9. You Get What You Pay For – Don’t Stress!
If you are doing backups and have control of your domains don’t stress if your site has a few periods of downtime or problems. Cheap web hosting is not going to be up 100 percent of the time and that is why it is cheap. You get what you pay for! You might have grand plans for your site but its better to save some money until you can afford a VPS or a host that doesn’t oversell so much.
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July 9th, 2008 at 5:24 am
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