A common
problem:
For example, I see a lot of posts that say unlimited bandwidth, multiple domain names as an add-on, and things like that
I really don’t know anything about web hosting. All I want is a simple web host, that is affordable, let me have three or more add-on domains, can host a blog, it can grow with me . eventually I would like to have a shopping cart, and so on. I don’t want one that goes down all the time.
It all seems to have a really good template because I have zero programming skills.
I’m overwhelmed with what’s out there. I don’t know who keeps their promises, or who’s best to go with. How easy is it to change hosts if I pick the wrong one?
I guess I’m just too new at this, and I don’t know where to find the answers I need. Any thoughts?
Answer: You are not alone. Many affordable hosting is plagued with inflexibility on their resource limits and haunted by unprofessional support. Web hosting is the heart of your business and can mean the success and failure for your business.
Before we give you an absolute answer, these are seven qualities to look for in a good web hosting. An excellent hosting:
- has excellent support and rated at least A+ by Better Business Bureau (BBB)
, - gives unlimited diskspace,
- offers unlimited bandwidth,
- gives multiple add-on domains,
- has friendly Site Builder with thousands of unique templates,
- has QuickInstall to quickly install apps like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OSCommerce, ZenCart and more
- can be easily upgraded to VPS or one of the best dedicated server plans if and when your business require.
To answer your question, many experienced web developers suggest to try Hostgator. If you need an “unlimited” hosting plan, experts usually highly recommend going with Hostgator because they are the best best domain hosting around.
With more than 4 million websites hosted, a “Hostgator sucks” comment cannot be avoided. See the drawbacks of Hostgator in the section below. Objectively, HG has an amazingly long, 45 days money back guarantee so you have ample time to test them out. They are rated A+ by Better Business Bureau which shows their commitment to customer satisfaction. You also do not have to pay for the first month. You can just try their fully functional hosting service – you pay only $0.01 (you need to use the special coupon code). Do you know any other hosting company that can give you that kind of assurance? Anybody can grab an account from Hostgator for almost FREE.
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Hostgator Complaints
No web hosting service is perfect. Some complaints about Hostgator plans include:
- No free domain name included – but you can easily get a domain name from the best domain registrar such as Godaddy or Namecheap for $10 or less. Would you agree that a website is not complete without a domain name?
- You need to pay full price after your first invoice – well, they need to make money too and all the support and great service do come with a cost. It is like they say, you get what you pay for.
If you are still not sure if HG is right for you, or you have specific query about anything at all, try the Live Chat at HG. They are fast and knowledgeable. Just ask and you shall receive.
Well, in order to know if a web hosting company keeps their promise of great reliability and customer service you should look at what customers say and check their reputation for the last years.
Let me tell you a little about my experience with web hosting companies over the years. At times you will come across deals that are almost too good to be true – cheap web hosting with amazing features! There are hosts that while offering cheap prices do back that up with excellent performance and service, but there are things to be noted:
There are a lot of potential questions you must ask yourself, whilst bearing in mind other peoples reviews, their reputation, and ultimately – the price. I personally use http://www.top15hosting.com to read web hosting reviews and see what web host is getting the best reputation as well as the bad, which helps me decide who to stay away from.
Your experience might be different but I have many complaints from PowWeb and Dot5Hosting. Those companies just took my money and provided me with bad customer support and my websites would always be down. Today I use Just Host for my web hosting and I’m very satisfied. As long as you do a little research before buying your web hosting you will be fine.
I have friends at BlueHost and at Hosting Matters, who swear by them. I keep my stuff (five domains) at DreamHost; I’ve been there for seven years.
If you decide to change hosts – I’ve done it once – you need to upload all your files to the new host, delete them from the old one, and change the nameserver(s) on your domain registration to point to the new host. Not difficult, though it takes a little bit of time, and propagating the nameserver change through every last DNS server on earth takes a day or two.
I wrote my original templates, but I’ve since decided it was easier to rewrite an existing one than to start from scratch. 🙂
To answer your question directly, you don’t but most hosting providers in the U.S. are pretty good. Yahoo, GoDaddy are great fro starters. You can get a great deal of features for a low month cost.
My advise would be to find a friend or family member that does know about software development. The questions you pose are really not that simple because of your needs. Hosting can get really complicated, have a trusted adviser would save you a great deal of time.
Hope this helps.
If they’re in the US, the agreement between you and them constitutes a contract that’s legally enforceable. If they take your money and don’t deliver what the contract calls for, you can sue. No business lasts long doing that.
If you’re paying by the month, it’s as easy as canceling your contract and finding another host – if you pay by the year, or for a few years up front (to get a cheaper price), it’s more difficult, but all you’re losing is $100 or less. (Most reputable companies will allow you to cancel short of the end of the contract – you just have to pay for the full current month.)
How do you know the car dealership will honor the warranty, or any other company you deal with will do what they promise to do?