Overview
Hosting is basically the computer where your Web site resides, and where it can be accessed by name. You want to use a reliable company to host your site. Buying hosting is easy, but knowing what kind of hosting account you need and picking a good hosting company can be a little more complicated.
The Dirty Little Secret
There are thousands of Top 10 Hosting and review sites on the Web. These sites guide you to hosting companies paying them kickbacks for referals. Guess what, they don’t have your best interest in mind when they recommend a hosting company. This site is about providing the information you need to make good decisions about hosting based on your needs.
A Good Starting Point
Each month Netcraft publishes a list of the most reliable hosting companies. The Netcraft Hosting page lists the most reliable hosting companies for the month. By their own admission, the ranking is only an indicator of reliablility. Also, do not overlook the fact that Netcraft itself makes money from advertising. I still think the list of 50 top hosting companies makes a good starting point for picking a good host. To get at the top 50 list, goto the Netcraft site and click on the first top 10 hosting company list you find.
Narrow your list down to several companies that offer what you need to get your site going. My own list of must haves for a low cost hosting account would include:
- Secure Shell Access (SSH) for those times when a control panel alone won’t do.
- Phone Support, absolutely must have, Phone Support.
- Automatic backups, and an easy way to do my own backups because you can’t really trust a busy hosting company to do something as important as this for you.
- Documentation and forums where you can ask questions.
- Pre-configured applications for most of what I’m doing on my Web site.
Also consider:
- Cost and value of the service. Compare and don’t over pay.
- Experience and reputation. Quality and reliability matter on the Internet too.
And, call them up. Ask a question or two. Ask a technical question. Maybe ask a mildly dumb technical question just to see if you get a courteous answer.
This site is hosted by WestHost and I can tell you that my experience with them has been very good. They satisfy all the requirements I list above at a reasonable price. When you do your comparing, include WestHost and see if you can find a better deal.
