When you decide to create a website, one of the biggest decisions you will make is who will host your site. If you aren’t up on the latest web hosting lingo, you may feel like you’re in over your head. While you sort through all the information out there, keep in mind the three most common mistakes people make when shopping for web hosting.
Tunnel vision – purchasing based on price only
One of the biggest mistakes you could make when shopping for a web hosting service is to only focus on getting a low price. There are several free options for web hosting, however, these free options come with limitations. They might limit bandwidth, they might place advertisements on your website, they might have poor reliability or poor customer service.
Tunnel vision for price can be harmful.
You may see web hosts offering “unlimited” something or other. There is no such thing as unlimited – everything has a price and you nor your host can go to the electronics store and buy an unlimited hard drive. If you don’t have to pay for something, you will have to trade for it. This might mean you have to offer ad space to the web host’s affiliates, or that you have to share server space with so many other clients that your website runs slower than a more expensive hosting solution. At GlowHost the trade-off with the entry-level unlimited plans is that you are only permitted to store files necessary for the web site to display properly compared to the traditional plans we offer which allow you to use your space for whatever you wish, like backups of your personal music collection or enormous photo and video archives. Don’t fall victim to the ads that boast free or ultra-cheap web hosting service without checking them out in detail, and check the FAQ or Terms of Service as to what exactly “unlimited” means as each host treats these plans differently.
Bypassing client reviews
With any product or service, it is a good idea to check the reviews. Anyone can create a flashy ad, but a customer review will tell the truth. There are several sites that offer safe and honest reviews. WebHosting Talk is an excellent place to read web hosting reviews, and to ask any questions you might have. You can also run a search like “GlowHost Review” on google to get a good idea of a host’s performance.
Another mistake you could make is searching for “Top Web Hosting Companies.” Many of these lists are created by companies that get a kickback from the web hosting companies. For example, the person or company creating the list often awards the top spots to web hosts that give the most money to that particular “Top Site.” Try to find reviews from real people who aren’t getting anything out of leaving a good review.
Forgetting to test customer service
While you hope to choose a web hosting company that can offer you perfect web hosting, you will most likely need to contact customer service eventually. Whether your website crashed because you didn’t anticipate a rush to your site and didn’t get enough bandwidth, or because a plug-in you use isn’t working properly, you need to be able to reach a web host’s customer service.
Make sure customer service is efficient and effective.
If you sell product on your site, having customer service that only works 9-5, Monday-Friday could cost you lots of money if your site crashes during non-business hours. You also want a company that offers customer service you can understand. Language barriers can cause a major disaster in trying to fix or update your website. At GlowHost we provide knowledgeable customer support 23/7/365 via phone, live chat, email and ticketing.
Before ordering from any host, be sure to contact customer service so that you can get a feel for what it will be like working with them.
These three things could be the difference between a wonderful web hosting experience and one that you can’t even laugh about ten years from now. Do your due diligence and don’t make these all too common mistakes!