Choosing the right host is a very important decision. I've compiled a short list of do's and don't when it comes to web hosting.

1) UNLIMITED features. Rarely trust companies that offer unlimited space/bandwidth etc. as this is blatant overselling. When was the last time you saw an unlimited hard drive?! Companies that offer unlimited hosting features may not be around long and their other services tend to suffer - e.g. support.

2) Free hosting. Be wary of free hosts, particularly ones that seem to be giving far too good a deal to you - they probably are. The Webmaster-talk forums are regularly spammed with free hosting, and one that keeps cropping up is called igotfree.com. I urge you to ignore this as a highly reputable hosts do not spam forums!

3) Your ACTUAL needs. You might be excited by hosts that offer 5GB of storage space and 1000GB (1TB) of bandwidth for very low prices, but you should at the very least be wary of such companies. Besides the con issue, ask yourself - do you even need such large resources? For most small companies and individuals starting up, a maximum of 500MB web storage space and roughly 5GB bandwidth will be adequate. Once your site is up and running, you will be able to see whether you do need more or not and if necessary, you can upgrade. Some hosts (hostmonster.com being an example) seem to offer incredible packages for very low amounts of money. However, companies like this are often unreliable and may end up throwing you off their server if you start using these extreme amounts of resources. See tip no. 5 for solution.

4) Do your research. It's very important to do adequate resource on whichever host you choose: don't just take their word for everything. Check what the technology experts are saying on the issue (e.g. look through reputable technology magazines for reviews). BE CAREFUL WHEN SEARCHING REVIEW SITES - THEY USUALLY EARN COMMISSION FOR EACH SIGNUP SO WILL PUSH THE HIGHEST BIDDING HOST!! While it sounds infantile, type queries like "..... .com sucks" and also search through their own support forums (assuming they have them) to see how quickly issues are resolved. Try contacting their support or sales departments with questions to get a good perspective of their response times. Remember, if their sales department take a while before they have your custom, imagine how long they may take when they do have your custom!

5) When your needs outweight most plans. If you've outgrown your current plan and you are using very large resource amounts, it may be time to think about renting out a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or a Dedicated Server. I emphasize that this will not be necessary unless you are receiving a lot of visitors (traffic) and unless you are storing a very large amount of data (e.g. hundreds of photos, movies or software downloads). VPS' are now relatively cheap and combine reliability with speed and of course more space and bandwidth. A typical entry VPS may offer you 10GB storage and 100GB bandwidth. If you have extreme needs and you are already running a very busy site, you may even contemplate renting out a Dedicated server from a hosting company. Dedicated servers are computers entirely dedicated to your own web site and are very reliable (if you choose the right host) but are overkill for the vast majority of people.

Good post Daniel,

It makes a refreshing change to see a host with a clue about hosting.

Ditto, nice post

repped

However, companies like this are often unreliable and may end up throwing you off their Some hosts (hostmonster.com being an example) seem to offer incredible packages for very low amounts of money. However, companies like this are often unreliable and may end up throwing you off their server if you start using these extreme amounts of resources

Hostmonster has amazing service and an amazing hosting package. If there are any questions they will answer you live online within moments, plus they do offer an incredible deal at a low price. That is why it lists as one of the best hosting providers. I havn't had problems yet. Good tips.

The all for nothing host rarely seem to live up to their claims. You see this from the countless post across different forums of "victims", people who want everything for nothing or simply to naive and learn the hard way.

But as evidenced from the above post, it does work out for some. I guess it depends upon your needs and/or expectations.

Originally Posted by highanddry

Hostmonster has amazing service and an amazing hosting package. If there are any questions they will answer you live online within moments, plus they do offer an incredible deal at a low price. That is why it lists as one of the best hosting providers. I havn't had problems yet. Good tips.

OK so maybe hostmonster was a bad example for this but I've seen plenty of hosts offering similar amounts and I know it simply isn't profitable for hosts to actually give these quantities away - hence overselling

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Originally Posted by whym

OK so maybe hostmonster was a bad example for this but I've seen plenty of hosts offering similar amounts and I know it simply isn't profitable for hosts to actually give these quantities away - hence overselling

Probably best not to use any example

highanddry:
Not necessarily in your case, but sometimes people get a bit lucky in that they are placed in a nice neighborhood. What I mean by that is you're on a server that might be new.. so not many accounts, and maybe the users that are sharing your space are playing nicely...
Not running irc bots, proxys, hotlinking and other nasty things that can bring a server down.

Great post! Really is nice to see something like this, I sometimes find it hard to explain to my clients why I don't offer unlimited bandwidth and space like some other places.

I've actually moved clients to other hosts before, it is rarely long before they come back.

Thanks for reminding these crucial points once again.
Nice post!

Good Post Man...I will keep that in mind Thanks

whym, I hope you wouldn't mind if I refer some readers to something I wrote
that may very nicely to complement your post

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/web-ho...-web-host.html


fastreplies

No of course not - the purpose of this post was to help members choose the most appropriate host for them.

Great u'r post is really help full

I want to add that you should do a whois search. Many hosts particulary those that are scams block there phone number so you can not call them. Or view where the owner lives.

Originally Posted by Wizkid49

I want to add that you should do a whois search. Many hosts particulary those that are scams block there phone number so you can not call them. Or view where the owner lives.

Agreed. Doing a WHOIS search on the domain is also very important. Thanks for mentioning it.

For people that are not in the know, a WHOIS basically checks up on the data of the domain, such as who registered it and where it's IP addresses are located.

A useful WHOIS service is www.whois.sc

Tbh fastreplies, that list, if read carefully, is clearly different content. I doubt that it has been copied

Of course Dan his list is different.
As I said it's only looks like because of similar topics but my
point was that there is nothing new in his list


fastreplies

I'd also add that, if you are launching websites which eat up a lot of resources (such as forums), you should go with a hosting company which has plans to accomodate your website as it develops.

You will, at one point or another, outgrow the plans you've initially paid for and need a supportive host who can guide you through the process rather than kick you out for using up too many resource and not bothering to explain everything in detail. Great support is definitely a must, as you don't want to be facing the unpleasant surprise of having your hosting account terminated as soon as your website becomes popular.

Alan Johnson

Yeah , a really helpful post telling all the reasons to go for a particular host . Thanks for reminding me about all the stuff again .