How to Find Low Cost Web Hosting

By Matt Hedges

When a company or organization looks out for a web hosting service they tend to show inclination towards cheap web hosting providers. This trend has been noticed in the case of most of the companies and organizations irrespective of their business size. However, primarily small businesses look for such services as they have lower budget but still some basic requirements which free web hosting services cannot provide.

There are certainly a lot of firms who are willing to offer web hosting for a low cost but not all of them can be trusted. This level of doubt should encourage potential customers to undertake a level of research before choosing a supplier. There is a need for a customer to make sure they receive value for money and perhaps spending a few hundred dollars on a web host may provide better value and the chance to recoup the money over the length of the contract. Still, a customer needs to have a level of research about the providers to make sure they can meet their needs and to provide a level of trust.

Ways that you can have the right company providing services you can afford:

* No matter what you buy, you should always perform some research and this is especially true for web hosts. You should be able to undertake this research in a manner of different ways.

* It's better to avoid a free web hosting company. These companies cannot provide ample space. They have large number of limitations that range from domain names to account space. Moreover, the user website would be packed with advertisements from the web hosting company and hence there will hardly be any space for the company to feature its own stuff. There are several technical limitations to files uploading. Free hosting is a selling point of the web host and they want to gain the maximum benefit out of such hosting. For companies such a hosting is not at all preferable.

* A useful to look out for is how long the company has been trading for. The company does not need to have decades of experience but a strong level of experience in web hosting can make big difference. The knowledge that comes with experience can help in providing information to clients about the type of services they will be able to offer. This is becoming increasingly important as a number of firms are starting up and shutting down which means a reasonable history is a better guarantee of a firm's reliability.

* There is little doubt that feedback from pervious customers is very important to making a decision about what web host to go with. The feedback provided should also inform about what sort of services a web host provides. There is a history of web hosts who offer a cheap service offer services that are very poor in quality. This may be because after the website provides the hosting facility, they may not have much interest in providing additional support. If you require support, it is imperative that you find a host that is able to offer this provision. Many companies require an all day customer service provision to be on hand in case anything goes wrong. If this is the case, the client should examine if the web host can be contact by telephone and are they able to offer solutions at any given time. This is especially true when a web site crashes as this is when live support is needed the most.

* There is a need for many people to have the most up to date technology available, which could include PHP. No matter the technology, there needs to be ability for it to integrate with existing software and systems. There is also a demand for clients to have the latest technology and to be given support to keep their system, regardless of the price they have to pay for the web hosting facility.

* It has to be clarified that how many email accounts the web hosts are going to provide. Minimum expected email services would range from 10 to 15. The storage limit of the mail box will also have to be considered. Heavy files like images, videos and more then the storage limit will not suffice. For small businesses 500 MB email accounts are required.

* Other additional services that a client would be looking for would include protection from spam, virus attacks and phishing. Regardless of the size of the website having a degree of security is vital for each firm. You would be surprised at how quickly an email inbox can become full with spam which makes software protection for your email accounts extremely important. The success of this provision can depend greatly on the quality of your provider.

* Low cost services often have several limitations and one of the limitations is hidden monthly fees and hidden charges. If the email storage capacity and number of emails are unexpectedly higher, then it is always better to check out with the companies if tree is any hidden charges or not. If the traffic limit is not mentioned in the business agreement the client have to make sure tat he/she clarified the limit.

How to undertake research about cheap web host companies

Listed below are a number of ways to discover web hosts:

Reviews on web hosts: There are websites, like WebHostingMadness.com where clients can read reviews on the web hosts. These reviews are generally authentic and the company can be selected on the basis of the reviews.

Blogs and forums: The clients of the web hosts can also gather adequate information about the company from the blog and forum. Here they would also get to learn about cheap web hosting treads and fake web host alerts. Since blogs always provide up-to-date information the reader will always be on an advantageous point.

There is no cast iron way to prove a company can be trusted 100% but following these guidelines will offer a better chance of finding a reliable web host. It should also allow a firm to evade the grasp of any fake web hosts.

About the Author:

About the Author: Matt Hedges. Hedges, a 12 year veteran of the web hosting industry, helps small business owners find the best web hosting companies on the Internet.