How To Choose A Cheap Reliable Web Host

Are you looking for a cheap reliable web host for your website or blog? When you are choosing a reliable web hosting company, there are certain factors that come into play. Right here, we are going to show you what the important selection factors are.

1. Bandwidth limit

The bandwidth limit is often referred to the traffic limit. It basically is the “space” that is needed to accommodate your visitors or traffic. Having a high bandwidth means that your website can receive more visitors.

2. Diskspace

If you are familiar with your PC hard drive, that is what the diskspace means. This diskspace basically hosts your website files, web pages, images, scripts and so on.

3. Uptime

All good reliable web hosts should have a minimum uptime of 99.5%. The web host should have a refund policy if they cannot meet this requirement.

4. Scripts Allowed and Provided

Do they allow you to install scripts such as PHP or Perl? If they do not allow you, then it can be very troublesome if you need to run these on your website. Also, make sure that they provide FTP, MySQL, .htaccess, crontabs as these are quite common.

5. SSL (secure server) and Shopping Cart

Do they provide such functionalities? These are important if you plan to run an ecommerce site.

6. Technical Support

Do they provide 24/7 technical support? Can you access to help anytime you want via LIVE chat? This is what makes the difference between a fly-by-night service and a professional and reliable web host.

7. cPanel

cPanel is the most popular control panel in the market because of its user-friendliness and rich features. Make sure your web host provides that.

8. Email Forwarding

Does it allow you to create catch-all email address so that you can receive all emails sent to your domain name?

9. Number of Domains and Subdomains

Do they allow you to host multiple domains and subdomains? Some web hosts have a limit on this and can be rather restrictive if you intend to create multiple websites on multiple subdomains.

10. Price

The price of the web host should be of great concern to you right? However, never compare web hosts based on how much you need to pay. Always compare different packages offered by each web host to have a more objective comparison. For example, Web Host A may only charge you $7/mth for a 500MB (diskspace) and 5GB (bandwidth) but Web Host B charges $10/mth and offers a 1GB (diskspace) and 10GB (bandwidth). On the surface, you are paying more for Web Host B’s package but you get double the diskspace and bandwidth.

11. Minimum Contract Period

You should check out the minimum contract period of each web host. Most offer a monthly, quarterly and annual plan. The longer you stay with them, the cheaper it is. Very often, the prices you see in advertisements are the monthly prices based on an annual package. If you go for the monthly option, it is always more expensive. If you have never tried a web host before, you might want to consider the monthly option so that you can leave anytime if you find the service poor.

12. Other Users’ Reviews

Reading other users’ reviews give you a good feel of how professional and reliable a web host is.