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How To Choose A Quality Web Host

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

There are thousands of web hosting services available online, and some of them are more reliable than others. When you are looking at the number of options available, it is easy to become overwhelmed. It is important to look at potential problems with hosting companies prior to using them. This can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches.

You should avoid hosting services which have servers which are constantly down. A good hosting company should be able to monitor its servers and quickly fix problems. Some hosting services may be down as long as a few days, and these are companies you will want to avoid. It is also important to make sure all the features offered by the company work. If your email is down, this prevents you from being able to run your business. This is something you can't afford, and you will want to make sure you stay away from companies which do this.

Another thing which is important for you to look at is tech support. How long does it take the tech department to answer your phone calls or emails? A good company should answer within a few hours. Some hosting companies take many days to answer your questions, and the answers they give you may not solve the problem. Hosting companies like this should be avoided. You should also look for hosting services which communicate well with their customers. A lack of communication is one of the leading causes of business failure. You don't want to do business with companies that don't effectively communicate.

Sometimes when you cancel your account, the hosting company will continue billing you. This is a very frustrating situation, and you may have to file claims with your bank in order to get your money back. Most hosting companies take out automatic payments, and you will want to do research to make sure they stop billing customers once the service is cancelled. When you look online at hosting companies, always look at the price. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. The prices charged should be enough to pay for their service maintenance and other fees.

Any hosting services which advertise unlimited bandwidth should make you suspicious. If you use a lot of bandwidth, you may have your website taken down. Hosting websites which don't look professional should also raise red flags. Websites with lots of spelling errors or no information about the company are unlikely to provide quality service.

Michael Colucci is a technical writer for http://www.299host.net - Complete web hosting services at only $2.99 per month.