Choosing a web hosting provider can be a daunting experience. With all the choices out there, it is hard to know what to choose. With a little preparation, persistence, and patience, you can narrow these selections down to the provider who can best service your needs. By following the Dos and Don'ts in this article, you will more confident in your final selection.

 

Before choosing a web hosting service for your website, you will need to develop a plan to be able to determine the best service for your needs. The first step is to sit down and write down a list of services your website will require. How much bandwidth will be necessary? How much storage will your website demand? Will you be running an ecommerce site that will calls for SSL encryption and online shopping carts? Or will you be running a blog that uses PHP or CGI scripting and access to an online database? Knowing what your needs are beforehand will enable you to make the best selection possible when choosing among the many web hosting providers.

 

To help you even more, here is a list of the Do's and Don'ts when selecting a web hosting service:

 

The Do's:

 

Research the various web hosting companies thoroughly and select a list of providers who accommodate all the features you will need for your webpage. Research reviews from others who have used the services of the companies you are considering.

 

Create a backup plan. System crashes happen to the best of companies and you cannot rely on them to have backups of your website. It is up to you as the website owner to protect yourself against data loss and other system failures

 

Check out the potential hosting companies' support system in advance. See how they respond to simple questions and potential problems. This is a good way to see their response time and quality of customer support.

 

Do sign up for the shortest package at first. This will allow you to give the web hosting provider a trial run to see if their services are truly a good fit for your needs. Make sure you buy your domain name separate from the hosting in case you do need to switch to another provider.

 

The Don'ts:

 

Do not choose a provider simply because they are the cheapest. These companies do not always offer quality customer support or service. Base your selection on the best deal among the providers who can accommodate all the features you require for your website and the quality of customer service. This will save you both time and money later on.

 

Avoid free web hosting. Free web hosting services earn money by placing ads on your webpage. Some of these ads have been known to harm computers that visit these types of pages. Do not use free web hosting. Customers tend to take professional webpages more seriously than companies who use free webhosting. Using professional webpages over free web hosting pages will result in more business for you in the long run.