» Tips
New to the Hosting Industry? Not sure who to go for? Here are some tips to help you in making the right decision and ensure you don't get ripped off!
Beware of Oversold Plans
All hosting servers have the same basic limitations when it comes to resources and specs. It's physically impossible for a host server to have unlimited supply of CPU, RAM and disk space. If a host claims to give you unlimited space and/or bandwidth, AVOID THEM LIKE A PLAGUE. These hosts create these 'scam plans' offering tons of space and bandwidth for about $12 a month. The truth is that most sites never fully utilize the space or bandwidth advertised in their selected plans. The average site on the internet uses only about 50Megs of space and less than 1gig of bandwith every month. (Just to put things into perspective, this site (hostlings.net) actually uses less than 100Megs of space in total and that includes the admin and billing area, the video tutorials, nvu downloads and template images). So what hosting companies do is play a numbers game. Only one or two of every 100 people that sign up would use all the space and bandwidth advertised. So what happens? They usually terminate that site saying "your site is using too many resources" which is ofcourse a very valid reason. Therefore don't pay over the odds for resources you wouldn't use, pay for just what you are using and save yourself some extra cash. Upgrading your account should be painless if you see yourself reaching your limit.
Test the Host's Support.
Do not join a host without testing out their support system first. Look through the host's website to check how much support they provide to their current and potential customers. A hosting company that values it customers would provide adequate support facilities to make it easy for current and potential clients. However, simply emailing a hosting company or submitting a ticket to their sales department may not the way to test a host! Many of the companies have super quickresponse times when contacting their sales department, but very few have good times when contacting support. Also if there is a live chat feature or Instant Messaging, be sure to use that to see how knowledgable the support staff is by asking all questions you may (or may not) have. You would usually be able to get a feel of how their support is by the way your questions are answered.
Avoid Paying Yearly
Most hosts also indirectly force you into paying your hosting fees one or two years in advance to take advantage of good pricing. A hosting company shouldn't care if you pay monthly or yearly afterall, if you're happy with the service, you'll want to stay with them for much longer. They do this by introducing high setup fees or high monthly fees if you choose to pay monthly or quaterly.
The main disadvantage of paying yearly is if the host has terrible support, you are stuck in the contract for the whole year and could be even worse - the host could have lots of downtime and a slow server, What would you do then? You won't get your money back so you have no choice but to stay with them for the whole year or loose your money. If you were running an e-commerce website, that could spell disaster for you.
It is also worth keeping in mind that anything can happen at anytime. The location of the host's servers (including our own) could be wiped off the face of the planet by a hurricane, bombs, or even aliens from space. If this happens, it would be a sure bet that the company would go out of business straight away and have no way of refunding your money.
The lesson of this is no matter how good a hosting company is, you stand a chance of loosing money if you pay yearly.
Free Domain?
If a hosting company offers you free domain registration, do not join them unless you are absolutely sure that they will be putting your information in the WHOIS of the domain. If your information isn't in the Whois, then technically, they own the domain not you, and they could eventually blackmail you into staying with them when the time comes for you to switch.
Here at hostlings.net, you can be assured that any domain you register through us is owned by YOU as your information would be in the whois for that domain. Customers who register their domain through us can manage their domains through their online account manager and also have the option of protecting their privacy by adding a whoisGuard subscription service to the domain.