Web Hosting
GUIDE

Finding A Reliable Web Hosting Plan

Description: There are more web hosting plans out there than you could shake a stick at. So how do you know which ones are the most reliable?

With so many different web hosting plans on the market, and all available at different prices, it can be tricky to know which one is right for you. But more than that, you need to know you can rely on your web host to keep your site live every hour of every day. If it doesn't you're faced with the hassle of having to uproot your site and go elsewhere. So it makes sense to find the right host from the beginning.

The first step to finding a reliable web hosting plan is to look for the web hosts that have been around for the longest amount of time. It's always safer to go with one that has a good track record compared to a new start up, as you have a much better idea of what you're dealing with.

You should also ask around to see what services other webmasters use. If workmates, friends or anyone in your family already has a website online, ask them what plan they use and who they are with. The longer they have been with that company the more they should be able to tell you.

Once you have narrowed your choice down to two or three you like the look of, visit a few online forums and ask around to see what other people think of those particular plans. It can give you an idea of what to expect.

You will want to know how reliable the web host is before you make any firm decisions; no one can claim to have 100% uptime as there are always technical hitches that occur from time to time. But you will find a large number of respectable firms who offer 99.9% uptime.

But reliability isn't just in the hands of the web hosting plan. You need to make sure you are buying the right plan for your needs as well. If you have good reason to think that your site is going to be popular and you will need a reasonable amount of bandwidth to cope with the traffic, it's asking for trouble to get a basic plan that won't provide you with the services you need. If you do this and the web host disallows the extra traffic they aren't really in violation of the contract you have with them.

You should also look into how secure the web host is. You don't want to have your website go online via their servers only to find those same servers get hacked into remarkably easily two days later.

In the end, some basic research on your part and a good track record on the part of the web host should lead you to a reliable one that can serve your needs. If you stick with these two rules you won't go far wrong.