I’ve had a number of conversations with potential clients about Web hosting recently. There are thousands of Web hosting companies, how do you choose the one that is for you? Here are 5 questions to ask your Web host:
- What is your Technical Support like? Even though you are paying a fee for a service called Web hosting, the majority of the fee you pay goes towards technical support. That’s why the same amount of space with similar features can have a wide cost difference between companies. Good companies have knowledgeable support staff and have short hold times. Less expensive companies have technical support staff that are in foreign countries, are only accessible via email and/or less experienced staff. Try contacting support before you purchase and see what it is like.
- Is my server shared with others? Sites with high availability needs need to be on a server not shared with others. Other sites may be on a shared server to save on costs. It is important to know which one you are buying and which one you need. Also, dedicated servers often have service level guarantees. Do you have one?
- What sort of disaster planning does you firm do? Disaster planning is a very important part of offering Web hosting. We’re dealing with a Web hosting company this week that has had multiple servers down for 10 days because of a fire suppression system test that went horribly wrong. Their help desk system doesn’t work, their staff is overwhelmed and it appears they lost at least some data. It isn’t that having a plan can prevent a disaster, it is just a way of preventing a disaster from spinning out of control.
- How much space, bandwidth and mailboxes are included? This is the question everyone always asks, but it is the least important question of the ones on this list. Almost all plans have enough space for a typical Web site.
What questions do you ask before choosing a Web hosting company?
Disclosure: my firm provides Web hosting services to our Web site development clients.
