Support
Many good hosts have great help pages and tutorial videos covering all the
common issues but there will be a time where you need help from your web
host either because you need to find out how to do something on your web
site or you need help because your host has something broken their end which
is stopping your web site functioning. Some bad hosting providers
don't have any address, telephone, fax or even an email address listed on
their site. This should be a sign to run fast in the other direction!
You need support via emails (or web based help desk contact forms) at the
very least and ideally telephone support. Some hosts also provide onscreen
web chat support as well. The cheaper your hosting cost, the less you
can expect in the way of support.When is support available?
Some hosts give full 24/7 support while others just do office hours on
Mondays to Fridays with no support over the weekend. Some one man web
hosting operations might only give daytime support, except times when the
owner is out fishing or walking the dog! You should select a host that
gives a level of support that is appropriate to match the importance of your
web site functioning. Eg. A non essential web site for a club will be
fine with just email support but an e-commerce web site that will loose big
money for every hour of downtime needs premium web hosting with brilliant
24/7 email and telephone support.
Test the support before you buy their hosting service
Try ringing or emailing a few questions to the host at night and at the
weekend - see how long they take to respond and how helpful their reply is.
Remember their time zone may be different to yours.
Long term signups
Many hosting companies start in business every day and just as many stop
trading every day so I would only consider paying in advance for a 12 or 24
month period if you are dealing with a known quality host when there is a
good probability that they will be in business long enough to complete your
hosting period. If you are trying an unknown host then paying monthly
seems a good move.
Unlimited bandwidth/ Unlimited disc space
These marketing terms need to be ignored because in reality no web hosting
company can actually provide these things. The hosts rely on the fact
that almost every customer will only use a small amount of bandwidth and
disc space. The rare customer who does need a huge amount of space and
has enormous bandwidth requirements will probably be asked to upgrade to a
more expensive hosting package or just be asked to leave if they are with a
poor web hosting service.
Money back guarantees
Any good host should give you a trial period to use their web hosting
service. 30, 60, 90 days money back guarantees are common with good
web hosting providers. The longer the better.
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