List of Things to Look For In a Good Web Host

The thing about webhosts is that they are a dime-a-dozen; nowadays, you can get web hosting for your website(s) in all shapes, sizes and price-points.

Competition is awesome, right? It drives prices down, and increases the level of service. Indeed, thanks to what is now an ultra-competitive market, you can find super-cheap web hosting to host one or more of your websites very easily. I’ve seen hosting packages start for as less as a couple of dollars-a-month!

But here’s the thing, cheap isn’t always a good thing; in fact, it rarely is.

From random and extended downtimes, to crappy customer service, websites hosted on cheap web hosting services end up losing big time.
This is why I always recommend people not to prioritize the amount of money paid when it comes to choosing web hosting.

Instead of going for cheap or expensive web hosting service, here’s a list of some of the things one should look for in a good web host or a web hosting service:

1.It should fulfill your requirements: Do a needs-assessment before taking the plunge. Usually, shared hosting is a good place to start for just about any new website. However if you expect to get a lot of traffic, or want to host a large, multi-media rich website, it might be a good idea to invest in dedicated, VPS or cloud-based web hosting solutions. Host Gator, for instance, offers all kinds of solutions.

2. It should be reliable: In terms of their quality of services, after-sales service, up-times, and so on and so forth. Stick with reputable and well-known names – they are reputable and well-known for a reason! :)

3. It should offer unlimited bandwidth, hosting space and domains: I abosolutely love Host Gator due to this reason: even their cheapest, basic shared hosting package comes with all these unlimited goodies. What this means is that you’ll never need to worry about your bandwidth running out, or if, for instance, you plan on hosting multiple websites on the same host down the road and discover that your plan/hosting doesn’t allow you to do so. I like the freedom of unlimited!

4. It should have a user-friendly back-end/control-panel: If you’re planning on managing your business or personal website your own self, be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time in the hosting’s control panel. That is yet another area where Host Gator excels: you get an excellent, user-friendly UI that has a very short learning-curve, even for those unfamiliar with such things.

5. It should provide you with excellent after-sales service: With Host Gator, you have the option of getting in touch with a customer-rep through various different methods: email, trouble-ticket, phone or live-chat. I’ve been using Host Gator for a while, and I absolutely love the fact that they are prompt when it comes to providing assistance, and generally very helpful. They make it a point to solve your problem, the person on the other end will do his best to provide any and all aid and assistance, and they are also quite professional.

6. It should provide value: Finally, we look at the amount of money you pay vs what you get in return. A good web hosting company will provide you excellent value and a great bang-for-the-buck!
As you can probably see, I personally am a big fan of Host Gator, and recommend it to anyone looking for cheap and reliable web hosting. And why wouldn’t I – it certainly fulfills all criteria mentioned in ym write-up above, and I’ve been a happy customer since quite some years now.

I hope this article will help those trying to find a web hosting service to host their new or existing websites. Do check out my indepth review on this great web hosting service here, and don’t forget to leave your feedback as well!