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Common Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing a Web Hosting

Created a new website for your business and looking for a good offshore hosting to put it on the World Wide Web? Are you planning to switch from one company to another? Then, this article is for you. Here, we will discuss some common mistakes that people often make.

Choosing the cheapest or free web host

Cost shouldn’t be the only criterion while choosing. Choosing the cheapest web host is the first mistake that many people tend to make. Here are some issues with free services:

  • Generally companies offer free only if they do not have genuine customers and to attract newbies. Such companies may go out of business any time and this will land you and your website in trouble.
  • Free hosting companies may put some third party advertisements on your website that may distract or annoy your visitors.
  • Some scripts may not work when you are under free or cheap hosting. This may affect the loading speed of your site; especially when your website contains animated or video content.
  • Some hosting companies that provide free services make you choose their templates – you cannot have a unique theme for your website. Remember, the theme is very important – it is like an identity of your business.
  • Sometimes, search engines may not give priority to the sites that are under cheap hosting. If search engines don’t recognize your site, you can’t benefit. All your efforts in creating the website will go in vain.

Going for a new company

Some new web hosting companies may offer services but many times they just do it to attract customers. Do not sign up with them unless you properly assess and confirm if those services are really useful for you. Also assess if the company is going to be long-term. Many new companies will not be able to maintain their service or up-time for long time. They just focus on acquiring customers and scaling their business, before they close down. It is always better to go for a company that has been hosting websites for over 5 years.

Not reading “Terms of Services” properly

Many people while opting for a web hosting service ignore reading the ToS and face problems after signing up. Hosting companies usually highlight only a few points that benefit their company and try to de-emphasize other points. Note this and go through every point in ToS carefully. Know about refund policy, cancellation procedure, agreement, etc. properly. If you have any doubts regarding the ToS, ask the hosting company to clarify. It is your responsibility to check the services they offer and conditions on them before accepting the agreement with the hosting company.

These are the most common mistakes that many people tend to make while choosing a web hosting company. So, be aware of all these points and choose a good host with best services.

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How You Can Get Cheap Web Hosting?

Cheap web hosting is provided by a number of offshore hosting companies throughout the US and Canada as well as Europe and Asia. It doesn’t matter where your hosting company is located from a technical point of view, other than that fact that you may want to deal in your own currency. So if you are in the US or Canada, it is easy to work seamlessly in the same language.

There are other issues, however that may dictate which web company you may want to use for dedicated hosting. Besides language and currency, other considerations should be support for your particular needs. Some companies offer far fewer options to get help when it’s needed. Choosing a competent but cheap web hosting provider need not be complicated as long as you are comfortable with the operating system and the control panel.

International web host providers located outside of the US can provide an inexpensive alternative, but, and there is always a but, it may require far more effort on your part to get all the features you need for your site. In addition, the laws in each country vary and the effort and time needed to clarify any misunderstanding may not be worth the effort. The amount of time you spend may cost more than if you were using someone in your own country.

Cheap web hosting then becomes a matter of bandwidth, support, reliability and cost. Finding the cheapest within your country’s jurisdiction becomes a matter of research. Using a package that allows for hardware replacement in a short time, or not concerned whether the servers are Linux or Windows can make the cost also come down.

The solution for your business, particularly if you require the website to be operating with 100% uptime, may be a dedicated hosting package that is not the absolute lowest cost. If you have to sacrifice service for a few dollars, then when all is said and done, it may not be the most prudent move to go with a lowest bid. Instead, you would be better off taking advantage of the promotional offers made by the web host provider.

Most providers offer a variety of managed hosting services, from Windows 2000 or even Windows 2003, and dedicated servers at a low enough cost, with good customer support to compete with any of the shared host providers. The value of a cheap web hosting company is further enhanced when you take in the fact that there is generally no need to add costly upgrades, everything is within your control.