Finding Good Cheap Web Hosting

There is a great deal of hype, misinformation and consequent uncertainty about web hosting on the Internet. Many web hosting companies make claims to be the best and you see all sorts of pricing out there.

So if you are starting out, where should you start? Here are some guidelines that should help:

1. Remember that there are lots of web hosts out there, and there is much competition amongst them. If you shop around, you can find good deals.

2. Those that make the most “noise”, that advertise the most and aggressively seek new clients, are spending a lot on promotion, the costs of which will come out in the prices you pay. Go cautiously with these. Don’t get pushed into a bad deal.

3. What you want is good quality hosting with account options that leave you room to expand. Generally speaking, you will want:

A. High uptime (99.9%) with a guarantee. A cheap web host whose servers go down frequently means that your customers will not be able to find your website and will go somewhere else. Uptime percentage is very important to you, the user. Also, many SAY they have 99.9% uptime, but it’s not true. Look for a guarantee with teeth, like one that refunds a portion up to all of your web hosting fee if they do not meet the 99.9% goal.

B. Accounts that allow multiple domains. In reality, the web host’s costs are mainly for storage space and bandwidth. You can find web hosting accounts that set limits on these and then let you put up as many domains as you wish within those space and bandwidth limits.

C. Good support, 24/7/365

D. Up-to-date servers that support all standard protocols and features such as fantastico, latest versions of PHP, etc.

4. It’s difficult to tell whether a given web host lives up to its claims or really knows what “quality” support is. For this reason it’s best to pay by the month, at least at first. If it doesn’t work out, you can try another. Don’t get trapped into a one-year prepaid contract with a second-rate web host!

At this writing (January, 2010) the going rate for unlimited domains with ample amounts of server-side HD storage and bandwidth, is about $3.95 a month. For more info, specifics, details, visit the links below…

Jorge G. Chavez

For more information about finding good web hosting, visit his blog at: earn quick money

For insights into how to set up your domain name registration in harmony with your web hosting, visit: make cash online