Getting burnt

I myself was recently burnt from choosing the wrong host. Not really due to poor choice, it was more of the host not being able to handle it’s own growth. The particular host (Servage) was great for a good year before I started my web development business. It was a safe choice however it was growing at an incredible rate. Problems started arising with short bursts of downtime, to slow site access, to database overloading, to consistent email issues, to major site hacking issues. From secure and stable to insecure and slow in the space of 6 months. Not only that but from helpful support to unknowledgable support that most of the time was too focused on appearing to be friendly that they never actually answered the question. It was more like a place to go and just get an apology for their B-grade service rather then getting answers.

A decision was made to move our sites to the more expensive, yet more reliable/helpful Media Temple. Over triple the price for less space/bandwidth to the untrained eye sounds ludicrous. But anyone that has been through the hosting round will tell you, it’s more than just about how much storage you get. You need to look deeper. The switch is still in progress as it is quite a difficult process to move hundreds of sites from one host to another making sure the client doesn’t lose emails, and there is no downtime etc. This is why choosing the right host is so important.

Features

This is the first thing you’ll see on most web hosting sites is a list of all the features. Whether it be unlimited storage to wordpress easy installers to $25 free Adwords credit. In theory it’s great say “hey, unlimited storage! Woo! I can host EVERYTHING there!”, it’s a nice thought, but at what point will you need all that storage? I know I struggled to use 1gb with about 25 client sites. The host knows this , hence why they can give it to you for dirt cheap. Take a step back, have a look at how much storage you’ll realistically use. If you’re launching a site that’s going to need a lot of storage consider using Amazon’s S3 service, it can actually reliably scale to virtually unlimited storage and will only cost you for what you use. There are other limitations with most shared hosts such as a limitation on number of hits you can get per day, or CPU usage etc. So you generally are fairly limited in a shared hosting environment so don’t get caught up in huge amounts of storage and bandwidth. Be realistic about what you need, and make sure you don’t get carried away in the world of “unlimited”. Extra’s are nice, but not really necessary.

Support

A big must is for a host to have good support that you can contact 24/7 and get a fast resolution. Look for something with 24/7 phone support because email and ticketing is slow, you have to type it then wait for them to check the problem and type back. Very slow process, phone calls are instant back and fourth, so pay the extra dollars and make sure you have phone support 24/7.

Security

This is a big one, and hard to know as hosts won’t advertise having terrible security. But Google knows so do a bit of research. For example search for “Servage Security” and you will find literally hundreds of blogs just like this talking about how they have had terrible hacking problems do to Servage’s insecure set-up. Servage isn’t the only one, there are plenty of hosts which have terribly insecure set-ups. The bigger the host the more likely they are to face hackers. Make sure you pay the extra $$$ and get one that knows what they’re doing.

Clustered hosting

Always look for a clustered hosting set-up. A clustered hosting set-up spreads your site access across multiple servers so if one goes down your site is still accessible by one of the other servers. This is one sure way to make sure the hosts uptime is reasonable as it reduces the chance of widespread incidents.

Shared or dedicated?

This one is a tough one, there are so many pro’s to dedicated but the price is out of most peoples reach. If you’re expecting high traffic, you don’t believe a shared host will be able to handle it and are on a budget, consider dedicated virtual also known as a virtual private server. It has all the benefits of a dedicated server but in a virtual form, so the hardware is being split but resources are allocated to just you. Again look at what you need, if you just need general hosting you won’t need more than just a shared host.

Do your research

Most importantly, find sites hosted by the host you’re looking at and check connection speeds. Read reviews and take note of all the negative reviews. Even Google it.

Conclusion

It’s not the size that counts, it’s how you use it. Look around, ask around, find a host that work for and with you. Make sure the host has everything you need. That includes all the support you need, when you need it. Always keep offline back-ups of your sites just incase something does go wrong.