How to Choose Cheap Web Hosting while Maintaining Quality
There are so many web hosting providers nowadays offering very cheap hosting, but how can you be sure that the low prices you are paying are a bargain or not. You should take into consideration the following tips to reassure yourself that you are indeed getting the quality you paid for.
Free hosting is a no-go:
Free hosting has very select and limited benefits, you're sacrificing a lot of crucial features if you choose the free route, which could mean a world of difference to the traffic on your site. One of the main reasons for this is that you're not getting your own seperate domain, but instead your site will be apart of someone elses domain making your site extremely difficult to locate and visit and therefore making it even more difficult to promote to its fullest. If the specific company has to shut down the domain for whatever reason, it will mean the end of business for your site as it will no longer be available.
Free hosting also means an almost endless ammount of advertising on your site in terms of large banners and pop-ups. Most often all of these adverts will be from the hosting company themselves in order to cover the costs of free hosting. Having these adverts also makes your website less attractive to visitors or customers meaning you could lose a lot of views or sales.
Don't be fooled however, there are also some very cheap web hosting companies out there that will offer you an almost identical service to free hosting companies, the only difference is that the former will bill you for it.
Be sure to compare the virtual hosting packages:
When considering a cheap hosting service, always be sure that you compare key characteristics such as disc space, bandwidth and pricing. At the beginning you may not need much space and bandwidth but as your site grows in volume and traffic, you may find yourself needing that extra bit more. Most hosting providers leave you with the option of upgrading these packages at a minimal cost, the difference may only be a couple of dollars from the introductory packages.
Some other features you may want to consider when comparing cheap hosting is the technical and customer support, and whether or not they have auto responders and multiple email accounts. Also, PHP, MySQL and databases may need to be considered depending on the technical level of the site.
Web design as a priority:
When starting out you should have considered the following - does your site require a customer database or forum? Do you plan on making sales online and therefore require a shopping cart? What language do you plan on developing your site in? These are all important questions and can make all the difference when it comes time to choosing your host.
If you plan on making a business out of your site, then you would be wise to keep in mind that it is going to be longterm and that you will be using your web hosting service for a long time to come, so keep this in mind and don't go rushing into anything unless you are certain of your needs.
A list of our top recommended cheap hosting providers can be found here.
