Research at the outset will ensure that you get the service you need and help you avoid problems later.

Do you pay monthly, annually etc.? – A website hosting provider may quote a monthly fee but this is often just for comparison purposes and you actually have to pay 6/12 months in advance as a minimum. Others offer various options, obviously being cheaper the more you pay in advance. If you do not want to (or cannot afford to) pay in advance you need a website hosting provider which allows monthly payments.

 

Minimum contract period – If you are happy to pay in advance you need to check the Terms and Conditions to establish your rights to cancel and get a refund. Look for a website hosting provider who allows you to cancel at any time and will refund unused credit. If you pay monthly it is reasonable to expect to be able to terminate at a months notice.

 

Is there a money back guarantee? – A website hosting provider may offer you the chance to cancel and get all your money back within a number of days of signing up. Whilst this should not be a major factor in choosing a website hosting provider it does at least show their confidence in their service and you might find out how good their support is during this period.

How many domains are you allowed? – Many of the basic website hosting plans only allow one domain. Initially this may be ok but you should check the cost of upgrading with your website hosting provider to a package that allows multiple, or unlimited, domains as you may well want to do this later.

Is a domain included? – A website hosting provider may include a free domain. Check if it is always free or just for an introductory period. Before using such a free domain consider if it is the best option for you (it will not be a .com).

How much bandwidth are you allowed? – In case your site attracts a lot of traffic it is safest to have unlimited bandwidth. However a website hosting provider specifies limits they are unlikely to be an issue for a new site in the foreseeable future. You should also bear in mind that “unlimited” cannot be taken literally and your usage cannot be unreasonable for the plan you purchase.

What is the limit on disk space? – As with bandwidth it is safest to go for unlimited but the same warning applies.

How good is the provider's infrastructure? – Loading time is important both to provide a good experience to users of your site and because Google are now taking this into account in the search results. You can have your site monitored by third parties once operational but at the outset you can only go by existing user feedback. This should not be an issue with a the top website hosting provider. You should also look for an uptime guarantee from your website hosting provider of about 99.9%.

What type of hosting do you need? – A website hosting provider may offer both Linux and Microsoft hosting. I recommend that you go for Linux unless you have a particular reason to use Microsoft (it doesn’t matter what operating system you have on your PC). Linux powers the majority of websites, including major sites like Google, and there is a wealth of free software, tools, forums etc. dedicated to it. Many people now use WordPress to build their websites or blogs and about 95% of these installations are on Linux as it is easy and straightforward. The exception would be where your website developers specify the need to use Microsoft based hosting.

 

What else does the website hosting provider offer? – The following should be available:

* unlimited (or a large number) of email accounts and the tools to manage them.  

* unlimited (or a reasonable number) of FTP accounts

* access to and control of databases

* tools to backup the site (and databases)

* It is also good to see support for Fantastico – which makes it very easy to install WordPress.

 

How good is the support? – In many ways this is the most important question to ask when looking for your best website host. If you are stuck, the other services mean nothing until your website hosting provider provides help.  Look for the support options to include a toll free phone number. It is also worth searching the web to see feedback from real users.