Choosing the right Web Host

[imported_Tom_Sean]

Whatever type of website you want to host, choosing the correct host can be tricky. Most hosting companies offer you more than you will ever use, their sales staff recommend high-end packages for small websites.
Be careful when choosing, you will need room to expand but before you contact a company’s sales department; take a look at the size of your website. If it’s 10MB you wont need 1&1s Home package with 800MB for £4.99 a month!
Price and disk space aren’t the only factors to consider when choosing a host. Monthly transfer is how much information can be moved by both visitors and you; this may be from uploading and downloading files. Monthly transfer is also know as bandwidth and is slowly eaten up by every visit. I have seen many hosts offering more space then transfer! Don’t get caught out.
If you’re planning to install a forum or a content management system, they will both require a database. Linux and windows based hosts both handle MySQL databases, but Linux is usually praised as being the more efficient. Your host should allow you to add an extra database to your account with only a small fee, but you need to find out how many are included and how much upgrades cost before you decide on whom to hand your money too.
It is usually a good idea to use a company who you know is trustworthy, whether you know someone using them or have heard of their good services.

[imported_monaghan]

Good advise, far too many people are drawn in by the overselling that goes on offering huge packages for small £'s

Most of our customers are on custom packages tailored to their needs. We do get the occasional purchase of a "standard" or "starter" package.

[jimberan]

I agree with Alex and Tom. I have seen so many of my friends buying into fancing hosting plans while they end up using almost none of the fancy bells and whistles.

[imported_hoosierhunter]

I have to say that features are not the main thing I look for anymore. It used to be that I'd want all the features possible in the rare case I'd want to use a specific tool. Now I'm more interested in bandwith, uptime, reputation, etc. I'd rather have reliability than toys I might not use.

[ACCER]

I've been using 1and1.com for 3 years as a host and I've had no problems. That's my base criteria: Problems. If I don't have it, it's a great service.

[matt4]

I would agree with that.

Anyone host offering 500gb disk or bandwidth for $1-$5 dollars a month is defiantly not one you would want. Try even using anywhere near that and you would be suspended. Overselling would be done to the max with more users per server then what's recommended. Then when the server crashes and they can't repair it they run off with the money

Before purchasing from a webhost I suggest you ask some good pre-sales questions first and stay very, very far away from hosts like the ones I explained above.

Cheers,
Matt

[TOliver]

keep away from Hostgator. Personally had nothing but bad experiences with them.

[lin robinson]

Agree with all above, based on sad experience.
Another lesson I learned the hard way: be very wary of sites that list hosts rated by how good or popular they are. They are often owned by the hosts that come up tops on the list. I was steered into a disaster that way.

[Steve_gts]

I've been using 1and1.com for 3 years as a host and I've had no problems

Same here until this week, they disontinued fp extensions with only 2 weeks notice, I'm not impressed at the moment. If they had done that when I was on holiday my enquiry form would have just stopped working!

Steve