Important things to consider while choosing your web hosting provider

So, now armed with all the web hosting terms you are all set to go and find your hosting provider. With the internet and globalization at your doorstep the variety of providers is overwhelming. What things do you need to consider when choosing yours?

Put your visitors first

The most important thing to consider is where the servers of your provider-to-be have to be located to serve your visitors and customers best.  If you target one specific locality or even continent, it is wise to arrange your website to be located in the geographical centre of the majority of your visitors, i.e. if your web-site is targeted at American visitors you wouldn’t go and host it in Europe or Australia because it will cause increased web-page load time for American visitors and they will potentially close your website even before it loads.

Choose established businesses

If you want a stable reliable relationship with your web hosting provider check his legal status beforehand. Registered legitimate business is much more likely to be around next year than a bunch of school kids who arranged a webhosting website as a part of their summer project.

Check for the company name, registration number, office address and phone number – these would be the first points available at a glance to judge if there is a company behind the website at all. Look for legal information at the footer of the website or the terms and conditions page. The absence of publicly published terms and conditions page, privacy policy and acceptable usage policy will be another factor against the prospective candidate for your custom.

Customer Support

One could think that you cannot judge the support level that you’ll get from a company before signing up with them, right? Wrong. It is in fact very easy to check free of charge. Collect a couple of questions that you have regarding the service they provide and the package that you intend to buy and send them an email or pre-sales ticket. Take a note of the time it will take them to answer and their manner to communicate (Do note that most sales departments operate in usual office hours at their office time zone). Technical support department can be more operative than sales but you will get a general picture anyway.

Acceptable Usage Policy

Before signing up it is important to consider the provider’s AUP or acceptable usage policy. Though most of them are written in a small print it is still a vital thing that when disregarded can lead you to a terminated account without the option of a refund.  When in doubt contact the web hosting provider directly and describe the web-site that you plan to host with them and ask if there is anything you need to consider before signing up.

Summary

It is not an easy task to choose a web hosting provider nowadays but keeping your eyes open for obvious things indicating unprofessionalism will keep you out of trouble and with a reliable provider who will serve you for years to come.