Find a Dependable Web Host

Choosing a web host is one of the most important decisions you will make for your
website. Many website owners make the mistake of going with the cheapest web host, but
are disappointed when they don't live up to their expectations.

Before you select a web host you need to decide what features or requirements you need
for your website. This section will help you identify what factors are most important
when selecting a web host and what considerations you need to make before signing up.
I have also included my preferred list of web hosts at the end of this section.
Reliability and Speed

You should look for a web host with a guaranteed uptime of 99.9% or higher. For every
minute that your website is down you could be losing money. That's why I would rather
pay a little extra for reliability and speed, than try and save with a cheap monthly hosting
plan.

Every professional web hosting company should be located inside a secure data center
facility. These data centers feature the following: multiple and redundant connections to
the Internet, power backups, climate-controlled rooms, and support staff that is on-site at
all times. Most data centers are equipped to withstand natural disasters like earthquakes,
tornadoes and severe storms. Some web hosting companies even offer virtual tours of
their facilities for prospective customers.

A Hard Lesson to Learn:
Back in 2004 I was hosting several websites with a Florida based web hosting company.
During the hurricane season their facility lost power on several different occasions. The
company did not have adequate power backups and my websites went down for several
hours on multiple occasions. This cost me thousands of dollars and caused a lot of stress.
It was evident that this company did not locate their servers in a professional data center.


Customer Service and Support

goes down in the middle of the night, it's reassuring to know there's a real person on the
other line that can help you with your problem.

Scripting and Database Access

If you're planning on building a dynamic or database-driven website that requires serverside
scripting (like PHP, Perl, and ASP), make sure to select a hosting plan that provides
these services. For example, some web hosts have a "basic" or "starter" plan that may not
include support for server-side scripting and database access.

Web-Based Control Panel

Most web hosts offer a web-based control panel for their users. This control panel allows
you to login into your hosting account using a web browser from any location. A good
control panel will allow you to:
• Upload, edit, or delete files
• Create, edit, or delete folders
• Manage your e-mail accounts
• Create, edit, or delete sub-domains (shopping.yoursite.com, info.yoursite.com)
• View your website statistics
A web-based control panel is especially helpful for new webmasters who are not familiar
with the technical aspects of managing a website.

Access to Traffic Logs

Every time a visitor comes to your website, details about their visit are tracked and stored
on your web host's servers. These visitor sessions are stored in a log file, which can be
downloaded and analyzed at any time.

These traffic logs track a number of different statistics:
• Where the visitor was referred from (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, or any other
website).
• If the visitor found your website through a search engine your traffic logs will tell
you which keywords they used.
• What pages the visitor viewed.
• How long the visitor was on your site.
• What web browsers your visitors use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox).
File Storage and Data Transfer
Most web hosting companies provide more file storage than you will ever use. File
storage is the amount of disk space allocated on the web host's servers for your website.


If your website consists of a lot of images, sound clips, or video files that occupy a lot of
disk space you can add more file storage to your plan.
When a visitor comes to your website, all the text, pictures, and other files that make up
your web pages are transferred to your visitor's computer. Data transfer is a measure of
the total amount of information your visitors view each month. If you have large image,
audio, or video files you may need more data transfer. High traffic websites that receive
hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors may also need more data transfer.
My Recommendations
It's hard to find objective advice online about web hosting companies. Many of the
review websites have affiliate relationships with the web hosts they review; their opinion
may be financially motivated. I encourage you to visit several review websites, but
analyze what you read carefully. If it sounds more like a sales pitch than an honest
assessment, you may not be getting good advice.
Once you have a few web hosting companies in mind, you may want to research them
further using Google. Remember that people are more likely to post complaints online,
than to post praise. You may also want to check out the Better Business Bureau
(www.bbb.org) for any unresolved complaints, or service trends.
In my experience, the best way to find a good web host is to ask a real customer. An
existing customer can tell you a lot more about a web host than a brochure or promotional
site. If you know another website owner, ask them about their experience. Would they
recommend their web host?
I have used dozens of web hosts throughout the years. From my experience, a good web
host is hard to come by. The recommendation below is based on my personal experiences
as an affiliate with over 100 websites.
1 - Yahoo Web Hosting
I host several websites with Yahoo Web Hosting (including Quit Your Day Job). They
are one of the fastest and most reliable web hosts available.
Pros:
- Best reliability
- Very fast, can handle heavy traffic loads
- Advanced scripting (PHP and Perl) and database (MySQL) tools.
- Easy-to-use web hosting control panel
- 24 x 7 toll free support

Cons:
- Some advanced PHP functions are not available for security reasons
- Advanced Apache modules like ModRewrite are not available for security reasons