Artivisme

By far and away the best way of finding the best web hosting company to meet your needs is by word-of-mouth recommendation. With so many services on offer online, trusting the advertising copy of any of the services is fraught with danger for the future success of your website. The safest way of protecting yourself against erroneous and even fraudulent claims is to find and speak to someone who has already used the service provider you are interested in. If you don’t find anyone in your own circle a search for comments in forums concerning the company can be a useful way of finding other people’s experiences. People are much more likely to comment on their bad experiences than on their good experiences. Good comments are also often posted by the company themselves, or those paid by them, as if they were users, so a good rule to follow is to look out for a lack of bad reviews/comments.

If you are new to running your own website you may also find much of the terminology confusing. Not understanding the terms and phrases used will also lead to some misinformed decisions. It is important that you take a little time to learn the main technological considerations required for an informed decision.

Often, if your requirements are relatively modest, you may be well advised to use one of the more established, well-known hosting companies and selecting one of their basic packages. If  you prefer to be more pro-active in your selection your first consideration should be how much storage space and bandwidth you require. A simple, static website with 3-4 pages and minimal multi-media built to serve a small business, family or community requires much less than an e-commerce site seeking large numbers of visitors to multiple pages. If you are unsure of your website’s future requirements, make sure that you can upgrade your hosting package at a later date. Most companies will be only to happy to accommodate this.

In addition to making use of users’ comments on forums and message boards, you may also find the use of a web-hosting comparison site useful, making speedy comparison of price and features easier. Be sure to use a site that lists a wide selection of providers and bear in mind that they will most likely be earning be earning a commission on their recommendations, so be sure to still use user reviews before making your final decision.