Ask Advice: What to look for in a web hosting company?
Over a year ago I asked for some advice on selecting a hosting company for my blog, but despite a couple of suggestions I have still not transferred my site. I have since been advised to use a UK hosting company so that we are both under the same legal criteria and unfortunately the earlier suggestions were both US companies.
I have done some research and have found several companies that appear to meet my requirements, but I’ve realised I don’t know how to tell a good hosting company. Of course, I want to spend as little as possible, particularly as my blog doesn’t make any money (yet), but I’m happy to pay more for a reliable and helpful company. I have read that you sometimes need to be careful of the very cheap provider; so how do I tell? I have found several UK review sites, but I’m not sure I can trust any of them as they seem to be mostly about promoting affiliate links.
For the blog I want to be able to run WordPress. Plus if you have ever visited www.darktea.co.uk you will have discovered I run Coppermine to share photographs, I want to continue with that and have the bandwith to share short videos of my daughter. I would also like to be able to host more than one domain name as I’m thinking it maybe time to buy this blog its own domain; and of course some form of backup would be a bonus.
Do you have any advice for what I should be looking for in a hosting company? Or do you have any experience with these (or other UK hosting companies)? There are no affiliate links in the list.
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It really depends on what you are looking for – each hosting company has their things they do better than the others. If you are looking for high availability, you should go for a more expensive host like peer1.com
1and1,
) I’m ready to go with premium hosting, but who knows this time next year …
Thank you for your suggestion. As this is the first time I’m going to be paying for server space and my website is not critical reading (yet
I’ve used 34sp.com for a few years now, and would usually jump at the chance to recommend them. However, at the start of April they removed their lowest package (although, it was perfectly suitable for my needs), and replaced it with a higher spec, but more expensive account.
In all other respects they are definitely worth a look – it’s just a shame they’ve upped their target audience.
Gary,
Thanks for the suggestion, I actually came across 34sp.com last night while doing some more research, however I discounted them possibly on cost. I want to host videos and it appears that many providers don’t allow you to do that so that narrowed down my choice. Today I have signed up with 5quidhost, I’m starting on £2/month plan, but suspect it won’t be too long before I need to upgrade to £5/month once I’ve got family accessing videos.
For blog, I’ll advice you a plan or company who would be dealing with wordpress hosting. I suffered total data loss in past on my previous host and they have worst support for their users(They are US based).
Thank you for the advice Steve. I have gone with a UK hosting company who has a lot of good feedback including their support. So far they haven’t disappointed me with very quick responses to my queries.
As you have a .UK domain name, you don’t need a UK host to rank in Google.
So, consider jaguarpc.net, asmallorange.com and hostgator.com as alternatives. If your host doesn’t offer SSH, Cpanel and Fantastico as standard, you may run into problems/increased work later. I wouldn’t bother with a host without these, now.
You can install _and update_ Wordpress with a few button presses using Fanstatico.
Thank you for your advice, unfortunately I had already signed up to a hosting company before you submitted your comment. I went with 5 quid host. This is the first time I have used Cpanel and Fantastico and I agree with you that in future I wouldn’t bother with a host that doesn’t offer them.
First of all you shouldn’t trust web hosting review sites. Not only they are filled with affiliate links and fake advertisements, but most importantly most of them are owned or have very close relations with web hosting firms. Through their “reviews� try to manipulate their visitors by promoting specific companies and at the time share fake info about antagonistic web hosting agencies. You should trust independent reviews by experienced webmasters, forum posts, uptime and money back guarantees, and finally the price/quality ratio. Personally I have managed to start a small website which is related to web hosting industry and all the aspects which are involved in web hosting services. Don’t search for the cheapest web hosting provider, seek reliability, positive experiences and at some degree trust your instinct.
I absolutely agree with you about trusting your instincts. Whenever I visited a web hosting review site I was turned off by the blatant affiliate links and advertising. I asked people for recommendations, but unfortunately none of them were suitable for what I wanted so had to do my own research looking at the factors you suggested. One of the factors that seriously cut down my options was my desire to host videos to share with my family, it appears that the major hosting companies do not allow this. So far, I am very happy with the hosting company I have chosen 5 quid host as they offer no limitations on databases or domains and I only need to pay more if I need more bandwidth, plus their customer service has been fantastic.
Have you considered hosting your videos at a third party like YouTube or other similar providers? That way you don’t have to pay for disk space or bandwidth (which video is pretty bad with) and don’t have to worry about whether your web server is up to the task either. You’ll still be able to embed them into your site etc. Just a thought…
For me one of important things in choosing a webhosting is whether if the service provider provides Cpanel with Fantastico functions. It makes installing scripts so much easier.