Finding a host for your website can be an incredibly difficult task. If you have a website which will receive a decent amount of traffic or make use of software such as a content management system that requires a server-side programming language, you have to find a quality web-host. The reality is that most web-hosts over-promise and under deliver. Believe it or not, no one can afford to provide you “unlimited storage” and “unlimited bandwidth” for $10.00 per month or less.
The best way to find a web-host which will satisfy the needs of your website is to find reviews of a web-hosting company written by their current and past customers. You can’t trust all web hosting reviews, however. There are a number of unscrupulous web-hosts which post fake reviews on web hosting review websites. You might read some reviews that say that one company provides the best web hosting, but read other reviews that say that the company isn’t worth your time.
In order to separate the best in class web hosting companies from the rest, find companies that have a significant number of reviews and consistently receive positive feedback from their clients. Be sure to read the negative reviews as well. Often a high-quality web host will respond to a negative review and post a response, which will provide you additional information as to whether or not you should consider that company. Some will lambast the customer and others will try to help the customer or point out that the negative reviewer isn’t being forthright with the review they provided.
You can spend a lot of time on sites that provide web hosting provider reviews, but once you find a few companies that you like, make sure they offer web-hosting which matches the technology used by the software which will power your website (PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby, Something else?). You’ll also want to compare prices and features to find the best deal.
Once you’ve identified the web-host that you want to take advantage of, remember to search for coupon codes online. Quite often there are special links or coupon codes that you can make use of which will get you a lower price than the one advertised by your web host.