Computer services for home and small business in and around Sheffield

PC Happy Blog

Finding a web hosting company – 6 Top Tips

I made a brief post a few days ago about looking for a new web host, so far I am very happy with my new host. I thought I would add a few more tips I have found when looking for a new web hosting company. If you use your website for business or to make money in anyway, finding the right host for your website is vitally important. Here are my tips -

  • Before you sign up make sure you ask them a few questions by email, if they can’t respond quickly to a possible sale they are likely not going to be great responding to support requests either. This doesn’t prove you will get good support, but in a lot of cases if you don’t get a decent, relatively quick response to your email you can expect a worse response if you ever need support.
  • Ask a few technical questions, the pre-sales people might not know the answers but you should get a decent answer from the support department forwarded to you. If the answer doesn’t makes sense or leaves you unsure you might want to rule that host out
  • Write a list of all your requirements and make sure they are fully met. If there are any points you can’t see on their website ask in an email to check. If there are any scripts your website uses make sure these will work with the new host, and make sure they are allowed.
  • Ask for the address of the server you will be hosted on if using shared hosting. You can then test what the Pings are like and see how quickly you can download from them. Every host should have a test file you can download.
  • Check for any uptime guarantees and make sure if they fail to meet them they actually do something, and not just apologise. Their terms of service should cover what they will do if they fail to meet the uptime guarantee.
  • Obviously you should check other things such as the bandwidth and storage limitation, if these don’t meet your needs you can rule them out straight away.

These are just a few basic tips, there are lots more useful checks you make do to try find the right host. If you have any of your own tips, feel free to leave a comment below.

Posted in Internet by Marc on July 26, 2010


8 Comments »

  1. Those are some great tips…one more I would like to add since I am a web host, make sure they dont have hidden agendas for example I know a few hosts will only allow 30 emails every 5 mins or 600 hits every 5 mins…so make sure theres nothing like that!

    Comment by Neal@ Cheap Web Hosting — July 26, 2010 @ 12:32 pm

  2. I’ve been in the market for a new host for a while now. Thank you for this post – it was a big help.

    Comment by Aeh — July 26, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

  3. Great tips. Anyone who follows these should be able to find a reliable company.

    Comment by st. louis movers — July 26, 2010 @ 5:58 pm

  4. All great tips. Most hosting companies will be glad to help you out but I have run into a few that dont give the time of day. I guess business isnt that important to them

    Comment by Affordable Web Design — July 27, 2010 @ 7:56 pm

  5. Nice article. and it is highly informative.

    Comment by egrove — July 28, 2010 @ 2:00 pm

  6. Super Tips. I have used Hostgator for a couple of years and whilst being reasonably priced they are very reliable and have excellent support.

    Comment by Registry Cleaner — July 30, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

  7. There are numerous web hosts now claiming them to be the best and offer unlimited storage and bandwidth which entices a customer easily. So for a successful business operation choosing the right web hosting service has become more complex than before. Keep up the good work. All the best.

    Comment by web development India — July 31, 2010 @ 7:24 am

  8. To me it’s very important that i can contact the hosting company on PHONE whenever there’s a prob, so preferably, 24 hours a day!

    Comment by Jos — August 19, 2010 @ 2:40 pm

Leave a comment

Comments are moderated, no keywords in name.

Copyright © 2010 PCHappy.co.uk

Computer Problem?

If you are thinking "how can I fix my computer", or "how can I fix my laptop" you are in the right place. Give me call and I can repair your computer problem. There are lots of possible causes when you have computer problems, some of them can be fairly complicated to fix. Lots of problems are caused by viruses, adware, trojans, spyware or malware and once you get infected it can be really difficult to get rid of the problem and fix your computer. Now you have found PC Happy you can get your problem fixed cheaply and efficiently. This is because that is what PC Happy does best, reliable services for a cheap price. It doesn't matter if you have a laptop or desktop computer the problems are usually pretty much the same. Now you have found PC Happy the solution isn't too far away. Maybe your problem is with your broadband connection or you wireless network. These are often fairly straightforward to fix. Your PC can be fixed either onsite or it can be collected and returned for no extra charge. No matter which service you choose you can be safe in the knowledge that there is a no fix no fee policy with PC Happy.

Sometimes you don't have a problem with your computer and you just need help with the set-up, maybe you can't set-up your email or you can't set-up a network. These are problems I can help you with. Another area that can cause lots of problems is security, Internet security is very important and if your Internet security isn't working correctly you should get it fixed as soon as possible. If you are getting lots of popups while you are on the Internet this can be an indication of a problem. Popups aren't just annoying they are often a sign of a virus, malware, adware of similar. Don't just leave it, if you have a popup problem you should get it fixed as soon as possible.