How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

So you’re ready to start your website. You have a great name and idea, now you need to get your site online. The decision to choose a web hosting company should be based off of word of mouth or reviews on forums and discussion boards. Frustrated customers will certainly let everyone know if they’ve been burned by bad service. To start look for a company that has been around for a few years. Don’t just look for a cheap deal from a company that just setup shop! They’ll probably be growing pains and issues. Make sure the company has a reasonable up time for their sites as well as a 24/7 support number or email address to contact someone if your site happens to go down overnight.

Be sure to choose a dedicated IP address and not a shared IP. An IP address is the actual number (like a phone number) associated with your domain name. A dedicated IP address is best as an insurance policy against your site being grouped together with either competitor or malicious sites. Shared IP addresses can move your site within different groups on a server.

Web hosts are generally $9.99 to $100 or more a month and depends on certain factors. Size of site content, how much traffic will be coming to your site, and the use of a dedicated IP address. To start, the $25-50 range is about right for a startup web business.