Here are 3 Top Tips for choosing the hosting company and hosting package. Make the right decision and enjoy a great hosting price, support and features. And if you need help ask me!
1 – Price! – Don’t overpay for hosting and above all check the price. When you compare hosting platforms, make sure you check what the monthly prices are after any initial discounts. And don’t forget to add any applicable taxes (VAT). As VAT is 20% a minor difference in the monthly fee between two hosting companies is made larger when VAT is added. Also, check what the contract terms are. If you sign up for an annual plan, it is unlikely that you will get a refund if you want to end the hosting package halfway through a year. This makes no difference whether you cancel is in the first year or a few years down the road. If you are signed up for a low-cost hosting package, the cancellation costs may be quite small, but if you are paying a high monthly cost, make sure you know when to cancel in the payment cycle. Also, check whether you can upgrade or downgrade easily in the future and whether extra features are easy to add and at a reasonable cost.
2 – Support! – Check out what support you will get and how you can access the support. First, it is essential that the support is available 7 days a week and for 24 hours a day. If your website goes down at the weekend, you do not want to wait 2 days for someone to help you. Second, check how you access help. I prefer a ticket system and/or an online chat system. This means I can send a message and pick up a reply later in the day. I do not value telephone services where you will need to go through security and explain what the problem is. With a ticket system, you can send screenshots, copy error messages, etc. You can also receive detailed instructions you can follow at your leisure and store should you need the same help again in the future. You should also check if there is a knowledge base you can consult with. Being able to search an issue and check possible solutions can often save a lot of time.
3 – Features! – Make sure you understand fully what you will get with each hosting package you evaluate. Comparing different price plans can often help highlight the differences. If you see something that is unknown to you as a feature, check what it is and whether it is also included in other packages. Whilst you will probably want to get the most features, check to see whether they are real, or just a normal feature that all the packages you are evaluating offers.
So there we have three Top Tips for choosing a hosting company and package.
Key features you will want to check include – Cpanel access, emails (any limits), FTP access, number of websites (any limits), upgrade options, sub-domains (any limits), domains (any limits)…
To view and evaluate some great hosting packages, just drop into the Support From Richard Directory.
