If you are in the market for a web hosting provider, you need to consider these factors:
- Do they have 24/7 support?
- Do they have phone support?
- How fast do they respond to support tickets?
- What is their system uptime?
- Are they up to date with patches/service packs and security fixes release for the software they use?
- Can you pay monthly or do you need to pay annually?
- Do they perform data backups?
- Does their system scalable?
- Read their Terms of Service and Acceptable Usage Policy before signing up.
These are just some of the many factors you need to consider in choosing a webhosting provider. You could usually get these info by reading user reviews and feedbacks and going to sites and forums with web hosting reviews.
Webhosting Geeks is one of the top webhosting review sites. They currently have a Top 10 Web Hosting - Best Web Hosts (2008) listing. They also have a listing of awards given to the best providers for Windows Hosting, Unix Hosting, Budget Hosting, VPS Hosting and even Dedicated Hosting. They also have various webhosting provider reviews. One of the notable providers that they reviewed was Bluehosting which garnered Web Hosting Geeks Editor’s Pick. It is a good thing however that the review also had various customer feedbacks where I found out that Bluehost doesn’t exactly deliver what they are selling on paper.
While you are at the site, you might as well check out their web hosting articles and a list of free webmaster resources which might be of use to you.
How about you? What factors are you looking for in a webhosting provider?
FarmOut Central, a BPO firm based in the Northern Philippines, is compiling a list of Mandarin speaking agents for possible work as inbound call center agents for one of their ASEAN principals.