Choosing a web hosting service for your site

There are many web hosting companies out there. How can you raffle though the mix to find the best one? Many people will tell you to just go with a particular company, but when I went though that process… well, lets just say one time was enough. When I picked out a new hosting service, I made sure they had everything I was looking for.

When deciding what web hosting company to go with, the most important thing webmasters should be thinking about is the following:

• My site needs to be up 100% of the time – While this may be an unrealistic goal have; you should always be trying to aim for this. Many companies will not have a sufficient way of backing up their servers content. This is important to watch out for when picking your hosting service.
• I need killer support – This is crucial when or if your site ever has any problems. Lets say your site goes down in the middle of the night; you should have the option to contact an expert at any time. Another thing that should matter to you is the quality of your support. For instance, one of my first providers would send me to India every time I called during the night. I could tell they were reading from scripts almost every time and they proved to be very unhelpful.
• I must have a good help center – While the hosting may be top quality, they should also have a separate page with things like video tutorials, faqs, and step by step instructions on how to do many things on their site. This ensures that you won’t be calling every other day to learn how to do something simple.
• I should have a simple way to install WordPress – Most web hosting companies are moving to this, but it’s still vitally important to check. The main thing you want to find out is if they have a way to install WordPress with a one-click-install. This basically means that you can pick the url you want WordPress to install and you click one button and presto, it’s installed.
• Make sure they have other good features – For most of the top companies you should have unlimited hosting space, a good amount of email addresses, and support for many different coding languages. Its always a good idea to check out the features page of any hosting provider to make sure you are getting everything you want.

What I Use

I have been using HostMonster for the past several years and have found a lot of success with it for many reasons:

• My sites have never been down before.
• 24 hours support and the people I meet up with are usually pretty knowledgeable.
• They have a huge video tutorial library where I can find everything I need.
• They use simplepress to Install WordPress quickly and easily. They also give you the option to update your WordPress installs as well, which makes my life as a web developer much easier.
• They have all the features I am looking for, you can find a list of them here.

If you don’t like HostMonster, you could always look into these other great companies:

• bluehost.com
• justhost.com
• HostGator.com

Ultimately its up to you

While I do suggest HostMonster to everyone who asks me, that’s just my personal preference. You should make a list of your favorite hosting service and give each of them a call asking them what they do better than these other companies out there. Come up with a pros and cons list and make the best decision to your knowledge. In the end, most of these companies have a money back guarantee. You could essentially keep on switching companies until you find the right one.

I hope you found this post on picking the right hosting service helpful. If you have any questions or other things you would like to let the WordPress Marketing Tips community know about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.