According to the experts at TopTenReviews, this table presents the best of the best web hosting companies. Which one should you choose to host your site?
The answer: None of the above. Unfortunately, this outfit and tons of other review sites put profit ahead of objectivity when making their recommendations. The underlying motivation shows clearly in this video clip.
Finding a truly “good” web hosting company is probably the biggest challenge you’ll face when setting up your site. Word of mouth is a good place to start. But in the end you have to test-drive the service yourself before you really know if the fit is right.
For me, a “good” web host has to offer, at the minimum, the following:
- Money back guarantee
- Better Business Bureau rating of at least B+
- A telephone number that is answered within a reasonable amount of time
- 24/7 tech support from knowledgeable staff via chat, phone, or email
- Modern, reliable hardware with limited down time
- Generally positive comments from independent customer forums
- Full feature set, including cPanel and the Fantastico script installer
I have researched quite a number of web hosts but found precious few that satisfy these criteria. Among those that pass are Arvixe, Inmotion, and Host Gator. Any one of these would probably be a good choice.
But even if your experience is unsatisfactory, you can easily back up your entire site and transfer it to another provider. Intact. That’s one of the biggest advantages to going with a host that features the proprietary cPanal versus other control panels. It makes managing your site a breeze.
Once you have registered a domain name and chosen a web host, the next step is to connect them and start building your site. Look for details in Part III of this series.