1. Excellent Customer Support: Your hosting provider needs to be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem. Ask them how long it takes for them to typically respond to a customer. A good test is to call them in the middle of the night to see if you can get to a live, level 3 support tech at 2 a.m.
2. A Rock Solid Infrastructure. Confirm that they offer a multihomed network powered by multiple bandwidth providers to ensure redundancy. Also, investigate your hoster’s Service Level Agreement.
3. Financial Stability: You can not afford to be with a hosting company that may not be in business in a few months. What if they close down? It could be harmful to your own business. Ask the hosting provider to show you proof of their financials and longevity of service.
4. Guarantees: There are so many hosting companies that do not offer money back on unused months if you cancel early. But these days, look for the refund on unused hosting. Many companies do not mention it because they dont offer it.
5. Upgrade Path - If you see your business growing, and you might want more products/services in the future, then you will need an upgrade path. It is a real bother changing hosting companies. Just getting lots of bandwidth and storage is not the answer. Many customers do not use near the amount of bandwidth and storage that many hosting companies are offering. This is really just a marketing technique for a lot of hosting companies. Look for extra products that they offer. What about ecommerce? Do they offer the best ecommerce products, SPAM/Virus filtering, Marketing tools etc. Remember that these days hosting is not just about storage and bandwidth. It is about a whole lot more. Do not settle for just space on a box
6. Finding a no-risk Internet partner: Currently anyone can set themselves up as a web hosting or registration company. But how do you know they are not just operating from a shed or bedroom? More importantly, can they guarantee consistent levels of service.
This may sound obvious, but a good first step in checking out the background of a company is to look at their website. Does it look like a “bedroom project”, or does it appear to be designed by professionals? Are there support mechanisms, such as email and call-back response facilities on show? Although this is no guarantee of quality and service reliability, it can just give you clue to likely quality of the service you are considering.
John D.
