Website Building

Finding a good cheap website host is not easy.  A search on the web will reveal a mass of hosting providers all claiming to offer a good service but looking very similar.

You can also find numerous hosting review sites but even they cannot cover the whole market and some may not be as independant as they appear.

There are lots of forums full of information and sites like hostjury.com that collect information on hosts.  To find a cheap website host that offers a good service you will need to spend quite a lot of time on research.  You should consider the following:

How many years has the business been operational?  Obviously the longer the better as you do not want to get your website up and running then have to pick up the pieces if your hosting company goes out of business.

Size of the company?  Smaller companies are probably resellers i.e. they do not have their own technical infrastructure but are selling someone else’s under their name (they are responsible for providing support).  A reseller can provide a perfectly good service but inevitabley is more risky.  

Number of comments both good and bad?  The number of comments should be proportional to the size of the company, so you would expect to see more about the big companies.  It is normal behaviour for users to complain more often than offer praise so expect to see unfavourable feedback about all companies, lack of this is suspicious.  Comments such as “I use xxx company and their service is great” are also suspicious and even if they are genuine provide no useful information.

Test the support.  Whilst you might read about this there is nothing like trying it for yourself.  Send them a question and see how quickly they respond and whether you get a good reply or just a standard response.

Is there a free trial or a money back guarantee?  If not you will need to think carefully before paying yearly (or whatever term is required) in advance.

If you just want to get your website up and running, and undertaking through research to find a cheap website host is too time consuming, the best option is to go for one of the major suppliers.  These companies do have some good offers and whilst this may not be the cheapest option it will be the safest. Your hosting company will a stable reputable company and your website will always be online.