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It is very important you go with a reliable and stable web hosting company to host your website/forum. Many times when looking for a web host, it can become overwhelming just by looking at how many web hosts there actually are out there. However, there are some main points you should consider and look at to decipher between a night-by and good host.

Not all these points are always applicable but most of the time it will be. So here we go, what do you look at when you want a good web host?

  1. AGE AGE AGE AGE AGE! I can't emphasize enough on how much age of a host shows the reliability of a web host. No matter what you say, if a web host is old, they are bound to be good - to say the least. If a company is alive for at least 3 years, you know they will have a good enough income base to keep on providing great hosting and support. Now these aged hosts can be expensive and it's obvious why. But not always are new companies are bad but you have to be extremely cautious when going with a new hosting company. - 1 year = 2 points. A host that is 5 years old = 10 points.
  2. Methods of support & contact. Don't you want to be able to contact your host at 3 AM in the morning if you have a issue? Any reliable hosting company will be provide you with multiple ways of contacting them - if they don't...WALK AWAY! Most common methods of contact are Email, support tickets, live chat, forums and phone. When a company provides forums & phone support, you should automatically give that host an extra 2 points. Each method of contact/support=1 point.
  3. Appearance & Presentation. When I say appearance, I don't just mean if their site is appealing to your eyes but how do the company introduce themselves? How do they greet their clients? Read their about us page - if they don't have one, it would be wise to look the other way and to walk. - how do they describe themselves? what is the aim of their company, what are they trying to do? Look carefully how the statements are presented, does it look like a fourth grader wrote it? - 1 point for presentations. Now appearance, this is basically the design of the company's website. Ask yourself the following questions, does it look professional? Are the information vivid and organized? Are they conveying their message clearly? Are the colors easy to the eyes? Are the fonts too small or too big read clearly? Are the information overcrowded, like they are trying to tell you everything in this universe about web hosting and their services? These are personal questions, there are no right or wrong answers, it's what seems proper to you. 1 point for appearance.
  4. Hosting Packages. ... ...
  5. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy & Acceptable User Policy. ... ...
  6. User Reviews. ... ...
  7. What main premium features are provided? ... ...
  8. Lastly, I want to end this with the following quoting Sain Cai from FWS:
    Quote:Find a host that suits your actual needs and not one that advertises ridiculous amounts of space and transfer, especially when they just started up and have no clue on the aspects of webhosting.

Read on to the whole tutorial here
1)I know a host thats been around since 1999. Been crap since then. Hasn't changed.
2)Agreed to some extent.
3) http://www.myproxyhosting.com/ Perfect proof of a good host with a bad design. Design isn't everything, but it sure helps i agree.
4) ?
5) Agreed
6) Less features the better, more power to the server.
7)Agreed
I wonder if I'm the only one that actually reads a host's TOS before signing up.

Very good points, Age is definitely the biggest factor.
Mark.M, I think you missed the little link at the bottom that says to click it to read the full tutorial, #4 - #7 are not explained here. Toungue

@Winford, these days, only a handful read a web host's TOS and later when they get suspended or terminated, they on a bash spree on all the forums they know. :/
(2010-07-15, 12:58 AM)metalingus903 Wrote: [ -> ]Mark.M, I think you missed the little link at the bottom that says to click it to read the full tutorial, #4 - #7 are not explained here. Toungue

@Winford, these days, only a handful read a web host's TOS and later when they get suspended or terminated, they on a bash spree on all the forums they know. :/

I did Toungue