Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing
A Website Hosting Provider

Going for the Cheapest or Free Web Hosting?

Nothing comes free in this world. So why would you expect your website hosting to be free? When using free hosting services. You can be guaranteed you will encounter problems in the future. The web host may put unsolicited party advertisements on your website. You may not be allowed to run certain scripts for animation or video. There can be major issues with website loading speed. You may have no clue of when and or why your website server went down. The hosting provider may not respond to your concerns if you need a quick technical fix. You may not be able to build or scale up your website the way you want it. Search engines may not give your site an equal importance when ranking.

Overpaying or Pricing Surprises

That discount sign up price really looks good

But is that the amount you will be paying when renewal term kicks in?
What appears to be a Low Cost web hosting might actually be quite expensive in the long run. With the Hosting industry today, there is a trend of showing the customer a smaller price than what they eventually be charged. Look past the Advertised or Sale price and at the long term monthly price, and you will see what you will actually pay.

We have seen companies like GoDaddy and Bluehost go from $78 to more than $250 a year. Read the small print and make sure you know what the actual cost of your hosting contract will be.

Better yet, do not get locked into a long term contract. Look for a host that does month to month billing. You may notice better savings with this arrangement.

High Renewal Prices

Many hosting providers advertise low introductory rates, but renewal costs often increase 2x–5x after the first term. This pricing model can significantly raise long-term expenses if not reviewed carefully before signup. Always compare the full renewal rate, not just the starting price, to avoid unexpected billing surprises and budget issues.

• • Introductory pricing is temporary and often misleading
• • Renewal rates can double or triple after the first term
• • Hidden fees and add-ons increase total cost
• • Long-term contracts can lock you into higher pricing

Purchasing Features You Do Not Need

Examine the list of features that are included with your hosting package. Understanding what each feature is the best way to determine which one is right for you. If you have to pay extra for what seams to be standard features with other hosting companies I would look else where. We have seen one of the largest hosting providers charge extra for cPanel when almost every other provider offers this for free. Or purchasing a "Backup Plan" when cPanel or WordPress has these programs already built in.

Technical Support Communication

Technical hosting support teams are composed of professionals with technical expertise in server management, web hosting software and related technologies. But if you find that your Provider's support team is unresponsive, unable to resolve your issues satisfactorily, doesn't meet your expectations, or responses in a form that is hard to understand (broken english).
Look else where for your hosting services

Not Paying Attention to Given Terms and Conditions

We all tend to ignore the Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policies when signing up for any service. Generally, hosting companies highlight only those points that they want you to read, not what you need to know to avoid future issues. You should read the "Refund" policy, "Cancellation" policy, "ToS" of agreement and ask the provider for any clarification. It is your responsibility to verify the service description and related terms before signing up.

Take Reviews and Testimonials at Face Value

Not all Review Sites and testimonials are created equal. You need to be wary of most all Hosting Review websites today. Online hosting reviews sites pop up every single day, but a majority of them are nothing but affiliates. They make money if you click on a link through their website. It is very important for you to make sure that the website is a legitimate review website. That can be trusted and verified.

See our blog on Hosting Review Websites.

As you will see even sites like Trust Pilot cannot be full trusted

• • Trustpilot Reviews: DO NOT trust Trustpilot review
• • Why Trustpilot Cannot Be Trusted - A Critical Analysis
• • Is Trustpilot reliable? I wouldn't count on it.
• • Can trustpilot be trusted?
• • Can you trust Trustpilot? – 9 million reviews studied
• • Trustpilot, Inc. | Complaints | Better Business Bureau®
• • Trustpilot - Watchdog
• • Complaints Against Trustpilot
• • Can Trustpilot be trusted? : r/Scams
• • Why you shouldn't trust Trustpilot Reviews
• • Can TrustPilot.com Be Trusted? - No

Not knowing the Disk Space and Bandwidth Usage

If you have already subscribed to 1000 MB disk space and 1000 GB bandwidth, you are all set to run a big show. With this bandwidth, you do not have to worry about transfer limit even if your site gets thousands of hits in a day. But if you start with only 2 GB bandwidth per month you could face downtime problems. And if you go over your space limit your website will stop responding

Not Understanding the SEO Implications of Web Hosting

If you think that any free hosting will work, you are wrong. Cheap hosting will cause issues that can hurt your SEO efforts. Slow site speed, database connection errors, sharing a hosting account with poor quality spammy sites can damage your credibility to your users as well as Google Search Bots. With exceeded bandwidth limits, prolonged runtime errors, internal server errors, you may even end up blacklisting your site with Google or Bing. No matter how big your SEO team is or how good they are at building links, without a reliable host in place, you will encounter problems.

Not Exploring The Limitations

You may have encountered promotional ads like Unlimited or Free for Life while browsing various web hosts. Does this really mean that everything is unlimited?
Ask your self - Does this really sound possible?
No, nothing is Free or Unlimited, this is just an advertising gimmick. Apart from bandwidth and disk space quota, you should watch out for the other limitations that do not generally show on the sign-up page
You should ask before sign up if you can: Maintain multiple POP accounts; Add website statistics to your account. Install new software on your shopping carts. In a nutshell, you should be able to figure out that your hosting company does not limit you from anything you might need.

Partnering with a New Hosting Company

There are new hosting providers who offer huge discounts, freebies, coupon codes, software, and cash awards to gain quick attention of business users. Their objective is to acquire as many customers and scale their business up in order to make quick cash. Unfortunately, after a period of 6-12-24 months, they made their money, run out of server space and close down. It is important that you select a company that has been serving customers for more than 10 years and serving them successfully. One way to see about a company's reputation is to type their name into Google followed by the word Sucks Such as Godaddy Sucks, BlueHost Sucks Or Godaddy Horror Stories.

Summary

Choosing the right web hosting provider is crucial for the success of your website. One of the most common mistakes people make is choosing a hosting provider based on how popular or big the hosting company is. This normally means they have deep pockets for advertising, but in the end you will pay for all the advertising they use.

By avoiding some of these common mistakes and taking into consideration your needs, and you will find a website host that is good for you and your company.

Author Bio: Tadeusz Kehan

One of the best creative blog writers and social media. He has...

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