How to Choose a Web Host Company Without Spending a Fortune

If you have a website, you have web hosting. Have you ever wondered if you’re paying too much? Or do you know if you even have the best option for your business?

Or maybe you’re unhappy with your current hosting company, but feel trapped because you don’t know the first thing about moving your website. Can you move a website once it’s set up? And if so, how much will it costs?

Today’s article will explain web hosting in everyday language any coach or consultant can understand. If you’ve been confused by geek talk before, you’ll love this article.

First of all, what is web hosting?

When you get a website hosting account, you are renting space on a computer (called a server) to host your website so it will appear on the Internet.

Think of it as renting a building to host your party. The building is the server you are renting, and the party is your website or domain name. You don’t own the building; you’re just using it for a while to host your party.

When you look at host packages, you will usually see 3 different types:

Web Hosting
Reseller Hosting or Virtual Private Servers
Dedicated Hosting

In order to make this really simple, I’m going to use an analogy.

Picture a hotel with hundreds of rooms in it. When you check in, they want to know how many people will be staying in the room. The more people that stay in the room, the more they charge.

In the same way, one server can host hundreds of websites, like one hotel that has hundreds of rooms.

1. Web Hosting

Web Host packages at the lower priced levels, like $6/month, often allow only one website or domain name per hosting account. That’s like allowing only one person per hotel room.

At the higher levels, like $10-15/month, you are allowed multiple websites and domain names per hosting account. That’s like getting a hotel room and having several people stay in it.

Who needs regular web hosting?

If you’re serious about having an online presence, you’re going to want the second option that lets you host multiple domain names on the same account.

2. Reseller Hosting & Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

Reseller hosting packages are priced a little higher at about $25 to $150 per month, depending on the amount of space your lease. At this level, it’s like renting your own section of a hotel, not just one hotel room.

You don’t have the whole hotel to yourself, but you aren’t sharing it with as many other people. Think of it as renting an entire floor or an entire wing of a hotel.

Who needs a reseller account or VPS?

Webmasters who provide hosting packages along with their website design packages use this option.

Internet marketers who have multiple websites and multiple businesses like this option because it can make file management easier.

Also, people who get a lot of people visiting their site all at the same time may need this option to handle the traffic load on the server. If you’re getting over a thousand visitors a day and you find that your site sometimes takes too long to load, then you may need this option.

3. Dedicated Servers

Dedicated servers (also called dedicated hosting accounts) start at about $150 and go up from there. This is the equivalent of renting the entire hotel. You are renting an entire server for your use alone.

This is more flexible than the other two options because your webmaster will have full control over the server, including choice of operating system, hardware, etc.

Who needs dedicated servers?

Dedicated hosting is for sites that can get a lot of traffic, like over 100 visitors in a 30 second time frame. This could include sites that are having a big product launch and sites with thousands of visitors every day.

It’s also for sites that have to load a lot of video or graphics for each and every site visitor. Gaming sites would be a good example of this. Another would be membership sites with hundreds of members watching dozens of training videos every day.

Other Information You Should Know…

Choose a server with a Linux Operating System unless your site is written in ASP language. If your webpage URLs end in “.aspx,” you’ll need a server with a Windows Operating System, and those are more expensive.
Never choose a package based on price alone. The more expensive packages aren’t necessarily better.
Always choose a host package with a “cPanel” control panel. It’s the best and everything else is a pain to work with compared to the cPanel.
Look for 24/7/365 support (including phone support), a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and a 30 to 45-day money-back guarantee. These are all standard with most hosting companies.
Don’t buy your domain name and hosting package from the same company. I don’t care what kind of a bargain package they’re offering you. Just say, “No.”

What if you need (or want) to move your site to a better hosting company?

Yes, you can move your site. All your URLs will stay the same, all your hyperlinks will still work, and it won’t hurt your ranking with the search engines. Your email addresses will also stay the same.

And you may even be able to move it for free! Some hosting companies, like the one I use, will transfer all your files, scripts, and databases at no charge when you move to their service. Very cool!

But be sure to make a backup of all your original website files before the move, just in case something doesn’t get transferred correctly. And have someone with webmaster skills to oversee the transfer to make sure everything gets moved over, including your email accounts.

My Recommendations

The hosting company that I use and recommend is HostGator, winner of several web hosting awards. Click here to learn more about HostGator packages.

Their Baby Gator package is perfect for most coaches and consultants. I set these up for clients on a regular basis, and it’s less than $10/mo. I’ve been with them for several years and have had no complaints for any of my sites or my client’s sites.

There are two things I especially like about HostGator. First, they have phone support when I need it. I hate to contact support by email and then wait 24 hours for a response. When I need help, I need it now.

Second, the servers are the fastest I’ve ever worked on. If you’ve worked on WordPress sites, you know that you have to wait on the server every time you save a page or post.

On some servers, the wait is like being on dial-up speed, it is so slow. Honestly, I’ve read books and magazines while waiting on other servers to respond.

But not on HostGator. I can get my work done in a fraction of the time, and my client’s web pages load up faster for visitors.

If you need help deciding the best hosting package for your business and setting up your hosting account, just email me, and I’d be happy to assist.