Common mistakes when purchasing web hosting
This chapter focuses on some common mistakes made by first-time web hosting buyers, and how to avoid them. It also takes the wraps off some of the marketing tactics used by web hosting companies.
Costs,
There are two competing narratives offered by web hosting companies:
Every web hosting package is basically the same, so buy the cheapest thing you can find.
Quality costs money so buy the most expensive hosting you can afford.
None of them are really accurate.
Web hosting companies promote the idea that web hosting is essentially a commodity, and therefore, price is the only thing that really matters.
They go out of their way to offer the cheapest monthly rate, along with coupons and deals and discounts. It’s a race to the bottom that no one really wins (least of all the customer).
There is, of course, a grain of truth to this – hardware is a relatively cheap commodity, and most of the software used by web hosting companies is free. Often, in measurable ways like speed and processor bandwidth, there isn’t much difference between a $10/month host and a $30/month host.
But the difference a few dollars can buy in terms of customer service support and technical expertise is truly outstanding.
Another thing to understand about discount web hosts is that the only way they can afford to sell hosting so cheaply is to sell in bulk and keep people on board for a long time. This means a few things:
There will be more clients grouped into a single shared server.
There will be relatively little attention to individual issues, because there are too many people to pay attention to.
There will be incentives to pay for long-term contracts.
There will be difficulties in movement or transfer.
The latter is particularly troubling, and seems to only come with shared web hosting providers in the sub-$20 range.
They will make transferring URLs a complex, multi-step process; they will not provide instructions for opening or transferring domains anywhere in their help files; they will require phone verification over the phone; they will hide buttons for handling transfer and cancellation under vaguely named menu labels; they will flood their FAQ features and knowledge base with articles about transferring to their service, in order to push “transfer” articles down the page in search engine results.
They say “you get what you pay for.” With discount web hosting you often get much more than that.
Of course, at the other end of the spectrum is the premium website hosting you’ll be so proud you can afford.
Sometimes it’s intentionally overpriced for what it is – a hosting company sells a fairly standard VPS plan and dresses it up with words like “incredibly fast” and “white-glove support” and charges twice as much as a similar plan from another company.
More often, the problem is simply overselling. If you’re running a personal blog that will be read by a few hundred people, you probably don’t need the “super duper” server with advanced water-cooled systems.
Compounding the marketing problem is the tendency for buyers to price shop around and buy something in the middle. Part of the reason for $10/month web hosting is that it makes a $25-$30/month plan seem like a reasonable mid-range solution, rather than just another cheap shared hosting plan.
A better approach is to first figure out what type of hosting you need (see the chapter in this guide on different types of hosting), then look for well-reviewed and highly rated companies that offer that type of plan.
If it comes down to two options that have very similar features and are equally well-reviewed, you might consider choosing the cheaper one to save a few bucks.
But most of the time, once you get to two or three hosting companies and plans that suit your needs, you’ll find that their prices will be very close to each other.
More common mistakes when purchasing web hosting – pay attention to television advertising
TV commercials are extremely expensive, which means a hosting company that produces a lot of commercials isn’t spending that money on technology or customer support.
Additionally, TV ads create an artificial sense of reputation. (“I’ve heard of them – they must be good.”) This artificially inflated reputation allows them to charge more than equally good hosting companies offering similar services.
Unreliable partner reviews
If you happen to come across an overly positive review that suggests that one particular host is the best option for all people, and it happens to have a link to the hosting company’s purchase page, you can be absolutely sure that it’s an affiliate marketing link.
You get a “free domain name!” when you purchase a hosting plan. This isn’t an amazing benefit because:
Domain names aren’t very expensive, so you can just buy one yourself.
If your domain name with your hosting company makes it difficult to switch in the future, then you may be better off registering your domain name elsewhere.
An alternative strategy is to find a reliable domain name registrar and use it for all of your real domains (whether it’s a .az or a .az), then use the DNS records there to point it to any hosting site you host your website on.
You can use a dummy URL as a free address when you sign up for your hosting plan. This keeps your domain name and hosting accounts separate, making life much easier in the future if you decide to switch to a different web host.
Another common mistake when purchasing website hosting – paying extra for things you don’t need
When you buy hosting, there are a number of “upsell” items that are usually offered during the checkout process. Some of them are useful, but be careful not to click “continue” through the process without double-checking that you’re not buying things you don’t need.
Some common add-on suggestions include:
Domain name privacy: This can be useful if you don’t have a separate business address from your home, and you don’t want your home address to be publicly advertised in connection with your website. But it’s usually too expensive, between $5 and $15 per year, even if you bought a free domain name. Some discount registrars include privacy for free, which is another good reason to use a separate registrar than your hosting company.
Dedicated IP and SSL Certificate: You can’t get SSL unless you have your own IP address, and the only real reason to get your own IP address is to get an SSL certificate, so these are often bundled together. SSL certificates are important if you’re running an e-commerce site, or any site that will receive sensitive user information. If you’re planning on running such a site, you should get the discount included with your hosting purchase. If you’re just setting up a personal blog, there’s really no reason to spend the money.
Backup services: You need to keep your website files and database safe, so it makes sense for hosting companies to offer backup services at checkout. However, choosing a secure backup platform will benefit the hosting company selling it to you, and may not be the best option for you. Keeping backups separate from your main hosting company can be helpful if there is ever a problem with the company in the future and you need to start over from backups on a different server.
Web design, SEO, or business consulting: This is almost always avoided. If you want to hire a web designer, hire one you can talk to. The types of website designs you get for 100 shekels at the time of purchase are usually not even worth that amount, and you can do better with WordPress and a few minutes of free browsing.
Takes “Unlimited” at face value
Shared hosting plans are almost always advertised as “unlimited.” They may have a few different types of unlimited restrictions:
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited storage
Unlimited email accounts
Unlimited domains
Unlimited subdomains
Unlimited web hosting
The problem with “unlimited” is that it is usually limited.
It turns out that it is a mistake to purchase unlimited web hosting.
For example, they may allow unlimited storage, but then not allow the hosting account to be used for personal file storage. Typically, the terms of service agreement stipulates that any use must be in relation to a publicly accessible website.
They may also not allow certain types of media or prohibit streaming.
Finally, if your website becomes too popular and starts to pull too many resources, most hosting companies reserve the right to throttle your bandwidth (slow down traffic), remove you from the plan, or require a paid upgrade to a different service level.
Not reading the terms of service of the storage conditions
We’ve all gotten so used to hitting “continue” on online agreements that we barely think about the implications of those contracts. This is a mistake all the time, but it’s especially a mistake with web hosting.
Many hosting plans have terms and conditions that specifically prevent a number of things – file storage, media streaming, running SaaS applications.
Make sure you understand what activities you are not allowed to engage in with your host before you make a decision – especially if you plan on doing anything interesting.
Google search “web hosting”
Getting to the top of a search engine has almost nothing to do with whether a hosting company is good, and showing up in paid ads just means that the hosting company is willing to pay a lot for advertising (those clicks are very expensive).
Online payment application – Wikipedia entry
The article was translated from English to Hebrew.
Written by Adam Michael Wood
