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What's in a Web Host?
part 1 --> part 2 --> part 3
Blaine Fallis, Managing Director - FriendlyWeb.net
Founder: Friendly Web Design
With all the free hosting and cheap 7.95 hosting available, and most
mid-range hosting options priced at between $15 and $80 a month, it
begs the question, "Is all this hosting the same?" and "What's
involved in deciding upon a good Web host?"
Just a quick story to set this all up... I was price shopping hosting
one day a couple of years ago and wanted to be a reseller, so I was
trying to find unlimited domains, high data transfer, and a large amount
of disk space. In my mind, these were the three paramount factors,
and I bought what seemed to be a killer deal, getting 50 GIGs of data
transfer a month, and 1 GIG storage all for about $35 a month, using
C panel. Within two weeks after purchasing, the Web site of the company
I bought from disappeared from sight... gone, off of the Web. Vanished
into thin air. Come to find out a few weeks later that the "company" was
run by a 16-year-old kid from his father's basement. D'OH! Nothing
against industrious 16-year-olds, but is that the kind of hosting you
want keeping your sensitive data secure and stable online? Not me,
and not most business people I know either.
So I came to realize quickly that there is more to hosting than a "killer deal," a
cool Web site, and some snappy plan names. It really helps if there's
an actual company behind it all!
Since then I've done a lot more research, and now have the pleasure of being the Managing Director of a hosting division, called Friendlyweb.net, which is one of 30 divisions in a company populated by many long-time hosting, programming, and tech support professionals. This insider's view has shown me the importance of teamwork, support, good hardware in a solid Internet Data Center (IDC), great planning, financial stability, and easy to implement applications.
The problem with many sites designed to help one shop for hosting, is that hosting packages are in a way treated like features and options packages on cars... you fill out a form saying the number of emails you want, the number of Megs disk space you want, data transfer, etc. and then poof! the database spits out all matching hosting packages. When shopping for a vehicle, the most important factors are the engine, the company that made the car or truck, it's history of reliabilty, the after-purchase support (often overlooked), price, and the warranty. The extras package is really a final icing-on-the-cake decision... certainly not the core factor. Pretty much all cars can include power windows and locks... the question is, what kind of car do you want? A Hyundai with all the extras or a BMW? Or maybe a Ford? In Web hosting as well, the company who makes the hosting plan is of ultimate importance.
part 2 --> What does a good Web hosting company look like?
See also: Host Select Info
"If you're going to lead by example there has to be an element of calculated risk. You've got to challenge ideas and stir the pot by taking action."
Chris Pirillo, LockerGnome
