The ads on the internet can be blinding, “Affordable Web Hosting!” “Discount Web Hosting!” “Low Cost Web Hosting!” “Budget Web Hosting!” etc, etc, etc. But are you getting what you pay for? Or are they fly-by-night operators who will close up without any advance warning, leaving your website high and dry?
Affordable web hosting companies are a dime a dozen on the internet but before you select a single web host for your website there are several things you should be aware of such as:
- Advertising: Nothing in this world comes free! If you’ve got a really great deal on your budget web hosting service, then you should wonder how their discounted hosting service is making a profit! And the obvious answer will be overselling or advertising! Most budget hosts (but mainly the free hosts) carry bulk advertising deals to compensate for the amazingly low cost deals they offer you. The advantages you get from free web space and associated services are all covered by the cost of large advertising banners on your site. Some free web hosting companies may have annoying large banners, side frames and even large pop-ups on your site to cover the advertising costs. Website owners and even your customers may not like having the advertising frames and huge pop-ups being stuffed down their throats at every click. So make sure that the free services you have selected does not allow this type of annoying advertising.
- Amount of Web Space: Most budget hosting services skimp on the space they offer customers in order save costs. It’s always a good idea to plan for your future needs by getting more space than you require at present. The average space offered by most of the smaller low cost web hosting service providers is about 5GB of web space but you might not need more than 5MB of space since 150 pages of static text are easily accommodated on this space. But do check what you are being offered before signing up with the discount web hosting sites.
- FTP access: A few of the more affordable web hosting vendors do not allow you to use external designs with their sites. You have to use the design templates provided with them only! This is a great option for beginners who get detailed guidance to build their own site with the hosts support. But it’s not very useful for other users who are familiar with design principles and want FTP access. The affordable web site hosting service you choose should provide FTP access as well as the choice to upload pages via your browser.
- File type and size limitations: Ok this is a slightly nasty thing to watch out for! A few of the budget web hosting companies have a limit to the amount of files you can upload on to your website. One low cost web hosting service had a limit of 200KB which is ridiculous. Several other budget web hosting services restrict HTML and GIF/JPG files from being uploaded. Check to see whether meets with the requirements of your site.
Keep in mind that most of what was outlined above is mainly things to look out for when researching for a new hosting company. Most reputable companies do not have upload limitations or limited FTP access. These are usually tactics employed by super cheap hosts (ones that are $5-10 per year) and most hosting companies don’t have severe “gotcha” hidden pricing schemes. Always check with your hosting provider before you sign-up with them and make sure they have at least a 30 day money back guarantee (most do).
