Webmasters’ Blog @ sid.hedir.com

It was not going well for me, I was really struggling hard to find a cheap and reliable host in recent past. Over the past few months, I have changed my web hosts a number of times - moved my web sites from one host to the other cluelessly. So, before you must switch over to a new hosts the factors you must check:

1. Make a search at DNS Stuff to learn about the host itself, I mean, particulars of the host, i.e., name, address, Email ID, Contact Phone Numbers - If you find these information rather unrealistic then you should not go on with that host. You can also verify certain factors like Email ID provided there by asking simple questions. If you get a reply, your new host may not be a fraudulant host.
Another factor that you should check is the Expiry Date of the domain name from DNS records. If you see the domain has been registered recently or due to expire within a few months, better to try for another host.

2. Once you are satisfied with the credibility of the host, now comes the biggest issue, the uptime. For uptime factor, you have no option but to read the reviews of the webmasters already have hosted their web sites in that host. You can google for review - domain-name-of-the-hosting-company.com to get some input.

3. Now the third point you must check is the support. Indifferent/ Casual Support Staff may make your life horrible . The verification of the support system is not that difficult. Simply throw some questions addressing the host and if you get a reply within a reasonable time , you can rely that host. So far as support is concerned, you must check out carefully all the available options. I’ve found three in common : 1) 24 Hours Online Support 2) Support Ticket System / Email Support 3) Live Forum
24 Hours online support is really an excellent feature to have as your simple queries/problems are likely to be resolved within no time. But if a host does not provide you 24 Hours Support system, it does not mean that he is not willing to give you any support. I’ve seen some really good support from certain web hosting companies who do not offer 24 Hours Online Support. Live and active forum support is also a great way to have your problems resolved.

4. Regarding Payments made to host - I’ll suggest you not to pay for big one year, instead of that try to pay per month basis, if such payment option is available. Paying for one/two year hosting plan in advance may apparantly appear to be lucrative but who knows if your hosting company dissappears all of a sudden!

5. What should you look for in your new host?
You are the owner of your web site, you know better than me its space requirement and traffic load - accordingly, find a host on the basis of Space, Bandwidth and Hosting Charges. Then you should look for the following features which are often ignored by many of the new webmasters:
Access to .htaccess file, Number of Webmails offered (and Space Limitations ), Access to MX Records, Number of Domains allowed, Number of Sub-domains allowed, No. of MySQL Databases allowed and Space Limitation for MySQL Databases (if any) Administrative Control Panel ( CPanel is better for ease of operation, I believe), and availability of Pre-Installed Scripts like Mambo, Joomla. There may be some other factors as well depending upon your necessity.

6. Myth about unlimited bandwidth:
Different web hosting companies claim that they offer unlimited bandwidth and some even claim that they offer unlimite space! Such hosts, irrespective of their credibility in terms of one to five above, are not at all reliable. I guess they are not going to stay in their business for long time.

7. Hosting companies that offer you hosting for $1 or $2 per month may not be that much reliable - and good for only test web sites. If you are extremely serious about your own web sites, and, in particular, if you are publishing your web sites for your valued clients - you must not rely on such web hosting companies - as your customers will not let you go FREEly.

8.Try to look for the hosts offering 15-30 Days Money Back Guarentee: confirm with their sales team whether it is unconditional or not, and, whether they will keep upto their promise in case you are not satisfied with their service or support. This is particularly crucial if you are moving your web sites from one host to the other - as for some strange reason - popular CMSs like Joomla/Mambo or Drupal may pose some problem if moved to another host; and, such host specific issues need to be resolved by the support team and not by you. If they can’t resolve an issue and if your site does not become fully functional after being moved, you have no option but to claim a money refund.

9. Forum where useful reviews of different web hosting companies are available:

Web Hosting Talk.com

10. Web site listing web hosting companies:

Find My Host.com

Wish the next time you need to swith over to a new host, you’ll check the above points thoroughly against each of your short listed hosts and take a wise decision.

I could not blog oflate, neither here, in my Hedir Blog nor in my blogspot blog, as I was simply crippled due to webhosts issues. It was heart-blocking to watch out helplessly that all my sites were down all of a sudden. My present hosts are all very reputed they have tonnes of great reviews, high guaranteed uptime, reliable customer support system including live forum support. But everything fails as I constantly monitored my websites showing only a dull page as an indicator for DNS error. I tried to contact my host in every possible way, it is a paid hosting service and has a good customer care unit, but nothing works. Finally I get to know it was because of some server outrage that the sites are all down. It was around Feb, 12 . when I got this notice.
I waited for a week to see if things improve but it was not to be, not to be, and not to be. And I had no option but to move on to a new hosts as I know I was loosing my Google Traffic. The sites are just getting graceful attention of Google King, so, I can’t afford to loose it. I had no option. Helplessly I had to forego the money I paid for the remaining nine months of my hosting package in advanc and move on.
I moved on to the new host, created databases with utmost care from the backed up data. I must not loose single piece of record. It takes time to develop content. So I double checked everything to ensure that there was nothing wrong. Then I FTP my files to my new server. FTP was done fantastically without any issue. Meanwhile I have to change certain settings in my files as there are certain typical hosting specific issues. I told to myself you can’t do any mistake. This is a better webhost and you must continue with their service as long as you want.

But to my surprise none of my websites were up inspite of chaging my DNS settings. I contacted the host through live support and then came up the real show. It was a series of “Try this or that” like advice. I tried every possible way to make my sites up and running. My new host also tried their level best but I could not see any improvement. The sites were down, down and down returning either DNS error or 404 Not Found Error or at times simply the default Apache Webserver screenshot! It was terrible. It was brutally agonising to watch out the damn lose of seven vital days with frustrated visitors turning their faces away from my sites.
So, from the terrific hosting experience I had in Feb’07 what I learnt is that:

1. Free web hosting: Only good for beginners, testing purpose, never rely on it particularly if your site gets few traffic atleast. Nothing comes for FREE in this world.
2. Cheap web hosting: Always backup your files, after each site updates atleast, it is difficult to maintain the quality at a low cost. If you find a good one, you are pretty lucky.
3. Affordable Web Hosting: Read the same word of caution as that of the Cheap Web Hosting. Maintaining a reliable web hosting company is not that cheap. Apart from Hardware/ Software costs, the hosts have to pay fat pay package to the technical stuff to keep the hosted sites up and rescue the hosted sites in case anything goes wrong.
4. Reliable Web Hosting: These are the reasonable companies that know their business well, just stay with them and you will realise the difference if you have tried other forms of webhosts I’ve just mentioned.