Web Hosting Quality Counts.
By Rik Tairea

Did you know that I still have a couple of websites that are hosted for free without any forced advertising, including pop-ups? I've had these sites hosted there for a couple of years now and it still amazes me that they are still online.

Like other webmasters, that's how I got started with making websites. The good thing about these sites is that I don't have to update them, they don't cost me a thing, they still get good traffic and I like the way they look.

Would I host my bread and butter sites on a free or cheap web host? To put it nicely - NO! When it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for and since my sites generate revenue, I'm prepared to pay what is needed in order to ensure that they continue to make money.

*** On a side note, I'm not going to mention any web hosting company names in this article because I don't want this piece to look like an advertisement. ***

For example, I host my websites with only one company and on average it costs roughly around $10.00 per website a month (some of these sites are add-on domains and this cost doesn't factor in any domain registrations).

Now that sounds pretty affordable, especially with all the options my web hosting packages come with, but when you compare it to other hosting companies that charge under $7.00 per month, you notice you're paying a little extra.

But it's completely worth it and I'm prepared to pay more.

Now I have absolutely nothing whatsoever against web hosts that charge very affordable prices, but I'd highly doubt I'd ever consider using some of these companies. Some of these hosts have ok or good reputations while others don't, you just have to do your research.

The main reason I host my websites with just the one company is because I've had a very good relationship with them over a 3 year period. I've only had 2 major problems where my sites went down for a 10 and 3 hour period, and in my books that's not too shabby for a 3 year time frame.

It's obvious though that if something major does happen to that one hosting company, then all my domains are affected which could in turn mean a major shutdown. But since the hosting has been of high quality, I'm not majorly concerned with this issue, but I'm still very aware of the risk.

Like I said before, I probably wouldn't use an "affordable" host mainly because I like the service I get now with my current host. Plus, I've heard a few "not so good" stories concerning the quality of sub standard hosting.

But that's just me.

If you're prepared to sacrifice quality for cost then by all means I'd recommend using some $2.00 per month web hosting outfit. Now that may sound like the complete opposite to 99% of everything I've written in this months editorial, but why end up paying for hosting features that you don't need.

Remember those websites I mentioned earlier in this piece that are hosted for free? If for some reason they were put offline permanently tomorrow, I'd just place them on a sub domain of an existing site. But if that option wasn't readily available to me, and after some thought, I probably would resort to using some other "affordable host".

Reason being is because I like the design of these websites and being the sentimental new age guy that I am, I'm proud of them. But since these sites don't generate any revenue at all, I wouldn't really be concerned with the quality of where it's hosted.

Which brings me to my point.

If you view your websites a business then treat it as such. It's perfectly correct to label hosting as an expense but in my opinion, you can also view it as an asset and/or investment. If you're website isn't easily accessible to customers then what's the use?

Remember, you get what you pay for.

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The above article was written solely for Groundzero and may not be reproduced in anyway on print or other media. This article was written by the webmaster, creator and owner of this site.
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