When you are ready to take your web pages to the next level, you want to be sure that you are getting the best web hosting possible. There are many sites on the web that offer you the Earth, but very few can actually live up to their promises. Weeding out the good from the bad is a difficult process, and you need to be sure exactly what you want, and what you are going to be offered, before you continue.
Unfortunately, there are no rules regulating who is the best web hosting service, and so therefore many companies can claim to be the best web hosts in their league. This can lead to consumer confusion, particularly when they don’t understand what they need from a website. They can be drawn into cheap web hosting sites, which claim to be the best but may only be average, and with no regulation, consumers cannot judge whether they are getting a good service or not. In fact, there are not even any rules regulating what web hosts need to supply to their customers, and although top web hosting sites are usually generous, this doesn’t automatically make them the best web hosting service.
When you are checking out a web site, perhaps looking for free web hosting, or a beginner’s web site builder, then you need to make sure that the hosts supply at least the most basic page building tools, such as a Linux server with control panels which allow you to control your web accounts. If they are small, then even the best web hosting sites will usually be limited to these services, while bigger companies may also offer Windows packages, or even dedicated servers which usually cost a lot. However, even if they are small, they should still be able to provide you with a reasonable hosting package that can give you a good service for your money.
When you are deciding if your web host is offering you one of the top web hosting packages around, you should consider the type of support and assistance that you will get with the web pages. Most providers have a basic customer support system, either through the phone or email, which is designed to help their customers through difficulties in using the control panels, or in setting up the website. Without these support services, a web host should not claim to be offering the best web hosting packages.
In order to work out whether you have a good hosting package or not, you should consider these points:
�Do you have a control panel which allows you to manage your account, and get a good design from your web page?
�Do you have a monitor which will allow you to track bandwidth use?
�Do you have email access with your account?
�Can your host guarantee that your data is secure, including account and server backup?
If you are satisfied that your provider can offer you all of these services, then you should have good, if not the absolute best, of web hosting packages.
