By Harvey Raybould, MD, Compila Ltd.
Just like booking a ticket for a budget airline, the most frequently encountered trip wires in the world of web hosting are hidden charges.
Web hosting companies offering low prices are two a penny nowadays – and at first glance, they seem excellent value. However, when you calculate the lifetime costs of the service and indirect costs to achieve the online presence you need, prices can soon escalate.
Just like a budget airline’s cheap flights, some hosting companies offer ‘free’ hosting or temptingly low prices, but cracks soon begin to appear in their offers when you begin to break down what you really get in a package.
You know the scenario: as you book your airline ticket, you notice those security and flight taxes hike up the price just as you’re getting your credit card out to pay and when you finally board the plan e, feeling peckish, you remember it costs extra for refreshments. When your dry, old sandwich with the curled-up edges arrives ( which looks more likely to take off than the plane) you begin to wish you had read the small print.
Turns out that great ticket price that made your eyes light up a few weeks back wasn’t actually the bargain it appeared to be after all.
But there’s nothing wrong with a bargain – a cheap flight abroad still enables you to reach a destination and get back again. Budget airlines, like budget web hosting companies, thanks to substantial price drops in recent years, have opened up to Joe Public a world of exciting possibilities. Neither worldwide travel nor owning a website are about to go out of fashion any time soon.
What is important is that budget airlines and web hosting companies make it clear to customers what they are getting for their money from the start.
For hosting companies, limited bandwidth becomes the equivalent of budget airlines’ unappetising in-flight snacks. But unlike a dodgy sandwich, meagre bandwidth can have a detrimental effect on your organisation. Time spent upgrading a hosting package to avoid your website being suspended, is time you could have spent developing your company, project or charity.
If your organisation relies on your website to generate revenue, the effect is potentially devastating.
Let’s face it, we are all looking for a bargain. But as the old adage goes; what is cheap is dear. So how can you ensure that along with the bargain, you don’t end up with a web hosting service that is more hassle than it is worth?
Firstly, if you are looking for a quality web host, the most vital first step you can take, is to research the market. Test the water before you are tied into an annual contract.
Having experienced the worst side of web hosting as a customer myself, I would avoid buying from a hosting company that you can’t talk to. Telephone support is a right, not a luxury.
Think very carefully about what features you will need to make your website as good as it can be when choosing a package . Much of the web hosting industry is going down the route of offering unlimited bandwidth. But while there’s no such thing as a free lunch (anyone abusing this offer would soon see their account cancelled), if your website is only one or two megabytes, why buy a package with unlimited web space?
The lesson here is to be on your guard about flashy special offers.
Avoid those companies which do not offer a crystal clear breakdown of what packages include for the price. That way you get to choose the right package to suit your business – and that kind of transparency is very alluring to potential customers .
A web hosting company should give you exactly what it says on the tin, in plain English – no hidden charges, no extras and definitely no old sandwiches with curled-up edges.
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