Web Hosting

If my sidebar badge didn’t give me away…

It should be pretty clear as to who is my web host provider.

But before I talk about that, I want to talk about web hosting in general and how one goes about choosing a web host. For the purpose of this article, I will use myself as an example.

So.

How DOES one choose a web host?

If you’re a semi-experienced to experienced user like myself who has a past history of working with different web hosts, you will probably have accumulated yourself a list of features and specifications that you would like your ideal web host to have.

In which case, finding a web host would be a matter of fairly educated comparison shopping and matching your needs and requirements to the web host who fits best.

If you’re a new user, you might not have any particular specifications in mind (eg: shared vs. private, SSL Certificates, databases, full DNS control, etc), but you probably have at least a few basic ideas of what you’d like to see.

Here are some important features that both newbies and veterans to web hosting usually look for when shopping for a web host provider:

- Server Space – how much server space is being offered
- Bandwidth Allotment – how much bandwidth can be used per month
- Dependability – uptime and downtime statistics
- Pricing and Package – how much per month/year and what is included
- Customer Service – how good (or bad) it is

Additional/specific features that are often taken into account are things like:

- Domain Allotment – how many domains can be hosted
- PHP, Ruby, etc Support – are other for-web languages supported
- Database Support and Allotment – are databases supported and how many can be hosted and how much
- Amount of User Control – what exactly is the user allowed to do and touch
- Amount of User Access – how is the user allowed to access their content
- Additional Goodies – what other goodies are offered/provided

Looking at everything, it seems like a lot to take into consideration and it is.

But thankfully, most web hosts give fairly detailed run-downs on what services they offer, which allows for easier comparison shopping for both veterans and newbies alike.

So now that we have the lists of who offers what and how much, then what?

Now’s the trickier part.

Say you do your comparison shopping and now have a few web hosts who match up pretty decently with each other, which makes it hard to point a finger and go THERE!

How do you choose?

When I found myself in need of some serious personal-level and small-business level web hosting who could potentially accommodate random (and not-so-random) surges in growth or traffic, I had my choices narrowed down to a select few and DreamHost was smack dab in the middle.

Obviously, we all know which web host I ultimately chose.

As to why exactly I chose DreamHost over its competitors who offered similar (but not the same) hosting packages…

- Package and Pricing – the price seemed the most reasonable matched up with what services I needed
- Extra Goodies Offered – I consider myself to be an advanced user, but Fantastico’s One-Click Installs for goodies such as WordPress, phpBB, ZenCart, and more have really proven to be useful
- Comprehensive CPanel – where everything is at your fingertips!
- 97 Days Buyer’s Remorse – 97 days to figure out if the package and service works for you or not!
- Personal Recommendations – I personally knew people who hosted with DreamHost and they gave me recommendations

And as to why I STAYED…

- Package and Pricing – what DreamHost offered me worked for me and I had room to grow
- Extra Goodies Offered – WordPress, phpBB, Gallery, MySQL, full-access to DNS and other settings, SHELL access, etc
- Comprehensive CPanel – I liked having everything easy-to-access
- Customer Support – what REALLY cements my reason for staying is that in my time spent with DreamHost, customer support through emails alone has been absolutely fantastic.

Which brings me to my next side topic:

Let’s talk about Customer Support for a bit.

When you’re qualified enough to be your own systems administrator (server building and resetting aside), customer support may or may not seem like a terribly important thing to have.

After all, on the one hand, you probably already know what’s going on and if you have near-to-full access of your server like DreamHost allows, you either won’t make many mistakes or you’ll know of your mistakes when you make them.

On the other hand, if you the user don’t have full access to everything or if the problem is something that needs third party intervention – eg: distinguishing between a physical server problem versus client-side configurations problems – this is when customer support can come in handy.

And if you’re a newer user or a more casual user who doesn’t quite know their way around servers and settings and how things work and how things work together and connect together, customer service might really come in handy on more than one occasion.

For the ‘It’s 3AM and I have a deadline for a client and my site is down and it isn’t my fault’ to the everyday ‘Can you help me configure my phpBB install’ and the occasional (or not so occasional) ‘Whoops, I think I broke something’ OMG scenarios, customer support is essential to have on your side.

Even better is GOOD customer support.

I’m an experienced user who can find their way around most things – if not through experience then through following directions/instructions – but on all the occasions that I have had to contact DreamHost’s customer support for issues ranging from a site unexpectedly going down, to questions about Google Apps configurations in my CPanel, to ‘Whoops, my bad!’ scenarios…

They – DreamHost – have been stellar.

Quick (emergency and near-emergency situations generated a response within a few hours, everything else generated responses within a day) response time, thorough responses, and continual follow-ups if needed/necessary.

And for me, this has been consistent throughout my hosting experience with DreamHost and for me, this has been one of the greatest reasons I choose to stay with them.

I can’t speak for any other hosting company (except that I’m no fan of GoDaddy for reasons other than to do with customer service or support and that RegisterFly as a registrar == major major %$#@up), but DreamHost is a company that I believe in and am willing to attach my name to.

So if you’re in the market for a webhost and after doing your research, you think DreamHost might be a possibility like I did, let me give you a little incentive to give them a shot; after all, 97 day buyer’s remorse, right?

Click HERE to find a DreamHost coupon created by me especially for you.

Happy DreamHosting!

~ EMG