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In evaluating various companies, there are several aspects generic to all that you should look at.
Is the company established? Look for a company that has been in business at least 3-5 years and has a physical address and phone number posted on their web site. Use caution with a company whose only contact information is an email address. Also look at the number of domains hosted by the company. An established company should be hosting at least 50,000 (if not more) domains.
Is 24/7 monitoring and service available? The company should have someone monitoring their servers at all times as well as someone available to handle emergency service in the event your site goes down.
Is their a money back guarantee? It is common practice for a company to require a year or two payments up front in order to obtain the best pricing. Check to see if the company offers a pro-rated refund if you choose to switch companies.
How much are additional services? Should you exceed your plans allotted bandwidth or storage, it is important to know what additional transfer or storage will cost. Most companies are quite reasonable, however some require that you purchase additional storage / bandwidth in large blocks. Most companies will send you an alert if you are approaching your plans limits and allow for arrangements to be made. Others will simply shut down your web site until you have paid.
Testimonials? They are nice to see, but should always be taken with a grain of salt. Check to see if the testimonials include a web address and visit the web-site.
Is the sales staff available to answer questions? They should be. Look for a toll free number and call with any questions before making a commitment.
The last thing you need do is evaluate the pricing and assure that it fits in your budget. While you certainly don’t want to choose an obviously shady hosting company for the sake of saving a few bucks, it has been our experience that more expensive does not necessarily mean better when it comes to shared hosting.
To see a list of some of the 10
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