Choosing a Web Host

Choosing a hosting solution for your website (hooray for “website” officially being one word now) is one of the most important choices in the development process. What good is your completely awesome website if no one can access it? There are seemingly endless different companies, providing numerous packages each, with a daunting list of specs to make sure that this won’t be an easy choice for you, but in all reality, it’s not that hard. Hopefully the things outlined in this post will help you feel confident about your web hosting descision.

Decision #1: Shared hosting VS Private server

The two main options offered by most hosting providers are shared hosting and private servers / virtual private servers. How many sites do you plan on hosting? If you’re hosting more than a couple, the private server route is the way to go. Another advantage to being on a private server is the ability to have complete shell access. You might want total control of your web server and the environment that it’s running in, this is something that would definitely make the need for a private server.

Now that I’ve talked up the private server, there are time when using a shared hosting solution would benefit you greatly. If you’ve just got a website or two, shared hosting would probably be your best bet. It’s cheap, it’s effective, and it will surely get the job done. Think of shared hosting as an apartment in a complex whereas a private server is more of a home in a community.

Decision #2: Linux VS Windows

This decision is actually a pretty simple one to make. If you’re an experienced developer, you already know the answer to this one without even thinking about it, but maybe you’re not an experienced developer, and maybe the difference between these two options is unknown to you. Most hosting companies don’t really make this option so blatantly obvious, but for some like Go Daddy and a few other mainstream hosting companies, it’s part of the initial signup process. There is really only one reason as far as I know to ever go with a Windows hosting environment and that is if you plan on developing in Windows languages such as ASP.NET, so unless that’s your jam, I’d highly recommend going with a Linux environment.

Decision #3: Resources

When it comes to the lists of different packages, it always comes down to comparing resources available. How much hard drive space do you need? How much RAM do you need? How much bandwidth do you need? These are unfortunately all questions that I can’t really help you answer. There are many hosts out there with scalable solutions that allow you to monitor usage, then adjust allotted resources on the fly. Another great solution if you don’t know what you need is to just start with the lowest one that you feel might be adequate then just simply upgrade if you run into any problems. No web hosting company will ever make it a hassle for you to upgrade to a better package. You’ll be safe no matter what, don’t fret too much over the fine details, just keep an eye on your usage and adjust accordingly.

Decision #4: Provider

Choosing a hosting provider is the last step to take. Some hosting providers are better than others, but there really isn’t any hard data to base this choice off of. Everyone will advertise their 99% uptime, but that also always comes with a hefty hidden disclaimer excluding nearly everything that causes downtime from that percentage. I’ve worked with countless providers whether they were providers that a client was already setup with, or providers that I have had accounts with, and there’s only thing that I’ve learned from all of them is that none of them are perfect. I’ll give my input on a few below, good and bad, and let you do the rest.

The Good

DreamHost – I am currently on a DreamHost private server account and so far am quite pleased. They have excellent tech support, scalable resources, and a very awesome administration interface. Like I said above, no one is perfect, and I have run into a couple of issues in my time with DreamHost, but overall, they are definitely my favorite so far. Plus, they have one-click WordPress installs, a pure godsend.

Media Temple – Media Temple is also a great provider. They also have great customer service and an awesome administration interface. One of the great things about them is that they have a good variety of choices for everyone from first-time hosting customers to super-complex programmers, they definitely will have what you need.

Laughing Squid – With prices that can’t be beat, Laughing Squid is definitely my recommendation to anyone looking for a standard shared hosting solution. They recently started to phase out their old system and have been replacing it with a cloud solution to make their service even better. Like the two above, they also carry great customer service and are sure to satisfy your shared hosting needs.

The Bad

Network Solutions – I never have been a fan of Network Solutions. They seem to constantly have problems with one service or another and getting through to the customer service is a nightmare. Recently they have also had major security problems, check out Liz’s blog post for more details on that. Luckily she has moved and is now in a safer place.

Go Daddy – Go Daddy is a monster. Commercials, race cars, they are definitely in the public eye. I love them as a domain registrar, but their hosting leaves a lot to be desired. It seems as though anything running on their servers, including their own administration panel, runs about as slow as molasses.

Bluehost – I have never experienced as much confusion and downtime as I have with Bluehost. They have an incredible pricing structure, but once you use it for a while, you truly do realize that you get what you pay for.

The Geeky

Slicehost – If you’re into complete fiddling with your web server setup, Slicehost is definitely your love. When you initially signup for an account, there isn’t even an operating system installed. If you know your stuff, Slicehost is definitely a fun little venture.

There you have it. Have a good time on your search for a web host, and don’t worry, picking the wrong one is definitely NOT the end of the world.