Are All Web Hosting Companies the Same?
Not all web hosting companies make it easy to understand exactly what is included in their pricing plans. Many companies offer sale prices but make it hard for consumers to compare their services against that of their competitors, so you don’t really know if it’s a good deal or not. Besides the price, though, you might not think there are many differences between web hosts, but there are. Sometimes how a company handles problems can be the best indication of its customer service. When choosing a company that offers really good customer service, such as Fatcow Hosting, keep these important points in mind:
- E-mail Accounts: Some hosting packages limit the amount of emails that you can run on your site. This may not be a concern for individuals and small businesses, but if you have many employees or need many different e-mail accounts, be careful that your web hosting company is not charging for additional email addresses unless you fully understand that cost and agree to it.
- Web Traffic Statistics: A good statistics/analytics package at the very minimum will include the number of visitors that are coming to your site along with the number of pages that are being viewed. A good statistics package will also tell you where the visitors come from (which link they followed to get to your site or which search engine they used to find you). It’s important to know the amount of traffic you get so you can better market your website.
- Tools and Add-ons: The hosting company you choose should also include a library of optional add-ons and tools that you can mix into your site such as mailing lists, web calendars, blogs, shopping carts, photo galleries, and others.
- Customer Service: Many low cost hosting services only offer email support and no telephone support at all. Fat cow hosting has both. What good does that do if your e-mail is not working and you have no way to contact the web hosting company? When choosing a hosting company, place a test call to their support number and see how quickly the phone is answered. Ask a few questions and see if the person you are speaking with is friendly and knowledgeable.
- Security: Security is more important that ever these days. Sites and servers are perpetually battling this ever-growing problem. Make sure that your hosting company keeps backups of everything in case your site or server gets hacked. More importantly, your hosting company should have safeguards to prevent most attacks in the first place.
For a few dollars per month, you should expect full phone support, all the tools and add-ons you need, plenty of free bells and whistles, and good customer service from your website host. And if you want to save money on top of getting full services, use a fatcow hosting coupon for an udderly terrific deal!
