Best Web Hosting

Finding the best web hosting service isn't easy. Cheap web hosting can cost you more in time and headaches than spending a few extra bucks each month for a quality web host. However, there are some companies offering inexpensive web hosting that is indeed an excellent bargain. This is the first article in a series of reviews in which I will be sharing my experience using different web hosting companies over the years.

I currently have accounts with several different shared hosting companies: HostMonster, HostGator, HostICan, HostRocket, Site5 and LunarPages. I also have a virtual private server with Liquid Web. In addition, I have had hosting accounts with other companies that I won't be mentioning here. For registering domain names I use GoDaddy. I don't recommend GoDaddy for web hosting, but when it comes to domain names they are unbeatable. Finally, I have Pingdom for website monitoring and keeping track of site uptime.

I spent countless hours researching different web hosting companies, reading reviews, combing through forums, comparing specifications and actually talking to support representatives before making any purchases. Beside the fact that I am an obsessive compulsive shopper ;) I wanted to be sure I was getting the best web hosting currently available and for the best price.

Of course, I could have hosted all of my websites on just two or three accounts, but I wanted to have a separate account for each site. I did this for two reasons. First, I wanted to compare the overall service for each of the web hosting companies I had decided were the best during my research. Not only do I have several of my own websites, I also have clients who pay well for my services and advice. I don't want to recommend a web host that ends up being a hassle for my clients. Thus, it's important for me to have actual experience with different web hosting companies so that I can make informed recommendations.

Second, I wanted to have my websites on different servers. Putting all of your eggs in one basket isn't a good idea. If there is ever a prolonged server outage, or even worse - a catastrophic server failure, it is better to have just one site affected, rather than all of them. Believe me, catastrophic server failures do happen, and it is good to have multiple web hosting accounts, along with current local backups of your websites.

The Best Web Host

Is there such a thing as "Best Web Host"? In my experience, yes and no. Some web hosting services are definitely better than others. I have had my share of lousy web hosts and I have helped clients move their sites away from hosting companies that are problematic. There are also the web hosts that make me very happy to be a customer with their excellent service and support.

When it comes to hosting, there are a lot of variables and some companies excel at certain things while failing at others. Not only that, there is also variance within each company. Sometimes you just get an unlucky server. It is important to remember that when you purchase a shared hosting account, you are sharing the server resources with many other customers. If one of the customers gets a traffic spike or has a resource intensive site, it can affect all of the other customers on the server. Also, servers and particularly server hard drives tend to fail. The best web hosting companies will use high quality hardware and configure their servers so that there isn't data loss in the event that a hard drive fails or something else goes wrong.

In the upcoming web hosting reviews, I will be highlighting the pros and cons for each of the hosting companies I have accounts with. I will also post coupons as they become available for each of the web hosting services I review. Stay tuned and Themebot will help you choose the best web hosting!