How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

by Steve Yates

The ITS Connection Online Newsletter

For almost 30 years ITS has provided web hosting services to clients, nationwide and even around the world. What should you look for when choosing a web hosting partner/provider?

The Data Center

Almost no one has seen their actual web server in person, yet the data center is a critical component of hosting services. We intentionally do not host web sites from our office. We use a local data center that provides 24x7x365 on-site staff and tight security, as well as multiple redundant high speed connections and giant UPSs and generators, all to maximize uptime.

What to Ask

In addition to basics like e-mail and disk space included with a hosting plan, examine the extras.

Our high speed, redundant setup includes redundant routers, redundant storage, and several layers of backup, including automated off-site backups.

  • Does the host back up your server on a daily basis?
  • How easy is it to reach technical support? How good are they?
  • Do they have a backup generator and redundant power connections?
  • Do they have redundant high speed Internet?
  • Do they offer multiple flexible options including private servers?
  • Do they have an upgrade path if your site traffic increases?
  • Do they provide free secure certificates for your site?
  • Do they provide an uptime guarantee?
  • Will they prioritize voice traffic for hosted phone systems?
  • Do they charge for everything, such as bandwidth/data used and disk space for backups?
  • Do they install server security patches for you?

With bigger "cloud" services like Amazon AWS, everything is up to you to manage, and everything is pay-as-you-go. With ITS your monthly bill is predictable.

Gotchas

Look for an uptime guarantee as high as possible. A 99.5% uptime guarantee still allows over three and a half hours of unscheduled downtime per month! Many "cheap" web hosting providers have no guarantee whatsoever, or guarantee their "network" remains online, not your actual web server. Then they try to cram as many sites on a web server as they can, and don't care about performance.

Check to see if the provider will work with you to minimize downtime for your e-mail and web site when moving to their service. We've seen third party web developers claim a transferred site may take a few days to get back online.

In Conclusion

Selecting a hosting provider for your web site can be a confusing task. However, many prospective customers today first interact with your company via your web site. In this light, should you be primarily concerned with price, or with reliability, service, and quality?

If you are looking to host a new web site or are unhappy with your current provider, give ITS a call and we can discuss our services in detail. Or, visit us online at www.teamITS.com. Our personal touch combined with our professional-class hosting services may be the answer for you.

April 2025

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