How do you choose a web host?

[zymsys]

I ask because I have been running a web hosting company since 1998. I've slashed prices to remain competitive twice in that time and currently my prices are on the high side of middle ground with most of my clients opting for the $20/month (Canadian) package.

About 90% to 95% of my new business comes in through referrals. The bulk of my customers are very happy with their service and tell their friends. I don't know a way to offer cheaper hosting while maintaining that level of quality.

I don't think I can convey that through a web site because a referral from a trusted friend or associate means a great deal while what I say on my home page carries very little weight.

What I've done instead is to offer a generous referral award system to my existing customers. While they appreciate the rewards it hasn't really increased my referrals... They were recommending my service before and they still do.

So my question is, how do you choose a web host? I've been working with price and word of mouth. What else do you look for?

Thanks!

[gilmorejay]

As a web developer who also resells hosting and buys hosting services for my clients, the most important factors for me are features, reliability, customer service and then price.

Hosting equipment is cheap, high volume hosts can offer hosting for next to nothing and still turn a profit. I find the hosts that I work with regularly respond to my service requests within a few hours.

I don't know how to judge whether you prices are high or not. I don't know what your client sites are and I don't know how critical uptime and redundancy is for them. Most of my clients don't need 99.999 uptime as they are not running extranets or high volume ecommerce sites do 99.9 is just fine.

My reseller hosting package I buy to resell (as a convenience to my clients if they don't want to hunt around and manage their own hosting) is only $20/month US and I can hard provision it so that I don't oversell my server space. I get 5 GB of server space that I resell in 500MB increments and that is better than most of the small independent hosts in Canada who sell on "service". The main advantage for me is that I know that the server has all the features I need and more to implement applications and development strategies on the server.

When I am recommending other hosts to clients I suggest several points to ensure:

1. It should have PHP and MySQL. (for blogs and CMS)
2. It should allow for a minimum of 2 or more DB's.(as above)
3. It should allow user to administer and install applications (within reason)
4. It should offer good support response with toll free 24hour and email.
5. Everything above being equal then cost is the deciding factor.

I have a client who is with a host in Canada who is charging them $30/month for a package that they don't really need just because the package is the only one they have that allows an SSL Cert. I am implementing WordPress and Gallery for them and I found out that they don't allow me to add DB's myself, and they only allow 1 Database with the package. They agreed to give me the extra db but said if I needed two more it would be $20/month. Now that takes the hosting up to $50/month CAD. I can get them a dedicated server from a number of hosts with great reputations for less than that. The uptime is only 99.9 so what the heck is the client getting. BTW the servers they are proudly using are old SUN Cobalt Servers. They promote this like they are still new. I'll tell you what they are good for...

My thought is if you are in the hosting business you either need to get big and find cheaper ways to do business or expect to earn less and less. You are selling a commodity and you will lose to price. Loyalty is fleeting amongst equal providers. The only other solution is to somehow set yourself apart as something better than all the other hosts.

All the best,

Jay

[esearing]

I used to try to size the hosting to the size of the client. Storage space is not near as important as bandwidth. I have a couple clients with large ecommerce stores that only use 4% of their storage, but 80% of thier bandwidth. I have found a reasonable host that has more than most of my clients need, yet gives me maximum flexibility, at a reasonable rate.

Your figures look a little out of whack to me but that may be due to Canadian vs US markets. I also don't mark up the price much but require certain clients to use my hosting. Else they try to go the really cheap route and leave me short of features to work with. I tell them upfront the advertised hosting costs and my annual "service fee"(markup).

My current hosts package
- 3000MB Storage
- 50Gig Bandwidth
- 500 emails (way overkill)
- Allows multiple domains (domain charges apply)
- 5 subdomains at no charge. ie subdomain.myDomain.com
- 5 mySql databases + php (or ASP for windows systems)
- Plug and Play options for ecommerce, webforms, webmail, forums, chat
- Stats and Reporting included
- Templates for DIYers.
- VDECK back end manager (Fantastic and user friendly)
- Live Chat support - I get answers within a few minutes, resolution may take a little longer. Excellent secondary support if needed.
- Great response for resellers/affiliates from tech support.
- mycost? less than the advertised price due to volume I have purchased.

If you want to know who my hosting company is send me an email or PM by viewing my profile. I'm sure the moderators here would appreciate us not advertising every hosting company out there.

[zymsys]

Thanks very much gilmorejay and esearing for your in-depth and well thought out answers!

I'm going to make one change thanks to this feedback right away, which is to allow unlimited MySQL databases. After all, the disk space used by them still counts towards the total package disk space, so what the heck.

I'll be adding 24/7 tech support soon as I move into a new office and hire some after hours people.

As for the other items mentioned, I think I offer a pretty full featured package what would meet needs as described. I am a bit tight on disk space and bandwidth, but I'm hosting some pretty serious sites that don't seem to run into trouble with it. The reason is that I have to pay for my used bandwidth and I run off-site backups which use bandwidth, so disk space is really a reflection of bandwidth cost.

I can't imagine lowing prices any further because they're already just barely covering my costs and I have to provide support and server admin above that. My accountant has already suggested I simply pull out of the hosting business and the only reason that I resist is that it helps drive other business.

Thanks again for the insight! If this site had reputation/karma I'd send you both some today!

[SoKyBiz]

I've been building, hosting and maintaining websites for ten years. My strategy was to raise my prices and offer my customers a higher level of service. I decided that I did not want to compete in the $9.99 hosting market, I wanted to have fewer customers with whom I could create and maintain a good strong business relationship. Companies that I could help and who would reward me for my efforts and expertise.

Bottom line, charging more $$ brought my business more customers who were willing to invest in their online presence. Those are the customers I wanted and those are the customers I want to be associated with. Those are the customer who will bring me similar customers as well.

I won't share my prices online because each client is different but typically, I try to interview the client, decide how much time per month they will require and calculate that time into my monthly price.

I simply asked myself, do I want 1,000 customers paying $10.00 per month or do I want to service 10 customers who are willing to pay $1000 per month. Then I looked for ways to reach them. It was (is) really that simple.

Good luck!!!

[Robert]

So many great points in this thread already, so ditto to what's been said.

I wanted to throw this out as well. We host our sites with different services just to prevent having all of our eggs in one basket.

One host we use competes at the low end of the market. I chose him because of a reference. Recently, he upped his basic plan price by 40%. I didn't care a bit because I know that he provides great service and, if there is a problem, I can call him or email and get a response in hours.

The 40% increase really didn't amount to much to me individually, but I'll bet that 40% across all of his customers makes a big difference to him each month.