Monday, 15 August 2011
As a web designer I am sometimes asked to recommend or provide hosting for clients, but often clients like to shop around.
Here is some information to help you when looking at Web Hosts based on a personal experience of these 4 companies which are the ones I have worked with most frequently.
Cheap 'n' Cheerful - UK Cheapest
This is a very basic web hosting service. They do support a lot of web applications like wordpress and joomla and they make life easy if you are not web savvy since since all updates can be done automatically.
I do not recommend these for e-commerce sites or those using content management systems like wordpress which take up a lot of space, or sites which are expected to expand rapidly. I do use them for my own site which requires little in the way of stored images, etc. Shops, and other sites where a lot of detail is uploaded they can quickly become full, and the company will suspend the account immediately if you go over your allocation. Even if you upgrade immediately expect the site to be off-line for at least 24 hours. They will not commit to a timescale for reinstatement.
The other thing to consider is their storage space vs cost. If you were to buy a site large enough for a mid-scale ecommerce site run on a shopping cart programme, it could work out more expensive than a better package elsewhere.
They score poorly on customer service - they have no dedicated phone lines so all support questions have to be dealt with online. They will report that they are dealing with all support "tickets" within 1 hour but rarely do, even on an urgent ticket you can wait at least 24 hours for any response and the customer support you do get is pretty lack lustre.
Verdict: Cheap, you get what you pay for, OK for small trades based sites and personal sites.
Good Service - 123 Reg & UK Host4U
Although I find the UK Host4U website irritating in the extreme (especially the online chat window that zooms across the screen), I have never had any problems with either of these companies, they are reasonably priced and offer a good customer support service which is based within the UK. They also support many web applications, content management systems and e-commerce carts. With 123-Reg, if you purchase their business package or higher you can choose to host more than one site with them for the same fee. The sites are mainly shared, non-managed server sites and I would say they are good value for money.
Verdict: Standard shared and non managed web hosting service, various packages to suit the needs of different sized businesses as well as the smaller website.
Top of the Range - Your Site Here (YSH)
Without doubt the best web hosting service I have ever used in terms of its customer service. Run by the Dark group the customer service availability is limited to office hours but the telephone is answered immediately, the staff actually know your name and can help with every aspect of your site from basic uploading issues, right through to intricate little problems you may have with any one of the number of web based applications they support. This, in my view, is top of the line hosting and you will pay accordingly. The downside is that they whilst they do offer web applications and content management system support, once something like wordpress or joomla is installed space is at a premium. Even smallish sites can quickly become full even on their Platinum service which offers 1GB storage compared to 10GB+ on other servers.
Verdict: Fine for non content management based sites. Excellent customer care.
Quick Comparison - Cost vs Storage Space
UK Cheapest: 10GB storage for £7.49 per month.
UKHost4U: 10GB storage for £14.99 month
123-Reg: 25GB storage for £4.99 month
YSH: 1GB storage for around £25.00 per month (this is the largest storage available with this host)
Here is some information to help you when looking at Web Hosts based on a personal experience of these 4 companies which are the ones I have worked with most frequently.
Cheap 'n' Cheerful - UK Cheapest
This is a very basic web hosting service. They do support a lot of web applications like wordpress and joomla and they make life easy if you are not web savvy since since all updates can be done automatically.
I do not recommend these for e-commerce sites or those using content management systems like wordpress which take up a lot of space, or sites which are expected to expand rapidly. I do use them for my own site which requires little in the way of stored images, etc. Shops, and other sites where a lot of detail is uploaded they can quickly become full, and the company will suspend the account immediately if you go over your allocation. Even if you upgrade immediately expect the site to be off-line for at least 24 hours. They will not commit to a timescale for reinstatement.
The other thing to consider is their storage space vs cost. If you were to buy a site large enough for a mid-scale ecommerce site run on a shopping cart programme, it could work out more expensive than a better package elsewhere.
They score poorly on customer service - they have no dedicated phone lines so all support questions have to be dealt with online. They will report that they are dealing with all support "tickets" within 1 hour but rarely do, even on an urgent ticket you can wait at least 24 hours for any response and the customer support you do get is pretty lack lustre.
Verdict: Cheap, you get what you pay for, OK for small trades based sites and personal sites.
Good Service - 123 Reg & UK Host4U
Although I find the UK Host4U website irritating in the extreme (especially the online chat window that zooms across the screen), I have never had any problems with either of these companies, they are reasonably priced and offer a good customer support service which is based within the UK. They also support many web applications, content management systems and e-commerce carts. With 123-Reg, if you purchase their business package or higher you can choose to host more than one site with them for the same fee. The sites are mainly shared, non-managed server sites and I would say they are good value for money.
Verdict: Standard shared and non managed web hosting service, various packages to suit the needs of different sized businesses as well as the smaller website.
Top of the Range - Your Site Here (YSH)
Without doubt the best web hosting service I have ever used in terms of its customer service. Run by the Dark group the customer service availability is limited to office hours but the telephone is answered immediately, the staff actually know your name and can help with every aspect of your site from basic uploading issues, right through to intricate little problems you may have with any one of the number of web based applications they support. This, in my view, is top of the line hosting and you will pay accordingly. The downside is that they whilst they do offer web applications and content management system support, once something like wordpress or joomla is installed space is at a premium. Even smallish sites can quickly become full even on their Platinum service which offers 1GB storage compared to 10GB+ on other servers.
Verdict: Fine for non content management based sites. Excellent customer care.
Quick Comparison - Cost vs Storage Space
UK Cheapest: 10GB storage for £7.49 per month.
UKHost4U: 10GB storage for £14.99 month
123-Reg: 25GB storage for £4.99 month
YSH: 1GB storage for around £25.00 per month (this is the largest storage available with this host)
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About Me
- Mara Cortesi
- Live and work in Somerset. Just about to embark on a back to nursing practice course.
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