One of the issues you have to deal with when setting up a website is a web hosting. In simple terms, this refers to a company or service provider that allocates space for your website on the internet using their own hardware and software. They are usually responsible for storing, providing bandwidth and allowing access to internet users. It is possible to find cheapest web hosting companies on the internet, and this makes it quite difficult to select the best. All of these companies claim to offer the best services at the best prices, but more often than not, this is not the case. Here are some of the issues you need to look out for when entering into a web hosting contract

1.  Cheapest Web hosting Tip #1: Company reviews

It is important to choose a web hosting company that has a record of reliability and excellent support. You can tell if a company is credible by checking out reviews posted by other users or clients. While too many negative comments often imply the company is not efficient, you should always check if the company has a large number of customers to avoid misjudging it. The number of complaints may seem big, but may only be a small percentage in reality, meaning the company may be more credible than you may have perceived at first.

2.  Cheapest Web hosting Tip #2: Downtime

It is normal for a web hosting company to experience outages once in a while, but this should not happen frequently. They may come up with several excuses every time it happens, but remember every time your site   is inaccessible you lose out on business opportunities and your search engine ranking is affected. A good company will have contingency plans in case an outage occurs and should fix the problem within the shortest time possible. Some review sites like NCM Online, provide free uptime and speed test results within their reviews.

3.  Cheapest Web hosting Tip #3: Server speeds

You can check whether a web host provider has fast server speeds by trying to access it before signing up with them. If it is too slow it may not be a good idea to choose such a company because this may affect your client's user experience.

Cheapest Web Hosting Options

Different web hosting companies charge different prices for hosting a website. Some charge exorbitant fees yet their services do not match these charges, while others may seem cheap, but end up being more reliable and efficient. You do not really have to part with large sums of money when looking for a web hosting company. There are some avenues that you can use which will cost you less.

1.  Free domain

Some cheapest web hosting companies offer free domain website on sign up. This can be a good opportunity for you to save some money. What this means is that the company not only hosts your website, but it also owns your domain. The downside of this option is that you are forced to stay with the company even if they become unreliable in future, and you may have to pay a lot of money to buy it back from them.

Sometimes the company may require you to pay annual renewal fees that may even surpass the actual amount it would have cost you to acquire the domain in the first place. Companies that offer free domains use this avenue to get more revenues and profits. You need to do a thorough assessment of this offer bearing in mind that your website may go down in the event the company goes down. For more information about domain names, visit ICANN.org.

2.  Advertising on your website

Some companies offer to host your website for free in return for posting advertisements on your web pages. Depending on the contract that you sign with the web hosting company, you may be required to place a banner on your web page with promotional information about a certain product or service, or have a pop window that appears when users visit your site.

The downside to this is that you may have to tolerate an advertising frame which may result in your website being rejected by search engines. There have been complaints from users about cheap web hosts that are not reliable; Oktagone.net being one of them.  However, there are also free web hosts that do not impose advertisements on your website.

3.  Discounts on upfront payment

Some web hosts will offer you a discount if you pay for two years. This may save you some money instead of paying the standard fee every year. However, you need to evaluate such an offer carefully. In essence, it may be risky to commit yourself to a company for two years or more if they do not have a good reputation, as there are chances the company may experience lengthy and frequent downtime. No matter what web company you settle on, it is very important that you back up your data regularly for your own security. Although most hosts will claim to perform regular backups, they may not live up to their word.