Best Web Hosting 2011

The year 2011 is almost over, so the Doc decided it was the perfect time to review all top hosts and highlight the Best Web Hosting Company of 2011.

There is no complex way of figuring out which web hosting company was the best, the Doc simply took all the information and compared the pros and cons of the top several best web hosting companies.

After reviewing these companies, the Doc highlighted bluehost as the best web hosting company of 2011!

The Pros

1. Unlimited Disk Space & Bandwidth
2. Free Domain Name (Forever!)
3. Unlimited Additional Domain Hosting
4. Unlimited MySQL Databases & Email Addresses

The Cons

Free Domain Name – Is It Really Free?

A Free Domain Name is a big perk with registration from big hosting companies, but is it really free? The doc sheds some light on this discussion with some pros and cons of free domain names.

The one and only major pro for getting a free domain name, is that its FREE. When you visit our front page and see our top 3 ranked hosting companies, all 3 provide free domain names after registration. Be aware that some companies provide a free domain name forever (as long as you stay hosted with them), and some companies provide the first year of domain name expenses for free. Don’t worry, we take care of the research for you.

Now for the cons..

1. Who really “owns” the domain? Be sure to check the Whois registry after to see if your name is claimed on the domain name you got for free.
2. What if you want to change your domain name settings? If you bought a domain name, this is real easy, but if you got it for free, then you’ll most likely have to talk with your host to have them change settings for you.
3. The biggest issue (if you have a long term site plan) is if you decide to cancel your hosting plan and move elsewhere. Will your free domain name accompany you to your new host or will the previous hosting company claim rights to it? The expenses to fight for your domain name that you really want can be very high.

If you are not satisfied with the answers you receive from the web hosting company in question, it is better to purchase your domain name separately from a reputable, accredited domain registrar, like GoDaddy or Netfirms (the doc’s favorite).

Do You Need Unlimited Web Hosting?

Unlimited Web Hosting to me is a fad that has started a few years ago by the large hosting companies that want to attract literally every type of customer, anyone who wants to host a personal blog to a full time forum of hundreds of thousands of members.

Sure its great to have that immense amount of disk space and bandwidth (which btw is capped at a certain point), but there are always drawbacks to this benefit. I myself was interested in the “unlimited everything” plan, and still do host with a very large company that provides me unlimited features, but I quickly saw drawbacks, and had to move around a bit until I found the right company.

The main drawback to unlimited hosting is customer support, since you are just one of the other millions of customers to these companies, you can expect the same kind of support like when you call your phone or cable company, sub par..

This might be fine if your an advanced webmaster, and can take care of any technical problems yourself, but what if there is a billing issue or you need help setting up things like a new IP Address or SSL Certificate? Time is money, and you don’t want your time wasted waiting days for support to get back to you.

After all, how much space do you really need?

Check out this diagram below that I made to show you a quick idea of how much space you would need for certain projects you’d start.

(Diagram here)

After hosting with several unlimited hosting companies over the past few years, there is only one that I can truly recommend now, BlueHost. The team behind this company are very quick with support/sales questions, and are very friendly. They have a very extensive help-center to take care of common problems you might have, and response to custom support questions is within hours.

If you’re going to get unlimited hosting, I recommend BlueHost. (You also get a free domain name when you signup!)

How to Buy Hosting for Your Online Business

To buy hosting service for your new online business can be a difficult feat, especially if you are new to the Internet. Since there are numerous hosting services, newbie website owners often get the first one they encounter because they do not want the fuss. This is not something that you want to do though because your web host plays a very important role in the success of your online store or company. Before you lose hair over what web host to choose, here are some tips that might help you out.

The first thing you have to consider, when you buy hosting for your website is the amount of storage space and the various features that you will need. Once you have ironed these things out, you can begin sorting out the different offers and hosting packages that are available. So what are the things that you should be looking out for in hosting offers? Price, consistency, and technical support are the three important factors that should affect your decision in choosing a web host package.

What you need to look out for when you buy hosting is value for your money. You should not necessarily get the cheapest or the most expensive thing on the lot. Select the one that will give you not only what you need but also the additional services at a decent a price.  Reliability is worth looking into when it comes to getting the right hosting provider. Since you are buying a host for an online business, it is important that the provider you choose has the least possible downtime occurrences. Remember that whenever your server fails, you lose a lot of potential customers. So even if your web host may be charging a fee that is a bit higher than the others, it should be alright for as long as they provide consistent and effective service.

One of the things that many people overlook when they buy hosting service is the availability of tech support. Since it is close to impossible that you will not find a glitch or problem with your web hosting, it would be best to find a provider that makes it a priority to take care of their customers’ needs. So be sure to ask around. Surely your friends, family, and officemates have already experienced using web hosting services so they can give you suggestions and referrals. Going to web hosting review sites may also help you in finding the best hosting provider for your new online business.