Best Budget Web Hosting – Cheap Price Doesn’t Mean Cheap Hosting Services

April 30, 2010 by Garen
Filed under: Choosing The Best Web Host

( The Best Web Hosting Service )- Everybody understands the very vital role of a web host in providing your web hosting needs and requirements. Let’s face it, web hosting comes with a price; and as your business grows, so do these needs and requirement increase; which consequently raises the cost, as well. Thus, it is understandable that many website owners opt for the cheaper web hosting providers. You mustn’t lose sight of the fact, however, that cheap web hosts aren’t always the best choices; they carry a lot of risks as many of these cheap web hosting companies use antiquated, unreliable servers; has very minimal or no customer service to speak of and provide limited bandwidth and disk space.

Ever wondered how these companies could offer such dead-cheap prices? Simple. They sacrifice quality and do a lot of cost-cutting that can translate into innumerable downtime or other issues; causing YOU huge headaches and dreadful frustrations when you lose much more than the few dollars you presumably save when you get lured to big promises for little money. To avoid some big time regrets later, it is essential that you become aware of the price-value ratio in any cheap web hosting plan you are contemplating on getting. Don’t fall into the trap of signing up for a cheap host and getting cheap services instead. This is where your knowledge of budget web hosting becomes quite crucial.

The Essence of Budget Web Hosting
In recent years, budget web hosting has consistent become all the rage on the market; resulting in cutthroat competition among web hosting providers. The positive impact of this for the customer is that the cutthroat competition brought the prices down considerably; along with, it web hosts now vie to give enhanced and improved services. Budget hosting plans do offer top-rate quality of service, sufficient capacity and adequate security through shared hosting; that is, splitting the hosting costs among a vast number of users, which results into each customer paying only a fraction of the total cost. It works well for both sides. Unfortunately, that’s not always true in all cases. There are fly-by-night operators who are only out to make quick bucks. How then do you separate the authentic budget web hosts from the simply-out-to-get-your-money type of web hosting?

Vital Components of Budget Web Hosting
Here are some of the essential elements you should look for to accurately assess if the web host os your choice is genuinely offering value for money or out to rip you off:

• Reliability. You shouldn’t be surprised that this is the first on the list. Almost all web hosting companies identically promise 99.99% uptime but many fail to deliver. Downtime is expected but if your website is constantly gone or unreachable or simply lost in cyberspace, without you even being aware of it, that’s bad news – and bad business. You need to have some kind of assurance that your less than $5 a month web hosting fee doesn’t equate your website to “now you see it; now you don’t”.

• Customer Service/Technical Support. This is your website’s lifeline. A decent budget web hosting provider should have proficient and expert representatives to cater to your needs as webmaster in times of trouble, regardless of whether you pay cheap or a steep price or even if it’s a free hosting. A good support team should be able to answer your web hosting concerns no matter what level of skills you have.

• Disk Space and Bandwidth. Excellent budget web hosting companies can accommodate unlimited disk space and bandwidth, while the cheap web hosts (even the not-so-cheap ones) with cheap services restrict your bandwidth and space usage, which may result in sudden suspension of your account (for excessive usage); frequent downtime, or even termination. Moreover, this is where hidden fees for exceeding quota are mostly triggered. Go for unlimited with no strings attached.

• Security Suite. This safeguards access to your account, enabling you to run programs on the server, change file permissions, or offer sub-domain subsections. This is especially crucial for installing shopping cart software on your website. It’s a must-have before you even think of launching a retail website.

• Automatic Backups. You can’t over-emphasize the magnitude of the role this component plays in dealing with unforeseeable circumstances, so that your website is kept alive even if the server fails or crashes. If the web host doesn’t offer this, run away from it as fast as you can.

There are other factors and elements to consider but these five are the most fundamental and critical ones. If any of these components are lacking in any of the cheap web hosting plans being offered, you better think twice and move on to the next choice.

iPage: Why They Stand Out as The Best Budget Web Hosting Provider

When it was founded in 1998, iPage began as a full web solution provider, but only just became a full-fledged web hosting company in 2007. The company, owned by Endurance International Group and led by its CEO Thomas Gorny, has its corporate office in Burlington, Massachusetts where their two data centers are also located.

iPage is the epitome of the best budget web hosting provider, with one of the lowest priced web hosting plans in the industry which is currently $3.50 per month. Proof of their confidence in the quality service they provide is the Anytime-Money-Back Guarantee they offer to all their customers. Inclusive of their feature-rich, all-in-one plan, you get unlimited disk space, bandwidth domains, e-mail addresses and MSQL databases. iPage prides itself on being one of the stalwart of excellent web hosting with focus on reliability and security, which are amply demonstrated in their 99.99% uptime guarantee (which they are able to live up to); 24/7 controlled network monitoring with access and error logs (they never sleep on the job); free and advanced security suite; carbonite online backup service (free only during your first year); plus, power backup. Ping test results show an average of 57ms, which is tested from their East Coast offices.

But most amazing of all is how they truly care for their customers. 24/7 customer is guaranteed with the North American phone support they have and you can expect instant response under two minutes; iPage was awarded The Web Host with Best Phone Support. And you can actually chat with someone human on their Live Chat Support system – instantly, too! Their support ticket system is one of the best and you can expect to get a reply to your queries and concerns within two hours. Their agents and technical staff are incredibly prompt and competent and you can tell that these guys have passed through various rigorous tests and trainings to serve the customers according to quality standards. iPage go the extra mile to identify your “pain points” and try to resolve them in the quickest time possible.

The old adage, “you get what you pay for” is generally true in certain levels and in many cases cheap web hosting delivers cheap and incompetent services. But it also true that not all expensive web hosting companies provide great services. It’s all about being smart in choosing the best budget web hosting provider and getting your money’s worth – and then some. With iPage, you find the perfect match to your idea of the best budget web host. Their all-in-one plan is all you need for all personal and small business website hosting requirements. You don’t even feel tied-up if there’s something you don’t like with their services, as you can easily cancel your account with their anytime-money-back guarantee. Better check them out and set up your account now!

**Web Hosting Reviews**
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