Recently I completed some work for a client looking for a new website hosting provider. They just weren’t happy with basically everything about their current hosting provider: the customer service was challenging, the website was seeing slow performance and they felt like they had to do too much “server-side” coding to make their site function as expected. They are using a popular content management system (CMS) for their site, so they were confused as to why everything seemed so difficult. I suppose the adage here that you get what you pay for might actually be the case…
We took a look at a number of variables when evaluating five (5) of the more-reputable hosts that on paper were able to meet their needs:
- Introductory term or pay-ahead discounts
- Setup or migration fees
- Excess bandwidth charges
- Tech support
- Site backup
- Uptime
- Page builders
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
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What we found was that all website hosting providers are definitely NOT created equal. While some offered the financial advantage of lower monthly fees or deep discounting the first year, they may not have offered the same storage, bandwidth or other performance benefits. And others offered plenty of [un]necessary perks, but also at a premium. In the end, we decided that the client should go with GoDaddy.com which offered the feature list that most closely matched up with their needs with a proven track record of customer service. There was a slight premium, but worth it to the client, who wishes to only worry about the site when it’s time to update the draft beer list and upcoming events calendar. Most of the hosting providers will have a migration service that SHOULD be offered for free to new customers: this ensures that your current site makes it over to the new host with little-or-no downtime for your customers. Hope this helps you and your team if you’re in the process of evaluating website hosting providers!