Rating the Top 5 Hosting Companies
Every web hosting site is different and there are a wide variety of services available. Internet providers often offer free web sites to their customers. Many people prefer to purchase hosting services from professionals. Personal website hosts are often more affordable than websites that cater to business. A hosting services set up for professional usage will provide a control panel for access to the functions of the web site and management of its content and installation of scripts. These professional website providers can be easily searched online through the variety of search engines.
In order to make an educated decision on a hosting company it is important to go through all of the services provided and familiarize themselves with what should be available as part of a general package. Some companies offer discounts on packages that will help those looking for cheap providers for their websites. Some important aspects that to consider when looking at individual hosts are host uptime which is the amount of time a host is available. It is also important to be sure as you use the service your expectations are met as promised. Every attempt should be made to receive a full or partial refund if they are not.
There are various types of web hosts such as:
* Dedicated hosting: When the owner gets full rights on the server and has all the administrative accesses, it is called a dedicated server.
* Managed hosting: When the user gets a separate server, for himself or herself but cannot access it independently, it is called managed hosting. Such servers are leased to clients.
* Virtual hosting: The server is separated as virtual servers. All the users feel that they are having a dedicated service but in actuality they are sharing the server with other users. The users have access to their own space.
* Free hosting: While this service is free to host a site, it is also accompanied by ads.
Other types of hosting include, Reseller web hosting, Shared web hosting service, Grid hosting, Colocation hosting and clustered hosting.
The styles of service offered by all of the companies are usually general access plans. These packages include all of the services mentioned previously along with features like web design, email boxes, backup ability, billing information, content management and tech support for their customers.
When selecting a web host provider you can use certain parameters to make a decision based on the important information you will need to have a good experience. Some of the important aspects to consider are Uptime, amount of disk space, bandwidth, support, and security socket layer availability. The top 5 companies that offer web hosting services are listed below selected for their abilities in these areas.
Top 5 hosting companies are mentioned below:
1. Hostmonster- This web host service has been in existence since 1996. They have a reputation for providing great service at a low cost. Their backup system is secure and reliable their customers have a great sense of security. They provide a large amount of information on their use and procedure to give visitors a clear understanding of their performance.
There are a large number of hosting features this company gives its customers including:
* Disc storage
* Data Storage service
* Secure email support
* Add-on domains
* Domain parking
* Advanced technology
* e-commerce features
* multimedia features
* site promotions
* bonus features
2. Inmotion hosting: This is a web hosting company that is providing it services to clients all over the world. The flexibility and reliability of its services is praiseworthy. The company has won the Top Business Host Award 2008 and has been listed among the top 10 hosting companies. The company has been awarded for all its specific services in 2003, 2006, 2007 including 2008. Since 2001, the company has been serving its clients with dedication. The company shares partnership with CNET Certified Service provider, BBB reliability program and SWsoft official partner. Services rendered by the company include:
* Dedicated servers
* Virtual private server
* Business class provisions
* Cheap personal web hosting
* Website management
3. Bluehost: This is one of the top hosting companies that have been serving its client since 1996. High quality customer service and maximum uptime are just small parts of the huge range of services offered by the company. High quality server environment, control panel and security features add up to the services rendered by this company. The reliability offered by this company has provided beneficial over the time. Both company and its clients are benefited by the wide array of services.
Apart from the basic web hosting services, the company offers:
* Free website plug-in scripts like message forum, poll survey and software, moodle, PHP nuke, Tikiwiki and more.
* Wide range of e-commerce features like Agora shipping cart, cube cart shopping cart, password protected directories and more.
* Their list includes multimedia functions and top technology.
4. RackSpace Inc: Rackspace is a UK based company that began its service in 1996. They are registered as Rackspace LTD and are known to be one of Europe’s top web host servers. Amongst the many large businesses that use Rackspace are Vue, OnSpeed, Renault, and Confused.com. Rackspace was included in ‘The Sunday Times’ list of 2007 best companies.
* The company has solutions for small, medium and large businesses
* Managed and green configuration service.
* Secure service
* Security services
* Email functions
* Database provisions
* Visualization
* Administration and reporting
5. Godaddy.com: This is a very popularly known top ranked web host provider. Their services are easily managed and flexible making them easy to use for even inexperienced users. They have awards in their listings that prove their industry prominence in the web host market. Godaddy provides many discounts that are of great help to those seeking affordable hosting. They offer services comparable to any of the big web hosting companies while specializing in discounted services and promotional offers.
A sample of the services offered by this company are:
* 20% discounts available on packages
* Expanded websites also qualify for discounts along with web designers
* Easy to use site builders
* Site Builders
* Reseller abilities
* Private auction functions
* Reseller services
About the author: Gregory Trune is a staff writer for WebHostingMadness.com and web hosting industry blogger. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews and ratings of the top web hosting companies each month.