These days in the web hosting industry, it seems that one host is much the same as another. The same uptime guarantees, the same “friendly” support staff, 30 day money back guarantee, and often the same ridiculously high storage and bandwidth allowances. People need to start thinking outside the square they live in when it comes to choosing a host.

So what if a host has an uptime guarantee? Sure it’s important that your website is available all the time, but there’s another million and one web hosts who provide a similar uptime guarantee. So what if they provide XX/X support? So does everyone else. So what if they provide more storage than you know what to do with? So what if they provide enough bandwidth to serve 99% of the civilized world? It seems every other host has turned to mass overselling* these days. So what DO you look for? Look for all of the basics. A good uptime guarantee, fast, friendly support, and enough storage and bandwidth for your needs.

Then look for individuality. Look for things that set one particular host apart from another. What do they do differently? What do they do better? What value added services do they offer? Do they cater to your specific needs? Not sure? Contact them, talk to them and see what they can do for you. See how they can help your hosting work for you. Look for reasons why a host deserves your hard earned cash over the hordes of other hosts out there. By finding a distinction between hosts, you will not only become a more informed customer, but your hosting experience will be much more enjoyable.

* overselling: A tactic employed by web hosts whereby they sell more storage and bandwidth than they could provide if every single client used their entire allocation. Properly managed overselling doesn’t negatively impact clients - in fact quite the opposite. It can allow the host to provide cheaper services while more fully utilizing their resources. The problem is when hosts start going over the top with overselling - e.g. offering hundreds of GB’s of storage and almost unlimited bandwidth for prices that boggle the mind (e.g. prices under the $10 mark).