Finding the best website hosting services for you small business can seem like an overwhelming tasks.
I mean who really knows what all those nerdy technology words mean anyway?
I know I sure dont!
However, I have been working with a number of website hosts over the years and I know from experience a good host from a bad one.
What To Look For Before Buying Website Hosting Services
When reviewing web hosting companies, here are 15 key factors you should take into consideration…
- Know your hosting needs
- Server reliability and uptime guarantees
- Hosting upgrade options
- Number of addon domains
- Signup prices vs renewal prices
- Refund policy and free trial period
- Essential hosting features
- E-commerce features and support
- Control panel
- Account limitations
- Email hosting
- Subscription period
- Site backup
- Live chat/telephone support
- Server responsiveness
Our Top 3 Website Hosting Service Providers
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting has been around since 2001 and have data centers in Arizona, Michigan, Amsterdam and Singapore and is the website host we use for Concrete Internet Marketing and a number of our clients.
Stable &Reliable Uptime of Over Last 10 Months
From December of 2017 through September 2018, A2 Hosting’s uptime was 99.92%, just .02 below the industry standard of 99.94%. You can check the latest uptime results here.
Fastest Shared Hosting Provider
What really sets A2 Hosting apart from the competition is just how fast their hosting service is.
Website speed is important because if your website does not load within 3 seconds you stand to lose 50% of your traffic.
Here are the stats for just how fast their server responds, and yes this is the fastest you will find anywhere…
- December 2017 – 411 ms
- January 2018 – 371 ms
- February 2018 – 372 ms
- March 2018 – 390 ms
- April 2018 – 377 ms
- May 2018 – 395 ms
- June 2018 – 364 ms
- July 2018 – 345 ms
- August 2018 – 354 ms
- September 2018 – 345 ms
You can view the latest response times here.
Top Notch Customer Support
Customer support is available 24/7 through chat, email, phone or ticket submission and their representatives know what they are doing.
We can honestly say, with the support of A2 Hosting we have been able to resolve issues faster than we have with any other hosting support center.
Actually, we encourage you to head over to A2 Hosting yourself and click on the chat button to see for yourself just how responsive and knowledgeable their staff is.
Free “HackScan”
HackScan is part of A2 Hosting’s Perpetual Security initiative and is included free with every hosting plan.
This malware protection runs 24/7 to block attacks before they damage your site. Other hosting providers offer similar products but those products come along with a fee.
Free Site Migrations
If you already have a website and you hate your hosting provider for whatever reason, then moving your site to A2 Hosting might be the best decision you ever make.
Not only does A2 Hosting provide free migration, their knowledgeable customer support center will help you through the migration process.
Money Back Guarantee
A2 Hosting offers a 30 day money back guarantee. If for any reason, with the first 30 days, you are not satisfied with their hosting services simply cancel for a full refund.
Additionally, if you do go over 30 days and then decide to cancel, A2 Hosting will offer you a prorated refund.
Learn more about their refund policy here.
Free Content Delivery Network
A2 Hosting provides its clients with Cloudflare that provides 200% faster load time and uses 60% less bandwidth.
You can learn more about Cloudflare here.
Pricing
A2 Hosting offers shared hosting services for as little as $3.92 per month, which is perfect for you if you are just getting your website started.
As your websites traffic grows, or if you already have a busy website, you can consider purchasing a semi dedicated server for as little as $9.31 per month.
Bluehost
Bluehost has been around since 2003 and is based in Orem, Utah. They are committed to WordPress and they know more about WordPress than just about anybody.
Stable &Reliable Uptime of Over Last 10 Months
From December of 2017 through September 2018, A2 Hosting’s uptime was 99.99%, just .05 above the industry standard of 99.94%. You can check the latest uptime results here.
Fast Shared Hosting Provider
Although Bluehost is not as fast as A2 Hosting, they still do have some pretty fast response times.
Here are the stats for just how fast their server responds…
- December 2017 – 399 ms
- January 2018 – 415 ms
- February 2018 – 463 ms
- March 2018 – 429 ms
- April 2018 – 409 ms
- May 2018 – 406 ms
- June 2018 – 468 ms
- July 2018 – 418 ms
- August 2018 – 416 ms
- September 2018 – 487 ms
You can view the latest response times here.
Customer Support
Although Bluehost does know WordPress very well, their customer supports response rate is a slower than their competitors. However, if you have a more technical questions, you may be bounced around from representative to representative before you get the answer you need.
On the bright side, Bluehost’s YouTube channel does offer a lot of helpful tutorials that go deep in depth to help you solve 90% of the issues you may face.
Security Features
Bluehost comes with a myriad of security options to keep your website and your visitors safe.
Some of these tools include SpamAssassin, Spam Experts and Spam Hammer. They also offer hotlink protection which prevents people from stealing your images and content.
Furthermore, you can enable two-factor authentication and the entire site is build with token account validation.
Site Migrations
If you already have a website and are thinking about migrating over to Bluehost, would a migration fee of $149.99 change your mind?
Unfortunately site migrations are not free and you are limited to 5site migrations and 20 email accounts.
Money Back Guarantee
Bluehost offers a 30 day money back guarantee. However, if you registered your domain name for free with them, they will deduct $15.99 from your refund.
You can view their refund policy here.
Pricing
Bluehost offers shared hosting services for as little as $3.95 per month and comes with a free domain name and a free SSL certificate.
As your websites traffic grows, or if you already have a busy website, you can consider purchasing a dedicated server for as little as $79.99 per month.
HostGator
HostGator was founded in 2002 and has headquarters in Houston and Austin, Texas. Recently HostGator unveiled their Cloud product which has helped improve their server response time and makes them a legit contender for hosting services.
Stable & Reliable Uptime of Over Last 10 Months
From December of 2017 through September 2018, A2 Hosting’s uptime was 99.97%, just .03 above the industry standard of 99.94%. You can check the latest uptime results here.
Fast Shared Hosting Provider
Over the last 10 months HostGator has really made some improvements to their cloud server and are inching up the ladder to become one of the fastest servers available.
Here are the stats for just how fast their server responds…
- December 2017 – 440 ms
- January 2018 – 430 ms
- February 2018 – 456 ms
- March 2018 – 479 ms
- April 2018 – 433 ms
- May 2018 – 491 ms
- June 2018 – 454 ms
- July 2018 – 342 ms
- August 2018 – 358 ms
- September 2018 – 360 ms
You can view the latest response times here.
Customer Support
HostGator offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat and email. Although you may have to wait a few minutes to make contact with somebody, the representatives at HostGator are very knowledgeable.
Free Site Migrations
HostGator does offer free site migrations and will even assist you through the process.
Money Back Guarantee
HostGator offers a 45 day money back guarantee, but restrictions do apply. You can see a list of their restrictions here.
Pricing
HostGator offers shared hosting services for as little as $3.49 per month if you pre-pay for 36 months.
As your websites traffic grows, or if you already have a busy website, you can consider purchasing a dedicated server for as little as $119.00 per month if you pre-pay for 36 months.
Conclusion
Choosing a reliable hosting company is critical to the success of your website. The hosting companies mentioned above have proven year after year to be some of the most reliable hosting companies available.
If you have experience with any of the hosting companies mentioned above. or maybe another hosting company you feel deserves a mention, leave us a comment below and tell us about your experience.
And as always, if you liked our post, please chime in and let us know how we are doing.