In an increasingly technological world, most people naturally hold on to some unfounded myths about web hosting providers. Unless you spend your days immersed in technology news and events, you might be a little out of touch when it comes to web hosting or companies that provide hosting services.
Let’s help bust some of these myths with a look at 7 common myths many people have about web hosting. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be ready to choose or upgrade to the best web hosting provider out there.
Myth 1: All Web hosting providers are the same.
While the web hosting business has become highly competitive and almost all of the companies in the industry strive to offer the best service, there are still many differences between them.
If you really want some peace of mind, research and find which one best fits your business and meets all your process requirements. Better yet, use sites that help you compare web hosting providers – one provider is always better than another.
Myth 2: My web hosting won’t affect my SEO ranking.
Believe it or not, Google will penalize your website if it connects or loads too slowly or is offline too often. These three failures mean that web hosting company isn’t up to par. They could be failing because:
- Their servers are located too far away (even out of the country) or have connectivity issues.
- The resources they offer (bandwidth and disk space, for example) are poor, limited or highly congested.
- Their uptimes are deplorable, which means websites that sit on their servers have major downtimes.
Whatever the reason, sticking with a bad web hosting provider will kill your online presence.
Myth 3: Price is a good indicator of service quality.
There are many businesses that think just because they pay top dollar, they’re guaranteed top services. Just like anywhere else, the web hosting industry also has companies that offer you premium services, but don’t meet your expectations. When you ask for their promises to be kept, they may even hit you with additional bills.
On the other hand, there are mid-level hosting providers that prefer to offer great service at very low costs. The trick here is to seek these companies out and to stick with them – there is no need to shell out extra cash when the cost of decent web hosting is spiraling downward.
Also, avoid cheap fly-by-night operations – you will definitely regret it.
Myth 4: You need to hire a techie to handle your web hosting.
There may have been a time when businesses needed the help of technicians and administrators to monitor their web hosting for them.
That was a long time ago and nowadays, anyone with basic click-and-drag knowledge can pretty much run their own web hosting accounts. With popular control panels like cPanel at your disposal, you too will be tweaking and configuring your hosting package like a pro in a short time.
Myth 5: You should believe all reviews about hosting providers.
Again, we can’t emphasize enough how fierce the competion is in the web hosting industry. These companies, if they want to survive, will do their utmost to retain and expand their clientele base. But, like in any business, there will always be some clients who won’t be happy with the services given, airing their grievances in the form of negative reviews.
Then there’s cases where companies either buy good reviews about themselves or pay to have false and malicious ones spread about their rivals. So take every single review with a grain of salt and take advantage of hosting providers’ trial periods to vigorously test them and see if they meet your requirements.
Myth 6: Unlimited doesn’t always mean unlimited.
Seriously, if you think a web hosting company is going to make all its resources available to you at one fixed price, you really haven’t figured out how the business world works! No company would let you suck up all their bandwidth and server space for the price of one beginners’ package.
Don’t fall for such flashy advertisement ploys. Whenever a hosting provider offers you a deal that looks to be too good to be true, skip to the fine print – there, you’ll find the catch.
Myth 7: All hosting providers own their servers.
Many people don’t realize some of the most popular hosting providers don’t even have a single server to their name. That’s right; you would be surprised at the number of web hosting reseller companies that have struck gold by selling other people’s server resources.
While most hosting reseller companies – especially the well-established ones – offer seamless services you wouldn’t be able to differentiate from the real thing, there are always some black sheep. They tarnish the reputation of the other hard-working resellers with delayed response and support, sub-par hosting solutions and a general lackluster performance.
Avoid such companies – they will hurt your online presence.
Web hosting myths busted
These aren’t the only myths surrounding web hosting, but they are some of the most commonly held. Before you commit, do your research! This will help you make wiser decisions the next time you’re on the hunt for a decent web hosting provider.
