A very vital part online presence relies on the web hosting companies. We as clients pay them money for hosting our websites, dealing with any issue with the server, providing us with a great service and more. Although, most of these web hosting companies claim to provide with the best service in the world, how many of them actually live up to their words. Do you want to know how to spot an undependable company?

How often have you seen the ads that offer the following unbelievable deals?
• Your own domain name.
• Unlimited disc space.
• Unlimited bandwidth.
• Unlimited technical help.
• Unlimited databases.
• All for a low, low price!

The unfortunate thing about these unlimited offers is that as soon as you have paid your money you find out that the only thing unlimited is their ability to avoid you when you run into problems with your service. Do yourself a favor; before you buy into these offers put their service to the test.

Following are the top 10 signs of an unreliable hosting company:

1. If the company does not clearly post who they are, how long they have owned their domain name and how long they have been in business then you need to find out before paying them any money. A background check on Google search will deliver a lot of information. If they are reputable, they would gladly offer this information to their customers and it should be a concern if they do not.

2. Do they post their company specifics online? If not, you need to find out if they simply resell hosting packages or truly own their services. Web hosting services and reseller web hosting are two different things. The caution here is that anyone can buy a domain name, create a professional front end with a shopping cart, and hang their “open for business” sign out on the web. Due diligence on your part will keep you from investing in a scam.

3. When you call their offices, do they seem professional and knowledgeable about the business? They are supposedly the experts and if you get the impression, they do not know what they are doing, hang up, and look elsewhere.

4. Anytime a company offers unlimited services, a red flag should be raised. Although your account has no limits, the server your site is hosted on does. Since your site is hosted with many others on the same server, you are all sharing the same bandwidth. If that bandwidth is limited then your site will experience unreasonable down times that could be costing you business. When this happens, their cheap hosting can become very expensive.

5. Does the company update their scripts on a regular basis? Do they own quality equipment and servers? Are upgrades available and do they deliver what they promise? How is their customer service? Do they offer coldfusion hosting?

6. When you contact them, do you get the sense that they are located in a foreign country? If they use technical terms without the ability to explain them this is a sure sign that they are more concerned about their interests than they are with yours.

7. Today’s bandwidth is much cheaper than it once was, so a reasonable price is possible. The key is only buy what you need and if the company is pressuring you to purchase more, just say “no”. The best hosting companies will offer you a good value and will not try to oversell you.

8. If the hosting company offers too little information and no knowledge base on their site, then you are probably dealing with an inexperienced host and might want to look elsewhere. Valid hosting companies normally have customer forums posted on their sites that allow you to get a sense of other customer’s experiences.

9. Is their customer service staff easy to reach? Are you able to talk to a live person and do they respond to your e-mails and trouble tickets in a timely fashion? Some web hosting company takes long time to respond when your website is down or any other kind of problem.

10. If they do not seem concerned about your business then start looking for a more reputable hosting company. Reputable hosts will do everything in their power to make sure you are a satisfied long-term customer because they know that bad publicity can harm their reputation, which will result in loosing customers.

The more informed you are about your hosting company the better service you will get and your business will be. Do not be afraid to ask pointed questions and if you do not like what you hear look elsewhere. Do you have any advice about  web hosting company?

Joanna has been part of web industry for over 4 years now. And been with web hosting search from last 2 years, specializing in hosting market.