This post is day 3 of the A Week Of Staying Safe series.
I’ve used about 5 different web hosts. All of them shared (don’t make enough to pay for dedicated, nor do I need that) and most of them sucked. And I mean they absolutely SUCKED. Probably one of the best things I’ve ever done was to sign up with my current host.
Over the past many years I have learned one important lesson, having a good web host can absolutely save your sanity. I can’t even recall how many hours of lost sleep resulted from poor customer service. If you have ever had to chat with a host at midnight to complain about 20% downtime you probably know what I mean. But for those of you who haven’t, it’s hell.
What is even worse is when your site gets attacked late at night. Luckily I’ve never had to experience that, but I know many people who have. A hack attack is probably the #1 way to find out if your host is actually good. Did they treat you well and get the problem fixed, or did they simply tell your it’s your own problem?
I am not here to try and evangelize a certain host (although I love mine), nor am I hear to tell you how to find a good host (I’ve written many guides on it before, here, here, and here). I am here to tell you that you should never under any circumstance go for the cheapest host you can find.
Cheap does not equal better, it never has and it never will, yet people insist on choosing “Cheapo Host Inc.” just because they cost $2 less. Pay the extra $2 and get the better host, just truth me on that. That $2 will save your life. You’ll sleep better, your site will be more secure, and your site will run faster.
And yes, cheap web hosts tend to use cheap security. In fact, I suspect one of my old hosts is the reason why one of my e-mail addresses got bombarded with spam. I signed up with their service, and within a few weeks I was getting hundreds of spam e-mails a day. A little odd, wouldn’t you agree?
And lets not forget, better hosts will kick users off a server who pose a security risk. If their scripts are really crappy they may even get the boot all-together. Cheap hosts do not do that. They will let spammers and idiots run free and wreak all sorts of havoc among their servers. They don’t care, they are getting their $2 a month.
A Week Of Staying Safe Articles:
Day 1 - The Ultimate Guide To Detecting E-Mail Scams
Day 2 - Huh? Who Sent That? - How To Find Out What Server Really Sent That E-Mail And How To Deal With Spam
Day 3 - Having A Good Host Can Sure Save Your Sanity
Day 4 - Top 3 Ways To Secure MySQL
Day 5 - Avoiding Make Fast Money Affiliate Scams
Day 6 - 17 Ways To Avoid Spyware Forever
Day 7 - Password Rotation
Please subscribe, or else I will cry. Do you really want to make a programmer cry?
June 13th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[…] A Week Of Staying Safe Articles: Day 1 - The Ultimate Guide To Detecting E-Mail Scams Day 2 - Huh? Who Sent That? - How To Find Out What Server Really Sent That E-Mail And How To Deal With Spam Day 3 - Having A Good Host Can Sure Save Your Sanity […]
June 13th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[…] A Week Of Staying Safe Articles: Day 1 - The Ultimate Guide To Detecting E-Mail Scams Day 2 - Huh? Who Sent That? - How To Find Out What Server Really Sent That E-Mail And How To Deal With Spam Day 3 - Having A Good Host Can Sure Save Your Sanity […]
June 13th, 2007 at 11:49 am
So… what host are you using?
June 13th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
HostGator …. best host ever. Started using them in August and have only had a few minutes of downtime, plus the server I am on is wicked fast and the server load rarely goes above 4.0 (a 4-cpu server), which is pretty good. Supposedly their tech support sucks but out of the few times I have contacted them (for quick questions) they gave me an answer within minutes.
Definitely a nice change from my previous host (who I had a one year deal with), they had at least 10% downtime… it was horrible.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Ah. Good deal. I’m currently in the process of moving from my buddy’s bluehost account to mediphase (an hosting). I got tired of bluehost’s semi-regular downtime during peak times.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
[…] Having A Good Host Can Sure Save Your Sanity […]
September 12th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
What web hosts were you on before? My contract with 1&1 soon runs out and I’m not happy with their load times, so I’m looking to move soon; don’t want to get saddled with a bad host.
Tried AN Hosting for a spell, but their tech support was slow and couldnt support my custom email configuration.
Thanks!
September 12th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
My last one (before hostgator) was WebIntellects. They treated me like a king before signing up, and even treated me nicely in the beginning, but they fell apart after that. Beyond that I can’t remember my others, I’d have to look through my records from years back.