My 3 rules of buying hosting

[other_henry]

There was a post in the shit list section about a bad hosting experience.

FWIW, It prompted me to post my 3 rules of buying hosting:

1. Never pay for more than 1 month in advance

2. Never buy hosting and domain registration from the same company.

3. Never rely on your host to backup your site, always make your own backups and move them to a different company's server or your PC.

I hope these rules help keep somebody out of trouble.

 

[Greybeard]

Good tips! I always forget to do the first one, and then I'm stuck with a host I don't like for a year or more. It's just that you can get better deals if you buy more than one month at a time, so...I just go ahead and do it. And then I regret it.

 

[Subject]

i am actually following these 3 rules for years.
my first hosting+domain was from an indian company (I am indian), and I got problems getting my domain from them (PR5, Alexa 25K). They did not refused to give domain but made some problems when they registered it for me. Spelling mistakes on registration data something. But they given the domain to me without any big problems.

this encouraged me to use different providers for hosting and domain from there.

about backup:
I always backup my files to my computer. everyone can do this.
Its very easy..
I use EasyPHP and Navicat MySQL for backing up mysql database.
With one click, navicat synchronizes the local database on easyphp.

 

[7 Zulu]

Yep. Rule #2, I see people pointing that out all the time.

It is easy, when just starting out, to chose a bad host. Surprisingly easy to google for "bad host", "good host" though. I am still embarrass to mention my first hosting company (they really suck) (starts and ends with a 1 :yo

1 :yo: 1 is even not a good choice for just a domain registrar in my opinion.

Anyway, for anyone who sees this, if your new - try to find a good free hosting company for a while, until you get the knack. Some are totally free, but your best bet would be to find a "post to host" (p2h) that offers cPanel.

I could probably suggest a few good ones, for anyone who is interested, feel free to PM

 

[desfigurel]

Good rules, I'd add also to always get hosting from a company with good technical support...you're almost surely gonna need that at some point.

 

[KinikuMan]

Some companies do not allow to buy 1 month only.The minimum is 6 months and it really annoy me

 

[quicknrandom]

Some companies do not allow to buy 1 month only.The minimum is 6 months and it really annoy me

there are plenty that don't require a 6 month pre-payment

 

[kaif0346]

There was a post in the shit list section about a bad hosting experience.

FWIW, It prompted me to post my 3 rules of buying hosting:

1. Never pay for more than 1 month in advance

2. Never buy hosting and domain registration from the same company.

3. Never rely on your host to backup your site, always make your own backups and move them to a different company's server or your PC.

I hope these rules help keep somebody out of trouble.

Rule 1 is very important I have hear most of people crying on it...

 

[q3rage]

can someone explain why its better to register a domain elsewhere?

 

[balsagoth007]

Great share, thank you

 

[other_henry]

can someone explain why its better to register a domain elsewhere?

Registering your domain with a different company protects you if you have problems with a host.

As long as you have backups of your site and control the registration you can move your site to a new host even if the bad host tries to block you.

If the hosting company is also the registrar then they can stop you moving because they control the name servers for your domain.

 

[q3rage]

thanks for the heads up!

 

[suade]

nice info agree with rule 1

 

[ch8878]

I learned my lesson from buying 1 year from justhost they suspended my account in a week and I wanted my money back and couldn't get it.

 

[MrSofteeMan]

Yep. Rule #2, I see people pointing that out all the time.

It is easy, when just starting out, to chose a bad host. Surprisingly easy to google for "bad host", "good host" though. I am still embarrass to mention my first hosting company (they really suck) (starts and ends with a 1 :yo

1 :yo: 1 is even not a good choice for just a domain registrar in my opinion.

Anyway, for anyone who sees this, if your new - try to find a good free hosting company for a while, until you get the knack. Some are totally free, but your best bet would be to find a "post to host" (p2h) that offers cPanel.

I could probably suggest a few good ones, for anyone who is interested, feel free to PM

Yeah they suck, but they spend a lot on advertising so they still get customers.

 

[KREAM]

Godaddy allows you to pay for 1 month at a time. Also, go to google and type in "coupon code for godaddy" and you can save a few bucks each month.

 

[rody00]

Except no one should use godaddy for hosting...ever!

 

[bluhat]

Godaddy allows you to pay for 1 month at a time. Also, go to google and type in "coupon code for godaddy" and you can save a few bucks each month.

Yes, he is right.

 

[nonetoomuch]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[MakeLemonade]

2. Never buy hosting and domain registration from the same company.

I hope these rules help keep somebody out of trouble.

2. should be never, every buy domain registration from a hosting company. Ever.

They usually make it f***ing difficult to transfer/move/edit the domain. You can easily lose a half hour minimum dealing with it.

I also don't recommend buying from Godaddy, they'll do everything they can to make it difficult to move your domain.