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Do you think $ 50/year is the right price for web hosting? Should a $ 100/year hosting be 2 times better than the $ 50 one? If you are taking your wallet out already – STOP! It is not your fault you got confused. You probably already know that choosing the wrong website hosting plan can be detrimental to your business.

Here is a common question we hear often from our website design clients:

Should I pay $ 50/month for web hosting?

Hi, I am running an eCommerce business that requires a regular web server with PHP and databases. I know most of the popular hosts out there charge $ 10/month for stuff like this.

But this particular company (not going to mention the name or else you might think this is an advertisement), says that they have more than 500,000 websites hosted, is specialized in business web hosting, guarantees 100% uptime, has 24/7 customer support, and basically says that they are "premium business hosting" and their pitch is that for $ 5/month you get the best quality hosting for your business (compared to $ 8/month).

This is NOT dedicated server hosting. Just regular web hosting, but they have everything.

Is this worth it? Would you do it for your business?

Do not make the mistake of thinking cheap price is all that matters. There are a lot more to ask yourself before you decide on which web hosting is best for you.

What Do You Really Need in a Web Host?

Use this list to check for what you truly need:

• Does the company reputation matter to you – the brand name, history, dependability, stability, and profitability of a company can mean a lot to you if you are a web designer, hosting reseller or a website developer.
• General support – what kind of support do you need? Is chat support important? What other support methods do you prefer. What kind of response time can you tolerate?
• Technical support, Sitebuilder and Script Installer – are you tech-savvy or do you need as much help as you can? Do you need to build a website quickly? Do you need to install WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento or other free scripts?
• Support hours – know if you need real 24/7 support. Where are you located?
• Server location – do you know that local, regional, national, or worldwide server makes very little difference to most visitors. Reliability and uptime is more important most of the time.
• Growth possibility – do you need a host that can accomodate your growth? The best website hosts should have options for you to upgrade your plan.
• Backups – can you do your own website backup? Is a good frequency and easy recovery of the backup something you should consider in a host? If what you need is the best online backup, you probably do not want a website hosting after all.

Now let us review the 10 important factors to identify in an excellent web hosting. An outstanding web host worth paying any amount of money:

1. lets you try their service for free or at super low price – Would you buy a piece of clothing before you try it on? Would you buy a perfume before you smell it? Didn’t you buy your car only after you went for a test drive? And rarely will you buy food unless you’ve tasted it first right? So with web hosting it should be no different. Why commit your hard-earned money to a year of service before you try the features that you think you may need in a hosting plan?
2. has friendly Live Chat available 24/7 so it does not matter where you are in the world
3. gives huge webspace at no extra cost
4. offers more than enough bandwidth at no extra cost
5. can be easily upgraded to VPS or one of the best dedicated server plans if and when your business require
6. gives unlimited add-on domains
7. has excellent support and rated at least A+ by Better Business Bureau (BBB)
8. has at least 30 days money back guarantee – just note that money back guarantee is not the same as trial account as you have to pay in advance and you may not get your money back. Would you agree that a hosting company that does give free trial and long money back guarantee could be more reliable as they are more confident with their service?
9. has easy-to-use Site Builder for quick website creation
10. has Fantastico and QuickInstall to quickly install apps like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OSCommerce, ZenCart and more

Many experienced web developers use Hostgator. If need a quality hosting plan, website experts usually recommend going with Hostgator because they are the best best domain host in the world today.

The Hostgator reviews will tell you that HG has an amazingly long, 45 days money back guarantee so you have ample time to test them out. They are rated A+ by Better Business Bureau which shows their commitment to customer satisfaction. You also do not have to pay for the first month. You can just try their fully functional hosting service – you pay only $ 0.01 (you need to use the exclusive coupon). Do you know any other hosting company that believe in themselves so much they can give you that kind of assurance? Anybody can grab an account from Hostgator for almost FREE.

More online businesses with superior products let customers try out these days. Take a look at iTunes and Amazon. Before buying a song through iTunes, they let you listen to a short clip of the song. Amazon will send you sample chapters of an ebook. It is really not difficult to do right? But why not many companies are doing it?

Hostgator Coupons That Lets You Try the Premium Hosting at $ 0.01

Click the coupon below try Hostgator cPanel hosting for almost free. If you already know that Hostgator is what you want, you can even save 25% off the normal price.

Hostgator Compared with Other Web Hosts

No web hosting service is perfect. If you compare Hostgator with other hosts, they do not offer some things these companies offer:

1. Free domain name – but you can easily get a domain name from the best domain registrar such as Godaddy or Namecheap for $ 10 or less. Do not forget that it is a hassle to take the free domain name you receive at a web host and move it to another host.
2. You need to pay full price after your first invoice – you do not expect such great service and support at $ 0.01 forever, do you? Hostgator is not one of those free hosting service. It is like they say, you get what you pay for.

If you are unsure if HG can meet your needs, or you have specific question about something, try the Live Chat at HG. They are friendly, fast and knowledgeable. They are available for sales, billing or even technical support for 24/7 at no extra charge.

Hostgator is having a 20% sale right now, but you can use the above coupon code for bigger savings.

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