Having been with Hostgator for about a year, I am very happy with their service so far. Indeed, finding a good host is not easy especially if your site/blog is getting a lot of traffic.
I want to find out besides Hostgator, what other hosts stand out from the crowd. So I did a search for the keyword “web hosting” on Google and took one of the top 10 site, Webhostingsearch.com and decided to do a review on this site.
Web Hosting Search is a web hosting directory listing different types of web hosting services from basic hosting like shared and php hosting to advanced hosting like dedicated and coldfusion hosting. I like the way they group the hosting services.
Every host listed on the site has its own review by both the Webhostingsearch’s editor and the users. The editor rates a host base on a few factors: support response time, support quality, server uptime, server response time, features and control panel usability. The users, on the other hand, can participate in the review process by rating the host based on the score from 1 to 10 on the host review page. They can also input their comments about the host.
I think this type of the review process involving both the editor and the users are less biased. However, there are only a few input from the users. I am hoping to see more reviews from the users to get better judgment about the quality of the hosts. With that said, generally, I think the hosting providers found on Webhostingsearch.com are of high quality because some of my sites are hosted by Bluehost and Lunarpages (and of course, Hostgator) having no big issues so far.
You can also do a specific search for a web hosting plan using their advance search feature. It is such a powerful feature that you can refine your search by web hosting type, control panel and even easy-install forum programs. You can also find a list of hosts with built-in WordPress program for easy installation. Simply select “WordPress” under the “Easy-install Blogs”.
This site also has a knowledge base section about web hosting and design. I particularly like the video tutorials. The tutorials are presented in a step-by-step manner and in a simple but professional way. It is so well-presented that I include the WordPress installation tutorial in this post. I hope the webmaster will later add a video tutorial detailing the steps of installing WordPress theme. I have made the proposal. Hope they’ll consider it 🙂
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The only thing I’d like to add for newbies is to be aware that sites like Webhostingsearch make money every time you click “Sign Up” and link over to the host site and purchase something.
This is an affiliate site. From what I can see, none of the hosts listed on there are host without an affiliate program, which makes me weary. Not to say this person is truly being objective, but I do wonder if they have actually used and tested each of these hosting companies or if they are simply pasting in some product info they get when they sign up for the affiliate program.
Just my 2 cents to think about.
I have also seen a lot of sites promoting other hosting services via the affiliate programs just for the sake of making money without providing candid reviews. As for Webhostingsearch.com, it is different from other sites I have seen. One part of it is you can find both reviews from the editor and the users. Though there aren’t a lot of posted user reviews because they just have that feature less than 4 months ago, the move shows that they want to eliminate the bias by the editor.
As for whether they have tested every single host listed on the site, I think if they could provide the domain names in which the promoted companies host the domains, it would clear some of the doubt.
I personallly use Hostgator, BlueHost, Ix Web Hosting, Thinkhost, Justhost and some others. But the only two I can really recommend are Hostgator and Bluehost. For various reasons.
Yes there are lots of sites that only put up affiliate links, but some of them are trustworthy.
There is this site called Honest Web Host Reviews I cant remember the URL and is around for a few years now. Why? Because people trust them.