If you’re looking for somewhere to host your website, beware of any web hosts who tempt you with low prices.
Low cost hosting companies keep their prices down by operating a "no questions asked" hosting policy, storing large number of websites (sometimes over 100) on their servers without vetting any of their clients first. The problem is, if one of their clients is using their hosting to send out spam, anyone else who has their website hosted on the same server will find they are blacklisted, with the consequence of having their websites and email blocked.
Low cost hosting companies will usually provide the minimum of support (often by email only), so if you are unfortunate enough to discover your website on a blacklisted server, you may be waiting hours for support. In many cases, the hosting company will wash their hands of the matter and say it’s out of their control.
Before moving your website to a new hosting company, carry out a bit of research first. Robtex offer a background checking service, enabling you to see who else is hosting their website at your preferred host. Their service also enables you to see if their servers are blacklisted.
As an example, here is a report from one of Zen Internet’s web servers (who I should add are a reputable hosting company), but even they have a server that is blacklisted.
- http://www.robtex.com/ip/82.71.204.19.html – you can see what a large volume of sites are hosted here, well over 100 sites on this server.
- http://www.robtex.com/ip/82.71.204.19.html#blacklists – shows the Zen server is currently blacklisted (As 30th November 2009 – this status can change).
Although we do not provide hosting ourselves, we are able to recommend a number of premium shared hosting companies who charge a bit more, but vet all their clients before signing them up for web hosting. You can contact me here for more information.
So if you’re choosing a shared hosting company, make sure you carry out some background checks first. You wouldn’t move to a new town without checking out the neighbourhood first, why not take the same attitude to web hosting?
