Deciding on web hosting is an important aspect for any website. Amongst the tools that some use to decide upon their hosting are online reviews. But can these be trusted?
There are both positives and negatives of using online web hosting reviews. It is always useful to know of other people’s opinions and if you read a positive online review it is effectively a recommendation. It is useful to know which hosting companies others would recommend and the strong points of different hosts. It can be even more valuable though, to know of services that customers have been unhappy with. If you read of potential problems that would affect you then this can warn you to stay clear of that company. An online review can be more impartial than reading a testimonial that a web host has on its own website, as they are only likely to include the positive reviews.
Although online reviews can be helpful, they are reasons why they cannot always be trusted. You can’t believe everything you read online as anyone can post what they like. This can include a company posting a positive review of themselves or competition posting a negative one. Even for genuine reviews it doesn’t necessarily give an accurate portrayal of the service you will receive. Some people may have had one bad experience with a particular host, and their review may give an unfair negative impression based on just one factor for one customer.
One online review does not give a definitive answer as to whether a host is a good or bad one. Whether a review is good or bad, it may just be a one off or the host or competition posting the review. If something is repeated again and again across a number of online resources though, then it is quite possible that it gives an accurate impression.
When looking into web hosting you need to consider what is important to you; the type of web hosting you need and the aspect of it that you see of as most important. This will help you choose the hosting that fits your needs. It is the same for hosting reviews. If a company seems to have certain weaknesses if may not matter if it is something that will not affect or matter to you, while if it will affect you, you know that you should disregard that company. The same goes for their strengths. If it is something that is important to you then it can be a major plus point in you choosing that hosting company but if it is not important to you then it doesn’t really matter how good they are at it. It may be that a particular host is good at some things but not others, for example good at colocation hosting but not shared hosting, or good at business hosting but not personal hosting. This will allow you to make a decision based on the quality they offer for the type of hosting you require.
You can never be completely sure that an online review is accurate but you can use it to assist your decision making. It is best not to trust one single review but if reviews are consistent across a number of sources and written by a number of different people then it is likely to be accurate. Reviews can be a good tool for establishing the strengths and weakness of different aspects of a host’s service.
Andrew Marshall (c)
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