A while back I wrote a checklist on shared hosting. People found it very helpful. But, a few people complained that I was not right about the resellers. Some also said that they were using a reseller and was happy with the service. So, today I’ll take the time to tell you folks a few things about resellers.

What is a “reseller”?

There are 2 types of resellers. I’ll list them below.

1. Reseller plan: You can buy reseller accounts from other hosts for about $10/month (cheapest deal on average) and make your own hosting company. I call them phony hosts and you wanna avoid these guys.
2. Dedicated servers: Now this one’s a better choice. These guys have rented a dedicated server and is actually serious about their business.

Who can become a reseller?

Anyone! Yeah anyone can get his or her hands on a cheap reseller plan. But, dedicated servers would be pretty expensive. So, most of the resellers are using those shitty ass reselling plan which are hosted on an oversold piece of shit server. And what if the reseller oversells? Crap! That would be overselling on an already oversold server. Oh you’re screwed!

You know what’s shocking? People are fucking giving away reseller accounts for free. Just polluting the web (a bit more). You can go on forums like FreeWebspace.net and Digital Point, and you’ll see these free plans. They usually get you to post on their forums to keep the reseller account running (post2host!).

That means kids can start their own hosting site (and a lot of them are). Plus these plans are meant to attract teens (and young adults). No technical knowledge necessary!

I know this 15 year-old guy. He’s the dumbest guy of all time. He couldn’t even install WordPress. I am not even joking. WordPress is idiot-proof! And he couldn’t install that. WTF? Why am I telling this? Well because he bought a reseller account and started his own hosting site. I’m not sure what I should say. Just think! Do you think he can provide you with technical support? Hell no! What are the chances of him closing down his hosting site within a few weeks? A lot!

Should you use a reseller?

Try to avoid them. But, if you really had to choose a reselling company then choose the one with their own dedicated server rather than a cheap reselling plan. These guys are actually serious about the business. They probably hired a few technical support reps. A lot better choice, huh?

HostGator is a reseller. They rented their servers from The Planet. So, you see there are few “big fish” resellers. But, most reselling hosts are run by people with no knowledge on servers, programming, web dev, etc and they don’t plan to stay in the business for too long (fly-by-night hosts!).

I’m hoping this article gave you guys a better view of the reselling hosts. I’ll be writing an article on how to tell if your host is a reseller or not, this week. So, stick around and don’t forget to subscribe!

I was looking for a decent webhost and I forgot a few things that I was supposed to check for. So I thought why not make a list of things that we should all look into before choosing a webhost. Lets call it the ultimate shared hosting checklist.

Well we all know the basics. See how much space and monthly bandwidth you will get. Don’t forget email accounts and databases. You know the usual stuff. So lets move on to the more important ones.

Are they overselling?

Oh please don’t go with a overselling webhost. Chances are you’ll be hosted on a oversold piece of shit if you go with them. So how to tell if they’re overselling or not? Well is it too good too be true? Are they giving you 500GB or 1500GB of space and 100TB bandwidth for just $5? That’s overselling my friend.

And you won’t even need more than 2-10 gigs of space. Trust me. And for bandwidth I would go with like 50-200 gigs (just so it can handle traffic spikes).

Are they a reseller?

Most resellers are fly-by-night hosts. They take your money and they go poof! Say goodbye to your money and files. You don’t want that to happen. And even if they are a reseller check how long they have been in business.

The database size limit

This is very important if you plan to host a forum or a database-based site. I’ve looked around and most big webhosts have about 100MB limit in a shared environment. 100MB should be good enough for a while. Like if your site grows you’ll probably move to a VPS or a dedicated server.

Number of concurrent users on a database

Oh yeah this is 100% geeky thing. Its the number of database connections being made at the same time. This is really, really important if you have a forum (especially if its running on vBulletin). Now the limit ranges from 10-250 depending on the webhost.

Just call the support people and ask them about it. Most hosts don’t have info on it on their site. You might also wanna check their AUP (acceptable usage policy).

Reviews! Good or bad?

I would do a quick Google search and check for some reviews. Now don’t fully make your decision based on the reviews. Some might be fake (like written by a competitor). More important is word of mouth.

Type of support available

Most hosts do have a support number on their site and offer 24/7 email and/or live chat support. But how long do you have to wait till you get help? Here’s the mini checklist for support.

1. Call support and see how long you have to wait till you talk with someone. You might get a host that puts you on the line until you hang up or just take messages.
2. Email support with a few questions. Like concurrent users, database limits, etc. See when you get replied.
3. Yep you got it! Use the handy live chat. See how long do you have to wait till a rep. gets on the chat and see how professional they are (like the replies and stuff).

Big fish or small fish??

I don’t care if some new host is giving an awesome deal, I would always go with a big host with a good reputation. Wondering why? Well you’ll be hosting your files and databases there. How do you know if they follow the privacy policy? How can you be sure that they won’t download your files and databases and make a clone or sell it somewhere? The list can go on and on. But you get my point, right?

Using a big host always makes me feel safe. I’m not saying that something like this is never going to happen on hosts like GoDaddy, MediaTemple, DreamHost, etc. But if it happens then you can at least sue their ass. They won’t just go poof unlike the small fishes.

UPDATE (July 25, 08): I listed down “5 Great Shared Hosting Plans“. Check that out.

I think that’s it. If I’m missing anything then please let me know. Thanks for reading guys! And don’t forget to subscribe to my feeds or via email for more like this.

Hey folks. I’m sure a lot of you saw “unlimited” space and bandwidth on paid hosting plans. Today I’ll tell you something about it. Hopefully that will save your money.

Okay there is nothing called unlimited space and bandwidth. It is fake! Like the servers can only hold a certain amount of files. Its just to make it look like you’re getting an awesome deal. Okay do you really think that they will buy another server if one of their servers gets filled up with your files? You’re paying like $5-20 per month. A server costs more than that man.

Now this is the surprising part. I can bet that if you use up about 5 gigs of space, they will suspend your account and give you some weird ass reason. Refund? Forget it. In your dreams pal. Those are greedy bastards.

And because of this crazy overselling their servers are going to be super slow. So just be careful next time. Don’t fall for it. Go with hosts that are giving you a reasonable amount of space and bandwidth (ex: 10gb).

Normally when you are on a shared hosting you get a shared IP. That means a lot of other sites are using the same IP as you are. Now that doesn’t really matter. But if you think of SEO then it does.

Why shared IPs suck!

Lets say you are using a shared IP. A webmaster uses black hat methods to get traffic and gets banned from search engines. And the site was hosted on the same IP/server as you are. Now search engine don’t just ban the domain, but they ban the whole IP range. That means your site just got banned too. (Oh shit!)

Not a good thing is it? Well you can prevent this by getting a dedicated IP. That means you’ll be the only one using that IP. So you won’t have to worry about getting banned because of someone else’s fault.

How to get one?

Well most dedicated servers come with one. But dedicated servers are pretty expensive (starting from $50/month). Wait. Some shared hosts also give you the ability to add a dedicated IP for a few extra bucks per month (starting from $3).

One of the hosts that I’ve seen which gives you this ability is GoDaddy. Their economy hosting plan is $4.29/month and the dedicated IP is $2.99/month. A total of $7.29/month. Not bad, huh?

Should you get one?

Absolutely. If you care about your site and want it to succeed then you should get it ASAP. Its not that expensive. Just a few extra dollars per month but its worth it.

There are few things that you should be aware of when you choose your web host. Whether its a free hosting service or a paid one. I think these are pretty important if you care about your site.

Paid Hosting

• See if your host is reliable. Ask a few people about their service. Or you could just Google the web host’s name with a few keyword and see what comes up. You’ll probably get a few blog posts and/or forum discussions about them.
• Keep in mind that you get what you paid for. If your host is giving you a great deal like 50gb of space, 100gb of bandwidth, etc and the price tag is only $3 per month. Then I think your host is overselling (its when you give people more than you can since most customers don’t use all of their resources). And they might not have a good service since their server is packed tight with a lot more users than it can handle. And if a host doesn’t make money how will they stay in business. That means that they might go out of business like a lot of web hosts. So, don’t always go with the cheapest. Look for the one which offers a reliable service at a reasonable price.
• Check if they are a reseller. A reseller is someone or a host which buys a reseller plan from another host and they use the other host’s resources to provide you a web hosting service. Pretty much like pretending to be a web host. Now they might give you a good deal but their service might not be reliable. And anyone with a few extra bucks to spare per month can be a reseller. And so they might not have a good support.
• See how long they have been in the business. So that the next morning you don’t wake up to find your site down and your web host gone. No refund or anything. They probably ran out of business or they ran away with your money.
• Check their Terms and Conditions of Service and their policies and shit. If they are overselling and you use up like 60-90% of your resources then they might close your account and give you some bullshit reason. Why? Because if you use all of your resources then there will be a shortage on the server. Since they rely on resources that have not been used by other customers.
• Good support? Check for that. You need a good reliable support. And before you actually buy one of their hosting plans go chat with the sales rep (if they have a live chat) or email them and see if they are nice and if they type in a formal way or like “ok. we;ll do dat. dont worry about that.” or like “Yes. Sure we can do that for you.”

Free Hosting

• See if they have support. Like even a support forum where the users pretty much help each other.
• I know a guy who had a pretty successful forum and the web host downloaded his database and forum files. And made a clone of his forum and redirected the traffic from the real forum to the clone. And he could have sold the forum database to people (yeah there are people who buy them).
• Reliable? Check for that. You don’t want your site to be down all the time.

So, that’s it for now. I might later make a list of good hosting deals. Both free and paid.