Are you wishing to build your site with a shared web hosting? Before purchasing, simply wait a minute to learn the general untruth of this hosting type.
At present, the competition in this industry has become more and more severe, so providers just utilize some attractive promotional tricks to win customers. However, do you really believe that the benefits promised by them can come true?
Here, we’d like to unveil their dirty secrets, and help our readers make the deal rationally.
Unlimited Hosting is Virtual
A large volume of server resources is essential for any webmasters, for they need enough disk space to store their files and sufficient monthly bandwidth to transfer data. Thus, many companies claim to provide customers with an unlimited allocation. Some of them even guarantee unlimited e-mail accounts, databases, and domain hosting. However, the truth is that many people can never exhaust all the resources allocated to them.
Generally, only small website owners or bloggers choose this hosting type, and they only need a small portion of server capacity to keep their sites running properly. If webmasters have left some resources unused, providers will re-sell them to anyone else for profit generation, which is known as overselling.
Besides, if you are careful enough, you can find that many companies have presented a usage policy in Terms of Services, stating that if you consume too many resources, then you have to reduce your usage, upgrade your package, or face some penalties.
1-Year Available Free Domain
Many companies attract customers by offering a free domain name, but don’t state conspicuously that the free domain is only valid for the first year of registration.
Typically, they show the benefit of “Free Domain” at the top of the home page with a bold font, but present the validity period at a place where nobody will pay attention. Therefore, once you find that your host claims to offer a free domain, you’d better figure out whether it is valid for life or only for one year.
US/Canada Valid Marketing Credits
Free advertising credit is one of the most attractive beneficial extras, so almost all the companies offer this benefit, including the credit for Google AdWords, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and many more. However, it is only available for residents of the USA and Canada. Thus, if you are a citizen of any other country, you have no right to use these free vouchers to promote your website.
Expensive Renewal Rate
To be honest, many people choose the web hosting just because it is much cheaper than VPS and dedicated server. Based on our Internet research and the statistics presented on some hosting review sites like HostingReview360, the average price is $7 every month.
However, the budget-friendly price is only valid for new customers who purchase the service for the first time. If you feel satisfied about your host, and want to renew your account for a longer time, then you might be surprised to find that the renewal rate is very expensive, which almost triples the original price.
Credit Card Payment Only
Many companies only allow customers to pay via credit card, which is very risky as compared with some other payment methods like PayPal. This is because the host can deduct fees from your credit card for account renewal without your authorization and further notification when the initial term is going to expire. Besides, it may increase the chances of your confidential information leaking, such as your personal identity and financial account.
Summary
Without doubt, the shared hosting is budget-friendly for the majority of webmasters. However, due to its drawbacks that are released in the above, you have to pay much attention when selecting a hosting provider. If you have no idea of where to start, this top 10 list can give you some inspirations, among which all the web hosts have alleviated these dirty secrets to a large extent.
