There is a huge number of hosting companies available for you to choose from, and it can seem impossible to work out which is going to give you all the features you need as well as good value for money. One of the best ways to narrow things down is to read reviews of your shortlisted hosts on public forums.

There are dozens of hosting forums on the web, but two you might like to start with are WebHostingTalk and HostHideout, the former being the larger of the two. It’s pretty easy to search most forums; just visit their search page and type in the name of the host that you’re interested in, and click Search. You might want to choose the "Search Titles Only" option, which will narrow the results down considerably to very specific, on-topic threads. Feel free to ask questions; people will be only too happy to give you their opinions! If not enough information is available, you can always start a new thread, asking about your prospective hosts. Try to keep your threads specific (don’t just ask, "Which host should I pick?" - "What’s your experience of XYZ Hosting?" would be a better question), and specifically ask for customer reviews, so that you don’t get dozens of posts of hearsay. Check the number of posts from the people whose reviews you read – 100+ posts will lend them more credibility.

A few points to remember:

- Sometimes business owners might post positive reviews of their own companies, or negative ones about competitors. Most of the time, experienced users will pick up on this and ask for clarification, but it is worth being aware that this can happen.

- It can sometimes take a long time to read threads properly and get a good sense of the opinions about a particular host. Be prepared to dedicate a good few hours to the task of finding a host who is worthy of your patronage.

- No hosting company will have only happy customers, and people are more likely to complain than to praise. Bear this bias in mind when reading reviews, and look at how hosts have responded to problems as part of your research.

- Just reading reviews is not all you need to do to choose a good host! Other articles on Domainmonster.com have more tips and points to consider when you are selecting a host.

Author: Natalie Catchpole

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