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Web hosting services are so common now it seems like everyone has one. Not meaning this is a wrong way, trust me, competition is something I truly believe in. But, it seems there are people who think that they don’t need to know anything about developing and maintaining a business, to start their own web hosting business.

Those I find most surprising are those that offer hosting services at crazy prices. There are web hosting offers from people for $1 a year. Yes, you read right, one dollar for an entire year of service. With prices in the range of $60 to $100 per year for the minimum service, one would think this is a great deal but you must really analyze it first.

Let’s do some math. We will take a look at a case of a small web host business getting 1,000 clients. Should a company offer its services for only a dollar each then they will only make around $1,000 a year. Is it realistic that he will be able to provide anyone with services, support and upgrades with this price? I am hard pressed to think he will have enough for food alone!

It can still be a good business if you get enough clients, some will say. Ok, just because I’m in a good mood, let’s continue with this example. Imagine this provider-for-a-dollar can get 10,000 customers, a very ambitious goal. Then it’s $10,000 dollars of income. Do you really think a business can make it with this income for a year? Just imagine the cost associated with servicing 10,000 clients. Just the cost of rent, phone lines and power would be enough to deplete this small income.

As ever, the human mind is marvelous and searches for a solution. Clients that buy these services reason that if they get the deal for a year, it doesn’t matter if the provider goes out of business next year, which is most likely. They already got the service almost for free. And again I ask, is this true?

If your provider suddenly goes out of business, you will no longer have access to your services, and you will lose your email addresses and your web site. Even if you have your domain registered with another provider, you will not be able to get a new service for at least a couple of days in the best case scenario. That’s only if you didn’t make the mistake of getting your domain name with the same provider.

In that case, you may even lose your domain name and will have to get a new one. Imagine the time wasted just notifying all your clients about your new email address. What if you lost important emails and documents too? Do you think this is worth the risk?

When you buy your next web hosting service, consider the support services, the promptness in answering your emails and phone calls and the time the provider has been in the market. Yes, do check the price too, but if it sounds too good to be true, it may be a good idea to look somewhere else.

If you want to go with someone else who will only cost a dollar go ahead because we’ll be glad to help you when you come back - just hope that too much damage hasn’t been done.

Tags: Search Engine Optimization