So you found a web host that you think will give you the service and quality you want, at a price you think is almost too good to be true? If this is the case, be very cautious as there are so many "web hosts" out there that are not what they appear to be. So how can you tell, other than a fancy website and a possibly a few testimonials on their site, how do you know anything at all about this web hosting provider? First, make sure they are a primary web host. In other words, make sure they are not just a reseller which is nothing more than a middle man between you and a web hosting provider. If so, most likely their uptime and quality of servers stand a better chance of being quality, provided they are kept up in good efficient condition.

do a search on a domain name or an IP address, it will even show how many websites are hosted on that particular server or shared IP. Also, look for hosts that use reputable hosting control panels, like cPanel, Plesk or maybe even DirectAdmin. Click through most of their website...are there any online tutorials and knowledgebases? If so, do they appear to be helpful? And by all means, watch those prices where they offer tons of space and bandwidth for very, very little. This is called overselling and if a host does this, you could end up on server that is slow and struggles to keep up with it's load. This would result in lost web site visitors due to slow page loading times or even worse...downtime!