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So far, we’ve covered a list of cheap, quality hosting services to consider. Now is the time for some useful tips on how to deal with the common problems that arise in cheap hosting deals.

1. AGGRESSIVE UPSELLING AND CROSS-SELLING

Most low-cost hosting companies have aggressive up-selling and cross-selling practices. Budget hosting companies are in the market to make money. They sell or recommend add-on services and web applications such as SSL certificates, advanced email hosting features, domain names, CDN services, email marketing tools, and more.

While some of the offerings are straightforward, some cheap web hosting providers trick their customers into signing up for free trials. When the trial ends, they charge their customers high prices for the services. Their customers end up paying premium prices for services they wanted to try and likely don’t even need.

2. RUSHED SERVER

Some budget hosting companies tend to overload their capacity and host too many websites on one server. The practice is known as over-selling. While overselling is a good way to reduce hosting costs, it sometimes jeopardizes user experience. Sites hosted on a crowded server result in slow response and frequent downtime.

3. BAD NEIGHBORS

Occasionally, cheap hosts are infiltrated by what is commonly referred to as bad neighbors. These bad neighbors are the spammers who eat the resources of the server or the careless webmasters who get hacked. If you share a server with spammers, you won’t have enough resources left. If you share a server with someone who gets a Trojan or a computer virus, your site might also get infected.

4. BLACK HOLED IP ADDRESS

Usually, you get a shared IP address when you subscribe to a cheap web host. In rare instances, this shared IP address may be black-listed due to the activities of other users.

5. POOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Some cheap hosting companies have poor customer support and are unable to respond to customer requests promptly. Slow response times are not always due to lack of care. In some cases, cheap hosts do not have enough technical staff to respond to customer support requests.

6. HIDDEN FEES AND CHARGES

Some low-cost hosting companies have suspicious business practices and unclear terms and conditions. Read TOS (quick tip: go to TOS Host page, press Ctrl + F, search for keywords such as ‘cancellation’ and ‘refund’) clearly and make sure the cancellation is made. The web host may charge the domain registration fee (which may be up to a one-time $25 fee) and the SSL certificate fee, but anything more than that is a no-go fee.Don’t go with those with a policy of fish cancellation, no matter how cheap they are.

7. FEES INCREMENT AFTER FIRST TERM

Cheap hosting companies are not always cheap. Many lure customers at low prices and then jack up the renewal fee two or three years later. Unfortunately, this is the industry standard. Many of these companies lose their customers’ money in the first two or three years, so they charge higher prices later to recover their losses. Many customers don’t realize they ‘re going to pay higher prices, and they’re going to get a sticker shock when they see the auto-charge on their credit card bill.

8. LONG SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD

Some web hosts will ask their customers to sign up for a very long time in exchange for low price tags. Lunarpages marketed its shared hosting deal as $4.95/month many years ago. But the $4.95/month deal is only available to customers who are willing to pay five years in advance – which is a rip-off. Five years! Anything can happen online in 5 years; the hosting company might take your money and close the store.