Hosting: The ONLY Feature
                    to Look For!

"Go with XYZ hosting because we have triple-quadruple-redundant,
laser-guided RAID array servers sporting the latest Perl necklaces made
by authentic Apache handlers smoking PHP 5.0."

If you've spent even ten minutes comparing webhosts, no doubt you
were romanced by ads full of techno-babble.  About the advanced
server technology each host has, and all the cryptic software run on
them. At least most of the stuff is cryptic to me, except for PHP.  
'Cause when I was a kid, a tried PHP myself, so I know what that is ;)

Or how about all the plans?  You can drive yourself nuts comparing 
Host A's servers to Host B's which seem faster than Host C's, but 
Host B has a cheaper plan but Host C has a reseller program, but
extra bandwidth is only $25 on Host C, but......

         Meanwhile, you've wasted precious time and still aren't
                           sure you've made a wise choice.

I think it was Armand Morin who said that no matter what else, make
sure your host has good customer service.  Specifically, that there
will be someone available 24/7 to answer the phone. 

When I heard that, I thought, "Yea right, like there will be someone
who is technically savvy who's gonna answer the phone at 0330 on
a Sunday night, and be able to turn Safe Mode off on my server
if I want."  Which is exactly what I needed done but couldn't get
done because my (then) host company was home asleep.  Meanwhile,
all calls were routed to their "24/7 - 365 phone support"....

...in Taiwan! (Which means only general questions can be answered.)

         I cannot tell you how valuable 24/7 - 365 telephone 
                 support is when it comes to your webhost. 
        Especially if you are not an experienced webmaster!!

However, remember that you don't want just a live human being on
other end, you want one who is technically savvy and familiar with
your system!  Which is an impossibility with outsourced phone help. 

If you want me to cut to the chase and tell you who I use myself, it's 
HostGator.  But only because I've been using them for a long time and
have found that they answer the phone 24/7 - 365 days a year...and
only trained HostGator technicians answer the phones.

Note:  Just because a webhosting company advertises "24/7 - 365 phone support" doesn't necessarily mean squat.  Make sure you test their "phone support" before signing up and laying down your money.  How long do you have to wait before someone answers?  How about after hours?  Is the phone help made up of trained webmasters who are actually on site?

But I believe that other hosting companies are catching on.  I think
more hosting companies realize that people want to speak to a live
human when they call tech support.  But all I know for sure is that
HostGator is definitely proven.  That $24.95/month is the best money
I've ever spent on hosting.  And it includes unlimited websites and
has all the bells and whistles for customizing anything and everything.

You stand to save yourself so much time and stress by having a web
host who is there for you.  Just a phone call away is not only a real
help, but a comfort to you when you're working after hours.  I mean,
words do not do it justice...Armand was right!

By the way, "Live Chat" help is not even in the same league as live phone support.  No way.  Email doesn't cut it either, when you want an answer NOW.

Anyway, here's HostGator's link.  The plan I have is the $24.95 per
month "Reseller Plan" which allows for unlimited websites (as long as
my bandwidth isn't exceeded, then I'd need to move up to the next
level.).