Server reliability is always one of the major factors for a good hosting. What is the use of a web hosting company if they fail to keep your website online 24/7? It is not difficult to get a web hosting company that guarantee 99% server uptime. In fact, they are all over the Internet – but does every one of them offer such high server uptime? I bet it’s not.

Yes, we all know that it’s important to have a reliable hosting but how do we know that if we have found one? Well there are several ways to do so: one is to track the hosting uptime by using a third party system; secondly we can always ask for a trial period on the web hosting.

There are various systems found online to monitor website uptime and most of them are free of charge. Uptime Auditor, for example, is a nice piece of tool for those who wish to track their hosting server uptime.

On the other hand, having your own first hand experience with the hosting is always the best way to verify the server reliability. Always go with the web host that offer trial period and track your website uptime closely for the first 30 days. If you found anything fishy about their service, you can always walk away with a full refund on the server cost. There are also some hosting companies that are willing to offer a pro-rated refund even if you had exceeded the trial period.

Other steps to avoid a lousy hosting

Besides tracking on its uptime and testing the service yourself, a few other methods to avoid a lousy hosting include reading real customer feedback and posting consumer questions on web hosting related forums. Also, shoppers are always advised not to pay upfront for more than six months when dealing with an unfamiliar hosting company.

Last piece of advice: In case you are looking for the right hosting, try check out Hostmonster hosting. They are one of my favorite hosting services and I think they rocks! At the time of writing, Hostmonster is on promotion, you can check out their pricing and web hosting features here.