Choosing an efficient web hosting company

Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday October 16, 2012 at 7:58:21:

When it comes to choosing a reliable web hosting company in Nigeria, one of the questions you may have to answer is whether to choose a web hosting provider in Nigeria or abroad. This doesn't mean that there are not good web hosting companies in Nigeria but what I'm saying is that most of them don't really host their client's website in Nigeria due to a lot of factors such as unavailability of reliable basic public utilities like power. For those who do host their clients website in Nigeria, they have to deal with the Nigerian factor of which the burden is ultimately borne by the end client.

So, in essence, would it make sense to choose a Nigerian company that offers web hosting services it probably still outsources to an overseas company or to order for the hosting services directly for the overseas company?

Some advantages of choosing a Nigerian web hosting company

- Ability to pay in the local naira currency and avoid exchange rates and costs
- Ability to deal directly with your service provider's office in case of any problems
- Avoiding the bureaucracies associated with online faceless services
- Access to locally targeted services and offers
Cheaper cost on limited services

Some disadvantages of choosing a Nigerian web hosting company

- Unreliable service caused by a lot of Nigerian factors
- Poor customer protection
- Lower or limited disk space
- Not so good customer service
- Higher overall costs for web hosting
- Limited or no backup services
- Little or no money back guarantee
- Requiring longer time frame contract e.g. 1 year
- Non 24 hr customer service

Some advantages of using an overseas web hosting company directly

- Getting quicker access to online services after payment since it's mostly automated
- Avoiding down times associated with most Nigerian web hosts
- Getting better customer services and reminders
- Access to a wider range of services at cheaper costs due to high competition
- Cheaper overall costs
- Access to shorter time frame contract e.g 1 month
- Money back guarantee. Refund on bad services
- 24 hr customer service
- Better backup service for client websites

Some disadvantages of choosing a overseas web hosting company

- Most requires payment to be done in foreign currency using USD debit cards
- Inability to contact company in person. No face to face meeting except in cyberspace
- Less restrictive than Nigerian web hosts