Cheap web hosting is a trap! (Handy Tips to Avoid the Scam)
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Cheap web hosting is a trap! (Handy Tips to Avoid the Scam)


Tue Jul 27, 2021
Waqas Waheed

If you read this blog for a quick five minutes, you can save your bucks wasting on cheap web hosting for your business.

Let me assume you are a small business startup searching for the best web hosting company in Pakistan to test your luck in eCommerce.

Typically, you have two options to decide; should you be choosing cheap web hosting OR should you invest a few bucks in your business with affordable web hosting in Pakistan?

If you have just chosen option b, keep reading because this blog is for you.

But wait for a second!

Did you just go with option a?

Then you MUST read till the end because I have pretty serious reasons to alter your mind and some bonus tips to help you choose the best web hosting providers in Pakistan.

But first things first.

What’s the difference between cheap and affordable?

According to the Cambridge dictionary, a cheap service is a low-priced service offering low-quality and affordable service means any service that is reasonably priced.

What is the ideal thought process of a person with no knowledge of web development and web hosting in Pakistan would be, searching for cheap web hosting in Pakistan?

  1. Search the cheapest yearly web-hosting plan
  2. Compare the prices of multiple providers
  3. Be taken by the discount trap
  4. Apply for hosting without doing sufficient research

Soon enough, the discount period is expired, the cheapest becomes the most expensive.

So, here are the reasons why you shouldn’t go for cheap web hosting and why investing a few more bucks in your ideal business can promise your more success.

The Cheapest is Always the Worst!

Imagine you make a visit to a relative. Firstly, he opens the door pretty late. He serves you with a cold heart and offers you unhygienic food saved from last night.

It would be pretty normal if you feel insulted, uneasy, and have a negative opinion of the host. You will never recommend him to others.

The same can happen when your visitors come to your website, and it takes time to load and doesn’t show up as an upgrade version of your business. It will have a negative impression, and maybe they keep your website on an unwanted list.

Limitations with Resources

Cheap web hosting companies usually use low-quality or even used severs to trap as many users on shared web hosting as possible.

They start their offer with a free promo code or hardly charging a few cents. These companies offer free web hosting for a short time, only to lure you into their tricky offer.

As the resources are shared with many users, it results in the reduction and slow implementation.

You will have a low PHP memory limit (poor performance with your WordPress website) and an excessively overloaded database (limitations to the single database only).

The more the number of websites on a server, the Poorer the website load time, resulting in no or poor conversion of your business. 

The latest research report by KISSMetrics revealed that even a 1-second delay in site load, can affect your website with the following:

  • 11% reduced page views
  • Reduced conversion up to 7% to 15%
  • Visitor satisfaction was reduced by 16%
  • 40% of the visitors never want to land on the website again!

Compromised Website Security

Hard to digest truth is; even 2021 isn’t save from website hackers, bots, and players.

Never become the prey to cheap hosting because it never offers you complete safety from hackers. You never want to risk the personal data of your ideal customers.

According to the latest insights from the FBI, cyber crimes have increased up to 300% in 2021, from about 1,000 cases to between 3,000 and 4,000 cases each day.

Many loopholes leave your website vulnerable to future attacks that hackers can use to inject into your website.

For instance: basic firewalls, lack of malware protection, and no protection against DDoS attacks

How a Reputed Web Hosting Company Differs?

A genuine web hosting company will offer you an SSL certificate - taking the security of your website to the fullest and ensuring that your business will never be affected by any fake bots.

Cheap web hosts will take a guarantee of your website until unless you have paid in full.

The moment you pay, they will leave your website security up to you, and you have to purchase a website security plugin at an additional cost. It isn’t cheap. Is it?

On the other hand, an SSL certificate will save you from scams, data breaches, and many other cybercrimes.

Low Backup Data

You read that BIG and WIDELY written ‘promo for Free Hosting’ on a website, but did you read the issues associated with cheap web hosting?

Usually, a free o,r I must say a cheap web hosting offers low data back up to your website, which is the worst case for any website.

For instance, if your website faces a technical error at any time and you do not have a backup of last week or a month, you will lose the data, face site maintenance from the beginning, and be more inclined towards facing security issues.

On the other hand, you also have to be very reasonable to upload more content on your site as you are more prone to facing future data backup issues.

Can’t think about it?

How a Reputed Web Hosting Company Differs?

Every good web hosting company has daily data backup as its featured service. Your web hosting provider will ensure that your website has regular data backup support retaining them for up to 30 days.

You will have encrypted security for the daily database and your uploads.

Hidden Costs

The worst trap that you can fall into is high costs hidden behind a seemingly low-priced promo.

How do they bear the expenses when they provide you low-priced web hosting?

The promo offer is usually for a limited time. As soon as your website gets some exposure on the internet, your offer ends, and now you have to pay the actual price to keep enjoying your business. 

Even worst?

Usually, cheap web hosting companies in Pakistan demand additional costs for:

  • Resorting backups when you faced a technical error
  • A heavy amount to transfer the domain
  • Issuing you an escalated support ticket

If calculated, free web hosting isn’t always free. The hosting company deducts its costs one way or the other.

Untrained Support Stuff

More and more businesses are shifting towards eCommerce. Web hosting and web development in Pakistan are taking a revolutionary step.

To make unfair profits from this shift, many undertrained and inexperienced people have started online companies and offering cheap web hosting in Pakistan.

Results?

Many businesses are trapped into low prices or free offers, and when their sites run into an error, the worst happens.

The customer support is insanely slow. You keep submitting tickets, and no CSR handles your issues. Or even if you cross these two hurdles - the support replies to your query, but they hardly know how to increase PHP memory limit, let alone any technical stuff.

Down Time Issues - The Worst Case

If you are on shared hosting, you probably know the downtime issues occur once in a while, and that’s completely fine as far as your host can resolve the problem quickly.

But if the issues occur now and then, it can cost you unrepairable damage. The DDoS attack is a common reason for website downtime and can be resolved within time.

But an untrained web host will hardly solve your technical issues like CDN failure, malicious attacks, and DNS failure.

With cheap web hosting solutions, you may save a few cents, but cheaper always correlates with less reliable web hosting.

You need to partner with hosts that have experienced technical stuff at the backend because you simply can’t afford to leave your website in the dark for minutes, hours, or worst a day and lose out on your potential traffic, leads and sales!

Cheap Web Hosting Can Affect Your SEO Strategies

Once a website is live, it needs expert SEO services to rank on search engines and be friends with Google scrawls.

But the more downtime issues you face, the more the bounce rate of your website will increase. People will leave your website often - it will signal Google that your website is not very reliable with the audience.

Google can de-rank your website even if it appears in top search results. Once de-ranked, it becomes difficult to get the top spot.

Cheap web hosting always results in more bucks spent than imagined.

The right and affordable web hosting doesn’t have to be expensive as far as you are working with the best web hosting company in Pakistan and can offer you more features and benefits.

You get proactive support staff, 99.9% guaranteed uptime, smooth email service, daily data backup, SSL certificate, and most importantly, it comes with no hidden costs.

Waqas Waheed
The author Waqas Waheed

With over 15 years of hands-on experience in web hosting and Linux, stands out as a practical expert in the field. At Websouls, he applies his deep technical skills to solve complex challenges, directly impacting the success of brands. Waqas's approach combines innovative problem-solving with a rich understanding of digital infrastructure, making him a key player in the industry. Follow him on LinkedIn.