A questionnaire is an excellent way to seek basic information from your host. It reflects that you have done your homework, you know your requirements, and what you expect from your web host. Some key points in the questionnaire should be:
- What are your hosting plans, please give me the cost-feature matrix?
- What level of technical support is available? What time I can contact and does it cost me anything extra?
- What is your security policy?
- Can I see a copy of our contract agreement that I need to sign? Is this contract flexible if I would suggest some changes?
- What kind of hosting you provide – shared, virtual, dedicated? What is the process of switchover mid-way through the contract, if required? And what are the additional charges for the changeover?
- What is the pricing structure if I need additional bandwidth and space in near future?
- How much control will I have over control panel? Will I have exclusive control over email accounts?
- Can I have a look at your website? Can you give me a few reference sites that are hosted at your servers?
- What is the backup policy for the sites? Do you take complete responsibility of backup?
- Do you provide domain registration services too? If so, what are the plans?
After you are satisfied with the response to your questions, prepare for a telephonic conversation for next level of questions and clarifications before you sign up for an account.