Most webmasters want to pay as little as possible for their web hosting and, as a result, many webmasters are lured into signing up for cheap hosting plans from unscrupulous web hosting companies. Fortunately, truly rogue web hosting companies are rare, but they are still out there, so it is still important that you are aware of some of the dangers.

Danger #1 — A rogue web hosting company could embed malware, adware or viruses into your website without you even realizing. The first you will hear about this will be when people that visit your website start to send you nasty emails wanting to know why you have infected their computer with a virus and proceeded to try to steal their usernames and passwords using key logging applications. These types of rogue web hosting companies can completely destroy your reputation and could even get you in trouble with the law.

Danger #2 — Inexperienced or new startup web hosting providers may not know how to properly secure their servers. Consequently, your website will be more susceptible to attacks from hackers. If you own a membership based website, such as a forum, or you want to store confidential files in your webspace, then it is obviously essential that all of your website’s files and associated data are securely stored.

Danger #3 — A rogue web hosting company may not even be providing hosting services; they could simply be advertising competitively priced hosting plans to trap people into handing over their personal information and credit card details.

Danger #4 — New startup web hosting company may not be financially sustainable in the long term. While you might enjoy cheap web hosting for a few months, eventually the company will go bust and/or bail. Your website, and all its content, will be gone forever unless you have been keeping regular backups on your own hard drives.

Danger #5 — If you run a membership based website the rogue web hosting company could steal all of the data you hold on your members and use it in whichever way they choose. This could potentially cost you your entire online business, as it will be hard for you to rebuild trust with your customers.

Danger #6 — A new startup web hosting company could be planning to run a fly-by-night operation. These types of swindlers only allow customers to purchase annual web hosting plans and then, after a few weeks, or perhaps even days, the swindlers shut down their companies and bail with all the cash they have collected.

Although some of these dangers sound pretty scary, it is important that you understand that they are very rare. However, it is probably best to stay away from new startup web hosting providers and always be wary of web hosting companies that quote unbelievable prices for their services. You can obviously avoid all these dangers by opting to only host your website with large, reputable web hosting companies that have been in business for several years. Unfortunately, well established web hosting providers typically charge premium prices for their services.