Never in a million years would I pay for anything a year in advance. So much can go wrong and you'll be left with out a lot of money.
Previously I was running a forum with just short of 10,000 registered users and 250,000 posts with pretty decent traffic to the content side of our site too, I also had some side projects to host, so vps was suited to that operation. My next venture will be attached to a site which already has decent traffic to the content and will get a head start by migrating active users over from an existing, popular 'free hosted' forum- I'll also be drumming up interest with a few other methods. The vps with knownhost is already in place for this and I anticipate strong growth, so forward planning, really.
I've seen people make purchases from trusted hosters like MDD hosting for up to three years in advance. If I had a smallish site with nothing out of the ordinary going on, mostly static, I'd try and get as much of a bargain as I could with a longish term. There is also a satisfaction clause that Mike offers on his service...if you're not happy with what you're getting he'll refund you back the pro rata amount of the term. Now that's good service gogo
I usually pay 2-3 months at a time. if i have issues i request a refund! and move to another hosting company.
I pay a year in advance because it's considerably cheaper that way and I've been with my current host for many years so I know their track record.
Same. I'm with WiredTree / Litespeed / Hybrid. I used to pay yearly in advance, but after what I read here I have now decided to go month by month. Also I like it that there is no big bill to not look forward to once a year.
Different. I seem to have bad taste in hosts. I now chose one of these hosts based in the US and not Europe and pay a little extra for that privelege.
I am very fortunate, I don't have to pay for hosting, my two forums are hosted for free, long story, let's move on..... If I did have to pay for hosting my first port of call would be lcn.com and I would start with a monthly plan so I could measure their service before committing long term.
I rarely switch webhosts but on the rare occasion that I do, I pay annually if I can. Just makes things a bit cheaper in the long run. Of course, it goes without saying that you need to research the host well before buying
I pay month to month now, because I got screwed out of a year of hosting. I am not going to name the host, because there is no need to open a old wound.
