How to Choose a Web Host : Web Hosting Tips For Beginners
Keywords : website, web site hosting, web hosting, webhosting, host, hosting, Internet, business, downtime, uptime.
Summary: web hosting is a service that allows users to post web pages on the Internet. A Web host provides server space, web services and file maintenance for web sites controlled by individuals or businesses that do not have their own web servers : it requires a contract for the service by which the web host's computers will "serve" your web pages to the Internet. More important than the computer space that is provided for web site files is the fast connection to the Internet.
If you are thinking about setting up your first web site
or registering your own domain name, there are a whole host (pun intended)
of companies out there lining up for your business. This is a double edged
sword because although it is great for consumers to have choices, the greater they are,
the more bewildering they become.
In your attempt to make a decision you will negotiate a minefield of headlines clamoring
for your attention and probably baffling you beyond belief, so here are a few ground rules
for those first venturing into the world of web hosting.
Before you do anything, it is wise to have a good idea of exactly what kind of user you are
will you be setting up a personal website or blog on your domain or are you a business user?
If you are setting up a business website your priorities will probably be somewhat different and likewise
your needs. Think carefully about what you want as you research the best deals. I have concentrated more
on business users here, as a lot of the issues are perhaps not as vital to many noncommercial webmasters,
although they are certainly no less worthy of consideration.
The first thing to remember, as with most things in life, the general rule will be that you get what you pay for.
Big numbers and low prices do not always constitute a good deal. When you see companies offering a terabyte of storage
for a dollar a month, remember that most websites need nowhere near this amount of disk space it's a hollow offer because
the company knows that you will almost certainly never need it, but big numbers look good, particularly to the uninitiated. If you have some idea of the amount of space you will need, all well and good, if you don't, you will probably not need
more than most companies offer you in a decent package. If you are a business user, decide what kind of website
you are hoping to run and what features you are likely to need for example, will you want ecommerce facilities
for online ordering? A good idea is to look at the websites of your competition as you will probably want something along
similar lines. Make sure that the hosting company you choose can support the features you need.
At this point, a quick word about people who are engaged in online marketing you will have certain requirements
that some hosts may not be prepared to accommodate. Some hosts will not allow certain scripts to be hosted on their
servers, so once again, buyer beware if you want to set up a traffic exchange perhaps, or safe lists for example,
you need to check before you buy your online space. Some hosting companies are geared far more towards certain markets
than others so be sure to position yourself with a service that is sympathetic to your requirements this applies
to everyone, not just online marketers!
Returning to the numbers game, there are some that are very important. Look at the amount of data transfer or
bandwidth that you are being offered. If you are expecting a high volume of traffic and a lot of activity
(for example downloading of files, particularly large files like sound and video) your bandwidth requirements will be
far greater than a personal user with their low traffic site about their daily life. There is nothing worse for business
than to see a «bandwidth exceeded» error when someone tries to access your business online it looks very unprofessional
and people are far less likely to return.
The other vital number is uptime. Once again, for business users in particular, downtime is a credibility and
business killer, so the reliability of your host is paramount. Nobody can genuinely offer you one hundred percent
uptime guarantee that is just the nature of the technology, but you should be looking for ninetynine percent upwards.
This leads us to support from the web hosting company it is almost a requirement nowadays for them to advertise 24/7 support,
but remember that talk is cheap, and the definition of 24/7 support can be a very loose one. For you, when things go wrong,
you need to be able to contact someone right away, but you also want problems fixed in the minimum amount of time just
having someone around to answer the phones out of office hours does not constitute 24 hour support. If you need technical
support, particularly important to new users and less «techie» types, will your host have the people and the time to assist
you and answer your questions? It is difficult to know which hosting companies perform in this area so again, do your research
ask around, visit forums online and check any testimonials from existing customers. You will probably hear many horror stories,
but hopefully some good feedback too, and forewarned is forearmed as they say.
Many web hosts rent their server space and although this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is another
area where not all hosting companies are the same. If a company owns its own data center, you are often assured
of far quicker response times should there be any hardware problems, there being no middle men to slow down the
communication process. Hardware problems tend to be solved far more quickly by a host who has direct access to its servers.
As far as a lot of hosting features go, the numbers figure prominently in advertising, so know what they mean and you'll
understand if they are important to you. As an example, I have the capability to set up unlimited email accounts,
or at least 999. Do I need that many? Certainly not, but for some businesses this could be a very important feature
particularly if you wish every employee, as well as every department, to have an email accounton a given domain.
Talking of domains, how many will you want to host on your web space? If you are only just beginning the journey,
you've bought your domain name; can you foresee ever needing unlimited domain name hosting? How many will your business
need in the future? How many names do you want to pay for? How many subdomains do you anticipate wanting to set up?
So again, think about your needs before being blinded by marketing excess with the «big numbers» game.
Most hosting
companies now offer a range of addon services, for example, website building software that sounds great to anyone new to
the web but sometimes all it amounts to are a few templates. This might be fine if you have experience in web authoring, HTML,
CSS ... but if you're inexperienced, some host's web building software won't be of much use. I have heard from any would be
website designers who have spent money on a template, only to be completely lost as to how to edit it!
If these kinds of extras are important to you, be sure to understand what you are buying before parting with your money.
There are some web hosting companies who provide a lot of support to new webmasters, both from their own staff and from
other users of their hosting services if you think you'll benefit from extra help in the areas outside of hosting,
finding such a company could be invaluable to you.
If you find a good hosting company straight off the bat, it will save you a lot of frustration and
worry further down the line, so do shop wisely. Cheap may be just fine for many people and there are plenty
of cheap web hosting offers around today, but if your business is going to depend on your web presence,
it may not always be the wisest move to cut corners.
Article Source :
http://www.za77.org
Resources The author has written websites and blogs on a wide range of topics and has been
online since the early days of the internet. For more information on reliable hosting solutions please visit
The Cayman Host and his recommended choice for new business hosting
