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With
hundreds of web hosting companies on the market today all competing to
offer the best hosting packages it’s easy to get confused, or perhaps
even purchase a package that is not right for you. Below we have
outlined some of the main essentials to look for when choosing a
suitable web hosting platform.
Company Reputation
Most hosting
companies on the web today have been in existence for at least 2 years,
and are usually handled by experience and IT savvy network engineers who
can provide the necessary support and service. However, there are also
several ‘garage’ set ups in their infancy which are handled by amateurs,
greedy to make plenty of money without even knowing how to do something
as fundamental as setting up your user account. Be sure to check the
credentials of the web hosting firm by either reading a recent review
about the company or by investigating the technology they use for their
server farm.
Make sure
you pick a company that has been around for at the very least 2 years
and has a successful track record with 95% up time for all of its
servers.
Disc Space and
Bandwidth
The disk
space is the amount of storage assigned to the account by the web
hosting provider. Bandwidth is the amount of traffic that the provider
allows to be transferred to and from the website.
Ideally, you should have calculated how much data your website will
generate, and also the amount of bandwidth you will need.
Make sure
you do not get sold into buying more space then you actually need.
If your
website is dynamic or uses databases, make sure to check if the web host
has separate limitations on the size of databases. Also check how much
your web host charges for extra hard drive space and bandwidth. If you
envision that your site will continually grow, then allow some headroom
in terms of storage and bandwidth, although bear in mind you can always
upgrade at a later date.
A bandwidth
space is allocated to enable you to manage the amount data that you want
to transfer each month into the storage space allocated. Note that the
data you transfer is constantly kept track of until you reach your
transfer limit.
One thing that you will want to watch out for when
selecting your web hosting provider is the additional fee that is
charged when you go over your bandwidth limit.
It’s worth noting that
the more that you pay per gigabyte usually reflects the quality of the
bandwidth and the uptime that you will receive from your web host.
System and Programming
Tools
Most web hosting companies run on a UNIX based operating
system, usually Linux or BSD. UNIX based hosts will provide PHP,
Perl/CGI, Front-page and very limited ASP functionality. If you will be
developing your own web applications, it would make sense to get a good
idea of their operating system environment.
If you using a
scripting language to output your html, you need to check whether the
plan has support for that script. You will need a windows hosting plan
only if you are using Microsoft scripting languages like asp and asp.net
Reliability and
Guaranteed uptime
Low prices
mean nothing if they don’t come with reliable web hosting. There is a
clear correlation between the reliability and longevity of most hosting
companies. And while it is intuitively obvious that these traits go
hand-in-hand, there is quite a bit more to it than just a simple
correlation.
The fact is that it
takes both money and talent to provide low cost, reliable web hosting
services. And as a web hosting company's business volume grow, the
complexities of maintaining reliability grow exceptionally.
The most reliable web
hosting providers are the ones who are adept at using state of the art
system management tools to ensure optimum performance and minimal
service disruption. The very best of them employ redundant servers and
mirror sites that instantly take over when one or more servers
experience the inevitable glitches that create service interruptions.
Hosting
uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the
internet. Many providers state that they aim for 99.9% uptime, but there
may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any
hosting environment. Real downtime can potentially be larger than the
percentage guaranteed by the provider.
It doesn’t reflect very well on your business or on you
if your website is always down from time to time. The more uptime they
guarantee the better; 95-99% is usually the acceptable standard
No matter
whose web hosting services you choose, there is no reason to accept
anything less than a speedy access and 24/7 reliable web hosting.
FTP Access
Unlimited and
unrestricted FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
access to your website is essential.
Just about every reputable paid
web host allows FTP access to your website.
Customer Support
Customer support is
one of the most important factors you will need to consider when a
choosing a suitable web host. Test different companies before you sign
up by sending them an email with a question or two. If they respond
quickly, it’s a good sign.
Good
hosting companies should have a support telephone line, live chat, email
support and should be able to respond to any support case in less than
30 minutes.
Price
Web
hosting costs can vary tremendously depending on your needs. Please take
the time to define your requirements strictly prior to choosing the best
hosting provider.
When you
have your web hosting checklist complete it’s time to secure some
quality web hosting.
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