A Quick Look at Web Hosting

With the internet’s popularity today, it is generally thought that most businesses need some type of presence on the internet to be able to grow and prosper. Simply having a website designed is not enough to get you a web presence. You also need too have a web hosting company.

Your web host is where your website actually resides. It is your site’s gateway to the internet. Web hosts operate banks of highly fast and reliable (and expensive) computers, called servers. Your site may occupy the whole server exclusively, in which case it is called a dedicated server. More commonly, your site will share a server with a number of other sites.

There are many web hosts from which to choose. The competition between them for your business is intense. They all promise essentially the same things. That is they are the most reliable, cheapest and easy to work with. How do you choose a web hose?

Before you even begin looking for a web host, start by understanding your needs. Here are just a few of the questions to consider.

• Do you need design help, design tools or templates?
• How big will your site be in terms of disk space and bandwidth?
• How many unique email accounts do you require?
• What level of security is necessary?
• Will you sell products online and thus need an order processing system?
• Do you think your site will provide interactive services, such as access to your database or real-time chat?
• Must you have your own domain name, or will a sub-domain do?
• Is 99.9% guaranteed uptime sufficient or will you need 99.99%?

Next, start your search. You can do this easily by typing “web hosting” as a query on any of the major search engines. You will receive more hits than you can possibly use. Look for those that seem to match your needs. Avoid those that make outrageous and vague proclamations about their service.

After you settled on a few be sure to check out their references. Stay away from any whose references are not verifiable. Look especially closely at downtime issues. This is one of the most common gaps between promises and actual performance.

Look not only at your needs today, but find out what it will cost if you need to upgrade your services later. This seems like it ought to be free, and probably is if you ask for it in advance. It is likely too late if upgrade fees are written into your initial agreement. Read all the fine print.

Do not automatically take the cheapest. In many cases, the price difference is so small that it is worth it for a little more peace of mind.

There are so many web hosts out there that it is often difficult to choose which is best for you. Fortunately, you have many choices and can afford to be meticulous in your search.