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Pick the best web host for your website
The choice you make for a web hosting company may seem minor... but it isn't. Plus - there are so many to choose from, and so many different features, How do you decide which one is right for you?
Fortunately, it's not all that hard, if you know what to look for. It's not even all that expensive anymore, either. Good shared virtual hosting packages are down to around eight or ten dollars a month now.
A full-featured eCommerce hosting service, with support for multiple domains and virtually unlimited databases, email, and all the scripting and software support you could ask for goes for around twenty dollars a month.
If you're building a personal website, one that only your friends and family will see, then a free website hosting package will probably do just fine.
But you still have to figure out which ones are best for you. The following information will help you narrow the list to a manageable few.
A few considerations first:
Size Does Matter
Your business may be small now, but you are going to be getting visitors from all across the country - indeed, the whole planet - so it's important that your host is large enough that they have good internet connectivity everywhere that your potential customers are.
You'll also want to take into account that there are hundreds of web hosting companies - and new companies are entering the market every month. Over the next couple years some won't survive and others will be swallowed up by bigger companies. While losing your hosting service won't be the end of your business, it would still be a major pain in the neck to find a new one in a hurry.
Also: smaller, newer companies will lack the experience that older, well established companies take for granted. Any hosting company that has been in business for a couple years has probably dealt with hackers, power failures, acts of God, bad software upgrades and a pile of other 'Murphy's Law Events' - and they have evolved procedures to deal with each of them in the shortest possible time.
So, Your hosting provider choices just got a lot smaller, didn't it? Unless you are willing to risk the future of your business and your livelihood to a small, untested hosting company.
One more thing... Many web hosts will register a domain name for you if you choose this option when opening an account. However, we recommend doing it separately before opening a hosting account - partly because hosts usually don't have most competitive rates - but mainly because if you decide to move your site to another host, you will already be familiar with domain name administration and the domain name will be yours - which means that you will have full control over it.
Some Minimum Requirements to consider...
Starter Packages - In the beginning, a package offering 10GB/month Bandwidth and 5GB disk space may seem like it's plenty big enough, but it won't take your natural growth into account... and if you outgrow your host in a year or so it will just be too bad for you... So either start with much more than you will need, or make sure that they will let you change service plans without headaches.
So that brings us to:
Scaleability - Unless you are willing to buy a package with much more capacity than you need now, you will need to be able to easily and inexpensively upgrade to more bandwidth and/or more disk space as your business needs change. Read the 'fine print' to make sure that there won't be any expensive surprises down the road.
Versatility - not all hosting companies support all the scripting & programming languages. You may not need to use PHP or CGI scripting, Apache handlers or Anonymous FTP service, but limiting yourself to a host that won't support all the possible features you may want to add later may not be the best decision.
Add-Ons and Features - Most hosts support some sort of e-commerce solution, but make sure that the shopping cart service is versatile enough for all of your possible needs: now and in the foreseeable future. Likewise with your guestbook, message board, chat rooms, email server, etc.
Checklist - So, before you go shopping around, decide what you need now and try to forecast your future needs, and make yourself a checklist of the features and options you want from a webhost. You'll be a better informed consumer, and in a better position later as your online business grows.
Some details you'll want to look at when shopping for a website hosting provider...
* First thing may be to look for a customer forum or FAQ database to find answers to the following questions...
* What kind of Control panel do they give you?
* How much Disk Usage (or Disk Space) is available?
* What is the maximum Bandwidth Usage?
* Do they provide POP3 Email Accounts - and how many?
* Is email Forwarding supported?
* Are email Auto-Responders allowed?
* Can you employ Email Filters on your POP3 accounts?
* How many 'MySQL' Databases do they allow? (minimum 3)
* Is the supported PHP version up to date?
* Do they support Frontpage Extensions?
* Do they supply a free Shopping Cart?
* How often do they Backup the files on their servers?
* Do they support Mime Types, Apache Handlers, ht_access, etc?
* What kind of customer support do they provide?
Even if you are not planning on using (for instance) FTP access or PHP includes, if you change your mind in a year you should not have to pay extra for it.
My recommendation for the best website hosting...
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Affordable & Easy Hosting. Order Unlimited Web Hosting HostGator combines the web's cheapest full-service hosting and domain prices with friendly service to create an unmatched value. Whatever you need, they have a hosting solution that will fit!
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Need a shopping cart to collect payments?If you need a shopping cart system with your site hosting, HostGator has a couple options for an integrated, full-featured, shopping cart. And you can get a Dedicated IP and your Own Toll-Free Number too! |
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