How To Shop and Save On Website Hosting
What's your web address?"
>From small "mom and pop" home-based businesses to mega-stores,
people ask this question in business every single day. Even if
you only operate a small, local business, if you don't have a
website (or at least email) people honestly look at you funny.
A few years ago, website hosting was one of the largest expenses
connected with setting up a website. Now, with dramatic drops in
pricing, website hosting can actually present the least costly
component of operating a website.
However, before you run out and sign up for $2-a-month website
hosting and wake up tomorrow filled with regret, take 5 minutes
right now and learn the main points to consider when evaluating
any website host.
Total Storage
How much space do you get to store your website files? If you
operate a small website with a handful of pages and only a
couple of pictures per page, you can get by with 5-10 MB
(megabytes) of disk space or less. However, if your site
contains dozens of pages and hundreds of pictures, you may need
a hosting plan with 10- 25 MB of space.
Data Transfer / Bandwidth
Here's where many people fall down and get run over by the
Internet bus! Bandwidth represents the total amount of traffic
the website host allows you to receive.
Successful sites that get a lot of traffic eat up more bandwidth
than sites without many visitors. Honestly, bargain website
hosting companies don't want you to get much traffic because
your bandwidth costs them money.
If you plan to do any business online, make sure you get a bare
minimum of at least 1 GB (gigabyte) of data transfer per month.
Email "Aliases"
Most web hosts allow you to set up email addresses connected
with your domain, such as jim@thenetreporter.com, and have them
forward to your email account, like yourname@aol.com. The
ability to set up email aliases forms an integral part of any
online business. Make sure your hosting company allows you to
set up at least 5 email aliases.
Website Tools
If you want to do anything more than let people look at static
web pages, you will need to have certain tools available. The
two most important tools are CGI and website statistics. These
allow you to run scripts and see who came to your site and when.
Tech Support
Make sure you understand any company's technical support
policies and hours of operation. Don't wait until Saturday
afternoon to discover your only help option is to wait and email
them Monday morning.
Go to www.comparewebhosts.com and check out the tool for
researching and comparing the offerings of over 9,000 different
website hosting companies. Try the "Power Search" feature, which
allows you to specify about 50 different variables, including
price, company location, bandwidth, and number of email aliases
allowed. It even lets you search by how often the hosting
company backs up its servers to protect against data loss.
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