How to Find the Right Host for Your Web Site
Developing a professional web presence requires a comprehensive
strategy to ensure success. The most important element to the
overall success of your website is your hosting service. Your
hosting service cannot guarantee your site will succeed, but it
can surely devastate it. No matter what applications you use
(streaming video, audio, discussion forums, etc.) or plug-ins
(Flash and Shockwave), if your visitors cannot load your site
within a few seconds your finished. Recent studies have shown
that you only have 20 seconds to grab your visitor's attention.
The longer it takes your site to go from download-to-live, the
less time you have to retain your visitors. Remember, your
competition is only one click away. The best way to choose a web
hosting company is to follow these six suggestions. Remember,
selecting the right web hosting company is vital to your success
on the Internet.
Determine how much disk storage space and how much monthly data
transfer your site requires? Disk storage space refers to the
amount of server space allocated to your account. The files that
make up your website are stored in your storage space. These
files include your html files, audio/video, graphics, etc. The
data transfer is how much data your site transmits each month.
Generally, data transfer includes any outbound traffic from your
site, with the exception of e-mails. In general an average HIT
is about 10K. This would mean that a monthly data transfer
account of 2.0 Gigabyte would allow approximately 200,000 hits.
Remember, if your data transfer rate is higher than the amount
allocated by your hosting company you will have to pay for any
extra data transfer.
How should you Host? There are three different ways to host your
site. The three ways are shared hosting, dedicated hosting and
colocated hosting. Shared hosting means that your site is
positioned among other "websites" on a single machine. This type
of hosting is usually adequate for the majority of "text-n-gif"
sites. Dedicated hosting refers to your own dedicated machine.
As you add more interactive elements to your site, you may want
to consider a dedicated host. The final is a colocated server.
You own the server, but it is located in your host's facility.
You chose the bandwidth and your host provides the access.
How Much Technical Support do you Need? Do you need 24/7 live
technical support or do you only work on your website during
business hours? If you only work on your site during business
hours, you probably don't need 24/7 technical support, so why
pay for it. However, you need to determine how much on-demand
support you need for your site.
What Features are Included? Does your hosting package support
e-commerce, multi-media, database, etc? These type of features
should be included in even the basic of packages. If these are
not, look elsewhere.
Make sure the ownership of your domain remains in your name.
Some hosting companies place their name in the Administration
and Technical Support of the domain registration. Query the
Whois.net database (whois.net) to ensure your name is recorded
in these positions. If the hosting company is listed, contact
them and have it changed. If they refuse, transfer your business
to another hosting company.
What is the Attitude of the Employees? Is the telephone answered
in a friendly and courteous manner? Is the technical support
department helpful? These are the people you will be dealing
with for many years to come. Make sure it is a pleasurable
experience.
Make sure to answer the proceeding six questions before you
select a company to host your website. Remember, the web is
global, just because you live in a certain city, doesn't matter
you should host your site with a local company. If a local
hosting company doesn't provide quality customer service,
high-quality hosting and competitive pricing, it is very simple
to locate a company that does provide exactly what you need.