Hosting-The Silent Partner for Your E-Business
We have all been hearing the hype about online
business--proponents declare that it's the way of the future;
detractors claim that it will never replace brick-and-mortar
business...which is reality?
The truth falls somewhere in the middle: Online business will
never replace brick-and-mortar, but an online presence will be
integral to the business model of any successful business.
Already, e-commerce revenues are in the billions, and
experiencing exponential growth. Any business that wishes to be
competitive in this new marketplace--including your
business--cannot ignore the power of e-commerce.
Many of you have taken that first step in putting your business
online: You have done your research, identified your brand, and
chosen and registered a domain name that speaks to your brand.
That was the easy part. If you haven't yet registered your
domain name, don't fret! You can easily do it at:
http://www.virtualis.com/vr/lschmeck/domain.html
After domain registration, what follows next may be one of the
most important decisions you make for your e-business...finding
the right hosting company. This is as important to the quality
of your business as finding the right partner, and many
people--even experienced webmasters-- find the experience
daunting. I would like to share my hosting experience with
you-perhaps it will make your decision-making process a little
easier.
RELIABILITY
Reliability. Hosting isn't glamorous, but as you know, it is the
backbone of your web-based business. That is why I refer to it
as the "silent partner." A good hosting company is dependable,
with a steady "up-time" track record. After all, what good is a
web site if it's down? A good hosting company should operate
like the electric company--every day you wake up, it's there,
working. However, even the most reliable companies need to
periodically take the system down for maintenance. Your hosting
company should inform its customers in advance, and perform that
maintenance at off-peak hours--so as not to unduly burden your
web business.
The next things to look for I call the "Four S's:" Service,
Software, Support, and Space.
SERVICE
An extremely important (and often overlooked) factor is Service.
Unfortunately, many hosting companies end their relationship
with you the moment the server sale is made. This leaves
unanswered the crucial question, "Okay, I've got a server--now
what?" This is critical when you consider that some companies
are so controlling that web masters are discouraged from
customizing and/or managing sites for their clients! Other
hosting companies give you space on a server, but nothing
more--you have to configure the server and set up all the
back-end functionality manually!
As you have probably done this before, I don't need to tell you
what a time-consuming and laborious task this is. My best
service experience has been with Virtualis. So much so that I've
spent the last 2 years with them! If you have questions, they
are on-call 24/7 to answer them--they even have discussion
boards where fellow customers can offer advice and helpful tips.
Good service means providing a community of resources throughout
the life of your e-business.
SOFTWARE
In addition to Service, the ideal hosting solution also provides
easy-to-use web management tools. This is the third "S:"
Software. Although many companies offer some of these features,
my choice for the hosting company with the best overall tool
suite is Virtualis. They offer tools that are easy enough for a
novice to quickly understand, and customizable enough for a web
master to optimize. In my experience, one of the incredibly
useful tools is the Virtualis Email Manager.
The email manager has saved me a lot of time from manual
configuration. You can quickly and easily set up email accounts,
set up and remove POPs, create auto-responders, create aliases,
and more. Virtualis has 21 tools in all--certainly more than I
can cover in this article! One of the best features of the
Virtualis hosting software suite is that it is totally
web-based. This allows for instant accessibility, no matter
where you are--certainly helpful if you travel frequently or
have customers covering a wide geographical area.
SUPPORT
Even for experienced web developers, a primary consideration is
Support. Questions always arise as you develop sites and add
features and/or functionality. The ideal hosting company will be
there to assist you along the way, as well as talk you through
any rough spots. Since support issues are rarely constrained to
regular business hours, make sure that your chosen hosting
company offers support 24/7 (just in case), and offers a variety
of means to contact support, such as telephone, email, and
web-based access.
SPACE
Finally, "Space," refers to how much server room you will need
to store/manage your digital data. How much space you need can
be determined by how much content you will post, how much data
you will store, and how much traffic you are expecting. Ideally,
you should find a company like Virtualis that offers both shared
and dedicated servers--that way, you can start small, and expand
as your online business grows.
Shared servers are simply servers that are shared with other
businesses. Most small to medium-sized businesses prefer shared
hosting because it is cost-effective and can be scaled to the
amount of space that your business needs. Virtualis offers
shared "Virtual" servers that range from the VS Mini, at 30 MB
of space, all the way up to the VS Meta, which has 300MB of disk
space. Of course, if you require more space, a dedicated server
option is likely best for you. Virtualis offers five different
dedicated servers that range in size from 4.2 gigs (the DEDA1)
to the huge DEDA5, which has 18 gigs of space.
I hope my experiences will aid you in your hosting selection
process. You need to look at reliability, service, software,
support, and space. That way, you can wisely choose the "silent
partner," who will deliver steady uptime, sophisticated
time-saving tools, and supreme customer support. After much
personal research, and after consulting my good friend, Jim
Daniels, I chose Virtualis. From getting my domain name to
finding the right hosting package for my needs, my silent
partner-Virtualis-made getting my business online impossibly
easy.
For more information on how Virtualis can be your silent
partner, go to.....
http://www.virtualis.com/vr/lschmeck/orderform.html