|
|
Building Websites with Directory Generator
Directory Generator, a product from Armand Morin and Marc Quarles, builds directory-style websites for you in a matter of minutes. It is simple to use, it's reliable, it does what it claims to do. The tool is essentially a push-button site builder -...
Free Web -Site hosting without the banner ads?
Free Web site Hosting without the Banner Ads? Looking for free web hosting with no annoying pop-ups, pop-unders, buttons, banners, headers or footers? And as well as this, you'd like 99.8 percent up-time, fast servers, access to the cgi-bin for...
How to get a UK or any other website online and have it making money
When building a UK or any other website there are many things that you have to consider. These include where you are going to host your website, how much money you have to spend on building and designing your website, how long is it going to take to...
Simple Tips for Choosing Good Webhosting
When you start your own website, you want to make sure that you have reliable, decent hosting - if your host is down all of the time, your site might as well not even exist in the first place. So, to keep things smooth and simple for a...
The Secrets of How to Make Money with Your Website.
The Secrets of How to Make Money with Your Website. If you have a website that sells products or services, good luck. That is very difficult. It works better to have a website that’s helps promote and existing business that sells products or...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 Key Points to Consider When Choosing a Web Host
With literally thousands of web hosting companies in the industry all vieing for your business, carefully consider these key points to ensure you make the most well informed decision possible.
1. Server Space
First, think about how much space your site will take up on a server. Unless you are planning on running a software repository or an image gallery, the files that make up your website will probably only use between 1 and 5 megabytes of disk space. Many companies will offer several hundreds of megabytes of webspace for a very reasonable price in attempt to out perform their competitors, but ask yourself "Do I really need that much space?". Though it's true that you should allow your site "room to grow", don't opt for what seems like a great deal on a massively sized account if you'll never use all of the space offered. Chances are you'll find an even better deal on an amount of space more suitable for your site size.
2. Data Transfer Allowance
This decision should be based on the same principal as above. Though you may be convinced that your site will be the next Amazon or Yahoo and receive a gazillion visitors a day, you really shouldn't need an extremely high data transfer allowance unless, as stated above, you're running a software download site or a large image gallery. Even heavily trafficked normal HTML sites usually only use a few gigabytes per month in bandwidth allowance. Don't go overboard just because it seems like an awesome deal. You may also want to be wary of companies who offer "unlimited" data transfer as there are usually some fine-print stipulations that make this claim not entirely true. Be sure to read their terms and conditions very carefully before opting for this type of account. A five or ten gigabyte bandwidth allowance is usually plenty enough for a small to medium sized business or personal site.
3. Technical Support
A very important point to consider when choosing a web host is the types of technical support offered by the company and how easy they are to contact when you need them. Ideally, a company should offer 24/7 toll-free telephone support and email. I have seen companies that do not even offer a telephone number on their website. You should look for a company that is very easily accessible in your time of need. Nothing is more frustrating than being in the middle of working on your site and needing an important piece of information to finish the job and not being able to contact your hosting company to find it out.
4. CGI-Bin Access
No matter what type of site you are planning on running, chances are you will eventually need to install some type of CGI script. Whether it be a mailing list management script, contact form processor, or maybe even a fancy credit card processing script, your hosting account will need to allow you to install and run them. This requires access to a special folder on your server called "CGI-Bin". Some hosting accounts will only allow you to use "pre-installed"
scripts as a security measure. These are scripts that the owners of the company have installed and configured so that they know that they will work properly and not adversely affect their server's performance. That may be all you need, but if you have the knowledge, it's always nice to have the ability to install your own scripts and configure them to suit your individual needs. You should also be sure that the account you choose supports the language in which your scripts are written, such as PHP, Perl, etc.
5. Up-Time Guarantee
Another very important issue in determining the value of a hosting company is how often and for how long their servers "go down". No matter how good a deal you get on server space or bandwidht allowance, or how wonderfully the company's tech support takes care of you, your site can't receive visitors or produce revenue if the machine on which it is hosted is not up and running. Naturally you want a company who can guarantee the highest up-time percentage possible. Servers are taken down briefly from time to time for maintenance or upgrading, so no company can ensure 100% up-time, but you want your site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that are not constantly having problems which require them to be down for long periods of time.
6. Email Accounts
Again, like data transfer allowance and server space, some companies will offer you loads more email accounts than you will ever use. Some offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. This is an important factor if you are Bill Gates and have thousands of employees, each who need their own email box, but not such a big deal if you're just one person or a small company. You should be okay with 10 or 15.
7. Reputation
This is probably the most important factor to consider when choosing a web host. Do your homework. Pay attention to any negative feedback you may hear or read about a particular hosting company. There are several sites arount the Web that feature discussion forums that allow people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Ask specific questions about any company you might be interested in using to see if anyone else has had any negative experiences with them. As a beginning webmaster, I had initially contracted the services of a particular web hosting company to host my first site, who promised very good, dependable service for a very cheap price. Then one day, for no apparent reason, decided to delete my entire site without warning or explanation. Only then did I visit some hosting forums and find that many others had similar negative experiences with that company. Don't make the same mistake I did, find out for sure from the start that your hosting company is not going to let you down.
About the Author
Webmaster: http://www.verybesthosting.com Looking for a web host? Start here. Compare plans, features, and pricing from several of the Web's most reputable hosting companies all in one place.
|
|
|
|
|
Web hosting, domain names and web design services by FortuneCity |
Web hosting, domain names, web design, free web site and email address providers. We offer affordable hosting, dedicated ad-free web hosting, ... |
www.fortunecity.com |
  |
AT&T Hosting > About AT&T Hosting.com |
Offers shared and dedicated hosting, colocation, and ecommerce services with 24-hour technical support. |
www.webhosting.com |
  |
Hostinginsiders.com - affordable webhosting with a free domain name |
Hostinginsiders.com - affordable webhosting with a free domain name, prices starting at $2.95 per month paid monthly. |
www.hostinginsiders.com |
  |
WEB HOSTING : Compare Prices, Consumer Reviews, Help, Guides ... |
A web hosting marketplace. Also provides guides on how to start your website. |
www.findmyhosting.com |
  |
Yahoo! Web Hosting: Everything you Need for a Professional Site |
Offers shared web hosting services. Supports PHP and MySQL, domain name included and 24/7 toll free support. |
smallbusiness.yahoo.com |
  |
Web Hosting Stuff - 4884 Hosting Companies User Rated & Reviewed |
Find complete ratings and user reviews on 4884 cheap web hosting companies. Include Top 10 Best Web Hosting Chart. We search the web daily for the best ... |
www.webhostingstuff.com |
  |
Doteasy - 100MB Free Web Hosting, Free Email, Domain Names for ... |
Doteasy provides bannerless free web hosting free email and free support for small business and individual. |
www.doteasy.com |
  |
Web Hosting:IX WEB HOSTING:Best Web Hosting Site:Webhosting Provider |
Web Hosting:IX WEB HOSTING:Best Web Hosting Site:Webhosting Provider hosting site sql web best hosting web xxasdf .net add hosting site cheap canada web ... |
www.ixwebhosting.com |
  |
WebHosting.Info - Web Hosting Information |
Provides statistics and research data about the Web services industry. Tracks over 35000 Web hosting companies worldwide. |
www.webhosting.info |
  |
Web Hosting by iPowerWeb |
iPowerWeb is the web hosting leader. Providing cheap hosting with frontpage, php, stats, ecommerce and domain names support. Affordable web hosting without ... |
www.ipowerweb.com |
  |
WebHostingTalk Forums - Web Hosting Discussion |
A popular web hosting discussion forum. ... Discussions on all aspects of web hosting including past experiences (both negative and positive), ... |
www.webhostingtalk.com |
  |
Affordable Virtual Webhosting Service from $8.95: Low Cost and ... |
Affordable Unix web hosting and domain name hosting from less than $2 per domain. We are a low cost professional unix and virtual webhosting provider with ... |
www.active-venture.com |
  |
Webhosting.net - unmatched service and support for your business ... |
Webhosting.net provides E-Commerce web hosting services Co-Location and Dediciated servers. |
www.webhosting.net |
  |
Netfirms - Web Hosting, Domain Names and E-commerce for Small Business |
25Mb with unlimited hits on a clustered web hosting platform. Banner ad required on each page; user ads are permitted. FTP uploads. Email forwarding. |
www.netfirms.com |
  |
Web Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Web Design Services |
Hostway provides web hosting, domain name registration, web design, weblog tools and web site marketing on shared or dedicated servers for small business ... |
www.hostway.com |
  |
Web Host Directory: The best free source of web hosting services ... |
Web Host Directory: Your best free source of web hosting services, featuring more Web Hosts details than ANY other Web Host Directory, along with powerful ... |
www.webhostdir.com |
  |
Affordable, full service web hosting packages. |
Affordable, full service web hosting packages. ... I always refer folks to Go Daddy if they are in the market for a web hosting service. You guys are great! ... |
https: |
  |
Web hosting service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows ... Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Free Webspace and Free Web Hosting Services |
directory to compare free webhosting service providers with reviews and searchable database of about 500 free web space hosts to find free hosting of ... |
www.free-webhosts.com |
  |
Search and Find Web Hosting at HostSearch.com |
News, articles, and a searchable database of web hosting providers. |
www.hostsearch.com |
  |
|