When choosing a new web host there are several questions you need to ask yourself about your website so you get a package that suits your needs. With so many different web hosts about, choosing the right one can be pretty confusing. I'm hoping to clear up some of that confusion and help you to choose the best deal for you. This is a guide for someone wanting to set up a personal website or small to medium business.
If your happy with a small amount of disk space, advertisements, normally little or no 24/7 support and no extras ( eg. no databases, only likely to have 1 domain) then free hosting could be ideal for you. It is also very likely that your page will contain a footer containing your web hosting company's details -this could just be a banner ad or just your webhosts name. The servers will most likely be overcrowded, they will also be more unreliable
with more downtime than paid hosts .This kind of hosting is more suited to sites which aren't trying to make you money.
Shared/virtual Hosting seems to be the most popular, offering full customer support and many more features than with free hosting. Because you are sharing the server with other users this method of hosting works out cheaper than say a dedicated server would. It has becomes so popular as it offers many of the bonuses a dedicated one does at a much smaller price. Some disadvantages are that with many people using the same server the security level is reduced and if other users are using more than their fair share of the bandwidth or storage space then your site will suffer because of their overuse. Also having overcrowded servers here can be a real problem.
If you choose to have a dedicated server, then your site performance will be better than the previous types of hosts because you are not sharing the server with others. It also has 24/7 customer support and none of the security issues that you get with shared/free hosts . Because this is much more expensive than the previous types you need a large website to justify the cost. Running a site at its optimal performance is a much easier task with this type of hosting. Blogs or other small sites will probably suit shared/free hosting. But if you'll have high traffic or a complicated site then dedicated hosting could be more suitable for you.
Once you are aware of which type suits your needs the most( or perhaps your budget makes your mind up for you) then it is a question of which host and what package.
Do you know how to make a website yourself? or are you looking for a host that enables you to alter your website through an easy to follow interface? The web host i have at the moment enables me to change the templates at a click of a button, so changing the website from promoting health and fitness to business opportunities is easy. A good control panel
can help you save time and money by making any changes to your website simple. Look for excellent uptime, this is the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Be wary of ones that say they have 100% uptime as all servers need maintenance at some point so this isn't a possibility. The average size for a website is about 3Mb in size. Therefore it is not necessary to purchase a large amount of space for a small site. Bandwidth or data
transfer is used by your web site traffic for downloads/uploads and sending & receiving email. if someone views a web page on your site which is 2MB in size it will use 2MB of your bandwidth. If 5 people view the page then 10mb of bandwidth will be used. Sending emails to customers will use up the emails size in bandwidth as will any downloads/uploads. Make sure you are aware of how much they will charge if you exceed your bandwidth limit.Spending sometime looking into what your data transfer is roughly going to be will save you money,as this feature,more than anyother, will influence the price.SSL certificates enables encryption of sensitive information during online transactions, this means that the site is secure during the payment process. If your website is going to be an online store then having this on your site is a necessity but if you are acting as maybe an affiliate site then the site that you link to will take care of the transaction. Whatever scripting language your using, whether Perl, Python, PHP4/5 & ASP then you need to make sure your host will support it. Have a clear idea how many domains,email addresses and databases you think you will require. Lastly, make sure that the company runs regular backups.
Hopefully following the steps in this guide will stop you from buying a poor or unsuitable web host.
Asp Net Web Host
Whether you're looking for your first host or looking to move on to a better one there are 7 simple steps you must follow to succeed in choosing a great host.
1. Platform
The first and most crucial step in choosing a web host is determining the platform the web server should run, usually a choice between Unix/Linux and Windows.
Your choice is largely determined by your website and the technologies used to create it, generally a website created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) will run on Windows servers while most other sites using open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Linux based systems.
2. Features
Once you've chosen your platform the next step is determining the features you'll need from your web host. Take your time with this step as the feature lists of web hosts are getting longer and longer every day and while some plans may look similar on the surface, a good look at the feature lists may tell another story.
Only you can determine the specific features you'll need, but some key things to keep an eye on are:
Disk Space
Bandwidth
Backups
Uptime
Money Back Guarantee
Domains Allowed
Databases (Number & type)
CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, SSI
Cron
Email accounts
The list goes on and on, just remember to take your time and make sure your new web host is going to provide you with everything you need.
3. Cost
Often this is the only thing people consider when choosing their first web host, funds are usually tight and on the surface most hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lucky and choose a good host, but more often than not it turns out to be a horror story.
I can't stress enough that choosing a web host based on price alone is asking for trouble, remember that the cost of your web hosting is more than just the monthly fee, think about the total cost of ownership. TCO includes lost sales due to downtime & slow speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth charges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and your monthly fee.
Many hosts will require you to pay yearly to get the best price available though there are some that allow you to pay by the month and still get the best price, it's really a matter of personal choice as to what payment method works best for you.
4. Customer Service
Customer service is another aspect that is often forgotten about until it is too late, something breaks and you need it fixed and those wonderfully handy sales people who were more than helpful in taking your money are now nowhere to be seen, all the while you're losing out on sales every minute.
You shouldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 service, your website needs to be running all the time so it's no good if your hosting company doesn't work during the holidays. Don't take the web hosting companies word for it, they all claim 24/7 support but few back it up with consistent performance. Be sure to test them out at various times of the day and night via phone, email and live chat if they offer it.
5. Support
An extensive knowledge base or faq can be a real time saver as well as being an indication of the level of customer service support and expertise you can expect to receive. Spend some time browsing the support sections of the website and see for yourself the level of support provided.
Are questions in the knowledge base answered thoroughly? Are real solutions provided or are they just “cut and paste” replies?
6. Longevity
Do a whois on the web host's domain name and find out the creation date, anything less than a year ago and the risk that they won't be around next year increases. They could be a great host, but considering more then 95% of new hosts go out of business within a year that really isn't something you should be taking a chance on.
7. Uptime
It's a fact of life that a web host cannot be online 100% of the time, servers need to be rebooted for security and software updates and any web host that doesn't get updated faces the increased risk of being successfully hacked.
99.9% uptime guarantees are pretty standard in the industry however a guarantee is only as good as how it is defined and the company behind it. Look for no less than a full months free hosting should they not meet their guarantee, a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime which ends up being about 33 cents.
There you go, 7 simple steps for choosing a great web host. It's not rocket science, just a little research and investigating that can save a lot of heartache in the future.
Both Steven Lee & Kyle Tully are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Steven Lee has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development, The Internet. For great hosting at an incredibly cheap price check out the following link prices start from $3.95follow this link http://wlmer77.lonex.hop.clickbank.net/. Steven Lee's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
Kyle Tully has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development. Kyle Tully is the Founder of . Kyle Tully's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
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