Being online used to be quite expensive. You had to
have the hardware to run a site, or pay a small fortune
for hosting. These days, there are so many hosting
companies it can be confusing. Different companies
offer different plans, features, transfer rates and
support levels, so how can you choose what's right
for you?
Follow these 5 simple steps to find the right
package for you.
1. Storage space and data transfer.
A small information site or personal site will usually
only require a few megabytes of disk space, however,
data transfer depends on the size of the pages your
are offering your visitors multiplied by the number
of visitors. Therefore, a popular and graphics heavy
website (such as online art gallery http://www.clickart-gallery.com
) requires a greater monthly transfer than a mostly
text site (such as http://www.brealweb.com). You should
look at a minimum of 2 GB (2000 MB) data transfer
a month. Check with the company that they can upgrade
your account if your site increases it's need for
storage or monthly data transfer.
2. Added Features.
Make a list of the features you want before you start
your shopping. Many features such as e-commerce shopping
carts and real time credit card processing will cost
you a lot of money. Pre-installed scripts such as
email scripts and page counters and use of a secure
server (SSL) should be included for free. If you can
get a browser control panel and browser mail, this
allows you extra flexibility with your site. Browser
based email lets you access your mail from any Internet
connected computer. Be sure you know what's included
in the cost of your hosting package. If in doubt,
contact the company and ask.
3. Technical Support As most hosting companies
offer inclusive technical support,
you shouldn't pay extra for this. If you're not
offered 24 hours/7 days you should look elsewhere.
The test is to contact the company and ask questions.
If they don't reply within 48 hours, or don't reply
at all, consider another hosting company. A good company
should reply within 24-48 hours.
4. Reliability.
How reliable is a web hosting company? Most claim
99.9% uptime, but due to the nature of computers and
communications equipment, outages will and do occur
occasionally. You can contact a company and ask, but
they will tell you they're very reliable. Instead,
ask for a couple of sites they currently host, that
you can check out for yourself. Not only will you
see that the site is available, it gives you the opportunity
to see how well they perform during peak periods too.
5. Price and Guarantee.
If the previous four steps check out, then you need
to consider price and this can vary widely. You need
to consider setup fees, monthly fees, plan discounts
and optional extras in your calculations. Some companies
offer you ridiculously low or no monthly fees, but
check the fine print before agreeing to anything.
Free sites almost always have popups or require space
invasive banners. Cheap hosting companies often fail
on steps 3 and 4, so check them out first, or you
may find your site is often not available to your
visitors. Setup costs vary widely too. Basically,
this is the cost that a company will charge to set
up an account for you. This is justified if you are
getting a lot of features included (see step 2). You
should not need to pay over $50. If you can get a
money back guarantee, then you know the company is
concerned about it's customers. The longer the guarantee,
the better. Seven days is not usually enough to judge
if the company is suited to you.
So, if you follow the steps listed above,
you should find the perfect hosting company for your
needs.
