"THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT TO A WEBSITE IS THE HOSTING"

There is much more to choosing hosting than just cost. Options such as disk space, bandwidth allowance, email mailboxes, control panel, operating system, and shared or dedicated hosting all are important to look at when choosing your hosting provider. Choosing the cheapest hosting you find can be detrimental to your new website because the reliability and support is almost always substandard.  Below are some of the things you should look for when choosing a hosting provider:

Disk Space and growth ability:

Do you intend on adding on to your website and growing in the future or will you keep your website the same forever? Choosing the proper amount of disk space for your new website is critical. The more images and pages you have in your website, the more disk space you will use.

• A corporate page with less than 15 pages, a hosting plan with a disk space of 75mb should be sufficient.
• Does your site have a lot of pictures or downloadable files? Consider a hosting plan with at least 200mb.
• 4-5 page personal sites should consider a 30mb hosting plan.

Most hosting providers nowadays offer many different hosting plans with a variety of disk space options. If you are not sure how much space your website will need email the potential hosting provider before signing up and ask for their opinion. If you want a second opinion or don't have a certain provider in mind email our specialists and ask them.

Since we are on the topic of email let me stray off this subject for a short time and touch on another very important item when choosing a hosting provider, customer service. There are literally thousands of companies selling hosting and for a new website owner this can be overwhelming. It is always suggested to email the hosting provider you wish to choose before signing up and asking them about their support options. See how long it takes for a response. If your response is greatly delayed or non-existent, beware, this is probably an indication of the customer support you will get when you become their customer.

More Customer Support and Customer Service Options to look for in a hosting provider:

• Fast email response
• Live Chat Capability with customer service or support department
• Ability to create a trouble ticket from your control panel
• A telephone number. There are so many web companies who do not have telephone numbers. Usually ones that do tend to provide better service.
• Check to see if the provider has an online knowledge base and FAQ support.

Dedicated VS Shared IP:

Shared IP refers to the use of one IP by several domain names. The use of Shared IP is made possible by the HTTP 1.1 standard, which is in widespread use by all modern browsers. The HTTP 1.1 protocol sends the requested domain name in the request header, enabling the web server to identify the correct web site it should return.

Dedicated IP refers to the use of one unique IP Address per domain. You should use a dedicated IP if your site will have any of the following:

• Your site requires the use of an SSL certificate.
• Your site requires the anonymous FTP feature

For most sites, a Shared IP is ok, if you are not sure ask your hosting provider. Make sure your hosting provider has the ability to upgrade you to a dedicated IP in case you need the option in the future.

Email Accounts:

Look for hosting providers that provide web based email accounts as well as POP3. When choosing a hosting plan keep in mind how many people you have in your organization or how many different email addresses you will need. Look for a provider that provides at least 10 email accounts for their bottom level plan. Make sure you check out their other mail options, look for auto responders, email aliases, email forwarding, mailing lists, and spam protection. A good hosting provider will include all these options in their hosting plans.

Bandwidth:

Bandwidth is the amount of files and data you can transfer each month.  Each time someone visits your website they are downloading files from your website, this is what uses your bandwidth.  We suggest going with a hosting company that provides at least 1gigabyte monthly transfer for your website. If you expect to have a large amount of traffic to your site right away get a plan that allows at  least 3 gigabytes transfer per month.  Remember, the more bandwidth you are allowed, the more customers can view your site at a time. Be cautious of hosting providers that allow unlimited bandwidth, read the fine print and check the quality of the hosting carefully.

Software and Web Developer Tools:

A good hosting provider will include fast internet connections, professional support, up to date security features, and reliable server uptime. There are hundreds if not thousands of features a hosting service can provide. Look for options that are relevant to you and your business. Below are a few of the features we believe are necessary to complete your professional web presence:

• User friendly, easy to use Control Panel.  A good control panel should allow you to setup your email accts. and databases, increase your disk space & traffic quotas, configure web statistics and perform many other important operations. A good hosting company will have a demo of their control panel. To view a sample of one of our control panels click here.
• Ecommerce Option. If you want to sell services or products online, you need to find a hosting provider that provides ecommerce software and payment processing services. SSL security certifications, shopping cart software, and credit card merchant processors are all things to look for when choosing a hosting provider that claims to offer Ecommerce Options. One of the most widely used and respected ecommerce options is OsCommerce. Look for a host that uses OsCommerce, it's feature packed and allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain their online stores with minimum effort.
• FrontPage Extensions. Option to install the FrontPage extensions on your hosting account. This means if you use Microsoft FrontPage to create your site you will be able to make use of the full range of features offered with this software.
• WebProtect. A fully web based utility that allows to password protect your web pages easily.
• Site Statistics Options.  Find a provider that has the options to produce highly detailed, easily configurable usage reports in HTML format. These reports will tell you everything you need to know about the traffic to your website. Without knowing when and where your visitors are coming from, you will never increase your revenue. We suggest you find a host that provides The Webalizer or a statistics option with as many features as the Webalizer.
• Web Site Builder. If you don't have any knowledge on how to make a website and don't already have a website, then choose a provider that has an online web site builder.  For an example of this service click here to test our web site builder.
• Database. Make sure they have the option of a database. MS Access, mySQL and MS SQL Server are some of the most widely used database on the internet. If you need to store a lot of records or transactions, a database can be very helpful.
   

In Conclusion

Choosing a hosting provider is more than just finding the cheapest price. Service, options, and quality are some of the most important features to look for in a service provider. Knowing this, we have been able to offer some of the best hosting with the most features for a fraction of the cost of other hosting providers. To view our hosting services click here.