Tips to Choose a Hosting Company
So you have taken the first step and decided to run your own website.
Congratulations! But before you can display your talents to the world you will have to navigate the difficulties of choosing a hosting package.
This article will help you choose a package which will suit your project and your budget.
Your first choice is shared or dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting means that your website is placed on a server with many other websites.
This server will handle data transfer for all the websites which are stored on it.
A dedicated server means that you have a computer all to yourself.
You will see a speed and performance increase with a dedicated server, especially for very processor intensive sites.
Dedicated servers are much more expensive however.
For your first few sites a shared hosting package will normally do.
Bandwidth measures how much data can be downloaded from your site in a month.
If you have a file sized 5Mb, and 500Mb of bandwidth, your file can be downloaded 100 times per month.
A typical small to medium sized site probably won't use more than 1Gb of bandwidth per month at start up.
If your site has a lot of large images or large files to download, look for a larger amount.
Storage measures how much data can be put onto your website.
The coding for a site typically takes up very little space, in the order of a few megabytes.
If you intend hosting large files or photos on your site, check how much space they take up before ordering.
SQL databases are used for more complex site.
Online shops, forums and membership sites all rely on a database to store information.
Allow for a database for each piece of software that will run on your site.
For example, a site with an online shop and a forum are two separate pieces of software and you will need 2 databases.
Check that you can get email through the domain name for your website.
Email is an important link to your visitors and potential customers.
your_name@yourwebsite.
com looks much more professional than using a free service.
It generally doses not matter if you use a Linux or Windows server.
If you design your site on a Windows computer, it will run identically on a Linux server.
Linux servers are generally cheaper, and come with a greater range of free software applications such as shopping carts, forums and blogs.
You would need a Windows server to use specific programming languages such as ASP or.
NET which are only available on the windows platform Check the quality of the customer support.
Hopefully you will never need to use them, but it is important they are there if you do.
A website which is down for days because the support staff are not available will lose you customers and sales.
Check the help, FAQ and contact pages.
Also check out their uptime guarantee, this is the time per month that they guarantee your site will be available to the internet.
Finally remember that your choice is not set in stone, and it is possible to upgrade or move a website at a later date if you outgrow your initial hosting package.
Enjoy creating your site!
Congratulations! But before you can display your talents to the world you will have to navigate the difficulties of choosing a hosting package.
This article will help you choose a package which will suit your project and your budget.
Your first choice is shared or dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting means that your website is placed on a server with many other websites.
This server will handle data transfer for all the websites which are stored on it.
A dedicated server means that you have a computer all to yourself.
You will see a speed and performance increase with a dedicated server, especially for very processor intensive sites.
Dedicated servers are much more expensive however.
For your first few sites a shared hosting package will normally do.
Bandwidth measures how much data can be downloaded from your site in a month.
If you have a file sized 5Mb, and 500Mb of bandwidth, your file can be downloaded 100 times per month.
A typical small to medium sized site probably won't use more than 1Gb of bandwidth per month at start up.
If your site has a lot of large images or large files to download, look for a larger amount.
Storage measures how much data can be put onto your website.
The coding for a site typically takes up very little space, in the order of a few megabytes.
If you intend hosting large files or photos on your site, check how much space they take up before ordering.
SQL databases are used for more complex site.
Online shops, forums and membership sites all rely on a database to store information.
Allow for a database for each piece of software that will run on your site.
For example, a site with an online shop and a forum are two separate pieces of software and you will need 2 databases.
Check that you can get email through the domain name for your website.
Email is an important link to your visitors and potential customers.
your_name@yourwebsite.
com looks much more professional than using a free service.
It generally doses not matter if you use a Linux or Windows server.
If you design your site on a Windows computer, it will run identically on a Linux server.
Linux servers are generally cheaper, and come with a greater range of free software applications such as shopping carts, forums and blogs.
You would need a Windows server to use specific programming languages such as ASP or.
NET which are only available on the windows platform Check the quality of the customer support.
Hopefully you will never need to use them, but it is important they are there if you do.
A website which is down for days because the support staff are not available will lose you customers and sales.
Check the help, FAQ and contact pages.
Also check out their uptime guarantee, this is the time per month that they guarantee your site will be available to the internet.
Finally remember that your choice is not set in stone, and it is possible to upgrade or move a website at a later date if you outgrow your initial hosting package.
Enjoy creating your site!
