How To Select a Web Hosting Service
February 20, 2006
Selecting a small business web hosting service does not need to be overwhelming. There are only a few elements to keep in mind and they are all based on what you and your website will require or need for your specific purpose(s).
You get what you pay for!
This old adage couldn’t ring more true when it comes to selecting web hosting services. Yes, there are free hosting services available online, but stop and consider what you get with that ‘free’ service: pop-up ads, an overwhelmingly high number of domains running on a single IP address, and a lack of control of several site elements. Didn’t your momma ever teach you that nothing is FREE? Well, that includes web hosting - and if you are wanting to present the face of a professional online business, then free web hosting services are not the wisest choice.
Think about it - if you have ever visited a free site with flashing banner ads, you know how distracting they are for the user. Web Hosts have to pay for their servers. Free web hosting is only affordable to the web host through the sale of advertisements; the more ads the better.
Now don’t get me wrong, advertisements are not bad - we run ads ourself. However, if you want it to be YOUR choice what ads run on your site or you want a completely advertisement free small business web hosting service, someone has to pay for it, and you are more in control if that someone is you.
Down-time.
To effectively run a professional online business you need a small business hosting service that is rarely down. If your host cannot guarantee an up-time percentage, you should look elsewhere. A reputable hosting service will have 24/7 coverage of their servers and at least 98% up-time.
Consider Shared Hosting.
Very Commerce™ offers both shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared Hosting is defined in its name; several domain names share the same IP address and the same server. As the host’s domains increase in size and quantity, the host purchases additional IP addresses to keep its clients’ websites running quickly and efficiently.
Dedicated Hosting (also called Dedicated IP or Dedicated Server) gives a single domain name their own IP address and dedicated server; for this reason, dedicated hosting is offered as an additional fee to the regular web hosting plan.
What hosting service plan is right for me?
The best way to determine the small business hosting service that is best for your business is to make a list of the different elements your site needs.
- Do you require unlimited POP3 email and webmail accounts, email aliases, email forwarding and unlimited mailing lists?
- How about compatibility with your choice of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) html editor like Dreamweaver® or Frontpage®?
- Do you need a web hosting shopping cart for your online store?
- Do you want full access to your cPanel and around the clock FTP access?
- Do you use PHP4, MySQL databases, phpMyAdmin?
- Will you be hosting a lot of images? Need a Gallery script?
- Will you be using Flash and therefore need a good deal of bandwidth and/or additional storage space?
- Are you a beginner and need some hand-holding?
Take the base list you come up with and build from there, comparing the small business hosting services available to meet your domain’s specific requirements. Don’t let yourself get rushed. Take time to work through your site specific needs and always contact the web host for more information if you need it.
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I am Ready for a Web Site. What Now?
- Select a Domain Name.
- Register your Domain Name.
- Decide if you need a Shopping Cart.
- Purchase a Web Hosting Plan.