How to Choose a Good Web Host

Not everyone who is new to the internet knows what hosting is so I will assume no knowledge of hosting on your part. Bear with me if you have some experience in this area.

Hosting is usually renting an area on a server or large computer or rack of computers on a hard drive. Most hosting is shared or sharing space on a single hard drive. Dedicated hosting is where a whole drive or computer is dedicated to one customer's website and files.

Everyone of the websites you see on the internet is stored somewhere on a host computer and it is displayed using html and CSS so that a person's browser will display the page you see.

Choosing a good host is one of the most important things you need to do.

I could write a separate article on choosing a domain name but I think the two are so related in nature as to be better dealt with together in this article.

Choosing a domain name is nothing more than picking a name by which your URL or web address is known by on the internet. For example, one of my sites is called www.healyourselfnow.net. This is a domain name. I could say that the domain name is important, and so it is, but you need to know more than that.

You should normally choose a domain name that is a keyword for your site. For example, if you are targeting computers as your main keyword, you could use Cheapcomputers.com or Greatcomputers.com. This is just an example, but you get the general idea. Many people use hyphens in the name, but I don't recommend them as the search engines don't like them.

Security is another issue. How secure is your site? If you are selling the host should offer SSL certificates at a reasonable price of less than 30.00 so that your transactions are secure. Also, do you have a virus scanner and does your host offer leech protection to protect your images and to prevent other members from giving out passwords to restricted areas of your site.

Does your host support Fantastico or one click access to important scripts like a CMS or content management system like JOOMLA or MAMBO that allows editing or updating of your web site content with the ease of using a word processor. No knowledge of html or css is needed. So anyone in your office can contribute to website content with minimal training! Also, you can add a learning managment system like Moodle, or a live chat program or forum and instantly make your website interactive.

An interactive website is considered "sticky" or a site that will attract and keep visitors coming back to, over and over again.

The last and most important issue in choosing a good web host is customer support. Does your host offer 24 live chat support? There are things that can affect your site and you need the security and peace of mind that comes from knowing that you get competent friendly advice even at 3 am. Live chat is interactive like using Microsoft Messenger except that you are talking on a secure line for the express purpose of customer support. Live ticketed support uses a ticket and email based support system that is not as interactive as live chat but sometimes is necessary to solve a more complex problem with your site.

So to summarize, does your host offer tutorials on your site for cpanel or whm if you are hosting more than one site? Does your host offer scripts with one click installation?
Does your host offer excellent chat based and ticket based customer support? How fast is their turn around time on that support? After all, it does you no good to have 24 hour support if no one answers your call. Does your web host offer competitive prices? I would be remiss if I did not mention that bargain prices are not at all important if your host offers web design with your hosting or some other extras that are not available at other hosts. If you are new to the net, and don't have much experience you will need a lot of support at first to help you get to know that you are doing.

For example ebooks, templates, and software that you can re sell for money with master resale rights. It is acceptable for your host to charge up to 30.00 per month if they offer web design assistance and offer ebooks, software, and templates, and a template based site builder that can put up a decent site in less than an hour. Economy hosting does not measure up for newbies.

If your host can answer "yes!" to all of these questions then you can rest assured that you have chosen a good host.

Your host determines your success on the internet as much as your efforts do, so choose wisely.