Points to Consider Before Choosing a Web Hosting Provider

One should be fully aware of his/her hosting requirements before choosing a web host. One’s only concern should be to get a decent amount of disk space for his/her web site with a host that is as cheap as $5 per month if he/she is a beginner wanting to host a personal web site. Nevertheless, if he/she is an online entrepreneur, a developer, or an online business looking for e-commerce capabilities or advanced scripting technologies, then he/she can decide upon his/her requirements in the following order.

(1) Whether Shared Hosting or Dedicated Hosting is required:

two major requirements on which this depends are - 1) the traffic one’s web site is estimated to receive and 2) the degree of administrative privileges he/she needs. If one is expecting to receive huge amounts of traffic, then he/she will need to have a Dedicated Server, which definitely has a much greater bandwidth offering. He/She should select dedicated server hosting if his/her web site requires customized options, secure information or complex applications i.e. dynamic content, e-commerce, database and multimedia applications.

(2) Whether one needs Linux Hosting or Windows Hosting: One should use a Windows hosting provider if he/she is going to use server technologies such as ASP, JSP etc or intend to run Microsoft applications like Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database on his/her server. There are securities and reliability concerns related to ASP, though it can be run on the Linux platform by using some commercial applications. However, ColdFusion can run on both Linux and Windows platforms if one wants to use it.

(3) What are one’s Space and Bandwidth requirements: nowadays, many web hosts are offering 1 GB to 3 GB generous amounts of disk space. However, One’s disk space requirements may be 5 to 10 times greater than this, if his/her web site mainly acts as a download resource. The second consideration is one’s bandwidth requirements may be estimated by the amount of traffic his/her web site is expected to receive.

(4) FTP Accounts and Anonymous FTP Requirements: if one has coworkers working on his/her web site project at different locations he/she may need more than one FTP account. The Anonymous FTP permits the public to access certain directories on his/her web server to whom they have been granted permission. For Anonymous FTP to function, one will need a dedicated IP address.

(5) The number of Parked Domains and Subdomains one needs:

The amount of traffic to one’s web site can be increased significantly, as Parked domains are very advantageous. Likewise, by pointing to specific directories of one’s web site, subdomains can help with search engine rankings. Parked domains and subdomains seldom come free with certain web hosting packages. However, One will have to pay an additional price per month if he/she needs more

(6) Whether one needs e-commerce Features: One should choose a web host that provides e-commerce functionality such as shopping carts and the ability to accept credit cards if he/she needs e-commerce features. Also, check if their server is SSL secured.

The under mentioned considerations must be kept in mind when looking for a quality web host in addition to one’s own hosting requirements.

(1) More than 99.5% uptime: If one’s web site is for business purposes, it's very essential that one’s site stays online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Therefore, one should choose a web host that has an uptime greater than 99.5% and if there is an uptime guarantee, it's even better.

(2) Server Backups: To make one’s data secure, his/her web host must have a power backup system and should backup the data to an external device in order to prevent the data loss due to failure. One should test out how regularly the web host backups data, i.e. either daily or weekly.

(3) Moneyback Guarantee: It makes one risk-free, if the Web host gives a moneyback guarantee.

(4) Fast Servers: One should choose a web host with at least a T3 connection to the major Internet backbone as the level of connectivity of his/her web host to the Internet is very important. If one’s web site takes more than 30 seconds to load, chances are that he/she will loose a lot of visitors and consequently sales as according to the analysis the average web visitor waits for about 30 seconds before a web page loads.

(5) Unrestricted CGI, SSH, FTP access & Anonymous FTP: CGI and FTP access is provided by most web hosts while SSH access is provided by a few so If one have a professional web site, he/she will need to run CGI scripts, have SSH (Secure Shell) access and FTP access. He/she will also require checking if anonymous FTP access is being provided.

(6) Disk Space and Bandwidth: Mostly 1 GB to 3 GB of disk space is being offered by web hosts, so if one’s web site is not mainly a download resource, then this factor is not that important for him/her. Always choose a web host that meets one’s, disk space and bandwidth requirements. However, bandwidth should be as much as possible as one’s traffic can increase in the future thus requiring more data transfer. One should check whether he/she has the option of buying more disk space and bandwidth when required.

(7) Full e-mail services: Web host that provides web-based e-mail, mailing lists, auto responders, both POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts, forwarding accounts and antivirus and spam filtering software should be chosen.

(8) Software/Scripts: Web host that has an extensive script library for one, to add guestbook’s, forms, surveys, newsletters etc to his/her web site should be chosen.

(9) E-commerce capabilities and SSL: web host that provides one with e-commerce capabilities with shopping cart software and merchant accounts must be chosen.

(10) Web-Based Administration: nowadays almost all web hosts provide a control panel to access and manage web site features.

(11) 24/7/365 Customer Support: as many support channels as possible should be provided by the web host including an FAQ section, a knowledgebase, video and flash tutorials, toll-free support, e-mails support, live chat support and a community forum.