Critical Factors for Choosing the Right
Host
Sean
Breslin, 05/09/2008
The right host is vital to your
success
Which Web host
you choose will impact on your webhosting
experience and your wallet. Quick point here:
cheaper is not always better. Sorry but the
phrase "You get what you pay for" is very true
in the world of website hosting.
This can be a
hard lesson and one I personally would rather
you avoided and with a little due diligence you
can!
Avoid companies
with a server in the back room and a get rich
quick scheme based on your online future or
lack of it as the case may be.
Uptime Speed and
Reliability
Ideally you want
a hosting service that owns and maintains its
own equipment in a purpose-built dedicated
facility with back-up power, and data back-up
with state of the art safety systems. (Back-up
data in a different location)
Most hosts boast
of high speeds and reliability. Can it be
independently verified?
Resellers and
Affiliates
Lots of hosting
services are operated by resellers. This is
where it gets difficult. Are they part of a
larger company and have they rebranded with
their own pricing structure while the parent
company deals with support issues or do they
themselves deal with support issues? The
question then is: can they? And when? Can you
find them when things have gone
pear-shaped?
Support
Can the
hosting company of
your choice give you a prompt, efficient and
effective support system? Look out for
Ticket Submission and ideally Free Live
Video Support. Is it out there and is the
support 24/7/365?
Have they got
video tutorials to guide you on all aspects of
your new service? The cpanel fantastico
etc...
Do they offer a
trial period? Yes? Then check them out! Do they
"Walk The Talk"?
Equipment and
Operating Systems
Are they
up-to-date? Are they compatible with your
needs? Will they be able to run and understand
the modern scripts you may wish to use for your
membership sites etc? You know what you need
and which systems you require at more advanced
levels.
My point is that
you may be new to hosting now, but to make
yourself future-proof you need to get a great
host that can accommodate your future
needs as you
progress online.
Access and
Control
Do you get a
control panel, cpanel with fantastico and
elefante etc? (Not always: check!) Even if you
don't know what they are, you want them and you
need them!
FTP access: You
may not know what it is but that doesn’t
matter! You want it and you need it!
Email:how much
and what kind? Can you add forwarders' aliases?
Is there web mail (horde squirrel etc)? You
don't know what they are? Again it doesn’t
matter! You want it and you need it!
Tutorials
Are there
tutorials on getting the most out of all these
newfangled wotsits at your disposal now? You
want your hosting to be easy, right?
I will stop
writing now: this article is long enough. Truly
I could write thousands of more words on
choosing hosting for your website but we have
lives to live! (And I now have to do the
shopping for Sunday dinner!)
Please just think
a little and do a few checks. All of the above
are good pointers. If the company (and there
are many good companies out there) has all
these pointers, then chances are that you're
with a winner!
It only remains
for me to wish you the best of luck online. Who
knows, one day we may be JV partners! That
would be great!
Hello I am a keen online merchant and
marketer Hosting websites is a subject I
personally have learned about the hard way. The
link below will lead to the company used for
all my sites now. The following series of
articles is intended to aid and assist people
new to the world of hosting
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Article for easysitehostingonline Sept
09 |
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Source: http://www.easysitehostingonline.com
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