| What should you look for when selecting a hosting | | | | items. |
| company? | | | | 6. Bandwidth |
| You want to select a hosting company based on | | | | Bandwidth is how much data can be transferred at a |
| their service and support, the reliability of the | | | | time or the speed of the server. Make sure you |
| company, the speed and quality of their servers, | | | | won't have to pay additional fees when your transfer |
| cost, the web space and bandwidth they provide, | | | | volume increases. 10 GB bandwidth will be enough for |
| and the availability of features such as pop email | | | | most sites. Images, audio and video files take up |
| accounts, statistics, and autoreponders. | | | | more space and bandwidth than text files. If you're |
| 1. Service/Support | | | | offering a lot of downloads, you might need more. |
| It's vital that you can reach your host 24 hours a | | | | 7. POP-email Accounts |
| day, 7 days a week. If your web site is down for | | | | POP email accounts allow you to use email software |
| several hours, it might cost you hundreds or | | | | to receive your incoming emails instead of having to |
| thousands of dollars in sales. Customer service is the | | | | log in to a web site to check your email. I believe |
| most important consideration in choosing a web host. | | | | that most hosting accounts provide this feature |
| 2. Reliability of the Hosting Company | | | | today. |
| Make sure the hosting company is reliable, has been | | | | 8. Support for ecommerce |
| in business at least two years, and has good ratings | | | | Many hosting companies provide ecommerce tools |
| with the Better Business Bureau and Dun & | | | | such as a shopping cart system. Even if your host |
| Bradstreet. | | | | provides a shopping cart, you may need a more |
| A server should be up at least 99 percent of the | | | | sophisticated system from a specialized company. |
| time. Ask if the host has back-up servers available | | | | 9. Statistics |
| they can use when the server is down. Request | | | | You need to know the number of visitors you |
| testimonials and a list of satisfied customers. | | | | receive daily, weekly, and monthly, which sites they |
| 3. Fast and Reliable Servers | | | | came from, and which pages have been accessed. |
| Choose a hosting company that uses fast and reliable | | | | 10. Autoresponders |
| servers. | | | | Most hosting companies provide autoresponders but |
| 4. Cost | | | | most are not sequential autoresponders and they are |
| Hosting for a basic business web site shouldn't cost | | | | not working with web forms. You may need a more |
| more than $25 per month. You could pay higher fees | | | | sophisticated autoresponder from a third-party |
| if you need more features but don't pay for features | | | | company. |
| you don't need. | | | | The most important part of hosting is reliability. In |
| 5. Web Space | | | | addition to the features you need, it's important for |
| Most web hosts offer more storage space than you'll | | | | your web designer that a hosting company provides |
| ever need. You may need additional space if you are | | | | a user-friendly control panel. Your professional web |
| offering a lot of free downloads like software | | | | designer can help you choose a hosting company. |
| demos, videos, images, free ebooks, and similar | | | | |