Choosing A Good And Reliable Web Hosting

A Web host owns (or rents) the computer thatservice. But is the fool actually reading the emailah,
serves the files of your Web site to your visitors,that's the rub. You want a toll-free phone number for
usually in exchange for a monthly fee. You don't havecustomer support. If you don't have 24/7 access to
to cancel your current Internet account to hire aa live human being by telephone, then you don't have
Web host. In fact, many Web hosts don't offer24/7 customer support. It's far better to go with a
Internet service provider (ISP) service.Web host who offers toll-free phone support during
Those that do need to be local, or it isn't worth it fornormal business hours than a host who offers 24/7
you. The great thing about your neighborhood ISP issupport by email.
that it's in your neighborhood, and it gives you a local6) Server space. Exactly how much server space do
dial-up number. You don't want to have to dial in toyou need? You can figure this out pretty easily. Find
Albuquerque whenever you want to browse theout the combined file size of your Web site by
Web (unless, of course, you live in Albuquerque).examining the properties of its local root folder. If
There's a good chance you already have a Webyour site is 5 MB, then you need at least 5 MB of
host, even if you don't know it. Many standardserver space. Generally, you don't need huge
Internet accounts come with a healthy amount ofamounts of server space, unless your site includes
server space for personal Web pages. So, the firstlots of heavy multimedia files, such as MP3s.
step in choosing a Web host is to contact your ISP.7) Bandwidth limits. Your Web host measures
Find out how much server space comes with yourbandwidth, or the amount of data its computers
account. If the answer is none, you might want topush to the visitors of your site over a period of
inform your customer service representative thattime. Typically, you get a monthly limit, and, if you
many of their direct competitors offer this benefit toexceed your cap, your host charges you extra. A
their subscribers for a lot less than you're currentlygood data-transfer baseline for a typical personal or
paying.small-business Web site is 1 GB. Roughly speaking,
I want to use my Web site for commercial purposes.one gigabyte of data transfer equals 20,000 page
Can I host my site on the personal Web space thatviewsthat's one person viewing one page of your
comes with my Internet service?site 20,000 times, or 5,000 people viewing one page
Why would you want to? For one thing, your ISPof your site four times, or 20,000 people viewing one
usually assigns you a generic Web address, whichpage of your site one time. It's hard to know exactly
doesn't make your business look very professional.how much bandwidth you need, so start low. If you
For another, you don't need the typical lags inexceed your limit regularly, consider upgrading your
response time that you find on the servers of largeplan. Keep in mind: If you offer a total of 1 GB of
ISPs. Plus, commercial sites are probably against yourMP3s on your site, you can exceed 1 GB of
ISP's terms of service, and you don't need the hasslebandwidth very quickly.
of them closing down your site along with yourPOP3 email accounts. You may or may not want
personal email account and Internet connection.extra email accounts for your site. But if you want
If you'd prefer not to use your personal serverthem, go for a Web host that provides them.
space for your site, just go to your favorite searchGenerally, you want POP3 email instead of
engine, and look up Web host to begin your research.Web-based email. POP3 email works with client
Don't be surprised if your results number in thesoftware such as Microsoft Outlook and Eudora,
millions.which let you jump on the Internet quickly, download
There are many, many, many Web hosts out there.your mail, and answer it offline. Web-based email
You can't possibly research them all. You need torequires you to be online to write and receive
narrow your optionsand fast. A good way to start ismessages. Many Web hosts count the amount of
with the names that you recognize: Yahoo!, Earthlink,email that you send and receive over their servers as
Netfirms, perhaps also your phone or cable company.part of your overall transfer limit, so be sure to take
If they don't have what you need or want, workthis factor into account.
your way down the list.9) Streaming audio/video and other media. If you
Every Web site is different, of course, and only youwant to host streaming audio or video files on your
can make the choice about the right Web host forsite, or even if you want to display Flash animations
your particular site. That said, in general, here are aand other common media types, your Web host
few qualities of good Web hosts:needs to be set up to do this. You don't need special
1) Reasonable monthly charge. Shop around, and seeservice to host Web images such as JPEG, GIF, and
what the competitors are offering. Expect to payPNG.
between $10 and $25 a month for a typical personal10) FrontPage extensions. Heaven forbid, but if your
or small business site. Pay less, and your Web hostWeb site uses the stupid special effects that come
probably makes up the difference by giving youwith Microsoft FrontPage, you should find a Web
terrible customer support or tacking advertisementshost that doesn't offer FrontPage extensions. This
onto your site. Pay more, and you're probably buyingway, the dumb things won't work, and the quality of
services and features that you don't need.your site will improve dramatically.
2) Domain name registration (preferably free). Many11) CGI, server-side scripting, and database access. If
of the better Web hosts offer to register your Webyour site uses server-side technology to connect to
site's domain name for you. Some even front youa database, you need a Web host who is set up to
the yearly $35 registration service charge. Keep ando this. You don't have to worry about this level of
eye out for these hosts. They're worth it, even ifservice if your site sticks to the client side: HTML,
they tack on a setup charge (as long as it's less thanJavaScript, and CSS. All the projects in this book are
$35).client-side only.
3) Reasonable (or no) setup charge. Some Web12) Site reports. You want a host that gives you
hosts tack on a special, one-time service charge toaccess to the data that the Web server collects
set up your account. Others do not. Many perfectlyabout the visitors to your site. You want to see
reputable and reliable Web hosts charge setup fees.where they're from, what browsers they're using,
Many do not. Those that don't charge setup feeswhat pages they visit most often, and which
often make up their money elsewhere, so read thesections of the site they seem to be missing. You
fine print. If you go for a fee-charging service, don'tdon't want this information for evil purposes. You
pay more than $35, or you're probably being soaked.want it to help you improve your site. Definitely
And if you can catch a fee-charging Web host duringcheck into what kind of site reporting tools the host
one of its "fee waived" promotional periods, do it.offers.
4) Upgrade plans. Your site is successful. It grows.One feature that you definitely don't need is a
You want your Web host to grow with you. Ideally,shopping cart application, "free" or otherwise.
your host should offer several levels of service atShopping carts that come with Web host plans are
reasonable price points. Start with the cheapest plangeneric, overpriced, feature-poor, difficult to
and work your way up.customize, and next to impossible to integrate into
5) Reliable customer service (preferably by phone).your site.
You need customer service. Period. And don't fall forIf you're serious about launching a Web-based retail
the usual 24/7 customer-service sales pitch. Any foolstorefront, you need to hire a programming team to
with an email account can advertise 24/7 customerdevelop a shopping cart application for you.