How to Choose a Web Host
by Anna Hahn
Finding the right host for your website might be confusing
if you have no previous experience in this area, so here
are some rules of thumb to keep in mind:
- Never use one of those “free” web hosts….they
are only free because they are going to litter your website
with banner ads and pop-ups that may even be for your competitors.
You have a website because you want potential customers
to spend time on YOUR website, not so they can click away
to someone else’s website within the first few seconds.
Why give away your business? These freebies also look cheap
and can undermine the credibility of your business in the
eyes of customers.
- Beware of very low cost hosting (such as $2.99 per month),
often for the same reasons as above. In addition to the
possibility of the web host placing ads on your site, often
the cost is low because you don’t get all the features
that you might need. The low price could be a lure to get
you to sign up, and then when you discover that you need
additional features, the add-on prices start hiking up
your monthly hosting fees and suddenly, it’s not
low cost hosting anymore!
- Watch out for web hosts that don’t guarantee at
least 99% uptime on their servers. This may mean that the
hosting company crams as many accounts onto one server
as possible, resulting in painfully slow access, and sometimes
NO access to your website. Downtime is unacceptable for
a business website. Frustrated users will undoubtedly move
on to the next site.
- Be sure your hosting package comes with all the features that you will need for your website. Disk space is not
the only important feature. A host may offer tons of disk
space but few other features. Some of the most important
features are:
a. Ample
server disk
space (this will
depend on the amount and size
of all your web files; be sure
to allow some room for growth)
b. Bandwidth (data transfer) allowed per
month (if your site is very
image-heavy or you have a lot
of downloads from your site,
this will be especially important
so you avoid charges for going
over the limit)
c. Control
panel with a good user interface
d. Sufficient
number of POP email
accounts,
autoresponders and forwarders
e. Guaranteed
server uptime
f. FTP
access so you can transfer
your files
g. Databases and PHP support included
h. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) if you
are going to be selling products
online using your merchant
account
i. Site
statistics so you can track
how many visitors you are getting,
where they are spending their
time, etc.
Check out the details of ConvergeFx hosting packages
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