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Looking around for a web hosting company? Here's what to keep in
mind
The current count of
web hosts yields just over a gazillion companies claiming to be
number 1, offering the very best in what hosting can offer with
prices that simply cannot be beat. Needless to say, it can take a
trained eye this day and age to see through their gimmicks and get
right down to whether this company has what you want. If you're
confused about what to choose, read on.
Before even
beginning your search, analyze what your needs are. What features
would you like your site to have? What Internet programming
languages do you anticipate using? Be sure to take under
consideration any feedback form features, database connectivity or
any other site virtue that is simply too advanced for pure HTML.
Would you like e-mail addresses? Do you have a domain name? How
much traffic do you expect to receive? All these questions and
more help in the final decision for that one glorious hosting
company.
In the midst of your
search, you'll probably run across hosting services that offer
'unlimited bandwidth'. This is simply not true. The term
'bandwidth' refers to the amount of information that is past
between the hosting servers and the end user. Most hosting
companies are connected to high-speed Internet backbones (UUNET,
Sprint, AT&T, etc) which charge the hosting company based on their
monthly bandwidth from customers. Needless to say, if you rack up
upwards of 25Gigs of bandwidth a month, that lacks financial
prosperity for your hosting company. Be sure to read the terms of
service very carefully with each hosting company that you are
considering, especially if they advertise 'free' or 'unlimited'
site features.
A hosting company's
support services often goes untested, especially with beginners in
the site design and hosting world. A skilled and prompt support
staff should be one of the most important decision breakers in
your mind. If you run into trouble getting a perl script to work,
or perhaps your database permissions are not setup correctly on
the hosting company's side. You want those problems corrected, and
fast. One way to test a service's support staff is to simply send
them an e-mail and see how long it takes for a response to be
sent. Try to send an inquiry to support and sales and any other
department you deem necessary. Ask support if they offer a web
language that you like, or ask the sales department if they charge
your credit card or hire another company to do it for them. If you
receive a response the same day, you can probably rest assured you
will receive timely help with any inquiries you have. They should
not take more than one complete day to get back to you.
Perform research
away from the company's web site. Ask questions through e-mail
lists and other mediums to try and get some feedback. If the
company lists a testimonials section, look into contacting the
authors of the testimonials and start asking questions. The more
comments you have, the better understanding you'll have on how
that hosting service treats its customers.
Pay attention to how
long they have been online. A well-established hosting company of
many years will most likely yield the greatest chances of customer
successes. Click on the about page if they have one and read it
all; after all, you may very well be giving this company your
credit card number.
Now, let's get down
to the nitty gritty: Does the service offer what you want?
Although you may expect your site to remain fairly small, allow
yourself some room to grow, represented in megabytes (Mbs). If
you're using 5Mbs, look for 10. If you're using 20Mbs, look for 30
or 40. If you are a photographer and want to use your site as a
portfolio, you better opt for a more powerful account with more
space and bandwidth, as images take more of both. Depending on how
many images you have and how popular your site is, look for at
least 50Mbs of space and 5Gigs of bandwidth. However, a regular,
average size site with mostly html pages should be fine with 15 or
20Mbs and 1 or 2gigs of bandwidth and paying no more than $15 a
month, depending on other features.
If you have
purchased your own domain name, be sure the hosting company
supports them (most do), and be sure they give you at least 1
e-mail address (you@yourdomain.com). A lot of companies offer 10
or more custom pop e-mail accounts with unlimited forwarding
address at little or no additional cost, which is a nice feature.
Let's look at a few
features and offerings you might find with a Windows and Linux
based hosting services.
Linux
- Cheaper than
Windows in general
- Should offer PHP
and MySQL (at least and PHP)
- May offer telnet
accounts at little or no additional cost
Since the Linux
operating system and all Linux based languages and databases are
free to install and offer for the hosting company, prices are
usually lower than Windows. Perl should be supported with sendmail
support for any formmail scripts. SSI is nice, along with .htaccess.
Linux is the choice of most budget web designers and is also much
more secure than Windows. In general, more configuration options
and advanced customizations are available with Linux based hosting
services.
Windows
- Usually more
expensive than Linux
- Should support
ASP
- Could support
Cold Fusion, Access, SQL Server at an additional cost
Windows based
servers are flat out expensive for the hosting company to
purchase, so prices are usually a bit higher. Cold Fusion is
fairly expensive and is purchased through Allaire, now merged with
Macromedia. SQL Server is also purchased for a high price through
Microsoft, while Access is almost free. Any important database
work should be done through SQL Server. If you want the extra
features through a Windows host, be prepared to pay extra. In case
you are wondering, Stevesdomain.net rests on Linux based web
servers.
The decision rests
in your hands. If you are completely new to the design world and
know next to nothing about hosting options and features, you may
find a Linux based hosting service more to your liking, and for a
lower price. If you are using Microsoft Access databases for the
web, a Windows based hosting service with Access support would be
required for you. Take your time when looking for a hosting
company. Test their support services, gather comments from others
and weigh your requirements to the company's features and
offerings. Remember to leave yourself some room to grow and
expand. |
