How to Pick a Hosting Provider

How do you choose a hosting provider when there are thousands of hosting
companies available online? It’s like going through the yellow pages trying to
find burger restaurants. There are lots of them. Hopefully these tips will steer
you in the right direction.Important factors in selecting a web hosting company
include the percentage of server uptime. 98 to 99% uptime is the dream standard
for server uptime, 65% is unacceptable. The higher the downtime of a server, the
lower the potential for traffic at your web site. Another consideration is how much
space is provided for the files that will make up your web site. How much bandwidth
is in your package? Monthly bandwidth is the amount of data transfer allowed for
visitors to view and use your web site.
With today’s changing trends in web hosting services, it is important to get as much
server space and bandwidth as you can. This will allow for necessary updates and
increased traffic to your site as it becomes more popular.
It is equally important when purchasing business web hosting that CGI access is provided;
along with features such as MySQL, Real Audio, Real Video, and Cold Fusion
(which some companies sell as an add on component). A crucial feature necessary for
doing ecommerce is SSL, or Secure Socket Layer. This encrypts all order and credit
card information until it reaches you. An SSL certificate can be purchased from most web
hosting providers. Displaying it on your ecommerce web site verifies that your site
transactions are safe and secure.
We’ve talked about this before in other articles. You will need a domain name that reflects
the nature of your business. For instance, a sports business might have a URL that is
www.coloradosports.com . To get your own unique domain name, you must first check
the availability of the name with a domain name search, offered by domain registrars such
as Network Solutions.
There are many service providers to choose from. If you do your homework, you’ll find
some good deals that will fit your budget.

Free and Cheap—Web Space Hosting

There are some good deals on the internet concerning web space and hosting
but you have to look to find the best deals. You should also consider how long
a provider has been in business.
Finding free web space on the Internet is simple. All you have to do is use a
simple Web search (Google, Alta Vista or Yahoo) and the results should bring
back options for free web space. There are many individuals and businesses
looking for a place to put their website without having to pay for the service.
These free services can provide anywhere from 5MB to 100Mb of online
web space for hosting your web site.
Free sites also come with some cool stuff, such as counters, guest books,
virtual domain names, tracking logs, blogs, copy and past scripts that are usually
Java code scripts and more. These additions are good for people that have little
or no knowledge into building a web site.
A free service provides benefits to all people and may sound like a good idea but
the goal is to do your research to see if the deals are viable or not. Free services
can also bring other unwanted things that you have to deal with when you sign up
for the service. Usually, you have to submit to advertising and surveys by filling out
a form before you can get your free service. Be sure that you read the user
agreements that come with the free services.
You can go on the cheap and don’t want advertisements running on your site, you
can get a service similar to free hosting but you would have to pay a small fee to keep
your web page ad-free. Some of these providers will offer you a service for $2.95 a
month with 100MB of web space if that’s all that you need, and you can always upgrade
your packages.
There's a lot of competition for your Web site hosting dollars, and you can find some
pretty good deals if you look hard enough.