Choosing the Right Control Panel

After all that has been covered so far, you may eventually feel the need to switch to the services of a new web host. If this is the case, I highly recommend finding one that supports the same control panel that you used previously. This will save you the headache of having to learn a totally new application which minimizes the downtime of your business.

One of the best ways to determine if a web hosting service is right for you is to access and familiarize yourself with their control panel. As mentioned earlier, many hosts will have a demo that you can test out. If you do not know how to control the features of your site, paying for what would otherwise be a quality service could up being a complete waste of time and money.

Most of the control panels supplied by a web host are fairly easy to manage. If not, help is always available online. Tutorials for popular software such as cPanel and Plesk can be easily found on various websites. In most cases this help can be accessed directly from your control panel.

Every web host provides you with some type of control panel, regardless of how capable it may be to the cause. If your site is visited frequently and requires regular updates, the control panel can be a feature you greatly appreciate, or a bothersome application that offers frustration rather than assistance. Pay attention to this feature as it is the brains behind the operation. Everything that needs to take place happens here. If a web host does not offer a control panel that includes extensive features then I highly recommend seeking service elsewhere.

Resources for Control Panels

Most of the control panels available today come pre-installed within the web hosting server. Some hosts have taken the liberty to supply applications that are exclusive to their service and others offer solutions purchased through third-party developers.

We will end this chapter by providing you with a comprehensive list of control panels that are currently active from free software to those used by popular web hosts such as Linux and Windows:

Open-Source Control Panels