A New Business Owners Guide To Web Hosting
New entrepreneurs pop up every day. They have dreams of starting their own small business and becoming their own bosses. But newbie entrepreneurs quickly discover there is a lot of work involved with starting a new business. And one of the most important projects a new business owner must perform is that of building a web site for the small business and getting it live on the world wide web.
Designing and creating your website is tough enough, but once it is ready, the process of finding a host and getting the website loaded and live can be a daunting task, especially for a beginning business owner with little or no webmaster experience. Here are a few things to consider when it is time for you to choose a web host.
Getting Your Domain Name Free
Many new business owners still do not have a domain registered for their website. A good web host service will include a minimum of one free domain registration as part of their service. While you can register a domain name through one company, and buy web hosting from another, having it done simultaneously helps you keep track of everything all in one place.
As you look through possible web hosting companies, check for the ones that offer a free domain registration, and particularly take note of those who offer “free domains for life.” Usually a web host that offers a “free” domain will pay for one year of domain registration with ICANN, who is responsible for coordinating all domain name systems. However, several web hosts will offer “free for life” and pay for each of your renewal registrations as they come up each year.
The only additional point of consideration is to ask the web host specifically who owns the domain name, as well as if it can be transferred should you change web hosts at a later time.
Comparing Affordability
Web hosting is a competitive business. There are a plethora of web hosting companies and many of them offer extremely cheap hosting service to get procure your business. You can look, and often find, web hosting providers that offer web hosting for very little per month. In fact, it is not uncommon to find web hosting for as little as $1.99 per month.
But keep in mind that not all cheap web hosting is the same. You must be sure that you receive all the web hosting elements you need, including email, database and scripting support, as well as e-commerce tools if those will be included with your website.
Remember what your mother told you about “getting what you pay for?” Cheap is not necessarily better. You can get reliable web hosting with plenty of features for less than $10 per month.
Research Company Stability
If you have a web hosting company in mind, check to see how long they’ve been in business. Those who have been around for 10 or more years are solid veterans of the web hosting arena.
While there have been a plethora of new web host companies that have burst onto the scene in the last two or three years, you need to be careful of companies without an established presence.
While it is true that some new web hosting companies are built for longevity and stability with solid founders and data centers, other new web hosts may not last long.
Web hosts that are serious may demonstrate their stability with the hundreds of thousands of accounts they server, or by highlighting the founder who has dozens of years of web development experience and expertise. Those who warrant caution have nothing to brag about aside from offering cheap service. Having your web host get bought out by another can lead to a slew of other headaches and problems. So try to choose one you trust and know will remain stable.
Look for Excellent Support
You will want a company who can help you through tough times and with complex issues. A reliable web host will tout their strong technical and customer support departments. Technical support should be available 24 hours a day, and through many venues, such as phone, chat, and email. In addition, solid support will have access to many different departments such as technical assistance, billing, and sales.
It is important to also peruse review sites and other bulletin boards for actual customer opinions. You can glean a good deal of information from how other customers were treated.
Check the Data Center
The data center is where a web host houses its servers. A good web host should publish where their data center is located, what server varieties they use, what security measures they take. If a web host says nothing about its data center, it is likely they are a web host reseller and not the actual hosting company.
Look Carefully At Features
How do you plan to utilize your website? Will you have a site with just a few static pages that tell about your services and products, maybe an “About Us” page with answers to FAQs? Or will you have a website that is interactive with your online customers, providing searchable information with databases, or offering an online store with e-commerce shopping carts? This will be a big factor in determining which web host to choose.
If you have an easy website that doesn’t need much maintenance and no interaction, then most simple web hosting plans are adequate. If you use e-commerce, databases, interactive scripting programs, etc, make sure your web host supports these. A good web host will support a variety of scripts such as Perl, PHP, Java, Python, etc., databases such as MySQL and Access, and provide shopping cart software for your online store.
There are a lot of issues to consider when you choose a web host and if you know what you are looking for and what you need, the search and ultimate decision can become much easier.
Recommended Personal Web Hosting Recommended Business Web Hosting