Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Looking For A Web Host? Here's What To Look For.

By Lucas Heijn

Choosing the right web host is a little like choosing the right shop for your business. In saying this I don't mean location but size and facilities. We will discuss location in another article.

If you're are planning to start a business or have a business going and plan to move to new premises you would spend some time in looking at what is available, and what is suitable. You need to do the same in choosing a web host. There are certain things you need to make sure you have.

How much disk space do you need on the server?

How much space (disk space) do you need? Here it is sensible to get whatever you can afford. Most websites will run on just a few MB. You need to find out if you can upgrade without difficulty. Here is one instance where 500 MB may not be enough. If you are going to set up a site with lots of downloadable software you will need to have plenty of disk space.

What is Meant By Bandwidth?

Basically it is the uploading and downloading from your site. Each time a visitor comes to your site, their computer requests the information your site contains. Your site now appears on the visitors computer. This information has appeared on your visitors computer because their computer has downloaded the information. This downloading is measured and is called bandwidth. The more bandwidth you have the more visitors you can have without having to pay extra. You should always be able to upgrade to a larger package and get more. Some companies also offer unlimited accounts.

Do You Need Databases?

The short answer is yes. In fact you will need to make sure that you can run a number of databases. There are many web applications that require a database to run. Let's say you want to have a Blog on your site. You could download the free script from Wordpress. To install it you need a database. There are so many applications that require databases that you should consider at least getting 5 or 6 available as a minimum.

Control Panel. Which Is Best?

There are a number of different ones used by hosting companies. There are two that stand out for ease of use. You need to be able to easily understand how to use them. The two I like best are Direct Admin and cPanel. Both are excellent. Many webmasters swear by cPanel. I personally like Direct Admin better, I feel it is the easiest to use. The control panel is where you work behind your site. Here you can set up email accounts, new databases and much much more.

Some Other Things You Should Expect

There are added extras that you should be expecting from your hosting provider. a vital one is a site creator. Does the hosting account come with a simple to use site builder? One of the easiest to use in the business is the Drag And Drop site creator. This is a very powerful creator being able to generate vibrant PHP sites.

Several hosts also supply a members area with marketing information and free of charge downloads. Many of these downloadable products can be useful in setting up your new site.

Location is everything. At the start of this article I mentioned location. Your web host is not responsible here. Location is completely up to you. You create the location by SEO (Search Engine Optimization). There are many things you can and need to do to increase the traffic to your site. This is another subject we will deal with at a later date.

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