Choosing Website Hosting For Small And Medium Businesses (Cay Bounnie)
Nov 5, 2010
Most small and medium business owners don't know a lot about managing web servers or hosting a website. Their web designer usually takes care of all the technical details for them. This can leave you in a very bad situation if the web designer suddenly disappears. It's best that you at least know the basics of website hosting so you can negotiate with a web hosting company yourself if the need arises.
One of the most important aspects to consider is reliability. If you hand your business card to somebody and it contains your website URL, you don't want them to go there and find no website. They might never go back there again. It's important, therefore, that you choose a company that can prove high uptime figures - the higher the better, but try for at least 99.5%. They should be able to back up their claims with an uptime report produced by a third party.
Another factor that is very important is technical support. No matter how good the company is, from time to time something will go wrong. If your email doesn't work one morning, you need help and you need it fast. Make sure the company provides support around the clock, seven days a week.
Another important feature to look for in a web hosting account is secure servers. Never request your visitors to provide confidential information, such as credit card numbers, over an open connection. Make sure the company offers a high encryption secure server before you sign a deal with them.
Most hosting companies nowadays provide more than enough disk space and bandwidth for the average small business. Be wary of companies promising 'unlimited' space or bandwidth. Logic should tell you that there is no such thing as unlimited when it comes to a web server. Somewhere in the fine print will usually be a clause stipulating that they will disable your account if you use more than a certain amount of space or bandwidth.
If you want to use scripting languages, such as ASP or PHP on your website, or databases, you should make sure the company's servers can handle this. Also ensure that you get enough email addresses for your needs. Any good web hosting account should include at least fifty or a hundred email accounts.
Most websites will need a web form to enable visitors to contact you. Fortunately the majority of website hosting accounts include free scripts to handle web forms. For an interactive website it's also necessary for them to provide you with software that can handle forums or blogs. The more free scripts your hosting company can in fact provide you with, the better. This will enable you to install great features on the website without having any programming knowledge - these scripts can usually be installed at the click of a button.
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