What You Should Look for in a Web Host

What You Should Look for in a WEB HOST UPTIME Uptime is the percentage of time that the hosting server has been working and available. The very lowest uptime your hosting 99.5% 99.9% company should guarantee is: 99%, and preferably 99.9%. is an average of 3.5 hours downtime is an average of 40 minutes downtime per month per month CLOSED Make sure the server The equivalent of a "closed" sign on the door of your has multiple backup locations (mirrored servers) so that if one goes down, they have another already online and ready to go. 24-hour business. DISK SPACE Disk space is the amount of space that you are allocated for your website. You should make sure you have a plan that offers you at least 20% more space than you're currently using or plan to use (this will give you room to grow). IN GENERAL current 10 MB 20% space OF DISK SPACE 100 WEB PAGES If you use lots of images, sounds, animation or applets, then you'll need more space. Don't assume that unlimited is better than a limited amount of space – consider tradeoffs. Determine the costs for extra space so that you can expand when you need to. BANDWIDTH Bandwidth is the amount of data that your host will let you and your visitors upload and download in a given month. Read the small print! "Unlimited bandwidth" does not necessarily mean unlimited. Make sure that you know what will happen if your site goes over the allocated bandwidth. Videos and graphics take more bandwidth than plain HTML. Be aware of the prices for $. extra bandwidth. EMAIL For a professionally operating website, email is extremely important for keeping in touch with visitors and potential customers. FIND OUT ABOUT THE EMAIL SERVICE INCLUDING: POP3 AND IMAP4 FEATURES BUSINESS MAIL AND HOSTED EXCHANGE THE NUMBER OF EMAIL ADDRESSES THE HOSTWILL PROVIDE WITH A PARTICULAR PLAN. ACCESSIBILITY Access to the server will allow you to easily create email accounts, make changes to server settings, etc. Not having access means you'd need to go through technical support for changes. CUSTOMER SUPPORT Technical problems can occur at any time, so it is extremely important to have quality customer service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. (24 SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR POTENTIAL WEB HOSTING SERVICE ARE: O: Do they have efficient O: Does it offer a 24/7/365 support system? communication systems including email, telephone and live chat services? Q: Are there any additional charges for offering O: What is their query resolution time? technical assistance and support to clients? SECURITY CARD It is important to verify that your website data is secure from outside YOU WILL NEED A SSL (SECURE SOCKET LAYER) threats and hackers. IF YOU HAVE AN ECOMMERCE SITE AND PROCESS CREDIT CARDS YOURSELF. Just about every host will have some kind of Internet Make sure your host conducts regular firewall in place to keep uninvited visitors out of security audits and takes other proactive steps to address potential security threats. its servers. MULTIPLE DOMAINS AND SUBDOMAINS www There's a good chance you'll Make sure your web host will let you host multiple domains and subdomains. eventually want to run a few more sites. FTP ACCESS You should always have the ability to access your web host from FTP access. FTP is the best and easiest way to transfer a lot of files to your web host. </> PROGRAMMING SERVICES While you can create web pages with just HTML and CSS, most designers and developers will eventually want some type of programming and database ability. This includes languages PHP and MYSQL like PHP and ASP are the most common as well as databases. language and database. SITE BACKUP What backup options, if any, does your host provide? You'll want to backup both your site files and databases in case something happens. Brought to you by: JCHostwnnds SOURCES Where Will They Take You? http://webdesign.about.com/od/findahost/bb/select-good-web-host.htm http://www.inc.com/guides/201104/10-things-to-look-for-in-a-web-hosting-service.html