Is Your Web Host Trustworthy?
When investing in a web-hosting package, there are two important aspects to the service that require some consideration.
1. Features
Every web-hosting package offers a variety of features inclusive of the level of package you select.
The features, such as PHP, CGI, MySQL, and PERL should be clearly listed for you prior to sign-up. The number of features included will be dependent on price and some forward planning is required to be sure that you are signing up for a plan that will allow your website the functionality you require. If you expect your website to expand and change over time and you are unsure what features you may require in the future, be sure to confirm that you can easily upgrade your package at a later date.
Also included under ‘features’ would be such considerations as storage space, bandwidth and support level. Hosting package prices begin at under $5, but it is often in these three areas that the greatest difference between price points can be found. Again, if future updates are possible, starting with lower bandwidth and storage can often make sense as you build and launch your website. If you are new to web hosting, however, it would be advisable not to sacrifice good support for a slightly lower charge.
2. Reliability
Support services would also come under reliability. How easy is it to make contact? Look for multiple communication channels such as phone, email, instant messaging, preferably on-site and even perhaps web-conferencing if you feel that ‘hands-on’ support would be of benefit.
The most important area of reliability you need to satisfy yourself of is uptime. A good web hosting company will extend to you a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%. This is vital, as time, money and effort you put into developing and marketing your new website are wasted if you are losing visitors due to your website being down when they visit. Not only do you lose them on that one visit, they will
most likely not bother trying again, so you actually lose them for all time.
This guaranteed uptime should be just part of their overall satisfaction guarantee. The longer the term of their satisfaction guarantee, the more confidence they have in the quality of their service. Look for a minimum of 30 days unconditional guarantee.
There are many hundreds of web-hosting services available online and for those new to web hosting selecting a good service can be daunting. If your new website is going to be core to your business, then the service selected is one of the most important and critical decisions you will need to make.
Thorough due-diligence and research is essential.
Is Your Web Host Trustworthy?
When investing in a web-hosting package, there are two important aspects to the service that require some consideration.
1. Features
Every web-hosting package offers a variety of features inclusive of the level of package you select.
The features, such as PHP, CGI, MySQL, and PERL should be clearly listed for you prior to sign-up. The number of features included will be dependent on price and some forward planning is required to be sure that you are signing up for a plan that will allow your website the functionality you require. If you expect your website to expand and change over time and you are unsure what features you may require in the future, be sure to confirm that you can easily upgrade your package at a later date.
Also included under ‘features’ would be such considerations as storage space, bandwidth and support level. Hosting package prices begin at under $5, but it is often in these three areas that the greatest difference between price points can be found. Again, if future updates are possible, starting with lower bandwidth and storage can often make sense as you build and launch your website. If you are new to web hosting, however, it would be advisable not to sacrifice good support for a slightly lower charge.
2. Reliability
Support services would also come under reliability. How easy is it to make contact? Look for multiple communication channels such as phone, email, instant messaging, preferably on-site and even perhaps web-conferencing if you feel that ‘hands-on’ support would be of benefit.
The most important area of reliability you need to satisfy yourself of is uptime. A good web hosting company will extend to you a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%. This is vital, as time, money and effort you put into developing and marketing your new website are wasted if you are losing visitors due to your website being down when they visit. Not only do you lose them on that one visit, they will
most likely not bother trying again, so you actually lose them for all time.
This guaranteed uptime should be just part of their overall satisfaction guarantee. The longer the term of their satisfaction guarantee, the more confidence they have in the quality of their service. Look for a minimum of 30 days unconditional guarantee.
There are many hundreds of web-hosting services available online and for those new to web hosting selecting a good service can be daunting. If your new website is going to be core to your business, then the service selected is one of the most important and critical decisions you will need to make.
Thorough due-diligence and research is essential.
