Web Site Hosting Made Simple!

Web Site Hosting Made Simple!

One of the first questions I'm often asked (after "How do I get a "good" site name?") is "Where should I host my web site?"

While there is no single answer that will always apply, I'd like to offer the following points to consider:

How large will your site really be? Many people look for a host provider that offers the most space, when in reality most small business web sites use only about 1 MB! Even if your site contains a database and sells lots of products, 10 MB may be more than sufficient!

No matter what software and methods you plan to use to maintain your site, make sure that the hosting provider offers easy FTP access at all times. Most site updates will use FTP to promote changes to the web, and you should be free to make updates at 3 AM if you want to!

Check into the provider's "uptime" guarantee. This is the percentage of time that your site is guaranteed to be online and functional. While we'd all like 100% uptime, the reality is that systems do fail, and sometimes require scheduled maintenance. But a good provider should be able to guarantee 99.5% or better uptime.

Unless you're an expert, look for a provider that offers an easy and intuitive site management interface. Having a single place to go to make changes to configurations of email options, site hosting options, billing parameters, ftp accounts, etc. makes managing one or more sites a pleasure.

Even if you don't have need for "extended" features like databases (SQL), or PHP scripting, forms processing, email "catch-all" forwarding, etc., it is best to select a provider that offers as many of these features as possible (even if they are add-on options.) That way, should you decide to add capabilities to your site in the future, you won't need to consider re-hosting.

Site allowed bandwidth is often overlooked initially -- perhaps because it is not understood, or perhaps because at the start there are no customers. Basically this figure indicates how much traffic (actual page downloads) will be allowed over a specified period. Don't be fooled by sites that advertise "1 GB Bandwidth" without clearly indicating the period -- they could mean 1 GB per month, which is clearly not the same as 1 GB per day! Again, initially even a small bandwidth may be sufficient, but aren't you building your web site to succeed? If so, then plan for real growth and don't be caught having to re-host or enroll in a much more expensive plan just because your site does well!

Make sure that your host provider gives you access to your raw web logs. While many providers offer "canned" daily analysis reports, there will come a time when you (or someone you hire) will want to do more detailed analysis that is only possible if you can get at the raw usage logs. There is much valuable information stored in such logs!

Very important is the level of support offered by the provider. There will be occasions where you may require assistance -- be it technical or administrative. The best hosting plan can be extremely frustrating if you can't get the help you need when you need it.

If it's not already clearly specified, ask about file backup and recover procedures. What happens to your site if their system crashes and experiences data loss? How often are files backed up, and what is their commitment to recovery? Are databases backed up, or is that your responsibility?

Of course, the above list is not meant to be comprehensive, nor may it address all the concerns about your particular web site application. But these points are a good starting point, especially if you don't know what you should be looking for.

Finally there is the issue of price. You will find hosting providers with similar feature sets at very different price points. You may think that there must be a very good reason why one place charges $50.00 per month while another only $8.00 per month. There may be (hence the checklist), but then again there may not be!

We did quite a bit of research ourselves, and have found that one of the all-around best values for web hosting is from PowWeb.com We have a number of sites hosted with them ourselves, including this one! Our experience with them over the past few years has been excellent. In fact, we have been surprised when they periodically add new functionality or upgrade our service level without any additional charge! On top of all this, PowWeb.com remains one of the best values around -- at only $7.77 per month! (It's actually less if you prepay for at least a year, due to their incentive bonus months.) We highly recommend PowWeb.com as a great place to host your small business (or other) web site.

Hershel Belkin is the managing editor of the Best Value Guide, a no-ads directory of shopping sites that have been carefully evaluated to ensure a pleasant shopping experience as well as good value. © 2003, Belkinder Marketing. Reprint rights usually granted, send request to reprint@bestvalueguide.com.