How to Choose a Web Host - Frequently Asked Questions

In this article you’ll be provided with helpful information about how to choose a web host. There are several things to look for when choosing a reliable web host. Below, you will be provided with frequently asked questions and the answers to common questions.

Q. How reliable is the service of a web host?
Most surveys indicate that reliability is an e-businesses main concern. You should look for at least a 95 percent guarantee uptime, to ensure that the service is indeed reliable.

Q. What kind of performance can I expect?
A great hosting company has one or more T3 lines that are always connected to the Internet, not going through someone else’s network operations center. The servers should be fast, ideally Pentium Pro or Linux. You should also let your host know if you plan to use bandwidth killers such as streaming audio or video.

Q. How good is phone support?
When it comes to phone support, you should look for 24/7 phone support that’s always available with a live operator. Once you have found out, you should always check it. Call or email the technical support line at 10 o clock on Sunday night then expect it to be answered.

Q. How much will it cost me?
The entry level hosting service with a single domain name, 20 – 30 MB (Mega Bytes) of hard drive space, email services, and up to a 1 GB (Giga Bytes) of monthly bandwidth should cost you no more than 50 dollars.

Q. How is security handled?
The passwords to your website or domain should be required to control the host as well as manage the web site. Every file on your server should also be backed up on a daily basis. You should always look for a host that offers you secure transactions as well.

Q. How much bandwidth will I need for data transfer?
Roughly estimating, 2GB of bandwidth should be perfect for a very small personal site. If you’re going to running a medium site with text and images but no large files, 5 GB would be ideal. Larger sites on the other hand, require 30 GB of bandwidth. Good hosting company’s will send you an email if you’re about to run out of bandwidth, letting you know that your site may go offline if you exceed the quota. This way, you can upgrade your plan if you choose to do so.

Q. What about a control panel?
Almost all hosting packages come with some type of control panel, enabling you to configure your hosting packages as well as your settings without having to learn the entire operating system that powers the site. Control panels can be accessed through a secure webpage, and then they will appear in your web browser. The most popular control panels are Helm, Cpanel, Hsphere, Plesk, and Ensim. The most common is Cpanel, which only runs on Linux. Most beginners and other users would be more suited to Cpanel, as it runs on the cheaper platform of Linux.

Q. What about a POP3 account?
When sending and receiving email, POP3 counts are very important. These types of accounts you can assign to individual users as their own email addresses. You’ll need enough POP3 accounts for the amount of email addresses that you wish to assign to other people. Often times this number will be quoted as being unlimited, although there are only so many email addresses that you can actually create.

Q. What about spam and viruses?
These features are classified in a separate category, and can include autoresponders, spam filters, even anti virus protection. They may be important to you, but they will actually vary from host to host. Basically, these are all free things that the host will give to you when you sign up for an account. If you’re plan doesn’t quite offer what you want, your host may be flexible when setting up your account.

Q. What about running my own online store?
If you are planning on running your own store on the internet, there will be a few factors that will be involved with that decision. First of all, you’ll need an SSL certificate for your website, so that you can process credit card transactions. Basically, these are 3rd parties that will take care of each and every transaction, for a small percent fee, eliminating the need for extra security on your server. You’ll also need to ensure that the server as well as the software is capable of running the script you have for your shopping cart.

Q. I need help making that final decision.
If you plan on having a website that you’ll be relying on for income or storing important data, you’ll need to make sure that you go with a host that will offer you a high level of customer support. A lot of hosting companies will offer forums as well as their contact numbers; however the forums can be excellent when you are dealing very small problems.

In Conclusion

By taking your time and checking to see what each host has to offer, you’ll find which service best fits your needs. There are many hosts and many different packages out there to choose from, which mean you shouldn’t go with the first one you see. Take the time to compare plans, costs, and customer service and you shouldn’t have any problems choosing a web host.

Affordable Linux Hosting Plans

The success of your small-business web site depends a lot on how you choose partners at each step of its development, right form designing your small-business website to hosting it over the net.

When you are at the start of your business, you don’t need a big website and a huge disk space on the server and probably look for companies offering affordable web hosting plans.
Let’s say, you have got your Domain Name (www.yourdomain.com). Its time to check for a good hosting service provider to have your files uploaded in the domain.

If you go for a Linux Based Hosting Plan, make sure you have the following included in your plans:
1. Control Panel - This is the nucleus of your website. In a Control Panel, popularly known as CP, you can literally do anything. The moment you signup for a hosting plan, you must be provided with a CP to manage your web space.

2. POP3 email Ids & Aliases - yourname@yourdomain.com is an example POP3 ID. You must be provided with ample of POP3 email ids depending on your package size for better mail administration.

3. FTP Accounts & Virtual FTP - This is your online folder where you upload your files, delete them, and update them. Make sure you have handful of FTP sub-accounts to provide your clients/users with password protected directories. This is very much useful wherein your clients/users can use the FTP to upload /download files from designated password protected folders.
4. Backup - Most quality hosting service providers take automated backups. While choosing your hosting plan, make sure of this.
5. Web Statistics - Say, your website has been launched and you get NIL Visits or More than 100 Visits per day. Whatever the case may be, visitor analysis plays a key role in the success of your website. You can view the Report using Statistics Application that run in the server backend.

6. Bandwidth - Choose the hosting plan that gives enough bandwidth for your website. Even though you cannot judge at the beginning, as time progresses, you can easily calculate the bandwidth required.

7. PHP & Mysql Support - All the Linux Plans support PHP & Mysql. Make sure you get this free of charge when you buy the hosting plan. Few Hosting Providers may charge extra for MYSQL Database Support & PhpMyAdmin.

8. Webmail & SMTP - Email becomes key part in your life once you launch the website. Check if the hosts provide WEBMAIL (mail.yourdomain.com) to check your mails through a web based interface using Squirrelmail or Horde. Corporate users prefer downloading mails thru Email Clients such as Eudora or Outlook Express. Only if SMTP or IMAP support is enabled you can use this option. Hence check if SMTP support is provided.

9. SPAM ASSASIN - No email user is free from a spam attack. Hence you need to have Spam Filters installed on the server where your website resides.

10. IP - If your website requires SSL Support (https ://), make sure you get a DEDICATED IP. Most of the websites are hosted on shared IPs. Ask your Hosting Provider about the extra charges involved in getting a dedicated IP and SSL Support. Note: For SSL (https ://), you need to buy a Digital Certificate.

These are the basic ingredients of Linux hosting plans
Choosing your hosting provider is perhaps the most crucial element in the success of your website. You need a good hosting partner for hosting your well-designed web pages on the server to be viewed by your potential customers.
The right web partners help you to get good footing on the net from the very start of your small-business, be it in the terms of building your brand image and presence, search engine optimization or providing small business hosting solutions