Do You Know What to Keep in Mind When Choosing a Host?
Aug 10th, 2007 by Do
‘Hosting’ is a service provided by a company in which they store your website’s files on their server. A ’server’ is really just a computer that stores information and makes it available over the internet. Without hosting, your website cannot be viewed by anyone. Your webmaster will upload or send your site’s files to your host’s server (computer). Now, when you type in www.yoursite.com, it will show up. If you don’t have hosting, typing in www.yoursite.com will just take you to an error page or a temporary page that usually says something like “This website coming soon.”
There are many different hosting companies and many different costs depending upon your needs and the hosting company you choose. As far as I’m concerned, free hosting is out of the question for a business website. The larger your site, the more space it will take on a server and the higher the cost for hosting. Most small business sites fall within the low end of hosting fees unless you have a shopping cart. Shopping cart hosting fees are often around $35+ a month, whereas, the low end of regular hosting fees may be anything between $4 and $20. Some companies offer lower cost hosting if you purchase a year at a time. I like to save money this way and don’t like to deal with monthly or quarterly billing if I can avoid it. Keeping things simple makes life easier.
When choosing a hosting company, pick someone who is easily reachable and responsive to questions. Some people prefer local companies for better customer service and others prefer larger ones in different locations with less chance of going out of business. I suggest asking around and getting recommendations from people you know. Chances are, they all have a different story to tell and it’s helpful to know both the good and the bad.
Personally, I have used both local and big name companies and prefer the local ones myself. Locally, I can build a relationship and this can help serve me and my client far better than being one of hundreds of thousands of clients to a big company. Now, I don’t suggest using Joe Bob’s Hosting who just started 3 months ago. Local doesn’t mean ‘fly by night’ and a good company and service history is very important. Do your research.
The bottom line is that there is not ‘right’ answer when it comes to hosting. Everyone has different criteria and needs. Perhaps Company A specializes in a particular software you’ll be using on your site. This might make them an excellent option. Company B may provide hosting to more veterinarians than any other host and since you’re a veterinarian, this makes good sense. They know your field and your needs. As in all things, it’s a good idea to do a little checking to see where your best options lie as you may end up with an even better deal than you’d hoped.
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