So you want to
have website? Well one of the first things you should know is that you will
need a Web hosting provider. In fact one of the most important decisions for
the success of your online venture will be the choice of web hosting provider.
It can make or break your newborn Internet venture. No Internet business can
make it, if it is constantly down or lacks support from the hosting company.
You may say to
yourself, well what’s the problem? The problem is that new Webmasters don’t
usually know what to look for when choosing a web hosting company. What do you
need to know to make the correct decision? Quality is the ultimate key however,
and as a recent survey points out, customers want professional customer service
and they are willing to shop around until they find it.
This is what you
need to take into consideration when shopping for a web hosting company:
- Customer Support
- Web Hosting Technical Support
- Bandwidth Capacity – Speed of Traffic
- Data Center.
- Web Hosting Administration
- Web Hosting Security
- Web Hosting Price
Customer Support
A good web
hosting company should have an online FAQ (frequently asked questions), tips,
and other related material. Will (and can) they help you with a problem on your
site? Can they point you to a web designer with the necessary expertise?
Web Hosting Technical Support
Probably the
most important aspect if you don’t have the technical knowledge. Are they
automated, or do they need to go and change settings manually? How long before
changes are effected? Is their tech support available constantly? There are
many companies that have over extended themselves and can't offer sufficient
support. Ask for references and then check them!
Bandwidth Capacity – Speed of traffic
What type of
connection line feeds the computer that hosts your website? Does it sit on a
LAN with a 100Mbps or even 1,000Mbps connection, or is it connected to
someone’s computer through a 128Kbps Diginet line? The higher the number the
faster your website will be served to your potential client. There are two sure
ways to indirectly find out about the available bandwidth. If you are offered
an “unlimited” traffic option (also called un-metered), chances are the web
hosting company is sitting on a small connection to the Internet. More often
then not a maximum of 384kbps, with the bigger companies offering 1Mbps
connection. The better option will be to use a company that offers a limited
(or metered) traffic. Traffic depends on the size of your site and the number
of hits you generate. This is a better option because you would normally sit on
an Internet “backbone” with access speeds of up to 100Mbps or more. This means
that when your website is busy it can handle all the traffic it gets and
doesn’t slow down or deny access to visitors. If we liken this to the real
world, would you rather have a shop in a shopping mall that can only contain a
limited number of people, or would you rather have a shop that “expands” in
size whenever necessary? The downside of course is that you will be charged
more whenever you exceed the limit, but then again, the more you pay the busier
your website.
Data Center
Where does the
Web hosting company keep their servers? What is the security in the complex?
What kind of equipment is used in case of emergencies, power failures, fire
etc. Is access to the server area limited, what kind of access controls is
used? Make sure that your website has the best secured location with the best
facilities.
Web Hosting Administration
You will need to
manage your site, make changes, upload new files, collect orders, retrieve data
from forms, retrieve mail, get statistics, and carry out a multitude of
everyday tasks to your site. How easy to operate and secure is the software
you'll be using to do these things? Do they offer a web interface control
panel?
Web Hosting Security
What security
features does your web hosting service offer? A lot of Web hosting companies state
they are secure, but a close examination show their claims are far from
reality. Dot they truly protect your data from the increasing threat of
hackers?
Web Hosting Price
A high price tag
does not necessarily mean you are getting a good deal, and cheaper is not always
better. There are numerous small companies offering incredible prices. Be
cautious of "specials" that sound too good to be true. Often these
"great deal" companies can't really live up to their promises. Be
certain that your web hosting company has a long history of good service,
support, and connections. Make a point to find out who is prepared to partner
up with them.
Detailed overview to help you make the
right decision
Web hosting companies offer various types
of accounts. Here are some types of accounts you will possibly be presented
with and what your web address could look like.
Directory hosting or Non-Virtual Account
With this type
of hosting you get a subdirectory with the company. Something like http:///www.hostingcompanyname.com/yourcompanyname.
Usually there is not much point in getting this type of account, as it's the
same you may have with your Service Provider. If you decide to change a hosting
company the URL of your site will have to change.
Sub-domain
This isn't much
better than the above package. You will be setup with a sub-domain of the
hosting company. It will look something like http://yourcompanyname.hostingcompanyname.com
Virtual Domain
This is the best
option in most cases. You get your own domain name, something like http://www.yourcompanyname.com.
Some hosting companies will allow you to have various sub-domains of your
own. In any case, If they know what they are doing http://yourcompanyname.com
should work just as well. Try it out.
Dedicated Servers
Some Web hosting
companies can also set up a server for your own use. This is expensive, and not
always needed unless you have specialized software that needs to be installed
on the server. Try and see if the Web hosting company will install that
software for you on their virtual server as you are better off getting a
virtual domain and switching to a dedicated server when you need one.
For most
businesses the virtual domain is the right solution. You get your own domain
name, it works properly, and can be very reasonably prices from as little as R50
a month, though in most cases expect to pay between R100 – R400.
You should know
that unless you have your own domain name (on a virtual server or a dedicated
server) you would not have some essential services, specifically E-mail and FTP
site.
Costs and features
You should start
by obtaining the basic costs and features. What is the monthly cost, and what
is the setup fee? (If any) What is their policy about domain registrations?
Will they charge you extra to register a domain? Will they register it inyour
name or theirs? You should know that it's better, if possible, to register a
domain yourself and use your name, or an employee's name, for each of the
contacts; this way, you keep full control over the domain, and any changes
would have to be authorized by you.
Do you have to
sign a contract or provide guarantees? Is there an upfront fee? Can you pay on
a month to month basis? Will you get a discount for paying a year in advance?
Get all the
details of the package in advance. What is the disk space you get, can you add
more and how much will it cost? Do they have hit and data-transfer charges.
Some hosts may charge you for the number of hits -- the number of times
visitors transfer one of your pages to their browsers. Most companies will charge
for the amount of data transferred out of your website. Either way, the busier
your site, the more money you will be charged under these pricing schedules.
Some hosts have no limit, which is good but more often than not this means they
over-load the server with traffic hungry sites, which will ultimately result is
bringing the server down together with your web site.
If you want to
direct multiple domain names to one website (you may have one domain name for
your company and another for a product you're promoting) find out how much it
will cost for the extra domain names. And consider how you want this handled:
Do you want all the domains pointing to the same place, or different
directories for each domain?
E-Mail Accounts and Services
A web hosting
company should, without a shadow of a doubt, give you an e-mail account.
Although you can use one company for a domain’s website and another for the same
domain's e-mail it is not recommended, as if and when problems will arise a
finger pointing game will ensue and you will end up with no e-mail. So e-mail
should come with your Web hosting account. But what exactly do you want?
You should have
a catchall email account that enables you to receive all e-mail not directed to
a specific mail account. You should also be able to set up multiple pop accounts,
so that one employee can access all the mail to, for example orders@, while
another employee gets all the mail directed to info@ and yet another can receive
mail to sales@. Also, how long does it take to setup additional e-mail
accounts? Do they do it for you or can you do it yourself?
Some companies
add a fee to the e-mail accounts even though it's really part of a basic Web hosting
package. Find out how much your Web hosting company will charge for extra
accounts if you're likely to need them.
Other features
that you should have available to you are e-mail forwarding (aliases) and
autoresponders. While most companies will allow you to forward your e-mails to
another account, so you can pick up your mail from your M-web account, for
instance. Find out how many forwarding accounts you can have and what they'll
cost. Also find out, and this is very important, how difficult it is to set up
forwarding. Some hosts expect you to be able to know how to program scripts,
while others provide an easy-to-use form.
Autoresponders are
very useful if used correctly, so inquire whether you get any and if there is a
charge for using it. Autoresponders allow you to set up E-mail accounts that
automatically send pre-written messages to anyone who sends an E-mails to the
accounts. This is a wonderful way to send out sales follow ups, product specification,
further info etc.
FTP Access
Doesn’t matter
what anyone tells you. You will certainly need FTP account access to your
website. You will need to upload your website via FTP and also send updates. If
your FTP access time limited ir do you have a 24/7 FTP access?
Programs and Utilities
You shouldn't even
think of setting up an account with a web hosting company that doesn’t allow
CGI scripts to be executed. Even if you don't know right now why you might want
to use CGI, you will eventually find the need. CGI allows you to set up
feedback forms and shopping-cart systems, for instance.
You may also want to password-protect areas
of your website. Maybe you will want to set up a private area for employees or
association members. Some hosting companies make this easy, while others will
do it for a price (if you're using Microsoft FrontPage at a site with the
server extensions installed, you can do it from within FrontPage). There are
also CGI programs that can password-protect directories.
Who's Behind the Web Hosting Company
A hosting
company can be anywhere in the world, but consider this: How are you going to
contact technical support? It's a bad idea to use a company that responds only
to e-mail. In fact, make an effort to see if they list a contactable telephone
number on their site – you’ll be surprised at how many don’t provide telephone
numbers. There will almost certainly come a time when you really want to talk
with someone, preferably on a free call, so the company should either be close
to you or have an 0860 number. On the other hand, it's often difficult to find
a hosting company that has all the features you want, so you might compromise:
If you find a great hosting company, you might accept having to make long
distance calls. But you definitely don’t want to make international calls into
a different time zone.
If you like what
you see so far, look into the company. Ask for references, and check them! (Tip:
There's no such thing as a perfect hosting company!) Look at a variety of
hosted sites, and see how quickly they load (though remember that slow downloads
may be caused by your ISP or your connection, not by the website). And finally take
a good look at the hosting company's website. If it looks shoddy and is hard to
use, it is probably an indication that the company doesn't have its act
together.
This article was
compiled by Amir Sachs. Amir has
been involved in the computer industry for the last 22 years, and has taken to
using the net since the middle of 1995. Amir has had his own Web hosting
company www.digitalhost.co.za since
early 2000.
