What to Look for in a Web Host

When shopping for a web host, it’s important to know what your needs and goals are for the website(s) or domain(s) you’re going to be working on. For instance, if the website is simply informational and for entertainment purposes, a shared web hosting service might be best. This keeps your costs lower. If there is no intent on turning any sort of a profit with your site, again, shared hosting is a good option. A virtual private server is also good in this case, since it allows the website to grow over time, giving it a little bit of “wiggle room.”

Ecommerce websites that produce a lot of sales might need something larger such as a dedicated server. This can be costly, however, so again, it’s very important to know what the goals are for the website, and how they will be achieved through the website’s functions so that you will be able to support the higher costs of dedicated servers. High traffic websites usually need a dedicated server just to support the number of views or hits it receives, much less the amount of information being communicated to the server if there are monetary transactions being made or forms being completed by people.

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Of course, the type of website is not the only factor in determining which type of web host you’ll want to use. There are other specifics that should be considered. First, think about the amount of space you will be allotted. For example, regular websites use about 5MB of space, and this is generally enough to support the basic format of a site online. However, if you need more bandwidth and web space, you may need much more. Photos and video clips tend to take up more space, as do interactive features. Remember to keep in mind that plenty of space is great, but stability should take precedence. If your provider is down often, you can lose business and hits to your website, so keep this in mind.

Another important factor when deciding on a web hosting plan or company is the number of domains that you will be allowed to have. For example, if you sell shoes but you want to do so at shoes.com and coolshoes.com, you’ll need to make sure the hosting provider allows multiple domain names. It’s very important to register these domains ahead of time before you pay for a “reserved spot”, otherwise you might end up paying for something you’re not allowed to use. The more domain names you can have, the more exposure you’ll get. Promoting multiple sites gets more visitors and increases the odds of traffic to your website. Many web hosting companies charge a per-domain name charge each month, while some may charge a flat fee for each, so do your homework.

When choosing domains, remember that web hosting plans usually offer the buyer a set amount of space, and then it’s up to the webmaster to decide how much space to allocate to each domain. For example, if you have 500MB of space and domains, you can opt to designate 100MB of space to each, or split them up in other ways. FTP, or file transfer protocol, is another factor to consider when looking for a web host. Essentially, the FTP transfers files and information via the Internet and allows the data to communicate to and from the server. There are many versions of FTP server software available, and each has different features such as variations in licensing and platforms (i.e. Windows vs. Mac). Make sure the web hosting plan you choose will work with the FTP software you end up using, or else there will be problems integrating.

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As a Webmaster, it’s very important to be able to have as much control as possible over the operation of your site. Regardless of whom you choose for the web hosting, the ability to manipulate your site and make changes or adaptations when needed is essential. cPanel is an excellent choice when it comes to web hosting control panels. This program allows the web designers to log in and make changes quickly and easily, all while communicating effectively to the web hosting server you choose. cPanel runs on the Linux, CentOS, FreeBSD, and Windows Server 2008 platforms, giving users a fairly wide range of choices of server platforms to choose from.

If cPanel is something you want to use, it’s absolutely essential that the web hosting plan you choose is compatible. Otherwise, you will not have the ability to control your site through this interface. Server administration is very important, so it is definitely a feature that brings more options to the table when it comes to making any changes or upgrades to your website. There are some other very important factors to consider when shopping for a web hosting choice other than the price alone. Don’t bank on a cheap provider to give the best service; sometimes, a little extra cost can go a long way in making sure you get the most stable server available.

Stay tuned for part 2 of ‘What to look for in a web host’ coming soon.

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