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How to Pick a Web Hosting Provider (where you install and upload your websites, blogs, products to sell, mp3s, videos, music, articles, pages, etc.)
How do you choose an appropriate hosting provider when there are thousands of hosting companies available online? How do you know what hosting plans and features to compare? It’s like going through the yellow pages trying to find the best sandwiches at restaurants. There are tons of them. That's why these tips will help steer you in the right direction.
Important factors in selecting a web hosting company include:
- The percentage of server uptime. 98% to 99% uptime is the gold standard for server uptime; considerably below that is not acceptable if you want people to find and return to your site, or blog, or store. The higher the downtime of a server, the lower the potential for traffic at your web site. The higher the uptime percentages, the better your chances for surfers seeking, finding and bookmarking your website or blog or store to return again.
Other considerations include:
- How much space is provided for the stored (hosted) files and pages that make up your web site?
- How much monthly bandwidth is in your hosting package? Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer allowed for a visitor to view and use your web site.
With rapdily changing and competitive trends in web hosting services, you want to get as much server space and bandwidth as you can. This will allow for necessary site changes, additions, updates and (hopefully) increased traffic to your site as it becomes more popular with web surfers.
- What about more advanced features such as MySQL databases, Audio or Video streaming, PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion (which some companies sell as an add-on component). Is CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or Perl access provided? If you don't know what any of that is yet, those are features you can learn more about later, but it's always a plus to have the advanced features as part of the standard package. Some hosting providers allow you to add it later if you don't need it now.
- A crucial feature necessary for doing ecommerce or hosting your own store or purchase carts is SSL, or Secure Socket Layer. This encrypts all order and credit card information from the buyer at the site until it reaches you or the order fulfillment provider. An SSL certificate can be purchased from most web hosting providers. Displaying it on your ecommerce web site verifies that your site transactions are safe, secure and ideally, encrypted.
- Is a free domain (or multiple free domains) provided in your hosting package? If you don't already have one, you will need a domain name that reflects the nature of your business, blog, hobby or purpose. For instance, a baseball themed sports site might have an URL (universal resource locator, i.e. domain name) like www.dodgerstats.com.
Sometimes total brand-new website newbies start with a free hosting provider or the lowest cost plan and after mastering the basics upgrade to a more comprehensive package. A free hosting plan will not do if you're serious about having a real website, a blog, or to sell your own or other people's products affiliate marketing.
Make sure you check the fine print however, because some hosting providers require a one-year or multi-month sign-up to get the lowest prices or special offers. Be sure to check our comparison price tables and links for special offers and discount deals that regular web searching will not reveal. Even $10 a month for unlimited hosting is a great deal these days (if you know where to look -- be sure to bookmark this site so you can always come back if you decide to upgrade!)
Another important reminder: when getting your own unique domain name, you'll need to check the availability of the name using a domain name search box as offered by all the domain registrars listed in our comparison tables or domain resources pages. There are many hosting service providers and domain registrars to choose from. If you do your homework, you’ll find some good or even great deals that fit your budget and needs.
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How to Choose a Web Host
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