Top Web Hosting Infos

There are a lot of information about web hosting. Thousands of different companies and plans. It is often difficult to decide what suits you, especially if you do not understand all the terminology related to hosting. So what should you do? Close your eyes and pick a company? Choose one of the cheapest? The average? I will try to help you make your decision in this article, by providing a list of items that you should consider when choosing a hosting company for your small business website. An important tip: avoid the free hosting service for your business website. It would look like if you can not afford to pay for hosting, and customers may think that you are not serious in the business. Leave them for personal sites only.

1) Space

This is measured in MB (Megabytes) or GB (Gigabytes). One gigabyte equals 1024 megabytes, so there is a big difference. Space you will need to depend on the characteristics of your website. Do you have a lot of image files? Images take up more space than their own Web pages. To have an idea of ​​space you will use, increase the size of all your website files. Generally if you are not sure you can start with a plan that covers less space and upgrade later if needed.

2) Programming languages

Whether your site is written only use plain html? Then this item in the checklist is not important. If written in ASP, PHP, Cold Fusion, Perl, Java or other programming languages, you need to check the hosting plan to see if it supports that particular programming language. If you are not sure about the programming language used, ask your programmer about it. If you buy the script or do you use open source one, check the requirements.

3) Web Servers and Operating Systems

Some scripts need to run the Apache web server. Others need IIS running on Windows servers. Verify your script requirements or check with your programmer to see if you need to get Linux or Windows based hosting, and if the things that Web server.

4) Monthly Traffic

This is related to how many people will visit your site per month. Unless you choose a hosting package that weird or your website is very popular, should be sufficient. As with space, you can upgrade later if needed.

5) Database

Does your site use a database? If so, then you need one. Hosting packages may include the MySQL database, PostgreSQL, SQLServer, or Access. Again, verify your script requirements or check with your programmer to see the database you need. It is also nice to have a utility to manage the database, so it appears in the details of hosting plans to see if they offer a tool like phpMyAdmin, for example. phpMyAdmin is a tool commonly used to admin MySQL database.

6) general aspects

This is usually present in most hosting plan today.
-FTP: for uploading files to your server.
POP Email address: Your email account can receive in your email client, not just view them online. Number of pop accounts can vary from plan to plan.
-Webmail interface: to view your email from any computer. Useful if you are traveling, for example.

7) Customer service

It is important that the company’s answer to your question immediately. Note that means they offer you to contact them. Do you have a ticket system to ask questions and inform you about your problems after their customers?

SSL

If you need a secure page, such as online transaction processing, check whether the plan includes this service, or if you can add it to the plan. It is common to pay an additional fee for this service. Keep in mind that you will also need a digital certificate so that the browser does not display a warning when a visitor enters a secure page. A digital certificate verifies your identity. It is issued by a trusted entity. You need to buy and renew it periodically.

9) Front Page extensions

If your website is built using Front Page, then the hosting plan must have this extension for your site to work properly.

10) Parked Domains, Sub Domains and Redirect

If your site will have a sub domain, like sales.your-support.your-domain.com and domain.com, the hosting plan you need has been to allow the creation of this sub domain. If you have more than one domain pointing to the same website, you need to check whether the plan allows you to park additional domains. If you need to redirect a page (Url) to another page, you should be able to create a diversion.

11) Control Panel

Last but not least. A Control Panel is a must if you want to be able to manage your site efficiently.