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Choosing a Host for your Website

So you’ve decided to move forward and get a website for your business. Maybe you’ve even hired a website designer. Now you need to focus on one of the most important elements to a successful website: a host.

One thing that I find that my clients get hung up on is finding someone local to them. It’s nice to support local business but, the beauty of the Internet is that your host can be anywhere in the world! What’s important is that you find the host that fits best with your needs.

So, what should you look for in a host? Well, a lot of that depends on your site but here are some basics:

Up Time:

Does the host you are looking at have an uptime guarantee? All hosts have downtime for one reason or another. You want to ask when they run their maintenance cycles. If you are a business website and they have slow time or down time during your prime business week you want to choose another host. There are always unforeseen circumstances, does your host have a back up server? What about a UPS (uninterrupted power supply)? If the host doesn’t meet their obligations, how will they compensate you?

Technical Support:

What level of tech support do they offer? Most hosts have different levels of technical support depending on which hosting package you purchase. Look for companies that offer phone support in the evenings and on weekends. These are the companies that understand that “glitches” happen after normal business hours and are more likely to be responsive to your requests.

Size—it does matter!

Now the amount of space you need really depends on the site that you’re building. But, generally speaking, if you have a simple brochure site with up to 20 pages, you don’t need more than 10MB of storage. If you are getting into having a large site with lots of graphics or pdfs, or maybe a shopping cart, then you need more space. Don’t buy the largest package available just to be “safe” talk to your designer, they can help you determine the size of your site. Remember, you can always start small then upgrade your package as your site expands.

Along with the size of the storage space provided you also need to look at the bandwidth (also called data transfer) offered. Again, the larger your site, the more bandwidth you will require each month. Also, find out if you can purchase extra bandwidth every month from your host. Some hosts will shut down your site if you reach your bandwidth quota for the month until they get confirmation from you that you will pay the extra amount. So it is well worth it if your site becomes popular to opt into the extra bandwidth payment per month.

Email Accounts:

Small businesses generally do not require many actual email accounts (POP3 accounts). Usually 3-5 POP3 accounts will suffice. So don’t feel pressured to purchase a package with 25 email accounts if you are a small business.

What is handy though is having unlimited email aliases. This allows you to set up accounts that feed into your main email address such as info@yourdomain.com which sends emails to you@yourdomain.com. The beauty of this is that you can set up as many of these aliases as you want and only have to check one email account and your customers can’t tell the difference between these accounts!

Price:

As you can imagine, price depends on what package you choose. But keep a few things in mind: usually prices which are displayed are in US dollars (unless stated otherwise) so take the exchange rate into account; some hosts will offer discounts off their monthly prices if you pay for an extended period up front; watch out for set up fees—some hosts will have a low monthly fee but charge you large sums to set up your site on their server.

Finding a good reputable host is extremely important to the success of your business, so ask people you know for referrals and recommendations, nothing gives you better insight to how good or bad a service really is than word-of-mouth. You can also check out sites like tophosts.com to get leads on some of the best hosts on the Internet.

If you wish to contribute an article to our site, please contact us at info@infoclear.ca. If you want to use our articles on your site, please do. All we ask is that you provide a link back to InfoClear.ca

InfoClear Internet Consulting
(519) 925-3977
1-866-517-INFO (4636)
info@infoclear.ca

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Home > Articles > Choosing A Host
	Choosing a Host for your Website
Custom Designs Website Redesign Website Maintenance About Us Testimonials FAQ Articles	So you’ve decided to move forward and get a website for your business. Maybe you’ve even hired a website designer. Now you need to focus on one of the most important elements to a successful website: a host. One thing that I find that my clients get hung up on is finding someone local to them. It’s nice to support local business but, the beauty of the Internet is that your host can be anywhere in the world! What’s important is that you find the host that fits best with your needs. So, what should you look for in a host? Well, a lot of that depends on your site but here are some basics: Up Time: Does the host you are looking at have an uptime guarantee? All hosts have downtime for one reason or another. You want to ask when they run their maintenance cycles. If you are a business website and they have slow time or down time during your prime business week you want to choose another host. There are always unforeseen circumstances, does your host have a back up server? What about a UPS (uninterrupted power supply)? If the host doesn’t meet their obligations, how will they compensate you? Technical Support: What level of tech support do they offer? Most hosts have different levels of technical support depending on which hosting package you purchase. Look for companies that offer phone support in the evenings and on weekends. These are the companies that understand that “glitches” happen after normal business hours and are more likely to be responsive to your requests. Size—it does matter! Now the amount of space you need really depends on the site that you’re building. But, generally speaking, if you have a simple brochure site with up to 20 pages, you don’t need more than 10MB of storage. If you are getting into having a large site with lots of graphics or pdfs, or maybe a shopping cart, then you need more space. Don’t buy the largest package available just to be “safe” talk to your designer, they can help you determine the size of your site. Remember, you can always start small then upgrade your package as your site expands. Along with the size of the storage space provided you also need to look at the bandwidth (also called data transfer) offered. Again, the larger your site, the more bandwidth you will require each month. Also, find out if you can purchase extra bandwidth every month from your host. Some hosts will shut down your site if you reach your bandwidth quota for the month until they get confirmation from you that you will pay the extra amount. So it is well worth it if your site becomes popular to opt into the extra bandwidth payment per month. Email Accounts: Small businesses generally do not require many actual email accounts (POP3 accounts). Usually 3-5 POP3 accounts will suffice. So don’t feel pressured to purchase a package with 25 email accounts if you are a small business. What is handy though is having unlimited email aliases. This allows you to set up accounts that feed into your main email address such as info@yourdomain.com which sends emails to you@yourdomain.com. The beauty of this is that you can set up as many of these aliases as you want and only have to check one email account and your customers can’t tell the difference between these accounts! Price: As you can imagine, price depends on what package you choose. But keep a few things in mind: usually prices which are displayed are in US dollars (unless stated otherwise) so take the exchange rate into account; some hosts will offer discounts off their monthly prices if you pay for an extended period up front; watch out for set up fees—some hosts will have a low monthly fee but charge you large sums to set up your site on their server. Finding a good reputable host is extremely important to the success of your business, so ask people you know for referrals and recommendations, nothing gives you better insight to how good or bad a service really is than word-of-mouth. You can also check out sites like tophosts.com to get leads on some of the best hosts on the Internet. If you wish to contribute an article to our site, please contact us at info@infoclear.ca. If you want to use our articles on your site, please do. All we ask is that you provide a link back to InfoClear.ca
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