Choosing a Web Hosting Service
In some forums I use to read, I saw many people asking what web hosting service or what web hosting company to choose.
There are some things to consider when you choose a web host, and I’ll list below some of them.
Web space – usually, the offers vary from 5 MB to unlimited space. You must know what is the total size of your files, and to consider that your site may grow.
Bandwidth – it is difficult to calculate the amount of bandwidth you will need as it is a factor of the size of the pages downloaded from your site and the amount of traffic visiting the site.
My advice regarding the web space and bandwidth is to make some approximations, to choose an account which covers your first needs, then, if you notice that your site is growing, you can upgrade pretty easy to a bigger account.
Software supported – depending on your needs, you must check what software does the web hosting support, like PHP, ASP, MySQL, MSSQL… Also, a plus for a web host is Fantastico, a soft from which you can install a lot of scripts in just 2-3 steps.
Control panel – the most popular control panels are Cpanel and Plesk. Personally, I like Cpanel, which only runs on Linux and which contains find more features than Plesk. Most beginners and other users would be more suited to Cpanel, as it runs on the cheaper platform of Linux.
Technical support – before you choose a web host, you can check their technical support; you can send them some emails, you can chat live or you can call them on phone and check how fast they answer, how friendly they are and what degree of technical knowledge the operators have.
Now, these are some important things to look for when you want to choose a web host. Of course, you may want to look for extra features, depending on what your business is. If you reach a web host but you are not sure about it, you can check these two forums: Web Host Directory and Web Hosting Talk, where you can find many opinions about various web hosting companies and services.
69 comments October 20th, 2008
