Traffic and Files Traffic (also called data transfer or throughput) is combined size of all files transferred from your web-hosting computer to your customer’s browsers. Depending on traffic that comes to your site, and how much detailing is involved in your html pages, determines how much cost of traffic fees you will be expected to pay. For example, adult sites usually generate much traffic, and because of this, many web site hosting companies have special and inflated pricing plans for these sites to handle number of visitors hitting on sites.

Email Accounts and Auto Responders You should know how many email accounts you can have on same domain name, where you would have one email account that allows customers or visitors to email you, another email account for another department such as billing or accounting, one for each of number of staff you have on hand. Make sure that they give you enough accounts, and what additional fees are to add on new ones if you’re staff base grows or you end up creating new departments within your company. This type of email address will reflect your company, www.companyname.com. It is important that you use your own domain name for all your mail. Do not use another source such as hotmail.com or AOL.com for your business emails. (It looks like you’re a very inexperienced website business owner, doing things half-assed!) Pardon my French. Auto responders are emails that are sent back automatically to user that has a standard response to anyone who queries them. It can be a simple message such as, “We’ve received your email and we are currently looking into your request. You will be notified shortly with assistance.” Sometimes auto responders are used for specific things, such as if you requested a pricing list, documentation, product specifications and photos, you would have a separate email account for each subject, and if a visitor inquired about one of these categories, and auto responder would immediately send them a spec sheet within 5 minutes or less. The possibilities are endless with auto-responders, and it’s a nice quick feature that meets customer’s needs right away. Find out how many auto responders are included in your package, and what additional fees are for more.

CGI Scripts CGI=Common Gateway Interface are small programming scripts that add functionality and interactivity to your web pages. Most hosting companies have libraries of standard CGI scripts you can use for free. Many web hosting companies will not allow you to input your own scripts, so if this is a specific area where you have some scripts that you would like implemented, then you obviously will need to locate a web hosting company that will allow you flexibility to do so.

Monthly and Daily Usage Statistics This is standard service of good web hosting companies. Run clear of any web- hosting companies that aren’t providing this basic service. Although each web hosting company has their own format and styles in how it’s presented, you will have to do some research to find which ones will be most useful and beneficial to your business plan.

Upgrades Make sure that web hosting company can upgrade your plan as your business grows. If you get big, some web hosting companies may not be able to handle your account on their servers. This is important to find out how reliable their servers are and what their capabilities are in regards to how many accounts and/or websites are they handling at any given time.

References and Check those References Get at least 3-5 references of online businesses that are using web hosting company you’re considering and find out exactly how they feel about that particular web hosting company. This will be your saving grace. Don’t skip this process.

You now have a serious decision to make about which web hosting service to go with. With these handy tips and questions in your hands, you should be able to find one that fits nicely within your budget and meets your business needs. It’s important that you find a happy home for your website, and establishing yourself as a real online business entrepreneur is a good place to start. As a matter of fact, it’s only place to start.

Story Description Ensuring that you choose a reliable web-hosting provider should be your number one priority. Selecting right web host provider will be one of most important decisions you will ever make. The wrong host can have a very devastating impact on your business and let’s make sure that you understand everything you need to know hot to go about picking right web host provider so you may never find out hard way.

How do I relate to story? Contacts and talking with people along way have given me opportunity to become acquainted with their horror web hosting provider experiences with some unfortunate consequences. There is so much detail and continuing education revolving around selecting appropriate web host provider that emphasizes how important it is to gather right facts and questions to begin your research.

CGI and PHP -They should already have this enabled on server. If they don't, then they aren't keeping up with latest technology.

Be sure host can upgrade your account as your business grows.

I don't recommend that you get a dedicated server unless you know how to administer one or can pay for a system administrator to handle your. A lot goes into managing a server. When a host offers 'managed' servers, it doesn't necessarily mean that they take care of everything on your server. You are responsible for maintaining it, otherwise average tech fees are $95 per hour.

Find out how many backbone providers they have. A good host would have a minimum of 2, preferably more. That's a very important factor. A few years ago, I was hosted and also was hosting sites from a popular large international hosting provider. All sites went down for two days due to a problem with their backbone. That's when I discovered that they only had ONE backbone provider. That could have been avoided had they another provider. Had I did my homework more thoroughly, I could have avoided a full day of downtime!

In event you go over your bandwidth limit, does site go down or do they just send you a bill with extra costs, accordingly? You need to know this from very start, so you don't get surprised if your site goes down from exceeding your bandwidth limit.

Also, there are hosts advertising 'unlimited bandwidth'. There's no such animal. Even backbone providers couldn't guarantee such a thing. That's impossible. Most hosts who advertise unlimited bandwidth have a disclaimer attached to their sites, usually stating that your site will go down or you'll be charged for extra bandwidth if you exceed 4 gigs.

Do they have daily backup? This is very important! However, be sure to do daily backup of your own sites and any important info to your hard drive for safest measures. Also, download your sites to cd or zips and keep them in a fireproof safe-box along with your other important biz docs.

Word of 'Very Reliable' mouth from someone who has been with a host for at least a year, with minimal or no problems is another good factor. From time to time, problems can occur with best of them. Importantly is efficiency of host, in handling problems.

You can find out if a host is a reseller by using tools at either http://www.Samspade.org or http://www.DNSstuff.com. There's nothing wrong with going with a reseller if they are very competent and manage their business well. Actually, many of cream-of-the-crop resellers don't even advertise their services, since they get plenty of business via word of mouth.

The advantages of going with a very competent reseller are that you get more personable attention and some will even give you extra services. A reseller should tell you up front that they are a reseller.

If your bread and butter is dependent on your online business, you'll go extra miles in doing your homework when shopping for a host, less you don't mind losing business and/or moving your sites from host to host.