What To Look For In A Web HostWritten by Tim Frady
The first questions you have to ask yourself are: how much space and bandwidth do I need; do I want one site or several sites; how much will I have to spend; am I going to use an SQL database; how much uptime does web host offer; does this site host spammy adult sites; what extras are offered; are there script limitations; do they provide a control panel; and if my site gets too big, what is next level and how much does it cost? Let's take bandwidth for instance. If you are starting a brand new site and don't have a lot of other sites to link to it, which, by way, is becoming increasingly less efficient due to changing search engine rules, it may take over a year to build any real traffic to even worry about this point. But, with bandwidth being a lot more reasonable lately, why not go ahead and pay 6-10 dollars a month for 1 - 4 gigabytes currently available. After all, your goal is to grow right? So get something a few sizes too big and grow into it. Don't think that you necessarily have to pay a lot of money to get a good web host. You could just as easily spend 20 dollars or more a month and have terrible uptime and any number of hassles. Now if your site is going to be filled with images, especially wallpaper size images, then get as much bandwidth as your budget will allow. If you plan on having a growing site and it becomes even moderately popular, you'll need all bandwidth traffic allowable you can get. Watch out for hosts that claim they have unmetered bandwidth. Read carefully, especially if we're talking about a host that charges below 5 dollars a month. It's better to have a clear number that you can keep track of in your control panel. You don't won't them to come up and give you a generic excuse like "Your site is using an unfair amount of system resources or traffic as compared to our other customers so therefore we have to shut you down". Please note that system resources and bandwidth are two different issues when dealing with a web host. For instance a script that locks up and has a bug could cause a server to use a great deal of system resources that could cause problems between you and your web host if you are on a shared account versus a dedicated server. So do your research on type of script you want to run. Bandwidth is amount of traffic going out from your site including your images, clips, pages, etc. As far as images, sounds, and clips this is easily monitored in your control panel as long as you have a clear number of what you are allowed to use. Unmetered bandwidth could mean anything and really is worthless in long run if you plan on getting a lot of traffic sometime in future. And why wouldn't you want to get as much traffic as possible for your site?
| | Multiple Site Hosting - Stop paying more than what's necessaryWritten by Brian Thorn
If you are looking for multiple site hosting in a web host package, you have plenty of options. There are literally dozens of web hosting companies that advertise multiple site hosting options. But what can you expect from these companies and what is it likely to cost? The cost will vary greatly, but there are lots of web hosts that advertise a web hosting package for less than $10 per month. What to expect from a web host depends largely on host. Services, like price, will vary. Your specific needs will determine what you should expect from a web host service.If one of your important requirements is multiple site hosting in a web host package, you should first determine exactly what you expect company to provide. It's probably a fairly simple matter to have a single company sell you a web host package for each of websites you plan to maintain. In some cases, you might find that a company offers discounts for having more than one website package. In some cases, finding a company that can offer multiple site hosting in a web host package means that you want to maintain several websites on a single account. Some companies offer to provide that service at no additional charge. Others have a "per website" rate and will charge extra for each website maintained. You might want to look for a web host package that offers a specific amount of space for a specific price, and that price remains fixed for that amount of space even if multiple websites are established within set criteria.
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