Business Directory and Guide - iBizDir.com

Web hosting providers run the gamut from free hosting (as long as you don’t mind plenty of ads on your site) to expensive, privately owned servers that cost several thousand dollars once hardware and technical support are factored in. If you’re a beginner looking to host a personal site, then free web hosting might work for you, as long as you’re not picky about the types of ads that appear, and you don’t mind having a less prestigious web address.

Six questions to ask about your site

1.    Do you need shared hosting or dedicated hosting? Shared hosting is much less expensive, but can experience crashes and security problems more easily than dedicated hosting. With some types of shared hosting, a glitch on someone else’s site – someone sharing the same server as you – could cause all the sites on that server to crash. If that is a risk you can’t take, then you need to choose either dedicated hosting, where you rent an entire server, or “virtual” dedicated hosting, in which each sector of a rented server is walled off from other sites hosted on the server.

2.    Do you need Windows hosting, or Linux? As you might surmise, Windows applications like Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Database require a Windows based host server. While some applications will work on both Linux and Microsoft platforms, others specifically require one or the other. Hosting providers you are considering should be able to tell you which platform you should use.

3.    How much disk space and bandwidth do you need? Web hosts typically will offer you one to three gigabytes (GB), and this is fine for most sites. You will need more, however, if your site is going to offer downloading of large music, graphics, or video files. If that’s the case, you’ll want more like 10 or 15 GB.

4.    How many parked domains and subdomains do you require? Parked domains are domain names that don’t necessarily host your content, but that point to your main page automatically, or they run ads to earn revenue while linking to your “real” site. Domain parking is an enhanced way of “reserving” a domain name for either developing it later, or to keep others from having it. Done well, they can increase the traffic to your site. Subdomains are just what they sound like, sub-pages of your main page. Many hosting providers offer these two features as standard features in their web hosting packages, but some do not.

5.    Do you need FTP accounts or anonymous FTP accounts? You do if you will have coworkers working off-site on your website. Anonymous FTP allows members of the public to access parts of your directory to which they have been granted permission (generally by registering a user account with your site). If you need anonymous FTP capabilities, you will need to have a dedicated IP address, so make sure your hosting package includes this.

6.    Do you need e-commerce features? You do if you’re hosting an online store. E-commerce capabilities include shopping cart setup and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption so that your site can process credit card transactions.

Ten Things to look for in your Web Host:

1.    An uptime guarantee. Your web host should guarantee uptime of greater than 99.5%. It is even better if you can get a guarantee for greater than 99.8% uptime. This is critical for online commerce sites that must be up and running all the time.

2.    Fast servers. The server hosting your website should connect to the Internet “backbone” with at least a T3 link. When shopping online, consumers will wait about 30 seconds for a site to load without giving up and going elsewhere. You don’t want your hosting service to cost you customers by having a slow connection.

3.    Backups and technical support. Your web hosting company should have comprehensive back-up systems in place, and off site to protect against fire, theft, or weather catastrophe. If your host company says it has technical support 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, find out what they mean specifically by that. It may only mean that someone will answer the phone 24/7/365, not necessarily that someone is onsite all the time to take care of technical issues.

4.    Generous disk space and bandwidth. Most sites only require 1 to 3 GB, and most host services offer this much. But if your site is going to be used for downloading large files, then you could easily need 10 GB, and you need your host to offer at least this much.

5.    CGI script capability, FTP access, and anonymous FTP access. Professional web sites use CGI scripts.  An abbreviation of Common Gateway Interface, these program scripts transfer information between the site and your users. FTP access will allow your designers and programmers access to the guts of the site when they’re at a different location than the office. Anonymous FTP allows users to create accounts on your site.

6.    Extensive script library. It is good for your web hosting provider to have a big collection of scripts. You can use these scripts to add forms, polls, guest books, and other goodies to your site.

7.    Secure Sockets Layer encryption and e-commerce capabilities. Hosts with experience hosting e-commerce sites will be able to get you up and running with shopping cart software and security that will allow credit card transactions on your site.

8.    Web-based administration. This means that you can use a control panel from the web to manage your web site. The control panel should be user friendly, and should provide access to FTP, email, and all other functions you need to operate and control your web site.

9.    Email services. Your host should provide both POP3 and IMAP email accounts. Web based email will allow you and your employees to access their mail even when they’re not in the office. Other email perks to look for are auto responders, mailing lists, antivirus software and spam filters.

10.    Money back guarantee and ability to scale up your hosting package are good “peace of mind” features to have. You need to know that if your hosting needs outgrow the package you start with, that you will be able to upgrade seamlessly without any downtime on your site.

It should not be difficult for you to be able to express your hosting needs in terms of disk space, security, and e-commerce requirements. Don’t just think about your current needs, try to predict what you will need as your site grows more successful. Your chosen web host provider should be able to address these needs, provide strong security, and have technical help ready whenever you need it.