The Basic Facts About Business Web Hosting0
There are a number of hosting options, from free to dedicated servers. Lets spend a few moments and look over the options.
Free Hosting
The first and not recommended is free hosting. Remember what they say, there is nothing free. Well its the truth about this also.
Your webpage on a free hosting server may have banner ads from companies that may not compliment your business or page theme.
Another common problem is the third level domain (http://yourpagename/theirdomain.com) Now that doesn’t look professional as a business. Would you share your business name with some other company on a business card? Im sure that would be out of the question.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting for the small business is the best way to go. Shared hosting has the server divided up with other websites allowing a lower cost for hosting. In most cases you are allowed more than enough disk space (Usually Between 100-500 Meg) and data transfer per month. The rule of thumb for small business is a minimum of 100 Meg of disk space and 1 gig of transfer.
Dedicated Servers
The big boy on the block and the most expensive! Dedicated servers are used usually by medium and large size companies. The advantage to this form of hosting is complete control with the most disk space and the largest amount of transfer (Most companies selling dedicated servers allow a minimum of 500 gigs of transfer a month). Keep in mind that this requires a lot of technical ability; most companies hire a network administrator to oversee this form of hosting.
As you can see there are many options based on size and needs of your business. Hopefully you are a little more aware of choices out there now and will make the right choice on one that best suits your companies needs.
Copyright 2005 Terry Henry ( Henry Marketing and Development), all rights reserved
|
About The Author Terry Henry is operations manager for Henry Marketing and Development (www.hendev.com) and the PowerZone Hosting Group (www.powerzonehosting.com) Terry can be reached at terry@hendev.com.Should You Renew With Your Current Host? - Your Website In The Year 2005Philip Wylie Sometime during this year the chances are you’re going to have to renew your hosting package. Can you be sure youre still getting the best deal for your site? Hosting companies, as businesses, spring up all the time. This is because they are so easy to set up. Nowadays you can become a reseller for free. Starting a proper hosting company with your own server - simply put - involves buying a computer, an internet connection and some potentially expensive software. Due to this relatively easy set up many companies go bust when they dont make ends meet. So look around for potential companies. One of the best ways of doing this is by searching for hosting reviews. Hopefully what you find are reviews from the companys clients, as their opinions could be more important to you than the companys own advertising. Your site requirements will probably have increased since you first bought hosting, so take this into account when browsing. If you own more than one website you may want to look into packages that allow you to share the quoted resources between multiple domains and websites. Pricing is obviously very important - many hosts offer discounted monthly rates when you sign into a contract, forcing you to remain with them for a certain number of months or even years. This does offer good value but it raises the question - will the company still exist in a few years? It is also important to find out if the monthly price/rates will change if they raise or lower their prices. You dont want to lock yourself into anything thinking you’re paying a fixed price. Read the companys information page to see how long they have been trading as this will give you a rough idea of whether or not they are reliable. Moving your website to a new provider can be a daunting task. Just moving files can be awkward, especially if your website is powered by a database. An excellent way of moving your whole site including databases, email accounts and other settings is by creating a backup from inside your control panel. Ask your new host if they will unpack the backup file onto your new website. This may only fully work if your previous host and new host use the same control panel software. But you can always ask beforehand.
|