Sunday, 30 June 2013

Cheap Hosting : Some Practical Selection Criteria

By Adam Metzga


A great majority of businesses nowadays require the use of a website to stay competitive and to extend their "reach" in terms of available market. Business hosting for your company website will provide a wide array of tools and services at your disposal and could be adapted for your business site, online community, online store or application. Having your own website gives you the much needed leverage to propel your business to new heights. It also gives your business the advantage of being visible to potential clients even while you sleep!

Your choice of a business hosting company is crucial and may hold the key to a more successful business venture. You have to consider a multitude of factors before finally committing yourself to the services of a business hosting company.

One factor is how much space and bandwidth your webhost can provide you, and to ensure that you are getting your needs met. For the most part, you need to consider provisions for expansion because you always expect your business to grow away from the basic design. Usually an unlimited bandwidth is the one big thing that is being offered. This means that your site can be accessed by an unlimited number of people without it being bogged down by high traffic loads. However, you have to examine the offer since many unlimited bandwidth sites tend to impose fines, or worse, shutdown once you integrate audio and video into your site.

Another factor that you need to consider when choosing the appropriate web hosting for your business is the availability of the tools that would suit your business needs. Business hosting services typically integrate tools such as site metrics, site creation software, free shopping carts, free mailing list software, SSL certificates, unlimited databases, marketing tools, among others. In fact, such tools have become the standards for a good business hosting service. You just have to make sure that the tools that go with the hosting plan of your choice are compatible with the ones that you have been using in running your business.

The next thing that you have to look into is the kind and quality of technical support being offered by the webhost. Your business hosting company must have fast and friendly 24x7 helpdesk support. Some even have a 24x7 email support which gives immediate answers to your simple queries. And in case you would like to speak to a real person over the phone, there are hosting companies who also provide friendly phone support. It is very important that your webhost be readily available and reliable in case you run into some technical difficulties. Likewise, it is imperative that the hosting plan of your choice offers an uptime warranty, money back guarantee, and price freeze so that the price you pay when you sign up would also be the price when you renew.

Once you have made up your mind and have chosen to avail the services of a business hosting company, you still have two basic options to consider:

You will have to decide whether you would request the business hosting company to build and set up the website for you based on your specifications or you want to do it on your own starting from scratch. If you opt for the former, you would have to upload your website onto the server from your computer. However, business hosting companies usually offer guidance and instructions in this regard and they would provide you with the basics to ensure the smooth operation of your website. They also have online manuals that would be handy for this purpose. On the other hand, if you decide to go for the latter, you may have to hire the services of a website designer prior to choosing your business hosting company. This option gives you the advantage of identifying the exact tools and services that you would look for in a business hosting plan.

There is no shortage of business hosting companies out there to get your website up and running on the internet. It is a matter of choosing which one would best serve your interest and would work wonders for you and your business.




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