Web hosting is something that each webmaster and business owner is interested in and knowing what to look for in a web hosting company is essential. The power of the Internet has brought many businesses the power which was once only a dream. To determine your needs, it is important to know what to look for in a web hosting company and the following information will help you to familiarize yourself with the process. What to look for in a web hosting company: The first thing is you want a fast and reliable operating system. Monitoring of the site should be twenty-four hours a day and the uptime of the provider should be nearly 100%. The technology of the web hosting company will also be important as it will need to support the type of website you intend to build. If your website will be using a content management system or its application will need a specific back end technology such as database or scripting then you will need to know that the web hosting company you are interested in can support it. The type of hosting will also be important. There are different types such as dedicated or shared hosting. The server is the difference between these two types of hosting. Dedicated hosting only allows one website or application on the server while the shared shares the server with multiple web users accounts. Hardware is also a consideration and will play a role in what the company is able to offer you. For webmasters and advertisers that have a sophisticated site, it will require sophisticated hardware on the part of the hosting company to host your site. Amount of space the company is offering is also something you will need to determine to ensure that you are purchasing enough space to meet your needs. If you want to grow your site eventually then you should take that into consideration as well. Most sites use less than 5MB of web space. However, the more pages your site has, the more space it will need. FTP access is also something that you will want to know about. This is an online builder which allows you to build your page. File type and size limitation are also another thing to look at as some hosting companies have restriction. Reliability and speed of access is also extremely important. Price is also a consideration and the good news here is that there is a great amount of competition among providers. Typically, the more costly the package the more the company is offering their clients in terms of bandwidth and space. You will find that most companies allow you to pay monthly, annually, bi-annually and quarterly. Lastly, customer service is definitely something that you want to consider. When you have decided on a company, contact their customer service department with questions. She how they respond. Whether you must communicate through email or if they have a live assistant to support you. Customer service should be provided 24 hours a day. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6540007
We would suggest individuals understand their traffic capabilities before opting for a shared server. There are thousands upon thousands of sites on one server. If you start receiving tons of traffic your going to have extremely slow load times. This translates into potential buyers leaving your site and going elsewhere. We would recommend passing on the "great deal" and going with a more expensive plan. This will alleviate some of these potential issues, you can stay on a shared server, and your load times won't cost you money.
Keep in mind you get what you pay for. You want to make sure your sites are running and not gone overnight, then pay alittle extra for a reliable provider.
Thanks for the great advice, I am actually looking to switch soon. Is there a way to make sure your current web hosting company doesnt just steal all your information? Thanks Jim