im starting my first forum,what web hosting,bandwith,space with webhost i need for begining ,and how hard is to switch later to different web host if ball start rolling. thanks in advance
Well I am good at IPB . With my experience i would suddest to 1st start of with a small hosting plan that would cost u 3 - 5$ monthly or so ( I started with a Free Hosting Provider ) . Once you have around 1000 members you can slowly switch to a better hosting provider and then slowly to a VPS and then to a Dedicated Server . It is very easy to switch from one host to other. You would just need Shell access to move the DB and restore it . The files would be same for most of the forum softwares so it wont effect in shifting . Only the DB matters. So if possible try to start with free or if you are planning to invest . go for some 3-5 $ monthly plan ( Many Hosting Companies Provide ). This would even apply for VBulliten and PHPBB
900rr, here is my experience. After reading this, you may decide what to do. When my partners and I were starting out on the net, we really did not appreciate good hosting. We were looking for somewhere around $3-5/mo. As our network of sites grew (now we have over 50) and some of them were already getting a decent amount of traffic, we noticed that even a few hours that our sites were down were costing $$$ in possible earnings. So, we started transferring some of them to a reliable hosting company (around $20/mo. reseller hosting which allowed us to host unlimited sites), but keeping the old hosting as "backup". But then some of the transfers did not work out too well and we had problems, again cost us $$$ in possible revenue. Now we wished we had started with the reliable hosting company in the first place because our savings on hosting costs did not even come close to the possible income that we could have gained had our websites been up 99% of the time. A lot of people doing internet marketing would tell you the same thing but it's your decision. JB P.S. With all this said, I am not implying that all hosting companies who charge $3-5 per month are not reliable. But we tried 3 of them and they ended up a nightmare.
You could go with godaddy.com they are pretty cheap as long as you don't have a large script. Then I would suggest hostgator.com they are pretty good until you start getting a large amount of uniques and they can shut you down. The best dedcated servers is Wiredtree.com . I have a friend that has 11 sites and he is transferring all of them to wiredtree from hostgator and it will cost him 150.00 for all of them, he should not have to transfer again. hope this helps you Byrl
I suggest you start with small hosts. If you start with a 50 MB host that would be enough for about 5000 posts! once you made a successful community you can upgrade either by buying more space or moving to another host. I highly recommend you read this page if you are looking for a host: http://www.promotingspace.net/advertise/viewtopic.php?t=46 There you'll find the best host and one of the cheapest hosts. a various of options are available. for example: 50MB space and 3GB transfer for 15$/YEAR 100MB space and 6GB transfer for 22$/YEAR you'll find packages as larg as 10000MB. Visit that link to find out more. Regards, promotingspace.net
thanks guys. as i said thi is my first project of this kind.One more question: what is best way to bring traffic or promote web site? thanks one more time.
You really do not need a lot of space starting out. All you need to be worried about is the speed and reliability at this point in my opinion. If your forum begins to get a lot of traffic I am sure if you have a reliable host that they will be more than happy to increase your allotted bandwidth/space as needed for a bit more money. 100MB of Disk Space with 2-3 GB of bandwidth should be plenty of resources for your beginning website. As far as switching companies if needed, most companies would be more than happy to help you move your website to gain your business. You would just need to ask their support. -Travis T.