Web Hosting Provider "Techinical Issues You Ought to Know"
Be careful when selecting a web hosting provider that has not had ample time to prove their capabilities in maintaining quality service by investing in superior tools.
Its good to make sure that the web hosting provider you choose has a track record and is of sufficient size to offer some assurance that it will be around for the long haul.
Don’t open an account to only receive an e-mail three months later from your service provider regretting the inconveniency caused to you for them having to shut down due to unavoidable circumstances.
Here is a simple clip that will help you to start relating the terms and terminologies you are about to read below to normal life situation.
Here is my Do List
Disk space and the amount of bandwidth. Do you want to build a large website? Then the more disk space you will be provided by your web host the better.
It’s good to plan and project how much disk you will need in the next say six months or one to two years down the line. When starting out a smaller disk space can serve you for the meantime.
On the other hand if your site has lots of graphics or multimedia files consider starting out with a hosting service that will allocate you a larger disk space.
Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that is transferred to and from your website. The more visitors you have the more the bandwidth you will need in order to display your website to all the visitors you expect to get.
Some hosting companies will offer unlimited bandwidth while other hosting companies will limit your bandwidth.Read the fine print carefully because there might be a catch to "that great deal you think you got."
Often the terms of service restricts the kind of data you transfer. For example you may not be allowed to use audio or video on your website.
Speed level. Remember no one wants to visit a website that loads slowly especially when it comes to hosting video and pictures and when download files or streaming video. Try accessing some Web sites hosted by any service that you're considering and see how fast they are.
Software compatibility. You will need to use an assorted set of tools when designing and creating your WebPages for your site. You will also need to track your sites activities.
Choose a web hosting provider that will support the tools you will use down the line. Check also to see if they offer some of these tools to their client, like forms and auto responders or tracking services.
For example if your sites software runs on Microsoft Internet Information Server under Windows NT, look for a host that supports that configuration.
Down Time. Find out the track record for down time (times when it’s off air) of the Web hosting service that you have narrowed down and want to consider and compare that service's record with competitors.
You can also test it on trial to find out if they experience down time. You will want to find a web hosting service that can guarantee the greatest amount of uptime.
Switchability. This is the ability to switch from one host provider to another. Choose a web host that will guarantee you
"a right" to switch without taxing you with other penalties and added fees. Don’t lock your self into contracts that extend beyond one year.
Data transfer fees. Some web hosting providers will offer free service for date transfer while other will charge you for these services.
Your costs can rise sharply if traffic at your site increases and data transfer rises above a minimal amount. If you pay for the data transfer then it will be worth to compare data transfer pricing carefully.
Server Type.This is the type of server software that is running on the server. Common examples are Windows 2000 server, Linux and Unix.
If you have a basic website then the server type your web hosting provider will use to host your web site does not matter. If you have a more complex website that has database functions and serves up dynamic pages, then the server type will be more important.
Here is a link that will provide you with simple meaning and explanations of techinical words related to
web hosting
Other Options
Besides this factors it will also be worth to consider other options like a host provider that offers a website builder or a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), Multiple email account, multiple domain name, chartroom and message boards, newsletter and so on and so forth.
