Articles Who Is the Best Web Hosting Company? Best Web Hosting Reviews for Windows What is the Best Web Hosting Service? Understanding Host Rating How To Find a Reliable Web Hosting Company How Much Web Hosting do I Need

Selecting the Best Web Hosting Company

In your search to find the best web hosting company possible, it is very important that you be aware of a couple of things in this regard. A good web hosting company should provide you with three critical things: connectivity, features and support.

You must consider the factors given below before choosing a web host:

• Features: Different web hosting companies provide different features. You need to have a clear idea of what you want from the website. You can consider ease of navigation, transfer and set-up fees, charges for additional domains, tool submission to search engines, etc.
• Speed: Speed of loading of the site is very important, since customers will be irritated if your site loads at a snail's pace, and if it happens even once, they won't bother visiting again.

New web hosting companies emerge almost daily only the best web hosting companies survive. Due to similar work to be done, many host provider companies are very similar in nature, but the most important factor to be considered is the service offered by them. You need to know how much time the companies take to fix your problem if your site is down.

If you go through the documents of the web hosting companies, you will come across terms and features that only a professional in the field will be able to understand. You will, however, be given no information of the service bit though you might need it the most. You might very well need it at midnight!

The response time is actually the time which you take to get a notice that someone is aware of a problem that you are facing, and it indicates your further course of action. In today's business which is conducted online, this entire process can be carried out in 3-4 distinct locations, where you might have little to do. The fact is that the hosting company can be located at any place in the world, and the customer service might just be outsourced to your location. Nevertheless, even in case of outsourced customer service, you must get a response to your query in very little time, and you must always be made to feel that the company cares for you.

The resolution time is the time that the hosting company gives you, regarding how much time they will take to fix your problem. You can reduce this resolution time to the minimum by explaining them the full problem that you are facing, in detail. If you just say that your website isn't responding, it would be a vague problem, and they would certainly take time to figure out the cause of the problem. So if you can give them full particulars about the problem, like explaining them how and when it happened, who noticed the problem and how, etc., it will be easier for them to solve the problem.

So prior to forming a contract with a web host company, look at their response and resolution time. Check whether some of their users have complained about their performance, and make sure that they have a 24*7 technical support for customers. Go through their Service Level Agreements to know about it in full. So be on your toes before taking a decision.

• Technical Support: As said, you must go with a web host provider that can offer you support on a 24*7 basis, since it is not worth going for a company that would cost very less, but would offer services only once or twice in a week. Due to the need for quick response to queries, a good technical support center is a must.
• Email account type: The best email accounts are those which have the control of an administrator. Five email accounts are preferred for three users. Based on how many users are there in your company, maintaining 3-6 spare email accounts is a must. Also, opt for the email accounts with POP3, besides having the ability of web access.
• Price: Don't just blindly go for the companies with a very low price. in case of the very cheap companies, they offer very little services when you really need them. So look out the features as well.
• Ecommerce: If you want to run an online store, then you need a web host that can provide you with services related to processing of payments. Some important requirements for this purpose are a shopping cart, a security certificate, etc.
• Disk space: Most of the web hosting companies offers services exceeding their disk space. More is always better, but it is of no use if it's not required. You can always buy disk space if you really need it though. So look out for those service providers that can support your business growth, and ask them about the cost, services and other important aspects.

Bandwidth is important

While selecting a web hosting company, many people fail to enquire about bandwidth. Remember that you have developed and designed your website after a lot of hard work, and it will all go in vain if only a few people are able to see it. The website is a place where people browse, or buy things, so it's very important that you wish that more and more people have a look at your website. Web hosting companies' offer limited bandwidth, but if you need more of it, there's no harm in buying it. Since you are paying the web host providers, you can certainly ask them for clarifications and suggestions on various counts, and they will be obliged to satisfy you with an answer.

Saving bandwidth is possible

You can save bandwidth by designing it accordingly. For this purpose, put the photos in JPEG and the graphics in the GIF format. This compresses the files which helps you save bandwidth.

Reasons for limited bandwidth

Remember that website hosting is a very extensive market, and the hosting companies make a lot of profit. Their earnings are directly proportional to the number of clients' they make. On the expense side, they are required to pay the telecom companies who provide them with bandwidth and to maximize profits, they pay them the minimum amount. Those web hosting companies who are unwilling to provide you with additional bandwidth should be avoided. If they aren't able to purchase it to provide you, be assured that the company is a small one with limited technology. They run on a low budget so working with them won't be a good thing for you in the long run.

Downtime

Downtime may not be the most important thing to consider while selecting a web host company, but certainly is an important factor nonetheless. If your website is down, you will fail to make any money. And if the website is down consistently, then people will stop visiting it after a point of time, and thus you will lose on substantial revenue. So a down website is a cause for losses.

Overall, a $20 to $30 is a fair amount which you can pay to web hosting companies on a monthly basis in consideration of good services from them.