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Depending on the level of website expertise in your company, you may want to handle updating your website in-house, or you may want someone else to do it. There are many website hosting companies that offer website maintenance as part of their package, and you may find this an attractive option. But be aware of two things--one, how quickly will the company make your changes? And two, will they allow you or a third party (that you hire) to make changes, or do all changes have to go through them? The term to look for is "FTP access," which means that you have access to the username and password which will allow you or someone that you authorize to add new pages or change files on your website without going through a middleman.
What special scripts or functions will your website use?
Depending on the purpose and functions of your website, and who designs it, you may need your website hosting company to support any of the following: databases (such as Microsoft Access, SQL, or MySQL), Flash/Shockwave, multimedia, e-commerce, and various scripting languages (such as ASP, PHP, and ColdFusion, all of which come in various versions, cgi, and perl).
If you are considering moving your current website to a new website hosting company, talk to the website designer/developer to see which of these, if any, apply to your website. And if you are planning to have a website created, choose your designer/developer first and then have him or her assist you in determining which scripts or functions the website will be using.
Can you easily track and analyze your visitor traffic?
Some website hosting companies include a traffic statistics program with all of their hosting plans. Some offer it as an add-on service. And some don't bother with it at all. If you want to have any clue about whether your website is making a positive difference for your company, you'll need to have access to good traffic statistics. Personally, I favor the program Urchin, which is offered by several website hosting companies. It is easy to use and allows you to look at a variety of data in various time ranges. You can also export data to Microsoft Excel or Word or a text file.
What customer support options are available?
Most website hosting companies will offer free support by email, but you may also want to be able to talk to them by phone. See if they charge for that. Some also offer "live chat" over the Internet at certain times, which may or may not be helpful, depending on how many customers are trying to use it at once.
What do other people say about them?
Focus on the customer's experience with using the website hosting service, if there is good customer support, and what their experience is with "downtime"--times when the website hosting company's server is not working, and no one is able to visit your website. This should be close to non-existent.
Things to avoid
Free website hosting is usually not a good deal. They are likely to display ads on your website that you have no control over, to have little to no customer support, and they may close up shop without warning. Quality website hosting is available now for a very low price from many companies, so being miserly in this area will only hurt you.
You will also want to carefully read a website hosting company's terms of service before signing up with them. Some have restrictions on what material you can put on your site or what kind of email you can send (such as ads that might be regarded as spam). If there are restrictions, make sure you can live with them, or find a different website hosting company.
Does price mean anything?
I started this article with the idea that you shouldn't choose a company based on price. But should the price have any affect on your decision? Sure it can. If two hosting plans are equal in all ways except the cost, go with the cheaper one. But your main criteria should be the rest of the items discussed in this article.
Don't freak out!
One last point--if you choose the wrong website hosting provider, it's usually not hard to switch to a new one! So don't get bogged down with trying to find the perfect website hosting company. There are many good ones out there. The important thing is to get your website on the Internet!
What special scripts or functions will your website use?
Depending on the purpose and functions of your website, and who designs it, you may need your website hosting company to support any of the following: databases (such as Microsoft Access, SQL, or MySQL), Flash/Shockwave, multimedia, e-commerce, and various scripting languages (such as ASP, PHP, and ColdFusion, all of which come in various versions, cgi, and perl).
If you are considering moving your current website to a new website hosting company, talk to the website designer/developer to see which of these, if any, apply to your website. And if you are planning to have a website created, choose your designer/developer first and then have him or her assist you in determining which scripts or functions the website will be using.
Can you easily track and analyze your visitor traffic?
Some website hosting companies include a traffic statistics program with all of their hosting plans. Some offer it as an add-on service. And some don't bother with it at all. If you want to have any clue about whether your website is making a positive difference for your company, you'll need to have access to good traffic statistics. Personally, I favor the program Urchin, which is offered by several website hosting companies. It is easy to use and allows you to look at a variety of data in various time ranges. You can also export data to Microsoft Excel or Word or a text file.
What customer support options are available?
Most website hosting companies will offer free support by email, but you may also want to be able to talk to them by phone. See if they charge for that. Some also offer "live chat" over the Internet at certain times, which may or may not be helpful, depending on how many customers are trying to use it at once.
What do other people say about them?
Focus on the customer's experience with using the website hosting service, if there is good customer support, and what their experience is with "downtime"--times when the website hosting company's server is not working, and no one is able to visit your website. This should be close to non-existent.
Things to avoid
Free website hosting is usually not a good deal. They are likely to display ads on your website that you have no control over, to have little to no customer support, and they may close up shop without warning. Quality website hosting is available now for a very low price from many companies, so being miserly in this area will only hurt you.
You will also want to carefully read a website hosting company's terms of service before signing up with them. Some have restrictions on what material you can put on your site or what kind of email you can send (such as ads that might be regarded as spam). If there are restrictions, make sure you can live with them, or find a different website hosting company.
Does price mean anything?
I started this article with the idea that you shouldn't choose a company based on price. But should the price have any affect on your decision? Sure it can. If two hosting plans are equal in all ways except the cost, go with the cheaper one. But your main criteria should be the rest of the items discussed in this article.
Don't freak out!
One last point--if you choose the wrong website hosting provider, it's usually not hard to switch to a new one! So don't get bogged down with trying to find the perfect website hosting company. There are many good ones out there. The important thing is to get your website on the Internet!
About the Author:
MyHosting.com is one of the internet's premier web hosting companies. They have affordable hosting packages for businesses and individuals, including packages that include Windows hosting! Find the right package and set of features that fit your needs today!
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