Web Hosting
What should you look for in a host?
Host is a term that has a lot of meaning in a social life. A good host takes care of all his/her guest's requirements, makes sure they are comfortable, and provides entertainment so they do not get bored.
If you think about it this is also what you would expect from your website hosting company. You want them to provide everything you want, enough functionality so you can keep your website growing and improving and you want to be made to feel comfortable - for example, if you need to ask a lot of very basic questions you do not want to be made to feel a nuisance, or even worse, a complete novice! (Even though you very probably are!)
If you think about it this is also what you would expect from your website hosting company. You want them to provide everything you want, enough functionality so you can keep your website growing and improving and you want to be made to feel comfortable - for example, if you need to ask a lot of very basic questions you do not want to be made to feel a nuisance, or even worse, a complete novice! (Even though you very probably are!)
Hosting companies very a lot in price. You can have websites hosted for free, but any advertising income is retained by the company. This could be useful if you just want a presence, but have no budget at all!
You do not always get what you do or don't pay for. Hosting companies, like any one else can price competively if they get the business. A very good company can be relatively cheap. However, you should look twice at the very cheapest companies as they probably do not offer the functionality or support offered by those charging just a little more.
There are two things you need to consider - the features on offer, and what the company is like to deal with.
The table below shows the sort of features you should be looking for - use it to compare prices.
You do not always get what you do or don't pay for. Hosting companies, like any one else can price competively if they get the business. A very good company can be relatively cheap. However, you should look twice at the very cheapest companies as they probably do not offer the functionality or support offered by those charging just a little more.
There are two things you need to consider - the features on offer, and what the company is like to deal with.
The table below shows the sort of features you should be looking for - use it to compare prices.
| What you should be looking for: | Check box |
| A good amount of disc space - more than you think you are ever going to need (e.g. 24,000 mb) | |
| Large amount of bandwidth (e.g. 600 gigabyte per month) | |
| Unlimited Domain Names/Websites per account | |
| Availability of the servers (Website) (e.g. 99.99%) | |
| Free Website Builder | |
| Ability to use any other website builder (e.g. Dreamweaver) | |
| Very good support | |
| On line tutorials | |
| Unlimited email accounts for your website | |
| Control panel | |
| Statistics for your website (e.g. Awstats) | |
| Free extras (Guestbook, Forum, Content Management, Blogs etc etc) |
How can you tell what the Host is really like?
Look at other websites hosted by the company, and ask the webmasters! If the company has a forum take a look at some of the comments - do people seem to like the service? Does the company seem sympathetic and helpful to its community of users?
And what about the websites? Is this the sort of thing you want to build? Would you be happy with any of the websites?
Look at other websites hosted by the company, and ask the webmasters! If the company has a forum take a look at some of the comments - do people seem to like the service? Does the company seem sympathetic and helpful to its community of users?
And what about the websites? Is this the sort of thing you want to build? Would you be happy with any of the websites?
There are many web hosting companies out there, Webmaster Productions recommends Vodahost as having an affordable web hosting package with support which is second to none!
