Choosing a web host for you online store or business is probably the most important thing you’re going to do. Having a dependable host for your sight will determine how well your business is going to turn a profit. Here are some of the things you should look for when shopping around for a web host.
Advertising
Most of the free hosts will make you put their logos or banners on your site. Others will implement a pop up window that goes up every time one of the pages loads. This can be extremely discouraging to somebody trying to get information when they visit. This can even debilitate your sales if you’re running an online store. Choose whether or not your free web host’s advertising will bring your profits down due to visitors becoming annoyed.
Web Space Amount
You need to decide whether or not the host is going to give you the amount of web space that you’re going to need. Ask yourself how long it’s going to be before you expand your website and what the costs are going to be if you break a contract with your provider or host. The majority of websites on the Internet only use 5MB or less of web space. If you’re going to be using video or pictures a lot, you might want to consider what packages you will need for this.
FTP
Most free hosts will let you design your website through their own web site builder. Although is this great for beginners, when you are ready to give your web site a boost in design, you’re going to need FTP access. Consider this when choosing your host.
File Limitations
You need be very cautious of these. A lot of hosts will put a ban on how big a file can be and what kinds of files you can have on your site. A lot of free hosts will only let you have a maximum file size that you can upload. If you’re going to need a variety of file sizes and file types, make sure your host can accommodate you.
PHP and Perl
Because there are so many user-friendly scripts out there nowadays, there are quickly becoming obsolete. However, if you really want to do all of the scripting yourself, you want to know what your host is going to allow you to put on your site and what kind of scripts they will allow.
Bandwidth
This is a biggie. A lot of free web hosts will give you a limit on how much bandwidth you are allowed. If you’re getting a lot of traffic to your site, you can eat this allotment up in an easy week. Make sure that your host is going to give you enough bandwidth to keep your site up and running properly.
Disk Space
This goes hand in hand with bandwidth. When you’re choosing your host, you want to make sure that you’re going to have enough disk space to ensure that your web site is accommodated. The majority of websites on the net only use around 10MB of disk space during their entire lifetime. However, if you are going to be running a big site, you need to be aware of how much disk space they can offer.
Technical Support
Your site needs to be up and running twenty-four hours a day. Therefore, your technical support needs to be up and running twenty-four hours a day. Make sure that your host has weekend staff and holiday staff to accommodate you when you need it. If your site goes down, you’re loosing sales and visitors.
SSL and Shopping Cart
If you are going to be running an online store or any site that offers a service, you are going to need a shopping cart with SSL. SSL is basically a secure server that your customers can shop on without fear of identity theft. Inquire your host about having SSL and a Shopping Cart when you’re looking at providers.
Email Access
When you’re running your own site, you are definitely going to want and email account at that site. Many of the basic packages that you’ll run across will offer the most common email protocols like IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP. Make sure that you’re going to have access to all of your email and inquire about how many email addresses you can have for your site.