How To Choose The Hosting Plan For Your Business

By Author: Phoenix Wawa
Total Articles: 9
Comment this article

For small and medium enterprises, hosting your own website, it is very likely has too many obstacles to be worth the effort. The initial costs for the acquisition, creation and organization of all the necessary hardware, software licenses can be overwhelming and time. Not to mention the recurring costs of a stable and reliable Internet connection. For most companies, except the largest companies, hosting your own website just does not make sense. That leaves the second alternative, finding a hosting company and choosing a plan. Let's start by taking a look at choosing a Web Host company.

Choosing your hosting company

There are literally thousands of web hosting companies to choose from and evaluating them can be difficult. The first question you need to ask a potential hosting company is what types of Web Host plans they offer. It is likely that there are several options packs to boot type platinum version with all the bells and whistles.

Here are some basic criteria to consider:

Service & Support:

Money Back Guarantee - Find a host site is an investment, but ...
... you do not want is a risk. Look for a host that offers a warranty.

24 / 7 Technical Support - This is important. What happens to your business if your Web Host is hung? If you have an online business, you're dead in the water. We know that not all technical support are the same and just because someone offers 24 / 7 customer support does not mean that is actively available. It may mean that you get a voice message to leave or stay on hold for hours and once you can get.

Testimonials and references can be helpful. Find out if other customers are happy with the service and accommodation

Ease of use:

One Control Panel is the central hub of information. It's where you can find all your stats and are able to manage all the features of your account. If your host's control panel is too difficult to navigate or does not provide the tools your business needs, then it is better to look elsewhere. Your website is your business and your control panel has to be easy to use. You do not have time to search for information and tools you need.

You will probably want to upload scripts for message boards, forums, email, set cookies, etc.. . If so, you will want to host a site that lets you install and run scripts. Most hosting companies offer CGI, Common Gateway Interface, a protocol that allows Web pages to interact with scripts on a server.

You want to have email accounts for your site. For example, admin@yourcompany.com and sales@yourcompany.com, etc. .. A POP (Post Office Protocol) email account is an email account hosted on your site and you will probably want more than one. Most Web Host companies offer packages with different levels. For example, a beginner or a starter pack will have 1-5 email accounts, half of the highway account of the type can provide up to 50 and a complete package can have unlimited email accounts available.

Web site construction tools and / or Microsoft FrontPage extensions. You have to be able to design and develop your website. Many Web Host companies offer templates and design tools. It can provide FrontPage Extensions. FrontPage is a software program designed website that is fairly easy to use and if your host allows you to upload your site on the server.

Features:

Want to know who is visiting your site? What about the pages you visit and how long they stay online? What is clickthrough rate? Any effective marketing plan or site plan needs to evaluate these statistics. This means that we must find a Web Host company that not only tracks this information for you, but makes it easy for you to access and understand.

Marketing features such as mailing list management and autoresponders are a great feature, but not all web hosting companies offer them. Take a good look at what your business needs before signing with a company. Sometimes a hosting company the features of marketing as a whole and sometimes they are offered ala carte.

Security is also important. Look for an SSL, Secure Socket Layer, a secure server. SSL is a protocol that allows for encrypted transmissions on the Internet. If you are collecting private information from your visitors, you want this and can include in its privacy policy.

Some hosting plans offer shopping cart software integrated into your account. This is not a necessity, but it saves a step if you are offering products for purchase on its website

Members only areas require passwords, but not all hosting companies offer this feature.

The choice of your hosting plan

Almost all hosting companies offer different types of hosting plans, including "shared" hosting and dedicated hosting. Furthermore, some hosts offer a "virtual private" accommodation option.
Here are the details and benefits of each.

Shared Hosting:

Shared hosting or virtual host (which is different from "virtual private hosting described below) is when the Web Host company houses your website on their own physical servers for a monthly fee. In this type of agreement, the company also hosting the service from other companies' websites in the same physical server. The hosting company is responsible for the technical details relating to the maintenance of your site in place, including server configuration, bandwidth management, backups safety and security.

The price is perhaps the main advantage of shared hosting. Since you are using only part of a single server, their costs are lower than those of dedicated hosting. Also, since they are not directly responsible for managing the servers, it is not necessary to commit the most resources for routine maintenance of your website. This also means that your hosting company is responsible for many of the issues of security for your site, you need not make any direct investment in software and hardware needed to secure the site.

However, because your site is on the same server as other customers, has no direct control over the server as a whole, and some tasks of site management can be more time compared to a site that is on a dedicated server .

Hosting dedicated:

Dedicated hosting means that the Web server is sitting in his own box, which is owned and managed by the service provider. Dedicated hosting means that you will have more direct access to different types of changes to its website compared to a shared hosting plan. The degree of host management depends on what exactly is offered by the service provider. Most providers offer managed dedicated server programs to ensure continuous monitoring of server performance as well as routine tasks such as data backup.

When you have a dedicated hosting solution, your website is in its own server. This means your company can directly control the machine and determine what Web applications are running on it. This also means it's less likely that the activities of other websites on the same physical server will have a negative impact yours.

Furthermore, because the server only responds to requests for customer information from its own website, is likely to be a fast response time for the same amount of traffic on the server. If the server has a dedicated IP address, it will probably be easier to handle certain anonymous FTP and SSL encryption activities. Usually dedicated hosting arrangements for high-traffic businesses. Because your website is the only one on the server, however, dedicated hosting costs are generally higher than with a shared hosting plan.

Virtual Private Web Host

Virtual Private accommodation means that the server software is "virtual" to permit the holding of multiple websites in a single physical server (as with shared hosting), but each has its own copy of the operating system and allows greater access client to the server (such as with dedicated hosting). Virtual Private Hosting is generally available at a lower total cost of traditional dedicated hosting, but provides the customer with greater control and access to the web.
Visit for more information on Cheap Web Hosting. Click on this link for information. http://cheapwebhostingreviews.us