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What to Look for in a Web Host

By Martin Clementine-Marks


Due to dramatic increases in the quality of technology and to the proliferation of companies providing services, the cost of numerous electronic resources has gone down rapidly. However, it is still important to make a quality assessment before you purchase resources or services. Quality may not be exclusive to expensive providers, but there can be a substantial difference between inexpensive web hosting, for example, and cheap web hosting.

Electronic resources, including web hosting, can be almost as important as an office space for any company today, and especially for an Internet company. Most business owners look at numerous potential office spaces and interview prospective landlords in detail before selecting the physical location for their office. Since the integrity of a company's Web site is such an important part of its reputation, the same should be true of the selection of a Web host. Uptime, process failures, and scalability problems will have an impact on your company's ability to operate; they should be part of the decision of which hosting company to use.

These days nearly every web hosting company has what seem like good uptime figures. Even bad statistics will only result in a few minutes of site downtime over the course of a year, and that might seem insignificant. However, a host's uptime statistics are about more than having your site up and accessible; they are emblematic of the hosting company's attitude. Those with comparatively poor uptime are more likely to have other problems that are harder to see.

In addition to your visible site, your hosting company's systems will be responsible for operating the back-end of your site's processes, which can include e-commerce, data collection, and even managing e-mail accounts attached to the domain. Assessing the integrity of these systems is important, since failures in those systems can lead to the loss of customers and sales, in addition to reputation.

Scalability is also an issue. While it's possible to reserve huge amounts of data space for very little money, and while it might seem like it will take years to reach the maximum of your host's capability, the truth is that you're starting your business because you want it to grow - and you want it to grow as rapidly as it can. Think of it like starting a plant in a pot: your plant is only going to grow as big as the pot will allow, and unless you want to keep replanting it you need to start with a host that can seamlessly scale its product to meet your demand.

The web hosting companies that spend the most money tend to sign up the most customers. That means their businesses are big, and they have the most money to spend on advertising...in order to get the most customers. However, advertising expenditures don't necessarily equate to service quality.

To find a good Web host, you really need to start out by casting a broad net - just as you would with the office space rental. Look at the companies that have big advertising budgets and well established brands. Look at the companies the claim to save you money. Look at the little local guys. Look at the big global conglomerates. Find out everything you can about each offering you find; demand that hosts speak your language and answer your questions. Focus on issues like uptime, process support, and scalability.

You can find great web hosting. You can find cheap web hosting. You can even find great web hosting that is also cheap. Like with anything, though, the easy answer is probably not the best one.




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