Web Hosting: Questions and Answers
If you are planning to take your business "live" on the Internet, you are probably impatient to see it up and running. However, it is better to take the time you need to make sure your chosen host provider is a good fit for you and your business. Here are a few important questions and answers that will help you decide on a web host when it's time to launch your website.
Q. What does a web host do for my business and me?
A. Any website you access on your browser is hosted on a physical computer called a server. Servers are housed in data centers, which are also called "server farms." The purpose of the server is to connect an Internet browser with a website housed on the server, via high speed connection. In short, web hosting company is what connects your website with your customers.
Q. How do I choose the best web host for my website?
A. There is no short answer to that question. Rather, you need to consider several factors when making that decision. Cost will probably be one factor, as will how generous the host provider is with storage space and bandwidth. Another issue will be whether or not the host has maintenance, security, and disaster plans that are robust enough for your site.
Q. How much does it cost? Can I trust free web hosts?
A. Costs can range all the way from free to hundreds of dollars a month. Higher prices generally come with improved security, plenty of disk space and bandwidth, and uptime of 99.9%, guaranteed. If you are looking to host a small page for yourself, your church, or your soccer team, you should check out the free hosting sites. They may do exactly what you need. However, make sure that you regularly back up the material you put on your site. Most likely, the free hosting service involves hundreds of accounts sharing a server, where a glitch on one site can affect other sites. You don't want to lose all the good stuff you posted, and if a crash occurs, or if the free web host goes out of business. Always have backup copies of all your material ready to put back up with the help of another host provider.
Q. What technical specifications do I need to be concerned with?
A. Here are a few terms you need to be familiar with:
Bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate, or how much data can be carried from one point on a network to another in a given time period. You'll see bandwidth measured in bits of data per second (bps). When data is transferred by a series of connections, some links might be slower than others. If so, the slower links will cause a "bandwidth bottleneck." You will need the most bandwidth if you plan to be shuttling large files to your customers, such as with a video or audio site.
Uptime is self-explanatory. You should be able to demand and receive uptime of 99.9% or better. When commerce sites crash, customers look elsewhere, and you don't want this to happen to you.
CGI-Bin Access means that the host company allows your to run small programs, or "scripts" that must run from the server's cgi-bin, or Common Gateway Interface. This is important when you need to make changes to your website beyond what can be done with HTML. For example, if you need CGI-bin access to run a snippet of JavaScript, then you need a hosting company that allows you to do this. Not all do, so check in advance.
Q. What services should I expect from my host provider?
A. You should expect ample disk space for your pages. This is usually not a problem. In fact, quite often you are assigned more disk space than you need. But if you know you're going to need to store enormous files, make sure you're getting enough disk space. Also ask for clarification if their allocation of disk space includes just the web files, or if it also includes emails and log files.
Speaking of email, you should expect your hosting company to provide you with the capability to have many e-mail accounts - perhaps numbering in the hundreds. Also find out if they provide mail forwarding and aliases, which are email forwarding addresses to corral multiple emails into one central account. Other communication features should include FTP, or file transfer protocol capability, which allows you to upload files to your server easily.
Most businesses like to have their own domain name and IP number. These represent your unique address among the millions of websites out there. If you were to choose a free web host provider, chances are good that you would not get to have a domain name in the format of http://www.yourdomainname.com . Most likely the format would look something like http://yourdomainname.freehostprovidername.com . Some customers may see this as a sign that you are not heavily invested in your business site, and it may prompt them to shop elsewhere.
Q. What kind of support should my host provider offer?
A. A good host service provides strong security and updates software whenever necessary. It should offer you Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption that allows you to perform secure transactions, such as processing of credit cards. Redundant backup systems are also necessary to prevent data loss.
Your hosting company should provide technical support around the clock, every day of the year. Make sure there are no misunderstandings about this. A provider may define 24/7/365 support to mean live help and action during regular business days, and nothing more than a phone bank to log your call on weekends and holidays. You want your business to be open all the time, so if there is a glitch during off hours, you want to be sure there is someone at the server farm to fix it.
Your host should be prompt in getting back to you by email, phone, or chat. Sometimes you can feel out a company's customer service performance by reading through their customer support forums. Make note of any consistent bad feedback, and ask the provider specifically about it. Any good provider will be willing to answer your questions up front.
Q. What are FrontPage extensions and why should I care if my provider supports them?
A. Microsoft FrontPage is a part of Microsoft's Office Suite, programs that automatically generate HTML code so that you can create a nice web page without having to know how to program in HTML. If you plan to use FrontPage, make sure your hosting service supports it.
Q. What happens if my business takes off and I need more web capabilities?
A. Most providers understand that your needs will change, and they are ready and willing to upgrade your hosting package to accommodate this. Find out about a range of hosting packages, and if the host can upgrade yours without any downtime should the need arise.
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