Website Design Help |
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It is nearly impossible
to conduct business in this day and age without a website. As a result,
choosing the perfect, economical web host for your site is an important
step in keeping your overhead costs low. The web hosting industry is in
it’s infancy and there are thousands of hosts claiming to offer just what
you need at just the right cost. Do your homework when looking for the
right low cost host and there won’t be any unpleasant surprises
later. Here are just a few tips to help you on your
way:
1. Know Your Disk Space: It is important to know how
much space your web site needs and then adding a bit more for site growth.
For example: Your site needs 200 Mb of space-it would be wise to find a
hosting plan that will give 250-300 Mb of space. You do not want a huge
bill at the end of the month when your “low cost” host charges you for all
that extra web space you never thought you would need. On average your web
site should never cost you more than $1.00 for 10MB of web space.
2. Don’t Forget About Bandwidth: You need to know how
much bandwidth (data transfer speed) your web site needs to run properly.
Again, plan on using a little extra. Another example: If your web site
needs 8GB of bandwidth each month, opt for a plan that will give you 10GB.
If you do not, anything you use over 8GB will cost you extra usage fees
and your bill will be larger than expected. You should never have to
pay more than $3.00 per GB of
bandwidth.
3. Keep Track of Web Site Growth:
If you project that your site will grow quickly, you might consider “block
buying.” Some web hosts offer the opportunity for sites to buy extra disk
space and bandwidth in blocks. This can be a bargain if your site grows by
great leaps and bounds. However, be careful that you are not forced to buy
blocks of 5GB of bandwidth when all you need is an extra 2. If this
is the case, choose a host that will allow you to purchase more of both
bandwidth and disk space as your needs change.
4. Know
the Rules: Before contracting with any web host know what they charge for
overuse. Any hosts that inform you of their overusage charges up front,
when you can make changes to avoid them-are hosts you want to consider
doing business with.
5. Contract More Than
One Site: If you have more than one web site, find a host who will host
all of your domains under one account. This will save your money over a
host that insists that you open a new account for each site. TIP: You can
ask friends or co-workers to if they want to join you on your web hosting
account. Some web hosts like M6.net will give you a discount of close to
$20 per month if you sign four sites with them on their M6-2 “multiple
hosting account.”
6. Check for Applications and
Databases: Make sure that all the applications and databases you use
(FrontPage, ASP pages, databases, cgi, PHP, etc.) can be used with the
account you are signing up for. Check to see if there are extra charges
for any application or database you might need. Some web hosts charge
extra fees at start up to put FrontPage on your site. If you use
FrontPage, look for one that does not.
7. Mail Servers
Should be Free: In business, e-mail is the circulatory system, we cannot
run without them. Take care that you obtain enough e-mail addresses with
your domain name. What you REALLY want is an unlimited number. You want
extra addresses for things like: E-mail forwarders, auto-responders and
the like. There is no reason to pay added fees for e-mail when most web
hosts offer it as part of the hosting package.
8. Stay
Away From Long Term Contracts: Web hosts may offer huge discounts for 12
month, 6 month or even 4 month payments in advance. These may look
tempting but think it through carefully. Avoid anything long-term until
you are sure you are happy with the services of the web host. A monthly
contract allows you to test a host’s services and reliability. You can
spot trouble early and leave the host behind without losing big bucks in
the process!
In business, avoiding surprises is a necessity,
especially when it comes to extraneous costs. If you do your homework and
plan ahead, there won’t be any errors when it comes to web hosting costs.
Keep good records concerning your disk space and bandwidth usage so you
can predict future your future need. This will save you future overage
expense.
In our
high-tech world, high cost does not always mean high quality. There is a
competitive market for web hosting. Research and explore what hosts will
work best for you. You will find that you can shave costs in this
market without shaving quality. That is the kind of surprise your business
can stand!
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