Best Practices for Selecting a Web Host
Use the following best practice tips for selecting the right web host the first time out. Believe us, there is nothing worse than having to move your sites to new servers with a new company! Take the time to compare plans before making any final decision.
1.Don’t let the price be your determining factor. Remember the saying “you get what you pay for”.
2.Consider your bandwidth and disk space requirements.
3.Allow space for growth.
4.Decide what type of scripts and software you will be using and see if the host accommodates these.
5.Do you need Cron jobs to run?
6.What PHP requirements, if any, do you need?
7.If you are planning on running sale events, then allow for traffic spikes and surges.
8.What type of graphics or images will you be uploading? Large file sizes can slow down your site.
9.Will you be emailing from your site? A third party solution is often a better approach.
10.How many domains do you plan on installing?
11. Will you be hosting videos?
12. Are you running an e commerce site?
13.Do you require a shopping cart?
14.Will you need to install and run a customer help desk or center?
15. Do you want to have a forum on your site?
16.Are you running any type of directory?
17.Are you happy sharing resources on a server? You may want to consider a semi private or dedicated server of your own, however these do cost more.
18.Does the company offer more than one method for contacting their support desk?
19.Does the company offer free scheduled backups or other features that make them stand apart from other hosts?
20.Does the company keep their servers up to date? Out of date servers can cause your sites to load slowly, or experience down time.
Overall you want to have a hosting plan that is affordable, easy to use, caters to your requirements and has great customer service. While any company can publish great reviews. Take the time to ask questions from your friends and business associates. See which hosting plans they are using and why. Ask them if they are happy with their choice or not. Ensure that the plan you choose is more than ample to accommodate all of your present requirements. Most hosting companies have upgrade plans available if you do run out of bandwidth or disk space. Upgrading is a much better option than moving to a new host completely.
