Features To Look For When Choosing A Web Host
|
|
|
| 1.5/5.0 (2 votes total) |
|
|
|
Nelson Tan March 18, 2009
|
When choosing a web host, not just any host will do. There are
specific features that you need to look for, as well as additional
features that will be required depending on what your plans for your
website are. It is important that you make sure that your web host is
able to accommodate your needs from the very beginning. One of
the first features you should look for in a web host, no matter what
your plans are for your site, is the guaranteed uptime. While no web
host can guarantee that your site will be up 100% of the time, you
definitely want to choose a host that guarantees at least a 99% uptime,
and preferably a 99.9% uptime. A 100% satisfaction guarantee is
also vital. Often, you won't be able to tell if a web host can fulfill
all of your needs until you sign up for the service. If you find out
that the web host does not meet all of your requirements, you will want
to have the option of canceling your service and getting a refund. Not
all web hosts offer this, so be on the lookout for it. You
definitely want a web host that has a power generator to deal with
power outages, and also one that does automatic, scheduled backups of
your data. A web host that uses DOS protection, to protect against
Denial of Service Attacks as well as other types of attacks, is also
vital. Finally, 2 other features that you should look for, no
matter what other features you may require, are server monitoring,
where the web-hosting company monitors the servers 24 hours per day, 7
days per week, and e-mail support, where you can get your questions
answered or issued addressed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Once
you've found a host that offers everything above, you are ready to look
at other features that you may require, such as an adequate amount of
disk space and bandwidth. You may also require unlimited FTP accounts
and e-mail accounts. MySQL databases will be important to some web-hosting customers, as well as e-mail lists. Depending
on your plans, you may also require subdomains, parked domains, and
add-on domain names. If you don't know much about HTML or building web
pages, you need a web host that offers a web page builder. Other
features you may require include FrontPage extensions, Dreamweaver
Compatibility, the ability to install a blog or a forum, or several
other scripts that make your site more interactive. |