Furthermore to finding a professional, affordable internet site designer, acquiring a web host is another crucial step in the internet site design process. A web host is a company that stores your web site's files. Almost all the pages you see online are a collection of pages trapped in an online folder. You pay a web host to store your files in the online folder. Having a reliable web host is crucial to your business. Every time you send a potential or current client to your site, you need it to be up and running error-free. Since this is so important, we have listed a few guidelines in selecting a reliable web host:
How cost effective is this web sponsor?
Before selecting a host, shop around and ensure the price and features of the account you are considering are competitive for the industry. Remember: expensive does not mean best! You do not desire a web hosting service if a smaller company provides the same services more effectively and for 1/2 the price.
Does the host have a proven record of reliability?
There are TONS of web hosting companies on the net as I am sure many of you realized as soon as you looked for "web hosting company" in your search engine of choice. Top ranks on the internet, MSN, or Google do not guarantee a reliable company. These rankings only guarantee that a company spent time and/or money on search engine marketing (getting its site to the top of the charts). Before you purchase website hosting, ask other business owners which company they recommend and why. Likewise, check out forums such as Web Hosting Discuss. This forum allows customers to sound off about their web hosting company (positive and negative comments are welcome). Here you can hear what customers have said of their hosting experience with company XYZ before you buy. Also, ask your colleagues or web designer for hosting information. Among the best companies can be found through person to person referrals.
Is definitely it easy to leave if I change my thoughts about this host?
This is an essential question that many small business owners do not consider. Small business owners do not always realize that hiring a website designer and acquiring a web host can be affordable. Instead, they look for an all-inclusive web hosting package that offers pre-built website templates or site builders. These are tools are helpful ONLY IF you plan to stay with that webhost through the life of your web site. You would be using the net host's design software, so if you still left, the web host would still own your site files, leaving you to start out designing your site from scratch. Before by using a site with pre-built templates or site builders, find out if you are allowed to keep the internet site if you later decide to move to another sponsor. There are also a few other items to consider: site uptime (is the internet site guaranteed to be available 99. 9%), late billing consequences (is there a grace period, or will site be immediately taken down), and frequency of back-ups (if the web hosting company's web servers go down for any reason, will your site have been backed up and ready to go once the challenge is resolved, or will your site be lost).
As a safety measure, always back-up a backup of your internet site to your home or work computer's hard drive. This might not exactly be possible if you use a pre-built template or online site builder software, but it is important in court case something occurs the hosting company. Remember to always read the fine printing of all hosting agreements you sign (albeit digitally) AND to choose a host lets you keep a back-up of your website on your home or work computer (without any extra costs or fines).
