Four Things to Look for in a Web Host

An overwhelming number of website hosting services have sprung up over the last few years. Many of these sites offer free or cheap services, but when it's all boiled down, a paid package is most likely your best bet. This is a guide to choosing a good service (free or cheap).

Since the dot-com bubble burst, many have been suspicious about building websites. However, over the past couple years, more people are losing their disillusionment and moving towards the Internet for sources of income, entertainment, and even personal reflection and self-improvement tips and techniques.

If you're looking to build a website, a potential hurdle is web hosting. Finding it cheap, free, or even at a relatively decent cost can be challenging with so many choices.

Not to worry! The first thing you should look for is uptime, support, and security. These things are crucial, especially for a site with a lot of traffic. Pay attention to their support system, and find out how they treat customers through reviews you can find online. Beware any scam reports. Now, many boast a 99.9 or even 100% uptime. This is not possible. You need to look at what's really happening. Are they including the time it takes to update the packages your website runs, such as MySQL and PHP? Are they including disasters? How is the data backed up? If there's a fire in their data warehouse, do you lose everything, or do they make backups in other locations?

The next thing to look for is bandwidth and disk space. These days, bandwidth tends to run a very high cost, leading many people to purchase and maintain their own servers. While only high traffic sites need dedicated servers, every site needs at least average bandwidth to support a high influx of users. Disk space is also important, as it is the amount of content your site can hold, and often includes a MySQL database with it, so a small amount is no good for largely content-based websites. Another thing about bandwidth is that it is typically included in your back-end, meaning they not only count users, but also your own access, against your quota. Basically, if you're going to be uploading a lot of content and files (such as hosting a wordpress blog or videos), you're going to need a lot of bandwidth. Don't get ripped off here. Bandwidth is cheap. If they charge too much, or you feel like you're getting gyped, turn them down and go with another service.

Then look for tools offered. These include the panel used for the interface to your website, CMS installers such as a WordPress installer, etc. If you're comfortable using FTP and installing a CMS yourself, then you can probably go with a minimal package. However, if not, you should look for a host which provides easy, simple access to these tools. Also pay attention to what they provide in the area of packages like PHP/MySQL, Python, Ruby, and other language support. If they don't provide any of these (and these days, a good host provides all of them -- and more), then you're getting ripped off. Make sure you've at least got PHP and MySQL support if you plan on hosting a wordpress blog.

Finally, look at the price. Price is last on the list because a good package will probably run a pretty high cost. Fortunately, it's worth it. Look out for rip-offs, though, and always compare prices with other services. There are many affordable yet credible hosts these days.

That sums it up for my guide to choosing a web host. I hope with the information I have provided, you will be able to select the perfect service for all your hosting needs. If you need a bit of help getting started in your search, there are many articles (I've written one) outlining a few great hosts.