12 November 2013

8 Things Your Web Host Must Offer

By Jack Thomas


Web hosts tend to offer two types of hosting - shared and dedicated. As the terms imply, shared entails a smaller portion of server space that is divided between multiple accounts and while cheaper, is ultimately less flexible. Dedicated however is more expensive but allows you to customise your server space for your own ends. If you are building your first website then you probably just require some shared hosting which you can fetch for just a few dollars a month.

Be certain to check the quantity of web space you will be supplied from your host. Some web hosts only offer 1GB of free space, while others give much more. Particularly for free sites, the more space you use, the more restrained your account will become until you start paying for it.

Once you've chosen a web host then you need to ensure it has been performing satisfactorily. Give it a few months and then check the overall availability of your website. A 99% availability means that your website has been accessible all the time which is a great result. If the rate is distinctly lower than 99% then perhaps look at jumping host - or at least complaining!

Pick a hosting service that lets you to immediately and readily look at your web facts and figures. You will want to identify things such as how many people are going to your website and what pages they are viewing. You can even understand how long they remained on your site, and what search keywords they used to find you. These can be important in the long run, so use a server who has these tools.

When you are deciding on a web hosting company, it is vital that you count on more than just one or two articles of advice on a recommendation. Countless propositions are from people who haven't even dealt with the web hosting company that they are suggesting. Choose with care, do your research, and know plenty of things about the provider that you decide on.

You must look for a web host that supplies a great FTP application. An FTP software assists you to upload new content to your site promptly and safely. If you have to go to your host's site and log in to post new content, you are wasting a lot of time.

A reliable internet host ought to supply good support. If your site goes down suddenly then every minute lost could be triggering huge damage to your traffic, your fans and your salary. It's important that your web host can determine the issue swiftly and more notably, fix it. Take a look at the manner of support that your internet host offers - is it an email ticketing system? An in-hour telephone support. A simple FAQ or is it a live-chat facility? There's countless means of doing it and to my mind I've only found one web hosting service that does it correctly and that's InMotion Hosting. I've been with these guys for a year now and their customer support system is what retains me a satisfied patron. Not only is it a live chat service but it's also 24/7 - absolutely fundamental when you're desperately tearing your hair out. In fact the success of InMotion's customer support was what triggered me to write my InMotion Hosting review video blog. I'd never been so delightfully surprised by the support of a digital organization as I had with InMotion.

Finally, a good test is to see whether the web hosting company has a decent website themselves. If it's shoddy and thrown together then it may be that they a leaching company that is trying to capitalise on quick, easy fixes and they don't plan on being around too long. A quality and robust website at least demonstrates they know the arena they're operating in.




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