Typically, the Internet is constantly buzzing with traffic coming and going across high-powered tubes of bandwidth; all trailing in a blaze of 1’s and 0’s without stopping to realize what they’re doing. Should someone choose poor web hosting for their domain; a consumer might be pulled to a complete stop on a “404 Error”.
The tips below will make sure you never produce that error, or at least try.
If you are looking for a hosting company for your business, avoid going with free web hosts. A free web host will likely place ads on your site, which causes you to lose valuable traffic. A staple of any good online business is the amount of visitors you get to your site. The last thing you want is your free web host to steal away all your traffic.
Make sure any offers of “unlimited” data transfer are actually unlimited. Many web hosts advertise unlimited data transfer in their offers, but tuck exceptions in the terms and conditions for the package. Common exceptions include video or non-HTML file downloads being limited, limits on CPU utilization, and general prohibitions on using “too many resources.”
If you are considering using a particular web hosting site, read reviews about it. Specifically, check for reviews written by users of the site’s hosting services. Just as you wouldn’t make a major electronics purchase without first checking out product reviews, nor should you bypass looking at reviews for web hosting sites you’re considering using. Doing this now can save you frustration further down the road.
Want to save cash? Look into web hosting for free. What this means, though, is that you will probably need to allow ads to appear on your website pages, and the storage space offered by the hosting provider will probably be quite limited. Therefore, if you want your site to look professional, stay away from free web hosting.
Make sure that the web host you select has a very high uptime guarantee. Uptime is the percentage of time that a server is online. For instance, if a web host claims that their servers provide 99% uptime, then their servers are online 99% of the time. You don’t want to select a web host whose servers do not provide high uptime percentages. This is why uptime is so important when selecting a host.
Think about setting up your own server if you want to save money. You will have to invest in hardware and learn how to operate and maintain your own server, but this also means you will not have to pay a monthly fee and have to rely on another web host.
If you are new to web hosting, you should get open an account with a free service and create a small website. This will allow you to practice and understand how uploading content is done. Once you feel more comfortable, it is time to invest in a better service and upload your real website.
Hopefully you learned a lot from this guide, and you now have a great understanding on the structure of the Internet. Things are progressing at rapid speeds, and it is in the best interest of the business owner to go with the flow. However, poor web hosting can be the business owner’s undoing.
