 9 Questions to Ask About Web Site Hosting Companies
Choosing a web site hosting company is an important decision, because of the hassle involved in changing hosts once you've committed. Below is a list of 9 questions to ask about web site hosting companies.
01. How much do the various web hosting packages cost and are there any hidden or non-obvious fees?
This includes not only the monthly hosting fees, but any additional costs that you incur from the outset or down the road. Examples of these would be set-up costs or usage/bandwith fees if your web site uses up its allotted bandwith. Its important to understand what items will cost you extra.
Free Web hosting isn't an option for most businesses as they often inundate visitors with non-site related banner and pop-up advertisements.
02. How is their technical support?
Are they readily available during office hours? Is the company available 24 hours a day, by either telephone or email? Regardless of the company, there is always going to be an issue that presents itself from time to time. It is, therefore, important that you can easily contact the company's technical support with questions and concerns. Make sure your web site hosting company is readily available with any questions and concerns you may have.
03. Is the bandwith that comes with each web hosting package sufficient for your business?
This is the amount of data that is tranferred from your host to your web visitor's for each page their web browser's load. Frequently, web site hosting plans offer a pre-determined amount of monthly traffic. Be sure and have a good estimate as to how much traffic (how many hits) your site will be receiving in the near future. And while its not often that newer sites exceed this limit, its also important to know how much additional traffic will cost you in the chance that it occurs.
04. How much hard drive space will be allotted for your site?
This is the amount of data that you can store on the web hosting server. This is much easier to estimate as you can see how many megabytes your site will take up, simply by looking at it on your hard drive prior to uploading to the server. Its always a good idea to ask how much more disk space will cost you if you're in a business that relies on a lot of high quality graphics or other large files.
05. Does the contract stipulate a minimum time period you must be with the web hosting company?
If it does make sure that fits into your business model. Also, there are often discounts given for signing contracts for longer periods of time (i.e. a year or two).
06. How many E-mail accounts does the web hosting include?
If its not unlimited accounts, how much are additional accounts beyond the base amount? These email accounts are important solely for the professionalism they convey versus simply having a Yahoo Mail or Hotmail account on your contact page.
07. What scripting support does the web hosting package include?
Can you provide your own CGI scripts? If so, is there a fee for doing so?
08. What kind of daily/weekly/monthly web site traffic or usage reports are provided by your web site host?
These stats are invaluable in determining who is visiting your sites and by which routes they are arriving. Your web site hosting company should provide you with good software in determining these statistics. Its never a bad idea to ask them for an example.
09. Is this company a good match for you?
Its always a good idea to check the company's references and even "google" the company to make sure there aren't any outstanding complaints that former customers have lodged against the company. Due diligence goes a long way toward a peaceful's night sleep.
Contact us today with any questions you may have about our web site hosting packages.
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