Business Websites - What to Look For
If your personal site crashes, you can shed a tear or two over loosing some pocket money. But if its an online business you're running, you can't take that chance. It will be your profit margin that's at stake.
Again, a simple html-based website can easily fit into a starter's web hosting package. Bandwidth should be enough.
However, you must have a clear picture of how you intend to set up shop online before you select a web hosting package. Will you be setting up an online store? Will you have a support forum? Will your business be based on an online database?
All of the above will need a more robust web hosting plan. During the start-up period, you will rarely use up a quarter of the monthly bandwidth made available to you, but this can change. And its not just bandwidth that you must look at.
If your online business requires an online database, it will need storage space and protection. Have a good look at each web hosting plan before committing to one.
What software does your hosting plan support? Does your web hosting plan support Windows and Linux? A lot of php-based scripts require .htaccess or mod_rewrite. Are these supported? Yahoo web hosting plans, for example, do not allow you to upload .htaccess files to their servers. Keep this in mind.
And how does the control panel work? cPanel or WHM are the two most common and are quite easy to get a grip of. The Yahoo Web Hosting panel is unique. Its not as simple to use, but after a few rounds, you'll get the jist of how it all works.
What scripts does your plan include? In most plans, pre-installed scripts like Fantastico give you the ability to set up a blog, a forum, a shopping site, a photo album or a fully-equipped site making use of Joomla, for example, at the click of a button. Time is money. And if the scripts you need are at your disposal, you'll be in business that much faster.
Probably the most important aspect to look at is the quality of technical support. Most have an email. But you should have a 24/7 telephone line at your disposal. Its not easy to make an assessment of a web host's support quality. But its imperative. If a support forum is available, read what others say about the web host. If not, the best way is to visit other forums that attract webmasters. Digital Point, Sitepoint or V7 are only 3 forums where you can chat with other webmasters about all aspects related to online business. You can ask about a specific web host. Feedback from others is extremely valuable.
Depending on how you intend to expand your business, you may need to look at a web hosting plan that gives you the chance to set up multiple domains under one account.
Additional bonuses may also help you get your business off the ground. For example, there are many web hosting providers who offer you credit to advertise in Google AdWords.
The Web Hosting team at WebHostCircuit is made up of website owners, website and design professionals. Together, the team boasts years of online experie
