Selecting a Reliable Web Host

In addition to finding a professional, affordable internet site designer, securing a web host is another crucial step in the website design process. An internet host is a company that stores your web site's files. All the pages you see on the internet are a collection of pages stored in an online folder. You pay a web host to store your files in its online folder. Having a reliable web host is essential to your business. When you send a potential or current client to your site, you need it to be up and running error-free. Since this is so important, we have outlined a few guidelines in selecting a reliable web host:

How cost effective is this web web host?
Before selecting a host, shop around and ensure the price and features of the account you are considering are competitive for the industry. Remember: expensive does not mean best! You never desire a web hosting service if a smaller company can offer the same services more effectively and for 1/2 the price.

Does the host have a proven record of reliability?
At this time there are TONS of web hosting companies on the net as I am sure many of you realized as soon as you searched for "web hosting company" in your search engine of choice. Top ratings in Google, MSN, or Google do not guarantee a reliable company. These ratings only make sure a company spent time and/or money on search engine search engine optimization (getting its site to the most notable of the charts). Before you purchase website hosting, ask other business owners which company they recommend and why. Likewise, check out forums such as Web Hosting Speak. This forum allows customers to sound off of the web hosting company (positive and negative comments are welcome). Here you can hear what customers have said of the hosting experience with company XYZ before you buy. Also, ask your colleagues or web development company for hosting information. The best companies can be found through word of mouth marketing referrals.

Is it easy to leave if I change my mind about this host?
This kind of is an essential question that many small business owners do not consider. Little business owners do not always realize that hiring a website designer and securing a web host can be affordable. Instead, they look for an all-inclusive web hosting package that offers pre-built site templates or site builders. These are tools are helpful ONLY IF you plan to stay with that webhost throughout the life of your web site. You would be using the internet host's design software, if you still left, the web host would still own your website files, leaving you to begin designing your site from scratch. Before utilizing a site with pre-built templates or site builders, find out if you are allowed to keep the internet site if you later decide to move to another web host. There are also a few other items to consider: site uptime (is the website guaranteed to be available 99. 9%), late billing consequences (is there a grace period, or will site be immediately taken down), and frequency of back-ups (if the web hosting company's machines go down for any reason, will your site have been backed up and ready to go once the situation is resolved, or will your site be lost).

As a precaution, always back-up a duplicate of your internet site to your home or work computer's hard drive. This may well not be possible if you use a pre-built template or online site builder software, but it is important in case something occurs the hosting company. Remember to always read the fine printing of all hosting deals you sign (albeit digitally) AND to choose a host lets you keep a back-up of your website on your home or work computer (without any extra costs or fines).