If you do a search for ‘Web hosting’ on Google, you will get more results than just about any other search phrase you can think of. With the vast number of different companies and hosting packages out there, it is hardly surprising how difficult it can be to decide which one to go for. For businesses, choosing a suitable company is even more important. Should you end up with an unreliable service or one which seems too cheap to be good enough, you could end up with all sorts of problems which can end up costing a lot of money. Following are some useful tips to help you find a good Web host for your business website.
Reliability
Reliability is the most important factor of all. Web hosting companies advertise their reliability in terms of uptime. Every hosting company needs to shut down its servers on occasion for maintenance or hardware upgrades, so achieving a 100% uptime is practically impossible. Hosting companies measure their uptime in nines after a decimal point. A company offering a hosting package with a 99.9% uptime, for example, will be down for approximately nine hours per year. During this time, your business’s website will be inaccessible. Any less than this, and it could make a noticeable impact on your sales.
Customer and Technical Support
Things can go wrong, no matter how reliable and reputable your hosting company is. Often, the problem may be at your end but, wherever the problem lies and whatever it is, you are going to need to be able to rely on prompt technical support. In business, this can end up getting very costly. A reliable hosting company should offer prompt technical and customer support 24 hours per day every day of the year.
Technology and Features
Cheaper companies are often cheaper because they are using older hardware. Ensuring that the company you choose uses proven and cutting edge technology will improve reliability. As a business user, you will also want to pay special attention to the level of security offered. Your site needs to be well protected from hackers and malicious software. Any business Web hosting package should take this into consideration. Other extremely important features to consider are disk space and bandwidth. Having ample bandwidth is a must for any expanding business.
Budget
Web hosting packages span a huge price range. As a business, you should forget about free hosting packages, since these won’t usually even allow you to have your own domain name. When you are first looking for a provider, consider your budget carefully and come to a realistic conclusion. This will help you to narrow down your search. When it comes to budget, it is best to go for the best that you can afford. On the other hand, there is no point in paying for more bandwidth and disk space than you are ever likely to need. A business Web hosting company should offer a scalable service anyway, allowing you to upgrade the hosting package easily and quickly as your business expands.
