What Your Webhost Won't Tell You

Last week I gave you some information regarding free and paid web hosting services as part of a series I'm calling My First Website. Setting up a website requires a lot of research, so I'll be giving you some guidelines to help you get through the domain registration process all the way to marketing of the site. This post is the second post regarding hosting services, where I'll help you refine your search criteria before you sign up with just any host.

Choosing a paid web host can be a daunting task so here's what I recommend you do first:

• Set up a list of features you think you need, then place them in order of importance.
• Choose at least 5-10 web hosts based on your criteria.
• Prepare a list of pre-sale questions you may have, and interview them.
• Call up their support department to find how long it takes them to respond.
• Narrow down your list to the top 1-3 web hosts.
• Pick one and sign up for a free trial, with option to upgrade.

Sounds too easy doesn't it? Let's go back to my third bullet point: Setting up a questionnaire for prospective hosts. In my opinion there are four features that are very important in the selection process. These are reliability, tech support, tools, and price. Let's take a closer look at this criteria:

How reliable is your service?
Nothing could be worst for a site owner than to see their website down. Downtime is bound to happen, but the frequency of these blackouts is what should matter. Unfortunately, because downtime issues can be really unpredictable, you can't really find out how reliable their web servers are even on a free trial. The good news is you can ask them about "uptime guarantees" which means they will refund you for any time your site was down due to server issues. You can also ask them to move your site to another server that may have less problems. I suggest you look for reviews, blogs, and forums discussing your hosts reliability. People out there are pretty vocal about these kind of issues.

Do you offer technical phone support?
You'll certainly need help at some point, so look for a host who is there for you at least during working hours. Some hosting companies handle all their support through email or chat, but you want to be able to speak to a representative whenever possible. Overnight support is rare for low-cost web hosting companies, so if your site breaks at night, good luck getting some answers. Call their support number to get an idea of their response time before you sign up. If they don't offer phone support, make sure you're able to reach them via email or chat.

How much disk space do I need ?
Surprisingly, this is the first question people ask when they're looking for a webhost. Unfortunately, no sales representative will be able to answer this question for you, because they don't know the size of your website, databases, files, or how much email you plan to receive. The good news is that most web hosts today offer at least 100MB on their smaller packages, which is a good starting point. This would be a good time to ask about upgrade options, and what is involved when upgrading. Most of the time, an upgrade just adds more resources to your account, but there are cases when you have to move your site to another server, which can complicate things for you. Here's a conversion table to help you decide disk space needs:

• 1byte= 1 character. This sentence is 25 bytes.
• 1,000 Bytes=1 KB
• 1,000KB = 1MB
• 1,000 MB=1 GB
  

How much bandwidth/transfer do you offer?
This depends on your website's popularity. Transfer refers to the amount of information that is transmitted to/from your webspace. Each time a picture or HTML page is viewed by a visitor, you upload data using FTP, or email is received it adds to your monthly transfer. They say the average hit is approximately 10K. Estimate the number of customers who will visit your site on a busy day. The more people on your website, the more transfer you will require. For large, popular sites, I'd recommend you get your own server with unlimited bandwidth.

What type of design and marketing tools do you offer?
A basic hosting plan will meet the needs of a personal or small site. An ecommerce site requires features such as a shopping cart, secure certificates, merchant accounts, site submission tools, and statistics. Find out if those features are included, as well as their limitations. For example, some hosts limit the amount of products you can add to a shopping cart. The more tools they offer the better you're off in the long run, especially if you have no web design experience. Tools such as site builders, content management programs, blog platforms, and other design tools will have you up and running in no time. It's better to go with a host that offers these extra tools, even if you don't need them right away, rather than realize later you can't run your site without them. Otherwise, you'll outgrow your hosting company forcing you to move your site to another host. The repercussion is usually downtime.

How much is your service?
Most hosting providers offer you a compare plans page complete with features, upgrade options, and prices. There is typically a setup fee that runs anywhere between $10-$30 this is average for most hosting plans. It doesn't' hurts to ask if they will waive the setup fee if you are transferring an existing web site and domain from another location. Even if they don't advertise that they do, if you're transferring a site they will most likely work with you. Lucky for some, not all web hosts charge a setup fee, which is great if you are setting up an account on the most basic plan. It just doesn't make sense to open a $9.99/mo plan and have to pay a $30 setup fee.

There are a lot more questions you should ask, but I think these are the most common ones. Make a list of other questions you might have such as email offerings, spam protection, databases, money back guarantees, and cancellation policy. Once you signed up, you'll need the name server address of your new host so you can point your domain to this new place. Be aware that it usually takes 24-48 hours for the domain name to propagate.

That's it! My next post in the series will address design, so stay tuned.

My First Website Series:
How to Choose a Domain Name
What You Should Know About Domain Registration
Free vs. Paid Web Hosting
Eliminate Spam: Mask Your Email Address
Family Website or Family Network?