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BlueHost
$5.45/m (Free Setup)
* Unlimited disk space
* Unlimited bandwidth
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HostGator
$3.95/m (Free Setup)
* Unlimited disk space
* Unlimited bandwidth
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IX Web Hosting
$1.95/m (Free Setup)
* Unlimited disk space
* Unlimited bandwidth
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iPage
$1.99/m (Free Setup)
* Unlimited disk space
* Unlimited bandwidth
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InterServer
$4.00/m (Free Setup)
* Unlimited disk space
* Unlimited bandwidth
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How to Choose a Right Web Hosting Service?
Indeed, choosing a right web hosting service for your website is not an easy task especially
when there are thousands of web hosting providers all offering almost identical web hosting
packages. Therefore, it is important to know few major aspects even before you start
your web hosting search. This article offers three major guidelines for web host seeker:
Web hosting features requirement
This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a host for your site.
You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including:
| Server platform and hardware requirements |
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If you plan to set up a website that uses programming
environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or
Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, in this case, you will need to find a web
hosting service that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000
servers.
Likewise, if you plan to use programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP
or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform should
be sufficient to meet your hosting requirements. Once you have these server platform
and hardware requirements in mind, you can decide the best web hosting plans for your
need. For more information, you can read "
How to select a web server and server platform?"
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| Disk space & Bandwidth requirement |
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Here is another technical requirement that you need to
consider before selecting a web hosting plan, i.e. disk space and bandwidth. If you
intend to publish a website that does not have a lot of contents (meaning, web pages),
then the disk space requirement may not be a big concern to you. In general, a disk space with
200MB to 500MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement. In contrast, if you
plan to host a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files,
then you should consider a web hosting plan that provide huge disk space,
for example, 500 MB to 1,000 MB.
Similarly, the bandwidth requirement will depend on your site traffic estimation. Obviously, a website
that expect to attract high traffic will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast. If so, you will
need to find one web hosting service that offer huge bandwidth with 40 GB to 100 GB per month. Depending upon
your website requirement, choosing a web hosting service that provide sufficient
amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra
costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.
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| Other hosting features |
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While the above requirements are utmost important, there
are other hosting features that you have to consider too. Can web
hosting provider support video clips on your website, if you have?
Is the web hosting service compatible with Dreamweaver or FrontPage
web authoring tool? Do you plan to set up a virtual store online?
Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra
cost to your monthly payments? On top of that, you may also want to
find out the number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software (analyze your web traffic),
type of control panel supported (manage your web hosting account), database and scripting languages supported and etc.
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Reliability and scalability
A first-class web hosting provider offers reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection.
You should only choose a web hosting service that guarantee at least 99% server uptime with
high-speed Internet backbones using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second)
or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A reliable web hosting provider usually invests heavily on
their data center infrastructure with high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones
providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in
place to ensure they meet the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service.
Similarly, you should choose a web hosting service with hardware facilities that designed for
scalability, so that they can grow with your business. For example, if you need to increase
more disk space, bandwidth or number of mySQL databases, you should be able to upgrade as needed without any
problems.
Customer service and support
The last major consideration in choosing a web hosting service is to find a web hosting providers
that offers excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting
provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly
experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable
amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support
by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any
response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer
support if they take more than one day to response.
In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support
channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledgebase,
Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.
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Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service.
In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the
number of customers that they currently have are also a
good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the
stability of the company. Even though cost
of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration.
Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition,
as a result, the price of most of the web hosting services offering quality hosting features has
been converging to less than US$10 per month. If you can't afford less
than $10 per month, you probably isn't in the online business for the long
haul. Therefore, price should not be a major deciding factor.
On the other hand, it is more important to ensure the web hosting service that you choose is able
to meet your website hosting requirements, guarantee your website is always accessible with
satisfying speed, provide scalability to grow and expand your website as well as offer excellent
customer supports. Depending on your web hosting requirement, you can take advantage of our site
to find the
Top 5 recommended web hosting services that can match the three major criteria above. Good
luck to your search.
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