Before choosing a web hosting, you should compare and well informed of all the services they offer. The most important features to consider are:
- Reliability and speed
Find a provider that owns its own equipment to offer the availability of your site secured 99%. Many providers are in fact resellers without their own services and in general have neither the resources nor the expertise to offer a good service, as well as be more expensive. Companies that took 3 or more years of operation are generally more reliable. Some vendors offer a trial period before hiring the accommodation.
- OS
Do you use a standard operating system continuously updated? If not, it will be difficult to get the latest scripts to develop your website. In search for Red Hat Linux, Mandrake, Debian, SuSE, Slackware and CentOS. To see the most recent stable version of Linux www.kernel.org visit. To make sure that Windows has the latest version with all patches updated.
If you're using server technology like ASP or JSP and manage Microsoft applications as Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL will need a Windows server. Linux servers are compatible with MySQL databases with PHP technology and are much cheaper.
- Languages and Databases
Must have at least an updated database. Linux must support PHP and Perl and MySQL databases. Must To provide access to the folder cgi-bin which will be useful especially if you plan to develop an electronic business. If using Windows servers should at least provide for Access and SQL Server.
- Support
Check the media, should at least offer support via email, preferably 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, although it would be advisable to also provide phone support. Make a test and refer any questions to see if they respond quickly and effectively enough to meet their needs.
- FTP Access
Some providers offer very cheap no FTP access, which is essential if you want to add content to your site regularly. Check whether you can change permissions and have multiple FTP accounts that will be useful if your page is created by more than one person.
- Email
How many email accounts provide? Must offer POP accounts in order to access your mail from your computer and also provide Webmail to manage their email directly from the web. See also if they provide autoresponders, very useful especially if you have an e-commerce.
- Control Panel
You must have a control panel intuitive that allows a complete management of your account. The best control panels are useful software preinstalled scripts. Some of the best known are: Elephant or Fantastico, Cpanel, Ensim and Plesk and Hsphere
- Domains
Must have at least one domain with infinite subdomains. The best companies offer usually 5 or more domains.
- Statistics
Do you provide detailed statistics to monitor traffic to your website traffic?
The minimum is 50 MB recommended for cheaper accommodations.
- Bandwidth
The main difference between basic plans and services more expensive is the amount of bandwidth allowed per month.
To calculate how much bandwidth you need, multiply your daily visits X page views each X half the space occupied by each page X 30 days.
Example: 100 visits per day, 5 pages viewed per visitor, with pages that would occupy 45 kb: 100 KB X 5 X 45 X 30 = 675,000 KB = 675 MB.
Try to hire the maximum bandwidth that can afford with your budget. Beware of providers who offer unlimited bandwidth, well read the fine print of the terms and conditions as they usually have some sort of restriction. Check that extra fee will apply if you exceed the bandwidth and options for increased bandwidth hired.
- E-commerce
If you plan to put a store online or servcios offer through the website that require a shopping cart, secure payments and secure transfer of data to make sure your web hosting support SSL.
The average price for a professional web hosting is usually between 6 and 45 € a month depending on services offered.
Compare with all hosting providers before you buy, do not be afraid to make all sorts of questions and note that if you intend to expand their business, 25 € 8 per month per domain gets a lot more profitable than € 10 per month for one.