Selecting The Right Web Host For Your Company
June 28, 2006
Selecting the right web host for your site is one of the most critical business decisions you will ever make. Given the unprecedented and continuous growth of the Internet, businesses no longer have an option. If you are to compete successfully in today’s tough business environment, you simply must have an online presence.
As far as your customers are concerned, your web site is you. The website is often the only contact they will ever have with your business. If they have a good experience (servers work properly, etc,) then they will associate your company with responsiveness and quality. If they have a bad experience your company gets a black eye.
The right web host can go a long way toward projecting a positive image for your company. The best-designed website in the world won’t bring in one penny for your company if it is not properly hosted and easy for customers to use.
Thankfully, you don’t have to be a technical genius or an Internet expert in order to choose the right web host. In fact, most people and businesses with web sites are not technical computer experts. They are doctors, lawyers, lawn maintenance companies, appliance repair services, restaurants, florists, etc. That’s where web hosts come in and that’s why choosing the right one is so important.
Identify Your Needs
Before beginning your web host selection process, you should make a list of your specific needs. Determine how many megabytes you expect the site to take up and how much traffic you expect. Many hosting companies set fees according to how many megabytes of information they will store and how much traffic is expected.
Make sure the web hosting companies you are considering can meet those needs. You don’t want to find out AFTER you’ve signed a contract that their technical support team is not responsive or that their servers are frequently offline. How can you tell how responsive a web host is going to be? You test them. If they have a phone number (and they should) call them late at night or on weekends to see if they are really there.
Also, send an email to their support email address (not their sales email) and ask them a basic question like “Is there a limit on the number of autoresponders I can have?” Their email response time will give you an indication of the speed and quality of the service you would receive if you chose their web hosting service. A good web site host will have a technical support team that is accustomed to dealing with people who have little or no technical knowledge.
Because the web is a global around the clock method of doing business, it is essential that your site is constantly functioning well and that either you or your web host can access your site to upload new information any time of the day or night.
If you are planning to sell things on the internet, there will be a few factors that will be involved with that decision. First of all, you'll need an SSL certificate for your website, so that you can process credit card transactions. Basically, these are third parties that will take care of each and every transaction, for a small percent fee, eliminating the need for extra security on your server. You'll also need to ensure that the server as well as the software is capable of running the script you have for your shopping cart.
Make sure that your web hosting company has sufficient redundancy. No web hosting company should rely upon a single group of servers. Nothing turns a customer off faster than to try to access a site that is not functioning properly. If one server crashes, your files should be able to run on another server.
Ask For Success Stories
Before choosing a web host, ask to see some “success stories” from their other clients and check out some of the other websites they are hosting. Get in touch with some of the host's existing (or past) customers, and ask them what they really think of the service and reliability of their host. Doing your homework on this can save you countless time and money.
The best web hosting company is the one who can offer all the services you need in order to operate a successful website. If you require special services, such as an SSL certificate or dedicated IP, you'd obviously want a host who was capable of filling that need. Because each customer's needs are different, there are a variety of hosts to choose from.
As technology continues to evolve, web hosts will be changing rapidly, providing even a broader array of services. The unprecedented growth of the internet guarantees that an online presence is not an option. It is a must for companies who expect to grow and thrive.
Finding the perfect fit in a web host will allows you to focus your energy on making (and counting!) the money that a well-run web site can bring to your business. Your web site is the door to your company. Open it wide, let your customers in and show them how easy it is to do business with you.
Copyright 2006 © Website Source, Inc.
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