A web host is a company that provides space on their servers to you, their client, for storage of your web site files. It is important to choose a reliable web hosting company because your site will not be seen if the company’s servers are down. Hosting companies will offer a variety of packages for you to choose from. Look for a company that will make it easy and affordable to upgrade to more advanced options as your business grows. Basic services will be hosting your web site files, uploading files by FTP (file transfer protocol), and a sufficient number of email accounts. More advanced features that you may need now or in the future are shopping cart software, support for database applications such as PHP and Java, and script authoring and hosting tools.
There are a variety of considerations when choosing a web host. Foremost in choosing your web host is customer support. Look for a hosting company that offers 24/7 support by email and phone, when you have a problem you are not making money so you need help as soon as possible.
Another important consideration is the web hosts reliability. Reliability refers to the amount of time your website is up. Many web host companies report a 99.9% up time or a guaranteed up time. These claims may be not mean much if the company does not offer a history or their up time. You are not earning money if your web site is not available because of problems with a web host. Of course there will be short periods of down time for maintenance and upgrades. Consistent up time is the key here.
You will also need email accounts. I recommend a web host that offers multiple POP3 and web based email accounts. If you have web based email accounts then you can run your business from anywhere you have an internet connection. You need multiple accounts to help keep your email organized.
Other factors to consider from your web host package are disk space for file storage, for most start up web sites 25-50 MB should be adequate. Look also at bandwidth. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transmission from the web hosts servers to other computers accessing your web site, 1-2 GB should suffice for the start up web site. Other services you may need are web site building software and templates, many companies offer these for free and other services such as forums, blogs, databases, and sub domains. You will also want web site statistics so that you can look at who is visiting your website and from where.
