Web Hosting Checklist

Article Summary: Choosing the right web hosting company, and the right web hosting package can be difficult. This checklist helps you to figure out what you really need.

What to Expect From A Web Hosting Company

After deciding on your domain name, you will need to rent server space from a good web hosting company. A web hosting company allows you to rent storage space on their servers - this storage space is where you store your web pages for everyone to see on the internet. A hosting company should also provide 24 hour technical and trouble shooting support to ensure that people around the world can easily access your website. You don't need to pay a lot of money in order to secure the services of a good web hosting company - in fact there are paid and free web hosting services. However, using the services of a free web hosting company such as Yahoo Geocities, AOL or Earthlink does have it's pro's and con's. The major advantage of free web hosting is that you can experiment with designing and maintaining a website without having to pay a cent. The other advantage is that it helps you to decide whether you like the services of that particular web hosting company. The downside of free web hosting is that you cannot get your own customized domain name. You also have limited server space to put up streaming video and photos, and you will likely have advertisements running through all your web pages.

Paid Web Hosting Checklist

If want to use the services of a paid web hosting company, these are the things to look for:

A. Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a measure of how much information is sent to and from your website. Bandwidth is measured by the Gigabytes (or GB), and it is important if you plan to put up streaming video, large images or files for visitors to download. Uploading new files and maintaining your site does not require a lot of bandwidth, however uploading a 5 minute video file that your visitors can watch will consume a lot of bandwidth. It's difficult to estimate your actual bandwidth usage from week to week. If you are concerned about your bandwidth usage, the easiest way to solve this problem is to this ask if your web hosting provider will allow you to increase your bandwidth usage, or to upgrade to a higher bandwidth later on. As a rule, go for 10GB if you are only expecting a few hundred visitors a day, and 35GB if you have a commercial site with thousands of visitors per day.

B. Server Space

Server space is the space that the web hosting company rents to you, for you to store your files and images. Server space is measured in Megabytes (or MB). Choose a provider that is willing to upgrade your server space when the need arises. To know how much server space to shop for, just check your actual file size which you can easily obtain with most website building tools. In general, 5 MB is sufficient for a small website, and 50 MB for a larger commercial company website.

C. Getting Help

One of the most overlooked features when shopping for web hosting is the actual help that the web hosting company can provide. Prompt, helpful, 24/7 service - whether by telephone or email - is essential if you're running a large website. Even if you have a small website, shop for a web hosting company that can provide you with telephone, email and technical support.

D. Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

SSL is a protocol used to provide extra security for ecommerce transactions. This is not essential if you use a payment processing service such as Paypal or Worldpay. These companies direct web visitors to their server, and process all online payments at their secure site.

E. Sub domains

Sub domains are an extension of your main domain name. They are particularly useful for businesses with many subdivisions.

F. Using CGI for Form Data

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) are scripts that allow your website to react dynamically with the web hosting server. The most common application is the processing of forms into data that is sent to your email. Web hosting providers have their own CGI scripts and forms for handling data. These CGI scripts and forms are usually written in HTML - you just copy and insert them into your web pages. Once the codes are inserted, it allows you to capture data and send it to your email.

G. FrontPage Extensions

If you plan on designing your web pages using Windows FrontPage, you will need to check that the company offering web hosting also supports FrontPage extensions. An extension is a special application that is used to provide additional functionality to your program. Each version of FrontPage has its own extension - FrontPage 98, 2000, 2002 and 2003 all have their own unique extension. This means that if you design your pages with FrontPage 2002, check with the web hosting company to see if they support that particular extension.

H. E-mail

Companies that provide web hosting will usually allow you to create personalized email addresses. Some web hosting company require that you email your request to tech support, while others will allow you to create as many email addresses as you want.

I. PHP, ASP, MySQL and other Server Languages

These server languages are quite complex, and are not useful for many beginner or intermediate web developers. They are mainly used for managing database driven sites. If you plan on using a particular server-script to design web forms, check that the script is supported by the web hosting company.

J. Password Protection

Password protection is useful if you plan on restricting access to certain sections of your web page. It allows you to create a user name and password for those protected pages.

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