Build a Website: Finding a Home for Your Site
Some web hosting services offer "turnkey" packages, everything from planning and designing the site to programming and physically maintaining it. If you go with a package deal, evaluate each option carefully. Be sure to get a written estimate with hourly rates and a cap on costs for each phase of the project.
Choosing a Hosting ServiceIf you decide to go with a hosting service, find a reliable, cost-effective, customer-friendly provider. Here are some questions to guide your decision:
How fast and reliable is the connection to the Internet?Do they guarantee 24-hour a day service and support?
Do they have uninterrupted power supplies and robust backup systems?
Nothing is worse than spending thousands of dollars to develop a site, then hearing complaints from customers about slowness or server outages. Your hosting service should have at least two high speed connections (T1 or T3) to the Internet. Having backup generators is a must.
How long have they been in business? How many employees do they have?Avoid one-man start-up operations. They are fine if you are looking for a deal for your personal site. But when it comes to your business, you need an operation that has professional technicians, network specialists and offers responsive customer support.
Do they offer full domain name service (i.e.www.myname.com)?Some hosting services do not want to go through the trouble of creating the full pathname aliases required to support different domain names. Instead of offering you the option of a www.myname.com domain name, they will offer you something that looks like this: www.lazyhosting.com/myname. This type of URL looks unprofessional, and is usually too long and cumbersome to fit on business cards and marketing materials. (It's also difficult to remember.) If the service doesn't offer full domain name service, look elsewhere.
How much data storage are you allowed? Are there extra charges for a high volume of traffic to your site?Look for a provider that offers at least 500 MB of storage space. Larger sites may require considerably more, especially if your site has multimedia content. Most providers charge extra for bandwidth that exceeds a certain threshold of data transfer each month. Find out how much data transfer your plan allows and what it will cost if you exceed the limit.
What kind of traffic reports does the hosting service provide?You should have online access to detailed traffic reports about visits to the site. There is a wealth of data in those files that can help you fine tune your site to the needs of your customers.
Does the hosting service support CGI so you can use forms, database searches and image maps? Does it support FrontPage, Cold Fusion, ASP, PHP and other Web applications?
If you want to have forms, image maps, database and other functionality on your site, you must have full access to a cgi-bin directory (the directory where CGI scripts and other executable programs are stored). Most large hosting services offer this.
What are the provisions for security and keeping hackers at bay?First, keep in mind that your provider is just as concerned about security as you are. Their entire business depends on happy customers who will most assuredly not be happy if their data is not secure. Perfect, absolute, and unbreakable security does not exist on the Internet. Even sensitive U.S. government sites get hacked. However, you can minimize your risks if you know what to look for in a hosting service. The first question to ask is whether it employs a security expert. If you have special security concerns, ask to speak with this person. If they don't employ one and this is a key requirement for you, find another provider.
What you want to hear is that they monitor activity on the server 24/7 to spot suspicious activity before it can cause damage. The hosting service should also employ state of the art firewalls and other methods to address known security problems.
Last update: Jan 12, 2010
