Useful Hosting Knowledge Anyone Can Use
A company, no matter how large, is only ever as strong as its weakest link. Now, in most cases, a company’s weakest link is its web server or its hosting provider. If you’re not a programmer by nature, all of the fancy words and directories can get confusing at times. When it is not clear what to purchase, people generally just throw up their hands and choose something. As easy as this may be, it’s not really a good idea, so keep reading for great information on how to choose your web hosting company without all that confusion.
Determine if your hosting provider offers the ability to run server-side scripts. A lot of free services will only provide you the tools necessary to build your own pages or let you use their templates, but not add overly dynamic personal scripts. If you find you require dynamic script on your page, you might stop to seriously ponder paying your web host for the ability.
Get multiple recommendations when you are trying to pick a hosting service. When you only rely on a few reviews, there is a greater chance of there being an error in your decision. One reviewer may rate a company poorly when it is their own inexperience at fault, or another may favorably review a company that they are affiliated with.
Make sure to register your site’s domane name independent of your host site, so that you can retain control of it if there is ever a dispute between the two of you. If you register your domain with your host, your host will control the registration instead of you.
Free Hosting
Is free hosting looking good for your needs? There are many disadvantages that come along with the benefits of free hosting services, including lack of backup services, so make sure you are creating your own site backups. If you choose not to do this, a problem with the site could result in substantial data loss.
Don’t select a web hosting service that has enough space for you right now; select one that gives you room to grow. A single HTML page requires very little space, but images and videos up the ante considerably. Look for a plan that gives you 100MB of space to develop your website in the next year or so.
When reviewing potential web hosts, look for one that can give you detailed analytics about your site’s traffic. Add a site visitor counter so you can cross reference with your web host’s stats. This information will help you tailor your marketing schemes to your target audience and gauge the success of your changes.
Do not believe in a host advertising any kind of unlimited services. For example, when a web host offers unlimited disk space, there might be limitations on the file types that are allowed. Besides, unlimited bandwidth can mean you have to pay an extra fee. By knowing what these plans are really giving you, you can determine if they’re worth the money or if you even need them at all.
Don’t sign up for free website hosting simply due to the fact that it’s free. A free web page hosting account will include ad placement on your site, even if you don’t want it. In some cases, the ads will not be related to your site and you will not be able to control what appears on your site. Additionally, ads that have no bearing on your services or product will appear odd and unprofessional.
Identify the positives and negatives of the hosting plans you’ve gathered information on. Even if you’ve already signed a contract, you can still use this information when you upgrade or switch companies.