June 2004
Web Hosting Pitfalls
So you want a website? After you choose and register a domain name, the next step is to choose a hosting company. A search at Google.com for “website hosting” returns over 4 million results. It is not an easy decision. Costs can range anywhere from FREE to hundreds of dollars per month.
- Customer Service: There are different levels of support. Many ‘cheaper’ hosting options only provide email support. Being able to talk to someone if there is a problem is worth more than a few dollars per month.
- Experience: If you have little to no experience with setting up a website you may end up frustrated with a national company like GoDaddy.com. You may want to consider using a third-party company to handle your hosting needs. This will take the pressure off you in setting up and managing your website.
- Pricing: Ultra-Cheap Hosting may be just that – cheap. Often the servers that host these websites are overloaded, under-staffed, and possibly located in the middle of Thailand! To offer such low prices they either need to cut corners in hardware or have huge numbers of accounts on single servers. It becomes pretty easy to get lost in the shuffle and ultimately there is a loss in performance.
- Features: Each website has unique needs – CGI Scripts, database access, statistics, PHP, ASP, secure certificates, bandwidth usage, and storage all affect the final price. Additionally, many local companies don’t offer the features of a national company.
- Location: Location is everything – even for a website. Each web server is connected to the Internet in a similar (although more robust) fashion than your personal computer is connected. You want to be sure their connection can handle the amount of traffic and activity your site will produce. If it doesn’t, your website will load slowly and you will lose customers. Your needs will vary based on the type of website you are managing.
Note: All NWHS Online articles are archived at nwhorsesource.com
-Doug DeVries
Equine-Design.com
