How to Find Good Web Hosting Service

What is a Web Hosting? According to Wikipedia "A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation."

Beside a domain name, you also need a web host/server to host your web files. So everybody can visit your site anytime. Lots of companies (including your ISP maybe..) offer a web hosting service, but what you should know is how to choose a good (if it's not great..) web hosting for you. I'm not gonna list the companies here. You can find it on Google. But I will guide about what you should consider before buying a hosting service.

Cost
Cost is often the first thing people think about when looking for a Web host. You can find a host that costs anything from free up to hundreds of dollars a month. Hosting Companies with expensive price, often will give you an easier of use, lots of feature (such as Easy Website Builder, great Control Panel, File Manager, Templates, Database Manager, Email Manager, Video Tutorial about Control Panel Usage, etc).

Space
This is also important. You need to choose the right Space for you right now and further. How big is your website files? And what you really need to consider is does your site grow bigger in the future? Do you have plans to add more multimedia content? Database (like MySql) also will eat your space too. Especially if have a growing member list (and if you give them permission to upload their files to your web server).

Scripts and Programs
Do you need any Programs like CGI, Perl, PHP or ASP? Check out your website files if you don't know about this. Ask your web designer (unless you create it on your own). What about the database (like MySql or Postgre-Sql). Also, think like when you choose a hosting space. Do you need to use all the programs above in the future?

At minimum, you should choose a hosting provider that allows you access to a CGI-BIN folder so that you can add scripts later. You should also look for a provider that has pre-built tools like form-to-email, guestbooks, or chat.

Access
How do you need to access your site to make changes to it? Using Control Panel like Cpanel. Some sites allow FTP access from anywhere, while others require that you use only their online tool.

Support
Don't forget support. If your site has problems, support will help you get it back up and running.

Transfer Limits or Bandwidth
Bandwidth charges can cost you much more than the monthly fees you have just for hosting. Bandwidth is the amount of traffic your site gets per month. A site with a high amount of bandwidth will need to pay for higher transfer limits or risk getting hit with high fees. If you anticipate that your site is going to be really popular, then you should watch that hidden bandwidth fees are not part of the service plan.

What else you should know about Web Hosting?
Read here about web hosting type.
Also read about web hosting review.


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