What Hosting Package Do I Need?

By: Gary Klingsheim

What Hosting Package Do I Need?

With every passing day (or nanosecond, it seems) the options available for hosting your own Web site increase dramatically. Storage space and traffic loads used to be much more important to control, what with the cost of servers, hard drives, broadband access and the like. Now it is not uncommon for even low-priced plans to have unlimited space and bandwidth.

The very first and most important consideration is, What are you going to use your site for? If you just need a virtual bulletin board, so to speak, for family photos, a vacation blog or other personal things, you should check with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) about your free Web space. Most ISPs give you enough free space to do some pretty neat things. If your site is for family and fun, you should use what you are already paying for. You won't get a nifty MyName.com domain name (it will be more like hostingcompany.com/userpages/grfdlc23, or even worse) but you will have a Web site.

Business types

If you are a brick-and-mortar business that just needs a Web presence, then your needs will be different than if you want to focus on e-commerce exclusively. The variables you are dealing with now are the types of underlying structures you will use, that is, plain HTML or ASP, PHP, etc. If you are going to use Microsoft products for your front-end, this may mean you also have to choose a Windows server rather than the (usually) slightly lower-cost Linux server.

There are many considerations, but the more careful you are with your initial decision the less you will have to adjust, add or delete services as time goes on. Do you have a large inventory database that you want interacting with your shopping cart? Then you need the space and tools for a SQL (Structured Query Language) database in your hosting package, as well as ASP. If you decide to use Microsoft's FrontPage, the server will need the proper extensions. Don't assume something is in the package if it is not specified in print (virtual or otherwise).

Basic issues

Although storage space and bandwidth are getting less costly all the time, not all hosting providers offer unlimited amounts of them. You can still find great deals that do not have unlimited space and transfer amounts, and if they otherwise fill the bill then those variables are not deal-makers or -breakers. Simple Web pages of copy can be extremely small, so if you’re dealing with articles and not photos or movies, your pages can be tiny (a few kilobytes, even). However, you need to buy a package to take you where you're going, not just work with what you start out with. If you are going to grow the site, whether a family fun spot or a business destination, try to figure out your future needs. If the price is right, opt for an unlimited plan.

Make sure you get a good Web metrics, or analytics, service with your package. You need to know what is happening on your site, traffic-wise, so that you can upgrade landing pages, retool content and stay abreast of changing customer and visitor needs. Most hosting packages offer some kind of control panel interface for you to work on your site from a browser. You want to be able to access your statistics (stats) this way, too, rather than download a separate file. In the end, of course, however you get them, you need up to date summaries.

FTP and support

A simple FTP program will give you the ability to upload files directly to the server from your computer. The aforementioned control panel interfaces, the most popular of which is "cPanel," also give you the ability, in most cases, to upload new pages as well as delete existing ones. Along with the support for PHP (a web scripting language) and MySQL (a web database system), you also want the ability to set up and run “Cron Jobs” that will perform certain tasks at regular intervals.

Another crucial aspect to choosing a Web host is the technical support that is on offer. You need to know that the host is reliable and that its e-mail support has guaranteed response times. Beyond that, of course, you may want a package that provides a toll free help line for technical issues if you need assistance in a hurry. The fact is, hosting firms sometimes offer toll-free support for the life of the account, sometimes for a limited time, and sometimes for the life of the account but only at certain times of day.

Making the right choice of a Web hosting package is critically important to any business. Making the wrong decision can be avoided by taking your time, asking for help if you need it and ensuring that everything is plainly written in your contract.

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