Questions To Ask a Hosting Company Before You Start

There are several types of hosting. Among them are:

Free hosting
Free sites are for people who's sites are small and do not expect much traffic. Personal sites about your family or hobbies are perfect for free web site hosts. I do not recommend this for any business, promoting or selling a product, or expect a lot of traffic. Usually you cannot use a domain name for your site. You must use a domain and site path provided by the company.

Virtual (or shared) hosting
A web server which shares its resources with multiple users. It's another way of saying that multiple web sites share the resources of one server. If you do not need your own web server (i.e. your own server class computer), you will use a virtual server to host your web site.

Dedicated hosting
A more expensive type of account in which the web hosting company provides you with an entire hosting setup including your own server hardware that only you can use. This usually means a much faster loading time for your site because the entire computer is "dedicated" to running the server software. This is different from most other hosting accounts in which your web site will share space on a server with many other web sites, called a virtual server. A dedicated server makes sense for web sites that require higher availability and higher data transfer rates.

Collocation hosting
Collocation hosting offers the same benefits as dedicated hosting, except you provide the server. I only recommend this plan if you can gain physical access to the server, or have special server requirements. If you are located in New York and the server is in Seattle, it would be difficult, and expensive, for you to replace a hard drive. You can have the hosting provider repair problems, but at a premium cost.

Questions To Ask a Hosting Company Before You Start

1. How long have you been in business? Are you incorporated? Do you have your own Merchant Account?

Varies These are questions geared at stability and long term continuation of web hosting service. These questions are important as you don't want to sign up for a web host who will disappear in one day.

2. How many customers do you serve per server?

Depending on the Web hosting plan or the Web hosting company the server that your hosted on might be a little more packed than you might think. A responsible Web hosting company will not overstuff the servers they own or collocate. Most of the time, sharing a server with several different companies is not a bad thing though. However, you do need to ask your Web hosting company about the numbers. If you are shopping around for Web hosting, you need to ask each company about the client per server ratio. Go with the company that fits your other needs, and has the least amount of clients per Web hosting server.

3. Do you allow SMTP POP3 email to be sent and received from mydomain.com?

You should get the answer: Yes

Some hosting companies force you to send SMTP POP3 email from isp.yourdomain.com rather than yourdomain.com. They do this because they claim 1) it keeps the servers fast. However, a dedicated SMTP POP3 server won't have any problems 2) it minimizes spam (however, spammers can still use technical tools for spamming from their account - so it really doesn't minimize spam). The biggest problem is that some Internet Service Providers won't allow the use of isp.yourdomain.com. It probably wouldn't make for a good day if you discover you had to change ISPs just to send email via your domain.

4. If I go over the monthly allotted bandwidth, what are the charges for each gig?

You should get the answer: $0 to $2 a gig

Watch this one as we have seen hosts indicate "purchase additional bandwidth for $0.1 per MB." That translates into $100 per gig.

5. Do you have any upgrades for each account, and if so, what are the costs?

Varies Most web hosts publish this information along with each hosting plan. It's good to ask if you can't find this information.

Other issues

1. The lame web host companies usually lack professional "look and feel" in their emails, some even taking days to respond. Worse yet, you may find some that won't reply, forcing you to have to send another email. It pays to find out any problems in advance

2. The established web host companies reply to your email within 12 hours, if not by then, you should have at least received a courtesy email to let you know they are reviewing your questions.

3. Keep in mind that there's much more to hosting than gigabytes and HTML, as without the professional support you need, your online business will suffer the consequences.

4. Look for an established Privacy Statement and Terms of Service. A web host without a Privacy Statement or Terms of Service is usually a red flag for you since it is very important for all web sites to establish this information to their visitors. While it can be boring to read this material, you may be in for a surprise to later find out extra charges that your site could unexpectedly incur. Know what to expect. When in doubt, ask.

5 Ask for names of two to three similar users and check with them regarding their experience.

You can find Recommended Hosting Companies at www.RichTrack.com.

Written by Helen Peshkova, RichTrack.com.

http://www.RichTrack.com is one of the first business oriented education portals. It's the leading online business information network for millionaires. The goal of RichTrack.com is to present business content in a professional, helpful and practical format that helps you getting rich.

---

Windows Hosting versus Linux Hosting ? Which is right for you?

There are literally hundreds of thousands of web hosting companies... Read More

Five Quick Ways to Determine One Hosting Company From Another

These days, web hosting companies are popping up faster than... Read More

Sell Web Hosting for Fun and Profit

The market is good for new Web hosting companies. According... Read More

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is a dedicated server that is accompanied by... Read More

Free or Paid Web Hosting?

Just finished your first website? So it's the time to... Read More

Why Dedicated Hosting?

If you're reading this article, you might be interested in... Read More

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company?

Nowadays, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting... Read More

Choosing a Right Hosting Solution

You must have done all the hard works for developing... Read More

Internet Domain Registration - Establishing and Transferring Your Domain Name

If you're in business, one of the most important things... Read More

Importance of Educated Choice While Choosing A Web Hosting Provider

There are many attributes that makes a web hosting provider... Read More

Woe the Web

Finding a good and reliable web hosting company is like... Read More

Free Web Hosting - Why Might It Be A Bad Idea

When talking about free anything the legitimate question that first... Read More

How to Get Better Technical Support

Whenever you have a technical question that needs answering, you... Read More

Dont Get Fooled by the Web Hosting Wolves in Sheeps Clothing!

Are you looking for web hosting? If you want to... Read More

How to Choose the Web Site Hosting Service thats Right for You

There are few things as critical to your e-business success... Read More

Buyer Beware: Web Hosting, Registration, and Site Building All in One Package Nightmares

Starting out in any type of online marketing or Internet... Read More

Will All The $1.95 And Free Hosts Survive?

The main thing wrong today with trying to find a... Read More

Finding a reliable hosting provider

The website hosting business is very competitive these days with... Read More

A Simple Guide to Web Hosting

Personal Computers, Servers Or ISP?You need a server to host... Read More

Setting Up Your First Web Hosting Account

The BasicsSetting up a web hosting account for the first... Read More

How To Build A Successful Hosting Company

There are a couple of key things to look at... Read More

Dedicated Server vs. Co-location Web Hosting

So - you know shared hosting no longer cuts it,... Read More

What Is Web Hosting?

Many businesses, from one-man-bands to multi-national corporations, have a web-presence... Read More

Choosing the Right Web Host

So you've decided about your website design and now you... Read More

Does Your Host Fight Spam?

Virtually anyone with an email address knows what Spam is,... Read More

Free Web Hosting

There is no concept of free lunch in the world,... Read More

Attracting Extra Web Hosting Customers By Targeting Cities, i.e. New York Web Hosting

These searchers are looking for a hosting company in a... Read More

Solving Common Problems with Hosting Companies

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know... Read More

Advanced Hosting for the Mission Critical Web Presence

As companies that conduct their business online have proliferated, hosting... Read More

How To Change Your Web Hosting Provider ? Step-By-Step Guide

Whether you are disgruntled with the level of service your... Read More

The ?Website? CHECKLIST : Domains, Hosting, Web Design

This article is meant to all who already have a... Read More

Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting

Bandwidth explained:Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you... Read More

Webhosting Explained

Web hosts are service companies that provide space on their... Read More