Web Hosting FAQ

Frequently Asked Web Hosting Questions
So you think it’s time to have your very own website? Great! Now all that you need to do is select a quality web hosting company to do the heavy lifting for you.

It’s very important that you choose the best web hosting company that you can find. However, this can be a little overwhelming at first, especially when you don’t know much of all the technical mumbo jumbo that will be thrown your way.

Never fear! This list is here to help you! It’s a list of the most frequently asked web hosting questions with simple and easy to understand answers.

Question: Can someone please tell me what a web host is?

Answer: Sure! A web host is a company that provides you with a place online to put your website. They store all of the files for your website on their servers. When someone types in your website address, the web host shows them your site.

Question: I’ve heard that web hosts are really expensive. Is this true?

Answer: Different web hosts charge different prices. It’s easy for you to find a great web host that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg for their service, though. Web host fees frequently range from $20-$50 per month for approximately 50 megabytes of space. It’s all determined by the web host and what your particular needs are.

Question: Why can’t I just use one of them free web hosting companies? They’re reliable, right?

Answer: To be honest, most free web hosting services are very unreliable and you can’t afford to lose your business to their unreliability. Most of them live to serve their advertisers, not you, and most of them look very unprofessional. If you’ve spent the time and money to secure a domain name and get your professional web site designed, don’t throw it all away on free, unreliable web hosts. Invest in your site and don’t risk your success.

Question: I can’t take it anymore! I’ve lost count of how many web hosts I’ve tried and the service was always pathetic! Who should I use? Can you tell me about any really, really good web hosts?

Answer: I completely understand your frustration. To help you find the best web host I’ve complied a list of questions you should ask any web host whose services you are considering:

Do they offer fast connections?
If you have a power outage, do you have a way of backing up your data to protect it?
Do you want me to make payments in advance?
Do I have to agree to any long-term contracts?
Will I be charged set up fees
What is your customer support like? (Send a test email to find out for yourself.)
How do you handle order processing? Do you allow free access to a secure server?
Do they offer shopping cart software to process
your orders?
Do they provide you with an online Web Site Manager?
Do you provide an easy to understand online support manual
Look them up online and read other users reviews.

These are some key features that your web host must have:

1. They must have reliable 24/7 tech support.
2. They must be able to provide you with at least one domain name (www.yourname.com).
3. They must provide at least 10GB of monthly transfer (traffic).
4. They must allow a minimum of 20MB – 50MB of server space.
5. They must provide unlimited true POP email accounts – name@yourdomain.com.
6. They must allow unlimited email aliases.
7. They must provide email forwarding.
8. They must provide unlimited autoresponders.
9. They must give you your own unrestricted CGI-Bin.
10. They must allow access to SSL Encryption for secure transactions.
11. They must provide a MySQL Database.
12. They must use Perl.
13. They must provide htaccess password protection.
14. They must allow Server Side Includes (SSI) support.
15. They must allow the ability to design (and upload to) your site using Netscape or other
HTML editing software.
16. They must allow Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions for those utilizing FrontPage .
17. They must provide unlimited free access to your server via FTP/Telnet.
18. They must provide easy access to your log files.
19. They must provide statistics on visits to your site.
20. They must have an Affiliate Program

Don’t always go with the cheapest solution for web hosting for your site. If you find a host that only charges $5-$15 per month, you’ll more than likely find that their customer service stinks, their technical support is horrible and you site is down more than it’s up.

Quality, reliable web hosting is a business investment and you don’t want to lose business simply because you choose cheaper over reliability.