Once you have made the decision to set up a website and have chosen a domain name, the next thing you will need to do is find a good web hosting company. Keep in mind that not all hosting companies will offer the same features so you need to be pretty clear on what you are looking for. If you have never set up a website before, some of this stuff may be totally foreign to you. Here is a ‘primer’ – a few things you should look for when seeking web hosting.
How Much Storage Do They Provide?
- Web Hosting Primer: What to Look for In a Web Hosting Company
Just as your hard drive on your computer has so much storage space, you will find the same thing on a web hosting account. The amount of space depends on the size of the site you want to build and whether or not you will be using a lot of large files, video for example. There is one thing you should be aware of and that is to always read the small print. Most companies will list ‘unlimited storage’ but in the terms in very small print you will see that it is based on ‘normal usage’ – whatever that is!
Don’t Forget to Look at Bandwidth
Sometimes web hosting companies lump bandwidth and storage all together. Bandwidth is the amount of data you are allowed to upload and download in any given month. So, for example, say you are allowed 100 MB. Once you have used that amount of bandwidth you won’t be able to work on your site until another month rolls around or you purchase a larger package – whichever comes first. Here you want to look for the highest bandwidth for the lowest price.
Are You Limited to Just One Site?
Some web hosting packages allow for you to simply register one domain name with them on their smaller packages and as they go up, you can have more domains and sub domains on the same hosting package. It is a real pain in the neck to host all your sites on separate accounts, so look for web hosting that allows multiple domains and sub domains.
Extra Features Such as Email
If you are investigating UK Best Web Hosting to see what they have to offer, look to see if you get email features with your web hosting account. Some web hosting companies don’t offer this feature which wouldn’t be bad if you are looking to set up a personal website, but for businesses, it is far better to have email sent to your domain. It is far more professional to do this as opposed to setting up a Gmail or Yahoo free account.
The reason this is called ‘a primer’ is because these are just the very most basic features you will look for when searching for web hosting. Some offer hosted CMS (content management systems) while others provide a great C-Panel where there are a whole host of apps and features you can use if needed. Before choosing one web hosting company over another, make sure they offer the features you need when developing your domain.
