Types of Web Hosting
A lot of people think that it really doesn’t matter what web host you use and choose a host based on price, but there are certain hosts that often time can make your life easier depending on the type of site that you are trying to put together.
The things that often will help determine what host may work best for you are as follows:
- What is your skill level?
- Are you planning on being your own webmaster?
- How much traffic are you planning on?
- Are you going to need a shopping cart?
- What type of support do you want?
What is your skill level?
Depending on how good you understand the internet and also your computer may help to determine what type of a host may work best for you. If you aren’t very good with either, then I recommend finding some easy builder. It may be more expensive but in the short run and long run it will pay off.
If you are fairly advanced, then you probably don’t need to be reading this but if you are you can probably handle a traditional hosting account. Traditional hosting accounts involve FTP and SSH and allow you to build a site from scratch, template and all and also allow you to create databases. From my experience the Linux hosting is a lot more secure and reliable than the Windows hosting.
Are you planning on being your own webmaster?
If you are planning on being your own webmaster then you need to decide what you are going to use for hosting. If you are planning on having someone else being your webmaster then often times allowing them to choose the hosting can be a good decision as long as you double check the pricing and make sure they are charging you extra for the hosting.
How much traffic are you planning on?
With hosting the biggest concern that you have to be worried about is bandwidth. If you don’t have enough bandwidth during the month your site will get shut down. Now a days most host give you plenty of bandwidth. Bandwidth is like the fuel in your car. After you burned up all the fuel/bandwidth the car/site shuts down and you can’t get going again until you fill up with gas/more bandwidth. Extra bandwidth isn’t bad, but if you can find a host where you won’t ever have to worry about it, you will be a lot better off.
Are you going to need a shopping cart?
Sites that require a shopping cart get very complicated. Hosting costs will usually quadruple while disc space can be cut by ten. Shopping carts often times require merchant accounts which often times require SSL certificates that can usually cost close to $100 a year. You also have to make sure the shopping cart works well and that you can get some support if something happens. There are very few Open Source shopping carts that I have found that are easy for a beginner to customize and manage. I’m all about Open Source but I have had enough experience with shopping carts to understand that they suck to deal with especially when you run into problems. It’s worth paying extra for hosting to get reliable support to help you when you run into issues.
What type of support do you want?
Most hosts have email support, but not all of them have 24 hour phone support. It is well worth finding a host that you can call on the phone even if you are talking with Muhamad in India. Email support can be slow and often times is a sign that the hosting company is just starting up and may be a fly by night operation. I know from experience and loss of time and frustration that small hosting companies have a tendency to abandon you and often times disappear. If you get your domain and hosting from them you can get in big trouble.
If you can I recommend finding a host that has the following forms of support:
- 24/7 Support
- Email Support
- Phone Support
- Live Chat Support
- A Hosting Forum/Good Documentation
That way you can get a hold of them at any time and/or find your own answers.
Recap
These are just a few questions and can get your bearings where they need to be before choosing a web host. Check out our recommendations below to help you decide on a host that might work for you.
About Brandon Buttars
