Every great domain names deserves a great web site and every great web site deserves great hosting.

What to look for in a web hosting provider is really dependant on what you intend to do with your web site.

So let us first look at exactly what it is that the hosting provider is giving you.

 

  1. Disk Space is basically the amount of space the hosting company is allowing you to use on their server as part of the plan you choose to buy from them. Just like you have a hard drive on your computer to store your data, the web host provider also has disc space on their servers. You choose your plan and you are allotted that amount of space on the hosting providers server.
  2. Band width is analogous to visitors. If your site never receives a hit then you will not use any band width. When someone sitting at home in their basement finds your site through a search engine or whatever and clicks it onto their monitor they have actually connected to your web hosting provider and requested that it show your file (web site) on their screen. This connecting of a remote visitor to your server is traffic and is measured in band width.

 

So how much disk space and bandwidth do you need? This depends on the size of your site and the amount of traffic it will attract.

 

In reality most sites attract very little traffic and use very little disc space.

An average webpage is like 20KB. And an average web site gets no more than 20 to 100 hits a day

 

Today most hosts are offering unlimited disc space and unlimited band width even with their basic plan. However this does not necessarily mean that you are going to get unlimited space and bandwidth for $4.95. If you exceed some limit that they will necessarily place on your usage then they will find a way to get you to upgrade or go away. The use of the word unlimited is a marketing ploy in the extremely competitive world of hosting. The reality is as already stated that the vast majority of sites receive tiny amounts of traffic and use very little disc space.

 

So what else to look for in a hosting provider:

 

  1. Service is essential to most people who are new to the web. You will most probably have absolutely no idea what you are doing and it is great to have someone to answer your questions and take care of the mess you have made of uploading your site or transferring your domain name form your domain registrar to your hosting provider..
  2. Add on domain names means that you are allowed to have more than one web site on your plan without being asked to pay more. After you have finally succeeded in getting your first site up and running successfully you might just think this is great and decide to get some more sites up and running. A provider who allows add on domain names will allow you to do this for no extra charge. You will of course have to register a new domain name for your new site. You can check out available domain names in the GoDaddy search tool at the top of this page.
  3. Up time or more importantly down time. How often are your visitors going to find a site not available notice instead of your web site? You need to go with a hosting provider who has a record for reliability.
  4. Some providers will as a marketing tool offer you a free domain name for life. Just in case you haven’t been living in the real world for some time let me make it clear to you that nothing is free. Imagine if you where a fish swimming around in a river and you saw a free worm dangling in front of you. Yes the worm is free but the hook means that you’re a sucker. So beware of the word free. Get your domain name before you build your site. Build your site before you get hosting.
  5. You will find that most of the really cheap rates being bandied around the web are for two or three year plans paid in advance. If you want to pay monthly you will find that the low price quoted in the ads double or treble. So once again beware of the free stuff.

 

If you decide to spend hours upon hours weaving your way through endless searches to find the very best hosting provider and the very best deal you will find in the end just like me that price and service are bound together at the hip. If you find an inexpensive provider who is serving thousands of clients and is only asking that you pay one month up front then you have probably found a good provider.

 

A great option for beginners or for family websites is free hosting. Most free hosting comes with advertisements or banners on the site. However there is one hosting provider who offers totally free hosting without ads or banners of any kind on your site. They are giving 1500mb of space and 100gb of bandwidth and once again it is totally free. You can check it out by clicking here

I personally use HostGator for this site. I have found that they are up 24/7, you can email for service, chat on your computer to a service agent with like a 30 second wait and if in the end you want to you can call their toll free service number.

When I started I was really useless, and probably still am, however the service reps at HostGator where always there for me.

 

Another great host service is HostMonster They are large and offer great service, Up time and all the necessary items for you to launch your web site without suffering a nervous breakdown.      

 

I’m sure that there are others out there that are just as good and in the end it is personal choice fired by trial and error that will make up your mind.

A huge amount of the hosting being advertised on the web is reseller hosting, which is basically you buy a plan that allows you to sell hosting under your brand name. Your clients would pay you directly and you in turn will pay your monthly plan fee. If you are lucky and work hard at it you could make some good cash.

HostGator has a great reseller plan