So now that you have your plan written down which will be the road map to your success, let’s look at one of the most important aspects of your business: hosting. A Web host is essentially the place where your site is to be uploaded to and where the files that your site is calling are stored.[Part 1]
So now that you have your plan written down which will be the road map to your success, let’s look at one of the most important aspects of your business: hosting. A Web host is essentially the place where your site is to be uploaded to and where the files that your site is calling are stored. Though it is probably not the most important decision you will make with your new business, take it from one who has been there, I rank it quite highly. There is a lot to consider when looking for a host and each aspect is just as important as the next.
Free hosting versus paid hosting
If you are starting your free site campaign to make money then you will need to spend a little money. Hosting is one of the areas that you will have to spend money to make it. Free hosting companies in most cases allow you to have a place on their servers to hold your sites. You would think this would be great but nothing is for free and like you, they are in business to make money. They make their money by taking some of your traffic that you worked your tail off to get and directing it to their money making ventures, whether that is a dialer, a banner or a deceptive text link that sends your surfer to “pop-up Hell.” If you want to make money you need your surfers buying from you, not from your host. Paid hosting sounds scary I know, but it doesn’t have to be that way if you take the time to research and make an informed decision about who is to take care of your largest assets, your websites.
What to look for in a hosting company
1. How long has it been in business?
2. Do a search of some of the Webmaster resource sites and chat boards for the hosting company you are researching and see if there is anything negative (or positive) about it.
3. Ask for some references from clients that are using the company now that you can email to ask how they feel about the host they are using.
4. Ask for a phone number so you can talk to someone. Look on the site and see if it lists numbers for customer service, sales and technical support. Make sure the numbers actually work, call them, and only continue on if a live person answers. Ask if they have 24-hour customer service or at least technical support. Do they have an office or does the staff work from their houses?
5. Send an email to them. If it takes them a week to answer your sales questions, then count on them taking a month to answer your technical questions after they already have your money.
6. Ask what their uptime is. Hosting companies use computers just like you do and theirs crash just like yours. If it is a machine, it will happen. How they handle that crash is the important part. Is there someone on facility that can go hit the reboot button or do you send an email to Joe who lives in the next state and will have to drive to the location on Christmas Eve during a Christmas party? What do you think the odds of your site being back up quickly will be? Zero would be my guess in that situation. Ask about redundancy. It’s a good thing.
7. Talk to the sales staff about flexibility. If you get the package for $9.95 and you go over on your transfer limit will they allow you to upgrade to the next level, or are they going to force you to pay the overage fee? And… what IS that fee?
8. Do they have some sort of interface that will allow you to add domains and manage your own hosting?
I am sure that each of you will think of other things that are important to you. Before you start calling the hosting companies, write all your questions down, use word pad or some word processor and type it out, allowing yourself room to write in their responses to your questions. Do one of these sheets for each company you talk to so that you can refer to them for your final decision.
When you have completed your research and think you have found the host for you, take this final step. Go to the Webmaster chat boards and make a post asking if anyone has had a problem with that specific hosting company. Give it a couple of days. You do not want to give it two hours and then pay them your money and then have someone come on the next morning and write a two page post about all the problems he encountered.
One final note. Do not be afraid to ask any question under the sun. Go to YNOT and contact me or someone else you respect or think can help you. Don’t be afraid that the question is “dumb”. If I teach each of you nothing else I hope to teach you the only dumb question was the one you did not ask. This industry is full of kind and caring people that love to help out the newbies like you, and they like to share ideas and make friends. They go out of their way to help so take advantage of it!
See you next time when we will talk about choosing domains, affiliates and the start of basic design rules and principles.
(Stay tuned for part three next week!)
Tony is the owner of Exxxtreme Adult Designs, a design company offering custom free site, AVS site and TGP gallery designs. He also designs banners and logos.
He is currently offering a package which includes 1 hub, 5 free sites and 4 TGP galleries for only $200.00. A great way to get your plans rolling! He can be contacted at tntdesign@charterinternet.com, via ICQ# 166558226 or you can call him at 802-479-0053.
