Web hosting and domain names

Buying a web site is very important for business. Making an error will almost certainly cost you hard-earned money in addition to giving you a bad reputation. We have drawn up a list of questions across all areas that you need to ask any company that sells hosting solutions before you purchase a website web hosting and domain names. How they answer these queries will let you know whether this is the right website solution for you.

Support for Technical Queries:

• Technical Support needs to be available readily.
• Is there a good knowledge base available on the hosting company's website?
• Can you get access to a help desk?
• Do they have a reasonable response time?
• How effective is the company's technical support department?
• What does the company provide?
• At what times are the available?
• Is their tech support an extra cost?
• Web hosting and domain names

Security Issues:

The servers that host your website (these are online computers that are wired up to the Internet) should be situated at a remote location with a myriad of backup across multiple places. Dual firewalls should protect the machines. If the web sites are hosted in this type of an environment, it means that you are probably protected against any anyone trying to steal your files, failure of the power supply or most kinds of natural disaster. It is in your best interests to try to use a company that provides hosting for several thousand websites.

Make sure that you find out:

• How secure is the location?
• What kind of protection do they have?
• How can they insure that unauthorized users will not put in jeopardy the security of your website?

Disk space:

The amount of web hosting and domain names file Storage your site company that offers hosting offers is directly related to how big your website is likely to be. You really need to ensure that you have enough data Storage to not only to construct your current web site, but to expand for the future.

Get the following information:

• The quantity of web space they provide?
• A conventional site consumes between 20-30 megabytes.
• Does the company offer sufficient extra information Storage to for your web site to expand?
• A good place to start from is one hundred megabytes.

Domains:

Purchasing a Domain name to associate with your site is one of the most important things you have to do.

• Will the company that sells hosting packages register your Domain name?
• How quickly can they do it?
• Do they provide a free domain name with their hosting package?

Website Design:

There exists 3 basic website design choices:

• Hire a web designer to oversee the whole project from start to finish.?
• Buy an inexpensive template solution. But bear in mind however, that modifications are limited.
• Go for a ready-made solution where the content is provided initially by the hosting company, but all can be subsequently altered.

Make sure that the one you go for is the one that will fit all your criteria.

• Does your chosen company offer an easy-to-use website builder?
• What type of technical background do you need to design your web site?
• Do you have full control over updates, content and alterations to the site?

Electronic Mail:

Electronic mail (email) comes as two distinct kinds. The first that comes to mind is POP 3. This type of email is associated with the domain name and can be managed via a webmail Internet browser window or downloaded to a program such as Pegasus, Eudora, Outlook or Outlook Express. The other email type is a forwarding address otherwise known as an email alias. This is where you have an email address that is somename@somedomain except that it is electronically forwarded by the website server to a different email address (e.g. you@msn.com). web hosting and domain names The POP 3 kind is usually the better option because of the fact that you can view all your emails from a number of different of applications and it enhances your organizational image.

• What is the number of email aliases that come with your hosting package?
• Will they contain your domain name for a more professional appearance?
• What is the cost for further emails?

Optimization for the Search Engines:

You should submit your website to the major search engines such as Ask, Google, Yahoo, MSN and The Open Directory fairly often. This will help to get a higher ranking in the search engine rankings web hosting and domain names.

• Does the hosting package come with search engine submissions included in the price?
• What are the details of the system?
• Do you have internal control over content and updates?

Cost:

Before you sign on the dotted line, ensure that there are no hidden costs. Some hosting companies will give you the benefit of a low price knowing that subsequently they will be able to charge you for additional services.

• What costs are involved?
• Are there any setup fees and what do you get for the money?
• What are the ongoing costs and what do they cover?
• Are there any extra fees?
• If there are, what are they and why?

Contract:

• Am I locked into a contract?
• May I cancel at anytime?
• Are there any penalty fees for closing my account or moving to another hosting company?
• What becomes of my website content?

Are You Getting Value:

• What makes them better than other hosting companies?
• Does the hosting organization supply additional features, storage space, better technical support?
• What exactly sets them apart?

I trust that you found this web hosting and domain names article useful. All the above is extremely important when you choosing a suitable hosting package for your site. At Universal Host, we think we cover everything...and we have made the process of choosing which package is best for you and your website needs much simpler. How? Easy, we only have one package to choose from and it's the only package you'll ever need...period. Why? Because it has it all, that's why it's called the Ultimate Hosting Package. It has unlimited mailboxes, unlimited MySQL databases, unlimited data transfer, unlimited webspace and unlimited anything else you could possibly need. Oh...I told a fib! It only has one website builder, but then you only need one of those! I forgot to tell you, it's only £5.00 per month (paid annually) or £5.95 per month (paid monthly).

Find out all about our Ultimate Hosting Solution and more on web hosting and domain names by clicking here.