Finding a Website Host

By corbyboy ⋅ July 22, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Choosing a good host is essential

Whereas finding a domain registrar was relatively straight forward, finding a good web host can be very tricky indeed. Don’t let that put you off, however. There are many excellent web hosts around and it is just a case of finding one that suits your needs. There are many hosts out there and choosing the right one for your needs is important.

Paying for webhosting is essential for any website. Free hosting is avilable but is never recommended. Most put ads on your website and few will be able to deal with large ammounts of traffic. Additionally, when choosing paid hosting, try not to be swayed by offers such as inclusive domain names and free software. The actual value of these offers are never usually as much as having good, reliable hosting.

Where to Begin

First of all, draw up a list of your requirements:

Disk space,
Monthly bandwidth,
Linux or Microsoft hosting,
Programming languages supported: basic HTML, PHP, ASP etc,
Website building tools and add-on scripts such as shopping cart, blog, bulletin boards,
Monthly trial period or money back guarantee,
Additional features such as databases, crontab access, SSL certificates.

Disk Space

Disk space is the space that your files take up on the server. Check whether the figure include database storage too. Bear in mind that any pages that are built dynamically on the server will gradually increase the disk space used. Each time your post on your blog or add a new product to your shopping cart, this will take up more space. Always ensure you have adequate space on your hosting plan. Adding on extra disk space will probably end up costing you more than simply upgrading to the next plan.

Monthly Bandwidth

People building websites for the first time are often confused by the concept of bandwidth. In the context of web hosting, it essentially means how much traffic your website can handle. Each time data is transferred on your website this uses up some of your bandwidth. For example, if 2,000 people access an image of 10KB, this will use up 2,000×10 = 20,000KB = 20MB of bandwidth. Hosting companies will give you many gigabytes of bandwidth, and you should take as much as you can.

How Much Bandwidth WIll I Need?

As you might expect, there is no straight forward way of telling. It depends on the average size of your pages, how large your images are and whether you offer any large files for download. For a very, very vague estimate try multiplying your monthly page views by your average page size. Since a change in your visitor numbers will affect your bandwidth, try multiplying your estimate by three just to be safe.

What Happens If I Exceed My Bandwidth?

If you ever see that your monthly bandwidth is getting near the maximum always apply for some extra bandwidth for the next month. A spike in visitor traffic will put you over your limit. Your hosting company will do one of two things if you exceed your allocated bandwidth:

Return a 509 Status Error:
Continue to serve up your website, but charge you for all the extra bandwidth.

Obviously, none of these are ideal. You don’t want your website to be inaccessible and you don’t want to be charged for extra bandwidth. These costs are often more expensive than choosing a more expensive hosting plan with increased bandwidth.

Linux or Microsoft Hosting?

Unless you need any specific Microsoft-only features, such as ASP, choose Linux hosting. Linux hosting is cheaper and more widely available.

Search For A Host

There are many great websites to search for your ideal webhost. Bear in mind that no website will list every webhost, so a good look around is well worth your time.

Here is a list of websites to start your search:

Be careful when using search websites. These are often affiliates of the hosts they are promoting. Always decide for yourself if a host is suitable, don’t rely on recommendations from these sites.

Case Study – WebCards

1and1 is pleased to offer a product range specifically for the UK

When looking for a web host for one of my projects, WebCards, one of the hosts I looked at was a very popular one, 1and1.

They have sites for UK and US customers separately.

When compiling the list of features, one of the special requirements I had was the use of the crontab. This is a feature that executes a command at a specified time. Looking at the 1and1.com US website, I found a package at a rate of $9.99 US per month, which is roughly £5 GB. This had the use of crontab and good bandwidth and disk space allowance. When I went to the order page I received the following message:

On visiting the UK website, I found the cheapest package that offered crontab access at £14.99 GB per month. This is roughly equivalent to $29 US. This is almost triple the cost of the package offered to their US customers. Incredibly, the US package also included more disk space and bandwidth.

So beware of companies that only offer specific packages to customers in certain countries.

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