| Lots of people are looking for cheap hosting solutions. | | | | Because of the danger of overselling however, you |
| It is also true that the price of hosting has decreased | | | | should ensure that the company uses state-of-the |
| over the past few years. It is now more affordable | | | | art servers with high processing power. These |
| than ever to host your website. One should be | | | | servers should be connected to the Internet on high |
| careful however, of opting for the very cheapest | | | | speed bandwidth lines so that there is no choking |
| that you can find. Most often, these providers do | | | | when the traffic spurts. Most of these companies do |
| overselling. This basically works on almost the same | | | | advertise the type of servers that they use. If they |
| principle as airlines that do overbooking. Because | | | | do not disclose their server specifications, it might be |
| airlines realise that about 10% to 15% of people who | | | | better to steer away from them. Ask a friend, family |
| book their tickets will actually never make it to the | | | | member or Internet expert for assistance in trying to |
| plane, the allow overbooking of tickets of up to 10%. | | | | understand which servers are good and which are |
| The trouble comes when EVERYONE decides to | | | | not. |
| pitch up and use their tickets. That is when you get | | | | You should be able to upgrade easily between |
| long queues, grumbling passengers and air hostesses | | | | packages should the need arise to move to a larger |
| that seem to have smiles pasted onto their faces.... | | | | server or more bandwidth. |
| The problem is that hosting providers often sell large | | | | The web host must also offer 24x7 toll-free |
| amounts of hard disk space and bandwidth for very | | | | technical support rendered by experienced and |
| cheaply, knowing full well that you will never use the | | | | professionally trained technicians. |
| space. The problem comes in when everyone starts | | | | You especially need to check whether the hosting |
| unexpectedly using all their space and bandwidth | | | | company owns servers or is reselling hosting |
| allocated to them. Then everyone suffers. | | | | solutions. The latter situation is not conducive for |
| But let's look at the principles of shared hosting - | | | | your needs because the web host is only a |
| what it is and who it works for. | | | | middleman and is not in control of the solutions that |
| ~Shared Hosting~ | | | | he is selling. You may find that the services provided |
| Shared hosting is the best solution for most small | | | | are not in keeping with the promises made. |
| and medium websites. The most important | | | | ~Your exit strategy~ |
| advantage is cost. Shared hosting is much cheaper | | | | You must always have a backup plan in case your |
| and affordable than hosting on dedicated servers. | | | | web host goes bankrupt. This should include |
| Even though in theory you should just sign up for | | | | maintaining a backup of all your data you post on the |
| the features that you will really need and thereby | | | | web site. You should not depend on the backups |
| avoid paying extra costs, the truth is that web | | | | done by the hosting company themselves but should |
| hosting packages are really becoming more and more | | | | make sure that you run your own backups through |
| feature rich while becoming cheaper at the same | | | | the control panel (and you definitely SHOULD have a |
| time. You will therefore GET a lot of features | | | | control panel!) |
| whether you need them or not. This is not a bad | | | | This is also why you should always register your |
| thing since it does mean that you can easily upgrade | | | | domain name with an independent registrar and not |
| your account or install new software when you find | | | | with the hosting company itself, since if they do go |
| that you are requiring more functionality than when | | | | bankrupt, you might not only lose your website |
| you started. | | | | content, but your complete domain. |
| Shared hosting is also good for web hosting | | | | Christine Anderssen is the owner of |
| companies. It can host hundreds of small and medium | | | | Tailormade4you, offering Web hosting, Web Design |
| websites on a single server. This reduces the | | | | and Web Development services to small and medium |
| installation and maintenance costs, and gives the | | | | businesses. |
| hosting company a higher return on investment. | | | | |