How to Find the Best Web Host for Your Needs
Now that you've chosen a domain name, you need to find the best web host to meet your specific needs. The web host provides a server on which your website will reside, and makes it accessible to anybody connected to the internet.
What to Look for in a Web Host
There are so many web hosting services, all of which claim to be better than all of the others, that it's difficult to really tell which ones are best. So, before choosing a web host, you should understand the key factors which will influence your decision, and think carefully about what your specific needs are.
The main factors to consider include:
Disk space:
This is the amount of disk space available to you, and will be measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). When you're starting out, it's difficult to know how much you'll need, but you could generate a rough figure by first estimating your average page size, and multiplying that by the number of pages that you expect to have. Add a contingency factor on top (depending on how much confidence you have in those figures), and it'll give you a rough number. The best way to estimate the page size is to find what you think is a similar page, and use a page size calculator such as the one at: http://www.wid.info/nettools/webpagesize.xml.Generally though, web hosting services offer far more storage space than you're likely to need, and many offer what they call “unlimited” storage. Be aware though that this isn't really unlimited at all. What they mean by this is that they don't impose any specific limit. However, your website will be hosted (along with others) on one of their servers, and that server has a physical limit on its storage space. In order to be fair to all of their customers, web hosting services which offer unlimited storage also usually put a clause in their terms and conditions saying that one single site cannot dominate the resources on the server to the detriment of the other websites hosted on it (so you can't use all of the disk space on the server, leaving none for the other websites hosted on it).
Bandwidth (data transfer):
Each time somebody views a page on your site, the data for that page is downloaded from your web host to their computer. This limit refers to the total amount of data that can be transferred for your website each month, and will usually be measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) per month.If you calculate an average page size for your site (see “Disk space” above), then you can multiply this by the number of page views you expect to achieve (the number of people you think will visit your site each month multiplied by the number of pages the average visitor will view) to give you your required data transfer rate. Again, add a contingency factor on top (depending on how much confidence you have in those figures).
As for disk space, many web hosting servers now offer “unlimited” bandwidth. The same limitations apply – this is still limited by the capability of the server on which your website resides, and there is usually a clause in the terms and conditions saying that one single site cannot dominate the resources on the server to the detriment of the other websites hosted on it.
Number of domains:
Some web hosting services allow you to have multiple domains, and some even allow an unlimited number. So, if you're thinking about having more than one website, this is something to look out for.Free domain:
You can register your domain and arrange hosting separately, but many web hosting services include the registration of a domain at no additional cost (of course, this only applies to those that haven't already been registered, not those that have been registered but are for sale at premium rates). So, this may be a more cost-effective way to register your domain.Customer support:
You need to know that there's somebody you can contact if things do go wrong. It's difficult to judge the quality of support though. You can look on the web for review of the various web hosting services, and see if they make any reference to their customer support being good or bad, but there tend to be both good and bad reviews of every service, so it's difficult to tell too much from these. Your best bet is probably to go with one of the large, well-established web hosting services, who all provide similar levels of customer service.Uptime/availability:
This is a critical factor, but some web hosting services don't advertise or publish their availability figures. Again, it's difficult to judge based on reviews, so your best bet is probably one of the large, well-established web hosting services.Email addresses:
If you want to associate email addresses with your domain (so you can have en email address of the form your.name@yourdomain.com for example), then this is something to look out for. Most web hosting serves provide support for far more email addresses than you'll ever need though, so there isn't much to differentiate them.Databases:
If you want to create databases (to manage dynamic data such as product catalogues that your site may require), then this is something to look out for. Most web hosting serves provide support for far more databases than you'll ever need though, so there isn't much to differentiate them.
Our Recommended Web Hosts
We use Bluehost, and have found them to be excellent. They're one of the largest web hosting services, currently hosting well over 700,000 domains. You can get more details on their latest packages and prices directly from their website.
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