Web Hosting for Small Business
There are thousands of web hosting services from which to choose. How can you find the right one for your small business? Here are some important factors to consider... |
Small Business Web Hosting: What To Look For
Reliability is critical in a hosting service, no matter what size your company may be. Even if you don't sell products through your Web site, downtime costs you money. A potential customer may assume you are out of business if he or she cannot connect to your site. So it is important to review a hosting service's availability guarantee; check out its reputation online; and choose the best type of hosting plan for your business.
Two types of hosting plans are available. Shared hosting means that your Web site shares a physical server with other sites; or sometimes thousands of other sites. Sharing a server helps to keep costs low. But shared hosting can be a problem if any of your co-tenants on a server have problems that require taking the server offline for a while. A sudden spike in one tenant's traffic can mean difficulty connecting to others. Dedicated hosting costs more but gives your site a server all to itself.
Many hosting services offer "unlimited" storage space, bandwidth, monthly data transfer, and other resources. But all resources are limited, in reality. Ask what happens if your site experiences exceptionally high traffic or grows significantly.
Hosting service includes more than simply hosting Web sites. You should also consider how many domain names and email addresses a hosting plan supports.
Website Design and Admin Tools
Web site design tools for small businesses should be free and easy to use. The tools should include a large variety of templates from which to choose a theme that you can customize. If you plan to write your own HTML, it's important that you be able to upload and test new pages easily. Having a control panel from which you can access all of your Web, email, domain management, and other tools is an important consideration. Two of the most popular control panels are Plesk and cPanel.
Intuit Websites is a service aimed at small businesses that want to create a website from scratch. You start by choosing a professionally designed template, from a library containing of hundreds of designs. Customize it with your own text, logo, images and a domain name. Then click a button to publish your website on the Internet. Intuit Websites offers a free 30-day trial, and costs $7.99/month if you decide to continue.
Another popular option is 1&1 My Website. You start by selecting a business category. Next, enter your business's contact information and select your desired layout and color scheme. Add your own photos, text, and your company logo, and you're good to go. No knowledge of programming, HTML or other technical stuff is required.
If you've already got a website, and are looking for a new hosting service, check out Liquid Web, WestHost or GoDaddy. I've used all three, and found them to be reliable and very good with issues requiring support.
Tech support is probably the most controversial issue among hosting service customers. Support should be available 24/7 via phone, email, and online chat. If possible, test a hosting service's support before you get locked into a long-term contract.
If you plan an ecommerce Web site, be sure to investigate all of the features of whatever ecommerce platform a hosting service offers. There are many different online catalogs, shopping cart platforms, and payment processing systems. Many hosting services offer promotional extras to attract new customers. Promotional items can include credits for Google Adwords advertising; search engine optimization services; and other goodies that can help get more exposure for your site.
Unless you're hosting a website as a hobby, stay away from "free hosting" offers. These services are almost always overloaded, slow and unreliable. Some even place advertising for other companies on your site. You won't be giving your customers a good first impression of your business by doing it on the cheap.
Approach a hosting service as you might approach a potential spouse. Ask lots of questions during the dating period. Get a trial period, like an engagement, during which you can test the hosting service's performance hands-on. Don't get hitched for the long term until you are completely satisfied.
Which hosting service do you recommend, or warn against? Post your comment or question below...
|
|
|
|
Posted by Bob Rankin on 13 Oct 2011
| Need More Help? Try the AskBobRankin Updates Newsletter. It's Free! |
 |
Prev Article: What is Windows Live Essentials? |
The Top Twenty |
Next Article: Have You Made These Five Computing Mistakes? |
 |
|
Link to this article from your site or blog. Just copy and paste from this box: |
Post your Comments, Questions or Suggestions
Free Tech Support -- Ask Bob Rankin
Subscribe to AskBobRankin Updates: Free Newsletter |
||
|
Copyright © 2005
- Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy -- See my profile on Google. |
||
Article information: AskBobRankin -- Web Hosting for Small Business (Posted: 13 Oct 2011)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/web_hosting_for_small_business.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Free
Most recent comments on "Web Hosting for Small Business"
Posted by:
Dennis King
13 Oct 2011
I really appreciate your articles, Bob. I find them very useful and informative.
I've used Yahoo for the past 7 years and am very happy with them. I also get lots of email addresses at my @ domain name.com. I can also easily track web traffic using their software. I've never noticed my web site being down all for $12.95 a month.
Posted by:
Ashok Gupta
13 Oct 2011
I would like to mention another wonderful webhost which is in reality a one man team: trkhosting.com.
Tom (of trkhosting), in my experience, has been probably the best support person I have come across; and I have come across many during more than a decade of running my own website "akgupta.com".
Posted by:
Dana Gillespie
13 Oct 2011
You must be sent down from above, I've just had my computer hacked and lost my old gmail and contacts and here you come along with the solution to my problems. I'm 62 disabled and never have a cent for anything. I bought into several business with bank credit and the hackers got into that now I'm 1k OD
I never could find a good website, I would build one and it would disappear and my ad budget is negative. I've included one of my hotmail accounts as a back up. Maybe I can use the "intuit" to get "around'to'it"
Thanks a train load! I'll keep you updated on how it's going, and a SUPER THANKS FOR CARING!!!!!
Col. Dana Gillespie TSM
Posted by:
Robert ODonnell
14 Oct 2011
I have used 1 & 1 hosting for years. Great price $4.99 month. But the best (if you are new) is Host Gator. $9.95 a month with almost unlimited sub-domains, they have super video's on every aspect of hosting and live chat support 24/7. Thanks. Bob O.
Posted by:
Alan Holm
14 Oct 2011
If your small business is reselling web hosting and Web site development (like mine) I recommend http://www.heartinternet.co.uk/reseller-hosting/ for both LINUX & Windows hosting with lots of important things being UNLIMITED - including domains, bandwidth, disk space, e-mail accounts and FTP accounts (only video & audio file sites are limited to 20GB per month) and plenty of useful things bundled - including JOOMLA & WORDPRESS & MySQL - and I've always been VERY impressed by their fast responses to any support tickets I've had - at any time. Cost is £30 pm (including both LINUX & Windows). GOOGLE Reseller Hosting comparison sites & check out their reviews - which will soon highlight sharks like GISOL.COM whoose dissatisfied ex-custumers created gisolsucks.com.
Posted by:
Beth
14 Oct 2011
Just a heads up, Bob: the link in your article to Liquid Web is invalid. It has an extra "h" in http. Thanks -- as always -- for your informative articles. Have a great weekend.
Posted by:
PeterG
16 Oct 2011
A word to the wise. DO NOT EVER USE 1&1. The poster above, Bob O. has been lucky. They are a terrible, dishonest and stupid company.
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=119339
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is what I refer to as "Big Company Syndrome". Any large company that has thousands or millions of customers will have a small percentage of unhappy and vocal customers.
Posted by:
Nancy
16 Oct 2011
I've been using 1 and 1 for domain buying and web hosting for many years. Their rates for domains is VERY reasonable and easy. I have multiple domains and their controls to forward domains to a main website, control where email goes, and set up auto responders have all worked smoothly. Also I have recommended them to several of my cleints and have uploaded websites from a variety of programs all fairly easy and smoothly done.
Posted by:
Diane
18 Oct 2011
I really appreciate all the good advice, etc. you offer everyone, but I need to tell you about a "free" web host. I have been using the free "basic hosting" from "Doteasy.com" for several years and now have eight websites for different groups. I have never experienced any downtime, the support is awesome and it's super easy to learn. Then at a very reasonable price they have "ultra and unlimited hosting" for more bells and whistles. Best of all there's NO ads placed on your website..
Posted by:
Polly
20 Oct 2011
I found APlus.net to be a very easy to use and reliable service provider. It was recommended to me for my 501(c)3, company. Sub-domains, lots of email boxes with individual log ins, everything a small or even larger business might need including various e-commerce solutions. I recall never having any problem contacting support. I had used that company for a little over 5 years and did not have any down time issues or lack of receiving assistance when needed.