The cost of hosting a Web site varies according to the different options you need. Options like disk space, bandwidth allowance, control panel and operating system etc. To help you determine the requirements for your Web site, let us explain what some of the options are in simple language.
Disk Space
This is the amount of storage space your site will utilize.
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For personal websites you need only consider 60MB of space
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For a small business site with less than 20 web pages 100MB should be ample
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If you are going to include a lot of pictures or MP3 files for users to download or purchase you should consider a minimum of 300MB
(this is probably the most popular requirement for small businesses)
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If you are going to publish a lot of information and offer an intranet system and public servers, then you should consider a dedicated server
It is also very important to consider hosting your Web site with a company that can support the growth of your Web site as your business grows.
Platform
This is the Operating System that your Web site runs on. We have already covered this option see Linux or Windows
Bandwidth
Also referred to as Data Transfer. Bandwidth is the amount of files and data that your Web site transfers per month. Every time someone views your Web pages they are technically downloading files from your site, which uses your bandwidth allowance. For example if you have a page that is 50kb in size (including images) and 10 people view that page, you would use 500Kb of bandwidth. The amount of bandwidth you have can be crucial to your site. Generally speaking, the more bandwidth you have, the more traffic your site will be able to handle at one time. We recommend a minimum of 2.5GB of monthly bandwidth allowance, but if you have a lot of employees that could be using the site or you site is going to act as a portal for web users then consider 6GB of monthly bandwidth allowance to start.
Speed
Internet users loose patience with slow Web sites. While the speed of the site can vary for many reasons ranging from routing, web server set- up, and local area networks, the main concern of how fast your site is depends very much of the type of network connections.
Many Web hosting providers still connect to the internet via T1 or T3 connections. A T1 line offers data transfer at the rate of 1.5Mbps (megabits per second), while a T3 line will supply data transfer rates of 43Mbps. Ultra high speed Optical Carriers, OC3 and OC12 lines offer data transfer rates of 155Mbps and 622Mbps respectively. There are some hosting providers like IX Webhosting who have connections to internet infrastructures at the speed of OC48 (2488Mbps).
Control Panel
Control Panel is a powerful tool to help you customize and manage your web hosting account from one central point. A clear, concise and easy to use control panel is absolutely essential to a successful business or online presence. It provides user friendly tools to help build your site, manage your email accounts, submit your site to search engines, analyze statistics and so on.
Email Accounts
Look for email accounts with web based access as well as POP3, with administrator control. Depending on how many employees you have will determine the number of email accounts required. Remember that you will need general accounts like info@yourcompany.com, sales@yourcompany.com, help@yourcompany.com, feedback@yourcompany.com etc. Features like auto responders, email forwarding and email aliases are usually included.
E-commerce
If you are looking to sell a product or service online then you need a web host provider that offers e-commerce features. Shopping Cart, Secured Payment Gateway, Credit Card Processing are the options that you will need to consider. If your business only has a few products or services available for purchase then you can create your own "Buy Now" buttons and credit card processing through companies like Paypal. However, if you are dealing with a large diverse inventory you may want to open an account with an e-commerce service provider, which includes a merchant account for an added monthly fee.
Technical Support
Running a Web hosting company is not easy, in fact finding technicians to respond and support your inquiries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is even harder. This best Web hosting companies will provide their customers with this kind of support.
RELIABILITY
We believe that reliability is one of the most important services a Web hosting company can provide. Always choose a provider that offers a guarantee that your Web site will up and running at least 99% of the time. Excellent Web hosting providers can offer this guarantee because they have invested in the resources required like monitoring equipment, highly qualified engineers and a back-up system that jumps into play the minute anything goes wrong. We recommend IX Webhosting because they have a 99.9% up-time guarantee with track record.
