How To Choose A Hosting Service For Your Niche Web Site

By
André Anthony

André Anthony Choosing a web host for your niche site(s) is like taking a partner into your business, so it's essential that you find one that fits with what you want to achieve. Here's my basic criteria for choosing a web host:

Reliability. This is the first thing I look at when choosing a hosting service. Guaranteed minimum uptime (the time when the hosting server is functional) should be 99.9% or better with daily back-ups of their servers so you don't lose your site if the host has a problem - it does happen.

Support. You need to make sure that your host has 24/7 support 365 days of the year. Before you sign up, send a couple of queries at different times of day and see how fast they respond. Ideally you're looking for a response time of a couple of hours or less.

Disk Space. This is the amount of space you'll need on the host's servers to house your web site(s). (100 Mb = 60 pages approx. but this will be much reduced if you are featuring audio and/or video on your site). You need to figure out the size of your website and how much it is likely grow. Before I look for web hosting I build my site(s) so that I can figure the space in Megabytes I'm going to need. I then multiply that figure by 5 to allow for growth. It's only a rough rule of thumb, but it works for me.

Monthly Bandwidth Transfer. This is the measure of data (web pages, images, PDF files, audio and video clips) to be accessed by visitors to your web site each month. Deciding this is a bit more difficult, especially if you're just preparing to put up your first niche web site, because you will have no idea what volume of traffic your site will receive until it's established and been running for a while. I usually go for 10 times the disk space I've estimated. So for instance if I need 100Mb of disk space for my web site then I want 1Gb (1000Mb) of bandwidth as a minimum. I know it sounds like overkill, but it's better finding out halfway through a month your web site has been suspended because your bandwidth has been exceeded.

24/7 FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Access. FTP allows you to transfer files between your local computer and your hosting service's server on the Internet. FTP access lets you to upload and make changes to your niche web site(s), when you need to, via a piece of software called an FTP Client. Make sure you select a hosting service that allows unlimited FTP access.

POP3 Email Accounts. These are email accounts that allow you to send and receive emails customised with your domain name, for instance sales@yourdomain.com or support@yourdomain.com. Before you decide on your host, you will need to make sure that they are offering sufficient POP3 accounts for your needs.

MySQL Databases. If you are intending to run a membership site and/or blogs or similar applications on your domain you are going to need databases to run them. Hosting services vary in the number that they offer with their packages so you need to make sure they offer sufficient to for your anticipated needs. I usually select a host that offers "unlimited" MySQL databases so that I know I won't be restricted.

Cpanel with Fantastico Installer. For me this is essential. cPanel is a graphical, web-based, easy to understand, control panel, which allows you to manage all aspects of your e-mail, files, backup, FTP, CGI scripts and statistics for your web site all in one place. I've used hosting companies that don't offer this facility which made it quite complicated to manage the various aspects of my web presence.

Fantastico is a commercial script library that automates the installation of a treasure trove of open source applications like blogs, content management systems (CMS), support desks, discussion boards and a lot more to enhance and automate your niche web site.

So there you have it, my basic criteria for choosing a web hosting service. Now you know what they are, get out there and use them to help select your ideal hosting service.

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About The Author

Andre Anthony owns and operates Niche Market Know-How a resource for beginning Niche Marketers. Visit http://www.nichemarketknowhow.com today for strategies, tips, tools, products and resources for effective niche marketing. If you're looking for top quality web hosting with everything you need to run a successful Niche Marketing Business online visit:
http://www.nichemarketknowhow.com/tools/ultimate-marketing-center.htm

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