- Amount of Disk Space: Your web pages, images and content that you
plan to upload to your website takes up space, just as the data takes up disk
space on your own computer. Most web hosting packages will have limited space,
though unless you plan on storing big files, chances are you won't be needing a
hole lot of space at first.
- Reliability and Speed: You need to make sure the host you pick is
actually reliable and fast. Everyone advertises 99.99% up time, but ask to see a
report. When you site is down or slow not only do you lose frustrated visitors,
but it will hurt your search engine rankings as well. Google spiders have
millions of websites to crawl, and if yours is too slow it will move on to the
next site.
- Bandwidth: When you download things to your computer from the
internet, that uses bandwidth. Similarly, when people visit your website they
need to download all the images, files and content. This puts strain on your web
hosting provider's servers, so if you plan to have a lot of big images and files
being transferred frequently, or a lot of refreshing of your pages (such as a
website forum), then you will need more bandwidth.
- Extras: Your web hosting provider should give you lots of extras,
such as cgi bin, unlimited emails, an autoresponder, and website
templates.
These are just a few of the big things to consider. One other point when
comparing prices. Be sure to look at how much it costs to upgrade to the next
hosting package. As your website grows, you want to be sure you're not just
getting a good deal now, you want to have equal value as you get bigger. Don't
get lured in by low, introductory rates.
