Web Hosting for Small Business or Home Business Websites

You have a small business company, or a shop, or a home business. You want to have a website but you do not want to pay for resources you don’t need and you won’t use. You need to search for a hosting company that has plans that match your needs.

The first step is to define which your needs are. I will provide a set of questions that may help you make the decision:

1 – Will your site be programmed in a language other than HTML and JavaScript? If so, you need to find a hosting plan that supports this language. Examples of programming languages are Php, ASP.NET and ColdFusion.

2 – Will your site need much disk space? Most sites don’t. It depends on the number of pages your site will have, the number of images, and if it will have downloadable documents or not. PDF documents take up some space, especially if you will have several of those. Just try to come up with a figure of the total of space you will need.

3 – Will you use a database? More than one database? None? If you will use a particular database, like Access or MySQL, you need to find a hosting package that includes that database engine. If you do not need a database, you may consider looking for a hosting package that does not include a database, they are generally cheaper alternatives.

4 – Do you expect lots of traffic? Most sites do not need a huge bandwidth, so paying for a hosting package with extra bandwidth is not worth in that case.

5 – Will you install a script you bought or downloaded ? Then you need to read the script requirements to be sure that the hosting package you choose will meet these requirements.

6 – How many email addresses will you need? We’re talking about mailbox@yourdomain.com email addresses here.

The questions above will help you get an idea of what you need in a hosting package. Then, there are other aspects to consider, like good customer support, reliability and whether the hosting package includes a control panel or not. You also need to pay attention to those before making up your mind and choosing a hosting company.

There are different kind of hosting services. If you are a small business or home business, then you don’t need a dedicated server. You need a virtual server hosting package, where you share the server with other companies. It does not affect you at all. You just have all control over your domain, but share the expenses with other accounts. Dedicated servers are much more expensive.

You will also find that there is Linux based hosting, and Windows hosting. Which one you pick depends on your personal preference. Some people prefer Linux, some people prefer Windows. If your site is programmed in ASP.NET or uses an Access database, you will need to get Windows hosting. If it is programmed in Php, you can get either Linux or Windows hosting, provided they support Php. These are just examples.

You see there are several aspects to take into consideration. Just think about all these and you will most likely find the right web hosting package for your website.

Sergio Roth offers web hosting services at Ayreshost.com You can contact him for advice on getting the right web hosting package for your website, and also about domain registration and custom programming. Sergio is a professional Php / MySQL programmer, with more than 15 years of programming experience, 6 of them using Php.

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