Small Business Website Hosting - Factors to Consider

For small business website hosting the level of service provided by the hosting company is of paramount importance, much more so than with a personal site. As a result cost should not be a prime factor in selecting a hosting provider. The important issues to review are listed below. Before starting the process it is vital to define exactly what you want the site to do and how important the smooth functioning of the site will be to your business overall.

A small business owner wants:
* A website that is never down - whilst this is not a practical reality a good hosting service will offer a guarantee of 99.9% uptime.
* Speedy Loading - the site needs to load quickly to give the best user experience.
* Fast and Efficient Help - support should be provided 24/7 including having informed staff contactable by telephone when necessary.

In respect of the latter two items it is a good idea to check out user comments and reviews (although these must be independent).

Small Business Website Hosting - Factors to Consider

Hosting comes in various forms and the following should be considered:

Linux or Windows Hosting - Basically, if you have a specific reason to use Windows then do so otherwise use Linux (if your site was produced for you ask the developers for advice).

Shared Hosting - The normal hosting service used by most people where many customers are hosted on the same server. For many users this is all they will ever need and even for a small business this should be fine (with a good hosting company). Bearing in mind the requirements of the site ensure that the service provides the necessary tools and supports the scripts and databases required.

Virtual Private Server Hosting - With this service a server is divided by software into virtual mini servers which act and feel like real servers, providing guaranteed system resources and greater security. In cost terms this is not a great deal more than shared hosting and will probably be worthwhile for an eCommerce site.

Dedicated Website Hosting - Here the user really does have exclusive use of a real server. However, this is a significant step up in cost terms and if a business can justify this it will no longer be "small".

If the site will be selling and processing payments (it is an eCommerce site) then there is additional functionality to consider:

Shopping Cart - Hosting services generally include some provision to add a shopping cart, indeed, some provide this as part of a specific package. Make sure that you use a shopping cart that offers good functionality based on your requirements (e.g. requirements for selling physical products are different to selling digital products).

Payment Gateway- Your shopping cart may limit your choice of payment processor.

SSL Security Certificate - Only the more expensive packages will include a private SSL certificate (which implies a private IP address) but this is preferable.

The above is a very high level look at the issues for more information please follow the links below.

Andy Nataghi is an enthusiast and writer about all things technical and has a particular interest in Small Business Website Hosting. To see more information on assessing hosting providers please visit http://website-hosting-plans.com.

web hosting

My Links : ODYSSEY PC680 JANSPORT BIG STUDENT BACKPACK MOST BOOKS Appliances