Web Hosting

So you have decided on your domain name and have begun to build your website, now you need somewhere to host it.

There are dozens of hosting companies out there, all claiming to offer the best service, reliability and price. Deciding which company to host your website with will largely depend on your personal circumstances, such as how much you want to spend, how much bandwidth your site will use and what features and software you want included.

In order to find the right hosting package for your website you're going to have to do a bit of research, comparing companies and packages. After all, a bit of time and effort now can save you a lot of heartache, and expense, down the road, if you suddenly find your hosting company doesn't offer the service or support you need.

To see a list of hosting companies in your area simply click on the links below:

To help you decide which company is right for you we have compiled a list of factors which you should consider when searching for a hosting company:

• Reliability - Your hosting company needs to be stable, reliable and fast. Most hosting companies will talk about their uptime, (uptime is the amount of time their servers are working and your website is available) and you should look for a company that has an uptime of over 99%. 99% is now the bare minimum you should accept, with 99.5% becoming the standard for acceptable uptime. If the hosting company cannot guarantee this then they are best avoided.

• Disc Space - This is the amount of space you are allocated to store your website on the hosts servers. Most websites will only require 20-30MB of space so you won't need a hosting account with 500MB of space, as it will simply be wasted. Of course, if you are planning a very large website, or one that will grow over time, you may need more space.

• Data Transfer - Referred to as bandwidth, this is the amount of data, in bytes, that are delivered from your website to the visitor when they view your website. The hosting company will monitor your bandwidth usage, with most hosting accounts allowing your website to use a set amount of bandwidth per month. If you go over your allowed limit, there can be hefty penalties so check the small print. Also be aware of companies that offer unlimited bandwidth, as they often have hidden terms that mean the bandwidth is anything but unlimited.

• Technical Features - Most hosting accounts include technical features such as CGI-Bin and PHP or MYSQL, which you will need to run CGI scripts, databases and other features on your website. If the hosting account does not include them in the price, you will likely have to pay to add them on. Check to make sure what the hosting account will include. If you are in any doubt about whether the host offers these features then try a different company, as you will need them at some point in the future.

• Technical Support - It is important to find out what level of technical support you can expect with your hosting account. If a problem does occur, and they will from time to time, you need to know that you can speak with someone and that your issue will be dealt with as quickly as possible. Just because a company claims to have support staff available 24/7 doesn't necessarily mean that you can reach them when you need to. To get an idea of the support offered give the help line a call and see how long it take to be connected to a real person, and ask them a series of technical questions to see how qualified they really are.

• Email - Most domain names and hosting accounts come with free email servers, but it is important to find out how many email addresses you can create, and how much space each one can use. You may also want to use email forwarders, auto responders and mailing lists, so it is important to check that these are all included.

• Control Panel - The control panel is the engine room of your website. From the control panel you should be able to access emails, check visitor stats, manage your files and folders and much more. There are various controls panels in use, and many companies have designed their own. So long as you can access and control all areas of your site from the control panel, aesthetic issues such as the 'look' and 'feel' should be a secondary issue.

• Price - In the end price is always a factor. The technical issues discussed above should form the basis of your decision, but if two hosting companies offer the same level of service then pick the cheaper one and save yourself some money.

• Reviews - Try to find reviews from existing customers. Most hosting company websites will have a reviews or testimonials page with glowing references, but it is best to ask on forums or independent review sites to get a true picture of how good the hosting company really is.