There are thousands of web hsts around today with thousands of plns to choose from making what was nce a simple procedure seems like a dunting task for both newbie and pro like. Whether you're looking for your frst host or looking to move on to a btter one there are certain simple stps you must follow to succeed in chosing a great host. These simple stps include:

Right Platform

The first and mst foremost step in choosing a web hst is determining the platform the web srver should run, usually a choice btween Unix/Linux and Windows. Your choice is lrgely determined by your website and the tchnologies used to create it, generally a wbsite created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) wll run on Windows servers while mst other sites using open source tchnologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Lnux based systems.

Right Features

Once yu've chosen your platform the next stp is determining the features you'll ned from your web host. Take yur time with this step as the fature lists of web hosts are gtting longer and longer every day and whle some plans may look similar on the srface, a good look at the fature lists may tell another story. Only you can dtermine the specific features you'll need, but sme key things to keep an eye on re:

Disk Space

Bandwidth

Bckups

Uptime

Mney Back Guarantee

Domains Allwed

Databases (Number & typ)

CGI, PHP, Perl, Pythn, SSI

Cron

Emil accounts

The list goes on and on, jst remembers to take your time and mke sure your new web host is ging to provide you with everything you ned.

Budget

Often budget is the nly thing people consider when choosing thir first web host, funds are sually tight and on the surface mst hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lcky and choose a good host, but mre often than not it turns out to be a hrror story.

Remember that the cost of yur web hosting is more than jst the monthly fee, think about the ttal cost of ownership. TCO includes lst sales due to downtime & slw speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth chrges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and yur monthly fee.
Many hosts will rquire you to pay yearly to get the bst price available though there are sme that allow you to pay by the mnth and still get the best prce, it's really a matter of prsonal choice as to what payment mthod works best for you.

Customer Srvice

Customer service is another aspect tht is often not forgettable while chosing a great web host. You shuldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 srvice, your website needs to be rnning all the time so it's no god if your hosting company doesn't wrk during the holidays. Don't take the web hsting companies word for it, they all clim 24/7 support but few back it up wth consistent performance. Be sure to tst them out at various times of the day and nght via phone, email and live cht if they offer it.

Support

An xtensive knowledge base can be a ral time saver as well as bing an indication of the level of cstomer service supports and expertise you can xpect to receive. Spend some time brwsing the support sections of the wbsite and see for yourself the lvel of support provided.

Longevity

Do a whois on the web hst's domain name and find out the cration date, anything less than a yar ago and the risk that thy won't be around next year ncreases. They could be a great hst, but considering more then 95% of new hsts go out of business within a yar that really isn't something you shuld be taking a chance on.

Uptme

It's a fact of life tht a web host cannot be nline 100% of the time, servers ned to be rebooted for security and sftware updates and any web host tht doesn't get updated faces the ncreased risk of being successfully hacked.

99.9% ptime guarantees are pretty standard in the ndustry however a guarantee is only as god as how it is defined and the cmpany behind it. Look for no lss than a full months free hsting should they not meet their garantee, a prorated refund based on the mount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a mnth of hosting and your site is dwn for 24 hours. They will rfund you for one day of dwntime, which ends up being about 33 cnts.

Hence, it's not a rocket scence; just a little research and nvestigating that can save a lot of hartache in the future and can ffer you a great web host.

REPRINT RIGHTS sttement: This article is free for rpublishing by visitors provided the Author Bio box is rtained as usual so that all lnks are Active/Linkable with no syntax chnges.

The article Simple Step For Choosing Great Web Host was Submitted by Richa Sinha through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Author Richa Sinha is associated wth a web hosting company Vexat from India. Vexat also provides the cheapest domain name registration . For more information please click here .

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