It's difficult to chose right web hosting service for your web site at the time when there are numerous of web hosting providers all assuring for identical web hosting packages. So its necessary to take care of 3 aspects before starting a web hosting search which are given below. Features required for web hosting Technical requirements for a web site is the most important point to be taken into consideration which includes- a) Hardware requirements and platform for server According to your need such as if you want to set up a website that uses programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, then a need for a web hosting service will arise that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers. Similarly as for programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform can be helpful. After having these types of requirements in mind one can decide for the best web hosting plan. b) Disk space & Bandwidth requirement Next technical requirement to be taken care of is disk space and bandwidth requirement, however disk space requirement may not be a big deal if you want to publish website with very less contents. Generally 200 MB to 500MB disk space will be quite enough as hosting requirements. Further for hosting a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files, a web hosting providing huge disk space example 500 to 1000 MB will be crucial. In the same manner site traffic estimation can be held responsible for bandwidth requirement .A website that attracts high traffic will tend to consume monthly bandwidth allowance very fast, then in that case one web hosting service that offers huge bandwidth with 40GB to 100 GB per month is needed. Web hosting service that provides sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth can be opted as per website requirement and that consideration will help not only to reduce costs but also tend to proper disk management. c) Some other hosting features Apart from above there are many other hosting features that are to taken into consideration such as Is web hosting provider supports video clips on the website? Is there any plan for setting a virtual store online? Is the host providing e-commerce facilities without charging more and top of all finding number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software etc. Trustworthiness and scalability If the web-hosting provider is offering reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection then it can be considered as a good host. For selecting an appropriate provider one must look for a web hosting service that guarantee 99% server uptime with high speed internet using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second) or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A trustworthy hosting provider invests hugely on high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in place so as to ensure they fulfill the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service. In the same manner selection would depend upon the hosting service that can ensure hardware facilities that are designed for scalability, so that they can also expand with user's business. For example if requirement emerges for increasing disk space, bandwidth or number of mySQL databases, there should not emerge any problem and that all can be upgraded easily. Customer service and support Last but not the least excellent customer service and support is also important while selecting appropriate host provider. A web hosting provider must provide 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support with highly experienced technicians, so as to ensure timely resolution of any problem. Checking must be made by sending inquiry emails to the web-hosting provider so as to check the responsiveness of the customer support. Generally if a response comes within 24 hours can be considered as indication of acceptance but if no response comes then it is taken as a poor customer service. In world of competition, a web hosting provider must be also equipped with multiple support like Toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, FAQ etc. Apart of above important factors some other minor factors must also brew taken care of while selecting an appropriate web hosting provider like since how long that provider is in business and quantity of customers they hold as these shows the credibility and stability of the company. Cost of web hosting is an important factor also but due to growing competition now their charges have come to as low as US$10 per month and so this major factor needs to be ignored. Thus besides of all most important is that the website hosting requirements are met, website is always accessible with good speed, there is scalability in provider to grow and expand the website and that it also offers best customer support.
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