One of the most basic things you should consider while planning to have your own website is to find a web host. A host hosts your website and only then you can make your website available on the internet. A web host arranges a space for you where your website files are stored and manages the traffic to your website, and a lot of other services like firewall protection, email service, technical assistance, domain name registration, website building tools, FTP access and more. However, for choosing a right web host, you should consider a few things. We have given some earlier. Here are some more.
Free Web Host
Many website owners prefer free web hosts at least for their first website. This can be understood as you want to cut costs in your first project. Once you have a website you will come to know that there are many other factors than price. For example, free hosts display ads on your website pages and they even don’t provide technical assistance.
Support the Host Provides
Email, IMAP, SMTP, POP3, Autoresponders, Email Forwarders:
You probably want to have email id of your own domain, like support@mydomail.com. You should check SMTP (and IMAP), POP3 so as to have web mail abilities. Ensure if you can set an email id to reply automatically to the sender with a preset message (Autoresponder). Also check if you can forward message from one email to another.
MySQL, PHP, Cron Jobs:
The MySQL/PHP capabilities are getting increasing importance for having a dynamic website. For programs that you want to run periodically, you may need Cron jobs.
Website Tools: CMS, Blogs, Forums, Galleries:
Your host can offer you free tools to build your website. These tools include CMS, blogs, forums and galleries. These will facilitate your work extensively on your site and a lot of your money will be saved on web designers and developers.
E-commerce Options – Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Shopping Cart
If you want to run an e-commerce site, you might need SSL certificate and shopping cart. These often involve higher price package or extra charges. If you want to obtain credit card information through your site, you will certainly need an SSL certificate.
Control Panel:
This is particularly important to maintain your site or have someone to maintain it. Control panel is useful for you to make changes to your site, change passwords of your account, upload files, manage databases, add/delete an email account, etc.
GoLive, DreamWeaver, Flash:
You may want to use website-building software like DreamWeaver or GoLive. So, you should check if your hosting provider supports them.
If you take care of checking these basic things, you will have an efficient, reliable and satisfactory hosting provider that will help you to gain success in your business for years to come.
AMCD Web Hosting offers fast, secure and reliable hosting. They are known for great Wollongong web hosting, and support since 2010. Visit their site to know more.
