Are you are ready to make the move to
put your business, service, product or idea on the internet for millions
of potential customers to see? Then you will need a website and good
advice on what you need to get started, and where to get started.
The first thing you need to do is get
organized and create a business plan. Put all your thoughts and ideas of
what you have and what you want in writing. Don't try to do too much out
of the gates. Focus on what you know the most about and what you enjoy
doing or what will bring
you the biggest return on investment (ROI). You can only successfully
target so much with one website so please don't try to start an online
mall and expect to come up in the top 10 search results unless you have
a multi-million dollar advertising budget.
Study other websites and if you find
one that is easy to navigate and looks good to you, than take note of it
and show it to your website designer so they have a good idea of what
you want.
Please take the following into
consideration when choosing a web hosting company:
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Tech Support:
Good tech support is a big
factor to be looked at when choosing a hosting company. If your website
is down or you have a critical problem, you cannot afford to wait hours
or even days for help. You need immediate attention to your needs.
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Bandwidth:
Data transfer (bandwidth) is measured in gigabytes. Images can take
up a large amount of kilobytes, and file downloads can be several
megabytes in size.
If your website will have a lot of
downloads, you will probably need many gigabytes of transfer - 10
gigabytes should be good to start with for most sites.
Be careful about exceeding bandwidth -
many web hosting providers charge for every extra gigabyte of bandwidth
you use. Extra bandwidth charges can add up quickly.
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Control Panel:
The control panel is the interface where you can administer your
website functions such as uploading files, creating email accounts,
checking your website hits (unique visitors are more important than
hits) and statistics, adding more domains, installing scripts and making
other changes to your website.
The control panel that is offered by the hosting company you choose
should be easy to use. Make sure you ask what control panels are offered
with their hosting accounts. Control panels such as C-panel make adding
scripts such as blogs, wiki's, message forums, shopping carts, photo
galleries and more a breeze. You can install these scripts in just a
couple clicks.
Ask prospective hosting companies if they have a demo control panel you
can try before you commit to a hosting package.
Host Monster offers a demo control panel you can try before you
buy.
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Disk Space:
Just like your home computer has a hard drive to store files and
data on, your website is stored on a server. Most small businesses will start with a small website
requiring less than 50 megabytes of storage but there will be some
that need more storage space. Websites that use many images or that feature
videos will require a lot more disk space than text data. Most website
packages offer an ample amount of space for most new website owners.
Disk space can be upgraded at a later date if required.
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Number
of Domains Allowed Per Account:
Another important factor that must be taken into account when choosing a
web hosting company is the number of websites that allow you to host in
a single account, some hosts allow only one domain per account while
others will allow you to host limited to an unlimited number of domains
or websites per one account, meaning several websites at the expense of
one.
We did previously recommend not taking on
too much in the beginning but your business plan should include growth
in the future. Successful internet businesses usually expand beyond one
domain and end up with multiple domain names. This makes targeting
keyword phrases much easier. You can always upgrade your hosting account
to accommodate your growth.
Choosing the correct domain name for your
business is also very important. Most of the good .com's have been
registered but there are some good domain names still available. Here
are a few tips for choosing the right domain name for your business:
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Try to choose a .com or .net domain name
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If you use a hyphen, don't use more than
one hyphen in a domain name.
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Try to include your most important
keyword phrase in your domain name
EXAMPLE - A used car dealer in Los Angeles should try for a domain
name like www.usedcarslosangeles.com
Check here for a list of
domain
names for sale
We would be happy to assist you in finding
the best domain name available for your business. Please
contact us with your business information so we can help.
Search for a domain here:
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DON'T enter a .com, .net, .tv,
etc... just
enter the domain, NO extension and you will see what all is
available. |
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Other Considerations:
Depending on your needs, these factors should also be looked at when
choosing a web host.
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Do you need a Linux, UNIX or Windows
Server?
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Are scripts such as shopping carts,
message forums, chat rooms, wiki's and blogs included?
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How many MySQL databases are you allowed?
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What type of backups are offered?
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Does the host offer a money back
guarantee?
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What type of Email features are offered?
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Secure Certificate options (SSL)
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