Which web hosting company should I use?

A web hosting company stores your web site and serves copies of it to people who have clicked a link leading to your site. You cannot have your own web site without it being hosted somewhere. This is a must have service but thankfully there is a lot of competition so prices are cheap and standards are good.

Don't worry if you have no idea about how to go about getting your site into the Internet because neither did I when I started. A reputable web hosting company will give you plenty of instructions and their support services will be quick to rectify any problems you have 24hrs a day.

But be warned......not all web hosting companies are created equal. An unprofessional web host will cost you clients, revenue and credibility. The following is a list of services that you should expect from a reputable web host:

most importantly 24 hour a day, 7 day a week support with a response time of 24hours or less
guaranteed 99% uptime. 99.7%, which some hosts, offer is even better. This means that your website is available 99 or 99.7 hours out of every 100. The time it is not available is usualy when the web host is performing regular maintenance on their computers/servers.
fast page serving (connection speed) to the people who want to see it; 20 seconds is an eternity on the Internet
an easy to use control panel. The control panel, which is provided by your web host, is the place from where you can administer (not build) your site. For example, check the number of visitors, create new email addresses etc. Basically you just go to their site and log into your account.
also look for a web host that supports Microsoft FrontPage extensions if you plan to use a 2002 or earlier version (nearly 100% of them do).

The following is a list of web hosts that I know to offer a good service. They all meet the standards I mentioned above:

Premium Hosts - the best of the best

Lunarpages - My personal favorite
A top class web host, excellent control panel and quick support. I use them. However I've noticed recently their support isn't as fast

iPowerWeb
Another top class web host. Includes free domain name.

Globat - I use these guys as well
Very fast connection speed and a huge 1000Mb of storage, also includes a free domain name. Great thing about Globat is they have 24/7 support chat

Easy CGI
Another great service.

Budget Hosts

Jumpline 6 websites for $14.95/mo - Great for multiple sites
I personally use this service. Their control panel is not the greatest but it is very convenient not to mention cheap to run 6 websites from the same account.

4 Cheap Hosting
They have some good packages which work out to be as low as $2.40 per web site!

All-in-one Hosts

SiteBuildIt! - Perfect if you are just starting out
SBI! is a product of Ken Evoy's SiteSell empire. It is an all in one package and what some people say represents the future of web hosting. SiteBuildIt is an excellent tool (combination of many tools really) for beginners. There are heaps of features:

SBI! is an online service that provides you with an easy point and click interface for creating your own attractive and professional web site
SBI! includes brainstorming tools for choosing your theme and keywords
SBI! incorporates tools for search engine optimization
SBI! auto submits your web site to the search engines and tracks search engine spiders and provides ranking reports
SBI! includes domain registration
SBI! includes web hosting of unlimited pages
SBI!! permits unlimited bandwidth
SBI includes unlimited autoresponders (a tool for sending email automatically when someone subscribes to your ezine, newsletter, tips etc)
SBI! includes ad-campaign management
SBI! includes click through analysis
SBI! provides you with a linking service (very important for search engine rankings)

TIP 1 : don't make the mistake I did and presume every website hosting company is up to scratch because it just isn't true. I signed on for a year with a company only to discover they sucked. If you are unsure whether the host you chose is up to the task just sign on for 1 month. If all looks good then extend as you want. Generally the longer you pay for upfront the cheaper it works out to be per month. If you stay with reputable hosts like the ones I've listed here you shouldn't have any problems.

TIP 2: If you have an existing account with a web host you can often open another at the same place for a reduced price. But if you are planning on having more than one site about the same subject and want to link them its best if they have different IP addresses. Not just the last value different but the last 2 or, even better, the last 3.

Written by Murray Hughes
007 Work From Home
Licensed To Make Money! - Learn FREE. Savage The Internet And Explode The Bank.