Web Development and Website Hosting

Web Design and Web Development is only 1/2 the battle. It is important that small business owners understand the importance of hosting as it controls many SEO elements on your website.

1. Set Goals
If you want to reach the top of the search engines then you want a dedicated server (or semi private) with a private CClass Number. Make sure that you are not sharing the CClass number. The price for this service ranges from $50 if you work with your hosting company, to $500. Be careful - the cheaper hosting companies may limit their bandwidth.

If you do not need to be at the top of the search engines then pick a host with a good reputation like Hostgator or Godaddy. It doesn't matter what you pay for Web Design if the search engines, and users, cannot find your website.

2. Customer Service
Call customer service and ask questions - at least 2 - 5 times. You should get someone within 24 hours. Do this before you pay any money. Ask a few questions that cannot be answered in the FAQ or by the sales staff. Keep a list of companies that have a direct phone number to tech support - and make sure that the same person doesn't answer both phones.

Also, make sure that the person is using a real name. This may not happen in live chat, but you want a sense that the company is not outsourcing to a foreign country.

3. Features
Cpanel is a full featured dashboard that should be offered by every host. Only hosts who are trying to 'skimp' will use a lesser dashboard. You also want to look for a host who has included Fantastico. Plesk is also a good dashboard, but many small business owners find it difficult to manage.

4. Cost
Cost is usually number one on most people's list. However, saving a few dollars on hosting can cost you in search engine ranking, traffic, and even get your website penalized by search engines.

There are a lot of free and low fee hosting companies that redirect your traffic. If your visitor hits a dead link, or visits a page more than 2 or 3 times, they will be redirected to an 'advertisement' or popunder.

5. Limits
Many hosting companies limit 2 things: Bandwidth and CPU. They may not have dedicated switches on their servers. All of these things bring your site down - even when the hosting company's server is still 'up'. The more visitors you receive at one time, the quicker you go down. This is horrible when you have an event, or have several people watching a video.

The last point is the most obvious - reputation. I didn't include this in the list because you will develop a feel for the companies who pay for a good review on a hosting review website or an affiliate website and those hosting companies who earn a good review in blogs, forums, and other web venues.

Please let us know your stories in our guest book. I am always happy to listen to other people's ideas.