So how do you go about choosing your ideal web hosting service? To do this, you have to determine the specific requirements of your website.
First you'll need to decide on a server platform, whether UNIX or Windows. Most servers run UNIX so this should be fine for you.
Next you need to consider your requirements for disk space and bandwidth. Most hosting companies offer a range of packages with differing space and bandwidth limits.
So to determine the right package for you, you have to determine the amount of data you need to store on the server and the volume of data you can send and retrieve.
As a very rough guide, disk space between 200 and 500MB should be enough for general use. However much more may be needed should you need to use data intensive applications such as streaming video. If this is the case, you should consider a hosting plan with storage of 500 MB to 1,000 MB.
Likewise for bandwidth. If you're anticipating a high volume of traffic, you should look at 40 GB to 100 GB per month. You should always budget on the side of caution here as if you exceed your monthly bandwidth allowance, you may have to pay high excess use charges.
Other factors you need to consider are such factors as the number of email accounts and sub-domains you'll need. Many medium hosting packages offer unlimited numbers for these, and even unlimited domains and Sql server databases.
The last thing to consider is reliability, customer service and support. Your web host must guarantee 99% server up time along with 24-7 technical support.
First you'll need to decide on a server platform, whether UNIX or Windows. Most servers run UNIX so this should be fine for you.
Next you need to consider your requirements for disk space and bandwidth. Most hosting companies offer a range of packages with differing space and bandwidth limits.
So to determine the right package for you, you have to determine the amount of data you need to store on the server and the volume of data you can send and retrieve.
As a very rough guide, disk space between 200 and 500MB should be enough for general use. However much more may be needed should you need to use data intensive applications such as streaming video. If this is the case, you should consider a hosting plan with storage of 500 MB to 1,000 MB.
Likewise for bandwidth. If you're anticipating a high volume of traffic, you should look at 40 GB to 100 GB per month. You should always budget on the side of caution here as if you exceed your monthly bandwidth allowance, you may have to pay high excess use charges.
Other factors you need to consider are such factors as the number of email accounts and sub-domains you'll need. Many medium hosting packages offer unlimited numbers for these, and even unlimited domains and Sql server databases.
The last thing to consider is reliability, customer service and support. Your web host must guarantee 99% server up time along with 24-7 technical support.