• Wed, Sep 19, 2012

    This article gives advice on finding a domain host right for your needs, listing ten questions that you should ask before signing up with a particular host, and why you should ask them.

    Make or Break

    Your domain host could well be the difference between your website being a runaway success or failing your business badly. Whether it is through poor technical support, a slow server, or other issues, problems with web hosting have the potential to ruin your reputation. The biggest, most galling factor about this is that a lot of the time it will be issues beyond your control.

    To give yourself the best chance of finding excellent domain hosting services, ask these questions first.

    1.Do You Charge a Set Up Fee?

    If they do then it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact many of the best ones will. It is more of a financial consideration for your budget.

    2.How Much Uptime Will My Site Have?

    You want at least 99.8% per month to be in serious business, with guarantees that you will get a refund if this is ever not met.

    3.Can I Upgrade?

    If you cannot upgrade without paying a financial penalty, avoid the domain host.

    4.What are the Charges for Excess Bandwidth?

    Ideally, go for unlimited bandwidth – if you can’t afford that option then this is very important to know.

    5.How Long is the Contract?

    Many great deals may be dependent on you signing up for a long time, up to five years in some cases. Always give these hosts serious consideration, what if you are not happy after year one?

    6.When Will My Site Be Backed Up?

    This is one of those where you get what you pay for. If you go with a high end premium host, expect to have your site backed up a lot.

    7.Do You Offer Built in Secure Server and e-Commerce Upgrades?

    Whether you are selling a product online or giving people an option to pay you via PayPal on your site, this can be hugely important to your site credibility, and you really don’t want to be paying the cost of an external business adding it into your site.

    8.Do You Operate a Referral Program?

    If they are a serious service provider, they will offer incentives for you to recommend their work. This is often a sign of a quality domain provider.

    9.When is Technical Support Available?

    If the answer is not 24/7, then run a mile and don’t look back! This doesn’t have to be telephone support, just an assurance that they will reply to an e-mail within 10 minutes, for example.

    10.How Big Can My Website Be?

    This may not a problem now, however as your business grows you will want to expand your site massively. If you have business objectives to meet in year three however your site will hold you back, reconsider your choice of domain host.

    Choosing the domain host will be one of the most important things you ever do in terms of your website. Ensure that you take the time required to get the best deal for you.

    Posted by myadmin @ 8:08 pm for Miscellaneous |

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