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How to choose a proper cheap web hosting service

By Terence L

Undoubtedly, selecting a reliable hosting company is one of the most important decision you have to make for your online business.

The pricing of cheap web hosting services that you can find on the net varies a lot. Options like disk space, bandwidth allowance, control panel and operating system in a hosting account determine the price that you have to pay. First, to start finding a suitable host for your site, you need to determine your requirements for your site. For the sake of the topic, I will share information about cheap web hosting services only.

You need to write down a list of requirements that you are looking for in a host.

To begin your research, I recommend that you look at the many web hosting directories and forums. It's a very good idea to search web hosting forums, and make posts to find the overall reputation of a web host, thereby avoiding the hassle of transferring your server to another web hosting firm.

1) Search for cheap web hosting prices that start from US$6 per month
Cheap web hosting services start from US$6 per month. There are cheaper ones, but I don't recommend them. Look for companies that offer dependable hosting services. You can check their response time by emailing to test and ask questions. If they reply to you consistently even if you have not signed up, you can consider them. Then look into hosting reviews to see if customers have had any bad experiences with them.

2) Get the proper software and hosting features.
Web hosting in the open Internet market today is very competitive. A good hosting provider will offer speedy internet connection, proper security measures, feature-rich hosting, and reliable server uptime. There are over a 100 types of features that a host can offer. Look for only what you need. Some of the most widely offered features include.

FTP, PHP, Perl CGI-BIN access, SSI, .htaccess, telnet and SSH crontabs
If you are paying for a site, you really should make sure you have all of these. Note that some commercial hosts do not allow you to install PHP or CGI scripts without their approval. This is not desirable since it means that you have to wait for them before you can implement a feature on your site. ".htaccess" is needed if you are to customise your error pages (pages that display when, say, a user requests for a non-existent page on your site) or to protect your site in various ways (such as to prevent bandwidth theft and hotlinking, etc). Telnet or SSH access is useful for certain things, including testing CGI scripts, maintaining databases, etc. Cron jobs may be needed for programs that you need to be run periodically (eg once a day). Check to see if these facilities are provided.

SSL (secure server), MySQLand Shopping Cart
If you are planning on doing any sort of business through your website, you might want to look out to see if the host provides these facilities. These facilities normally involve a higher priced package or additional charges. The main thing is to check to see if they are available at all before you commit to the host. You will definitely need SSL if you plan to collect credit card information on your site.

Email, Autoresponders, POP3 and Mail Forwarding
If you have your own site, you would probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, like sales@yourdomain.com, etc. Does the host provide this with the package? Does it allow you to have a catch-all email account that allows anyname@yourdomain.com to wind up being routed to you? Can you set an email address to automatically reply to the sender with a preset message (called an autoresponder)? Can you retrieve your mail with your email software? Can it be automatically forwarded to your current email address?

 

3) Calculate the bandwidth you require using this simple formula
There are many ways that you can determine the monthly amount of bandwidth transfer that your site needs to serve your web users, but I would suggest the simplest method below.

a) Look at your daily web statistics and find out the daily average volume of web users and number of page views. Usually, a new website has less than 1000 daily unique users, unless your site provides something useful, needful or something web users really wants.  

b) Secondly, calculate the average page size that you have on your site and add all the graphics size attached to the page.

c) Multiple the amount of visitors with the page size ( this includes all the graphics ) and with 30 days and you will get the approximate monthly bandwidth transfer that you site needs.

How much bandwidth your site may need, depends on many website and business requirements. Look at your web statistics again. See which files are the ones that web users are downloading most and how many web users are downloading these files.

Once you have these data, you can safely add or reduce the amount of bandwidth at any point in time knowing that you have the ability to estimate the monthly bandwidth allowance required.


4) Understanding provider's term of "Unlimited Bandwidth"
"Unlimited bandwidth" is a very confusing term used to describe the amount of bandwidth that a host will provide. HostPulse.com is a third party watch dog site in the hosting industry established since 2001. Working in this industry is not really as easy as it seems, but after much research has been made, I can carefully say that "unlimited bandwidth" is simply a term that hosting companies use to describe the provision of bandwidth allowance which will be at all times more than enough for that particular hosting account that you have purchased. Nevertheless, hosting companies still consign a maximum limit which most of the time it is not mentioned in the hosting details on that page you read. The maximum limit is usually the hidden term that you need to discover for yourself in the terms & conditions written on their website. If the hosting company is straightforward and honest, it will mention this on the page where the hosting details are written.

Since it is from the hosting provider’s point of view that the maximum limit is usually more than enough for your website, each web user will eventually have his own opinion about the unlimited bandwidth feature. If your hosting account exceeds the maximum limit on regularly, you will have to pay for the additional charges, otherwise, expect your site to be deactivated. Of course, most hosting companies will inform you about the website deactivation, but there are some that may not tolerate your website if they feel that it is abusing or wasting their bandwidth resources.

Hence, the question now is whether to sign up or not to sign up with hosting accounts with unlimited bandwidth?

My answer is, go ahead if you have a very tight budget, all the requirements of that hosting fit yours and you have researched on a host of important issues about the reliability and support service provided. There are always pros and cons in making decisions to sign up with a host. Hosting accounts with an unlimited bandwidth allowance are more often that not, placed in the lowest possible service class together with all the other unlimited bandwidth web users. But if you have decided carefully that bandwidth is not an issue for your website and have researched thoroughly that the hosting plan comes with feature-rich tools in addition to the excellent support, which all come at a very low cost, your decision to sign up is simply not flawed.

However, if you prefer a top-notch hosting account that requires a high amount of bandwidth that will cater for your ever increasing heavy traffic site, you will have to omit the unlimited bandwidth option. Choose a hosting account with at least 20GB for a start and if your site traffic is growing, opt for an additional 7Gb depending on the number of web users and frequently downloaded files. Remember to use the simple calculation mentioned earlier to provide you with an uncomplicated guide in managing your site.

 

5) Get at least 100MB disk space. Large disk space is not necessary unless it is a site requirement
Will your website and content grow from time to time or do you just need to publish a set of content that will expire after some time? For a corporate site with less than 20 web pages, a disk space of less than 100MB should be enough. If you want to start a site about a certain topic or industry, consider getting a hosting account with at least 60MB disk space for a start.

If you intend to publish a site with a lot of pictures or mp3 for users to download or purchase, consider a 100MB disk space hosting account. For personal sites, consider a 90MB disk space hosting account.

If you are in charge of an enterprise that needs to publish a lot of information and offer intranet system and public services, consider a dedicated server instead. These days, many hosting providers offer hosting services that exceed the disk space requirement standard for any given websites. Although more is better, it is not always necessary. Disk space can be purchased from time to time if it is not sufficient. So choose a hosting account appropriately depending on how much space you will need.

Secondly, consider hosting providers that can support the growth of your website and business, so that you can scale your website affordably. Ask about the companies' application, network, disk space cost, facilities and the solution they can offer as your site grows.

The features of a hosting account have a lot to do with what you can do for your site. It is of utmost importance to find a host that matches your skills and interest. Let's go step by step.

6) Most Linux-based or Apache-based hosting services are cheaper than Windows 2000/2003
The most popular web server nowadays runs on Windows 2000, Apache, Cobalt or Linux®. The design goals of both Unix®/Linux® and Windows are very similar in nature. These operating systems offer  portability, extensibility, and an ability to run on various different computers, whether they are desktop PCs or departmental servers. Your choice of operating system will classify the service and type of software that you can deploy and the kind of applications that your site can run on.

Windows NT® or Windows 2000/2003 servers are configured to be compatible with Microsoft® applications, such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL. NT/Windows 2000 servers also offer programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server and Cold Fusion. So if you are familiar with Microsoft®'s Internet Technologies, consider Windows NT® or Windows 2000 hosting services. Also, consider the speed of the processor and the amount of RAM (memory) that is installed on the server. Compare and choose the hosting provider that can offer you high processor speed and bigger amount of RAM (memory) at a reasonable price.

The Unix® platform offers tried and tested stability and the speed for enterprise level e-business. Linux® should also be mentioned when talking about Unix®. Many people do not realize that Linux® falls under the realm of Unix®. This is because Linux® is actually a Unix® derivative. Unix® or Linux® hosting often comes with telnet access, mySQL database, Perl, PHP and CGI support. If you are familiar with Unix® file naming, PERL or PHP applications, consider a Unix® or Linux® hosting account.

If you are not familiar with any of these operating systems, and if you prefer an easy-to-use platform, consider a Windows 2000 hosting account. If you are looking forward to learning the Perl programming language or if reliability or stability is a concern, consider an Unix® or Linux® hosting account.

Whichever platform that you choose, determine your goals for your site and find out the requirements to run your site. Based on your needs, determine the compatibility of the application or programming language that you need to use. Once you have all these in mind, you can safely and easily decide which platform is most suitable for your need.

7) Get web based email accounts
Look for email accounts with web based access as well as POP3. The best ones are those with administrator control. Generally, you should have at least 5 email accounts for 3 users. Depending on the number of users that you have in your organization, you should have least 2 to 5 standby email accounts. Some hosting providers offer unlimited email accounts as well. Features like auto responders, email aliases and email forwarding is very common nowadays.

8) Mysql or SQL server database?
Determine your requirements and decide if database is required. If you need to store a lot of records or transactions, a database can be very helpful. MS Access, mySQL and MS SQL Server are some of the most widely used database on the internet. If you decide a Unix® or Linux® hosting is your preferred choice, mySQL suits perfectly for your site. Alternatively, if a Windows 2000 server hosting is your option, you have the choice of either a MS Access or a MS SQL server.

9) Check to see if Microsoft® FrontPage is supported
This configuration allows you to use Microsoft® FrontPage to design, create and manage your website.


10) Make sure there is a control panel available
Control Panel is a service provided by the host to help you manage your web hosting account efficiently. This a is very useful tool that you need when you want things to be done quickly and dynamically. Check out this feature when you are looking for a host to sign up with. CPanel is currently the easiest Linux based control panel available on the market today, while Helm control panel recently dominates the Windows hosting accounts. Be sure to ask for Cpanel if you are interested to sign up on a Linux hosting account.

11) Ping host's website or datacenter to determine response time. Below 350ms is excellent
Web users do not tolerate slow websites, and to a certain extent, you can avoid the problem by choosing a hosting provider that is committed to supply high speed connection and redundant lines to ensure your site remains responsive and that your data moves quickly even if your primary Internet connections are temporarily unavailable.

Although the speed of a site can be caused by various and complicated problem areas, ranging from routing, web server set up, and local area networks, the main and major concern of how fast your site is depends very much on the types of network connections. The general types of network connections that a hosting provider often provides are given below.

Many hosting providers still connect to the Internet through T1, or T3 connections, although there has been an increase of hosting services using OC (Optical Carrier) lines.

A T1 line will offer data transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second), while a T3 line can supply data transfer rates of 43Mbps. Ultra-High Speed OC3 and OC12 lines offers 155Mbps and 622Mbps respectively. Some hosting providers have connections to major internet backbones at the speed of OC48 (2488Mbps).

Thus, consider finding a host that provides reasonable internet connections. You can do a speed test to determine the average response time from a hosting provider's site to your computer. Ping displays a report that includes the time it takes to receive a control packet from the remote host. High values of packet loss and response time indicate low connection performances, while low response time often means more reliable and faster connection. Please take note that the user's experience of response time is not limited to server's connection, but the throughput of the web server, the Internet itself, and user's connection.


12) Make sure that the company provides at least 2 support methods.
Maintaining and running a web hosting company is not easy. In fact, finding highly experienced web technicians to respond and support inquiries 24 hours and 7 days a week is even harder. Because successful implementation of a web hosting company often depends on how the management team executes its plan, policies, and goals, you can easily test if the web hosting company will respond to you quickly by asking them questions through email a few times.

There are a few things you can do to find a host with good technical support.

Find out if the company provides online knowledgebase and FAQ support. Check if the system is frequently updated and used. Online knowledgebase and FAQ are very handy tools when you have trouble with your website at anytime.

Find out if a control panel is available for your site. The control panel allows you to change and manage your hosting account remotely at anytime without any support intervention.

Find out the company's current status and how many years the company has been operating. Hosting providers that do not determine the needs of their customers have ceased or will eventually cease operations in this industry, leaving only the best-of-the-breed hosting providers to progress and move ahead.

Find out if the company has any technical certification in supporting and providing the service you purchase

Recommended cheap web hosting providers

Linux / Apache
www.micfo.com
www.startlogic.com
www.ipowerweb.com
www.bluehost.com
www.be-hosted.com
www.websitesource.com
www.everwebhosting.com
www.onsmart.net

Conclusion
Access www.100mostdynamic.com to read reviews of the 100 most dynamic web hosting companies.