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"What's your web address?"
From
small "mom and pop" home-based businesses
to mega-stores, people ask this question in business
every single day. Even if you only operate a small,
local business, if you don't have a website (or at
least email) people honestly look at you funny.
A
few years ago, website hosting was one of the largest
expenses connected with setting up a website. Now,
with dramatic drops in pricing, website hosting can
actually present the least costly component of operating
a website.
However,
before you run out and sign up for $2-a-month website
hosting and wake up tomorrow filled with regret, take
5 minutes right now and learn the main points to consider
when evaluating any website host.
Total
Storage
How
much space do you get to store your website files?
If you operate a small website with a handful of pages
and only a couple of pictures per page, you can get
by with 5-10 MB (megabytes) of disk space or less.
However, if your site contains dozens of pages and
hundreds of pictures, you may need a hosting plan
with 10- 25 MB of space.
Data
Transfer / Bandwidth
Here's
where many people fall down and get run over by the
Internet bus! Bandwidth represents the total amount
of traffic the website host allows you to receive.
Successful
sites that get a lot of traffic eat up more bandwidth
than sites without many visitors. Honestly, bargain
website hosting companies don't want you to get much
traffic because your bandwidth costs them money.
If
you plan to do any business online, make sure you
get a bare minimum of at least 1 GB (gigabyte) of
data transfer per month.
Email
"Aliases"
Most
web hosts allow you to set up email addresses connected
with your domain, such as jim@thenetreporter.com,
and have them forward to your email account, like
yourname@aol.com . The ability to set up email aliases
forms an integral part of any online business. Make
sure your hosting company allows you to set up at
least 5 email aliases.
Website
Tools
If
you want to do anything more than let people look
at static web pages, you will need to have certain
tools available. The two most important tools are
CGI and website statistics. These allow you to run
scripts and see who came to your site and when.
Tech
Support
Make
sure you understand any company's technical support
policies and hours of operation. Don't wait until
Saturday afternoon to discover your only help option
is to wait and email them Monday morning.
Go
to www.comparewebhosts.com and check out the tool
for researching and comparing the offerings of over
9,000 different website hosting companies. Try the
"Power Search" feature, which allows you
to specify about 50 different variables, including
price, company location, bandwidth, and number of
email aliases allowed. It even lets you search by
how often the hosting company backs up its servers
to protect against data loss.
----
Jim
Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co- author of an amazing new ebook that will teach
you how to work less, get paid more... and have tons
more fun!
"The
Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business"
==============================
Are YOU a "Lazy Achiever"?
"The Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business"
How to Work Less, get Paid More and have
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==============================
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