Articles on Hosting | Topics: hosting, web, host
by Aquamarine Potter
All business people know that the only thing that matters is the bottom line: Does it make money? Like all other forms of business, this is the key to a successful web site.
When the Internet was still in its adolescent stage, tons of so-called "web experts," said that you couldn't just put a simply brochure up on your web site – the surfers expected more than that. Lots of people who were creating web sites took that advice to heart and spent the majority of both their money and their time creating beautiful sites that cost thousands of dollars. Most of those aren't in business any more.
If you own a small business, it may simply not be enough to just build a web site that functions as an online brochure. However, it takes a lot of time and money to fully develop a site as a place for both users and customers to go and view the business. That should be your ultimate goal – to develop a place where customers can see our business. As the Internet continues to advance, in today's cutthroat world you simply cannot afford to stay behind in the times.
There is a certain art to creating a web site. You need technical experience, computer experience, as well as a wide range of creative skills to devise something that is pleasing on the eye. The majority of small businesses, whether just starting out or even those that have been running for ten years, are barely staying afloat. If you try to hire a team of graphic designers or web site designers, you can quickly run yourself into debt. In this case, doing it alone may be the only option. However, to do it yourself, you're going to need to know a bit about different web hosts, and what to look for. Just what are the five things that you need to look at when you're looking for a web-host?
First, look for how much help they're willing to give you in creating the site. If you have to design your own site from scratch, it's going to take a really long time, and unless you already know your stuff, there's going to be a lot of trial and error. You might even end up not updating just because of what a pain it is to actually do. Unfortunately that is going to cost you money. However, if your web host provides a variety of templates for you, you can save a ton of time, and in the process, save a ton of money.
Your web host has to be flexible and able to make changes on the fly. Customers are always coming back to the best websites out there, and the reason for that is because those websites manage to stay current. They are updated frequently, and customers want to come back and see what's new. If you need to upload a new video onto your site, and to do so you have to contact an external web developer that will cause a huge delay, as well as push away potential customers.
| Historical Quote |
There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning into itself.
| —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) |
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Financial stability is huge when it comes to choosing a web host - if your web host runs into trouble, then so do you. There's nothing that feels worse than when you're small business is just starting to grow, and your web host runs into financial trouble, causing your site to disappear, and set you back months – even years.
You're going to want to be able to track various site statistics. You need to know how many visitors are coming to your site, and you need to know where they're from. If you have this knowledge, you can readily apply it to the marketing areas that need work. That's why companies always have the "how did you hear about us?" question at the end of a survey.
Lastly, your website needs to have e-commerce add-ons. If you are planning to sell some sort of product, you need to know how much trouble you're going to run into if you try to add on e-commerce technology. Some web hosts have trouble with add-ons like these, and that could be reason alone for you to find a different web-host.
It's difficult to choose a web-host, but with the preceding facts in mind you'll be ahead of the game.
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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "Five Important Things to Look for in a Web Host" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by WebDesignConferencing.com. |
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