Websites for Beginners - How to Choose a Web Host

Choosing a web host is important. There are hundreds of web hosts out there including free hosts and commercial hosts. Each offers their own services. Initially you may not use all of these but you should be thinking into the future when you may need some of these resources. Lets look at the differences between free web hosting and commercial web hosting.

Free Web Hosting

1. Advertising  Most of the free web host impose their ads on your site. This is how they cover the cost of providing you with the free service. These ads might be in the form of banners, pop up ads, etc. 
2. The Amount of Space Allocated  Most free web hosts limit the amount of space and traffic you are allowed. If your traffic grows, you will have to switch to a paid service. If your site has lots of pictures, videos, sound files, etc., you will use up your free space quickly.
3. FTP Access  FTP is the most common method that gets used to transfer the web pages youve created from your computer to the internet, more specifically your web host. Some of the free hosts will require you to use their online design. This can be helpful for anyone new to having a website, but over time, you will find this very restricted.
4. Reliability  This is so important to your website, your visitors, and your placement in the search engines. A number of the free hosts are down a fair bit, and this isnt good for business. Many also have slow access, which will frustrate visitors.

Commercial Web Hosting

* Reliability  Theres the old setting you pay for what you get, and thats certainly true in web hosting. Commercial web hosting are fast and reliable, with the majority maintaining a 99.5% or higher uptime rate. Thats the minimum you should accept. They are also faster so your visitors wont get frustrated.
* Bandwidth  This is actually data transfer and it is the amount of bytes transferred between your site and the visitors browser. Dont believe the unlimited bandwidth selling feature. Web hosts must pay for the bandwidth that is used and you will too. So read the details of your agreement to ensure you know when it will start to cost you more.
* Technical Support  Look for 24/7 support. Things go wrong, and they go wrong and the most inconvenient time, so make sure you will have the support you need.
* Shopping Cart  If you are going to be selling things you need to make sure that you have shopping cart technology available to you.
* Email  If you have your own site, you will likely want to have the ability to have your email associated with your host site. Make sure they offer it. Pop3 and mail forwarding are also important. 

The Perfect Commercial Host

There likely is no such thing as a perfect commercial host. However, some are certainly much better than others are, and since this is a highly competitive industry be sure to check around.
