My Account 
Things to Consider Before You Get Business Web Hosting
There is no denying that business web hosting is easily one of the most important parts to consider if you want to expand the reach and presence of your brand or company beyond the reach of conventional advertising. But finding good business web hosting can be tricky if you don’t know what to look for, so here is a list of things you want to check before signing up for a provider:
Up-Time or Server Availability
This is a critical factor to consider, since your clients and customers won’t be able to view your site or even contact you if the server is down. But you should be smart about believing website hosts’ claims. There’s no way that a business web hosting will be able to offer 100% uptime. Maintenance and patching, as well as the occasional hitches means that there will be unavoidable downtimes. While some hosts are able to promise – and deliver – 99.999% uptime, which roughly equates to five minutes and fifteen seconds of downtime per year, the most realistic uptime guarantee is 99.9%, which amounts to 8 hours and 45 minutes of downtime per year.
Policies and TOS
Many website owners forget to pore through this part, but it will have bearing on the website and the business, as business web hosting providers will have provisions that are designed to protect them in case their clients do something that will hinder their business or get them in trouble with their county’s law. So check the host’s policies and TOS first before signing up and see if they match your business’ needs.
Tech Support
Your need to contact a web host is not a matter of if, but when. So you might want to check their customer support first and see if they are responsive, professional, and actually know how to handle your concerns. They should be willing to field questions from you even if you’re not yet a customer. In fact, the really good ones will actually convince you to sign up for their company.
Storage and Bandwidth
This will affect what and how much you can do on the host. You should first consult with whoever is going to maintain your site and come up with the bare minimum of what your website needs, then avoid any hosts that cannot exceed that by a healthy margin. There are a lot of hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth and storage these days, but be careful as some of them have stipulations – such as prohibiting uploads of files that are larger than a predetermined filesize. It is important to go in with discerning eyes.
eCommerce Tools
This is another blindspot for new businesses, because many websites don’t really need any eCommerce Tools, so there are a lot of small hosting companies who get away with not offering them. If you’re looking for a good business web hosting, you need to check if the host you are eyeing offers all the eCommerce tools you need, such as shopping cart software, database builders, secure servers, and others.
Tags: web hosting tips
