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Is your web site hosting cost effective?
Choosing the right web hosting company is an important aspect in cutting
your web hosting costs down. The web hosting industry, boosting several
thousand web hosts, is still young and growing at a remarkable pace;
hence finding the right host is not only difficult, but very time consuming;
fortunately though it is worth the time and effort. There are a few things
to keep in mind when exploring; when deciding to form a partnership with
the host. Below are just a few things to consider, which directly attribute
to final cost.
Bandwidth — Figure out approximately how much bandwidth (data
transfer) your web site requires. As above, ensure you get more bandwidth
than your site uses. For example, if your website uses 8GB bandwidth
per month, then choose a plan, which offers at least 8 or 10GB bandwidth
per month. This again will prevent 'spikes' of over usage, leading to
higher extra costs. As a reference, an average web site should pay no
more than $3 per GB for bandwidth usage.
Disk Space — Knowing how much web space your web site needs and
compensating for a bit extra, for growth. For example, if your web site
needs 200 MB of disk space, look for the plan which offers at least 250
to 300 MB of web space; this will prevent a large unexpected bill at
the end of the month when high priced costs, charged by most web hosts
for extra disk space usage, are added on to your bill. As a rule of thumb,
an average web site should cost you no more than $1 per 10 MB.
Add On — Ask the web host if they have "Add-ons" facilities for
purchasing projected extra disk space or bandwidth. But, be careful,
if your web site needs only 2 GB extra bandwidth, you may have to buy
an extra package in blocks of 5GB bandwidth; in this case, look for the
host which will allow you to purchase extra disk space and bandwidth
allowance as per your needs, this is crucial to cost savings
Caution: Ensure that you know the over-usage allowance rules; you need
to know what happens if your web site uses more disk space or bandwidth
than you have been allocated. The web host who informs you of possible
over-usage well in advance, allowing you to take measures to reduce or
budget for extra usage, is 'worth their weight in gold'.
No. of Web Sites — If you have more than one web site, sign up
an account with a web host who provides multiple domains hosted on one
account; this will work out a lot cheaper than an account per website.
A good tip would be to ask your friends and colleagues if they want to
host their websites with you on one account. For example at M6.net a
person or persons with 4 websites can save roughly $20 per month by signing
up an M6-2, multiple hosting account.
Databases and Scripting Support — Ensure that all the applications
your web site uses (FrontPage, ASP pages, databases, cgi, PHP, etc.),
are supported within the chosen account type. Find out if there are any
extra fees for particular applications or associated database support.
For example allot of hosts charge extra set-up fees to install FrontPage,
which may be avoided by choosing another host offering the same features
with no extra costs.
Mail Server — Emails are the lifeblood of your online business.
Ensure that you get a sufficient number of email addresses with your
own domain name (preferably unlimited); these are necessary for other
email features like forwarders, and auto responders, etc. There is no
need to pay an extra fee for use of a mail server as many hosts offer
this service now for free, within the hosting plan.
Avoid Long Term Contracts — Many web hosts offer huge discounts
on yearly or half yearly payments in advance, this may appear a good
way to go, but note how long you are locked in. If possible avoid long-term
contracts until you are sure about the services and reliability offered
by that particular host. Paying on a monthly basis obviously has its
benefits. If there are concerns with your service encouraging you to
seek a new host elsewhere, you may lose out on many months of hosting
fees when breaking a yearly or half-yearly contract; but, if the necessity
arises, a loss of only a few days to close a troublesome account, is
preferable.
Thinking ahead with reference to an established plan of action will
help you avoid most surprises, and definitely help towards cutting costs,
short term or long-term. Work out your growth rate and project future
expansions. Keep a good record of past and present bandwidth and web
space usage; this will help to project future needs.
Savings are mostly a matter of common sense, but in this industry of
high technology most people forget this rule and try to look for the
best, most efficient and most expensive technical programs and software
to save them a buck or two. As in most businesses good cost effective
groundwork is the best start to cutting costs.
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