What You Absolutely Have to Get Started
As gas prices become a bigger factor in people’s driving habits, you may want to get your online store up, sooner rather than later. But if you have never set up a website for your small business before, then the whole web hosting problem at first can seem very daunting. This article will explore all the requirements you will need for a small business web hosting account.
The following tips will guide your through the process of finding a web hosting service that fits your small business needs.
Why are you putting up a website?
Know what you want your website to do for your business before starting the design process. Do you want the website to become your primary marketing hub or do you want it to act as a “funnel” and to get visitors to call your office or drop by your store? You must have an answer to this question before you spend a dime on any small business web hosting.
Who is the go-to guy or gal in your company for computers?
Many business owners are surprised how “web savvy” members of their staff can be. Ask around, does anyone in your office have a personal website or blog? Also ask your website developer who they recommend. Or if you haven’t got a designer yet talk to your network or computer repair guy and see who he suggests as a small business web hosting vendor.
What are your requirements?
Is your small business web host account going to need script support (Perl or PHP)? Are you going to need a mySQL database for a Wordpress blogging platform? Or are you just going to have a simple website without any bells or whistles? Go over web requirements with your design team.
Where are you looking to host your website?
Local web hosting companies offer more personal service but a larger, more established company is usually a player in the hosting industry and may have more technical expertise.
When are you going to set up your website?
Are you thinking of going online, this week, next month or two years from now? While it may be a good idea to “lock down” a great domain name, there is little sense in wasting money on a hosting service, if your small business is not ready to use it. Wait until your website design is nearly complete, then you will know what kind of services you need from a web host.
So, how can you get started?
Once you understand what your website is going to need in the way of programming support, you can start looking for small business web hosting providers. The two main points to check out is web server uptime and technical support.
Uptime is usually quoted as a percentage. Look for web hosting services with 99.9% of up time or better. This means their network seldom crashes or goes down due to technical glitches.
Technical support. You should look for a company that has at least some kind of telephone support. Yes, all hosting services offer email or web based help lines, but if your website goes down, you may want to be able to call your hosting company to stay in touch about critical repairs.
Well, now that you know a bit more what to look for in a small business web hosting company, you can start exploring your hosting options.
