Would you buy a Lear Jet to run to the supermarket twice a week? Of course not. Before you hand over your credit card to a hosting service, take a long, hard look at the content you intend to post online. We've drawn up some typical WebSite types so that you can match your site to a hosting profile that fits. (Note: The price ranges listed here are purely estimates. Pricing in this area is a moving target and isn't a reliable indicator of service quality.)
The basic site
You want a good-looking site, but you don't want it to be expensive or time-consuming to maintain. Your site isn't exactly a bandwidth-busting hub; it falls somewhere between 2 and 20 pages. There's no shortage of low-rent hosting options that provide 20 to 50MB or more of server space for such a WebSite, along with some e-mailboxes, to boot. If you shop around, you can find these basic hosting features for less than 10 bucks a month. Keep in mind, however, that you may not get phone support or top-notch WebSite speed for such a low price.
"Data Flurry offers powerful hosting from $3.49 per month" |
Small-business or hobby site
Your company, athletic association, nonprofit organization, or Drew Barrymore fan page consists of a few HTML pages that you update fairly often. It's serious stuff, but it doesn't require much hosting space--just a few CGI scripts, some FrontPage extensions, and maybe some password-protected folders. In general, this class of hosting costs somewhere between $13 and $25 per month. (If you add Active Server Pages and want server-based traffic-analysis tools somewhere down the road, you may rack up some additional charges.)
"Data Flurry's plans from $3.49 per month and up include CGI Scripts, PHP, SQL, shopping carts and much more!" |
Online store
Once you add a shopping cart to your site, you'll need much more than a basic host. Online stores require inventory databases, a reliable way to fulfill orders, and a tool to process credit cards. And because you're asking your visitors to put money on the line, it's imperative that you provide quick, around-the-clock technical support. These features don't come cheap. Expect to pay as much for a merchant account as you would for a phone line or cable TV service--say, around $40 to $90.
"With Data Flurry, you can host a powerful shopping system from $3.49 per month with Paypal! No merchant account needed!" |
Bandwidth-busting media hub
You want to share big-bandwidth items online, such as downloadable programs or MP3 files, and perhaps some streaming RealAudio or video files, too. You'll need a lot of storage space and bandwidth, and you might consider renting your own dedicated server. (Tip: If you share a server with five other domains that can't get visitors because yours is hogging the whole data pipe, you'll become unpopular really quickly.) For these capabilities, prepare to dish out hundreds of dollars per month.
"This type of hosting plan would run you from $10-$20 per month with Data Flurry. If you go over your resources, we charge very low overage fees!" |
Corporate nerve center
You need a mission-critical WebSite on which your customers, clients, and suppliers can rely. If your mail or Web server is down for a couple of minutes, you'll hear about it. Company e-mail is crucial. You're a prime candidate for dedicated or managed hosting (the host runs your site on your own servers at the host's facility). Or, if you know how to maintain a server, you may prefer a colocation scheme, in which you acquire and maintain the server hardware at your site, while the hosting company takes care of setting up network access. Generally, if you can configure and maintain a network, go with colocation: you'll get a better server for the money. Either way, you will pay a hefty premium for the service.
"If you are intersected in Arizona Colocation or Dedicated Hosting please contact (480) 834-0988" |
This article was supplied Courtesy of Cnet Hosting News |
