’)
If you’ve come to that spot in the life of your small business where it’s clearly time to go online and increase your reach, then you will of necessity have to make some basic decisions about how to handle your small business web hosting. Your needs will be different than those of a large company, and very likely far more involved than a personal website. There are many things to be looked into, and here we’ll get you started by examining a few.
While you probably won’t need a dedicated server’s worth of space, you will need more than the average site. Ask about ecommerce packages, and if you have a large inventory that will require databases full of information, you need to know that going in, so you can intelligently shop for the right small business web hosting plan.
You will also want to know that this host you’re looking into has at least a 99% uptime record, and that they have a commitment to support. One of the last things you need is a web host you can’t reach when things go wrong, as they sometimes do. You need a company that takes your needs seriously, and that means being available to respond quickly. Many good web hosts have 24 hour support that can, at the very least, get the ball rolling when it comes to your problem. This is very important to you when you are losing money because your site is unavailable!
Make sure that the prospective web host has plenty of features available for your company to use. This is where the bulk of the competition in web hosting is these days: who can boast the most features. You need to make sure there are editing tools and some basic design tools for you to use in the event you need to make changes quickly. Most hosts have this in spades.
Make sure the host is compatible with other languages, such as PHP, ASP and Perl, among others. You also may need the flexibility to install scripts or blogs of your own, as well as manage databases.
You may need to install a shopping cart, or install a third party sales payment processor. Obviously this needs to sync up well. These are things to make sure are in place before you sign up.
One of the best things you can do to make you small business web hosting search a success is to make sure you do your due diligence, and thoroughly vet the companies you are considering. Don’t merely take their salespage’s word for it either: look them up in popular forums, Google them, and see how much negative you find. There will always be some, as there is no way to please everyone, but try to limit your consideration to those companies that have a preponderance of positive recommendations. You’ll be spared many headaches down the road!
Finding and hiring a web host for your small business is not the hardest task you’ll have in your quest to get your business online, but it is one you’ll need to make sure you do the ground work well.
