Four Web Hosting Tips for Newbies
Posted On: 2007-05-08
Yesterday I offered four search engine optimization tips for newbies and today I want to offer some more tips for newbies. This time though we're going to be looking at hosting for your web site.
Hosting can really make your break your online business no matter which side of the fence you're working so it's important to get your hosting right the first time. To help you make the right decisions about hosting here are four tips that you should think about.
You get what you pay for
Almost every newbie who comes into this industry arrives with a very limited budget. That means that they want to make their dollar go as far as they can so they're always looking for a bargain. Unfortunately they lack the experience to understand that, when it comes to hosting, the cheapest option may not always be the best option.
When you take your business online you need support at all hours of the day and night and that is going to cost you money. If you think that you can make a start in this industry with a hosting package that costs you $10.00 a month then you had better think again.
If you're paying $10.00 a month then don't expect an instant response if a problem arises. In fact if you're paying a really low price for your hosting then don't expect a response at all. Sure there are very reputable hosts out there who offer a very basic package for a very basic price and they will give you support but a lot of those who offer low-cost hosting packages don't have the resources to offer you the support that you need.
Settle for nothing less than 24/7 email support
Now for those of us who have been in the industry for quite some time the heading for this section is a no-brainer. If you see a host who doesn't offer 24/7 email support as a minimum then don't even consider them.
You might be thinking that every host offers that level of support but I can tell you that I've come across some who don't. There's one well-known mainstream host here in Australia who is often recommended to newcomers who only provides support via their online message board. Even if you have a dedicated server with them you only get support via their message board despite the fact that you're paying a huge premium for your hosting compared to what is available in the United States.
So make sure you have 24/7 email support from your host because it's a well known fact that that servers always crash at 3am on a Sunday morning just as your latest gallery gets listed on The Hun. That's when you learn just how valuable good support from your host really is.
99% uptime
Uptime is extremely important to any webmaster whether you're new to the business or have been around forever. So it's only natural that you would be attracted to the host who offers you the best uptime but don't be fooled, any host who offers you 100% uptime is offering the impossible. It doesn't matter how good your host is or how good the server is that is carrying your site, shit happens and servers go down.
Many hosts will offer you 99% uptime and that's something I'm happy with. However, you need to understand just what 99% uptime really is. Steve did this calculation the other day for an article he was writing. There are 8760 hours in every year and 99% of that is 8672.4 hours. That means that there is still the chance that your server will be down 87.6 hours in any year so don't get upset with your host when your server does go down occasionally, he's already warned you that it might happen.
Keep backups of your sites
Your host is responsible for keeping your site online but you're responsible for maintaining your site. Included in maintaining your site is the little matter of backups. At the very least you should maintain a mirror image of your site on your computer at home or in your office. And don't forget to backup that mirror image to a CD every week.
Every new free site or gallery you upload should be kept on your hard drive at home because sometimes things happen and you may need to upload them all again. If you have to change hosts at some point you may find that you may be required to upload everything to your new host and if you haven't kept a mirror image on your own computer then you are in big trouble.
If you're running database applications on your sites then get your host to backup your server every 24 hours and make sure he keeps those backups for at least 48 hours. You should also arrange for him to backup your server on a weekly basis as well.
Why is that necessary? The 24 hour backups are necessary because, if something goes wrong and the files on your server are corrupted your host can quickly restore them. If someone has managed to infect your server with a trojan it may take several days before you're aware of it. A backup that's only 24 hours old isn't of much use to you in that situation but a weekly backup certainly would be.
So there are some hosting tips to keep in mind right through your career online. Remember them and apply them and you'll never have the problems that so many webmasters have when it comes to hosting.