Choosing a good Web Hosting service should take priority when you set out on developing a website for your business. The task is not easy, considering that there are so many web hosting companies out there. Many companies tend to leave the task to their web designers to provide their own hosting or recommend a web host. Whatever the case may be there are a few facts you should consider before making a decision to ensure you get a reliable, secure and efficient web hosting service that is affordable and worthwhile.
If you are conscious about efficiency and reliability when it comes to providing services to your customers then you should consider reading through this article, as it is meant to give you basic insight into the most important facts you should look out for when purchasing a web hosting service.
There are many Web Hosting Companies in Kenya today and choosing the right company might be difficult but the following facts remain the same across the board.
1. Reliability
A reliable server means your website will be up and running at all times and you will be able to access and send emails to your customers without interruptions. However, since technology can only be reliable up to a certain extent you want to look out for the best managed servers in terms of up time, security and customer service. The best providers offer up to 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 24/7 support that ensures any issues you have are taken care of immediately. There are also server software that enables better management, monitoring and control. Some technologies such as CloudLinux enable better management of servers running on shared Linux servers and ensure that malicious programs that consume and interrupt server resources for other users on the same server are controlled.
2. Efficiency
Servers consume a lot of energy and the lesser the energy they consume the better for our environment and overall energy costs. Most certainly there are significant financial and social benefits for companies to undertake green initiatives and this can be accomplished by implementing energy efficient servers, better server architecture and power supply systems. If the Web Hosting Company has taken the initiatives to implement green technology the better.
3. Features
Web Hosting plans usually consist of a combination of features that make it easy and efficient to manage your website. This is the part where many web hosting companies differ as they want to provide different packages for a variety of target markets depending on needs. This enables you to make a choice based on your individual needs enabling you to pay for only what you need, but if you expect your business to grow and expect to have a lot of visitors on your website then it would be wise to choose an unlimited web hosting plan which is a popular and a fast growing trend. The most important web hosting features to consider before making your choice include:
3. a) Disk space
 Disk space is the amount of storage allocated to a website by a web hosting provider. The storage can be used to store HTML files, videos, photos and anything that is used by the website. Normally the disk space allocated is not only for the website but is also used for email storage, databases and web log files. The amount of storage required depends on the size of your website and volume of emails. If you’re not sure then consult your web designer or you can opt for Unlimited Web Hosting which is quite affordable and includes unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Databases and Unlimited Email accounts.
3. b) Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to data or information transmission rates when communicating over certain media such as hosting server. Bandwidth allocated by a web hosting company refers to the amount of allowable data transfer per month for a website. When an online user visits your website, a webpage is transferred from the server to the user’s web browser. The higher the number of visitors to your website the more data is transferred to the website therefore, observe the bandwidth allocation as you compare the various packages offered by the web host.
3. c) Server Side Technology
Server side technology refers to the applications that execute on the server. These technologies include, ASP, JSP, CGI, PHP, SSI, which when executed will generate the HTML content dynamically. These applications provide flexibility to generate dynamic web content for various users using different browsers such as Firefox and Microsoft IE. Consult you provider and find out what scripts are included with your service.
3. d) Email Features
On shared web hosting every package makes provisions for a certain amount of email accounts, except for unlimited web hosting plans which allows unlimited email accounts. This can be quite useful for medium and large organizations that require a lot of email accounts for various employees. The system uses POP3 access where emails can be downloaded directly to your email processor such as MS Outlook. You can also access emails via the browser through the webmail application. Other emails features that should be included are email forwarding and auto responders.
3. e) Security
Web hosting security can be a real nightmare especially when you don’t know what is wrong and what you don’t know about your web hosting can really hurt your business especially for those who are running e-commerce websites. Shared hosting servers can be vulnerable to attacks by hackers who upload malware or other malicious programs or code onto a server. Once this content is uploaded then it becomes an imminent danger to other users whose data is hosted on the server. The malware can be used for anything from launching a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, stealing credit card information to hijacking an entire hosting server. Web hosting companies implement a raft of measures to ensure that their security is up to par and data is regularly backed up to a remote server in the event that their servers are compromised. While it is the responsibility of web hosting company to provide the highest level of security on behalf of their clients it is the prudent for clients to ensure they take precautions to ensure they do not inadvertently misuse their accounts. Higher a professional web designer to make sure that your website is safe and secure for users and to avoid unnecessary interruptions.
4. Technical Support
Consider technical support before you sign up with a web hosting company because server interruptions may occur at anytime and if you provider is not available then this may result serious problems even loss of revenue for your business. Many companies offer 24/7/365 customer support through telephone and live chat from where you can speak directly to an agent. If the problem is serious then the problem can be escalated to technical support and the problem solved within a short period of time.
Usasi Media Ltd [http://usasimedia.co.ke/web-hosting/] is a web design company that provides interactive web design services that add value. We like to combine a good websites with reliable and secure web hosting services that will ensure productivity and value to your customers