September 11th 2003 Which web host? When setting up an online business, one of the areas that people don't always give much thought to is where to host their website. Often this is the most expensive aspect of setting the business up and therefore it can be tempting to go for the cheapest option. Be warned - the cheapest option will almost certainly not be the best option. The problem with low-cost web hosting is that you just don't get the features that you get with higher priced services. Initially you may not want some of these features (things like the ability to run scripts, databases, etc) or you might not need them (large amounts of web space or bandwidth - the amount of data that you can transfer each month by people viewing your pages or downloading files), but one day, you almost certainly will. Now, I know what you are thinking: 'Once I need the extra features, I will just transfer to a new host' Take it from me, when you have a website that is up and running, making you money and everything on the site 'works' correctly, the last thing you will want to do is transfer it to a new host and take the chance that suddenly it won't work properly. Sure, you will probably be able to get it working but if your site makes you a couple of hundred dollars a day and it is offline for 2 days while you try and fix it, then you have just lost $400 - plus the cost of moving to a new host! In addition, you have the extra work and stress involved in moving the site. I can speak from experience on the above topic because I made exactly the same mistake myself. I currently have several sites hosted in one place and quite frankly, for a variety of reasons, I would prefer for them to be hosted somewhere else. However, I don't want to move them since all of the software scripts etc that run the sites are working perfectly and I am not confident that a move to a new host would be seamless. The basic cost of hosting these sites is low but when you add in the additional fees that I am now paying for databases and other additional services, the hosting becomes quite pricey. If I had gone for a slightly more expensive option to start with, I would have had all the features I required, at no extra cost, all ready to add to my website as and when I needed them. If you are serious about running an online business, don't fall into the '$7 a month web hosting' trap. Your web host is probably the most important part of your business and it is well worth paying a bit more to get a top class service. Look at it this way, if you were to rent a shop or store it would cost you hundreds a month - your website is your online store and it is definitely worth a $25 a month investment. For the record, I now use and am more than happy to recommend, ThirdSphere hosting - one fixed monthly fee gets you just about every service and feature you are ever likely to need (as well as a lot more besides). You can even host multiple domain names through one account. The link below will give you a fre^e month of hosting if you decide to sign up - this is not a standard deal, it is a special offer for my customers and subscribers and allows you to try the service at absolutely no cost whatsoever :-) http://www.thetraderonline.com/thirdsphere.html Don't forget the forum! Many of you email me from time to time to ask questions about earning online etc and I have no problem with this and will help wherever I can. However, please don't forget that I have an online forum which may already contain the answer to your question. In addition, you may get a quicker response from one of the other forum members and if you post the question publicly, the answer may help other people too. So please do drop by and say 'hello': http://www.thetraderonline.com/forum.html Until next time... |
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