There are hundreds, if not thousands, of hosting
companies out there. They come in all price ranges, and with all kinds
of bells and whistles. Here are some things you may want to look for
in a hosting company, especially if your website is part of your
overall marketing plan to sell products or services.
Money Back
Guarantee - I put this first, because if you are unhappy with your
hosting site, you'll want assurances that you'll get your money
back.
24/7 Customer
Technical Support ? This is critical. Find out if they mean ?there?s
voicemail or email 24-hours-a-day? or if they mean, ?we will
answer the phone and help you 24-hours-a-day?
Control Panel - The
Control Panel where you control all aspects of your account, such
as managing email accounts, reading statistics, and configuring
autoresponders. Make sure your hosting company has a centralized
control panel for your management needs.
Website Statistics
? From a marketing perspective, it?s important to know who is
visiting your site and what pages they read. Your hosting company
should keep track of all of this information for you, and present
it in an easy to read format. Make sure your statistics are
updated on a daily basis, and that you can configure the display
to show you by day, by week, by month or by year. You can learn
more about how to read and interpret your statistics here: http://www.passionforbusiness.com/articles.htm
CGI - CGI stands
for the "Common Gateway Interface" and is a protocol
through which web pages interact with scripts on a server. Your
hosting company should allow you to install and run CGI scripts
your account. They may also offer you some pre-installed CGI
scripts for free as part of your hosting package, such as a
message board or email forms.
POP Email Accounts
- A POP (Post Office Protocol) Email Account is an email account
hosted on your site. Your hosting company should allow you to have
more than one POP account, so that you can set up email addresses
for all your needs. For example, clients requesting information
about a workshop can send email to workshop@mydomain.com, while
clients can send their homework to homework@mydomain.com. Also
make sure your hosting company support email forwarding.
Autoresponders -
Autoresponders allow a visitor to send an email to a specific
email address and automatically receive a reply. For example, if
you have a FAQ, people can send an email to faq@mydomain.com and
automatically receive the FAQ list in their email inbox.
SSL Secure Server -
SSL stands for "Secure Socket Layer". This is a protocol
that allows for encrypted transmissions on the web, and is
especially useful if you are collecting private information from
visitors, such as credit card information.
Shopping Cart - If
you plan on having a catalog on the web, like selling your ebooks
or audio tapes, a shopping cart is a must. It lets people browse
through your ?store? and pick the items that they plan to
purchase. When they are done, they proceed to the checkout where
they can review their order and pay by credit card. If your
hosting company does not offer a shopping cart system, there are
plenty of stand-alone shopping cart systems you can use with your
website.
Password Protected
Areas ? If you want to create a "members only" or
"students only" section of your site, you will need to
make sure that your hosting company supports password protected
areas (folders or sub-webs).
FrontPage
Extensions - Microsoft FrontPage is a web development tool that?s
easy to use. In order for this package to be completely
functional, it requires that there be special software installed
on the server called ?FrontPage Extensions.? Beware the hosting
company who wants to charge you for using FrontPage Extensions;
most hosting companies offer them for free.
Mailing List
Software - Keep your users informed by offering to put them on the
mailing list. Make sure your hosting company supports
double-opt-in mailing lists, where the person signs up and
receives a confirmation email that instructs them how to
officially sign up for your mailing list.
Streaming Media ?
If you?d like to add multimedia streaming to your site, you?ll
need to find out if your hosting company supports the use of
streaming media such as RealAudio or Windows Media files. Some
hosting companies will charge you extra for this service.
As you can see, there are a lot of things to
consider. Remember, while some of these may not be important to you
now, you?ll also want a hosting company that can grow and support you
as your business grows.
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Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert and small business
coach. She shares tips, techniques and strategies with self-employed
people to boost clarity and focus, create sustainable motivation, and
increase sales and profits.
Visit her website at www.PassionForBusiness.com
