Nowadays, domain names are cheap. Everyone’s grandmother can easily get one at less than $1. Because of that, the web hosting industry has become more competitive. There are so many web hosting plans out there that are good and not so good. So, the important question is, how in the world do I narrow down my choices and choose a web hosting company that fits my needs and grows with me? Below are 7 factors to consider before realizing a mistake.

Top 10



This is the easiest way to choose. Just google it and you will fine tons of websites listing out top 10, 20, 30 web hosting companies. However, the problem is that there are certain websites that will only list out web hosting companies that they are affiliated with. Be careful in that area. You may be influenced into registering with their No.1 choice, only to find out hidden terms and conditions days later. That time, it’s too late.

The most important thing is to look for a good explanation. For example, Web Hosting Unleashed, chooses their top web hosts that have :

..more than 15 positive reviews and are recommended by at least 90% of the reviewers.

Find My Hosting is another reliable site that helps consumers to find web hosts.

By Location



This is another factor that every webmaster should consider. Of course, the best plan is to have the website hosted locally. This will help in lowering cost and it is more convenient. However, if the target audience of the website is elsewhere, it’s only logical to host it at that location. For example, if your visitors are primarily from the UK, you may want to choose a UK web hosting company over a US web host.

Another influencing factor on location is if you need to make frequent updates to the website, and are often transferring many large files, the speed difference between a web host in your country and a web host in a different country will be significant. Even with a broadband connection, uploading many files to a web server in a different country will prove frustrating. One fine example is Malaysian broadband ISP, TmNet Streamyx.

Windows or Linux



Basically, there are two standard web hosting operating systems which are Windows and Linux. The difference is that Linux is significantly cheaper and has greater compatibility with most scripts. Unless the webmaster is an all out Microsoft supporter and develop web applications in dot net, he’ll use Linux web hosting. Below are 10 examples of free and very, very famous web applications that uses Linux.

• Wordpress Blog Platform
• OSCommerce Shopping Carts
• Help Center Live
• Joomla Content Management Systems
• Invision Forum / Discussion Boards
• Drupal Content Management Systems
• 4Images Image Gallery Management System
• SMF Forum / Discussion Boards
• Noah’s Classifieds
• PHProjekt Project Management System

Traffic Size



If you are just starting out, look among the ‘chosen ones’ that has a hosting plan for the smallest bandwidth limit size. It is logic to say that the smaller it is, the cheaper it is. The host must also allow customers the flexibility to switch plans when and if the site grows bigger than the allocated bandwidth limit.

FTP Upload Download Speed



I have 4 websites under my belt, and have been through 3 different hosts. My first host, well, was an eye opening experience for me. At that time, rangit.com was hosted in my first host. The thing is, I have upload and download limits when I transfer files, even though it is hosted locally. The upload limit was 10kb and download was 10kb. At that time, I was inexperienced and thought that it was normal until I found my 3rd host. I was shock to see my files transferring at top speeds. Really. Then only did I realize the importance of FTP Upload and Download speed.

After Sales



Technical support. The single most important factor in choosing a webhost. The only way that you are going to find out about this is through reviews. Of course, every webhost will say that they have 24/7 customer support. That’s advertising. The only way to truly find out if that particular webhost is good, is by reading comments.

Web Hosting Unleashed
Research your web hosting choice

Data is bits and bytes of information stored in electronic memory. Data center is the facility used to house mission critical computer systems and associated components which includes environmental controls (air conditioning, fire suppression, etc.), redundant/backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections and high security. As data is a crucial aspect of most organizational operations, organizations tend to be very protective of their data. A data center must therefore keep high standards for assuring the integrity and functionality of its hosted computer environment. This is depicted in its physical and logical layout.

Let’s take a high end data center for an example. Let’s take Hosted Solutions’s Managed Server Colocation Charlotte NC as an example. Services offered by Charlotte Data Center Solutions include :

• Colocation

- buying a web server that it is physically located in the premises of a third-party company that provides the networking.

• Dedicated Server

- a computer on a network that is assigned to function only as a resource server and cannot be used as a client. Gamers of half-life should know what dedicated servers are.

• Managed Services

- providing delivery and management of network based services, applications, and equipment to organizations.

• Disaster Recovery

- ability to recover from the loss of a complete site, whether due to natural disaster or malicious intent. Disaster recovery strategies include replication and backup/restore.

Let’s talk about notable features of the data center.

Security

• buildings have ballistics-proof walls, doors, and windows
• 24-hour physical security monitors all cameras, door positions, and badge access areas
• Door entrance to data center requires a badge to get in and a badge to get out
• card access control throughout
• Biometric hand scanner verifies unique hand geometry image and a heat signature before allowing entry into data center

Inside the Data Center

• Backup power is catered for via one or more interruptible power supplies and/or diesel generators.
• raised flooring of removable square tiles to provide a plenum for air to circulate below the floor, as part of the air conditioning system, as well as providing space for power cabling.
• Computer Room Air Conditioning units are positioned around the data center to filter air and to remove dust and lint.
• Air is humidified to a finite set point to reduce static electricity

The main purpose of a data center is running databases, file servers, application servers and middleware that handle the core business and operational data of the organization. Such systems may be proprietary and developed internally by the organization, or bought from enterprise software vendors. A fine example would be Oracle’s Enterprise Manager.

Having a data center with a dedicated hosting managed environment makes you feel safe and secure. The reliability provided by data centers that focus primarily on managing the equipment reduces the time used. Business organizations should be concerned more on business rather than managing servers. Cut additional costs on consultants and invest instead on data centers born to handle server management applications.

*sponsored review*

Charlotte Data Center
Designed to meet the most demanding requirements.

Now here’s another file hosting site that allows an user to upload any 5GB file to store on its server. 5GB!! That’s more than the size of a blank DVD-R!! Amazing stuff there by Wiki Upload. Earlier I wrote on another file hosting site called DropBoks. Both Wiki Upload and DropBoks have their pros and cons. Today, I’ll focus more on Wiki Upload and it’s nearest competitors, Rapidshare and Megaupload. Here’s a comparison between the Free aspects of all 3 services :

Yeap. Wiki Upload is a winner when compared to RapidShare and MegaUpload. RapidShare will remain a bad choice unless they change their download/upload policies. Next time, you’re in the office/home and you wanna send a large file out, use Wiki Upload. Have fun with it!

Wiki Upload
5GB Free File Hosting