I've read quite a few posts on this site and on others where people are asking for help on website hosting, so I would like to shine a little light as to what I've seen and how this can benefit you and your company.
There are numerous website hosting companies out there, but which one should you go with? For the same reason why there are numerous construction companies in the same city, there are numerous website hosting companies offering the same type of service, but with different benefits from each.
Put simply: Wikipedia defines website hosting as: A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web.
So basically, these companies will save your domain name's (www.yourdomain.com) files (html, php etc), email's and numerous other files on their computer (server) and broadcast your website to the world.
I'm not going to go into all the advanced features & benefits that website hosting companies offer, but just the features that benefit your contractor business / service.
Hosting for the typical contractor’s website should be cheap enough to cater to their budget and diverse enough to help that contractor expand down the road. For instance, here is a list of the most popular website hosting companies and their prices & benefits: (As of 3-11-2010)
I have included direct links to where I pulled this information from so you can view their sites.
Yahoo Web Hosting
$9.95 / month with a 12 month contract
1 domain Name allowed
Unlimited disc space
Unlimited data transfer
Unlimited email storage
GoDaddy
$4.99 / month with a 3 month contract
$1.99 for each domain name
10GB Disc space
300 GB Data transfer
100MB email storage
Network Solutions
$6.95 / month with 3 year contract
1 domain name allowed
5 GB disc space
50GB Data transfer
Email storage- shares the 5Gb disc space
Host Gator
$4.95 / Month
1 Domain Name Allowed
Unlimited Disc space
Unlimited data transfer
Unlimited email storage
Host Monster
$ 3.95 / Month with a one year contract – Using this promotion code
Host Unlimited Domains
Unlimited disc space
Umlimited disc transfer
Unlimited Email storage
Price: When you go to look for a hosting company you need to look at not only the price, but how long the contract is that binds you at that price. Typically, you will have to pay the full contract amount up front to lock in that price, but that’s really common everywhere else.
Number of Domains: This can go a couple of different ways… Some companies begin by saying they will only have one domain name for their hosting account and that’s it. But as you or your company start to grow, you could find out that you made a mistake if your hosting company only allows for one domain name per account; which will force you to waste time in transferring your hosting services to another company (A Big Hassle!).
But over time, you may realize that you want to increase your online presence of your company by owning & hosting multiple domains: For example, I own the domain name: TailoredPainting.net , PaintingContractorsDenver.com , PaintingCompanyDenver.com
An effort to not only increase my presence on the web, but to also have domain names that include the keywords that my potential clients are searching for!
Disc Space: For the typical contractor, this shouldn’t matter all that much, although I would recommend at least 15GB, just in case you start having video testimonials and LOTS of photographs in your portfolio section. Typically, videos are the files that take up the most room.
Disc Transfer: Again, this isn’t a huge deal, because unless you have a ton of video files and a LOT of traffic coming to your website, you are not going to run out. But again, unlimited is better.
Email Storage: This is where it would be nice to have unlimited. So that you don’t have to worry about your account filling up with spam email, thus forcing your account to close until those emails are deleted off the hosting account.
As of right now, all of these companies offer a free Site Builder software for those who are looking for a custom made website to start off with without the need to know html, dreamweaver etc..
I know that this is a lot to go over in one page, but I’ve tried to write it as simple & precise as I could.
As for me, I’m currently using HostMonster for my accounts, because they give me unlimited everything for the cheapest price. I’ve been using them for around 6 years now without any problems. Please let me know if you have any questions about the details of hosting.
There are numerous website hosting companies out there, but which one should you go with? For the same reason why there are numerous construction companies in the same city, there are numerous website hosting companies offering the same type of service, but with different benefits from each.
Put simply: Wikipedia defines website hosting as: A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web.
So basically, these companies will save your domain name's (www.yourdomain.com) files (html, php etc), email's and numerous other files on their computer (server) and broadcast your website to the world.
I'm not going to go into all the advanced features & benefits that website hosting companies offer, but just the features that benefit your contractor business / service.
Hosting for the typical contractor’s website should be cheap enough to cater to their budget and diverse enough to help that contractor expand down the road. For instance, here is a list of the most popular website hosting companies and their prices & benefits: (As of 3-11-2010)
I have included direct links to where I pulled this information from so you can view their sites.
Yahoo Web Hosting
$9.95 / month with a 12 month contract
1 domain Name allowed
Unlimited disc space
Unlimited data transfer
Unlimited email storage
GoDaddy
$4.99 / month with a 3 month contract
$1.99 for each domain name
10GB Disc space
300 GB Data transfer
100MB email storage
Network Solutions
$6.95 / month with 3 year contract
1 domain name allowed
5 GB disc space
50GB Data transfer
Email storage- shares the 5Gb disc space
Host Gator
$4.95 / Month
1 Domain Name Allowed
Unlimited Disc space
Unlimited data transfer
Unlimited email storage
Host Monster
$ 3.95 / Month with a one year contract – Using this promotion code
Host Unlimited Domains
Unlimited disc space
Umlimited disc transfer
Unlimited Email storage
Price: When you go to look for a hosting company you need to look at not only the price, but how long the contract is that binds you at that price. Typically, you will have to pay the full contract amount up front to lock in that price, but that’s really common everywhere else.
Number of Domains: This can go a couple of different ways… Some companies begin by saying they will only have one domain name for their hosting account and that’s it. But as you or your company start to grow, you could find out that you made a mistake if your hosting company only allows for one domain name per account; which will force you to waste time in transferring your hosting services to another company (A Big Hassle!).
But over time, you may realize that you want to increase your online presence of your company by owning & hosting multiple domains: For example, I own the domain name: TailoredPainting.net , PaintingContractorsDenver.com , PaintingCompanyDenver.com
An effort to not only increase my presence on the web, but to also have domain names that include the keywords that my potential clients are searching for!
Disc Space: For the typical contractor, this shouldn’t matter all that much, although I would recommend at least 15GB, just in case you start having video testimonials and LOTS of photographs in your portfolio section. Typically, videos are the files that take up the most room.
Disc Transfer: Again, this isn’t a huge deal, because unless you have a ton of video files and a LOT of traffic coming to your website, you are not going to run out. But again, unlimited is better.
Email Storage: This is where it would be nice to have unlimited. So that you don’t have to worry about your account filling up with spam email, thus forcing your account to close until those emails are deleted off the hosting account.
As of right now, all of these companies offer a free Site Builder software for those who are looking for a custom made website to start off with without the need to know html, dreamweaver etc..
I know that this is a lot to go over in one page, but I’ve tried to write it as simple & precise as I could.
As for me, I’m currently using HostMonster for my accounts, because they give me unlimited everything for the cheapest price. I’ve been using them for around 6 years now without any problems. Please let me know if you have any questions about the details of hosting.