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Welcome to Beyond Perceptions New to Web Hosting Guide. This guide will explain what web
hosting is and what you should look out for when getting it.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows you to put your website up on the Internet
for everyone to view by simply typing your domain name into
their web browser. As well as display your website to everyone it also allows you
to send and receive emails from your domain name (i.e. fred@yourdomain.com).
Your website is stored on a special computer known as a web server. A web server
is a powerful computer that
has been specially configured to serve websites on the Internet. It has a
high speed connection to the Internet which means it can handle many visitors
at once. In Beyond Perceptions case, we have a multiple OC3 connection which is
many times faster than the best broadband Internet connections available today.
Running a web server successfully is a complex task requires a lot of
technical expertise.
What should I look for in a web host?
When looking for a web host there are three factors you must consider: Uptime,
Security, and Support.
Uptime - Uptime refers to the amount of time the web server is online
and working. In a perfect world uptime would always be 100%, however
this is often not the case. While every host will experience some period of downtime
st some stage, the amount of downtime varies greatly between web hosts. Choose
a poor web host and your website and email services could be offline most of the time.
Any business that relies on email will understand how important uptime is. When
choosing a new web host always consider the following points:
- Does the host provide recent uptime records, such as this?
- Does the host provide detailed information about their network?
- Do existing clients complain about excessive downtime?
- Does the host offer an uptime guarantee?
- Has the hosts website ever been offline when you tried to visit it?
Security
Security is an area neglected by many web hosts, which has meant that a staggering
number of websites every day are hacked every day. If the web server your
website is stored on is insecure then anyone can steal your confidential information,
impersonate you or your company online, or even delete your entire website. Security
is not just restricted to the web server. You have to be sure the people running your
server can be trusted. A surprising amount of web hosting companies are actually operated
by 13 year olds. Would you trust a 13 year old with a crucial part of your business?
When choosing a web host be sure to check the following points:
- Ask the host how they secure their servers and get ask an independent IT expert to review the answer for you.
- Does the hosts website have any information about their server security?
- Does the host keep all the web server up-to-date?
- Have any existing clients had their web site hacked while using the host recently?
- Is the host a registered company?
- Are all the staff 18+?
Support
Knowledgeable technical support is must! Not only does it mean the web host will be able to
assist you when you have a question, but also gives you an idea of the abilities
of the host to run a web server. Generally, if the technical support is poor, the server
administration skills of the host are probably also poor. You can use the following points
to gauge the level of competence of a hosts support:
- Does the hosts website contain good support documentation/FAQs?
- Does the support documentation show a high level of knowledge?
- Does the host respond quickly to your pre-sales questions and are the answers satisfactory?
- Are the hosts responses friendly and polite?
There is one other point that is worth mentioning.
It is advised you avoid web hosts that offer unlimited disk space or unlimited bandwidth.
These are both impossible to offer in reality, and web hosts who do offer them bank on the
fact that most of their customers will only use a small amount of resources. If you
use too many resources your account will be cancelled and you will be asked to find a
new web host. Hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth or disk space also tend to suffer from
more technical problems than other hosts.
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info@beyondperception.net 
0871 277 6875
