Regardless of which website design alternative you choose, you must ultimately determine where to host your website.
3. Where should my website
reside?
Few companies have the "connectivity" to the internet that would
allow them to consider hosting their own website. However, if your
company is fortunate enough to have that capability, then you could give
serious thought to hosting your own website. You will need to have
trained personnel to administer both your webserver and your
website. Most businesses either do not have the resources or find it
less cost-effective to commit their own resources to hosting their
website. Much like the decision to out-source printing services, you
will likely benefit from paying independent website hosting services to
provide that capability to your company.
For this reason, you will most likely use a Website Hosting Service
(WHS)
for your hosting requirements.
Most small businesses rely on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to gain
access to the internet for website browsing and e-mail. Many ISPs provide
website hosting as an additional service. However, you may want to
consider using a WHS that is strictly in the business of providing hosting
services. Such a choice would assure that your hosting service is
primarily in the business of satisfying your hosting needs. Use your ISP
for access and e-mail; use a WHS for hosting your website.
Consider the following when choosing your WHS:
- How much storage is included in the base cost? Websites tend to be
dynamic. As your site matures you will likely find new resources to add
to it. Much like the development of PCs, over a period of time you will
likely develop a need for increased storage capacity, particularly if your site
contains many images. Look for a hosting service that offers at least
25 Mb of storage in it's basic configuration. You cannot have too much
storage space. Also, look for reasonable rates for additional storage
used (typically $1/Mb or less based on average monthly excess over your base
storage allowance). Many services offer 50-100Mb of storage in their base
plans.
- How many mailboxes are included in the base cost? Some hosting
services do not provide any mail accounts in their base plan, others allow unlimited
POP3 mail accounts. Look for
services that include at least 10 mail accounts for your domain name. For
example, if your domain name is "www.mycompany.com" then you would
use e-mail addresses such as "admin@mycompany.com" or
"orders@mycompany.com" This lends a professional touch to your
internet e-mail addresses, particularly when they are associated with or
referenced from your website.
- Are mail accounts easily administered? Ease of mail account
configuration and updates is important and often overlooked. A good
hosting service will provide an easily administered mail package that provides
for quick and easy administration of mail accounts including forwarding of mail,
auto-responding messages, address aliases, etc.
- Can mail be retrieved from any browser? This feature is a great
advantage when travelling or just visiting friends and you want to retrieve your
email. No complex mail account setup required, just open the browser online
and go to your mailbox to send and retrieve mail. Make sure your host services
include this fearture for remote retrieval of mail using a browser.
- When weighing alternative WHS choices, do not make your decision on the
cost basis alone. Inquire of the full range of services
provided. Also, know the capacity of your WHS to provide continuous
access (how much traffic can they support without slowdown?). How much
server space will be provided for your website? What are the charges for
exceeding disk capacity? Are there any "high traffic" penalties
(will you be penalized if a lot of people visit your site)? Whether you
design your site "in-house" or choose an independent website
designer, you should have a thorough understanding of hosting
limitations. It is generally to your benefit to use the WHS offered by
your site designer, if available, so you have a "one-stop" source
for all your website requirements.
- Webster-Design offers hosting services for our design customers through Interland®, one of the
world's leading providers of Website Hosting Services.
Through our arrangement with Interland, you will receive the finest service with a personal touch. Webster-Design adds customized site traffic reports that are produced each month. In addition, we administer all email account setup/modification for you.
If you do not require our design services, but would like to take advantage of the excellent hosting plans offered by Interland®, click on the banner below to contact Interland®.
