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07.22.09 Matching Your Site Host With Your Performance  By
Stoney deGeyter Today we conclude the three-part series on choosing a web host provider. In Part I we looked at the cost factor as well as up-time guarantee claims from web hosting companies. In Part II we discussed a number of other factors that can mess with your site's performance in the search engines such as speed, bandwidth, server load monitoring, space as well as other necessities such as email and security. Finally, we'll look at FTP accounts, control panel access, tech support and both free and in-house hosting options. FTP access  If you plan on editing and updating your site yourself then FTP access is a necessity. You'll also want to check to make sure that you can create multiple FTP accounts for various individuals and/or portions of your site. Creating individual FTP accounts makes tracking user-created problems easier, as well as cutting access to one person without cutting it for anybody else. Check to see how many FTP accounts you can create and make sure you'll have enough for your needs.Control panel  A good control panel can make managing your web hosting account much easier and lessen the need for tech support help. Good control panel access will allow you to update, change, set-up, upgrade, downgrade or whatever else you need to do with your account. And it should be fairly easy to figure out without an engineering degree.
Tech support  A good web hosting company will provide accessible technical support. If I can't find a support number on their website--or not provided access to one with the account--is a sure sign that your web host does not want to be bothered with your problems. If you have call-in tech support, your wait time should be minimal. If you find yourself on hold for lengthy periods of time with each call, that's a big red flag. You should not be left on hold for more than four or five minutes before reaching a representative to help you. If you email a tech support issue, be sure your provider responds to requests quickly--within hours, not days--and is able to quickly and competently provide you a solution. Free and in-house options  I don't recommend using a free web hosting service for anything other than a hobby site. The downside to using free hosting is just too much and the barriers, such as forced advertising and long, complicated URLs, are just too great for the benefit you receive.Many companies are bypassing the web hosting providers altogether in favor of hosting their sites on their own in-house servers. There are some definite pros for doing this but I don't recommend going this route unless you have a full-time IT person on staff who is skilled at web server management. Continue reading this article. About the Author: Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing (www.PolePositionMarketing.com), a search engine optimization / marketing firm providing SEO and website marketing services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. He is the author of his E-Marketing Performance eBook and contributes daily to the E-Marketing Performance (www.eMarketingPerformance.com) marketing blog. |
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