Shopping for Web Hosting - Demystified

Most business owners shop for web hosting at some point. Even if you let your web designer handle it, it's good to know how to evaluate their choice. Here are some common terms and things to keep in mind when shopping for a web host.

Bandwidth
This might sound like a measure of speed or throughput, and that is actually the definition, but in the hosting industry it is often used to refer to something else: the total amount of data transfer you get per month. So in other words, traffic (number of visitors) multiplied by the size of the files each visitor views.

Most website files are very small, because they consist only of text and web-optimized images. An exception to this is if you have a lot of video on your site, or music files, as these are large files that can eat up bandwidth. It still depends on traffic however.

How do you know how much you need? If you are switching hosts, your old host may have a control panel that can tell you how much bandwidth you have used each month. This is the most reliable method.

If you don't have access to this data, consider how much traffic you get. Most websites never hit the bandwidth limit of the smallest plan their host offers. So if you are just starting a website and anticipate it growing over time, don't worry too much about bandwidth numbers. Go with a host that has a control panel that will show you what you are using each month so you will be able to upgrade if/when you need to.

Space
This is how much disk space you get. As mentioned above, website files are generally very small. Most people use only a fraction of the total space of their plan. Videos, mp3s, a lot of large PDFs or photos can take up more space. The biggest space hog is actually when people store huge mail archives on the server. This isn't very common though, as most people download their email to their computer or use a service like Gmail.

What is the deal with "unlimited bandwidth" or "unlimited space"?
Does it sound unlikely? It is. Most companies offering this have stipulations in their Terms of Service that you can't store files in your account that aren't part of you website (you can't use the space for personal file storage, for instance), and they will include some kind of "reasonable use" clause which lets them shut down a site for "resource abuse" (at their discretion).

The fact is that every server has a finite disk drive in it, and every network has a limited speed of transmission, so any hosting company could only send a certain amount of data per month through that connection. That total may be a great deal more than you will likely reach - but it's not unlimited.

A certain amount of "overselling" of resources is common at all web hosts - it's similar to the way airplanes overbook flights because they know a certain percentage of people will cancel. But they don't offer an "infinite" number of seats - that would be silly. We live in a finite world.

Remember, even Google's Gmail doesn't offer *unlimited* storage space.

So it's a gimmick. And, in my opinion, not terribly ethical. So I see it as a red flag that the company cares more about selling plans than being honest.

Note: offering unlimited email addresses or databases is not a red flag, because the data in them would still fall under the total space limits of your plan.

How to evaluate a web host

For most people, the space and bandwidth numbers may not matter that much, as most hosts provide a generous amount of both compared to what people actually use. So here are some other numbers to look at:

• 24/7. As in phone support. If something goes wrong, you need to be able to call someone and get an answer.
• uptime (Don't look at their 'uptime guarantee', look at their track record. Ask them if they have uptime reports from a third-party tracking service.)
• years in business
• affordability
• if you can save money by hosting multiple websites under one account

But the most important factors aren't numbers at all. They are:

• Ethics. What is their refund policy like? If you pay for a year and then cancel halfway through, will they refund half of your payment? Do you have to sign up for 3 years in order to get the low price on their homepage? Do they offer "unlimited bandwidth"? Do they artificially limit the numbers of certain resources (like email accounts) to make you purchase a more expensive plan?

• Values. Are they indy and cool? Or huge and corporate? Do they try to sell you a bunch of stuff you don't need or empower you to make the choice that is right for you?

• Customer service. Can you call them? Do they call you back? Can they explain things so you get what they are saying? Do they sound friendly?

Features

Many hosting companies offer substantially the same features - but not all. Make sure they offer things like web statistics, tools to set up your own email accounts, and one-click installs for programs like Wordpress. Even if you don't need it right now, you may want to add a blog to your site later and these tools are very handy.

Sitebuilders are a tricky subject. Many hosts offer them (often because other hosts offer them). I personally don't recommend them as a way to build your site in the long run, because you are stuck with a system that may not run on a different host or may be hard to transfer. Unlike a program like Wordpress, which can run on any system, or a site made in Dreamweaver, which could also run on any system, a website made in a sitebuilder program may only be able to run on that host. But if you are making a small site and just need something to guide you through that relatively painlessly, it might be just the ticket.

However you decide to build your site, think about what your long term strategy is and make sure your data is portable if you need it to be.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions I'd be happy to respond in the comments. Thanks!