Resource Box: Advice and key features to know about Web Hosting, Web Hosting UK

Web hosting is a type of Internet hosting service that which helps organizations to make their own website available on the Internet. Care should be taken while choosing a web hosting provider. Irrespective of the applications you will install or the reason you are buying the hosting space you web hosting provider should offer some basic things.

One of the foremost things you need to ask from your provider is server uptime. You should opt for nothing less than 99% uptime. The web host should be a well-known to deliver whatever is paid for.

Online web traffic is huge and visitors are in a hurry. Your website should load fast and server speed should be at an optimum level. While selecting a web host, scalability should be one of the important criteria. If your host provider  offers Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server Hosting as well, you will not have to look elsewhere for alternatives or options. You should always choose a reputed and reliable web hosting provider. The web hosting control panel should provide you with a good backup of your website which will be useful when you’re looking for a change. Regular backups are a wise move, every time. Make sure the services are affordable and that the pricing is what you’re looking for.

When installing Word Press, keep a keen eye for these additional details:

Have an efficient web hosting control panel like cPanel. WordPress is easy to install with the help of an auto install script. You should have the technical expertise to know how to go about this. Find out if the web hosting you’re choosing lends support to the required versions of CGI/database such as PHP & MySQL. A quality and inexpensive web hosting provider will generally and most often provide 24/7 online technical support and complete customer satisfaction guarantee.

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When looking for web hosting, there are a number of key elements to consider. In fact, in previous blogs, we have looked at this subject in some detail.

However, as a UK web hosting company, we have become aware of one increasingly important requirement from customers – location i.e. location of your web hosting company.

Over the last five years or so, cost of web hosting has dropped dramatically. Particularly so as cross-border purchase of web hosting has become common place. However, this has also led to the commoditisation of web hosting – web hosting companies have been focusing on price alone and are drawing attention away from support. (After all, for web hosting companies, cost of providing full support can be significant.)

As UK web hosting company, we believe that price is indeed an essential part of the equation. However, we attach equal priority to support.

Now, you can certainly buy web hosting for a dollar or so per month from many non-UK web hosting companies – there are many US and Far Eastern web hosting companies offering cheap web hosting. But what are the chances that you will be able to get hold of someone on the phone during UK working hours?

Not surprisingly then, more and more small businesses are opting for UK web hosting companies. Not only can you get quality web hosting from as little as £2 per month, you have more chance of getting support when you need it.

Our advice is simple – next time you are searching for web hosting, type ‘UK web hosting’ into Google.

Cheap web hosting · Hosting · UK web hosting · web host · Web Hosting

Web hosting. At first glance it’s a simple service and it may take you no more than a few minutes to choose a web hosting company. After all, for most small businesses, all you need is a decent amount of storage space, bandwidth and maybe a database or two. You then upload you website and the world can see what your business is all about.

In reality, of course, web hosting is the single most important service you are likely to use in relation to your website. It’s the connection between you and your potential customers – if your web hosting suffers interruption to service, your website is offline and you are effectively closed for business.

What’s more, if your web hosting company doesn’t offer sufficient support through telephone or live web chat, your business may well be closed for a while.

So, when considering web hosting, look for a proven track record from your web hosting company. How long have they been in business? What sort of websites do they host? Are they based in the UK? (It’s better to have your web hosting company in your own time zone to be confident of getting help when you need it.)

The truth is that most web hosting companies offer similar features. However, support will vary substantially. If your website is at all critical to your business, make sure you are happy with the level of support on offer.

choosing a web host · Small businesses · UK web hosting · web host · Web Hosting

Once you’ve decided to take your business online, perhaps the single most important decision you have to make is to choose the right web hosting company.

And unless you are fairy familiar with this area or have access to advice in the way of your own web developer or webmaster, choosing the right web host is not as easy it might sound.

Given that your website is likely to be the first port of call for your customers / target market, you need to make sure you ask the right questions before signing up with any hosting company.

Here are our 5 top tips when choosing your web hosting company.

1. Customer service and support

Can you get hold of your web hosting company when you need help? And what options do you have  – telephone, web chat, ticket or all three?

Let’s face it, most small businesses don’t have an ‘IT department’. So any issue with your website or email service is likely to prompt a call to your web hosting company. And unless you can get hold of them immediately, your business is likely to suffer.

Therefore, before signing up to any contract, look for prominent contact numbers for customer services and technical support on their website. If a contact number is not prominent, look for another hosting company

In short, satisfy yourself that you can get hold of the company when you need to, day or night.

2. Uptime

Just how reliable is the web hosting company’s service? What’s their uptime? (99.9% uptime is pretty common.) Ask about their data centre. Quiz them about whether they own their hardware or are they providing service through a third party. Enquire about their contingency plans in case of any fatal hardware or data centre failures.

3. Price

While you should never consider web hosting as a commodity and focus on price alone, nevertheless, the cost of hosting a typical small business website should not be much. You can get a perfectly decent web hosting package for as little as £20 per year including a free domain name.

4. Features

Don’t get distracted by features you might never need. Focus on the core items: storage space, bandwidth, mailboxes, databases, easy-to-use control panel (such as Plesk) and free tools (such as Sitebuilder) to create a professional looking website. Most other things are likely to be nice to have but not really necessary.

Blogs and forum facilities are becoming increasingly important. So look for these and also look for available guidance to help you integrate these into your website.

5. Platform

The choice here is fairly straight forward and driven by how your website might have been created. Most websites work under Linux platform. However, if you want to run Windows specific applications such as ASP.NET or MS SQL, you’ll need a Windows platform. If you are at all unsure, a simple chat with your hosting company should provide you with the answer.

Further information – if you have any questions regarding hosting, contact Freezone Internet on 0845 117 0366 or visit www.freezone.co.uk.

choosing a web host · Hosting · web host · Web Hosting · web hosting company · website hosting