Top Tips for Selecting the Right Web Host for Your Business

Here is a checklist of points to consider when selecting your Web host. Some of the terms you may not understand yet, but you will by the time you finish reading this book:

If you are using Microsoft Front Page to design your site, then your hosting company should provide you with Front Page extensions in order for your site to work.

Can they handle multimedia and CGI scripts? You may want to have things like Real Audio and Real Video, or you might want to put some custom functionality like a ‘Recommend Me’ form or something like that. If they can't handle it, you can't have it on your Web site.

Ask about their back-up system. Find out if they have a reliable system to handle this process. Ask them how often they back up and how long it would take to restore your site if anything went haywire. (Even if they have a great back-up system, you should still maintain your own back-up copies of your Web site by regularly saving --weekly is optimum-- the latest version of it onto your hard drive or onto a diskette.)

Do they give you auto-responders? (You'll learn about what these are later.)

What statistics packages do they make available to you? Do they just have a bare bones package or maybe none at all? Do they make really advanced packages available? Is there a monthly cost for the advanced packages?

What kind of connection do they have to the Internet? Do they have super-fast T-1 or T-3 lines or something slower?

Are there limits on file transfers? Will you have to pay more soon after you sign up and your site starts getting busier?

Do they offer you shopping cart software? Does it cost extra for an e-commerce package? If so, how much and what do you get? Do they have a shopping cart that also has an affiliate/associate program?

Do they have secure server capability for e-commerce transactions?

How much space do you get on their server? How much does extra space cost as your Web site grows?

Here's a good link for information on and links to lots of Web hosts: http://Webhostlist.Internetlist.com/

My recommended company for your Web hosting needs is Host4Profits.com. They offer you everything you could possibly want from a Web hosting company.

Visit http://www.boulderwebmarketing.com For More info.

Marcio has taken dozes of sites from 0 to hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. He specializes in developing comprehensive web marketing plans that make the most of every visitor to your site, growing traffic and more.

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