- Web Hosting Features to Consider for Your Website

A lot of people start their own website without really knowing what may be required ahead of them. One of the most overlooked aspects of starting a website is choosing the proper web hosting company. You need to host your website with a company that is reliable, safe and trusted. There are many variables involved and without knowing what they are and why you may need them can become a problem as your website grows. The following features are the main factors you should consider when choosing a web hosting company.

Bandwidth

This is the amount of data that can be transmitted in a given time interval and is usually measured in bits/second. You may have already experienced in the past that you can download files from some websites faster than others. This is mainly due to the bandwidth that the hosting company provides to that website. Many internet users these days don't have patience to wait for a website to load or hours to download a small video file. The greater the bandwidth the faster your website will load and in return the more likely a visitor will stay on your website. This is important especially if you plan on having a website with many pictures or videos.

Disk Storage

How much space do you require for your website? If you are planning on a full shopping site like Amazon then you are going to need a lot of space for you site. If you are only planning to have a 5 page website with information for customers to read about then space may not be such an issue. Look closely at the different plans available for your requirements. Some hosting companies provide a set amount of space for your site, others unlimited.

Network uptimes

This is referring to the amount of time that your website is accessible to online visitors. Most of the popular and larger webhosting companies often guarantee a 99% uptime, meaning that your site is available to the world 24/7, 99% of the time. Look to see if the company backs their claims up with a guarantee and if they have any compensation or backup for when there servers are down.

User Interface

One of the more popular control panels used by webhosting companies is the cpanel control panel. It has an easy to use graphical interface and allows you to have full control over your domain. Cpanel provides automation tools that are designed to simplify the website building process. It is also easy to incorporate your website with Joomla, wordpress, blogger etc using cpanel and has many other great functions. There are other control panels available, some easier to use than others, but cpanel by far is one of the more popular and easiest to use control panels.

Extras

Lastly, a lot of webhosting companies throw in extra features for their hosting plans. Although not all important, you may still want to look at these as extra benefits for your site. Some include inbuilt website builders, unlimited subdomains and email accounts, ecommerce and merchant facilities, satisfaction/money back guarantees, free website templates and more.

It is very important that you take the above factors into consideration when choosing your webhosting company, remember your website is only good if you have a reliable, trusted and supportive web host.
Web Hosting Services
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By Stephanie Ly
source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/web-hosting-features-to-consider-for-your-website.html