| There are many web hosting companies
in Australia, and many more throughout the world. Prices
range from a few dollars a
year to a few thousand dollars.
The obvious question is what is the right deal for me. The
answer varies from case to case but we'll give you some ideas.
Personal web site hosting, just for fun
I would look for the cheapest hosting space that still provided
some level of speed and reliability. You can still obtain
web space for free from some hosting companies. Sure there
will be no support if you have problems, it will be slow and
not always reliable but for a hobby site that's usually acceptable.
Small business web site hosting
Most small businesses today, even if they don't have a web site,
use email. For a small business to lose their web site for
a day would not be good but it would not be the end of the
world, however, to lose important emails or have them delayed
until
the next day can cost more money than cheaper hosting can
save in a year.
Small businesses have the hardest time balancing quality web
hosting with reasonable pricing. Most small business people
don't have the time or ability to wade through different hosting
companies products and therefore a lot of them end up paying
too much ("just to be safe").
Large Business web hosting
To a lot of larger businesses web hosting, even expensive web
hosting, is not a problem. The important thing to remember
though is that in these circumstances the stakes are
much higher if things
go pear shaped,
having
one
anxious email user without their email is bad, having a thousand,
including the Chairman is a career changing event!
You need to have a knowledgeable and capable tech support person
that sees you as an important customer, not one of 500,000 customers.
Picking
the
right hosting provider here is critical. Once you know what you want you need to know how to choose
the right company.
Talk
In selecting a hosting company look for someone
that has a telephone number
you can
use to
talk
to a
real person. I always think if they don't want to talk to
you when you have money in your hand ready to sign up, they
are very
unlikely to want to talk to you when they have your money
and all you want to give them is a "problem".
The importance of where the hosting company is located.
A lot of very cheap hosting is located in America and India.
Although the nature of the web means that these sites are
still accessible they are often a poor choice for two reasons,
speed and search engine rankings.
The Right Price
It's common sense that someone that offers you hosting at $80
per annum can not afford to give much (any?) support before
your account is actually a losing proposition for them. You
need to pay enough to ensure you can get a willing support
person on the phone if (when) you need them.
Your dealing with a business, your value is equivalent to the
amount you spend, this doesn't mean you have to pay the maximum
amount it simply means you have to pay enough so that both you
and the service provider see a long term relationship in the
deal.
If you want to see how we will help you with your hosting visit
our web hosting page |
