Thread: Looking for web hosting for the first time

Hi All,

To someone who is looking for webhosting options for the first time, what are the basic functions should a web hosting company provide?

What are the areas that a newbie should look out for when searching for a webhosting company?

Thanks ednalle

I guess my question to you is what do you plan to do with your site? Most standard web hosting packages provide enough space and bandwidth for the average website. And of course you can purchase add-ons like shopping cart systems, etc. if you need them.

A lot of hosting companies are offering "unlimited space and bandwidth". A lot of people say no hosting company ever really offers unlimited anything. It's just that it's unlimited until you reach a certain unknown level and then they may charge you if you exceed whatever the amount is. Although you would probably have to have a LOT of files and/or use up a lot of bandwidth (traffic) to probably reach that level. They know most people will never get to that point so they safely advertise "unlimited."

For a newbie, like yourself i would highly recomend SBI! (site bulid it) as im new to this forum i cannot post a link because of spamers issues understandably. the website is sitesell(.com) check out the video tour, maby it wil broaded your horizen and help you understand this buisness into more depth.

Originally Posted by lisa

I guess my question to you is what do you plan to do with your site? Most standard web hosting packages provide enough space and bandwidth for the average website. And of course you can purchase add-ons like shopping cart systems, etc. if you need them.

A lot of hosting companies are offering "unlimited space and bandwidth". A lot of people say no hosting company ever really offers unlimited anything. It's just that it's unlimited until you reach a certain unknown level and then they may charge you if you exceed whatever the amount is. Although you would probably have to have a LOT of files and/or use up a lot of bandwidth (traffic) to probably reach that level. They know most people will never get to that point so they safely advertise "unlimited."

Isn't that false advertisement though? Since say for example I hit it big and start getting thousands of hits daily (lol), and there all of a sudden like hey you have to upgrade even though ive prepaid for 3 years of service with their unlimited bandwidth and storage?

Not really as most have a disclaimer. Stating they have the right to change the terms at any given time with out notice.

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to discontinue service to any customer with a website or other hosted data that takes up more than 10% of the server resources and/or 10% of the server's CPU. This means that if your website is found to be utilizing more than 10% of the CPU and memory of the service, we reserve the right to take your site offline.

This is part of the user agreement on the unlimited plan by justhost.

I have been very happy with Host Gator.

C Panel has made most of the work easy. Having Fanstastico on board makes working with my Wordpress blogs that much easier.

I am constantly learning new stuff, and the customer service, at least when used over the phone has been very helpful. (I am not crazy about thier online help, I was cut off numerous time.)

Hope this helps a bit.

Eileen Fox

I use Just Host and Host Gator, both hosting companies are really good. Just host has a nice cPanel and has wordpress and phbb forum already on it, its newbie friendly.

I would go for a host that uses Cpanel and is powered by Linux/Unix rather than Windows. Once I discovered cPanel, I never went to other control panels again!

By the way, I just recently posted a coupon on my blog, which can save you on hosting fees.

Cheers!

Unless, you are good at programming or already have the site built, I'd look for capabilities that make creating your website easy. Many hosting services provide CPanel but they are not all the same. Look at what it contains. You need a good software package for creating a website and a lot of templates. You may want to look at free hosting services. They have limitations but may be adequate for a small scale website.

Originally Posted by Geekdout

Isn't that false advertisement though? Since say for example I hit it big and start getting thousands of hits daily (lol), and there all of a sudden like hey you have to upgrade even though ive prepaid for 3 years of service with their unlimited bandwidth and storage?

Not that it's right, but almost all of them do it.

I find a top for you, in fact for me some time ago webhostingunleashed.com/top/cpanelhosting/ .

For a first time website I would actually suggest a blog at google. Practise figuring how to do all the formatting you want to do. The cost is free. If you mess it up - so what - create a new one.

Then try one at wordpress. Do the same things - experiment.

If you now know what to do and what not to do you could decide to invest money with a domain name and hosting.

For a web host, I decide on price, support and reliability. Choose a large popular host with live online chat support.

You can now also use your free blogs as links to your new site.

It depends on your needs. How much data transfer how many databases and how much disk space you need.
But since it will be a first website I suggest to start with a blog and work your way up from there.

Greetings,

If you plan to get your website, here is one good web hosting provider to choose - ZNetIndia . com

Founded in 1999, ZNetIndia . com has been trusted certified ISO web Hosting company, Offering professional quality hosting, support, uptime and reliability, Click here to visit: ZNetIndia . com

Look for variety of supported tools, extensions, and services....(PHP, FrontPage extensions, cPanel,) and required space and bandwidth... So you wouldn't have to switch to another webhost later when you find out that your webhost doesn't support function or service you want to use on your website!