There are over 10,000 thousand Web site hosting companies to choose from and the success in the foreseeable future is as inevitable as anything in business since there are millions of Web sites on the Internet and that number grows daily. Savvy online consumers have an overwhelming task when it comes to comparison-shopping for the right host. You should evaluate a wide range of companies and features before selecting your hosting company because moving your Web site to another host can be difficult. Start your search by creating a list of questions to develop your criteria for evaluating your Web hosting needs. Ask simple questions that are important to you and expand them to the perspective of the host. With thousands of hosting companies for you to choose from, the hosting company is challenged to offer services and features that differentiate their competitors.

SELECT YOUR FEATURES
First, make a list of features you need in hosting. Do you need cgi, Perl, asp, coldfusion, php, databases, mailing lists, multimedia functionality, SSL, or Microsoft FrontPage extensions? If so, this should be your first priority. After all, if they don't offer the services you need, then they obviously should not host your Web site.

RELIABILITY
Second, how reliable is the hosting company? Do they make their infrastructure public knowledge? Do they have backup generators, or do they rely on battery backup? What is their average up time? What is their bandwidth? Is there a firewall? What about anti-virus software?

These are all important questions. Your goal is to get visitors to your site and to get them there quickly. Your host should have multiple connections to national backbones to insure a constant connection, T3 or equivalent bandwidth, backup generators, firewall, and anti-virus software installed. If they don't list these features on their site, ask. If they don't know, run and don't look back.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Will the host provide enhanced technical support that is personalized? Do they keep detailed call and trouble ticket histories on the nature and frequency of support requests? Do they outsource their customer support? Do they supply customized activity reports? Do they respond to technical support requests and relevant assistance? Request references from their customers that you can contact that have experience with their customer service department. Do not depend on their testimonials unless they provide full names with contact information.

Your host should offer 24-hour toll-free phone support and E-mail support with a knowledgeable staff and reasonable response time. After all, you shouldn't have to pay to tell your host there is a problem and then wait a day or two to find out it will take another day or two to find a solution.

Selecting your host is a priority for your online presence. According to the October 2000 report by Forrester Research, 48 percent of hosting customers were dissatisfied with the hosting services. Customer dissatisfaction was for reliability, customer service, and site security.

Next time I will discuss the most common technical and service problems.
If you have a topic you like me discuss or a question, please contact me at bcarnell@yourwebcenter.com.

HOSTING SERVICES

BONUS FEATURES
ü Free 30-day Marketing Package*
ü Free 30-day Site Analysis*
ü Free Same Day Setup

PERSONAL SERVICE
ü 24-hour Toll-free Support
ü 24-hour E-mail Support
ü 2-hour Maximum Response Time

RELIABLE
ü 99.9% Up-Time
ü Back-up Generators
ü 24-hour Monitoring
ü Daily Back-ups

SECURE
ü Firewall Protection
ü Anti-virus Protection
*Not available on all plans