Now it’s time to look at hosting – where your website will reside as users access it using their web browsers (i.e. Firefox and Internet Explorer, Google Chrome – the software used to view web-pages). This can be a really important decision as the the reliability of your website can be dependent on which hosting provider you select. To be an informed purchasing agent, you will want to ask the following questions:
Do you expect to receive spikes in traffic from time to time? If so, will your hosting provider be able to quickly allocate more resources to your application if you see a spike in traffic?
What options are available for backing up and restoring your website and data?
There are large data centers (huge warehouses of machines with tons of storage space) spread out throughout the world. There are many companies that provide website hosting services; many of them are reselling the same space in the same data centers. What they differ in is value added services including support, the software you use to administer your site, and what tasks they automate for you (i.e. what system and/or CMS software they keep up to date for you).
For small websites, including those that are built with WordPress, that will probably always get less than 2,000 unique visitors per day, choosing a host is simple. You can start out with the basic cheap hosting package and upgrade later. With a simple website you may not ever hit memory or space limits and even the most basic of the mainstream hosting companies provide a level of service and features with a rich ‘control panel’ (software that automates server tasks like setting up email addresses, auto-responders, backup, forwarding, spam filters and the like) at around $5-10 per month.
However, many resellers of hosting services (Bluehost.com comes to mind) put too many accounts on one machine, causing brown-outs and errors during peak traffic times, the very times that matter the most to the business website owner, even for small websites that reside on an overloaded machine.
If you're still looking for a good team to take your project to the next level, the authors of the 2010 Rothman Guide to Building Successful Websites are available for free, no obligation, creative consultations that you will not forget! Call 1-866-945-1113 or e-mail your contact info to info@socialmediasystems.