Internet marketing requires a Web host. It seems easy enough - search the Web for the best deal in Web hosting, and the rest will fall smoothly into place. Not so. Here are 3 pitfalls you should be on the lookout for:
1. Support
Beginners may not consider prompt technical support an important concern. However once your website starts getting decent traffic, bringing with it a decent income, a sudden halt in income due to technical problems will quickly send you scrambling for help. What if help is not there? Wringing your hands in despair as you watch your cash intake dwindle to nothing is painful.
Before signing up with any Web host, learn about their technical support. It's not enough to read their reassuring print that states support is available, test them. If you can, ring them on Saturday or Sunday night to see if they are there. Read through their website and think up questions to ask.
Send emails to their support desk and note how soon they reply. For low priority emails, 15 - 30 minutes is acceptable. Emergency emails should receive a response almost immediately.
2. Annual payment plans
It's tempting to opt for the discounted 12-month plan instead of the standard monthly plan. But think about it. What if you paid for hosting for 12 months, but soon found that there were serious issues with their service? Sure, you can change to another host, but you've lost your 12-month payment.
Choose the monthly payment plan until you're confident of their honesty and reliability. This way you're not tied to them and can change to another host easily without loss. If after a year or so, you are happy with them, you can opt for their discounted yearly plan.
3. Bandwidth
Beginners may find the word "bandwidth" confusing. Bandwidth measures the amount of data transfer you are allocated - how much traffic your website can have. It's the amount of data that's downloaded to your reader's browser when they visit your site. It follows then, that if your website has many large graphics; there's more data to be transferred each time someone visits. The same is true if you suddenly have a large increase in traffic to your site.
It's fine when you start off small and have few visitors. But what happens if later on, your site unexpectedly receives a large spike of traffic? You may exceed your allocated bandwidth.
What to watch for:- What is your host's policy should you exceed bandwidth allotment? Do they charge you for the actual excess, or do they charge an exorbitant fee regardless of how much your usage was?
- Some Web hosts require payment in advance for potential bandwidth excesses. In such cases it's difficult to know in advance whether or not you will exceed your bandwidth. Avoid these Web hosts.
- Other hosts shut down your site ... and just when you're getting great traffic and making good money.
Choose a Web host that provides for simple and painless upgrading to a higher-level plan in the event your website and its traffic grows significantly.
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