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Today's competitive business world requires that you market on a variety of fronts. This includes having a functional website where your customers can go in order to learn more about your products and services. You also want to be able to sell your products and services via this website. Today, online sales account for a large percentage of small business profits.

Today it is almost mandatory for a business to have an online presence. This requires a website and a website must be hosted somewhere. Hosting services place sites on the Internet. When searching for a web hosting service, you will find an overwhelming number of companies to choose from, so you will have to ask many questions before you find the one that is best for you.

Remember, if your site is down you are missing out on sales. A website hosting company needs to be reliable with a good history of uptime. Occasional downtime is normal, but you should check any prospective companies for excessive downtime. You want your site to be available to your customers at all times.

One can search online to find out the list companies in the business of website hosting and this is the best way to go about it. In order to find out companies who serve small businesses you should use the term 'small business web hosting' in the search box. Some companies give free web hosting for your website and this may be alright if you are putting up a site for your personal use.

Set up a budget prior to discussing anything with these companies so that you know what you can afford to pay for a service such as this. Web hosting fees can be paid on a monthly or yearly basis, depending upon each company's policy. When exploring your options for a hosting service, it is wise to remember all these financial issues.

It is best to talk with a couple of different companies in order to get the best deal. Don't be afraid to try and strike a deal with them. While most companies have set packages, other companies are happy to customize a package and a price to your own needs. Look around until you are sure you have found the best solution for your business.

Because there is so much competition, you should market your product or service in several venues and it is imperative that one of these venues be a website. You should find a website hosting company with an excellent history of uptime. Although some downtime is to be expected, be sure to thoroughly research companies with excessive downtime. This is because your customers should be able to access your website at any time without difficulty. Searching online is an excellent way to research potential web hosting companies. To find suitable companies, enter "small business web hosting" into a search engine.

Choosing a web hosting company is a decision that you have to make carefully while taking into consideration factors other than price. If you ever decide to move to a different web host after your site has been established, it may take considerable time and effort to move your site to the new server. There are literally thousands of web hosting companies that exist today so this makes it even more confusing to the uninitiated webmaster.

1. Focusing only on the cheapest price.

The trap that many aspiring work-from-home small business owners fall into is shopping for a web host based on the one that can provide the lowest price. This is understandable given the desire of the business owners to save money. However, the money spent on web hosting should be seen as an investment that will provide a return once the business is established.

2. Not considering the responsiveness of technical support.

Another aspect to consider is the responsiveness of the technical support. Some companies offer a variety of ways to contact them for support including phone, email, ticketing system, and even live chat. You should find out if there is personal support during non-business hours. Imagine if you have a problem on a weekend and no one can help you until Monday morning. If you are running an e-commerce site, you could be losing a lot of sales.

3. Is there such a thing as unlimited bandwidth and unlimited space?

The short answer here is 'No'. Many web hosts promise unlimited bandwidth or unlimited storage even on shared hosting packages. The term bandwidth here refers to the amount of data transmission used by your site. All servers have a limited amount of storage and the wires or optical fiber that carry data have limited capacity. So it is unreasonable to expect unlimited storage space or bandwidth. You should estimate how much storage and bandwidth you need for your site before you start shopping for a web host. Be wary of the web host that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth for some ridiculous price like $5/month.

4. Not thinking ahead. Can you upgrade to a different package?

Plan ahead for your hosting needs as your business grows. While a shared hosting package may be sufficient for your current needs, will you be able to upgrade to a virtual private server or even a dedicated server as your site traffic grows? How difficult and complicated will the transition be? If your web host only offers shared hosting packages, they may be a reseller. Looking ahead with a view of long term growth, it may be wise to select an upgradeable package from the start.

5. Not making sure that the company will be around for a long time.

This is tied to the last point about having a long term view. You can do some investigation into the background of the web hosting company. How long have they been in business? Who are the owners of the company? Will they still be around in 5 years? It would be an inconvenience to have to move your site to a different server every so often. A little research in the beginning will pay off in the long run.

So as you can see, there are many factors to take into consideration when you select a web host. One last thing is to try asking current customers of the particular company about their experience with them. In general, if there are a lot of disgruntled customers you should probably avoid that company. Remind yourself of these pointers every time you look for a web hosting company and you will save yourself a lot of grief.

About the author:

Hock is interested in all aspects of internet marketing. If you enjoyed this article, you will find more reviews of internet marketing tools at the Marketing Tools Review blog where topics such as pay-per-click advertising and generating an income through affiliate marketing are discussed.