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Browse the front page of the website of any web hosting company and they will all be trying to persuade you that they are the best and that youshould sign up with them. Their prices and features will proudly be displayed in big bold text, like a Boy Scout who has just earned his first badge. Trouble is, most web hosting companies have failed to understand the most important thing not all prospective customers are computer experts!Its true. They list their features in a big list; things like bandwidth, FTP access, MySQL, Sub Domains, CGI, CPanel, Linux, Forwarders, etc, but what does it all mean? You browse their website to find the answers, but they are not there! No explanations can be found. I will list the MOST IMPORTANT web hosting features that you should look out for as well as some features you should AVOID, alongside a full explanation of what they mean.

Webspace / Data Storage / Disk Space:

This is the allocation of space (measured in megabytes) on a web hosting account for you to upload your files and folders. Most web hosts will have a number of different web hosting plans, with accounts with more webspace being more expensive. These can be 100MB,200MB and so on, Now, an average personal homepage, made up of a few pages may not even exceed one megabyte, but, if your website is going to be made up of hundreds of pages, or if you have large files such as digital downloads, MP3s or videos, you will need an account with a lot more webspace. Be careful not to underestimate how much webspace you will need. Your website, at first, might not take up that many megabytes, but, as your website grows in size, it will take up more space. The best thing to do is to purchase a web hosting plan with a LOT more webspace than you initially require. Webspace is stored on a server, similar to the hard drive on your computer, so even the biggest server will have a storage limit . Companies that offer unlimited webspace cram as many accounts as they can on their servers, which will undoubtedly overload their servers and may cause your website to run slow or even crash!

Bandwidth / Data Transfer:

Bandwidth is the measurement of traffic and data transfer your website can handle per month. Bandwidth is used during page views, website usage, mail and downloads from your website. When a user views a web page, the data of that web page (text, pictures, etc) are transferred from the internet to their computer. As this data transfer uses the resources of a web server, then a web host will allocate each web hosting account with a certain amount of bandwidth per month. The more visitors your website attracts, the more bandwidth your account will use, so always make sure that you choose a web host that gives you a lot of bandwidth to play with, especially if you are lucky enough to eventually entice thousands of visitors every day or if you allow users to download files from your website.

UNIX/Linux or Windows Hosting:

Although most web hosts these days offer only UNIX or Linux hosting packages, some web hosts also offer Windows hosting. Now, as most advanced websites use the PHP language to power scripts such as ecommerce stores, then you will NEED to opt for a UNIX or Linux package, because websites that use PHP will not work properly on a Windows server. Incidently, I MUST clear up a bit of confusion about Windows and UNIX/Linux servers. This has NOTHING to do with what operating system you have on your computer. Most computers have Windows as an operating system, but the majority of web hosts run on UNIX/Linux servers. Basically, if you have your website files already built and ready to upload and your page files end with.asp, then you will need Windows hosting. If your files end with.html, then ANY hosting package will do. Whereas, if your website files end with.php, then you must choose a UNIX/Linux package.

Control Panel:

All web hosts will boast a Control Panel as part of their package. This does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a web-based control panel which include all the tools you need to operate your website, all in one place, for your convenience. These tools will include a file manager for editing or uploading files, a mail server for sending and receiving emails, a database manager and many more tools. There are many types of Control Panel, but, in my opinion, CPanel Control Panel is, by far, the best and the most widely used. It is easy to use, everything is laid out nicely and it includes the best features and technology. Most other Control Panels are basically emulated versions of CPanel, but, sadly, they dont even come close. In my opinion, ALWAYS look for a web hosting plan that offers CPanel as its Control Panel. MySQL Database and PHPMyAdmin: In my opinion, these are the BEST database management tools on offer.

Email Accounts:

This might seem unimportant for me to explain about email accounts, as you know what they are, but it does in fact require a small explanation. This feature has nothing to do with your home email account, i.e. Outlook Express, for example. In fact, this feature is, quite basically, your own web-based mail server, where you can create email accounts and send and receive emails. The great thing is%u2026 your email accounts will match your domain name. i.e. All web hosts boast emaiI account management, but not all of them are the same. For example, some web hosts only allow to to create a handful of emaiI accounts, while others give you the option of creating more. e.g. 200 email accounts. Your choice of web host should take number of email accounts into consideration. With a personal homepage, you might not need many, but if you are planning an online business, you will need a lot of different email accounts. Examples will include info@, sales@, support@ and many more. A la rge business may even require that all members of staff have their own email address too.

Email Forwarders and Autoresponders:

An Email Forwarder is a great tool that will save you from having to keep logging into your mail server to check mail. Instead, this allows you to set your server to also forward a copy of all your emails to your home email client such as Outlook Express. An Autoresponder is a tool that automatically sends an email reply to anyone who contacts you through your website. Of course, it doesnt reply to the query for you! Instead, it sends them a brief message, pre-set by you, which could be something like Thank you for your email. Our staff will respond to your query as soon as possible.

Full FTP Access:

This is a must have for those of you who plan on regularly editing and uploading your website files. Most web hosts have web-based file management tools (File Manager) included, but they are always very basic and restricted. You should make sure that FTP Access is allowed too. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Access means that you are allowed to use FTP programs to upload files quicker and easier to your web server.

PHP, Perl and CGI Support:

Although not important for personal homepages, having a web server with support for PHP, Perl and CGI is absolutely essential for a website if you are planning on using even the simplest of tools on your website, such as a contact form. PHP, Perl and CGI are all advanced scripting languages that power features such as online forms, shopping carts, autoresponders, mailing lists, messageboards, ecommerce stores, links pages and, basically, ANY type of script or software that is CGI, Perl or PHP based. Forget a web host that doesnt have support for these scripting languages.

Password Protection:

This feature enables you to assign a username and password to any folder on your website, such as an admin folder for example. Your visitors will be prompted for the login details when trying to enter. This prevents prying eyes from accessing private areas of your website.

Website Statistics:

This web-based tool enables you to view the user statistics of your website, such as page views, number of visitors, file useage, where your users came from, browser types and other statistics.

Add-On Domains:

This is where you can use several domain names with one web hosting accounts, but this is NOT advisable.Although, this feature may work with smaller HTML websites, most ecommerce or other advanced PHP websites will NOT work properly on hosting with add-on domains. This is because add-on domains are only virtual domains. You see, only one domain can truly be associated to one web hosting account. An advanced PHP website or script will normally only work on a hosting account with only one domain name associated to it as the mechanics of a PHP website need to call to one domain only for it to function properly. The confusion of calling to multiple domain names may break the website. In my opinion, steer clear of hosting plans that boast add-on domains.

Sub Domains:

NOT to be confused with Add-On Domains, because Sub Domains are completely different. This feature allows you (if needed) to split your website into different sections. Ideal if different parts of your website are for different things. e.g. something.yourwebsite.com

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