Blog - CB Web Solutions

An important part of any web design is the choice of hosting company and package or in layman's terms, the space on a server dedicated to the storage of the files and databases that make up the website. Whilst the number of hosting companies and offers is limitless, the choice is far from easy. Indeed, it is in our experience that something like price is usually the least important factor even in this 'Post-credit crunch' Plan- E Spain. As such, we have over the course of the years built up what a set of criteria which we use to select the ones we work with for our clients.

Uptime - This is the time that your site will be visible online and not suffering down-time. Usually, figures are quoted with percentages in the high 90s or even 100%. In our experience, this has rarely been an issue and on the few occasions that our hosting company has suffered downtime, it has usually been for security improvements and also been for a very short time that is measured in minutes. As such, to us this is of limited importance but nevertheless worth mentioning due to its common nature.

Billing and Renewal How the company accepts payment and how it renews hosting accounts. Having been in the position of working with one particular company that was outstanding on a technical support basis but a disaster when it came to billing and renewal you become acutely aware of how important is a good billing service to business . We would also add, the ability to accept credit card or electronic payment such as PayPal is essential and in this age unforgiveable if it does not exist. Bank transfers and sending emailed credit card details should never be required but still are by some companies. So, payment and renew should be easy and rapid to reduce administration time.

Technical Support On occasions it may be necessary to discuss a technical aspect of a proposed design with the hosting company and as such it is important to have that option when you need it. In other words, 24/7 and ideally in real time. Some companies offer email based support but our experience of this is that it usually creates lapses which can put a severe delay on progress during a project and should be avoided. The other issue is to be able to talk to the host company in a language that you both understand which may exclude some very cheap hosting companies in some of the more exotic countries and their hosting companies.

Pre-installed administration software - the designer should be able to use a number of pre-installed software facilities that can speed up design and management of the site. We have been in the position where we have had to install a number of items just to start design and development work, it does little to get you off to a fast start in a project.

Can the Host allow your site to grow a well built website such as those designed by CB Web Solutions will give you the potential to grow your business. Overtime, you may need to increase the size of your site and as such it is important that the host can allow you to do this. If not you are faced with moving to another which is not a situation that your company needs when growing as continuity may be affected.

Extras We have seen some host companies that will offer a headline price which seems very competitive but when you add up the items you require to use the hosting service as your site requires you find that the real price is not at all competitive. A common area is the application of a low bandwidth limit (information transfer per month), limited email accounts, database limits and also low storage space to name a few. Perhaps the best analogy is that of the Budget airlines that are now offering very low prices but when you add on , fuel surcharges, luggage costs, booking in fees and even the use of the toilet on the plane, you find the price is now where near as competitive as it first appeared.

So, in conclusion, the choice of hosting company is one we have worked on over a number of years as we constantly seek to improve our service. Price is often the last issue that we consider and given the points above it has to be that way. A quality hosting service is something that gives our clients peace of mind and is the basis of any professional online presence.