dacs.doc electric

So, you’ve planned, organized, designed and built your site. Great! Now, who is going to host it? Depending upon the purpose of your site, you have options. Your local ISP usually provides a few megabytes of space with your service. This is a good place to start if your site is for personal use. Just remember, your address is going to be something like www.snet.net/members/mysite. html.
For business use, I would suggest registering your own domain name (www.mycompany.com). But first you will need to find a place to park your domain and host your site. There are thousands of hosting companies and it can be quite confusing trying to find the one that best fits your needs. It is important, once you’re ready, that you understand exactly what you are looking for.

To start, I suggest using a company called TopHosts.com (http://www.tophosts.com). TopHosts.com is an online resource of web hosting companies that help you learn about and compare their services. TopHosts.com helps you determine the issues you need to be aware of when choosing hosting services. You can also use their free database of hosts to help you develop a list of ideal companies that meet your site’s needs.

TopHosts.com provides the following information you should do before choosing your hosting company:

1. Connectivity and reliability are key. The longer it takes for customers to access your Website, the more likely you’ll lose customers. Of course, no one’s perfect. Connectivity time will fluctuate with the flow of daily traffic, but you should insist on a guaranteed connectivity rate of 95% when seeking a host.

2. Make sure your host is big enough to accommodate your future needs, as well as your present ones. As your customer base and revenue grows, your site may require the addition of server-side scripting, eCommerce and database support, and a large bandwidth to accommodate audio and video streaming.

3. Demand prompt service and support. No matter how renowned your host is, technical problems will occur. As such, demand 24-hour, 7-days-a-week technical support for all your applications. If a host claims to already offer this, check! Call their tech line at 3:00a.m. on a Sunday to see if anyone is really there. Ensure that there is some sort of written agreement regarding service, which ideally will provide you with financial compensation in the event of failure.

4. Security. Ask for a detailed description of the hosting company’s security protocols. They should provide adequate protection from everyday denial-of-service attacks and the various hacks and cracks that will be attempted on your server. The only thing worse than having no security is thinking you have some.

5. Don’t commit right away. Many hosts will quote you a monthly fee, but bill in larger increments. You could sign on for a month, and find yourself paying for a year’s service. Ask about the billing period, and initially sign on for a small service term (60-90 days). If you’re happy with the service after this trial period, extend the term. Treat your Web host like you would treat any other supplier for your business. If they can’t provide the service and reliability you need, why keep them? Their competitors will be happy to have your business.

6. Don’t assume that you need to use Windows NT to run your site with Frontpage extensions. Many applications created for Windows NT will actually be more efficient if they are rewritten for a UNIX environment. Don’t worry about figuring this out yourself, but bear in mind that a host who offers both Windows NT and UNIX will be more flexible.

7. Backup your data. You probably have backups of your HTML data, as you created them locally and uploaded them to your host’s server. But what about the other files? User logs, product databases, order tracking logs, server-side scripts, etc., probably only exist on your host’s drives and could be lost in the event of a failure. Request the ability to back up these files.

8. Be master of your domain. Query the Whois database (www.whois.net) to ensure that your company is both the administrative and technical contact for your domain. If your host is listed as one or more of these contacts, it owns the domain, not you. Unless you own the domain, it could be held for ransom if there is a dispute between you and your host.

9. User complaints, making sure your interests are protected as well. Many hosts have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to spam and pornography. Customer complaints are not always held up to the proper scrutiny. As such, a customer complaint, regardless of its validity, could cause the plug to be pulled on your site. Find out what recourses are open to you, and if the terms are not acceptable, find another provider.

10. Check references. Ask for a list of Webmasters who run similar sites off the host’s server. Call them. E-mail them. Write them. If your host is unwilling to give you this list, go elsewhere.

11. Do some digging. There’s nothing wrong with doing a little snooping to find out what type of people you are committing your property to. Query the Whois database and find the business address of the server. Use a tracing program to view the path to the machine in the Whois database. If another ISP’s server pops up, chances are you’re dealing with a reseller rather than an actual host. Check out the other sites on their server. If most of them are spam sites, banner click-through pages or porn sites, being associated with them could have a negative impact on your business.

12. Ratings by various hosting "associations" are meaningless. While many members of the Web Hosting Guild are highly regarded companies, some are held in very low esteem by Webmasters. Ratings and awards can also be outdated, and might not reflect a host’s current state of service.

13. Read your agreement. Make sure the terms and conditions of your service agreement are clear. Have a business lawyer review your contract before you sign. Carefully evaluate clauses that relate to copyright ownership, complaint protocol, fee renewals, and notification procedures regarding renewal or service discontinuation.

The bottom line is that you need a host that can meet your business needs. You should expect constant change, improvement, and, once in a while a boost in performance or value. You must constantly evaluate the service you’re getting, and what it’s costing you. Just think, it takes many years to build up your business along with it’s reputation, but only a few seconds to lose it.