Web Crunch

 Choosing a right web hosting provider

When choosing a new web host there are several questions you need to ask yourself about your website so you get a package that suits your needs. With so many different web hosts about, choosing the right one can be pretty confusing. I’m hoping to clear up some of that confusion and help you to choose the best deal for you. This is a guide for someone wanting to set up a personal website or small to medium business.

If your happy with a small amount of disk space, advertisements, normally little or no 24/7 support and no extras ( eg. no databases, only likely to have 1 domain) then free hosting could be ideal for you. It is also very likely that your page will contain a footer containing your web hosting company’s details -this could just be a banner ad or just your webhosts name. The servers will most likely be overcrowded, they will also be more unreliable with more downtime than paid hosts . This kind of hosting is more suited to sites which aren’t trying to make you money. Shared/virtual Hosting seems to be the most popular, offering full customer support and many more features than with free hosting. Because you are sharing the server with other users this method of hosting works out cheaper than say a dedicated server would. It has becomes so popular as it offers many of the bonuses a dedicated one does at a much smaller price.

Some disadvantages are that with many people using the same server the security level is reduced and if other users are using more than their fair share of the bandwidth or storage space then your site will suffer because of their overuse. Also having overcrowded servers here can be a real problem. If you choose to have a dedicated server, then your site performance will be better than the previous types of host because you are not sharing the server with others. It also has 24/7 customer support and none of the security issues that you get with shared/free hosts. Because this is much more expensive than the previous types you need a large website to justify the cost. Running a site at its optimal performance is a much easier task with this type of hosting.Blogs or other small sites will probably suit shared/free hosting. But if you’ll have high traffic or a complicated site then dedicated hosting could be more suitable for you. Once you are aware of which type suits your needs the most (or perhaps your budget makes your mind up for you) then it is a question of which host and what package.Do you know how to make a website yourself? or are you looking for a host that enables you to alter your website through an easy to follow interface? The web host i have at the moment enables me to change the templates at a click of a button, so changing the website from promoting health and fitness to business opportunities is easy.

A good control panel can help you save time and money by making any changes to your website simple. Look for excellent uptime, this is the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Be wary of ones that say they have 100% uptime as all servers need maintenance at some point so this isn’t a possibility. The average size for a website is about 3Mb in size. Therefore it is not necessary to purchase a large amount of space for a small site. Bandwidth or data transfer is used by your web site traffic for downloads/uploads and sending & receiving email. If someone views a web page on your site which is 2MB in size it will use 2MB of your bandwidth. If 5 people view the page then 10mb of bandwidth will be used. Sending emails to customers will use up the emails size in bandwidth as will any downloads/uploads. Make sure you are aware of how much they will charge if you exceed your bandwidth limit.

Spending sometime looking into what your data transfer is roughly going to be will save you money, as this feature,more than another, will influence the price. SSL certificates enables encryption of sensitive information during online transactions, this means that the site is secure during the payment process. If your website is going to be an online store then having this on your site is a necessity but if you are acting as maybe an affiliate site then the site that you link to will take care of the transaction.Whatever scripting language your using, whether Perl, Python, PHP4/5 & ASP then you need to make sure your host will support it. Have a clear idea how many domains, email addresses and databases you think you will require. Lastly, make sure that the company runs regular backups. Hopefully following the steps in this guide will stop you from buying a poor or unsuitable web host. For great hosting at an incredibly cheap price check out the following link, prices start from $3.99 per month - Cheap Web hosting at Hosting3i.com

Web Hosting in India

Thinking of a web hosting provider in India ? Well, you will find dozens of domain name registration and web hosting providers in every corner of India. Right from companies like Hosting3i, Net4 Domains, Rediff Hosting, Indiatimes Hosting, Manas Hosting, and rest all.

Then which web hosting company from India is right choice for you?… Some are giving out web hosting plans at cheaper rates, while some are giving free unlimited bandwidth plans while some for ‘Buy 1 GB get another GB Free hosting’.

The aim of this article is to guide to differentiate between the REAL web hosting provider in India and the Reseller hosting company.

Let’s get to the true facts of these web hosting providers in India:

1) Web Hosting companies in India: How many?
Bigger and leading companies: Only three. Hosting3i.com, BSNL and VSNL (These are web hosting providers with Data Center, Network Operation Center, Call Centers)
Other companies: over 2000 - all web hosting resellers. (These are only web space sellers like a retail shop near your house.)

These hosting reseller companies act as full-fledge web hosting company and advertise themselves in Yellow pages or classifieds or in technology magazines.

2) Servers and Data Centers:
For your web site to be hosted on servers the web hosting company needs IBM/Dell quality servers. In India only the top and biggest company like Hosting3i, BSNL can afford to buy such servers to serve the web hosting clients with consistent service. Whereas, in India, the rest of web hosting providers are just resellers who buy 10 GB of space from a bigger web hosting company and sell 1 GB space to each customer. In India you will find thousands of web hosting resellers acting as web hosting companies. - AVOID THEM! but why?… here is the answer: Leading web hosting companies like Hosting3i.com / BSNL have their own IN-HOUSE DATA CENTER where your web sites are hosted. This means that, such bigger companies have root access to your web site and can solve the technical problems instantly and effectively. Such hosting companies provide world-class 24×7 support on phone, email and web - thus you are not worried about the behind-the-scene web hosting environment. You are sure that such bigger web hosting companies will have best-of-breed servers, routers and infrastructure that ensure your web site to be online all the time!

Whereas, the web hosting resellers in India, acting as web hosting companies DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO DATA CENTERS - because they DON’T OWN the data centers. Neither they own the servers, equipment or hosting infrastructure. - They just pay small yearly rent to hire a web hosting space in bulk (wholesale) and sale it to you as retailer. - Avoid such companies. When the original web hosting providers like Hosting3i and BSNL are in the market, why are you wasting time, money, and taking high risk by hosting with a reseller hosting company in India?

3) Service:
Let me clear you - Web site hosting is a SERVICE and not a PRODUCT. Bigger hosting companies always provide technical, billing, hosting, scripting, after-sales service throughout the year to you. These companies provide web hosting as a service and not as a product. They guarantee you 24×7 support by phone, web, email. Whereas, the rest of web hosting resellers in India, acting as web hosting companies are just SELLERS. They are not in the market to provide you SERVICE. These web hosting reseller just SALE you the web hosting space / plan and their RESPONSIBILITY IS OVER. But, bigger hosting companies in India like Hosting3i.com / BSNL - their RESPONSIBILITY STARTS after they sale you the web hosting space /plan. Always remember web site hosting is not a PRODUCT but it’s a SERVICE. You are paying a web hosting company for ONE-YEAR FEE and they have to tackle your problems, queries, etc effectively in this period - Web hosting resellers fail to do this. The reason is - they have NO technical knowledge about the web hosting environment, scripts, programs and applications running on servers. Also the major reason is they don’t have access to the web server so they cant tackle the problems. Then you can expect them to help you. This is the reason you should avoid so called web hosting companies who are LOCAL and CHEAP.

4) Web Space and Bandwidth:
So what ideal web space you require for your web site? Here is the solution:

personal web site with 20 pages - 100 MB space required.
business / educational web site with 50 - 100 pages - 500 MB space required.
commercial site / product catalogue / photo gallery site - 500 pages - 2000 MB (2GB) space required.
Big portals / company web site / e-commerce web site - over 1000 pages - 10000 MB (10GB) space required.

Now lets talk about bandwidth:

If your web site receives 1000 daily visitors then at most bandwidth required per day is 5 MB. (30,000 visitors a month x 5MB = 1500000 MB = 150GB total bandwidth per month)

So an average web space and bandwidth for a regular website with moderate traffic is never more than 5GB and 100GB web space and bandwidth respectively. So If your web host is offering you more than that then don’t waste money on the same as over buying space than your need is waste of money.

Also, if your web hosting provider is offering 10MB, 50MB, 500MB plans to you - be sure he is a hosting reseller and and a hosting company.

5) Web Hosting Plan Price:
So what price you will pay for the web site hosting plans?… Well upto 5GB web hosting plans price is around for Rs.3000 per year or less! So if you web hosting provider is offering the same for higher prices then be sure he is demanding much much more from you.

6) Email Web space:
Every web hosting provider in India will offer you either 500 email accounts or unlimited email accounts with the web hosting plan you purchase. These hosting reseller hosting companies fool you by offering the same space for email within you web hosting space. Suppose you are buying a 2GB web hosting plan then they will give you unlimited email accounts option to be created WITHIN the same web hosting space. Remember, that you are not given another EMAIL SERVER to host your email accounts. This leads to loss of your money and web space reserved for only web site hosting purpose. On the other hand, bigger and professional companies like Hosting3i.com provide SEPARATE email server for you. That means if you buy 2GB for web hosting plan, you will receive FULL 2GB web hosting space to host your website and another 5GB space to host your email accounts associated with the web space. - This is the difference. In India, Net 4 Domains, Rediff, Indiatimes, Sify and other hosting companies FAIL to provide such email servers to their customers. Only Hosting3i.com is the company which provides separate email server space for hosting your email and that too FREE!!

7) Natural Causes:
What happens if the owner of the web hosting company you host with is dead or is out of the business? Simple. you loose your web hosting account with them. On the other hand, hosting with bigger companies will always help to run your site without interruption. If ever such bigger companies are liquidated in future they transfer your hosting accounts to some another company so that you are not affected with the internal-affairs of the hosting company.

So before hosting your website think twice. Your website is your business reputation. Don’t host it with any web hosting reseller acting as a full-fledge web hosting company in India. Find the original hosting companies - they are cheap, affordable, reliable and secure.

We recommend you Hosting3i.com for your web hosting needs as its one of the India’s largest web hosting provider since 2004.

– Mahendra Kumar, Product Head, Hosting3i