8 Points To Be Considered When Switching Your Web Host 

    When you are moving your website from your present web host to a new one,the following points should be considered to make the transition smooth.

(7) If the website uses any scripts then it has to be found out whether the new hosting plan supports such scripts or any modifications have to be made to the script to run it on the new server.

How Much Web Space Do You Need?

Web space or Disc space is the amount of data that can be stored in the
hard disc of the web server. All web hosting accounts generally provide a certain amount of
web space. Usually this space is between 50 and 500 MB.

How much space one needs depends on the nature and size of the website.
Most websites are mainly composed of text. There may be a few images. Sometimes there may be
Flash animation involved. Text is simple and economical and it occupies very little space.
However,images and flash require much more space.

Some people may want their webpages to be filled with colorful images.But
this is a great mistake - it makes the pages too heavy and it will require much more time
to load.The maximum size of a page (including images) should be
within 50-60 KB. A good page size should be under 30 KB. If the average page size is 30 KB,then even 10 MB webspace will be sufficient ( unless the site is a forum or something like that).

Next comes bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data which one is allowed
to transfer  per month. Bandwidth includes all uploads and downloads irrespective of
the protocol used.
Bandwidth depends on various factors like — the average page size, the
total number of visitors the website will have and the average number of pages the
visitors will visit.
If the average page size is 30 KB,the average number of visitors is 5000
per month and if  each visitor will visit 3 pages on an average,then the bandwidth
requirement will be less than 1 GB per month,which is provided by most of the low cost hosting packages.

So when somebody is launching his/her website for the first time,he/she
need not worry about disc space or bandwidth.A disc space of 10 MB and bandwidth of 1 GB will be sufficient.
But when choosing a web host, one should choose a host which provides
account upgrades.
If the requirement of space or bandwidth increases in future then one can
go for the upgrades instead of changing the host.

Six Things To Remember While Choosing A Free Web Host

Those who are new to Internet Marketing generally tend to look for free web hosting
to host their sites. They want to keep their start up costs small.This definitely
helps the marketer to start free . However, free web hosting has certain disadvantages
which should be kept in mind and in the long run he/she may be forced to go for commercial web hosts

(1)Amount Of web space

The marketer/webmaster has to see whether the web host has enough space to fulfill his needs.
Most of the free web hosts provide space of 5 MB or less.Though this space is adequate for most people in the beginning,it may not be sufficient for future expansion.Also, one may need more space,depending upon how many pictures the pages may use,whether the pages include sound files,video clips etc.

(2)File Type And Size Limitations

Sometimes there are limitations on the maximum size of a file that can be uploaded to the free site. Sometimes there are restrictions on the file type.

(3)Advertising

To cover the expenses of providing free web space and other associated services,the free web host may impose advertising on the free sites. Sometimes banners are placed on the pages.
Sometimes a pop up window is displayed. The webmaster has to keep all these in mind.

(4)Online Site Builder

Most of the free web hosts only allow to design the web pages by their online site builder.
This is beneficial for the new internet marketer/webmaster. But as one gets experienced, he/she may want to go beyond the available site builder. He/she may require more tools and may go for more complicated web designing.

(5)Speed of Access

Most important thing for a website is reliability and speed of access. The marketer/webmaster must ensure that the free site he/she is going to set up is not down most of the time. For example, if somebody finds the site on a search engine and wants to have a look at it and if the site is down at that time,he gets frustrated.He will go for another site instead.So before choosing a free host,the webmaster must try it out himself,both during peak and non peak hours.

(6)Bandwidth Available

Another important thing the marketer/webmaster must keep in mind,while going for free web hosting,is the availibility of bandwidth to his proposed site.That means most of the free web hosts generally impose a limit on the amount of traffic a site can have per day or per month. If the amount of traffic exceeds the limit per day/month, the web host may cancel the site or may ask to pay for the additional bandwidth used.It is very difficult for the webmaster to try to measure the amount of bandwidth he/she may need.A lot depends on the design of the pages(it may have more graphic images) and the number of visitors it can attract.A minimum of 100 MB bandwidth per month is suitable for a simple personal home page.
On the other hand,a minimum of 1 GB is required for a commercial site in the beginning.

So, the new internet marketer/webmaster may start with free web hosting.But he/she must keep in mind that in the long run,as their business grows, they have to switch to a commercial web hosting service.

Too Much Hosting Choice?

Today’s Internet is flooded with Hosting Providers offering a wide array of Hosting choices. So who do you choose and what should you look for?

Experience tells us that generally the free providers are not a good choice if you want to host a site that is important to you, as the reliability is usually pretty poor. Though to be fair there are a few decent free providers.

Also avoid offers of “unlimited” space and bandwidth, it is impossible for anyone to provide anything “unlimited”.After all if you actually need that sort of space and bandwidth then you most likely are the owner of Google and you would have your own bank of servers anyway!!!

A good way to find a decent and reliable provider is to join one of the many Forums, there are always plenty of members who are willing to share good and bad experiences.

Decide what features you actually do need, after all there is no point paying for added extras that you will never use. Decide what you can afford, then stick to it, don’t be tempted to overspend.

Once you have decided these you will usually have narrowed your search down enough to consider a few options.

Beware of offers of free Domain Names, some will retain ownership of the domain and will not allow transfer, though they are in the minority but check first.

If you want “live help” make sure that the offer actually means “Live”. Some offer this and either they are only live for an hour or so a day or they actually mean email support.

Lastly, avoid buying hosting offers from Ebay, now for those of you who sell on ebay and are genuine I apologise,but…there are too many who have bought cheap reseller plans, who have never provided hosting before and are just not worth the trouble. The problem is telling these from the rest as some can make their website and adverts look very professional.