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It would help you a great deal in case you asked your potential hosting provider a few pointed questions such as those mentioned below, along with the reasons as to why you need to ask ( for your knowledge).
1. have they got sound customer support systems in place?
Now, you would find lots of web-hosting serve providers online. some of them serve their customers promptly while some don't. it is very important as a web master, or a web-site owner for you to know how your potential service provider rates on this aspect. You could shoot some pre-sales questions about something you wanted to know or ask them one of these other questions & wait to see the response period. If they don't reply within 24 hrs (the Industry Standard) you are speaking to trouble-hosting providers. nice customer support & the extent to which the provider would go to educate you or familiarize you with their available services would mean a lot to you as a client.
2. Server systems, technology, information Centers, backup schedules: Does your provider report his standing on these?
Servers are a must for a web-hosting provider. It forms his basic infrastructure. Back-systems are scheduled to run automatically & these servers are backed-up as often as every day with some hosting providers. What does your potential provider has to say about these things? Do they mention the kind of technology they use? have they got reliable backup systems at traceable data-centers? how are they equipped technically? have they got technical people on rolls?
3. Company information, financial standing & profitability: How sound is your provider financially?
You must be wondering as to why you need to bother about your web-hosting provider's financial standing - well, it so happens than some companies might be new & there are chances that you could be speaking to a fly-by-night operator. Properly financial health also signifies a stronger management which might be placed better to be able to serve its present & potential customers. However, it is another entirely that some of the best of the web-site providers also make losses & is not to be mistaken that they don't have nice customer support or services offered.
4. What might be scope of service provided?
What exactly is your service provider going to offer to you? Depending on your requirements she must be able to provide everything (almost!) under one roof. You could have wanted just a single page hosted or perhaps you wanted a 300 page tremendous content internet site -Do they have the range to suit your requirements? Under your apportioned budgets? Single page sites usually are simple HTML pages & can be hosted basically. Your requirement can be very complex which calls for inclusion of different application platforms like PHP, asp.net & Java extending up to scripts, forum, shopping carts, Intuitive control panels, plesk & also enabling e commerce. So can your service provider be able to provide you all of this?
in case you had designs of making a very interactive & content rich site, you could have thought of including content in the kind of Video, streaming media, blogs, chatting, live customer support & far more. You will must be positive that your service provider can offer you all of this & far more.
5. What's your provider's take on Hosting reliability & up-time guarantee?
Up-time when it comes hosting means the time (expressed in percentages) the host is available to access through the net. You would have seen lots of hosting providers mention a 99.9 % up-time guarantee. But then, you ought to recognize that any hosting application environment calls for maintenance . you ought to ask how the web-hosting provider manages to shuffle this time efficiently. How do they manage their maintenance?
According to an extract from wikipedia
"A popular claim from the popular hosting providers is '99% or 99.9% server uptime' but this often refers only to a server being powered on & doesn't account for network downtime. actual downtime can potentially be larger than the percentage guaranteed by the provider. lots of providers tie uptime, & accessibility, in to their own Service Level Agreement, or SLA. SLAs may or may not include refunds or reduced costs if performance goals are not met. One must be very careful when selecting a new company & they ought to read all terms & conditions carefully. A potential customer ought to also check out the hosting company's Acceptable Use owner in order to keep away from potential cancellation of services due to activities that are thought about a violation"
Hence, it is important to read all their terms & conditions carefully before signing up any new company as mentioned above & seldom forget the Acceptable Use owner before signing on the dotted lines.