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Cheap web hosting revealed.
Does your web hosting cost too high?
Choosing the right host is an important aspect in lowering
your web hosting costs. The web hosting industry, boasting
several thousand web hosts, is still young and growing at
a remarkable pace; hence finding the right host is not only
difficult, but very time consuming; fortunately though it
is worth the time and effort. There are a few things to
keep in mind when exploring; when deciding to form a partnership
with the host. Below are just a few things to consider,
which directly attribute to final cost.
Disk Space — Knowing how much web space your web site
needs and compensating for a bit extra, for growth. For
example, if your web site needs 200 MB of disk space, look
for the plan which offers at least 250 to 300 MB of web
space; this will prevent a large unexpected bill at the
end of the month when high priced costs, charged by most
web hosts for extra disk space usage, are added on to your
bill. As a rule of thumb, an average web site should cost
you no more than $1 per 10 MB
Bandwidth — Figure out how much bandwidth (data transfer)
your web site uses. As above, ensure you get more bandwidth
than your site uses. For example, if your website uses 8GB
bandwidth per month, then choose a plan, which offers at
least 8 or 10GB bandwidth per month. This again will prevent
'spikes' of over usage, leading to higher extra costs. As
a reference, an average web site should pay no more than
$3 per GB for bandwidth usage.
Block buying — Ask the web host if they have "block
buying" facilities for purchasing projected extra disk
space or bandwidth. But, be careful, if your web site needs
only 2 GB extra bandwidth, you may have to buy an extra
package in blocks of 5GB bandwidth; in this case, look for
the host which will allow you to purchase extra disk space
and bandwidth allowance as per your needs, this is crucial
to cost savings.
Note: Ensure that you know the over-usage allowance rules;
you need to know what happens if your web site uses more
disk space or bandwidth than you have been allocated. The
web host who informs you of possible over-usage well in
advance, allowing you to take measures to reduce or budget
for extra usage, is 'worth their weight in gold'.
Number of web sites — if you have more than one web
site, sign up an account with a web host who provides multiple
domains hosted on one account; this will work out a lot
cheaper than an account per website.
A good tip would be to ask your friends and colleagues if
they want to host their websites with you on one account.
For example at M6.net a person or persons with 4 websites
can save roughly $20 per month by signing up an M6-2, multiple
hosting account.
Applications and databases — Ensure that all the applications
your web site uses (FrontPage, ASP pages, databases, cgi,
PHP, etc.), are supported within the chosen account type.
Find out if there are any extra fees for particular applications
or associated database support. For example allot of hosts
charge extra set-up fees to install FrontPage, which may
be avoided by choosing another host offering the same features
with no extra costs.
Mail Server — Emails are the lifeblood of your online
business. Ensure that you get a sufficient number of email
addresses with your own domain name (preferably unlimited);
these are necessary for other email features like forwarders,
and auto responders, etc. There is no need to pay an extra
fee for use of a mail server as many hosts offer this service
now for free, within the hosting plan.
Avoid long-term contracts — Many web hosts offer huge
discounts on yearly or half yearly payments in advance,
this may appear a good way to go, but note how long you
are locked in. If possible avoid long-term contracts until
you are sure about the services and reliability offered
by that particular host. Paying on a monthly basis obviously
has its benefits. If there are concerns with your service
encouraging you to seek a new host elsewhere, you may lose
out on many months of hosting fees when breaking a yearly
or half-yearly contract; but, if the necessity arises, a
loss of only a few days to close a troublesome account,
is preferable.
Thinking ahead with reference to an established plan of
action will help you avoid most surprises, and definitely
help towards cutting costs, short term or long-term. Work
out your growth rate and project future expansions. Keep
a good record of past and present bandwidth and web space
usage, this will help to project future needs.
Savings are mostly a matter of common sense, but in this
industry of high technology most people forget this rule
and try to look for the best, most efficient and most expensive
technical programs and software to save them a buck or two.
As in most businesses good cost effective groundwork is
the best start to cutting costs.
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