So You Want a Low Cost Web Host?

One of the important steps in building your online presence is deciding upon a host for your site. A low cost web host should not be the number one criteria for choosing a host. The single most important consideration when choosing a host is how reliable their service is. What could be worst than putting in all the hard work of building and marketing your site only to have searchers view a “page not found” when trying to see your site. Your host must absolutely be reliable. Many hosts today are extremely reliable. Any well known host will not have reliability issues to speak of. Even a very low cost web host can be a reliable choice. Believe it or not, it is possible to find an extremely reliable and low cost web host. They offer an inexpensive way for the beginning web entrepreneur to expand their web presence inexpensively.

Another consideration one must consider is the type pages which will be served. Is your site going to be composed 100% of HTML pages? If so, any low cost web host will do. If you use FrontPage to create your pages, you will need to make sure your host supports FrontPage extensions. Personally, I would not create a site requiring FrontPage extensions (you can create pages in FrontPage without using the extensions). I suggest either learning to code by hand or use the web editor DreamWeaver. Creating a page with FrontPage extensions, Adobe PhotoShop, GoLive, or a similar editor will really create some bloated code. DreamWeaver can be used to create fine pages with very trimmed down code. If you are a more advanced web designer and plan to incorporate data bases, .php, or .asp pages, you will need to make sure your host supports these. A very low cost web host may not be able to support more than HTML.

Thirdly, one must consider the cost of hosting. For your first site, there probably is no reason to pay more than five dollars per month for a hosting plan. It’s very easy now days to find a low cost web host. I have known people who paid $19.95 to host their first site. This is probably overkill. A site costing more than $9.95 will offer far more bandwidth and space than the average site needs. A low cost web host may offer 50 megs of space. This is plenty for most first-time pages. And as far as the bandwidth goes, it will take many months of hard work to use up your allotted monthly bandwidth. When the time comes when you require more space or more total monthly transfer, it is a simple matter to upgrade from a low cost web host.

After you’ve chosen your host, it’s time to apply on the host’s site. It’s a simple process. Be sure to write down the user name and password you chose for the site. You’ll need these when you ftp your site to its new host. Upon completing the signup process, the new host will usually email you a confirmation right away. Even a low cost web host will usually offer a very streamlined setup process. This will usually be followed by another email with the logon specifics and DNS numbers. The two DNS numbers, primary and secondary, will have to be added to the URL registrant information. The URL can possibly be registered with the host or another company. If your URL registration and hosting account are with the same company, it will be a simple matter to associate the URL with the new hosting account. If the URL is registered with a different company than your hosting account, you will need to login to your URL account and input the two DNS numbers from the host account into the registrant information.

Whether it’s a first time, low cost web host or a full blown e-commerce host, the concept of hosting is the same for all. Once a person learns with their first, low cost web host, that knowledge can easily be transferred to more advanced hosts when the time comes. Good Luck!