Article  Do Your Research to Find the Best Rated Web Hosting Around There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, and finding the right one for you or your business can be a challenge. You need to do your research to ensure your website is going to be hosted by a reputable company with whom you would be able to do business. So how does one find the best rated web hosting out there? The answer is simple but may be a little time consuming – research. You have to look for the right host that fits your needs. There are a number of factors that go into choosing a hosting company. First, and often overlooked, is what type of operating system the server runs. Linux holds the title for web server heavyweight in that the vast majority of servers run Apache or something similar. However, you may want or require the server to run Windows. If this is the case, you will want to investigate the servers' operating system. If you are just looking for a bare bones server to host a basic web page, you will probably be happy with just a Linux server. Linux is a time tested and reliable platform that is as stable as it is robust. Another critical factor is how much downtime a host might experience. This is important for everyone. It is almost impossible for even the best rated web hosting service to be up exactly 100 percent of the time. Your objective is to find a host that is as close to 100 percent as possible. The adage “you get what you pay for” can come to roost in this area. Cheaper hosts may have cheaper equipment and that may result in more down time. Do you research and check their ratings. What about bandwidth usage? Are you expecting to have a lot of users at one time? Sure, it does not take a lot of bandwidth to load a page. However, if a lot of people are accessing your page at the same time, the bandwidth will climb. How often have you heard of a cool new website and gone to it only to find the “exceeded bandwidth” message. You do not want this to happen to your site! Plan for the future and try to figure out how much bandwidth you will need. Maybe you will want to start out small and then add bandwidth as it is needed, or perhaps you expect a lot of traffic right off. Regardless of your situation, you do not want to lose potential viewers or clients to your site. If you have a business and someone cannot get to your site, that might result in a lost customer – counter to the reason for setting up a site in the first place. Control panels are another feature you should investigate. Long gone are the days of terminal entry of commands, and web-based graphic user interfaces are now commonplace. You want to determine the ease of use of the potential host's control panel. Is it user friendly and intuitive? Are there features you need or, conversely, do not require? Also, is it stable? You do not want to make a change to your page only to find out something was not saved because of a bug in the control panel. Often attached to the control panel are add-ons you can use with your site. Things like forums can be added and modified as you see fit. Do you need these features? Would you be paying for them if you did not require them? A new and exciting trend in the web site hosting realm is the green movement. No, the servers are not being made out of bamboo cases and recycled silicon boards. The servers are still computers, but they are getting more and more efficient. That is not where the exciting part is though. Some of the best rated web hosting companies are purchasing their electricity from renewable resources. Yes, you can have your site hosted by a company run by wind or hydroelectric power! It might not solve the world's carbon emission problems, but it does help. Category Internet Author WOA Member Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 21 October 2009