The first step to reducing your web hosting expenses is to select the right hosting provider. The web hosting industry, which is home to thousands of hosts, is still in its infancy and expanding rapidly. Therefore, finding the right host can be challenging and time-consuming, but it's worth the effort. Here are some factors to consider that directly impact the final cost.
Understanding your website's disk space requirements is crucial. Always opt for a plan that offers a bit more than what you need to accommodate growth. For instance, if your website requires 200 MB of disk space, choose a plan that provides at least 250 to 300 MB. This will help you avoid unexpected bills at the end of the month for additional disk space usage. As a general rule, an average website should not cost more than $1 per 10 MB.
Determine your website's bandwidth (data transfer) usage. As with disk space, choose a plan that offers more bandwidth than your site uses. For example, if your website uses 8GB bandwidth per month, select a plan that provides at least 8 or 10GB bandwidth per month. This will help prevent sudden over usage, leading to higher additional costs. On average, a website should not pay more than $3 per GB for bandwidth usage.
Inquire if the web host offers "block buying" options for purchasing projected extra disk space or bandwidth. However, be cautious. If your website needs only 2 GB extra bandwidth, you may have to buy an extra package in blocks of 5GB bandwidth. Therefore, look for a host that allows you to purchase extra disk space and bandwidth as per your needs, which is crucial for cost savings.
Understand the over-usage allowance rules. You need to know what happens if your website uses more disk space or bandwidth than allocated. A web host that informs you of possible over-usage in advance, allowing you to take measures to reduce or budget for extra usage, is invaluable.
If you have more than one website, sign up with a web host that allows multiple domains to be hosted on one account. This is much cheaper than having an account per website. You could also consider asking friends or colleagues if they want to host their websites with you on one account. For example, at M6.net, a person or group with four websites can save approximately $20 per month by signing up for an M6-2, multiple hosting account.
Ensure that all the applications your website uses (FrontPage, ASP pages, databases, cgi, PHP, etc.) are supported within the chosen account type. Find out if there are any extra fees for specific applications or associated database support. For instance, many hosts charge extra setup fees to install FrontPage, which can be avoided by choosing another host offering the same features at no extra cost.
Emails are vital for 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 autoresponders, etc. There is no need to pay an extra fee for the use of a mail server as many hosts offer this service for free, within the hosting plan.
Many web hosts offer significant discounts on yearly or half-yearly payments in advance. While this may seem like a good idea, consider 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 has its benefits. If there are concerns with your service that make you want to find a new host, you may lose out on many months of hosting fees when breaking a yearly or half-yearly contract.
Thinking ahead and having a plan 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.
By Candice Humbley M6.net
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