Who's YOUR Web Host?
by
Kath
Hosting has changed since the early days of the 'net. It's
both improved - and gotten worse. Things like one-on-one customer service,
getting to know your host and building up a personal rapport are rare and
difficult to find. Large corporations are running the show most of the time now
as bandwidth has become almost a non-issue and everybody out there is trying to
get a piece of the pie. So how do you know which host is the best choice? Well,
the answer lies in - YOU!
- SECURITY ISSUES
"Since 911 security
has been a larger concern," explains TDavid, owner, programmer and driving
force behind industry sources ScriptSchool.com, TDScripts.com and the new
TDPrograms.com. He recommends that webmasters sign up to receive security
bulletins from MSN-Developer.com and other "from the source" resources - the
point of origin where the media releases the info on programs that are a
problem.
There are many ways to protect you, your site and your
business and ensure that your hosting options are secure. If you have "virtual
hosting" - which is a shared hosting situation in which webmasters share space
with other webmasters and other web sites - you need to make sure that it's not
too busy or too overcrowded. Ultimately, as soon as you can afford to, you
should switch your accounts to a dedicated environment to avoid any of the
issues that can come up through server sharing.
However, even
dedicated hosting without proper security can be a big problem. You should
research potential hosting companies by talking to other webmasters about their
experiences with them before you make your choice. Going with quality and
reliability of price and discounts is the rule of thumb when choosing a host.
- TESTING YOUR HOST
A good webmaster
doesn't just throw up a site, start gathering traffic and forget about it. No
way! A good webmaster tests the traffic on the new host and researches his
site's performance across the web. Just because YOU can see the site clearly
and it's loading fast for you doesn't mean some guy in China or Russia can. Two
places that webmasters use to test their site's performance are
KeyNote.com and
TraceRoute.com.
- KeyNote is a charged service, it's not free -
but it's very reliable and has many different options for testing.
- TraceRoute is a free service and does offer a
lot more options and testing opportunities than most free services, however the
results and options are still more limited than what you would get through a
paid service like KeyNote.
What's the difference? - KeyNote measures
over days and weeks, giving you a full, well-rounded result. TraceRoute only
measures a "moment in time" telling you how it works right now - not an overall
depiction taking into consideration global time, 'net "rush hour" and week
versus weekend dates, etc.
- PERSONAL SECURITY
No, we aren't
talking firewalls or anti-virus (although you SHOULD have those if you're
working on the web!), but this is more about password security. How many of you
use the same username/password on every site you visit? How many use the same
username/password for all of your sponsors? How many use the names of their
kids, pets or even your own last name as your password?
In a
username/password situation, people often use common names, names that could be
very easy for a hacker or other violator to guess and use to take advantage of
the webmaster. Most security experts suggest that you make it more complex.
Don't use any word/words that connects or associates your password with you.
Another tip is to use a word that is NOT in the English dictionary - something
made up. Also - you should mix in numbers with the letters - not just use them
at the beginning or end of your password. Here's an example: powerpuff as a
password. Switch around the letters with numbers and use: p0w3rp!fF instead.
It's much harder to guess and is more reliable.
- GETTING DOWN TO BASICS
The basics
that you need to consider are specific to you. What kind of site are you going
to build? How much traffic will it have? Will you be doing secure process on
your sites (ie affiliates, paysites and other sales)? How important is your
site to your business? How important is it that you have 24/7 customer service?
How many websites will you be building off of one account? The questions are
endless - but they are all YOUR questions.
Spend some time considering
what you want and what you need - then go find a host that offers things that
cater to your special requests. Once you find a few that match, start asking
around - or check out other sites that the host hosts off of their servers to
test reliability. Find out what their customers are saying about them, how long
they've been with them as a host and what types of sites they are hosting.
Virtual versus Dedicated... Service versus Price... Support versus
Options - there are many things to be weighed. The more information you have -
and the more questions you ask - the better!
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