Saturday, June 4, 2011

Find Hosting for Your Forum

By William MacMahon


What host is right for your forum? It can be extremely challenging to find the perfect host provider for you forum. There are many advertisements saying the service they provide is best but they cannot all be the best. Quite often, web hosts offer a great service initially but this does not remain. Problems with shared servers, a low quality of service or ignoring customer requests can all ruin a relationship. This may mean you are looking for a new host.

The way to avoid this predicament is to get quality information and to know the basics about web hosting clearly. This guide will attempt to take you through the paces so that choosing the right web host for your forum becomes an easy proposition for you.

What you need to know about web hosting

An online presence has never been more important and this makes having the right web host vital as a poor choice can ruin some sites. There are many reasons that will impact on your choice such as selling items on your site, having an individual site or passing data efficiently amongst work colleagues around the globe. Making the right choice is very important and price and value can't be your only choices, you need to evaluate quality and links and connections too.

Hopefully, you now know some basics but and you can follow techniques and tips to help you find the perfect host for you.

The following is a list of companies who provide a web host service that will aid your forum. All of these firms have forums and are viewed as firms that operate well with regards to price and cost.

Some of the top web host firms that offer Forum support

1. Bluehost - www.bluehost.com

2. Hostpapa - www.hostpapa.com

3. Powweb - www.powweb.com

4. ixwebhosting - www.ixwebhosting.com

5. Hostpapa - www.hostpapa.com

6. Hostmonster - www.hostmonster.com

7. Hostgator - www.hostgator.com

8. Bluehost - www.bluehost.com

Having a list of these companies is one thing, choosing which one to go with is another. You would ask questions based on your own needs and requirements. For instance, how much space is required or how much bandwidth would require.

If you want to host a forum, you will need round about 50 GB bandwidth per month and on average, 10 GB of space to store items. These figures are a general example and the needs of your website may differ. If the website you run does not have many images, you may not need a lot of space. However, if your site had a large number of graphics, the opposite would be the case. The host you choose should be able to provide you with information about what you require.

Stability is vital

Moving your websites from one web host to another can be a nightmarish experience; often leading to downtime, loss of data and a number of other problems which may prove to be detrimental to your business. So stability is a very big criterion when you are choosing your web hosting provider. So try to find a well established web hosting provider. Make sure you do a background check and talk to the existing clients to see whether they are satisfied with the service provided. If you have any doubt, don't take a risk. The hassle is not worth the little effort you may save on the research.

Cost

The price you pay is always important to people. This will come to a number of issues including bandwidth issues and storage space. There are three main types of hosting options.

Hosting that is shared

Dedicated Hosting

Virtual Private Server

The choice you make should be based on budget and key requirements.

Some of these options are discussed in more depth here:

Virtual Private Server - Combines the following two services. A person will use the VPS with others but the resources of the server are shared in such a way that each firm has their own well defined areas. This ensures you have resources solely for you and there is no competition for the right. This works well for many firms.

Hosting that is dedicated Hosting - This is the higher end of the market coming with better performance. No other firm is fighting for your server space so that element is better but this requires a level of skill and expertise. Failing that, it possible to contract an external agent to running this service for you and you can buy a server or rent it.

Dedicated Hosting - This is the high end option providing top quality at a high price. There is no other site competing with you on the server which is great but you may need to know a lot about how to run a server. It is possible to pay a firm to manage your server and you can either buy the server or rent it.

Service

This is another major deciding factor in your search to find the best web hosting provider for your forum. Good service and technical support form the backbone of the web hosting service. You may safely choose a provider which is very popular, since a large number of clients is a good indicator of the quality and stability of the web host. Just remember that they are also the ones who are under the maximum amount of resource strain, since they are servicing such a large number of clients. If your web host has too many clients, service may suffer or your site may become slow because of resource competition on the server.

Be sure to test the technical support capabilities of the hosting provider that you choose. Check with the existing clients. The following checklist may aid you in your efforts:

How fast can they come up with solutions to your problems?

Can they offer quality solutions?

Are the technicians always on call?

Are holiday periods and out-of-work hours catered for?

Do they respond quickly by email?

Do they fix your solution or do they offer excuse after excuse?

Positive answers to these questions would indicate a good firm to choose.

Conclusion

It can be very difficult to find a good host but the information provided should help you. Many people say that the relationship between a website and a host provider is a lot like a marriage. Just like real life, separating can be a difficult and costly affair. To be sure you get the best deal undertake a lot of research before you make the final decision.




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