The following are what to look for in a business host:

• Security

Security has always been important in all aspects of life but more so when it comes to online business.  There are many talented hackers and identity thieves running around in cyberspace.  Your host should provide ample security to protect your business as well as your customers from these threats.

• Almost 100% Uptime

You might think that 99% uptime is enough but if you dissect it, you’ll see that even 1% downtime is bad for business.  1% equates to more than 85 hours of downtime in a year.  For those 85 hours, your regular and potential customers will turn to other online merchants for their needs.  You might think that it’s impossible for your website to be up and running every single second.  It is, because site uptime is different from server uptime.  If your web host can provide several mirrors for your website, you can do maintenance on one mirror server while the others support your website.

• Good Technical Support

Your web host must respond to your problems on time.  If you encounter a problem such as site downtime, your web host must be able to provide a solution as quickly as possible.  A good web host must have a 24/7 hotline, live chat and e-mail support.

• Enough Space

Your website must provide enough space both for your website’s data and bandwidth.  Too little bandwidth will result in downtime because it is unable to handle the enormous traffic generated by the users.  You also need a large disk space allotment so you can expand and update your business in the future without having to worry if your website has enough space.

In order to prevent future inconvenience on your part as well as your clients’, make sure you make the right choice.  Here are the basics of business hosting options to help you get it right:

• Space.  Everything on your website takes up space.  The various information, videos, and especially the graphics used to design your pages will use space.  When looking for a business host, you should look for a host that offers sufficient space for a business website.  Your web host should also provide enough bandwidth space to handle the traffic generated by many visitors.  If the traffic exceeds your website’s bandwidth, it can either cause down time or an extra charge.  Spare yourself the trouble by getting a package with, at minimum, several GB of bandwidth per month, with the option to buy more or upgrade your package.
• Uptime.  Your website should be up and running as much as possible.  If your website experiences a lot of down times, people will grow frustrated and won’t do business with you. Typical hosts will offer at least a 99.9% uptime guarantee. If uptime is important to your business, consider going with a host that offers “five nines”, meaning 99.999% uptime.
• Speed.   People can get seriously frustrated if your web site cannot be displayed quickly.  Clicking and searching for online merchants is very easy, so if your website takes too long to display, chances are possible clients won’t waste their time waiting.  There are many cheap web hosts that provide fast connections so you don’t necessarily have to go with the more expensive names.

Here are a few tips about how to choose a web host:

• Decide what services you want from your web host.  You might get confused about features such as MySQL or Perl or PHP. Features like that increase the cost of hosting a website.  If you don’t know about these services, chances are you don’t need them.  Just jot down all the things you want included in your website: do you want a forum?  A shopping cart? Video capability?  Look for a web host that offers all the services you need.
• How much bandwidth do you want your website to handle?  The huge difference between free and paid web hosts is the amount of traffic the website can use.  Free websites have a can only handle a specific amount of bandwidth, if your website generates too much traffic it will be disabled for some time.  Generally, a few hundred MB per month is enough for a personal web site.  However, if you have a commercial website, you’ll want to have much more bandwidth.
• Speed is perhaps the most important.  No matter how beautifully you design your web site, if it can’t be displayed within a few seconds, it’s useless.   It’s frustrating to wait a few minutes for just the home page to be displayed. Your website should be able to be accessed quickly even by dial up users.
• Don’t believe anything “unlimited”.  You may see ads from various web hosts offering unlimited disk space or bandwidth.  Those things don’t exist.  If you want a large amount of disk space, bandwidth or web space, you’ll have to pay.  The amount varies depending on the purpose of your website.

When choosing the best e-commerce hosting for your business, you must consider the following:

• The amount of bandwidth your host can provide.  If it’s too little, your website will shut down because it is unable to handle the bandwidth transfer with numerous visitors.  It is recommended that you at least have several GB of bandwidth transfer per month in order to prevent down times.
• Customer support.  Check whether your host has customer service open 24/7.  Most can be reached through e-mail or by phone but some have live chat available.  The replies should be on time and helpful.  Since these companies use live representatives to attend to their clients, they charge a bit more.
• The features you need.  The features you need depends totally on the site you will design. If you have hired a designer, then consult with them as to what features you will need. Otherwise, many hosts will have a specific e-commerce plan available that will cover the needs of most any e-commerce website.
• The level of security.  A lot of people have fallen victim to hackers and identity theft.  As a businessman, you should protect your client’s private information, particularly personal information and especially credit card information.
• Reliability.  The only real way to determine how reliable a host is beforehand is by word of mouth.  If you have friends who own a website, ask them about their host’s performance and package.  You can also look for user reviews of a certain web host online.  If a lot of people are unhappy or satisfied with a provider, they will let it be known to the public.

Here are the things you have to look for in a website host:

Speed.  People should be able to access your website easily.  If it’s taking too long to load, your clients and visitors might lose their patience.  If a person using a DSL connection has trouble accessing your page, imagine how long it would take for a dial up user.

Web space.  Your host should be able to provide you with enough space to hold all the information and files you need for your business.  Even if you start out small, sooner or later you will expand your business, so it is recommended that you have sufficient space available for future updates.  You also need ample web space to host videos, graphic files and downloads for your site.

Support.  Your web host should be able to provide help as soon as possible whenever a problem arises.  A support desk or live chat available 24/7 is certainly good, but it is even better to be able to talk to someone on the phone.  Web hosts with competent customer service usually cost higher because they employ live representatives instead of recordings, but it is definitely worth it.

Security.  Your business should be well protected both in the real world and online.  Hacking is not the only problem; identity theft is a very serious threat against your business and your clients.  Your website should be able to protect the private information shared between you and your customers.

Pricing.  Remember that an expensive host does not necessarily mean it’s the best.  Compare the prices and features of different hosts and then decide which one gives you your money’s worth.

Reviews. Don’t forget to read reviews across multiple hosting review sites, real world user reviews can be of great help.