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When choosing hosting for your new web site please first make sure it meets the minimum requirements you need. Even though some hosting companies say that they meet the minimum requirements for the software they may still limit your hosting in other ways. Many hosting companies went out of business during the past year. If you were a customer of one of the ones that went out of business, you already know how much problems it can produce. You can lost files, databases, websites were down for weeks, you can lose your own domain etc.

If hosting company has a good reputation in last few years, it doesn’t mean it is proof for this problems. Large corporations purchased many of these companies. Services and support were cut or scaled back in order to maximize profit. Make sure you choose a hosting company offers the business related hosting services you need , and those you will need in the future.

Finding a good hosting plan is not an easy task. You need to spent some time to compare hosting plans but then you will see benefits and problems you can expect from hosting companies. You need to think about available space, bandwidth, support, customer testimonial, domain price, contract, etc. Biggest problem is domain and be sure that you get all info about your domain. Last few months, there was a big problem with RegisterFiles and stolen domains. You can find on Google about this problem. More than 10 000 domains was stolen and unavailable for renew.

Here are some basic things you need to know about quality web hosting. Especially if you have a big website with hundreds visitors per day.

• Stay away from free hosting. Ye, free hosting is not good idea. You will never know when it is available and when it is down, banners all over your site, porno pictures and much more problems. Payed web hosting is a much better solution. It could be solved starting from 1.95$/mo.
• Make sure that hosting company is in bussines for a while. Usually 5 years or more in the hosting business is a good sign. The longer they have been hosting the better the chances are that they are going to provide a reliable service. Most hosting startups have a chance of failing and if they go out of business your website may be lost.
• Make sure they have the tools you need. Look for hosting that has a control panel. Most do but there are some that don’t include it with their hosting. A control panel is an area where you control your hosting. It allows you to setup email accounts, manage databases, view website traffic statistics and more. The two best control panels are Cpanel and Plesk. If you want to make sure you are getting a good host ask them what control panel they use. If they say Cpanel or Plesk then they are most likely a higher quality hosting company and you will be much happier with them over a company that uses something else.
• Linux hostin. When possible choose Unix or Linux hosting over Windows. Although Windows hosting will work we prefer Linux/Unix. In most cases it is easier to install PHP scripts on Linux/Unix hosting and many times you have more control over the server settings. You do not need to know how to use a Linux/Unix operating system when using Linux/Unix hosting.
• Dedicated hosting and servers. Dedicated hosting is a great way to go but only if you know how to administer the server. If you are unfamiliar with running your own server stay away from dedicated hosting. The same goes for setting up your own server.
• Not recommended. The following hosting companies are not recommended at this time because they severely limit your hosting settings for an script or software that is installed. If you are using or plan to use one of these hosts please contact us for more information first. In that list is: yahoo, godaddy, crystalhost, freeservers, brinkster, netfirms, 1and1, networksolutions, globat.com. The reason is that they severely limit your hosting setup. They limit the size of photos/files that can be uploaded thru any script to 2mb and also limit other settings that will effect any types of scripts such as PhotoStore and PhotoHost that you run on your hosting space. If you do not need to upload photos large than 2mb you may be fine with these hosting companies although please be warned that in the past there have been problems and you may have to switch hosts if you run into complications. Many other hosting companies allow you a lot more control over your hosting setup.
• Hosting forums. Search through hosting review & offers section. After found the hosting, found some customer review posted at the forums as well. Personal referral is useful as well.
• Available features. Make sure they offer web based site management and control panel. Make sure they offer Java, statistical reporting, real audio, real video, mail list management, and a search engine. If you use Microsoft’s Front Page, make sure they offer Front Page extensions. Also, you will need subdomains, email addresses, databases, etc. Be sure that size of database is not limited. (few hosting companies has database limitations on bizarre 5 or 10MB so you cant host forums and similar applications. )
• Search for deals/offers. Search for hosting coupons, or hosting offers from forums or search engine.

Now I would like to recommend some hosting companies who will give you all you need from quality web hosting.

• BlueHost
• LunarPages
• ixWebHosting
• Hostrocket