Choosing the right host for your online business is not an easy task - there are a range of options from free to very expensive. This article outlines the factors you should consider.

Basically, web hosting services fall into one of three categories:

1. Free

Remember the old adage? You get what you pay for, so don't expect much. Basically you get no technical support and only limited storage. You are not able to use your own domain name. And the name you must use is usually long, difficult to type, and hard to remember.

These sites are usually slow with poor up time as well. After all, they don't have paying customers.

Even worse there has been a trend lately for the provider to essentially "confiscate" your site without your knowledge. A careful viewing of terms from these providers reveals they purport to claim ownership to all material you publish on their free sites. Be warned - you may give up your copyright protection.

Even for beginners, free sites are really not suitable if you want to start a business.

2. Budget Hosts

Budget hosting is usually under $19/month and can look very attractive. You do get more features than from free hosts. And you get to use your own domain name. Unfortunately, up time is unreliable which costs sales. Technical support is provided but not usually by qualified experts. And server speed and performance is not what it should be for your business.

3. Full Professional Service

These hosts normally charge $20/month upwards. You receive support from suitably qualified technical staff. And you get better up time as they use faster, more reliable servers. This is what your online business deserves. Remember downtime means customers can not get to your site and thus you can not make sales. Even one missed sale due to downtime means you should have chosen this option.

Making The Choice

There are two key elements in choosing the host for your business:

1. Professionalism

You simply cannot use a free host. And if customers think you are not serous enough about your business to pay $35 per year for your own domain name then they are not likely to believe you will treat their business seriously.

2. Performance and Reliability

The need for high performance and exceptional reliability excludes the free and budget options. Free hosting accounts are stored on overloaded, slow servers sharing one IP address. Many budget-hosting accounts receive the same treatment. Simply put, if your web pages don't load quickly then you are in trouble and lose sales - busy surfers just won't wait!

With a professional host you can expect in excess of 99.9% uptime and fast servers. Your customers won't be disappointed and neither will you. Don't settle for less - be sure you host your business with professionals.

If you would like to monitor your current host to investigate their downtime for free and at absolutely no obligation visit: http://netwhistle.com/cgi-bin/res.cgi?localhost

----------
Dale Reardon is owner and Sales Manager of LocalHost, where Hosting Your Business Is Our Business. LocalHost is a professional hosting provider who employs only Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers to work on their servers and to provide technical support. Visit them today for a faster, more reliable host for your business.
http://localhost.net.au/_cgi/ua/clickthru.cgi?id=articlea