HIE Template

We just started a New Year and bid goodbye to one that's past. New plans have to be put in place to help develop the business and achieve goals for acquiring new customers and providing a better product or service. It's time to evaluate old practices and find ways to improve and bring change. e-presence Consultants Inc. bring new services this year. We have added two new services for 2010. We now provide Microsoft Office training along with computer services to our customers. We invite you to visit our website at www.e-presence.ca to explore the different services we now provide.

Finding the best web hosting solution is relative for each business. Every business has its unique work requirements and needs, and based on that the business stakeholders should choose their web hosting solution.

There are two aspects to consider when choosing the right hosting solution for any business.

1. Financial aspect: What is the budget set for this project? Does the budget take precedence over meeting the technical requirements?

2. Technical aspect: Have you defined the technical requirements that will make your online business run effectively?

a. Is there a setup fee? Some web hosting solutions offer free hosting setup solutions.

b. Are payment fees charged on a monthly basis or on an annual basis? Most of the time a business can save if they agree to pay on an annual basis.

c. Some hosts will handle domain name registrations at no cost; others may charge for it.

d. Are there any hidden charges? Read the agreement carefully and know exactly what you are getting. Example: Some hosting providers will offer 30 and above mailboxes with each hosting account while others may only offer 10 and make the business pay if their need exceeds the 10 mailboxes.

a. What type of server do you need to host your website: Usually server type gets chosen based on the programming language used to create the website.

b. What kind of server disk space do you need? Does your online business require 10MB of disk space or maybe 1GB of disk space? It all depends on how big your website is and whether it has graphics, videos or other dynamic tools like games,..etc.

c. What kind of traffic/bandwidth space do you need? Again, it all depends on the website's number of pages and whether the website has videos, games, or anything that needs to get downloaded.

d. How can you upload to the server? Do you upload using ftp or http? Do you need more than one ftp account? That depends whether you have more than one employee uploading from different locations.

e. Does the server provide good support? Do they provide you with an account manager you can talk to when you need help?

f. Ask to view a demo of the control panel. Make sure it is user friendly and has the tools you need to run your online business.

g. Some hosting providers offer Microsoft FrontPage extensions others do not. Identify your need for that tool.

h. Project your need for mailboxes. How many would you need now and/or maybe 5 years from now? Some hosting providers offer unlimited e-mail accounts. You also have to consider if they provide POP3 Access and other related tools like mail forwarder.

i. Most providers offer statistical tools as part of the hosting package.

The statistical tool is important to measure how many hits and visitors the website is getting.