Website Hosting And Your Statistics

[Published in The Business Eye, September 2007 - Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce]

Choosing the right hosting company for your website is of critical importance. It will determine the effective and efficient use of not only your website but also your emails. That is, if you followed my earlier advice and are using yourname@yourdomainname.ca as your email address, and not I.am.not.professional@hotmail.com.

What to look for in a hosting company? Phrases like "99.9% uptime" are not a deciding factor in my view, as most companies say they are reliable. You can of course google the companies that you are considering, in order to find out what people are saying about them in forums.

Important things that small businesses with small websites should really focus on are the features that they (don't) get with the hosting, and the quality of the helpdesk.

Too many companies that I consult do not have easy access to statistics. Without statistics your online efforts are aimless. A useful host for small businesses will have a Control Panel (cPanel) or similar overview page with many Do-It-Yourself features like adding email addresses, configuring email or webpage forwarders, setting custom error pages and… website statistics. With these easy to use standard hosting features everyone can truly manage his or her website.

Don't like what you have right now? Switching hosts is easier than you think.

For more information: contact your webmaster, or email Nardo Kuitert at nardo@u-cwebs.com.

Nardo Kuitert is an Internet Consultant with Fergus Website Development and Optimization firm U-C WEBS (www.u-cwebs.com). U-C WEBS also offers Internet advertising opportunities on www.ferguspages.com.

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You can visit U-C WEBS at www.u-cwebs.com (or www.ucwebs.com)[link opens in a new window].