Finding a Host for your PHP Website
by: MattHedges. |
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You are reading this article because you are looking for a good web hosting service. And of course you would like to get the best deal that you can afford. Choosing a web hosting service is a decision that is going to have long term effects, because you may use it to support your business for many months or even years.
In the present times, PHP web hosting has become very cheap and offers a host of benefits which make it very attractive.
Before moving on with the main issue, a little information about PHP would be helpful. It is a very popular server side programming language that can be embedded into HTML. Its popularity has been aided by the following features:
a. It is available for free
b. It is simple to work and operate.
c. It should be viewed as a fully object orientated language.
d. It is platform independent.
e. It is very fact on the Linux server, which makes it great in building difficult web applications
f. It is a great tool for programmers of an advanced nature and is suitable to be used on web pages
g. PHP is able to be used successfully with MySQL.
Before receiving the PHP service to host a web site, first you must take many issues onboard. Firstly, and especially, it can be difficult to get a good PHP service for hosting web sites. The majority of web hosting companies are in the matter for a fast return on their money. They do not want to offer a full service, so it is common to be without PHP for 2-3 days. Equally, you can do nothing about this as support was unavailable, which is often the case. Finding the right PHP host solution can take many attempts to find the best solution. A reason in this is that not all the firms are commonly known or discussed.
These factors make selecting the best PHP provider a very hard task. However, it is possible to find some advice to follow.
A good PHP web hosting company will provide the following features:
a. Technical Stuff: It will provide you with all the technical applications you may need, like MySQL, PHP, Perl, Python, Cron, CGI etc. You may not know what all these mean, or what they are used for, but that's all right, its good to have these stuff, as you may require them in future.
b. Bandwidth. This factor will determine how many visitors you can have on your site and 75GB is a very fair amount to have.
c. How much it should cost. Free does not always mean the best and low in price doesn't equate to low in quality. It should be possible to get a satisfactory service for $10.
d. Statistics of web use. You would be surprised how important it is to have information regarding how many visits you have and who or what is linking to your site.
e. Script installers that were created with PHP web hosting in mind. Again, these are vital for many firms and need to be considered. This provision should be given to you by your provider at no extra charge to you. If a provider seeks a fee for this service, tell them that this will not be happening.
Next up are PHP host sites who offer free products and services. The price may seem great but there are sown points to them. As firms need to make money to survive, how can a company with no revenue stream last long? To bring money in, many offer advertisements to companies and place them on their users' sites. These advertisements can be placed in the following formats
a. Advertisements on banners
b. Pop-up adverts appearing on screen
c. Advertisements placed within new frames
The web site owner would have no control over these advertisements. This would clearly be a bad situation for a great number of firms to be in. Anecdotal evidence tells of the time one firm had advertisements for a rival product appearing on their site and this is not good. Unfortunately, as the service is free, there is not much that can be done to complain about it.
Another problem with free web hosting sites is that, since they usually have thousands of websites running on a single server, they are prone to frequent crashing.
Equally, as there is no charge, it is usually impossible for the PHP host to offer services, even services that a cheap host may be able to offer.
These factors suggest choosing the paid option is the way to go. Although it may cost a bit, the benefits will make it worthwhile.
To fully grasp the situation regarding the best web hosting provisions of cheap providers, try to consider these issues:
i. You should look for balance among the benefits you aim for. This is because when you opt for a low cost service, you have to make some sacrifices which may affect uptime, customer service or even security. So think about it and determine what would be the ideal combination of benefits you would like to have.
ii. Cpanel is a feature that is useful for installing tools like blogs, discussion forums, shopping carts. It is also used for handling MySQL databases and support centers.
iii. Services of support: 24/7 has to be your requirement. You can never predict a crisis so having this support is vital.
iv. Disc space: The amount of disc space you require will depend upon the amount of information your site will be managing. However, it's always better to have enough space keeping future requirements in mind.
v. Accounts for email purposes: Do not hesitate to get rid of a web host firm that provides cheap or shoddy email accounts. There are many rival firms who want your business so feel free to go with them if you want.
There is always more research to be done and it still matters at this stage. You should look for firms providing offers. Does a firm with 30 day money back guarantee sound appealing to you? Would you be more interested in a firm that provides a guarantee of uptime? These firms are not always easy to find as they all require a level of money to make these promises. However they are available and if you can find them, they could be a good reason for choosing that firm.
You should supplement the above pointers, with your own research before you sign-up with a company that satisfies your requirements and is in your price range.
Now if you have gone through the whole gamut of analysis and research, and finally signed up with a PHP web hosting service provider, how do you know, whether you made the right decision? This is simple- if the rates make you happy, because they are so low, you have at your disposal unlimited email accounts, and reliable 24/7 support, you get free statistics about the traffic at your site along with windows and PHP option, then you have taken the right decision!
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About the Author
About the Author: Matt Hedges. Hedges, a 12 year veteran of the web hosting industry, helps small business owners find the best web hosting companies on the Internet.
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