Choosing a website host advice from Brown Bear Media

Finding the right people to host your website

Web hosting is really just a matter of having a server (just another name for a computer) attached to the internet. Since we all have our own computers and broadband access these days, why even bother to pay someone to host your site?

If you are in business your site needs to be up and running 24/7 and it needs to be able to handle large traffic spikes, server failure and so on. Sensible businesses use external hosts who have purpose built systems designed to ensure your site never goes down.

How to find a reliable company to host your website

Make sure the host offers either PHP or ASP hosting. These are two 'dynamic' technologies that make web maintenance a lot easier. If you have a choice, opt for PHP as these days, most programmers seem to prefer it.

Word of mouth is still a great decision making tool. When I first purchased a domain name and web space back in 1999 I didn't know anybody who owned a website so I just went for the company with the biggest adverts in the magazines.

I was lucky. In all the years since then, 1and1 have proved to be an excellent and good value hosting company and am more than happy to stake my reputation by recommending them to you for the basic job of hosting your website.

However, I cannot say they were anything other than awful in 2008 when trying to get a domain name moved from one provider to another.

So if you have a friend with lots of web experience who strongly recommends a different company, I say you should go ahead and take their advice.

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