Choosing a Host for Your Online Directory

You're ready to find a web host for your online directory site. You have a directory script in mind and you know what features your directory should have. (If not, be sure to read 'Planning for Success' and 'Choosing Directory Software' - you'll need this information to make a good decision about web hosting.) There are hundreds of web hosting services with prices ranging from free to sky high. Google the phrase "web hosting" and you'll get over 81 million results!  With so many options, how will you know which one to choose?First, let's get to grips with the jargon. If you're not sure what's meant by words like 'bandwidth' and 'name server', here's a great little glossary of webhosting terms to get you started: A Quick Glossary of Hosting Industry Jargon.Next, don't even consider free webhosting for a directory site – it won't have the capacity to meet your needs.  Free web hosts often require websites to include their ads, but you'll want to keep any ad revenue for yourself.  And if the host doesn't push ads, they may not have the income to stay in business! Either way, it's a raw deal for you.The Big FiveFor an online directory site, the top five criteria are:Uptime or reliability: professional hosting companies should be able to offer 99.9% uptime, which means that short of an asteroid strike (and maybe even then) your website will always be online.Disk space: the more disk space you have, the more features and listings you can offer. 'Unlimited' is best.Bandwidth: (refers to the volume of data transferred to browsers) Your bandwidth limit controls how many visitors your site can handle at any given time. 'Unlimited' is essential.Support: Ideally you should be able to access live technical support within a few minutes, 24/7/365 from a toll-free telephone number, in your own language. (Test by calling the company's support line. Are you on hold for a manageable time? Can you and the support person understand each other? Are they helpful? Knowledgeable?)FTP: (stands for File Transfer Protocol) You may need to upload a large amount of data and/or some large files to your new web directory. Make sure you can transfer this data to your site directly (not by email), and that your web host doesn't limit the size of uploaded files.Other important considerations:

• Will your preferred script run on this web host? Most directory software runs on php and MySQL (Linux server), but a few require Windows server. (Many consider Linux more stable and secure than Windows.) Make sure your web host can run your chosen script.
• Will you have e-commerce capability for selling paid listings?
• Is shopping cart and other free software included and easily installed?
•  Are there plenty of help files, a wiki, videos and other resources to answer your questions?
• Finally, if you expect or develop a huge amount of traffic you may need a dedicated server. Can your host provide one?