Choosing the right web host is the most important thing for the success of your website. Downtime leads to losing customers. But how do you choose the best web host? There are many factors to take into account when choosing a web host. Your host is essentially the spine of your site, so you want to make sure that the one you choose is reliable and solid. Nothing can ruin a site faster than an unreliable host.

Step 1: First, sit down and think about your needs before looking for a host. You should at least consider bandwidth , statistics , CGI-BIN , aliases and FTP/Telnet Access . If you are unsure, feel free to ask us what features are required for your site to work.

Step 2: Contact us before signing up. Send our support department a few emails , at different times, just to check how quickly we respond. You should really choose a host that replies within 24-48hrs. Take this oppotunity to ask us about the features we offer. If you would like a feature not on the list, ask us if we can add it. Don't forget to measure our response time!

Step 3: Decide weather you need a Virtual or Dedicated server. Basically, if your site is very busy then you need a dedicated server. If you're unsure, we can easily cover this in detail during your first free consultation.

Step 4: It is always a good idea to look at the company's qualifications/portfolio . First, make sure their sites load fast, email the owners of the site & ask them if they are happy with the service. If the host refuses to give you any sites, move on.

Step 5: Web servers can come in many types, Unix, NT, Cobalt, Sun Solaris, and even Macintosh. Try to avoid NT, Mac and Cobalt servers. For 95% of people, a Unix based server is the best option. You should also ask how they handle their software upgrades. Feel free to contact us if you need some help deciding what type of server you need.

Step 6: All beginners, and even some of the advanced web developers out there, will benefit from having an easy to use control panel to handle things on their site, such as email addresses. Most Gateway web hosting packages come with a web browser based control panel. The control panel includes many features including; email configurations, chat rooms, mailing lists, cgi scripts, databases, and much, much, more.

Step 7: The last step is to make sure they are reliable. Do they offer an uptime guarantee? Some companies offer a 99% uptime guarantee. Gateway strives to maintain a 99.5% network and server uptime service level. If we fails to meet our 99.5% uptime guarantee, and it is not due to an "Act of God" , partial downtime credits will be made available to each client, upon request, on a case by case basis. We can not credit a full month's service if we only have 99.4% uptime. This would only negatively affect the service level Gateway provides to you. "Partial refunds for partial downtime" is our standard policy. While this does not bring you back the potential clients that you have lost, it does encourage us to have our servers up as much as possible.

You should also look for size , speed , and diversity of dedicated Internet connections, as well as hardware, software and, if needed, international domain/client support. A good web host won´t be shy about providing this information. Look for servers that run in speeds of gigahertz. Look for terms like T3 and OC in their backbone connections. These are the lines that connect them to the internet. Guaranteed Satisfaction. Also important are a host´s quality of back-up power , and security .

Set Up/Monthly Fee:
After you find the host that is right for you then the only other major concern would be the cost. Some hosts charge an initial set up fee to get your site set up and running on their server. Make sure you check on this when comparing prices. Gateway takes great pride in hosting your site and does not charge a set up fee for allowing us to work with you. You may have seen monthly fees ranging from $9.99 to $39.99, depending on the plan and services offered. Our advice to you would be to look past the cheapest and most expensive ends of the scale and go with a mid-range pricing plan to be on the safe side. You should be able to pick up a reliable web host for $25 to $30.00 per month; which we are able to offer for $20.

If there is one thing we want you to understand from this article, it is this:
"You get what you pay for with web hosting." Don't choose a $5 a month host, and expect to receive quality services. You should aim to spend at least $30 a month for a basic package, and at least $300 a month for a dedicated server. Be careful not to be ripped off though. If you are interested in hosting with us and you feel we might be trying to charge you a little too much, feel free to contact us and we'll be more than happy to offer an itemized list of comparative prices.