:: Frank's Cyber Cafe ::

".....an X5 proven FREE! Hosting Company!... Ideal for beginners!"

6 GOLDEN RULES to follow for a Successful Hosted Website

1. NEVER (I mean Never, Ever, Never) sign up with a web hosting company that does not offer 24 hour, 7 day a week support. That means LIVE support, not automated replies. If you do not have the ability to speak with a live person via telephone or email, you will sooner or later be in dire straits like I was. Test the support before signing up with the web host.

2. Do NOT sign up with a web host without first contacting a handful of their current customers and asking them about support. (Not referrals that THEY give you, but customers that YOU find. You can do this by visiting their bulletin board area or chat room, if they have one. If not, ask them for a long list of customers you can contact and call lots of them.)

3. ** Do NOT let YOUR domain be registered under someone else's name. Make sure YOU are the administrative contact. This will allow you to transfer your domain without your host being involved. It will speed things up and give you the freedom that your rightfully deserve. Sign up with a reputable DOMAIN NAME COMPANY not a hosting company!!! See Domains >>

4. Put two items high on your list: Peering and Mirroring. Peering is having multiple backbones coordinated in such a way that when one line gets too slow the server is automatically switched to the fastest line out. While many providers have "multiple connections" to the Internet a very, few percentage of them are able to truly "peer". This means your site will always be connected at the fastest speed available. Similarly, "mirroring" means placing servers at different locations. This not only serves as a back-up, but it enhances your site's accessibility and connection speeds from all over the world.

5. ALWAYS keep YOUR OWN back-up copy of your site. As a matter of fact, keep fresh copies on your hard drive and weekly or monthly copies on a zip disk or tape backup. Never rely on your web hosting company's promise of back-up.

6. Make sure they have a Control Panel! This is used as a business tool for your website. Blogs, Carts, Autoresponders, Databases and lots, lots more, can be integrated into your site quite easily using one of these. A BUSINESS should NOT be without a Cpanel.... I cannot stress this enough!! See the rest of this topic on Hosting.........

Obviously check: Amount of Webspace available and Bandwidth usage (See: Basic Desgn/FTP Uploading/Bandwidth)