What should I look for in hosting my site?

py2006

Hiya,

I have an idea for a website. I hope to make some money out of it in the future but I am not sure.

I am currently browsing through various hosting providers to see what they provide.

I guess my question is more in terms of bandwidth etc. I guess initally there will be feck all traffic but it could (hopefully) increase significantly over time. I am just not sure how much I would need.

I will want the option of adding a shopping cart feature aswell. But I have come to realise that I would also need an SSL which alot of hosting providers charge extra for. But I guess I wont need it initially.

I will hopefully be using PHP/MySql which most provide but I have noticed that some really limit the amount of databases. I am not sure how many I would need, probably not many, but I would like the option of having a fair few.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Host.ie

You dont have to know your exact bandwidth from the start py2006. You can always take out a package and see where you go from that. In terms of bandwidth, we supply stats and reports on usage and if you are then hitting your limits then you can always upgrade that hosting package you are currently on. No use taking out a huge hosting solution if you wont be using half the resources.

In terms of database once again you can start at sat 5 then if you require more move on from that. By the sounds of your post, you have the idea and what you want to do but not sure how many resources will need to be in place to suit your needs.

My advise would be start on a medium size package, and good hosting provider will give you reports on your limits or you can see this in your control panel and from that you will then know what other and how many more resources you need.

Regards
Trent

axer

py2006 wrote:

Hiya,

I have an idea for a website. I hope to make some money out of it in the future but I am not sure.

I am currently browsing through various hosting providers to see what they provide.

I guess my question is more in terms of bandwidth etc. I guess initally there will be feck all traffic but it could (hopefully) increase significantly over time. I am just not sure how much I would need.

I will want the option of adding a shopping cart feature aswell. But I have come to realise that I would also need an SSL which alot of hosting providers charge extra for. But I guess I wont need it initially.

I will hopefully be using PHP/MySql which most provide but I have noticed that some really limit the amount of databases. I am not sure how many I would need, probably not many, but I would like the option of having a fair few.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Hosting365.ie do a business unix package where you get 50gb transfer, 5gb of storage space and unlimited mysql databases. I'd say that would more than cover everything you need and tis only 48 euro including vat a year.

py2006

axer wrote:

Hosting365.ie do a business unix package where you get 50gb transfer, 5gb of storage space and unlimited mysql databases. I'd say that would more than cover everything you need and tis only 48 euro including vat a year.

Wow thats alot! Hope they aren't over doing things!

Also, they don't appear to have all them cool little extra features like forums, livechat etc or am I just missing it.

steve-hosting36

Hi py2006,

Yes, we include 'one click' installs of popular scripts like phpBB, OSCommerce, Wordpress, etc.

Feel free to livechat with our 24/7 team if you've any questions.

py2006

steve-hosting36 wrote:

Hi py2006,

Yes, we include 'one click' installs of popular scripts like phpBB, OSCommerce, Wordpress, etc.

Feel free to livechat with our 24/7 team if you've any questions.

Just did! How can you be in two places at the one time?? :eek:

mneylon

py2006 wrote:

I will want the option of adding a shopping cart feature aswell. But I have come to realise that I would also need an SSL which alot of hosting providers charge extra for. But I guess I wont need it initially.

Whether you need an SSL or not will depend on how you intend to process the payments.

For example, if you use Paypal all payments are securely handled by them.

However if you can put an SSL cert on any parts of your site where sensitive data is being exchanged people will feel a lot safer

Be careful with SSL, as some providers will try to charge you a monthly fee for the fixed IP address on top of the other hosting fees

CoNfOuNd

My advice would be to compare SSL prices as much as you are comparing hosting prices. Many companies offer the same brand of SSL but very different prices. Don't get robbed on SSL certificates.

Also don't be fooled by companies who offer too good to be true packages or clearly practise over-selling. Are you realistically ever going to use 10gb on a brand new website? No!

Lastly, look at the support they offer. Is there support 24 hours, and will there after-care be as good as their pre-sales?

If you are Irish you will want an Irish company with Irish servers and 24/7 Irish support.

Hope that helps! Good luck with your site.

steve-hosting36

Another thing to watch is the price for extras - 10GB space is all good and well (and a good deal) but what will catch you is the price or number of included databases, websites/domains and similar. There's no point having lots of storage unless you can host lots of different websites, and these days, most of them will require it's own database.

Some hosts offer no limits on extras like that, as well as 24/7 support with email, livechat and freephone, as well as irish servers

mneylon

Of course the other thing that you want is a good uptime record.

Host.ie

blacknight wrote:

Of course the other thing that you want is a good uptime record.

Would have to agree 100% there with Blacknight on that as being the most important feature.

Ph3n0m

jesus I blink and the bitching start, thread closed...half tempted to ban every damn hoster and their employees from this forum