You should consider early in the website's development the type of software that will power the website since this will also later determine the choice of the web hosting company. There are several web hosting service companies in the web. You must distinguish the business rationale of using a paid web hosting service instead of the free. Serious business websites prefer for a paid web hosting solutions to avoid the advertisement banners that are cluttered on websites hosted on free web hosting solutions. A business website filled with advertisement banners will make it less professional and hinders visitors to take the website seriously.
A cheap web hosting service can charge $5 per month. This could vary depending on additional functionalities you need to get added. A high end web hosting solution on a dedicated server could cost thousands of dollars per month. Always clarify the terms of the money back guarantee before making any decision.
The claim for 'unlimited bandwidth' by web hosting solutions is a misleading marketing tactic. When millions of users access your website, this slows down other user's bandwidth to your website. A web hosting's technical support service level agreement (SLA) should also be considered. The web hosting's website should have most of the needed information. The number of years of their operation is also a factor. Clarify that the web hosting company has the fitting solution that solves your business requirement.
Web hosting solutions powered by Linux and other open source technologies are cheaper than those powered by proprietary solutions, like those offered by Microsoft Windows. Business web hosting solutions often use Linux because it is compatible with other several open source software like MySQL database for example. The other proprietary Microsoft SQL Server database used in Microsoft Windows results to a more expensive web hosting solution.
The proprietary cost of Microsoft technologies makes web hosting solutions using them always more expensive. The high cost of Microsoft SQL server adds to the total cost of the web hosting. The Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP combination otherwise known as LAMP provides the cheapest web hosting solution. If your website uses a proprietary database such as Microsoft Access, then the web hosting solution becomes a more expensive compounding combination of other compatible proprietary software.
Always check the support service level agreement (SLA) when deciding to choose a web hosting solutions company, may it be using proprietary technologies such as Microsoft or the open source version such as Linux.
