1. How often do you back
up the files?
The answer you should be looking for is that they backup
every night. You should also keep a up to date copy of your
site on your computer to be on the safe side.
2. What sort of equipment and software
are in place to ensure that my site is up?
Most Internet Hosting Companies use some combination of
equipment and software to ensure that the servers are up
and working. You want to make sure that the server is hooked
up to an UPS (uninterrupted Power Supply). The UPS is just
a big battery that will provide the server with power for
30 minutes to several hours. Also most Hosting Companies
have software and equipment that monitors the servers and
restarts them if they quit serving pages. You will also
want to know if this fails, does the company have a way
to restart the server manually.
3. How many domains can I host per account?
If you have 2 domain names, say joestools.com and cooltools.com,
and wanted them to both go to the same site, would they
charge you extra for the domain names or since it all goes
to one site will you be charged just for one. If you plan
on hosing several sites to see which ones will be successful,
you might want to ask for a volume discount or ask if they
have a reseller package.
4. What are their billing policies?
You need to find out who to contact if you have a problem
with billing and what is the process for resolving problems.
5. What is the procedure for uploading
files to your account?
You want to know if you will have 24 hour FTP access. Some
hosting companies restrict how you can upload files to the
servers.
6. Do they provide log files or Stats?
Hosting companies usually do one or the other, either provide
you with the raw logs for you account or provide you with
some sort of online statistics. You will want to make sure
that the logs contain information from search engines on
the words and phrases used, how long the visitor stayed
at the site, entry page, number of page visits, broken links
and errors, and exit page.
7. Do they provide Form to email processing?
Nearly every hosting company will provide atleast a basic
form of this. You will want to know if there are any limitations
on the size of the form. Also you might want to ask if there
is a way to encrypt the form. If so you could use this for
an ecommerce solution until you are ready for a shopping
cart.
8. What exactly is included in the monthly
charge?
You want to know what the features of the account are,
but you also want to know if you need them to do something
extra whether there will be a charge for it.
9. How quickly they respond when you have
questions?
Before choosing a hosting company call them up or email
them with a question and see how quickly they have an answer
for you.
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