So you’re starting your own website. You’ve got an online business all planned out and now you need your very own hosting plan. Planning your website is crucial to the success of your business. It is very much like setting up a physical shop. Wouldn’t you go through the all the pains at lengths to make sure that all the materials, suppliers and laborers are perfect? If you don’t plan the building of your website as well, you might land in hot water later on.

The first step in creating a website is to find a good web host. A web host is what you call the service that provides you the space on the Internet. Yes, much like the physical world, there are actual spaces in the Internet where your website is going to live on. Think of it as rent space in the virtual world. Now there are many different kinds of web hosting.

The kind of web host you will need depends on the complexity of your website. Each kind of web hosting service has its own advantages and disadvantages. There is Shared Web Hosting, VPS or Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Hosting.

Now that we have these technicalities out of the way, it is time to take a look at the great features of a good web host.

The most important and practical step for building a website is knowing what you need. This is where you figure out exactly what your website will be about. What kind of services will it offer? Will it support videos? Can users download off the site? These are the kind of questions that you must have the answer to.

Write them down on a piece of paper because it is what will be discussed with your potential hosts. Another important thing is to know how much storage space you will need. There is no way in the world that you should pay for more than what is needed.

1. Storage

One of the first things you need to determine is how much storage space your website needs. If it’s a regular website that offers articles, some pictures and videos then a basic storage size of a few GBs should be ok. If you plan to have heavy interaction, perhaps online buying and other social media aspects, you may want to go for a bigger storage space.

2. Bandwidth

Bandwidth deals with the size of data (for uploading or downloading) that is given to you by your web host. If you plan to have plenty of materials available on your website that is downloadable to your users, you will need a bigger bandwidth. Again, this will all depend on the nature of your business and what you plan to do with your website. It is good to know that users prefer a website that is full of information and useful tools. If you want to provide this kind of experience to your users, consider investing on a larger bandwidth.

3. Blog Support

Blogs are a great way to connect with your audience. It is also a great way to expand your customer base. It helps you link up with other experts in your field. It gives you credibility and builds up your own treasure chest of knowledge. Don’t make the mistake of choosing a web hosting service that doesn’t support blogging. Otherwise, you may lose out on a very important feature on a website. Users like seeing the opinion of other people on certain subject matters. Blogs also have a greater probability of going viral.

4. Technical Support

This may be one of the most important things that you should not miss out on. Your web hosting service must be able to provide full technical back-up for you. This means that there should be someone ready and willing to solve problems that your website may encounter at anytime. It is only right that an efficient team of technical staff is on hand because this is your business we are talking about. If your website gets hacked, you immediately need help to resolve the problem. Otherwise, your good name will end up besmirched. No one likes to fail in a business and if it means having a strong technical support team for your web hosting service, then so be it.

5. Added Features

Don’t belittle the little things. Take time out to consider what bonus features a website may be able to offer you. Things like a free domain name go a long way in the name of marketing. Other things to consider are discount packages if you subscribe at a certain period of time. No matter what you say, savings go a long way especially in a long-term business. It is good to make relations with your web hosting service. Who knows, they may even offer a few months to you free.

These are the features that you need to know in order to get yourself started on the right foot. You’ve already decided on an online business now it’s time to fulfill it. No matter how excited you get, remember, proper planning will go a long way. Creating the website is only half the battle, maintaining it is another animal. If you want other cool tips on running a website, you may want to check out this article: How to run a website.

In the meantime, have fun on your new venture. The online world is fun and holds a lot of promise for those who have courage to tread on it. Here’s hoping you and your website lots of blessings.