| With virtual web hosting, you get a professionally | | | | where most of your visitors are located in the world, |
| managed server at an affordable price. This type of | | | | etc. |
| hosting is particularly good for smaller ecommerce | | | | Most virtual hosting accounts include some kind of |
| websites or sites that are made up of mostly static | | | | "control panel" for managing your website. These |
| pages. | | | | control panels give you a simple graphical interface to |
| Hosting companies that offer virtual hosting have | | | | many of the features of your server. These are |
| their own technical support teams that take care of | | | | especially valuable to anyone who is not very |
| any problems for you. Even novices with little or no | | | | technical and doesn't have access to a server |
| technical skills can use these services to host their | | | | administrator on a permanent basis. |
| website. | | | | What You Need to Watch Out For |
| Companies that provide virtual hosting usually offer | | | | When choosing a virtual hosting company, there are |
| different packages, with different options and | | | | a few things you need to watch out for. |
| services. You can choose the package that best suits | | | | First, make sure they are not resellers but actually |
| your needs, at a price you can afford. | | | | host the sites on their own servers. Some hosting |
| Each package will offer a certain amount of disk | | | | companies are reselling other companies' services and |
| space, bandwidth, databases, email accounts, etc. In | | | | if you ever have a problem, they're just a middleman |
| some cases, they'll also include site building software | | | | between you and the true host. This can add to the |
| that will let you set up your website in minutes. | | | | length of time to get problems resolved. |
| You should look for a host that provides 24 hour | | | | Make sure that their technical support staff are |
| technical support and unlimited file transfers for | | | | properly trained and readily available. If possible, try |
| updating and maintaining your website. | | | | to contact them prior to signing up and see how |
| Many hosting companies also include web statistics | | | | helpful they are. |
| software with their virtual hosting plans. This | | | | If you can get some references for other |
| software is very helpful as it lets you track the most | | | | webmasters using the hosting company, contact |
| popular pages on your website, where people are | | | | them to see whether or not they're happy with the |
| coming from (Google, Yahoo, other websites, etc.), | | | | service they've received. |