Important Questions For Your Web Hosting Company

An important aspect of advertising plastic surgery practices involves the choice of a web hosting company. You may be looking to create your first website advertising your plastic surgery practice, in which case you’ll need to find a company to host it, or you may already have a site and you’re looking to switch hosting companies for one reason or another. There are many, many web hosts out there to choose from and selecting the one that’s right for you can be a bit daunting. However, by asking the right questions you can narrow your choices and find the one that’s right for you. The following are important questions that you should ask any potential web hosting company:

• How long has the company been in business? If a company has been in business for a long time, it may be a good indication that they’re a reliable, quality service with satisfied customers. There are, of course, exceptions to this. Make sure to also ask if the company has recently been involved in a merger or if they’ve recently acquired a well-known name.
• Does the company own a data center? If a hosting company owns its own data center, it’s a good indication that they’re well established in the hosting business have the necessary knowledge and staff to support you and your website. By owning their own facility, they can better control those elements that effect your online presence.
• How many upstream providers does the company have? It’s important that your web host route traffic through the cleanest Internet connection and that they have multiple connections to the Internet. This will help to ensure that your site has the most amount of uptime possible.
• Will your site be monitored 24 hours per day? Any issues your website encounters can be better dealt with if the web host is continuously monitoring your site. Web hosts without their own data center typically use other companies to monitor their sites, which can lead to problems.
• Is support provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year? It’s important that your web host be able to support you whenever you need it, regardless of the time or day. They should also have email support as well as a toll free phone number.
• What is the host’s redundancy? Ask about the host’s redundancy in server architecture, load-balancing, and file storage. A load-balanced, redundant network is essential to keeping your site connected to the Internet, and redundancy is vital for email and DNS servers.
• Will your site’s data be automatically backed up and how often? In case of data loss, it’s important that your web site’s files be routinely backed up.
• What is the company’s policy on billing? Ideally, you should find a company that offers a money-back guarantee. You can then try the company out and move on without any expense if you’re unhappy with them.
• What features does the company provide? Your website will require certain features that your hosting company may provide. These may include the following: a domain name, a good number of versatile email accounts, email spam filtering, virus protection, sufficient disk space, sufficient monthly bandwidth allotments and the ability to increase your allotment, site building tools, easy site upload, visitor log access, programming languages, and database capability.
• Can the company handle your website’s potential growth? If your website grows significantly, it’s possible that you’ll outgrow the web host.