Having a website means that you will eventually hear about web hosting. You may not be too familiar with what a web host is and why it's so important for your site to have a good web host, but this article will give you the information you need to find a web host that is a good fit for you and your site.<br><br>Make sure you, and not your web host, controls your domain name. If you let your host control your domain name, you may be stuck with that host if you don't want to change domains. Some unscrupulous hosts won't release the domain info if you leave on bad terms. If you control the domain, you can point it at another host's nameservers and start fresh.<br><br>If you are going to have a website that mentions products and services that you offer, you need to have e-commerce hosting available in order for the customers to make purchases. You do not want to push your customers, but at every opportunity, they need to have the ability to make a purchase at their disposal.<br><br>A good web hosting service should bill you professionally. You should be able to log in with a username and password to have access to your account balance and make secured payments. If you have to send PayPal payments every months without getting account statements, you are not dealing with a serious web hosting service.<br><br>When selecting a web host, it's vital that you choose one that has excellent support. Although it's important for a host to have lots of experience, they can't avoid all problems. Something is bound to go wrong at some point. When this occurs, having a solid support system set up is crucial. You can test out a host's support system by sending in an email or a support ticket. If you don't receive a response within the next couple of days, then you should probably search for another host.<br><br>Choose a web hosting service that offer multiple databases for you to access if needed. This can include the ability to store information about your products, as well as your customers. You should be able to easily look at prior purchases and the personal information about who is buying your products.<br><br>Take longevity into account with any web host. Typically, any host that has been in service for multiple years is doing something right, or else they offer such unbelievably low prices, that reliability does not matter to their customers. The latter would never happen. Take a look at the host's time in business; this will help you narrow the field.<br><br>Web hosting is a very volatile and risky business. Therefore, the web hosting companies can experience many ups and downs, and many companies do not make it. Therefore, it is important not only to do your research, but make sure you understand the conditions behind the environment. Choose your web hosting company wisely.<br><br>Make sure that the web host you select has a very high uptime guarantee. Uptime is the percentage of time that a server is online. For instance, if a web host claims that their servers provide 99% uptime, then their servers are online 99% of the time. You don't want to select a web host whose servers do not provide high uptime percentages. This is why uptime is so important when selecting a host.<br><br>In fact, many web hosting providers are middle men that rely upon someone else's hosting capacity. These bigger companies purchase large blocks of server space for a cheaper price, then make by money by renting this space out to smaller websites. Find out if your host has their own servers and where they are located. If your host relies on another company, perhaps you can find the exact same kind of hosting at a lower price from another company.<br><br>Web hosting is something that you need if you have a site, so use the tips in this article to find a great web host. Take it slowly, and if you need to reread the tips here, do so. A web host can mean the difference between getting visitors and sales and getting none, so make the right choices with the help of the information in this article.