MMDT1144 Multimedia and the Web
Web / E-mail hosting- Notes


There are several things to consider when choosing a web hosting provider:

  1. Reliability.
  2. Technical support.
  3. Needed services and options.
  4. Price and discount structure.

Reliability: Notice that I placed reliability and technical support higher on the list than price. If the web site goes down for any reason, you can be assured that your customer will be calling you demanding action. Investigate what the web host provider guarantees for up time.


Technical Support: Is toll-free telephone 24/7 support offered? Online support?


Needed Services and Options: What services do you need?

PHP?  Database connectivity (MySQL)?  Cold Fusion?   Perl - CGI?  Web Trends?  FrontPage extensions? 

How many e-mail accounts do you need?  Interfaces: POP3, IMAP, and webmail?

What management front ends are used?  cPanel? costume ones?


Price and Discount Structure: Generally pricing and discounts are competitive between web hosting providers. Some web hosting providers provide better discount structures than others for hosting multiple sites with them.

For basic web sites, 100-200 MB space, 3-5 GB traffic, 20-30 e-mail accounts, with standard features will cost anywhere from $8-$20/month and you can expect to resell for about $20/month.

Reseller accounts cost about $25 a month and you can expect to resell each site for about $20/month.


There are many, many web/email hosting companies to choose from.

This past year, I have been migrating all my accounts to Hostgator.
A discount hosting company is Go Daddy.
1and1 is a company expanding to the US with inexpensive hosting.

It is important that a webmaster choose a reputable, stable company for hosting  a web site and the associated email accounts.  Support is extremely important!

Choose wisely because it is not fun changing hosting providers for existing clients.