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Choose the Right Hosting Company for your Web Site
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If you've ever shopped for a web site hosting company, you've probably noticed that it's similar to choosing a long distance telephone carrier…an awful lot of choices, a bunch of different plans, and no one who can really explain the
differences. Hopefully, this article can demystify the process of choosing the right home for your FrontPage-based web site.
They go by several names, ISP (for Internet Service Provider), ASP (Application Service Provider), and Web Site hosting company. Regardless of the category into which your provider falls, they are all in the business of renting space in their data centers. These companies manage the software,
hardware, and Internet connectivity required to keep your Web site up and running.
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| Web Presence Providers Make the Best Hosts |
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Now any Web site hosting company can support sites created with FrontPage, but only those companies that support the FrontPage Server Extensions can support the extra stuff you get with FrontPage 2000 like FrontPage database integration, single
button publishing, remote authoring, multi-user authoring, and check-in/check-out functionality. And of those companies, we recommend that our customers look for companies that are registered with the Web Presence Provider (WPP) program for FrontPage (see http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wppsearch/default.htm.
That's because WPPs are companies that apply for the recognition and pass a series of tests that demonstrate that they can commercially support FrontPage-based Web sites. And as WPP members, they receive updated communication regarding security or bug fix information and priority technical
support so they can help resolve any customer support issues they have related to their FrontPage-based hosting.
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| Get What You Need; Get What You Pay For |
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So what should you pay for hosting your Web site? Well that depends on what type of site you have, how many visitors you will have, how much storage space your Web site and all of the associated files take up, and how important it is that
your site is always available to visitors. There are many customers out there who pay too much for their service and those who could really use the services that come with additional expense. Essentially Web site hosting is broken down into four categories: |
| Free Web Site Hosting (US$0.00/month) |
| Typical Usage |
Pros |
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Typically used for “temporary” sites—locations that won’t be easily remembered because the web site addresses are long. Advertiser-supported so your pages will have advertisements on them.
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Price is right |
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Great for personal sites |
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Advertising may annoy visitors |
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Limited control over what is advertised |
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May provide only limited support for FrontPage |
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Limited customer support |
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No custom domain name |
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| Economy Hosting (US$4.95-$29.95/month) |
| Typical Usage |
Pros |
Cons |
| Typically used for personal, hobby, or small business sites with unique domain names.
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Good price without the advertising |
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Offer domain name registration—unique URLs |
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Pay only for what you need |
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More features supported compared to Free hosting |
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May limit space available to a certain number of Megabytes |
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Bandwidth restrictions may limit how much traffic your site can get before you must pay more |
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May incur additional costs for extras such as e-commerce |
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| Premium Hosting (US$29.95-$99.95/month) |
| Typical Usage |
Pros |
Cons |
| Typically used for personal, hobby, or small business sites with unique domain names.
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Full feature support for all FrontPage features |
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More guarantees on “uptime” |
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May include administration tools that allow you some administrative control over your site |
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Superior customer support |
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May include freebies or deals on extras like e-commerce hosting. |
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May be more than you need for personal web site hosting |
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May be less than you need for business/e-commerce hosting. |
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You still share system resources with other customers. |
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| Dedicated Hosting (request quote) |
| Typical Usage |
Pros |
Cons |
| High traffic, critical business hosting, extranet solution, or custom application hosting.
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You rent the whole enchilada…the server belongs to you and no one else shares its resources with you. |
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Premium customer support |
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Costs can fluctuate depending on server configuration and usage. |
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May require more administrative responsibility than one anticipates |
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Note: Many Web site hosting companies offer plans that include some number of free months with a specified plan or they might waive setup fees. For a list of special offers from WPPs, visit http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wppsearch/default.htm.
Choosing a Web Site hosting company should not be a difficult process as long as you are aware of the give-and-takes associated with different plans. The lower the cost, the less likely you are to get a large amount of storage space, full-feature support, and a high degree of customer service.
The more you pay, the more likely you are going to get the royal treatment…it is in the "higher" cost plans where most web site hosting companies make their money. When you're searching for the right Web site hosting plan for you, be sure to start with Registered Web Presence
Providers for FrontPage (http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wppsearch/default.htm).
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