Nine things you need to know before selecting your business's Web host

It may seem simple, yet it's often overlooked. When it comes to choosing the right Internet hosting provider for their Web sites, the majority of business owners or companies know very little about making the best Internet/Web hosting Dec

1. Understand the distinctions between shared, collocated, unmanaged dedicated, and managed dedicated hosting so you can choose the one that is right for your business. It's crucial to understand the difference between the types of hosting offered. As the hosting industry has matured, hosting offers have split into a couple of distinct categories, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Shared hosting (sometimes called virtual hosting) means that you're sharing one server with a number of other clients of that company. The host manages the server almost completely (though you maintain your site and your account). The host can afford to charge you little, since many clients are paying for use of the server. However, companies other than yours are using the resources of that server. That means heavy traffic to one of the other sites on the server can really hammer the performance of your site. Also, you're typically not able to install special software programs on these types of machines, because the host will need to keep a stable environment for all of the clients using the server.