Before you even consider looking for a web hosting service for your websites, you first have to work out what your bandwidth requirements are likely to be, both initially and for the foreseeable future. Bandwidth will be determined, among other things, by the size of the website as well as whether it is graphic intensive (lots of images, flash animations, video, etc). Obviously a site that is rich in video and audio will be more bandwidth hungry than a purely text based website.
In a nutshell, bandwidth can be described as the amount of data that is transferred over a specific internet connection in a particular amount of time. Web hosts tend to decide the bandwidth limit on data transferred each month. For the most part though, website owners haven’t a clue how much bandwidth they will require in any given month. By assessing the following though, you should get a fair estimation as to how much bandwidth you will require for your site.
The first thing that should be done is try to estimate the number of visitors your site will have in a month, and try to find out the number of pages that will be accessed by these visitors. By then estimating the average size of each html page on your site, including image sizes, you can work out the bandwidth by multiplying the number of visitors by the average html page size (including the images). Multiply the number you find by the total number of pages on your site and this final figure should give you an approximate bandwidth figure (monthly) for your site.
Nevertheless, the above figure is all well and good, but it is very obvious that not all visitors are going to visit every page of the site. It would therefore be practical to assume that only a small percentage of visitors would actually access all pages, but as a rule of thumb you should go for hosting that offers, at the very minimum, the bandwidth you find using the above method.
Once you know your approximate bandwidth considerations, you can approach a web hosting service and look for the package the best suits you. Bandwidth though, should not be the one and only consideration for choosing a new web hosting service. Other aspects such as the ability to upgrade packages, customer support and uptime should all play a major role in your decision.
Another point you will want to look at before you make your decision is the credibility of the company you are planning to deal with. Most of the bigger and well-known services give you exactly what they have offered, but other smaller, lesser known services may not, for example, to offer you unlimited bandwidth, despite what they say. When you think you have found the ideal service provider for your situation (if it is not one of the larger companies), then be sure to check them out first. You can do this by searching for reviews on Google or in forums.
Web Hosting and Bandwidth Required
Before you even consider looking for a web hosting service for your websites, you first have to work out what your bandwidth requirements are likely to be, both initially and for the foreseeable future. Bandwidth will be determined, among other things, by the size of the website as well as whether it is graphic intensive (lots of images, flash animations, video, etc). Obviously a site that is rich in video and audio will be more bandwidth hungry than a purely text based website.
In a nutshell, bandwidth can be described as the amount of data that is transferred over a specific internet connection in a particular amount of time. Web hosts tend to decide the bandwidth limit on data transferred each month. For the most part though, website owners haven’t a clue how much bandwidth they will require in any given month. By assessing the following though, you should get a fair estimation as to how much bandwidth you will require for your site.
The first thing that should be done is try to estimate the number of visitors your site will have in a month, and try to find out the number of pages that will be accessed by these visitors. By then estimating the average size of each html page on your site, including image sizes, you can work out the bandwidth by multiplying the number of visitors by the average html page size (including the images). Multiply the number you find by the total number of pages on your site and this final figure should give you an approximate bandwidth figure (monthly) for your site.
Nevertheless, the above figure is all well and good, but it is very obvious that not all visitors are going to visit every page of the site. It would therefore be practical to assume that only a small percentage of visitors would actually access all pages, but as a rule of thumb you should go for hosting that offers, at the very minimum, the bandwidth you find using the above method.
Once you know your approximate bandwidth considerations, you can approach a web hosting service and look for the package the best suits you. Bandwidth though, should not be the one and only consideration for choosing a new web hosting service. Other aspects such as the ability to upgrade packages, customer support and uptime should all play a major role in your decision.
Another point you will want to look at before you make your decision is the credibility of the company you are planning to deal with. Most of the bigger and well-known services give you exactly what they have offered, but other smaller, lesser known services may not, for example, to offer you unlimited bandwidth, despite what they say. When you think you have found the ideal service provider for your situation (if it is not one of the larger companies), then be sure to check them out first. You can do this by searching for reviews on Google or in forums.