Web page hosting providers allow a web site to go live on the Internet. The hosting company chargers a monthly or yearly fee and provides space to upload your website files and folders on their servers that are connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. When anyone enters the url of your website into a browser the browser sends out a request to get the page, the request travels across the internet to the appropriate web server from the hosting company and attempts to locate the web page on that server.

Three Important Features of a Good Web Page Hosting Provider

1. Uptime versus. Downtime - Uptime is the percentage of time the host's server is up and running and able to deliver your website to a browser without problems and server errors. Downtime means that your site is not accessible to visitors that are trying to access it and so the lower the downtime or higher the uptime the better the hosting company! Obviously a web host that can provide a 99% uptime is better than those that deliver 90%.

2. Good Customer Service and Support- Good customer support and service is a must have. Web page hosting is a very technical process. Uploading files, maintaining web pages, back up of files, adding features to your website are just some of the important tasks that often require support from the web page hosting company. There will always be technical issues and there must be reliable, knowledgeable and available people on the other end to answer questions and provide the necessary support.

Important Types of Technical Support

Live Chat - A live chat option is important and the convenience can't be beat, unless you like sitting on a phone and being tied up.

Phone Support - In addition to Live Chat, the web page host must have an 800 support phone acccess.

Fast Support Response Time- Many web page hosting companies will allow their customers to sit on the phone or in live chat waiting endlessly for an operator to come online, sometimes as long as 45 minutes. A good way to test the host before buying is to access their support and see how long it takes for them to answer.

2. Most Services for a Low Price - A good hosting company will offer the most features for the lowest price. Some of the important services to look for are:

a. Lots of hosting space and bandwidth - unlimited is best.

b. Hosting of unlimited domains for one low monthly price.

c. Hosting options, such as regular, reseller and dedicated.

d. My SQL Databases

e. CGI, PHP 5, RoR, Perl

f. No contracts or hidden fees and ample refund time policy.

g. C-Panel hosting - Where you can easily access controls, features and your files and folders.

Overall a good web page hosting provider is essential to the success of your websites as well as crucial to having a great amount of piece of mind. There is nothing more infuriating or upsetting than dealing with a bad host.