Every business has different needs, whether it is a brick and mortar type or a fully web based operation. Several factors influence the costs of running an online business, and as many online entrepreneurs know, hosting is just one of those services we can't escape unless we own several specialized servers to keep our web sites up and running 24/7.

At this point many will think, "well just how much does it cost to have my own server?", this actually depends on many variables such as: electric bills and consumption, system maintenance, data maintenance, security updates, software licensing, technical know-how, etc. If you are comfortable using different operating systems, applying patches, security updates and such , then owning your own box(es) will save you a lot of money (in the long run) as far as hosting expenses.

But most webmasters simply do not know how to deal with "Pearl modules", "CGI Scripts", Linux-Unix system installation and maintenance, etc. As business owners and regular human beings we just want the technology to work for us regardless of how the intricate technological system is organized and maintained, and this brings us to business based hosting services.

Having this type of service through a reliable company (after doing some research!) will give us the piece of mind of knowing that all our data and web sites are taken care of and are always ready to be served to visitors around the globe.

The first aspect an online business owner needs to assess is the technical support. This is perhaps the most valuable service as far as hosting features. It is extremely important to know that a professional team of experts is available around the clock to answer our time sensitive questions.

The second aspect is script support and feature variety. Having the right script installed and working in our servers enables us to expand our web site's functionality and offer a better experience to the user. Examples of such scripts are: Zend Optimizer, shopping cart & ecommerce scripts, etc. Other important features are SSI functionality, ASP as well as PHP installations. What these scripts do is help us optimize our sites in such a way that repetitive tasks become automated to help us save time.

The third variable we need to consider is the traffic volume we can "realistically expect". We refer to realistic expectations because if you dream of having one million page views a month, that nice feeling alone will not bring you the traffic; on the other hand, if you plan for little traffic and get thousands of hits then you might run into traffic overage charges which WILL be expensive. The best way to manage bandwidth is by constantly monitoring traffic usage statistics and talking to your hosting support team about periodical upgrade options; that way if you traffic grows you can change from a virtual account to a collocated, VPS or dedicated system which has a greater bandwidth allowance, thus saving you money along the way.

Good planning, management and communication are the skills necessary to succeed on the web; added to the right hosting company can increase your productivity and minimize your expenses. In the web as in real life, business is all about opportunity cost.

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