If your are looking to launch your business online for the first time, or you want to add functionality to your existing website it is important that before you commit to a web hosting provider, you first do some research into your needs, as well as the options available to you.

Working as a web designer, I am constantly working with clients to arrange their web hosting.  One problem that we continually come up against, is the fact that they may have just renewed, or signed up on a 12 month web hosting plan with a host provider before deciding if it is in fact actually going to be the right choice for them.

Some of your web hosting options are…

• Content Management Systems – If you wish to edit your website content, it is important to consider this before purchasing any for of web hosting.  It is also critical that you tell your web designer/developer that you wish to edit your website as it will effect how they build your website and if you tell them too late, this could add extra costs to the project.  There are many content management systems available to you, so it is worthwhile doing your research or asking a professional for advice.
• Online Stores – There are more and more ways of adding an online store/ecommerce to your website.  And this again can affect the web hosting provider you may choose.  One of my favourite ways of setting up online stores, is through a system called Business Catalyst (recently taken over by Adobe).  Business Catalyst offers online business operators a lot more than just an online store, as it also offers an all in one system to run their business.  CRM, Email Marketing, eCommerce, Blogs and so much more. If you were to go with a system like Business Catalyst, your website is actually hosted one the Business Catalyst servers to ensure you can use its full features.
• Wordpress – can be hosted using free Wordpress hosting (www.wordpress.com) or installed on your own hosting account (www.wordpress.org).  The main difference between using the free Wordpress hosting and your own website hosting account is primarily the limitations of what your website will be able to do.  If you choose to host your own Wordpress website, you will be able to have full control and flexibility of plugins and widgets, as well as use your own domain name.

These are just a few of the many options available to you.

At the end of the day, do your research before you commit yourself to any one web hosting provider.

I am more than happy to help you out if you need a little advice, so please feel free to drop me an email.

This is one of my favourite podcasts on user experience.  I discovered this a year or so ago when I found the webdirections.org website and it is still on of my favourite podcasts to go back to when I need a little inspiration…

Thanks Andy Budd for a great presentation.

http://www.webdirections.org/resources/andy-budd/

So last week my old college had their 2009 Graduate Exhibition.  Brought back so many memories.

Good timing really.  With finding out about my job 2 days before, it was great to have a little reminder about the passion I had for design.