When a company sorts out it’s own web hosting without understanding what they are purchasing, the choice can lead to problems when building the site, and can sometimes even hamper your search engine optimisation efforts.

Shared Windows servers are likely to lack a considerable amount of flexability, while Linux based servers can offer almost complete flexability. But there is much more to consider than that.

The cheapest hosts are usually based in the USA, and again, the location of the server can have an impact on your search engine result positions (SERPs). If you are targeting the UK market, you need to rank well for Google.co.uk rather than Google.com. If your domain has a .com extension and it is hosted in the USA, Google is likely to see the website as an American website and so will not rank the site in Google.co.uk. There is a way to let Google know what geographic area you are targeting, but why complicate things?
In addition, servers in the UK hosted by a UK company, are covered by UK laws. If your business requires a constant online presence, for example you have an online shop, you need to be sure that your site stays online. If you are dealing with a UK company, it is easier to find out about any problems that may be occurring.

Cheap hosts will also only offer a very basic service. To someone who doesn’t know what they need, it can seem like a good deal – until you start asking for services you didn’t know you needed. I have come across hosts that charge for each mysql database you require – and the charge £50 per database per year. If you have an ecommerce website, you will require a mysql database, and suddenly that £2 a month has drastically increased. If you expect a large amount of traffic, the bandwidth allowance is important – in the UK it tends to be the bandwith allowance that pushes the hosting cost up.

Many developers have their own favourite hosts, but most know who to steer clear of. Choosing the wrong host can result in a poorly performing website, and is likely to cost you more in the long run.

Some important things to consider when choosing your web host:

• Server technology you require – PHP, ASP, ASP.net, PERL etc
• Bandwidth allowance
• Databases
• Server location
• Flexability
• Email accounts

You wouldn’t buy a pension without consulting a professional, so why not consult a web professional before deciding on your server? At worst, you will get some different options, and at best, you will save time and money!

Hosting is a real bug-bear of mine. I grew up before the advent of Microsoft, and my introduction to computers was our junior school’s one and only BBC computer, along with out Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum and my friend’s Atari! When we got our very first PC running Windows 3.1, we used Lotus instead of Office!

Microsoft changed computing and made it accessible to everyone. For that I thank them.

However, because it’s a well known name, people who don’t understand hosting will go out and buy Windows hosting because they have heard if it. While there is a need for Windows hosting, most people that are looking to host a simple website only need the less expensive Linux alternative, whether that is Ubuntu, RedHat or any other version.

The ONLY time you need a Windows server is to host sites written in ASP or ASP.NET.

Windows servers offer less flexibility to the user and requires much more upkeep due to the constant flow of security patches that need to be installed, hence you pay more.

Like Domain names, you should consult your web professional to ensure that you have the right hosting to help you achieve your goals. Just because you have heard of one server option i.e. Windows, is not a valid reason to choose it as your hosting platform.