Using a web hosting provider, as they are usually called, has its advantages. "We can give our customers fast access to the Internet without having to buy an expensive server, without jeopardizing the security of our system, and without clogging our own I nternet link," said Jim Campbell, president of Anini Beach Vacation Rentals, a luxury resort in Kauai, Hawaii. Campbell has had a web site for his company since March, using CerfNet's web hosting services, and has increased his marketing reach as a result .
The downside is picking the right hosting provider is not simple, and will require a great deal of determination and skill to get the information you need to make a decision. Finding these sites is also not a simple task. First, you'll need access to the Internet and the web itself to do your searching using Yahoo or other search sites. (We found hundreds using the search terms "web hosting sites" or "Internet hosting sites.") Next, you'll need to distinguish among several different kinds of operations: a true web hosting site allows you to assemble your own web pages, design forms, and do the necessary programming in PERL or C to enable more advanced web features. This is not the same as a web presence or a cybermall, which offer just a single web page o r a small subset of the capabilities of a fully-featured web site. Another category is a web design consultant, someone who helps you put together your web pages, and can have a range of skills spanning graphic design, computer programming, and library sc ience. (For more information on picking the right kind of designer, see sidebar.)
It took us several weeks' of investigation to obtain the details from seven web hosting providers: CerfNet, in San Diego (619 455 3900), Cortland Electronics in Seattle (206 217 0158), Delta.Net of Anaheim (714 778 0370), Digital Express of Beltsville, Md. (800 969 9090), HomeCom of Atlanta (404 249 9919), Internet Cafe in Santa Barbara, Calif. (805 685 0191), and Maximized Online in Irvine, Calif. (714 955 5300)
We attempted to choose sites of differing price points, geographic locations, and sophistication. Two additional sites (Vivo Media, in Portland, Ore. and Connect, Inc. in Minneapolis) never returned any response to our inquiries, indicating the kind of re sponse you might possibly get as well.
However, where do you start? There are several issues that anyone considering contracting with a web hosting provider should address:
-- what's your motivation? Is it primarily to provide extra service to your customers, to increase your business reach, or just to have your own cyber-billboard? Depending on your purpose, you'll want to design your site and pick your hosting provider wit h this in mind.
Anini Beach had been using print advertising and was hoping to increase its exposure through the use of Web. "With this," said Campbell, "we can provide a brochure with color photos to people who can be anywhere in the world, and we can do it in less time than it would take to send a brochure through the mail." Anini now includes its web address in its print ads and brochures, and chose web hosting mainly because of its cost. "The logistics of setting up phone connections to the Internet alone are just ri diculous to even consider - it would mean spending major bucks," he said.
KEZY, an Anaheim-based FM radio station, found that a side-benefit of its web site "was we were able to give our listeners instant feedback," said Lorna Harris, marketing coordinator for the station.
-- support. Can you get problems resolved quickly, and at any time of the day or night? Many places promise 24x7 support, but when we investigated further, found that you were calling an answering service or dialing someone's pager. That's not the same th ing as a fully-staffed, round-the-clock operation. The only way to find out is to do what we did, get the support number and call during the middle of night and see who answers the phone. Several sites, including CerfNet, that promised 24x7 didn't deliver when we called in off-hours.
A good judge of support quality is to send email to the address indicated on the web page describing the provider's services. In some cases, our own email inquiries (not identified with Infoworld in any way) took up to ten days to get a response from some of the provider's staff. Others were more responsive, getting back to us within 24 hours, which we feel is the minimum acceptable turn around. Another method is to ask for references. Several of the references we obtained indicated they wanted to switch providers for lack of support.
-- Internet connectivity and bandwidth. If you intend to have a site that will become popular, you will want to know how your provider is connected to the Internet and what bandwidth do they promise to deliver to your server. With the sites we chose for this article, we heard the phrase "T-1 connectivity to the Internet" mentioned often. However, merely having a T-1 line is meaningless. The more important issue is how many users will be sharing that line and what happens during traffic-intensive periods. Both Internet Cafe and Maximized Online didn't offer T-1 connections, for example.
-- shared vs. dedicated server. Speaking of sharing resources, another issue is whether your provider will setup a dedicated machine or place your website on a shared server. Delta.Net and Digex, for example, will sell you dedicated servers, while the oth ers will put your web site on a shared server.
-- Read the fine print: what price for which services? There is no standard pricing model for web hosting sites, and each provider charges a different fee structure based on different collections of services. The variables to look for include data transfe r, server services (does the provider offer other things besides a web server, such as gopher, ftp, and mail servers?), and a minimum initial contract period.
The seven providers we contacted had an order of magnitude of prices: installation fees started at $100 and went to $1500, and monthly charges ranged from $50 to $500.
How can you shop around? First, try the providers' own web sites to see what information is available. We found a great deal of variation: the most interesting example is Digex, which has all sorts of details about its services and even a "frequently aske d questions" page that has quite a bit of information -- except for one big omission: any prices! We had to send email to the staff to get these.
Data transfer is the actual quantity of bits that are sent from your web server to web browsers. The more non-textual data that is on your site, such as graphic images, sound, and especially video, the more data gets moved between server and browser. And, the more people that visit your site also hikes data transfer rates.
Some examples: Digex has no monthly limit on data transfers, while most others include a minimum amount of megabytes per month as part of their fees, and then start adding on other charges when you exceed that figure. Maximized Online in Irvine, Calif. in cludes the first 500MB of data transfer per month in their standard package. Anything above that is charged at $50 per month for every 500 MB increment. Delta.Net gives up to 2 GB of transfers as part of its monthly package price of $250, and Cortland Ele ctronics goes up to 2.5 GB for its $250/month plan. (Again, for a better comparison, see the Infoworld web page with more specifics.)
Each provider includes a different number of services as part of the hosting package. Some sites, such as Digex, have a separate charge for setting up each non-Web services such as ftp servers and mailing lists. Each server costs an additional $250 for in stallation/setup and $50 per month. Others include them in their standard fees, or lump these "extras" into a single additional charge.
Sometimes, charges can pile up on your account despite all the careful review of the provider's price plan. "We have lots of price changes and are constantly having to update our web site, says Dean Smeaton, owner of Blue Lake Products, in Irvine, Calif., who presently uses Maximized Online as his web site provider. "When we started in May, Maximized Online told me that these small changes were included in my monthly fees. But instead they are charging me by the hour for changes, so when my contract expir es I'll definitely shop around."
Finally, some providers require a minimum contract of several months: DeltaNet in Atlanta has no minimum, while HomeCom wants customers to sign for an entire year's worth of services.
-- how easy is for you to switch providers? If the provider obtains your domain name, it might be very difficult to move it to another provider if you aren't happy with their services. Given the rate of change on the Internet, flexibility is key. "We are not 100% happy with the provider," says Gene Ekonomi, president of Tecfen Corporation in Santa Barbara, Calif., an emergency equipment supplier. "They are not very responsive to technical problems. We would change for lower rates and better responsiveness ."
But the bottom line is: does web hosting really work? Opinion is mostly positive. Anini Beach is one satisfied place: "Now we can economically compete with the marketing dollars of the Hiltons in this world."
Others, such as Tecfen, have had mixed results. They had real problems with getting their 56k frame relay connection established. "Being the second frame relay connection in Santa Barbara (Calif.) county, it took us three months to get going," said Ekonom i. , president of the firm. However, once they were on-line, "We started hearing from people/companies that we had no previous connection. As an example, right after the Kobe earthquake, Japanese companies were in a frenzy to market emergency survival kit s and were looking for suppliers in a fast way. They had seen our products at our Web site and inquiries/orders started pouring in. This is what I call instant marketing."
Harris of KEZY radio station is also happy with her Internet site. "We got incredible publicity in the local papers when we brought up our site in February. And listeners love to email us questions."
Creating a good web site is more than just finding the right web hosting provider: it involves creating good-looking content that works well with a variety of web browsers, archives that can be easily searched, and navigation aids so that users can find t heir way around your site. To do these tasks you'll need someone with three very different skills: part librarian, part programmer, and part designer.
Some of the web hosting vendors offer consultants or some minimal services as part of their package deal, while others charge for these services. Typical hourly fees are between $50-$100.
The easier way is to go on-line and search the web itself until you find a site that appeals to you visually and editorially. Send email to the site webmaster and find out which designer they used, and whether that person can do the programming and unders tands enough library science to put together your own web site. Also check references and see how available this designer will be over the phone and email.
For some companies with little computer expertise, having on-staff designers is a plus: "All I do is send them text, photos, and logos and Maximized Online's designers put it all together and make it look great," said Lorna Harris of radio station KEZY in Anaheim, Calif. "We had no in-house Unix expertise, so we relied on Internet Cafe to implement our site," says Gene Ekonomi of Tecfen Corp. "However, we also used outside consultants to setup the site and write our web pages." -D.S.
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David Strom
Port Washington, NY 11050 USA +1 (516) 944-3407