I am just finishing the design of my first website, it is a music community website and I hope to have somewhere between 200 and 500 visitors a month, and I am including a message board which I assume may use up a bit of the traffic.
I don’t really have much of an idea as to what I require in the way of hosting.
It is all HTML/CSS at the moment - no databases yet as I don’t know how to do them…yet.
You will need a hosting account with streaming with minimum one database and a lot of space and bandwidth because you are using music and message board. Better straight go for a VPS instead from shared, then reseller and then VPS.
What do you mean by a “music community website”? For sharing/downloading music, or for discussing music? I know you’ve said there will be a message board, but is the rest of the site mainly html pages of information about music, or some kind of music files?
On the basis of what you’ve said, the package you’ve linked to seems fine to me. (I don’t know anything about the company.) Have a look at the files you have for the site you’ve built, and see what the total file size is. HTML/CSS files are (should be!) pretty small, and you can keep down the size of your images by optimising them. If you’re planning on allowing people to upload images to your message board, you should be able to set a maximum file size, to stop your disc space getting used up too quickly. If you do start to outgrow the package, you should be able to upgrade easily.
The specs also say “Host up to 6 websites on a single account”, so I guess that answers your question about your second site.
Since you are hosting a music community web site, I assume a lot of MP3 files will be uploaded and streamed/downloaded. I echo everyone else’s recommendation for a VPS. You will probably want at least 1GB of RAM.
Except that post #4 says it’s mainly for discussing music and promoting events - not for streaming MP3s. If cost is an issue, which it is here, then there’s no point suggesting an expensive option which is more than is required.
I remember feeling quite panic-stricken over uploading my first site. I think I was convinced half the Net would grind to a halt if I screwed up. It’s actually very easy, but if you do run into any hiccups, you know where to ask for help.
The one thing I worry about when getting value hosting is the uptime - will the server be stable? A host is of no use if my website isn’t up all the time. This host you listed says they have 24/7 support - meaning if your site goes down at 3am at night, will you be able to call them and tell them to get the server back up? Or even at 7am, will they be there to restart the machine? Red flag is they say they have 24/7 service, but all I see is a contact form - no chat, no phone number.
[LIST]
[]24/7 service - I know because I filed a support ticket at 3am and they responded within 20 minutes;
[]cheap price;
[]US and UK servers;
[]good uptime;
[*]great customer service - fast, polite, and very helpful;
[/LIST]I refer everyone to stablehost - love them. I found them a year ago on WebHostingTalk. They had a 50%-for-life coupon so I’m paying $24/year for the medium shared package.
It’s actually very easy, but if you do run into any hiccups, you know where to ask for help.