Is a cheap website host the best choice for you?

At first glance a cheap website host may seem to be the most economical option. After all, you want maximum value for your money, don't you? However, you must also be aware that usually "You get what you pay for". So how do you reconcile the two requirements?

Why do you need a website?

Perhaps the first question to ask yourself is "What do you want a website for?"

This is a serious question because your reason for needing a site, and the way you start off, will have a huge influence on future progress.

Do you just want a "presence" on the world wide web (hence www). Maybe you want a site for communicating with people who have a common interest - a pop start fan club for example. In either case, a cheap website host might be all you need.

On the other hand, if you want to sell goods off a stand-alone site, or promote your existing business or services, or reach out to a wider audience then a cheap website could be your most expensive option...

What does a cheap website host offer?

To be on the Internet you need an exclusive name - your URL or Universal resource locator. It is your unique address and you have to register it and pay a small annual fee to keep it active.

The most common extension used after the name is .com but there are a number of others like .gov and .org which usually indicate the nature of the site. This URL or domain name has to be hosted on a server (or large computer) somewhere, owned by your hosting company.

Basic hosting need not be expensive. Many companies offer this service for a minimal annual or monthly fee. Some will even provide a simple program for creating your pages, without you needing to have a knowledge of HTML, along with a selection of templates to choose from.

Sounds good, eh?

The hidden extras

However, a successful site needs more than just a host. Many of these essential extras are not included in the cost charged by your cheap website host.

For example the ability to add a contact form onto a page is pretty basic, but you will often have extra to pay for this feature. The alternative is to display your e-mail address to all and sundry and inevitably end up with tons of spam and even email scams in your inbox.

It is also wise to check how much space you are permitted to use on the server.

One company I used in the past only allowed 20mb per site. I ended up forever removing pages in order to add new ones. In addition, the limited traffic statistics they provided also took up a substantial amount of this space. I was forever phoning them to ask for aged stats to be removed to free up a little space.

Of course extra space was available - at a price!

I have yet to find a cheap website host that provides any instructions on how to construct your site. They may give technical instructions for using any software they provide, but nothing on the best ways to add content or get traffic (visitors). Yes, there are books available to guide you, but then you are talking about more expense!

Going back to visitors - you are going to need large numbers in order for your site to be a success. If you are running a club then you can let all the members know the URL so that they can access it. But if you are running a business, you need to be able to attract new customers. It is no use having an attractive site that no-one can find!

In order to research how people are searching for your content, so that you can use the right keywords to attract visitors, you would need to purchase extra software or a subscription to a keyword tool such as Wordtracker.

See how that originally attractive price from your cheap website host is creeping up?

If you do manage to gain some visitors, you would then want to build a list of subscribers and send them a regular newsletter to keep in touch and market your products. The chances are that there are no features included in your low cost website to manage such a list. You can use an service such as AWeber, but again, that is more expense on top of your starting price.

You pays your money and takes your choice

I have just outlined a few of the extra features that you may need as your website takes shape. You may be beginning to realise that economising on a cheap website host may not be the best choice if you want to create your own site. Why not compare them dollar by dollar?

However, this does not necessarily mean that this venture onto the world wide web will cost you a fortune! The company I use, for this very site, provides everything I need and it works out cheaper than buying all the above separately. For more information check out my page which outlines the process.

Then choose what seems best for your needs.