Business Hosting Small Web

Small business hosting is a relatively low cost way to maintain a web presence for a company with custom email addresses and information about their business. Some companies expand their websites to offer numerous services, including the ability to sell items over the internet in what is known as ‘ecommerce.’ Small business web hosting services offer their customers a suite of different programming features and applications to best meet the online needs of the individual business. Depending on what sort of website a small business wants, business web hosting can be a very profitable business. Yahoo!, a company that provides a large scale popular search engine, is known for its relatively affordable small business web hosting. GoDaddy is another well known provider.

The process of setting up a small web site through a hosting service progresses from the most simple options to the more complex and expensive. Small businesses first choose a domain name from the business hosting provider by entering the desired name into a search box. The web hosting company searches the internet to determine who, if anyone, owns the domain name. If the domain name is unregistered, the small business may register it. The domain name is then leased to the company on a yearly basis for a fee. In the event that a small business has already paid for a domain name through a separate service, the small business begins adding services to the existing domain name through the web hosting service.

The hosting service then encourages the small business to choose from a menu of website hosting options. Customized email that utilizes the domain name as the suffix of the email (i.e., personname@thedomainname) is a popular service. Businesses choose how many email addresses they would like to purchase, which are usually bundled in groups of five or ten, and the size of the server mailboxes, which again usually bundle the amount of available memory in groups of 10 megabytes. If the small business desires the option of a linked database, such as MySQL, the web hosting service provides these databases, and the corresponding passwords to integrated PHP software, for a yearly renewable fee.

Some companies may wish to register multiple domain names that are similar to their own, or are exactly the same except for the suffix, such as .net or .org. Some small business hosting services offer their customers package deals whereby they may host 10 domain names for no additional fee. Web hosting services commonly offer online calendars, full ecommerce integration, and extensive support documentation for additional fees.

Helpful customer support distinguishes major small business hosting services from other hosting services. Some hosting companies do not readily provide a contact phone number, while other small business hosting services initiate calls to their customers to help companies set up their online business packages. Those hosting services that do maintain excellent customer service often receive the best word of mouth, and subsequently increase their sales to small businesses who need web hosting due to their knowledgeable and available staff.