5 Common Web Hosting Mistakes

John Lenaghan

Mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, but if you can learn
from other people's mistakes it can save you from having to
deal with them yourself. When it comes to web hosting, there
are basically two kinds of mistakes - technical and general
business.

Technical mistakes usually come up because of a
misunderstanding of the internet and how it actually works. The
first mistake many people make when creating a website is to
cram as much information, photographs, images, etc. on each
page as possible.

This makes the site take longer to download, leading to many
visitors just moving on and never actually looking at the site.
It also makes it more difficult to find what they're looking for
if the page is unorganized.

Another common error is creating a web site that isn't search
engine friendly. If the search engines can't determine what
your site is about, they aren't going to be able to send you
people who are searching for what you offer.

A mistake that many people make when starting out is to choose
a host solely based on price. This is obviously an important
factor, especially in the beginning, but if you choose the
cheapest host you may be limited in your scalability as the
website grows in popularity and traffic.

On the business side of things, the most common mistake is
trying to be everything to everyone. You should have a plan for
your website - a purpose for its existence - and build according
to that plan.

Choose your target market and stick with it. Advertise in
places they would see. Market in ways that would be of interest
to them. Resist the urge to branch out into other areas just
because something catches your eye. A site that tries to do
everything usually ends up achieving nothing.

Another common business mistake is following the competition's
lead. You'll obviously want to keep an eye on them to see what
they're up to, but if you copy everything they do you'll always
be one step behind.

Use your creativity and come up with unique ways to stand out
from the rest of the websites in your market.

About The Author:

John Lenaghan writes about web site hosting
and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For
more helpful web hosting information visit
http://www.hostingreport.org