| A: Web hosting companies set their pricing along several metrics. The most
commonly used metrics are diskspace and bandwidth. You are probably familiar with those terms from your own computer. A web server is no different. Diskspace
You can determine how much diskspace you will need by looking at the amount of space that your website is using on your own machine.
Your web hosting company will work with you to set up a contract that outlines
how much diskspace will be allotted for your site (and website logs if you
have logging enabled). In many cases websites do not need much diskspace -- particularly if a site
is primarily made up of text pages (such as this website). If however, your
site shows lots of photographs or other large image files, you will find that
you need more diskspace. You can usually purchase more diskspace from your web hosting company
if you find that you need more later. Bandwidth
Bandwidth, sometimes called data transfer, refers to the amount of data that has been transmitted by your web server to visitors of your website. For example, if you have one page on your web site that is 10kb large, and that page has one image on it that is 90kb large, you will transfer 100kb of data for every user that views that website. So,
if 10 users visit your site, you need 1,000kb of total bandwidth.
Determine your diskspace and bandwidth needs
Bandwidth and diskspace needs vary tremendously based on the type of web site that you are hosting and the volume of visitors to your web site. Largely text web sites do just fine with several hundred megabytes of diskspace and bandwidth. We suggest that you speak with your web hosting company and have them help you select the right plan for you. Related Web Hosting Questions:
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