Bandwidth Question

I will be running a type of online magazine, which will hopefully ofcourse lol get quite a few hits. So right now I am searching for a host but I am not really sure what kindof bandwidth I should be looking for?

$$ is an issue. Any suggestions or ideas?
I found one which offers 30GB. Does that sound okay atleast to begin with?

Thanks.

Hello lilstorm,

It is really hard to determine how much bandwith you will need right from the start. How large are your pages and how may visitors do you actually accept?

To answer your question, 30 GB of traffic is ALOT. I would be really surprised if you pushed more then 3-4 for the first few months...

Of course if you have large downloadable files and get alot of hits right off the bat - you may use more...

Thanks. That does help. I am not so good with numbers, more visual kindof person and I just couldn't get the idea of how much I would need. I think I will start with the 30gb for now and then work up. Which will cost me like $110+ a year not that bad really I guess.

I am going to try to keep the pages pretty simple and not too graphic intense which should help I think also.

Also keep in mind most hosts will help you upgrade if you do start getting near bandwidth limits, but 30GB is plenty to begin with.

Minimally you will need the total size of the site multiplied by the number of expected vistors. The later will depend upon how you intend to market the site. If any type of mainstream media advertising is involved then 30GB will not last you more than a day or two. If you have not developed and/or decided on a marketing campaign then 30GB/month will last you many months.

Moe importantly I must caution you against subscribing to an annual plan with an untested host. It's true that you can save money when paying for a year in advance. However the proposed savings will pale in comparision to the money lost if the host fails to make you happy two (2) months down the road or worse disappears. If the host requires annual payments/commitments, offers no monthly options then I suggest you find a host that does. Unless you have irrefutable reason to trust the host with an annual payment I suggest you start off with monthly payments and switch to an annual payment 2-3 months down the road when you have had time to properly evaluate their service.

Other things you should consider are:

Scalability?
How diskspace you are getting?
What features the account comes with?
Where the host is in relation to your target customer base?
How accessible they are to you at odd hours of the day and night?

The price ($110) you quoted is reasonable only when the above answers are satisfactory.

Well we will begin quite small and be word of mouth and just passing the link around for a few months so the first few months we shouldn't be that bad

Its really hard choosing. There are so many different companies out there and they all just seem the same lol. And I want to make a good choice ofcourse.

lol I wish companies had a free trial lol.

And I really don't know alot in terms of what I am looking for and what half of the stuff means.

Scalability? I am not sure what that means lol

How diskspace you are getting? the one I was looking at has 1gb, my free site gives me 15mb and I have a ton of stuff on there and only use like half of it. ofcourse this new site is going to need more room but I think that sounds pretty ok? Ok really I have no clue lol.

Where the host is in relation to your target customer base?
What do you mean by that?

I was trying to go by word of mouth I read through like a bunch of threads here and I was actually looking at unflux lol. ?

Thanks

unflux hosting is highly recommended, you'll be well looked after and his company is no fly-by-night here-today-gone-tomorrow

//uncensored-hosting - great points you have made

The problem with monthly solutions stems more from customers that would just love to sign up for an $8.25 a month account which they can abuse by sending out tonnes of spam for 15 days before the host is notified and then when they're switched off they've lost $8.25 instead of $99 or whatever. $99 is a lot of money for an abusing customer to lose, whereas $8 isn't.

Unfortunately the minority has once again spoiled it for the majority.

The rest of Uncensored-Hosting's points are very valid though

Just a quick mention, most companies do offer a free trial, they just call it a 30-Day money back guarantee. I wouldn’t suggest this for all hosts but any hosts that have been on here long enough should be reputable enough to trust. Good luck with your site.

There are 2 kind of bandwidth offered plans
1- which is comman, standart plans
2- selling plans based on bandwidth cost pricing

If you think bandwidth will be problem for you and if you need burstable bandwidth then look at 2nd kind of plans.

1GB of space is more than enough starting out. Even if you plan to add major content you should be able to manage on 1GB of space for at least six months. Which leads me to my point regarding scalability.

This simply put is the hosts ability to grow with you and hopefully cost effectively. Many people get lured into thinking that a one plan, one price host is the best thing since sliced bread. When in all actuality it's nothing more than a oversold service that you can not grow in or utilize to it's advertised capacity. It may take you six months, a year or five years but as you grow your host should be able to grow with you and continue to accommodate your needs.

Where the host is in relation to your target audience relates to how fast your site will load and/or serve content. If most of your customers are in the US then a US based host is advisable. The same generally holds true in other countries especially when speed is critical.

I do understand your frustration at choosing a host and it is certainly not a decision to take lightly. However at some point you will need to decide and act on that decision. I do suggest you stick with companies that are willing to guarantee your satisfaction. Make a short list email them ask them questions see how fast they respond and read their terms of service. Then consider the impression you got when interacting with them in a pre sales enviroment and feel reasonably safe that you made the best decision you could at the time based on the information available to you. Following that guideline you will never be indecisive and able to overcome any hurdles that should liter your path.

Thank you all so much You all are very nice and helpful You gave me alot to think about and great information!

Thanks