Features for Business Websites

Features for Business Websites

The days of a business being able to limp by with 200 megabytes of virtual server storage space are over. Fortunately, so are the days of pricey storage allotments. Typical corporate Internet accounts might be either shared virtual servers or dedicated servers, with storage of from five gigabytes to as many as 120 gigabytes.

The next critical number in business web space decisions is bandwidth--defined as the speed at which data travels and the limit of transfer a server account is limited to on a monthly basis. The bandwidth range for business accounts might start at about 25 gigabytes and run on average at perhaps 100 gigabytes. Websites for companies such as CNN, AOL, and BBC News--which have millions of users daily--often see a much higher traffic burden.

Just as important as the hard drive space and bandwidth allotment, however, are technical and customer support, server downtime, server response rate, and server features. Among the latter are support for PHP, Perl, ASP, and CGI scripting, Cold Fusion, FrontPage, and databases such as SQL. Site traffic limits should be high or nonexistent. Unlimited POP email, secure e-commerce, and multiple static IP addresses should be a given.

Site maintenance is a critical factor. Larger organizations can afford to keep a full-time IT staff on the premises. Most businesses prefer to outsource. That's where browser-based site administration tools and utilities and 24/7 technical support and customer service come into play. All of this, mercifully, doesn't by definition mean a big budget. Affordable and reliable business web space can be had for as little as $20 a month from shared hosting vendors such as Aplus.net and One World. Virtual private servers, such as ViaVerio, are more pricey but significantly more robust, and tend to run from $100 a month and up.