HOME ADVANTAGES PACKAGES SERVICES NONPROFITS PUBLISHERS TESTIMONIALS SUPPORT SIGN UP NOW! POLICIES Tallpath is a service of the Media Futures Institute, with over 20 years experience working with nonprofit and publishing organizations. A reliable, secure, and user-focused Internet presence can determine profitability and success. Unless you've got the technical know-how and the money to set up your own server, you probably want to outsource your web hosting. There are three kinds of Web and Email hosting companies: Local Internet Service Providers (ISP) offer a small amount of complimentary web space with your Internet hookup. Hosting companies (local, national and international) offer small business web hosting bundles on a shared or dedicated Internet connected server. Purchasing services through a hosting company has become one of the most popular methods of getting a website online. Many designers/developers offer hosting as a value-added service to their clients - the benefit being that you will probably get a customer-focused approach, which is sometimes lacking with other kinds of service providers. Tallpath is a hybrid of the latter two types. We are associated with the Media Futures Institute, which for 20 years has provided design and publishing services to companies, institutions and associations. Determining Your Hosting Service Requirements When purchasing web hosting services, cheaper isn't necessarily better. Lower cost web hosters are less likely to offer adequate service and technical support, and may not be able to guarantee uptime. Be sure that your hosting company can accommodate your current needs, and those you will have six months or two years from now. Here are some things to consider (and what Tallpath offers): Traffic Will your site get a lot of traffic? Each person who visits your site will use a portion of bandwidth - the traffic your site will experience determines how much bandwidth you will require. Most companies offer packages including a specific amount of bandwidth. Inquire as to how much you are allowed and the cost of extra bandwidth. Tallpath allows clients 2 gigabytes of traffic monthly, with more available at no additional charge Disk Space How large is your website, and will it take up a lot of room on the server? The size of your site determines how much disk space you will require. Companies usually offer packages allotting a certain amount of disk space. Ask about future upgrades to the package you choose. Tallpath offers 20 MB of Web space, with more available at no additional charge Domain Name Do you need a domain name, or multiple domain names? For example, you may want one main website domain, in addition to having a secondary domain name pointing to the same site but displaying the name of a specific product you offer. Tallpath offers an at-cost domain name service, along with free subdomain and domain parking services. Email Will you need additional emails? For example, you may want different email addresses for different kinds of inquiries. Do you have other email needs such as auto responders and redirects? 20 Email accounts on signup, with more available Web Mail Facility Unlimited E-Mail aliases, email forwarding, email autoresponders Extras Does the company offer extras such as access reports, which provide you with information about visitors to your site? Or, password protected pages which block unauthorized access? And finally, if you've designed your site yourself with Microsoft Frontpage you will want to ensure that the company has Frontpage server extensions. Website Access Statistics Password Protected Directories FrontPage 2000/2002 extensions Full CGI-Bin Access, PHP, Perl and MySQL Server Side Includes (SSI) Reliability Reliability should be a priority with the company you choose, because when your site is ëdown' (not available to your clients) you are losing money. Ask if the company guarantees a minimum number of 'up' hours. Ask how often they do backups. 99.99% Guaranteed Website and Email Up-time 30 day Money Back Guarantee Technical Support And, after your site is located on their server check it regularly to ensure they are keeping their word. It's inevitable - you are going to need technical support at some point, and email can be a frustrating form of communication when troubleshooting. You may want to ensure the company you choose provides a contact phone number in addition to email support. Account services and features can be managed by you via our easy to use Control Panel. Our customer support team provides friendly and personal attention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Price Generally, companies offer monthly package rates, so you'll want to consider the availability of package upgrades and the costs associated with them. Ask whether there are start up charges - some companies will waive your set up fees if you are transferring your site and domain from another location. Also, be sure to ask if there is there a contract to sign; some companies may offer a monthly rate, but will charge you yearly in a lump sum. And finally, be sure to check on guarantees. Tallpath offers world-class web and email hosting that exceeds industry standards, for only $49.95 per year. No hidden charges or setup fees, and no excuses. Copyright © 1998-2008 Tallpath. All rights reserved. By hosting with Tallpath you acknowledge that you have read, agree with, and will abide by our terms, conditions and acceptable use policy. Tallpath | [email protected] | 1.800.684.7280