Five Quick Tips for Hosting in 2003 By Staff Writer Are you planning your web hosting needs for 2003? Then it's a great time for your company to consider the following tips for a successful year of hosting! By following these simple steps, you can not only save money, but also ensure that your website has its most successful year ever. Tip #1: Upgrade to an Annual Plan - If you are happy with your hosting provider, consider moving to an annual payment basis. By doing this, you can benefit from a lower prorated monthly rate. If you are looking to transfer to a new web host in January, you might also wish to consider an annual plan as they often come with no set-up fee. Tip #2: The economy may be slow, but Internet traffic is still growing! Is your company 's website ready for an increase in traffic during 2003? With monthly fees for dedicated servers coming down rapidly over the past year, your business may wish to consider moving to a dedicated environment which will offer more capacity for servicing your online customers. At least be sure that your current plan has adequate bandwidth allowances. Tip #3: Check out your Hosting Service Agreements. These agreements contain the "legal terms" of your hosting contract and may be changed from time to time. The 'New Year' is a good time to review the latest documents surrounding the relationship between you and your web host. Top Web Hosting - No Contracts! - Unlimited Space & Bandwidth Tip #4: Secure a support domain for your company. Many companies are now providing technical support and service follow-up online. With Internet access still growing on a worldwide basis, you may wish to consider reserving the domain name for a potential service/support site. For example, usxmodeltrains.com might wish to reserve usxtrainsupport.com. Also, think about registering some of the new top levels domains including .info and .biz - these can be useful in driving more traffic to your website. Tip #5: Watch for software upgrades! Each year, many providers of web design and server software launch new versions. Make sure your company is using the latest design software to maximize your site visitor's experiences. Also, by checking to see if your provider has the latest server versions, you can verify their technical knowledge and ensure maximum website uptime. By following these simple tips, your business can maximize it's online efforts in 2003 by ensuring a stable hosting environment while gaining better knowledge about your web host.