5 Web Hosting Tips for '12 By Staff Writer Cloud Web Hosting Services are the Best New Hosting Product for 2012 - Find out how hosting your website on the cloud saves money - click here Are you planning your web hosting requirements for 2012? Maybe you are ready to buy a web hosting plan for a new blog site or that online video family website you're planning? Then it's a great time for you or your company to consider the following tips for a successful year of hosting! By following these simple tips, 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 equivalent monthly rate. If you are looking to transfer to a new web host, you might also wish to consider an annual plan as they often come with no set-up fee. Even better, consider the discount of adding a 2nd year onto that annual hosting plan; sometimes adding the 2nd annual time period results in very little extra cost since you get a web hosting discount on the first year as well. For example, BlueHost offers a 1 year hosting plan which works out to $5.95/month. Many web hosts even let you cancel during the year if your satisfaction with their hosting services changes. Since a large number of web hosts run hosting sales during the holidays, buying or renewing your web hosting at the beginning of the year can mean you can save more money by shopping for 2012 hosting specials. Tip #2: The Internet economy continues to grow and global Internet traffic is predicted to continue its steady usage increase during 2012. Is your company website ready for an increase in traffic during 2012? 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. Consider upgrading your shared hosting platform to a powerful dedicated server (you can buy severs from $100 a month from companies like SingleHop). Dedicated servers will give you more space, bandwidth and the ability to operate a more secure web site with dedicated CPU capacity to growing needs. In addition, you can host multiple web sites and unlimited domains if you have your own web server this year. You can review 2012 dedicated server specials at our Dedicated Server Showcase. At the very least, be sure that your current plan has adequate bandwidth allowances. Even the shared space now offers close to unlimited bandwidth (considering what the average website actually uses). Take a look at BlueHost - they provide unlimited GB of monthly bandwidth for as low as $5.95/month. Just like a cell phone, if your current website is experiencing traffic overage charges, then it is time to consider a larger hosting package. Some web hosts like midPhase offer hosting 50% OFF or hosting 75% OFF depending upon when you visit their website. 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. For some customers, you may find that you are on a high-end SLA and could lower your monthly service fee by accepting say a 99.8% uptime guarantee vs. a 99.9% standard. Alternately, if you expect an increased level of bandwidth or online customers, you may want to upgrade to a higher service plan for the coming year which might offer refunds if service performance drops. Dedicated web hosts typically offer a better uptime guarantee (99.99%), so if uptime in 2012 is an issue, again consider the dedicated server route. HostMonster: $3.95 Unlimited Web Hosting & Top Web Host 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. Most web hosting companies now offer to purchase a free domain for you as long as you purchase their annual web hosting account. Tip #5: Watch for software upgrades! Each year, many providers of web design and server software launch new versions. For instance, is your web host delivering the latest Windows or Linux PHP server versions? Also, make sure your company is using the latest design software to maximize your site visitor's experiences. By checking to see if your provider has the latest server versions, you can verify their technical knowledge, ensure maximum website uptime, and create a website that is more competitive vs. your peers in terms of website interactivity and features. By following these simple tips, your business can maximize its' online efforts in 2012 by ensuring a stable hosting environment while gaining better knowledge about your web host. Looking to give the gift of web hosting - Learn more in our web hosting gift guide.