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Help and support

Many web hosting companies offer 'instant' site builder packages that can help you set up a website. If you want to get a personal home page set up without learning web design skills, these may be able to help, as long as you don't expect miracles. Professional web design involves many different disciplines, and processes such as compatibility and compliance testing, that you're just not going to be able to address, and promotional bumf that implies you can set up a fully functioning ecommerce website with a few mouse clicks is a bit optimistic. There's also the major problem of what to do when you outgrow the basic options provided: these solutions are rarely scalable, so to move your website to the next stage of development will probably mean starting again from scratch.

Whether you use the supplied site builder or create your own site using third-party software, your host may be able to provide tools to help with things like getting ranked on search engines and incorporating advertising and other features into your pages. Again, take the bumf with a pinch of salt; there are lots of independent sources for this kind of thing around the Internet, so you needn't feel the features included with your hosting are the be-all and end-all.

One thing your host definitely ought to provide is 'web stats'. Any web server will automatically churn out statistics on how many users are visiting your site, how many times each page is visited, and so on. You should have access to these figures at any time through your service's admin interface (via your web browser), and

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more importantly the host should provide analysis software, such as Webalyzer, to present the raw figures to you in a meaningful way, helping you to see what's going on and spot trends over time.

While they may supply handy tools, web hosting companies won't usually be able to give you hands-on help through the whole process of setting up your website; that kind of consultancy would be an expensive service in its own right. They should, however, be available to answer basic questions and troubleshoot any specific problems you encounter with the service.

As with other computer products and services, you can't take it for granted that such support will be free of charge. Free support is most commonly provided via email, with phone support provided at a premium rate. Email is often a very good way to resolve technical issues, but check how fast the company promises to respond; 'same day' sounds great if you're talking about courier delivery, but bodes ill for getting a reply to an urgent query.

'24/7' telephone support can be a mixed blessing. If you tend to work on your website in the evenings, it makes a lot more sense than service that's restricted to office hours. However, 'round-the-clock support' is synonymous with 'call centre'. The person you speak to may be working for a tech support agency, and may not be directly familiar with any issues specific to you or your hosting package, or with the conversation you had yesterday with a different person. A smaller hosting company might only offer support during weekdays, but the phone might be answered by someone who maintains servers for a living rather than answering phones.

On the other hand, some larger hosting providers operate their own call centres using well trained staff and have a reputation for good support.

Smart shopping

Having read this article, you should be able to go off and check out the web hosting deals on offer with a fair amount of savvy. Go through the details on the company's website, and if you're still not clear about anything, give them a ring, or drop them an email, and ask. This will also give you some idea what they'll be like to deal with as a customer.