Article Advise

submitted: Aug 20th 2008 | by: MattHedges | Total views: 3 | Word Count: 1688 | |

There is a lot of talk regarding bandwidth, most likely, you've heard this term at your web hosting company. Although there are many ways to describe bandwidth, it can be seen as the size of data that goes between two separate ends of an internet network link (i.e. from your web host to your computer). Bandwidth is one of the most important topics for a web host to discuss and its size is measured per second, in bits. How much bandwidth is used by a site varies depending on the services it offers. A site like a forum where there is a lot of scope for people to chat and interact will require more bandwidth than non-interactive sites. The more options a person has to interact on a site, the higher the bandwidth usage is likely to be. All of these options mean there is a larger amount of data being used and more people visit the site more often when compared to a standard website.

Knowing how to calculate bandwidth is important and easy. Take the size of your website to be 10 KB and that twenty people visit your site each day. This would mean your bandwidth usage could be calculated 10 x 20 bites for a day. Multiplying this figure by the amount of days in a month would give you your monthly bandwidth usage. It can be handy to know the other measurements as sometimes bandwidth is listed in bytes.

1 byte is the equivalent of 8 bits and 1 kilobyte is the equivalent of 1024 bytes.

Another thing that can cause an ineffectual use of bandwidth is a vast number of pictures or a lot of user comments or remarks. It also makes sense that a person who has heavy usage on the internet including products that have a large size will invariably use a huge amount of bandwidth. This places a huge deal of importance on getting the right website from your web provider. The greater amount of visual, audio and graphical that is on a website, the greater the need for bandwidth will become. It is not always possible for a website provider to live up to the promises they make, so it is important to research them properly. As in all walks of life, having a provider who can meet all your needs is an important aspect when choosing your website host.

Determine the amount of bandwidth you need

How would you known that what is the required bandwidth of your website? This question needs to be answered from technical and mathematical point of view. This would also determine the website content you are having and have projected to include in future. It is always better to keep some bandwidth in hand as it would allow you to develop the website and include new features later on. You should take out some time in determining the bandwidth required for your website. If required you can discuss the issue with your web hosts who can suggest you better on this. Almost every hosting company measures the bandwidth plan on a monthly basis and hence you can chart your requirements based n that only. Bandwidth is generally measured as:

Average number of times a page is viewed multiplied by the average number of visitors to your site on a daily basis multiplied by a variable factor multiplied by how many days in a month, with 30 being a good average.

If you would like to offer a range of flexibility regarding bandwidth usage, the following calculation may be preferable:

Adding the sum of the amount of visitors per day times how may times a page is looked at times the size of the web page and adding it to the number of files that retrieved from your site by the average size of the file will give the first half of the equation. This figure can then be multiplied by the largest number of days possible and a fudged figure to get the answer.

Note: The above calculations all use an average figure to obtain the most relevant return.

How traffic and bandwidth are linked:

There is a strong correlation between the amount of traffic a website has and the number of bandwidth it uses. There is no doubt that the users who will have the best opinion and reaction about the bandwidth on a site will be the users as they have the most interaction with the website. A simple example of this would be if a website user was to download a music track to their PC, then there is a sizable amount of traffic traveling between the website and the user. Depending on the speed of the connection of the users internet, the amount of time taken will vary largely. If the user has a quick connection, the faster the download time will be and there is a smaller amount of bandwidth used. Conversely, if the user has a slow internet connection, the longer the process time and there will be a larger amount of bandwidth used. The process of information being passed between connections is what is known as traffic and this also has an impact on the site.

Learn how to reduce the amount of bandwidth that you use.

Sometimes a bill can come out of the blue that leaves you catching your breath and the same can be said for your monthly bandwidth bill. If you have a pre arranged bandwidth limit, it is simple for your provider to state that you have went over your limit and charge you accordingly whilst requesting you reduce your usage. This request can leave many users not knowing what to do and what they should do for the best.

Each website is populated by a number of files and each file has a corresponding size. If a visitor comes to your site and accesses these files, there will be an impact on the amount of bandwidth that your site uses. Remember that it is your website and you can influence the use of by reducing or increasing the usage depending on the needs of the site. Given that it is your website, you can impose limits on the number of files or downloadable content that is made available on your site. Each individual file can have a large size by itself and if it is downloaded by a large number of users can have a great impact on the bandwidth that is being used. Anything that increases bandwidth use will increase the cost you incur. A simple example of this can come in a large graphic that is on your homepage which each visitor is required to download. If this happens a lot of times the amount of bandwidth being used will become excessive. Some people may decide to take this page away from their site but this is not always an option so it may be worthwhile trying to reduce the size of graphics or logos available. These changes may not seem a lot but it may make a noticeable difference when your next bill comes from your web host provider. Another opportunity to improve the amount of bandwidth you site uses is to take advantage of Cascading Style sheets as it is based around HTML files and these have a much smaller size.

Handy hints for your bandwidth:

* Keep an eye on your website and organize a running total of how many visitors are using your site and make a prediction of how many will come in the next few months. Being equipped with a rough guide for your monthly use can reduce any shocks that come in your next bill.

* There are options to buy un-metered bandwidth hosting. In such a plan you are charged higher than nay normal shared or dedicated hosting plan and in return the usage will be unlimited. The host won't monitor the bandwidth rating which is reflected on the left hand side of the control panel.

* Be sure to keep a note of any alterations that are made to your website. Knowing the up to date size of your site will allow you to accurately forecast your bandwidth usage and bills.

* If you can, keep the number of visitors comments to a minimum. You may wish to allow only pre-approved or carefully selected comments onto your site.

* Have a conversation with your provider about being to improve your services. A rise in your usage may not lead to a rise in the amount of bandwidth being used. However, you may be able to benefit by eliminating any files that are no longer required.

* Rather than hosting things like Java Script within your site, try having them hosted with an external agent.

* If you resize any of your graphics or logo, remember to refresh and upload to ensure your bandwidth usage is kept to a minimum.

Last remarks:

There are many places to get advice on how best to use your bandwidth but the strongest advice would come from your web host. The advice that is offered by the firm should also be factored into the decision you make about provider to go with. There are many factors that will impact on how much your bandwidth costs you but the layout and content will have a lot to do with it. The amount of different factors that can have an influence on the cost involved means the support and advice from your web provider can be a vital factor in keeping your expenditure within budget. This support can be extremely helpful in combating in bandwidth theft. This occurs when other web users place links to graphics and images that are held on your site by linking to them from their site. This is an offense that carries a punishment and is not to be encouraged. This means that if you are advised of undertaking this activity you should always refuse. All decisions in life should feature some form of research and the same can be said for choosing which bandwidth provider to work with. Always be sure to communicate with your web provider to learn the best ways about the best ways to reduce how much bandwidth you use.

About the Author

Published with permission from WebHostingMadness.com. WebHostingMadness.com provides comprehensive reviews and ratings of the best hosting companies on the Internet.

Comments

No comments posted.

You do not have permission to comment. If you log in, you may be able to comment.