| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | transfer per month should suffice. For sites that get |
| One of the most common concerns people have | | | | more than 500 visitors per day, or those that offer |
| when deciding to host a web site is figuring out how | | | | numerous large files for download, it may be wise to |
| much bandwidth they’ll need. Get too little | | | | secure a hosting plan with 50 gigabytes of data |
| bandwidth and you might be hit with overage fees or | | | | transfer per month — or more. It is important to |
| have your web site shut off altogether. Get too much | | | | note that most web hosts quote your allotted |
| and you’re paying for bandwidth that you | | | | bandwidth in per month terms, when in fact that |
| don’t really need. The following is a helpful guide | | | | number is actually broken down to a per day |
| for determining the amount of bandwidth that’s | | | | limit. For example: one web site of mine has 125GB of |
| right for your web site. | | | | allotted bandwidth/data transfer per month. Sounds like |
| Every time someone views a web page or | | | | a lot doesn’t it? It is. However, in reality that |
| downloads a file, bandwidth — also known as | | | | equates to about 4.2GB of bandwidth per day. One |
| data transfer - is used. How much is used depends on | | | | day, several months ago, I made a large (12 |
| the size of the page or file that is being viewed or | | | | megabyte) video available for download on this web |
| downloaded. Essentially, the amount of bandwidth that | | | | site. It received over 400 downloads within the first |
| your web site will need depends on two key factors: | | | | two hours! That amounted to 4800 megabytes (MB) |
| (1) Web site content and file size (2) Web site traffic | | | | of data transfer, or 4.8 gigabytes. You guessed it, I |
| popularity. Let’s look at a few web site | | | | exceeded my daily bandwidth allowance and my site |
| examples to get an idea of what their bandwidth | | | | was disabled for 24 hours. Lesson learned? Either |
| requirements might be, and why. | | | | order more bandwidth or adjust my web site content |
| Let’s start with web sites that have | | | | to fall within my bandwidth limitations. Not wanting to |
| high-bandwidth requirements. If you have a web site | | | | pony up the dough and purchase more bandwidth, I |
| that has large-sized content and gets a huge amount | | | | removed the video. |
| of traffic, you’re going to need a lot of | | | | While we’re on the topic of daily bandwidth |
| bandwidth. An example of a web site that requires a | | | | limits, I’d also like to point out that if you’re |
| lot of bandwidth would be This web site is comprised | | | | hosting with a free host — such as Yahoo! |
| of thousands of pages, and almost all of those pages | | | | Geocities — prepare for bandwidth limitations of |
| are packed with images and video clips. Simply | | | | just 3-5 megabytes per day. This means that you |
| viewing the pages uses a lot of bandwidth, and of | | | | won’t be hosting any video clips or large |
| course downloading the video clips uses a TON of | | | | downloads for long. I once had a web site hosted with |
| bandwidth. Combine this with the fact that this web | | | | Geocities that consisted of just one page — |
| site probably gets tens of thousands of visitors per | | | | one single page. The page was filled with tons of |
| day and you can see that its bandwidth requirements | | | | sports car images both big and small. Once my site |
| are quite extensive. | | | | started to get 100 visitors per day, even that amount |
| At the other end of the spectrum we have | | | | of traffic caused me to exceed my daily bandwidth |
| low-bandwidth web sites. A good example of a web | | | | limit. As a result, my site was shut down almost every |
| site that requires a relatively low amount of bandwidth | | | | day, for a period of several months, due to continually |
| is my own site Take a good look around this site and | | | | exceeding my daily bandwidth limit. |
| you’ll notice that its layout is very simple | | | | The point I am trying to make with this article is that |
| — this simple design is intentional to ensure fast | | | | with proper preparation and web site design, you can |
| page loads. My web site has about 20 pages total, and | | | | ensure that you always have enough bandwidth to go |
| most of those pages are pure text, and therefore | | | | around. Here are a few tips to keep in mind: |
| have a very small file size. Even though I get a good | | | | 1) When building a new web site, try to make the |
| amount of traffic to this web site, its bandwidth | | | | pages as small (file size) as possible. There are many |
| requirements are very low because all the files that | | | | free tools out there that will tell you the size of your |
| are viewed are very small and require very little | | | | pages and can also compress them to make them |
| bandwidth to serve up. My web site can get | | | | more compact. |
| thousands of visitors per day and not break a sweat. | | | | 2) When using images on your web site, try not to go |
| Now that we’ve looked at examples of high | | | | crazy — keep the number of images to a |
| and low-bandwidth web sites, it’s probably a | | | | minimum. If you must use tons of images, try a .jpeg or |
| good time for me to mention that many web sites on | | | | .gif compression tool to make the images as small as |
| the Internet fall into neither of these categories. Rather, | | | | possible. |
| your average web site is more of a | | | | 3) Make a concerted effort not to offer too many files |
| medium-bandwidth web site, meaning that it is a cross | | | | for download. If for some reason you feel that you |
| between the high and low-bandwidth web sites that | | | | need to offer hundreds of downloadable files, try to |
| we discussed above. Pinpointing the optimal bandwidth | | | | select ones that are small (1-2 megs) in size. |
| for medium-bandwidth web sites can be difficult, but | | | | By following the tips above, you’ll be able to |
| with proper planning you should be able to get pretty | | | | more accurately predict your bandwidth needs based |
| close. | | | | on your web site content and estimated traffic. |
| The average web site contains a mix of text and | | | | Obviously these tips are only general guidelines |
| images throughout its pages, and may or may not | | | | — the true test is launching your web site and |
| offer files for download. The average web site also | | | | carefully observing and monitoring your bandwidth |
| gets average traffic, meaning anywhere from 50-500 | | | | usage patterns for several months. Inevitably you may |
| visitors per day. Assuming these factors, a hosting plan | | | | need to alter your web site layout/content from time |
| with anywhere from 3-5 gigabytes (GB) of data | | | | to time to stay within your monthly bandwidth limits. |