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by: MattHedges
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"Bandwidth" is a title that you may have heard many web hosts, including your own, discussing from time to time. A simple definition of this term is that is how much data is passed over an internet connection from one set to another. Bandwidth is one of the most important services that a web host can provide and is usually measured in how bits are sent each second. The amount of data being used on a website varies depending on what the the website is being used for. Sites where there is a lot of interaction and communication will take up a bigger bandwidth and this means sites like forums or blogs take up more bandwidth than a more common website. These sites offer far more interaction with the opportunity to load up content and add debate or opinions which is why they take up more bandwidth. These websites will have a greater amount of traffic in comparison to standard websites provided by firms which is another reason why in comparison, the amount of bandwidth that is used by communication or network sites will be much higher.

It may help to break down how you can calculate your monthly website usage and this can be done very simply. The first step should be determining how much bandwidth your website uses, for calculation sake, lets say 20KB. The next step is to work out how many visits your site has per day, which for simplicity sake we shall say is ten hits. This calculations means your daily usage equates to 20 x 10. To get your monthly usage, you simply multiply your daily usage by the number of the days in the month. An important thing to remember is that some providers may list the bandwidth in bytes as opposed to bites.

8 bits = 1 byte and 1024 bytes = 1 Kilobytes

The heavy images on websites and too many feedbacks from the customers waste bandwidth. Moreover, if the user tends to download heavy items from the web then he/she would be expecting heavy consumption of bandwidth as well. Therefore, if you want your website to be filled up with videos, graphics and information then make sure that the bandwidth provided by your web host matches with your requirements. Some of the web hosts promise to provide large number of such services but later they turn their faces. Hence, in this respect proper selection of the hosts is also demanded.

Work out how much bandwidth you require.

When you are considering the amount of bandwidth that your site will require, there are many things to consider. There are many influences on the answer that is best for you and particular attention must be attributed to mathematic and technical issues. The available bandwidth will limit the amount of items you can offer on your website so for current and future projects, consideration has to be made. Given that it is likely you will want to update your website over time, it is advisable to leave some bandwidth in store to allow for progression. Allowing yourself the opportunity to contemplate how much bandwidth is needed for your site can allow you to make the best decision possible. A good way to get the best advice is to ask your web provider for advice about what would be the best product for you. The simplest way to determine the amount of bandwidth you need to use is on a monthly basis and this is why the majority of providers offer measurements in this manner. A way to measure bandwidth can be seen as:

Average Page Views x Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Size Fudge Factor x 30

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

[(Visitors per day x number of pages looked at x size of the page) added to (the size of downloads per day x the size of the file downloaded) times the maximum number of days in a month (31) times by a variable factor.

Note: These calculations have been created to work with the average figures for each element.

Relation between bandwidth and traffic:

There is a strong correlation between bandwidth usage and the amount of traffic a website gets. The best judge of this is quite often the visitors to a website as they will have first hand experience of undertaking actions of the site. This can be seen if a visitor wishes to download a music track or a video from the site. This creates traffic between the visitors' computer and the website. The bandwidth this takes up can be very low if the user has a rapid internet connection, which helps the file to download in a short space of time. The opposite can be said if the user has a very slow connection and this will result in a long download time and a large amount of bandwidth being used. This is very important if you are trying to keep note of how many bits are being transferred as this is what is classed as traffic.

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

We all dread bills and an unexpected bill can really cause panic and problems to a person. If you exceed your bandwidth amount, your provider is well within their rights to charge you for this as well as send you a reminder to keep your usage down. This may obviously cause you problems and you could be wondering how you can fix this problem.

Every website is comprised of a number of files and each file on the website takes up so much space. If a visitor to your website comes along and uses these files, this will increase your bandwidth usage. As it is your website, you have the option to control aspects on your website and it is possible to alter how often a file gets used. By limiting the number of images or downloadable items you have available on your site, you can further reduce the bandwidth that is being used on your site. Considering that these files can have a huge size and if they are being downloaded by many users, the overall impact on your bandwidth usage can be very damaging. Altering certain things on your website can also help to reduce its use. For instance, if there is an image or file on your website that is downloaded every time a visitor hits your site, there will be an excessive amount of bandwidth being used. The first action may be too remove the offending file but if this is not an option open to you, you may wish to lower the size of the file. If you are able to do this, you should be rewarded with a lower bill the following month from your bandwidth provider. Another way to look at reducing your bandwidth use is to check for cascading style sheets as they are able to make the size of your HTML files much smaller.

Ways to improve your bandwidth use:

* Be able to have a rough estimate of the amount of visitors that access your site or may be likely to access your site at a later date. You can see why it can be of use to have a projection for monthly usage.

* It may be possible to purchase a meter free bandwidth facility. This facility may feature a higher than usual cost compared to a limited bandwidth provision but clearly there is no risk of going beyond a pre-set limit. The bandwidth rating is contained on your control panel but it will not be continually assessed by your web host.

* When altering your website, ensure you make a note of the changes to allow your estimates to be up to date and more accurate.

* Try to cut down the inputs from any visitors on your sites. Allow only selected visitors to make comments on your website.

* Be sure to communicate regularly with your web provider and seek their advice on how best to maintain or improve your website. Not every change will lead to a rise in the amount of bandwidth your site uses but there can be positive impacts as well. By removing any files that are no longer deemed necessary can free up bandwidth to be used for other purposes.

* If you use JavaScript then instead of embedding it in each page, use it externally.

* Bandwidth can be eaten up by graphics with a large size so always ensure to load up graphics that have been reduced in size.

Last points you should remember:

Your web host provider is a great source of ideas and information. This is why finding the best one to forge a partnership with can make a huge difference to your site. There are so many different issues that will affect your bandwidth that choosing the right provider can inform you of what is right for you. One issue that is becoming more of a threat is bandwidth theft. It is regularly used by other websites and it is the process of using another sites graphics and pictures by linking to them. This is illegal and should not be undertaken under any circumstances. Some web host providers may tell a new user that it is okay to do this but you should never commit bandwidth theft. You can benefit from having a level of knowledge before you start discussions with your web host so doing some research is a great start. Knowing a little bit about the subject will help you greatly but be sure to listen to the technical tips and tricks that a bandwidth provider may be able to tell you to reduce your bandwidth usage.

About the Author

Republished with permission from WebHostingMadness.com, a provider of hosting company ratings, articles and helpful guides on the web hosting industry.

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