Web Host - Bandwidth

• Total = visits a day * page views per visit * average page size * 30 (number of days a month)

Example for a site with 1000 visits a day, 4 page views per visit, and a page size of 45KB (kilobyte):

• 1000 * 4 * 45KB * 30 = 4,500,000KB = 4,500 MB = 4.5 GB

This web site would require a plan with a minimum of 4.5 GB of bandwidth a month. However, to allow for growth, it would be wise to choose a plan with excess bandwidth, in case there is an unusually large amount of visitors in a month.
 

• Bits per second: How communication devices are rated. Kilo means 1,000 and mega means 1,000,000. Examples include 56k modem and 10Mbit Ethernet.


• Bytes per second: The way data is measured on your hard drive and how file sharing and FTP programs measure transfer speeds. Kilo is 1,024 and mega is 1,048,576.

Bandwidth Data Transfer
Bandwidth is essentially a fixed amount of data that can travel over the Internet during a set period of time. In other words, it is the amount of data that is transferred from your website to another computer. The more visitors you have, the more bandwidth you’ll need to deliver your website to those computers.

Traveling from one computer to another is timed in bits per second (or bps). One bit is equivalent to one binary digit of information. That binary digit is then used to form the text, graphics, and designs you see on your website.

• A file compression utility can save space by compressing your graphic and image without distorting the image itself.
• Instead of loading a large picture to your web host then using html coding to make it appear smaller when viewed, load the correct size image.
• Write tight coding. Avoid duplicating “rules” and use script whenever possible.
• Only offer .pdf files or downloads when they truly benefit your company.
• Avoid offering RSS feeds that do not help promote your company or sale a product.
• Drop forums that don’t somehow contribute to the success of your business.
• Use your robots.txt file to ban search engines from crawling web pages you do not want the public to view. You can also ban search engines from caching images.
• Store your cascading style sheets in a file of their own.
• Keep an eye out for unusual traffic as some people steal bandwidth by linking to your images instead of purchasing their own images.

Now go out and purchase web space for your domain and get off those free web servers!