As Internet users expect more multimedia content, many businesses are adding video and audio files to their websites. However, it is important to ensure your Web hosting space can handle extra traffic before adding any type of multimedia content.

Before adding content, make sure you have the space to do so before you prevent yourself from receiving email, run out of space halfway through the files you want to add, or worse, crash your website.

Check the size of your website.
This is the total amount of disk space that your entire website takes up, including all text, images and multimedia files.

To check your website’s size, simply select the file it’s saved in and check the file properties. Most sites are well below 1 GB (Socket’s basic web hosting space) but video and audio content can rapidly inflate that number. Be prepared to upgrade if you plan to significantly expand multimedia content.

Ensure adequate transfer bandwidth.
The amount of transfer bandwidth— or network traffic—needed in a Web hosting package depends on both the website’s size and the number of visitors expected.

For most websites with text and images, 3-5 GB should be plenty. If users are expected to download large multimedia files, or if more than 500 visitors are expected per day, consider a package with more transfer bandwidth.