Image hosting is a popular way of sharing your photos with relatives, friends and associates on the internet. It is smart  and easy way of maintaining contact with people you’ve left at home when on a trip. For this you need an image hosting software to be able to host images on the internet. There is a lot of image hosting software available for download on the internet. That is why it is not easy choosing one out of the many. Here are a few tips to help you choose the best image hosting software that meets your needs.

Tip #1: Purpose of your image hosting site

The main purpose of your image hosting site should guide your choice of image hosting software. If you are setting up a personal image hosting website for private use,  you might consider any of the free software available. Most of the software available offer limited features and functionalities, but are ok for personal use.

However, if you are setting up the image hosting site for public and commercial use, you will need to acquire professional software with enough functionality that supports such a purpose.

Tip #2: Find out about what the software can do

The basic feature of all image hosting script or software is enable  photo uploads for you. But good software should  also give you other features that improve on the appearance of the photos. Find out whether the selected software will allow you to edit uploaded photos and organize them into albums and slideshows.

If the website is for commercial purposes, the software should allow for both free and paid services with different kinds of subscription options – monthly and yearly for example. Also, the amount of photos you can upload with the image hosting software is  important. There are some script  that allow for unlimited uploads while others limit the number of uploads.

Tip #3: Ease of use

Is the image hosting software you choose is easy to install and use? Does it have a easy and simple user friendly interface? These are the major questions you should ask when making your decision. In addition, the software should be easy to install; it should come with a straightforward installation wizard that takes you through the installation process.

Tip #4: Look for availability of technical support

You should be sure that after installation of the script, there will be technical support anytime you experience difficulty. Part of these should be availability of updates to keep the software in tune with current developments in technology. Technical support is very much essential for people involved in commercial image hosting.

Tip #5: What others say about the software

Good software should receive favorable comments from previous users and you can easily find how people who have used the feel about the software you have chosen in reviews and feedback. It is not enough to read one or two of these especially when choosing software for commercial purposes. Take your time with patience to see if there is enough positive feedback about the software before you buy it.

Tip #6: Price

How much does it cost to acquire, install, run and maintain the software? To a very large extent, the price of a  software determines its quality. But there is really no need paying very huge sums of money for a piece of software.

When the above tips  are followed, you are almost guaranteed a successful image hosting business. You must however know that the image hosting business is not an instant get rich  scheme. First You need to select the best and free image hosting script available. There are various free photo gallery software available which can help you in setting up your image hosting business.