When you start looking for a reliable web hosting company, a lot of service providers will claim to be the best. However, there are very few who can actually fulfill their promises and deliver quality service. Mostly, it is just marketing and nothing more. The indications of a good web hosting company are excellent loading efficiency and maximum uptime. All services must be user-friendly.
Any web hosting company will have to work hard to cater to customer expectations. Their website designers and developers will have to put maximum potential into developing websites that are well equipped with all the features needed by the customer.
Proper attention needs to be paid towards services that are offered to the customers. If these are not satisfactory, then web hosts will suffer loss in income and goodwill as well as loss of business.
Inefficient commercial web hosting companies can ruin the earning capacity of your internet based business. In such conditions, a common problem suffered by website owners is of downtime. Other than that, such web hosting providers don’t even backup their servers on frequent basis and lack proper security from intruders and infringement such as hacking and spamming.
This brings us to an important part of the selection process of your web hosting provider. When you start your search, look for the following features in a commercial web hosting service:
1. Reliability of the web servers of commercial web hosting service provider.
2. Admittance options open to websites in the web hosting package.
3. Features for using email that is provided by the commercial web hosting service.
4. Provision of overall back-up procedures.
5. Past experience in dealing with web hosting services.
6. Constancy and information about downtime of the commercial web hosting service.
7. Technical support for quick solution of any problems.
8. Statistics and reports regarding website performance and traffic analysis.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Basics Of Cheap Homepages Web Hosting Packages
When a large number of cheap web hosting packages are available, you won’t need to go for an expensive paid web hosting package. Along with cheap hosting, free web hosting is also an option that you can go for.
Free web hosting is only suitable for you is your web hosting requirements are limited. This is because free web hosting plans offer limited bandwidth and lesser disk space. The websites with high end requirements like e-business and online forums usually require more disk space, bandwidth, database support and many more. These services come along with the professional homepages that are also cheap homepage web hosting packages.
Once you have determined the purpose and requirements of your website, it will not be difficult to find the right web hosting company. You can check the features of free homepages hosting packages. Otherwise, inexpensive web hosting packages are a better option for you.
While looking for a cheap web hosting package, don’t forget to compare various packages and also consider your web hosting needs. Some of the other things which must be kept in mind include the following:
a. paid packages are bound to offer higher bandwidth than the free packages. This is a major requirement for websites with online applications, discussion forums and database transactions.
b. phone and email based customer support should be offered by cheap homepages web hosting packages. For database access, a DBMS like MySQL should be supported. Free homepages building tools are also offered by some paid packages for developing a website easily and quickly.
c. a higher amount of disk space must be provided in paid web hosting packages as compared to free web hosting service.
d. the uptime ratio of the website should be high (at least 99%). This will ensure that your website remains accessible to viewers for most of the time.
e. along with web hosting, it is always better to get web promotion services. Other factors to be considered include bandwidth, file size limits and POP mailboxes packages.
Free web hosting is only suitable for you is your web hosting requirements are limited. This is because free web hosting plans offer limited bandwidth and lesser disk space. The websites with high end requirements like e-business and online forums usually require more disk space, bandwidth, database support and many more. These services come along with the professional homepages that are also cheap homepage web hosting packages.
Once you have determined the purpose and requirements of your website, it will not be difficult to find the right web hosting company. You can check the features of free homepages hosting packages. Otherwise, inexpensive web hosting packages are a better option for you.
While looking for a cheap web hosting package, don’t forget to compare various packages and also consider your web hosting needs. Some of the other things which must be kept in mind include the following:
a. paid packages are bound to offer higher bandwidth than the free packages. This is a major requirement for websites with online applications, discussion forums and database transactions.
b. phone and email based customer support should be offered by cheap homepages web hosting packages. For database access, a DBMS like MySQL should be supported. Free homepages building tools are also offered by some paid packages for developing a website easily and quickly.
c. a higher amount of disk space must be provided in paid web hosting packages as compared to free web hosting service.
d. the uptime ratio of the website should be high (at least 99%). This will ensure that your website remains accessible to viewers for most of the time.
e. along with web hosting, it is always better to get web promotion services. Other factors to be considered include bandwidth, file size limits and POP mailboxes packages.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Web Hosting Forums For Choosing The Right Support
In the internet world, virtually hundreds of web hosting companies offer different packages to the customers with attractive features and prices. This can make your search for the best web-hosting provider confusing and overwhelming.
Even though certain websites give reviews on web hosting providers, you can never be sure if the content of the reviews are unbiased or another form of advertisement or promotion. After all, your website is critical to the success of your online business.
The best way to obtain unbiased information about web hosting and the best providers is to enquire and ask about it from different web hosting forums. When you search through these forums, it gives you the best leads for web hosting companies as well as gives you information, answers about technical issues and other concerns about web hosting.
The web gurus can be a great option to bail you out of your web hosting problems. If a critical client depends on your website for services, you will need to maintain it in top condition at all times.
Most of the members who post in web hosting forums are just like you and have their own websites. This means that you can relate to them easily and ask questions about their websites. In this way, web hosting forums can be a great help!
When you experience a web hosting problem, it is very much possible that someone else has gone through the same problem before. Webmasters can unite in one place and discuss issues about web hosting, applications, hosting features and other concerns through web hosting forums.
Both beginners and advanced webmasters can benefit from web hosting forums as they share techniques, tested methods, marketing strategies and other information pertaining to the success of a website.
More than helping you solve your problems and improving your website, web hosting forums also inform you about the latest products and news about information technology, the World Wide Web and new software to make your task smooth and convenient.
With the help of this wonderful tool, you can expect unbiased information, advice, troubleshooting and other important information about web hosting from different webmasters in the worldwide market.
Even though certain websites give reviews on web hosting providers, you can never be sure if the content of the reviews are unbiased or another form of advertisement or promotion. After all, your website is critical to the success of your online business.
The best way to obtain unbiased information about web hosting and the best providers is to enquire and ask about it from different web hosting forums. When you search through these forums, it gives you the best leads for web hosting companies as well as gives you information, answers about technical issues and other concerns about web hosting.
The web gurus can be a great option to bail you out of your web hosting problems. If a critical client depends on your website for services, you will need to maintain it in top condition at all times.
Most of the members who post in web hosting forums are just like you and have their own websites. This means that you can relate to them easily and ask questions about their websites. In this way, web hosting forums can be a great help!
When you experience a web hosting problem, it is very much possible that someone else has gone through the same problem before. Webmasters can unite in one place and discuss issues about web hosting, applications, hosting features and other concerns through web hosting forums.
Both beginners and advanced webmasters can benefit from web hosting forums as they share techniques, tested methods, marketing strategies and other information pertaining to the success of a website.
More than helping you solve your problems and improving your website, web hosting forums also inform you about the latest products and news about information technology, the World Wide Web and new software to make your task smooth and convenient.
With the help of this wonderful tool, you can expect unbiased information, advice, troubleshooting and other important information about web hosting from different webmasters in the worldwide market.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Web Hosting For Personal Websites
Web hosting is a great way to house your website on a web server. It will be stored in a secure and controlled environment permanently connected to the internet so that other people can view and browse your website.
In order to participate in online business, data sharing, information and knowledge gathering and sharing over the World Wide Web (www), you need to have your own share of the virtual space to host the information regarding the web pages of your site.
A web server is a computer that stores websites over the internet. When a request for a particular URL is entered in a search engine, the web browser sends request to the server that fetches the default/index page of that website and shows it in your browser.
There is a cost attached to the web hosting service of storing and delivering web pages to the internet. The monthly or annual fees paid as rent to the web hosting provider is the charge for setup, maintenance and configuration of the website on their servers.
A great amount of buzz surrounds free web hosting but it has its own set of disadvantages like:
1) They earn money by placing advertisements on your website.
2) Costly web packages are offered for providing free web hosting.
3) There is no focus on the quality of technical support or client satisfaction.
4) You may be offered free web hosting to upgrade to a costlier package by certain web hosting companies.
If you are looking for quality product and services, you must forget about the free web hosting service. Start looking for the best rated web host that has good features but is still affordable. A great number of web hosting companies provide small business web hosting services including domain name registration, email services and databases.
Do you homework and you will certainly find a reliable web host that can support your personal website in the right way.
In order to participate in online business, data sharing, information and knowledge gathering and sharing over the World Wide Web (www), you need to have your own share of the virtual space to host the information regarding the web pages of your site.
A web server is a computer that stores websites over the internet. When a request for a particular URL is entered in a search engine, the web browser sends request to the server that fetches the default/index page of that website and shows it in your browser.
There is a cost attached to the web hosting service of storing and delivering web pages to the internet. The monthly or annual fees paid as rent to the web hosting provider is the charge for setup, maintenance and configuration of the website on their servers.
A great amount of buzz surrounds free web hosting but it has its own set of disadvantages like:
1) They earn money by placing advertisements on your website.
2) Costly web packages are offered for providing free web hosting.
3) There is no focus on the quality of technical support or client satisfaction.
4) You may be offered free web hosting to upgrade to a costlier package by certain web hosting companies.
If you are looking for quality product and services, you must forget about the free web hosting service. Start looking for the best rated web host that has good features but is still affordable. A great number of web hosting companies provide small business web hosting services including domain name registration, email services and databases.
Do you homework and you will certainly find a reliable web host that can support your personal website in the right way.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
What Is Virtual Web Hosting?
To build a website and maintain it requires a lot of work and can prove to be complicated, time-consuming and costly for individuals and small and large scale companies. It is a good idea to help from service providers that specialize in all aspects of web hosting.
Apart from providing you a space in the server where you can store information in your website and a steady internet connection, many web hosting companies also provide additional services that may include:
a. Domain name registration
b. Renewal of domain name
c. Email web hosting
d. Data transfer
e. Directory protection
f. Backup services
g. Technical support
Virtual web hosting is one of the methods used by web hosting companies. This allows them to host different domains on one computer or server. Thus, if you decide to get a virtual web host, you are only renting a space in the huge server and sharing it with many other domains.
Also known as shared web hosting, virtual web hosting is the cheapest and most efficient form of getting your website a place on the World Wide Web. For about $4 per month, you can use 300 GB disk space of a server. Usually, a web server has more than 2 GB of RAM so they can house several website domains on a single disk.
Basically, there are two kinds of virtual web hosting services:
1) Name based
2) IP based
In name based virtual web hosting, only one IP address is used by various host names while in IP based virtual web hosting, every web server that is configured with several virtual network interfaces on one physical interface, has its own IP address.
Like all other types of web hosting, there are some drawbacks of virtual web hosting. For one, you may experience problems encountered by other domains that share the server. Also, there may be lesser bandwidth, security and technical support services as compared to dedicated web hosting.
Apart from providing you a space in the server where you can store information in your website and a steady internet connection, many web hosting companies also provide additional services that may include:
a. Domain name registration
b. Renewal of domain name
c. Email web hosting
d. Data transfer
e. Directory protection
f. Backup services
g. Technical support
Virtual web hosting is one of the methods used by web hosting companies. This allows them to host different domains on one computer or server. Thus, if you decide to get a virtual web host, you are only renting a space in the huge server and sharing it with many other domains.
Also known as shared web hosting, virtual web hosting is the cheapest and most efficient form of getting your website a place on the World Wide Web. For about $4 per month, you can use 300 GB disk space of a server. Usually, a web server has more than 2 GB of RAM so they can house several website domains on a single disk.
Basically, there are two kinds of virtual web hosting services:
1) Name based
2) IP based
In name based virtual web hosting, only one IP address is used by various host names while in IP based virtual web hosting, every web server that is configured with several virtual network interfaces on one physical interface, has its own IP address.
Like all other types of web hosting, there are some drawbacks of virtual web hosting. For one, you may experience problems encountered by other domains that share the server. Also, there may be lesser bandwidth, security and technical support services as compared to dedicated web hosting.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Questions To Ask Your Web Hosting Company
If you have realized that you need a web hosting service for your website and are evaluating several service providers, it is essential to create a list of questions that you just can’t forget to ask the future web hosting company for your website. Whenever you come across unfamiliar terms and elements of the web hosting world, the list will help you to concentrate on the main parameters and choose a reliable web host.
So, here are some of the typical questions which need to be considered while choosing a web hosting provider from among the hundreds of them who claim to be the best.
Q 1. What is the need for web hosting?
Web hosting allows your website to be available on the World Wide Web. Your website files are placed on the server connected to the internet with high bandwidth capacity. It is not possible for your web site to exist without a web server. If you are technically skilled, you can host your website even on your personal computer but relying on a professional web hosting company is always advisable.
Q 2. Why do I need to pay for web hosting?
You will come across free as well as paid web hosting companies. If you are concerned about website uptime, security and download speed, it would be better to go for paid web hosting service. This is especially recommended for ecommerce websites to ensure fast loading, no obligations to place ads on your web pages and will also give more confidence in the web hosting provider.
Q 3. Will I get any money back guarantee?
A good web hosting company will definitely offer money back guarantee. According to web hosting standards, the host must provide any-time money back guarantee, 30-days 100% money back guarantee and uptime guarantee.
Q 4. What features will I get in a web hosting package?
Ecommerce websites are hardly complete without shopping cart software. When you are searching for the ideal hosting package, don’t forget to ask for features like shopping cart, email addresses, sub domains, SSL encryption, etc. web statistics are also an important part of a web hosting package. This helps in tracking the visitor usage patterns and uses the stats for internet marketing analysis.
Apart from these questions, you can ask about any other issue that you feel is important to the website performance and growth. Make sure that you understand all terms and conditions of the service agreement before signing it. After all, your online business deserves the best and most affordable web hosting service possible.
So, here are some of the typical questions which need to be considered while choosing a web hosting provider from among the hundreds of them who claim to be the best.
Q 1. What is the need for web hosting?
Web hosting allows your website to be available on the World Wide Web. Your website files are placed on the server connected to the internet with high bandwidth capacity. It is not possible for your web site to exist without a web server. If you are technically skilled, you can host your website even on your personal computer but relying on a professional web hosting company is always advisable.
Q 2. Why do I need to pay for web hosting?
You will come across free as well as paid web hosting companies. If you are concerned about website uptime, security and download speed, it would be better to go for paid web hosting service. This is especially recommended for ecommerce websites to ensure fast loading, no obligations to place ads on your web pages and will also give more confidence in the web hosting provider.
Q 3. Will I get any money back guarantee?
A good web hosting company will definitely offer money back guarantee. According to web hosting standards, the host must provide any-time money back guarantee, 30-days 100% money back guarantee and uptime guarantee.
Q 4. What features will I get in a web hosting package?
Ecommerce websites are hardly complete without shopping cart software. When you are searching for the ideal hosting package, don’t forget to ask for features like shopping cart, email addresses, sub domains, SSL encryption, etc. web statistics are also an important part of a web hosting package. This helps in tracking the visitor usage patterns and uses the stats for internet marketing analysis.
Apart from these questions, you can ask about any other issue that you feel is important to the website performance and growth. Make sure that you understand all terms and conditions of the service agreement before signing it. After all, your online business deserves the best and most affordable web hosting service possible.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Specialty Web Hosting For Blogs
Buying a specialty web hosting package may be a better option than shared or dedicated hosting for a weblog owner.
In simple terms, a blog is a simple tool for publishing one’s ideas to the web. Authors can create posts easily and link to related ideas on the web. Also, it is quite easy to update the website while making sure that the words retain a clear, personal voice.
Over the past few years, blogs have emerged as one of the most popular formats for content publishing online. They are used to manage website content, upload photos, collaborate with workers or publish personal journals.
Specialty web hosting packages have emerged as a new and unique breed of hosting services that specifically caters to customers who want to maintain a blog. Blog web hosting services allow customers to access a system that will publish and store their blogs.
You can build and run great weblogs with the help of such web hosting services that make it easy for all internet users to publish online using its drag and drop layout, editing and digital photo management tools, controlling sensitive or confidential information, etc. some of the specialty web hosts are quite comprehensive.
They not only allow the consumers to share content, but also decide what medium to publish to. Users can publish to email, the Web and even to cellular phone. You can even create websites without being a skilled or professional webmaster. There is no need to learn HTML or download and install special software.
If you already have sufficient web hosting space with a web hosting provider, you can opt for a blog service that will publish the blog and all its associated content to your existing site. You can even edit messages and define FTP information about the hosting service through the control panel. The site design can be selected from a stock of design templates offered by the web host. For getting all these services as pat of blog web hosting, you will have to pay a small fees.
While searching for the ideal web hosting service for your blog, don’t forget to ask the provider about the scalability of the hosting environment. Blogs can be demanding applications with heavy traffic loads on servers. As a result, you need to be sure that the host is capable of handling the type of traffic your blog can generate.
In simple terms, a blog is a simple tool for publishing one’s ideas to the web. Authors can create posts easily and link to related ideas on the web. Also, it is quite easy to update the website while making sure that the words retain a clear, personal voice.
Over the past few years, blogs have emerged as one of the most popular formats for content publishing online. They are used to manage website content, upload photos, collaborate with workers or publish personal journals.
Specialty web hosting packages have emerged as a new and unique breed of hosting services that specifically caters to customers who want to maintain a blog. Blog web hosting services allow customers to access a system that will publish and store their blogs.
You can build and run great weblogs with the help of such web hosting services that make it easy for all internet users to publish online using its drag and drop layout, editing and digital photo management tools, controlling sensitive or confidential information, etc. some of the specialty web hosts are quite comprehensive.
They not only allow the consumers to share content, but also decide what medium to publish to. Users can publish to email, the Web and even to cellular phone. You can even create websites without being a skilled or professional webmaster. There is no need to learn HTML or download and install special software.
If you already have sufficient web hosting space with a web hosting provider, you can opt for a blog service that will publish the blog and all its associated content to your existing site. You can even edit messages and define FTP information about the hosting service through the control panel. The site design can be selected from a stock of design templates offered by the web host. For getting all these services as pat of blog web hosting, you will have to pay a small fees.
While searching for the ideal web hosting service for your blog, don’t forget to ask the provider about the scalability of the hosting environment. Blogs can be demanding applications with heavy traffic loads on servers. As a result, you need to be sure that the host is capable of handling the type of traffic your blog can generate.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
All About Shared And Static Web Hosting IP Addresses
One of the most common terms in web hosting technology is IP addresses. Basically, there are two types of IP addresses – static and shared. It is essential to understand the meaning of the term IP first.
When someone types in the address: www.yourdomain.com, that name is converted into numbers and then the computer is directed to that IP address which is the web site. Every website on the internet is found by its IP address and not the domain name.
The format of IP addresses is similar to 192.168.0.1, being four discreet blocks separated by periods. Type the IP address and you will be able to find the website directly.
Remember that every single website doesn’t have an IP address allocated to it specifically. For example: each site on the server does not use different IP addresses. If this were the case, there could potentially be a problem with running out of IP addresses.
A lot of sites on the servers on the internet use one IP address for multiple sites. So you may see two different websites using the same IP address. This also frees up IP address which are a limited resource. When one website is resolved into the IP address, the person looking for that website is sent a page of the site to fulfill their request. Using more than one site on an IP address is called sharing IPs or a shared IP address in web hosting.
If a site has its own IP address and shares with no one else, it is called a static IP address in web hosting. A site with static IP address can always be reached by using its IP address alone but this is not the case for websites with shared IP address because you will reach the server instead of the desired website.
The main reason for taking a static IP address is that you can use SSL encryption on these. In order to transmit sensitive data over the internet, it must be encrypted to avoid someone from intercepting the information. Such system of encryption will not work on websites with shared IP address. Another factor for having static IP address is handling of anonymous FTP transfers.
When someone types in the address: www.yourdomain.com, that name is converted into numbers and then the computer is directed to that IP address which is the web site. Every website on the internet is found by its IP address and not the domain name.
The format of IP addresses is similar to 192.168.0.1, being four discreet blocks separated by periods. Type the IP address and you will be able to find the website directly.
Remember that every single website doesn’t have an IP address allocated to it specifically. For example: each site on the server does not use different IP addresses. If this were the case, there could potentially be a problem with running out of IP addresses.
A lot of sites on the servers on the internet use one IP address for multiple sites. So you may see two different websites using the same IP address. This also frees up IP address which are a limited resource. When one website is resolved into the IP address, the person looking for that website is sent a page of the site to fulfill their request. Using more than one site on an IP address is called sharing IPs or a shared IP address in web hosting.
If a site has its own IP address and shares with no one else, it is called a static IP address in web hosting. A site with static IP address can always be reached by using its IP address alone but this is not the case for websites with shared IP address because you will reach the server instead of the desired website.
The main reason for taking a static IP address is that you can use SSL encryption on these. In order to transmit sensitive data over the internet, it must be encrypted to avoid someone from intercepting the information. Such system of encryption will not work on websites with shared IP address. Another factor for having static IP address is handling of anonymous FTP transfers.
Friday, April 4, 2008
What To Check In A Web Hosting Package?
Simply stated, a web hosting company is a service provider that houses your website on a server connected to the internet. Disk space is rented out to your so that you can get your website on the World Wide Web. Once you have taken a web hosting package, it is not your headache to maintain the complicated server technology and other related aspects. In short, you are free to concentrate on developing and running your website.
To find a good and reliable web hosting package, check for the following features:
1. Disk space
This depends on the nature and size of your website. If there are too many sound, video and graphic images and files, your website will require more disk space than a static, simple site. It’s always better to have some extra disk space left for any increases in your website.
2. Bandwidth
This refers to the amount of data that is transmitted and received through the internet. Bandwidth gets consumed when the visitor makes a request for certain files available on the website and then downloads the same on to his or her computer.
3. Scripting language
Good web hosting companies use UNIX and Linux platforms and scripting languages like php, perl and cgi. There are all different languages provided by the hosting company and you should go for one that offers that latest version.
4. Email account
This facility is provided so that you can check your emails. You also have POP3 email account facility to check emails through Outlook Express, etc.
5. Control panel
Basically, the control panel is an interface for accessing your website on the web server. It allows you to update and customize your website whenever you need to.
One must look for all these features along with several others including backup, FTP accounts, customer and technical support, database support, domain and sub-domain names, etc. a well chosen web hosting package is key for a successful website.
To find a good and reliable web hosting package, check for the following features:
1. Disk space
This depends on the nature and size of your website. If there are too many sound, video and graphic images and files, your website will require more disk space than a static, simple site. It’s always better to have some extra disk space left for any increases in your website.
2. Bandwidth
This refers to the amount of data that is transmitted and received through the internet. Bandwidth gets consumed when the visitor makes a request for certain files available on the website and then downloads the same on to his or her computer.
3. Scripting language
Good web hosting companies use UNIX and Linux platforms and scripting languages like php, perl and cgi. There are all different languages provided by the hosting company and you should go for one that offers that latest version.
4. Email account
This facility is provided so that you can check your emails. You also have POP3 email account facility to check emails through Outlook Express, etc.
5. Control panel
Basically, the control panel is an interface for accessing your website on the web server. It allows you to update and customize your website whenever you need to.
One must look for all these features along with several others including backup, FTP accounts, customer and technical support, database support, domain and sub-domain names, etc. a well chosen web hosting package is key for a successful website.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Professional Web Hosting For Your Website
To be a part of the internet business industry, your website needs a name and an address. In layman terms, the name is the domain name you register which is the address to your website. A web hosting company provides this domain name to your website. Then, it installs your website on its server being connected to the internet. All this means that it is imperative to find a professional, high-end web hosting service provider.
If you look at the kinds of web hosting plans available, you will understand this better. The most basic plan is called shared web hosting. This implies that a number of sites are hosted on a single server. However, critical and extremely resourceful sites prefer to use a dedicated web hosting server.
Selecting a web host that delivers good quality service is not a simple task. There are thousands of web hosting companies that claim to offer professional service yet perform badly. To make an informed decision, you need to keep these things in mind:
a. Check the server platform and hardware. Server platform or operating system can be either Windows or a Unix OS such as Linux. Your choice depends on the type of website you have. For dynamic content, you need to consider the scripts and operating system compatibility. Otherwise, any server will do.
b. Next comes disk space and bandwidth. These determine the amount of data you can store on your site and the volume of data you can send and receive. Your bandwidth requirement depends on anticipated site traffic. A related factor is scalability i.e. future growth of your website should be easy and convenient.
c. Matters like number of email accounts and sub domains also make a difference. As a minimum, you must go for hosting that offers 20 email addresses and 20 sub domains. Still, these numbers can be much higher depending on your requirements. Also make sure that your website hosting services offer a control panel which gives a graphical interface to access configuration and statistics.
d. Don’t forget about reliability, customer service and tech support. Check that the web hosting company offers at least 99% uptime and 24/7 technical support.
Keeping all these issues in mind, you can begin your quest for a reputable ad professional web hosting company. Go online and read about customer reviews of different hosts. Online forums can be great sources of such information. After all, your website is your bread and butter and needs only professional treatment to give great results.
If you look at the kinds of web hosting plans available, you will understand this better. The most basic plan is called shared web hosting. This implies that a number of sites are hosted on a single server. However, critical and extremely resourceful sites prefer to use a dedicated web hosting server.
Selecting a web host that delivers good quality service is not a simple task. There are thousands of web hosting companies that claim to offer professional service yet perform badly. To make an informed decision, you need to keep these things in mind:
a. Check the server platform and hardware. Server platform or operating system can be either Windows or a Unix OS such as Linux. Your choice depends on the type of website you have. For dynamic content, you need to consider the scripts and operating system compatibility. Otherwise, any server will do.
b. Next comes disk space and bandwidth. These determine the amount of data you can store on your site and the volume of data you can send and receive. Your bandwidth requirement depends on anticipated site traffic. A related factor is scalability i.e. future growth of your website should be easy and convenient.
c. Matters like number of email accounts and sub domains also make a difference. As a minimum, you must go for hosting that offers 20 email addresses and 20 sub domains. Still, these numbers can be much higher depending on your requirements. Also make sure that your website hosting services offer a control panel which gives a graphical interface to access configuration and statistics.
d. Don’t forget about reliability, customer service and tech support. Check that the web hosting company offers at least 99% uptime and 24/7 technical support.
Keeping all these issues in mind, you can begin your quest for a reputable ad professional web hosting company. Go online and read about customer reviews of different hosts. Online forums can be great sources of such information. After all, your website is your bread and butter and needs only professional treatment to give great results.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Establish Your Web Presence With Domain Free Web Hosting
Anyone can build a website but the trick is to run it successfully. Domain web hosting allows you to do just that. You don’t have to be experienced with website design or spend too much money. If you are sure about what you want on your website and the image to be projected, a free website using professional online web creation tools can be easily created.
A vast range of free web hosting options are available. So, it is important to carefully read the terms and conditions of service to understand what you will get and how. Some free domain hosting companies may place ads on your website. You must ensure that you have control over the type of advertisements on your site to avoid getting embarrassed later on.
Domain web hosting is an easy, quick and free way to establish a web presence, especially if you don’t expect high traffic. Many web hosting companies will offer this service and website design tools. Of course, they expect you to upgrade to the paid versions as your website grows in size and customer traffic. This will eventually become necessary to keep your online business competitive and satisfy visitors as well as customers.
Some people may tell you that free web hosting generally implies unprofessional looking sites. However, it is not the case anymore. You just need to take the time to compare prices, quality and services offered by different web hosting companies. All that is required is for you to go online and search for reliable web hosting providers that possess all the features that you are looking for.
You can also find web hosting companies that offer free hosting for domain names purchased through them. Still, this form of hosting can be costly if the services are unsatisfactory and ongoing costs of upgraded services are expensive. It is relatively inexpensive to buy domain names so your primary concern should be the benefits derived from it.
As it is, free web hosting is a wonderful opportunity to get an impressive website up and running in a short period of time. Remember that your success will depend on a well-chosen hosting company that has reasonably priced, high quality services. Make sure that you are not permanently locked in the web hosting package. Make a wise decision and you won’t regret it.
A vast range of free web hosting options are available. So, it is important to carefully read the terms and conditions of service to understand what you will get and how. Some free domain hosting companies may place ads on your website. You must ensure that you have control over the type of advertisements on your site to avoid getting embarrassed later on.
Domain web hosting is an easy, quick and free way to establish a web presence, especially if you don’t expect high traffic. Many web hosting companies will offer this service and website design tools. Of course, they expect you to upgrade to the paid versions as your website grows in size and customer traffic. This will eventually become necessary to keep your online business competitive and satisfy visitors as well as customers.
Some people may tell you that free web hosting generally implies unprofessional looking sites. However, it is not the case anymore. You just need to take the time to compare prices, quality and services offered by different web hosting companies. All that is required is for you to go online and search for reliable web hosting providers that possess all the features that you are looking for.
You can also find web hosting companies that offer free hosting for domain names purchased through them. Still, this form of hosting can be costly if the services are unsatisfactory and ongoing costs of upgraded services are expensive. It is relatively inexpensive to buy domain names so your primary concern should be the benefits derived from it.
As it is, free web hosting is a wonderful opportunity to get an impressive website up and running in a short period of time. Remember that your success will depend on a well-chosen hosting company that has reasonably priced, high quality services. Make sure that you are not permanently locked in the web hosting package. Make a wise decision and you won’t regret it.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Web Hosting Technology: PHP, MySQL and ASP.NET
It is a daunting task to choose between LINUX web hosting and Windows web hosting. You need to know the language of your website, before you can determine the platform or type of server you need.
For a simple HTML website or an ecommerce site created with any other programming database feature created in PHP-MySQL, Linux web hosting is the best. If your site is developed with ASP or ASP.NET, then you must be on a Windows server.
All these terms may seem to be technical and complicated but you can understand them by reading on.
ASP.NET web hosting
This is a division of Microsoft’s .NET platform and a successor of Active Server Pages technology. ASP.NET implies a set of web application development technologies that can be used by programmers for building dynamic website applications and XML web services.
Web application creation becomes much simpler as ASP.NET cuts down on the number of codes and provides flexibility to the choice of language by supporting multiple .NET languages. The pages are easy to write and maintain. This type of web hosting is faster and can face a large number of users with consistent performance.
PHP web hosting
It is a reflective programming language or a general purpose server-side scripting language used for web development, i.e., creating dynamic and interactive websites. It can be planted in HTML code and is frequently used with APACHE on various operating systems.
Basically, PHP acts as a filter that takes inputs from a stream or files containing text and PHP instructions and displays a different stream of data.
MySQL web hosting
It is a multi-user, multithreaded computer language designed for management and retrieval of data, control management of database object access and database scheme creation and modification. MySQL is popular for web application, open-source bug tracking tools and also acts as the database component of WAMP, MAMP and LAMP.
For a simple HTML website or an ecommerce site created with any other programming database feature created in PHP-MySQL, Linux web hosting is the best. If your site is developed with ASP or ASP.NET, then you must be on a Windows server.
All these terms may seem to be technical and complicated but you can understand them by reading on.
ASP.NET web hosting
This is a division of Microsoft’s .NET platform and a successor of Active Server Pages technology. ASP.NET implies a set of web application development technologies that can be used by programmers for building dynamic website applications and XML web services.
Web application creation becomes much simpler as ASP.NET cuts down on the number of codes and provides flexibility to the choice of language by supporting multiple .NET languages. The pages are easy to write and maintain. This type of web hosting is faster and can face a large number of users with consistent performance.
PHP web hosting
It is a reflective programming language or a general purpose server-side scripting language used for web development, i.e., creating dynamic and interactive websites. It can be planted in HTML code and is frequently used with APACHE on various operating systems.
Basically, PHP acts as a filter that takes inputs from a stream or files containing text and PHP instructions and displays a different stream of data.
MySQL web hosting
It is a multi-user, multithreaded computer language designed for management and retrieval of data, control management of database object access and database scheme creation and modification. MySQL is popular for web application, open-source bug tracking tools and also acts as the database component of WAMP, MAMP and LAMP.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Budget Web Hosting Plans For Your Website
A lot of people go for a budget web hosting plan for their websites. Still, one needs to be prepared to handle its consequences too. Budget web hosting companies have their own secret way of doing business and this is reflected on their overall performance of the company.
This makes it very important for a customer to find out the different types of features, benefits and facilities involved with the web hosting package which has to be purchased. In case of budget web hosting, you must be aware of the operations of web hosting companies and keep the following things in mind:
1. There are many budget web hosting companies that have no experience or have not been in the market for too long. If you purchase a web hosting service from a brand new, inexperienced company, you will certainly be at a disadvantage. Find a web host with a lot of experience and those who are proud of their service and growth as a web hosting provider.
2. Make sure that you will have to pay less and still get all the benefits offered by a good web hosting company. You will need a 24/7 support system. While most web hosting companies claim to offer this service, only a few will actually provide it. Test them before you sign for their services.
3. Read and understand the service level agreement provided by the web hosting company. If they do not support a SLA, you must not go for this web host. A clear service level agreement helps you tackle issues which might arise after purchasing the web hosting plan.
4. Many budget web hosts claim to be web hosting companies but are actually offering a variety of other business where web hosting is one of the products they deal in. preferably, you should opt for a budget web hosting provider that focuses on hosting alone. Ask them about the same before signing any agreements with them. They must explain the kind of business they are into and sources of revenue. On this basis, you will be able to decide whether a hosting provider is suitable for you or not.
This makes it very important for a customer to find out the different types of features, benefits and facilities involved with the web hosting package which has to be purchased. In case of budget web hosting, you must be aware of the operations of web hosting companies and keep the following things in mind:
1. There are many budget web hosting companies that have no experience or have not been in the market for too long. If you purchase a web hosting service from a brand new, inexperienced company, you will certainly be at a disadvantage. Find a web host with a lot of experience and those who are proud of their service and growth as a web hosting provider.
2. Make sure that you will have to pay less and still get all the benefits offered by a good web hosting company. You will need a 24/7 support system. While most web hosting companies claim to offer this service, only a few will actually provide it. Test them before you sign for their services.
3. Read and understand the service level agreement provided by the web hosting company. If they do not support a SLA, you must not go for this web host. A clear service level agreement helps you tackle issues which might arise after purchasing the web hosting plan.
4. Many budget web hosts claim to be web hosting companies but are actually offering a variety of other business where web hosting is one of the products they deal in. preferably, you should opt for a budget web hosting provider that focuses on hosting alone. Ask them about the same before signing any agreements with them. They must explain the kind of business they are into and sources of revenue. On this basis, you will be able to decide whether a hosting provider is suitable for you or not.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Web Hosting Tips For Effective Opt-In Forms
Email marketing is a very powerful and effective technique of online business marketing. Today, it is one of the most cost effective ways to contact prospects and customers. If you do it well, it can build the value of your brand, enhance sales and keep you linked with the target audience. On the other hand, incorrect use of this technique can get you blacklisted and called spammer by the users you plan to reach.
In contrast to the traditional concept of mass mailing, the process has become much more elaborate these days. This article will throw light on one of the most significant, yet underrated steps in building a successful e-mail marketing campaign.
Sign up form
When you select a web hosting company, you need to make sure that it has experienced and skillful personnel to help you setup and run an effective website(s). It has become very important to make sure that your recipients are opted in i.e. requested themselves to be emailed your information. This can be simply achieved through sign-up forms.
A few pointers for effective creation of sign-up forms, obtained from many reliable and knowledgeable web hosting providers and webmasters include:
a. If your prospective clients are exposed to the sign-up form frequently, there is a greater chance for them to notice it and opt to receive your emails. Be sure not to reach the saturation point, when the reader starts getting annoyed. It will be best to place your forms on top right of the page, left hand navigation bar, bottom of the page.
b. Your opt-in form should be able to convince people to trust you and give their real names and email addresses. You must explain the benefits of subscribing with the help of samples and testimonials. In the end, finish with a strong call to action.
c. A significant rise in opt0in rates can be obtained by using incentives properly. These may be free whitepapers or e-books, free service or opt-in discount and special reports. Don’t forget to fulfill your promise in the incentive. Provide a link to the free product in the welcome message itself.
d. After your form is ready to be put online, go through it yourself and see if you would be irritated by it or find it interesting and easy to use. The user’s preferences must be given priority while planning as well as making the opt-in form for best results.
In contrast to the traditional concept of mass mailing, the process has become much more elaborate these days. This article will throw light on one of the most significant, yet underrated steps in building a successful e-mail marketing campaign.
Sign up form
When you select a web hosting company, you need to make sure that it has experienced and skillful personnel to help you setup and run an effective website(s). It has become very important to make sure that your recipients are opted in i.e. requested themselves to be emailed your information. This can be simply achieved through sign-up forms.
A few pointers for effective creation of sign-up forms, obtained from many reliable and knowledgeable web hosting providers and webmasters include:
a. If your prospective clients are exposed to the sign-up form frequently, there is a greater chance for them to notice it and opt to receive your emails. Be sure not to reach the saturation point, when the reader starts getting annoyed. It will be best to place your forms on top right of the page, left hand navigation bar, bottom of the page.
b. Your opt-in form should be able to convince people to trust you and give their real names and email addresses. You must explain the benefits of subscribing with the help of samples and testimonials. In the end, finish with a strong call to action.
c. A significant rise in opt0in rates can be obtained by using incentives properly. These may be free whitepapers or e-books, free service or opt-in discount and special reports. Don’t forget to fulfill your promise in the incentive. Provide a link to the free product in the welcome message itself.
d. After your form is ready to be put online, go through it yourself and see if you would be irritated by it or find it interesting and easy to use. The user’s preferences must be given priority while planning as well as making the opt-in form for best results.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Web Hosting Tips For Getting Your Website On Top Of Search Engine Results
Everyone will tell you how important it is to get your website on top of search engine listings but very few people will actually tell you how to go about it.
Tip 1 – Domain name selection
The domain name is a very important part of your website. Search engines give great significance to your site name. Moreover, it gives a fair idea to the visitors about what they can expect to see when they visit your website. The layout of the site has to be undertaken with great care. Make sure that the website has good linking structure and all main links are directly accessible from the homepage.
Tip 2 – Structure of directory
Almost all websites have directory structures and these must be planned before building the site. Also, you need to bear in mind that the directories lying too deep can be difficult to scan. This makes it important to take proper care for naming of directories.
Tip 3 – Avoid frames
It is better to get rid of or avoid using frames. Search engines find it difficult to search sites that use frames. Be sure to make use of no frames tags so that the search bots can crawl the sites and get requested information quickly. It will surely help in improving the rankings.
Tip 4 – Use external CSS style sheets
Making use of external style sheets can be a great idea because it reduces the overall complexity of the website. This will ensure efficient crawling by search engines. You must include CSS files in your website and CSS tables instead of the traditional tables.
Tip 5 – Forming and naming files
The file names can be based on title tags to enable better search engine positioning of the keywords.
Tip 6 – Web hosting package
Select a web hosting provider who offers 99% uptime guarantee to ensure that your website can be accessed at anytime by users across the globe. Other factors include bandwidth, data transfer, email accounts, domain and sub-domain names, technical support and customer service.
Tip 7 – Balance graphics and content
Search engines can only see plain HTML code. It becomes important to reduce the amount of graphics on your website. Try to maintain a proper balance between graphics and content.
Tip 8 – Content and link monitoring
It’s best to restrict the number of links on a single page to fifty. Similarly, the content on a single page should be kept between 200 to 1500 words.
Tip 1 – Domain name selection
The domain name is a very important part of your website. Search engines give great significance to your site name. Moreover, it gives a fair idea to the visitors about what they can expect to see when they visit your website. The layout of the site has to be undertaken with great care. Make sure that the website has good linking structure and all main links are directly accessible from the homepage.
Tip 2 – Structure of directory
Almost all websites have directory structures and these must be planned before building the site. Also, you need to bear in mind that the directories lying too deep can be difficult to scan. This makes it important to take proper care for naming of directories.
Tip 3 – Avoid frames
It is better to get rid of or avoid using frames. Search engines find it difficult to search sites that use frames. Be sure to make use of no frames tags so that the search bots can crawl the sites and get requested information quickly. It will surely help in improving the rankings.
Tip 4 – Use external CSS style sheets
Making use of external style sheets can be a great idea because it reduces the overall complexity of the website. This will ensure efficient crawling by search engines. You must include CSS files in your website and CSS tables instead of the traditional tables.
Tip 5 – Forming and naming files
The file names can be based on title tags to enable better search engine positioning of the keywords.
Tip 6 – Web hosting package
Select a web hosting provider who offers 99% uptime guarantee to ensure that your website can be accessed at anytime by users across the globe. Other factors include bandwidth, data transfer, email accounts, domain and sub-domain names, technical support and customer service.
Tip 7 – Balance graphics and content
Search engines can only see plain HTML code. It becomes important to reduce the amount of graphics on your website. Try to maintain a proper balance between graphics and content.
Tip 8 – Content and link monitoring
It’s best to restrict the number of links on a single page to fifty. Similarly, the content on a single page should be kept between 200 to 1500 words.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Web Hosting Services For Small Online Business
The virtual world offers equal opportunity to small and large businesses to explore a global market and audience. As a small business owner, you will need to get a website. However, this alone won’t be good enough. An effective web hosting support is also essential to make your website successful.
If you are not sure where to start, this article will help you understand what needs to be done and how for getting good web hosting for your site. There are plenty of services available that specialize in helping small businesses make their online presence. In many cases, these web hosting service providers will allow you to setup a website with ease, even if you are not equipped with designing skills.
Once your website has been created and developed for launching online, it’s time to learn and implement some strategies to help promote your website. Your website will earn only when you drive traffic toward sit. To start, you need to add your website address to all your business cards, flyers and other advertising media being used. You need to make your customers aware of your new website so that they can visit it online.
If you want to drive traffic to your website, you need to learn some online marketing strategies first. A good press release can be one alternative for spreading the word. It will create a buzz about your website once other related sites publish it on their websites. Make sure that the press release is precise and to the point. Keep it easy to understand and factual.
Another way to promote your website is to incorporate some viral marketing techniques. One way to do this is to write articles about your niche and have them distributed and circulated on the online networks. You can also write a small free report and encourage people to pass it on. These measures will enable you to create a buzz about the website and start branding your business online.
Search engine marketing is also a popular way to get traffic for your website. It will require you to get links to your site. Ask other websites in your business niche to link to your website. You can also submit your site to directories, create RSS feed, and start a blog.
Taking your business online may not be easy but it is definitely necessary in this competitive world. Moreover, it is great for expanding your market and business profitability. All you need to do is find out the most effective strategies that suit your requirements and get a good web hosting service for your website. In the beginning, a shared web hosting package will be good for a small business website. As your customer traffic increase and online business expands, you can upgrade your web hosting support to dedicated web hosting.
If you are not sure where to start, this article will help you understand what needs to be done and how for getting good web hosting for your site. There are plenty of services available that specialize in helping small businesses make their online presence. In many cases, these web hosting service providers will allow you to setup a website with ease, even if you are not equipped with designing skills.
Once your website has been created and developed for launching online, it’s time to learn and implement some strategies to help promote your website. Your website will earn only when you drive traffic toward sit. To start, you need to add your website address to all your business cards, flyers and other advertising media being used. You need to make your customers aware of your new website so that they can visit it online.
If you want to drive traffic to your website, you need to learn some online marketing strategies first. A good press release can be one alternative for spreading the word. It will create a buzz about your website once other related sites publish it on their websites. Make sure that the press release is precise and to the point. Keep it easy to understand and factual.
Another way to promote your website is to incorporate some viral marketing techniques. One way to do this is to write articles about your niche and have them distributed and circulated on the online networks. You can also write a small free report and encourage people to pass it on. These measures will enable you to create a buzz about the website and start branding your business online.
Search engine marketing is also a popular way to get traffic for your website. It will require you to get links to your site. Ask other websites in your business niche to link to your website. You can also submit your site to directories, create RSS feed, and start a blog.
Taking your business online may not be easy but it is definitely necessary in this competitive world. Moreover, it is great for expanding your market and business profitability. All you need to do is find out the most effective strategies that suit your requirements and get a good web hosting service for your website. In the beginning, a shared web hosting package will be good for a small business website. As your customer traffic increase and online business expands, you can upgrade your web hosting support to dedicated web hosting.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Web Hosting Tips To Make Your Website Load Faster
It is important for you to create a website that loads quickly. Any website, no matter how impressive, that loads too slowly will face immense problems in building and retaining a customer base. Potential visitors and customers will simply give up and click on some other website in the meantime.
Another factor that makes this a huge problem is the use of a variety of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and dial-up connection by users. This may result in heavy websites taking a long time to load onto their browser. That’s the last thing they want as it is very frustrating to wait till a page downloads onto the screen. An indication that your website is suffering from this problem is a large number of hits on your home page alone.
It is vital to have a fast load time for your website as well as your online business. many studies have shown that users will click away from your website if it does not load in ten seconds, and sometimes even lesser than that. To make sure that such a problem doesn’t occur, you need to know the download speed and size of all the web pages of your website.
Apart from that, there are a few other things that must be kept in mind to avoid slow load time for your online venture i.e. your website:
#1. Graphics and Applications
If not used properly, graphics can take a long time to load. If you can remove some of them, your load time will automatically improve. Look at the graphics and think about the use of each on the web pages. You might realize that you have too many that are not required. Another good idea is to switch from larger to smaller graphics by using editing tools like Adobe Photoshop.
#2. HTML
There may be some HTML codes that are not required in your web pages. I would recommend you to use CSS when designing your website. This can go a long way in creating a faster loading time for your website. HTML Tidy is an HTML cleaning tool that can help you clean out any unnecessary coding hidden in your web pages.
#3. Web hosting
Your web hosting company plays an important role in determining the load time of your website. If you have completed all changes to make your website load faster but still see lack of speed, it is perhaps due to bad services of your web hosting server. Email or call them about your concerns and wait for their reply for not more than a week. If they do not respond in an appropriate manner, it is time to look for a new web hosting provider.
A fast loading website means that users can visit the pages they want to without wasting any time. In the end, it’s all about customer satisfaction and sales generation for enhanced profitability of your online business.
Another factor that makes this a huge problem is the use of a variety of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and dial-up connection by users. This may result in heavy websites taking a long time to load onto their browser. That’s the last thing they want as it is very frustrating to wait till a page downloads onto the screen. An indication that your website is suffering from this problem is a large number of hits on your home page alone.
It is vital to have a fast load time for your website as well as your online business. many studies have shown that users will click away from your website if it does not load in ten seconds, and sometimes even lesser than that. To make sure that such a problem doesn’t occur, you need to know the download speed and size of all the web pages of your website.
Apart from that, there are a few other things that must be kept in mind to avoid slow load time for your online venture i.e. your website:
#1. Graphics and Applications
If not used properly, graphics can take a long time to load. If you can remove some of them, your load time will automatically improve. Look at the graphics and think about the use of each on the web pages. You might realize that you have too many that are not required. Another good idea is to switch from larger to smaller graphics by using editing tools like Adobe Photoshop.
#2. HTML
There may be some HTML codes that are not required in your web pages. I would recommend you to use CSS when designing your website. This can go a long way in creating a faster loading time for your website. HTML Tidy is an HTML cleaning tool that can help you clean out any unnecessary coding hidden in your web pages.
#3. Web hosting
Your web hosting company plays an important role in determining the load time of your website. If you have completed all changes to make your website load faster but still see lack of speed, it is perhaps due to bad services of your web hosting server. Email or call them about your concerns and wait for their reply for not more than a week. If they do not respond in an appropriate manner, it is time to look for a new web hosting provider.
A fast loading website means that users can visit the pages they want to without wasting any time. In the end, it’s all about customer satisfaction and sales generation for enhanced profitability of your online business.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Factors Determining The Choice Of Web Hosting For Your Online Business
There is no magic formula for the success of your business. While some people say that it’s all about the quality of your products and services, which may not hold true in all cases. The most common cause for success is the business marketing. Once you get your marketing resources right, you can utilize the potential of your business to maximum.
In the current scenario, you need to rely on the internet for worldwide coverage and exposure. Almost the entire globe is connected through the power of World Wide Web. This has resulted in people being able to reach millions of customers around the world within no time. Creating your own website is one way of generating more audience and sales for your business.
Making a website is a crucial step but supporting it with a reliable server is even more important. For designing your website, the best choice can be dynamic generators. These include a lot of pictures, objects and other components that can catch the user’s eye. For creation of web pages, servers that can be used include Cold fusion and ASP. It gives you the ability to develop dynamic web pages.
The next step is to find a web hosting company. your choice will depend on the size and nature of your website as well as your future business plans. If you used ASP, you will need an ASP web hosting service or if you used cold fusion, you will require cold fusion hosting provider.
The information included in the website is required to be stored on a server and the company that owns the server will be known as the web host. Thus, the framework used for creating the website will determine the kind of web hosting service to be selected.
Go online and you will come across breathtaking offers by thousands of web hosting companies. However, not all of them are what they seem to be. Business web site hosting will mainly rely on two things:
Cost of the package
uptime offered (minimum 99%)
Make sure that you get maximum uptime, bandwidth and disk space in the most reasonable prices. This does not mean that you go for cheap web hosting packages that are incapable of maintaining a well-performing website. Compare different web hosting companies and then decide which is the best for you.
In the current scenario, you need to rely on the internet for worldwide coverage and exposure. Almost the entire globe is connected through the power of World Wide Web. This has resulted in people being able to reach millions of customers around the world within no time. Creating your own website is one way of generating more audience and sales for your business.
Making a website is a crucial step but supporting it with a reliable server is even more important. For designing your website, the best choice can be dynamic generators. These include a lot of pictures, objects and other components that can catch the user’s eye. For creation of web pages, servers that can be used include Cold fusion and ASP. It gives you the ability to develop dynamic web pages.
The next step is to find a web hosting company. your choice will depend on the size and nature of your website as well as your future business plans. If you used ASP, you will need an ASP web hosting service or if you used cold fusion, you will require cold fusion hosting provider.
The information included in the website is required to be stored on a server and the company that owns the server will be known as the web host. Thus, the framework used for creating the website will determine the kind of web hosting service to be selected.
Go online and you will come across breathtaking offers by thousands of web hosting companies. However, not all of them are what they seem to be. Business web site hosting will mainly rely on two things:
Cost of the package
uptime offered (minimum 99%)
Make sure that you get maximum uptime, bandwidth and disk space in the most reasonable prices. This does not mean that you go for cheap web hosting packages that are incapable of maintaining a well-performing website. Compare different web hosting companies and then decide which is the best for you.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
What Does A Website Monitoring Service Mean To You?
Your website may be well designed, strategically promoted and obtain high search engine ranking. Still, it will be of no use if the web servers are not fully up and operational. Many items like software lockups, databases, hardware failures, viruses, hackers and Internet connectivity play an important role in the success of your online business.
You may wonder…where does website monitoring fit in?
Basically, website monitoring refers to the monitoring of the operational status and performance of the website using HTTP or HTTPS. Similarly, email monitoring refers to the monitoring, operational status and performance tracking of SMTP servers to make sure that mail flows consistently and in time. This can be an important aspect in determining the performance of your website and improving it over time.
Monitoring firms connect to your website from time to time to verify correct operational status. Some of them simply use ping to see if a server answers and records the response times during the process. Complex techniques like checking the web page code, keyword verification, database connectivity, etc may also be used. When selecting the monitoring services, you must ensure that the method used to determine operational status is applicable to your SLA or QOS agreement.
You may have to install executables on your server sometimes. However, most internet monitoring services can query your website or server service without the need for agents or additional software.
An important element is the monitoring “interval” i.e. the frequency in which a site or server is checked. Most monitoring services offer packages ranging from 2 to 60 minutes. If the site or server is mission critical, 2 minute monitoring intervals may be required to avoid loss of revenue.
The cost of web hosting services may vary depending on the monitoring interval, method used to determine operational status and the services provided. Generally, prices range from free to $99 per month. For mission critical packages, the price range may be from $30 to $60 per month.
To ensure that your servers are truly available to your website visitors and items like firewall are correctly configured, monitoring services can be a valuable tool in your hands. Depending on your business goals, it can play a significant role in your online success.
You may wonder…where does website monitoring fit in?
Basically, website monitoring refers to the monitoring of the operational status and performance of the website using HTTP or HTTPS. Similarly, email monitoring refers to the monitoring, operational status and performance tracking of SMTP servers to make sure that mail flows consistently and in time. This can be an important aspect in determining the performance of your website and improving it over time.
Monitoring firms connect to your website from time to time to verify correct operational status. Some of them simply use ping to see if a server answers and records the response times during the process. Complex techniques like checking the web page code, keyword verification, database connectivity, etc may also be used. When selecting the monitoring services, you must ensure that the method used to determine operational status is applicable to your SLA or QOS agreement.
You may have to install executables on your server sometimes. However, most internet monitoring services can query your website or server service without the need for agents or additional software.
An important element is the monitoring “interval” i.e. the frequency in which a site or server is checked. Most monitoring services offer packages ranging from 2 to 60 minutes. If the site or server is mission critical, 2 minute monitoring intervals may be required to avoid loss of revenue.
The cost of web hosting services may vary depending on the monitoring interval, method used to determine operational status and the services provided. Generally, prices range from free to $99 per month. For mission critical packages, the price range may be from $30 to $60 per month.
To ensure that your servers are truly available to your website visitors and items like firewall are correctly configured, monitoring services can be a valuable tool in your hands. Depending on your business goals, it can play a significant role in your online success.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Best Web Hosting Package For Your Home Based Online Business
Your web host is an important part of your web-based business. It will be a very costly mistake to buy cheap web hosting package and then suffer later on. Do your research carefully before you sign a service agreement with your web host. Out of the hundreds of web hosting companies that claim to be the best in the industry, all have varying degrees of service quality and features.
Some of the important things to be considered while choosing a web hosting company for your home based business include the following:
Setup fees
Any good web hosting company will not ask for any setup fees. They appreciate your business and do not require advance payments for providing their services.
Monthly agreement
Read the terms and conditions carefully before signing the agreement and make sure that you only sign on a monthly basis and not 6 months or annual basis. Enquire about the cancellation fees for your contract.
Reliable
The ability of your web hosting company to provide steady, reliable service cannot be over emphasized. Downtime means loss for your online business and should be avoided at all costs. Conduct thorough research and choose a web host that provided for minimal downtime.
Customer support
No matter how simple your setup or how smooth the operations, there are bound to be technical problems sooner or later. You need to be sure that you are dependent on sound technical support.
Bandwidth
Your website will not always remain the same. If you want your online business to grow, it will require changes in your website. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transferred to and from your website and 5 GB is usually accepted as the industry norm for all websites.
Backup
It is very important for your web host to maintain backup files so that your data remains intact during times of power breakdown or serious crashes. If this facility is not present, you may face a lot of difficulty in coming back into business.
FTP access
Your web hosting company must provide FTP access as it permits you to upload your site at any time and make necessary changes.
Email accounts
Many good hosts offer plenty of email accounts to service your business. the amount you need depends on the type of web business you develop and run.
Additional features
If you can get more features for the same price, why not? Look for deals that include extra domain names, applications, design templates and other features but make sure that there are no hidden costs for the same.
Price
Of course, this is one of the most important factors for deciding upon a particular web hosting package. Mostly, you will be paying about $5.95-$19.95 but you must only buy a web hosting package that takes care of the needs of your website.
Control panel
You have signed up for a web hosting account and your website is up and running. Now, you need to have the ability to manage your host from one place and monitor the activities of your site. All this is done through the control panel offered by the web hosting company.
Connectivity speed
The faster the speed of connectivity and downloading of your site, the better it is for your online business. You will be getting visitors from all over the world and you can’t afford to lose their interest to competitors. Speed of connectivity makes a lot of difference to the time your site loads up.
I hope these tips help you make a more educated decision regarding your web hosting needs and purchases.
Some of the important things to be considered while choosing a web hosting company for your home based business include the following:
Setup fees
Any good web hosting company will not ask for any setup fees. They appreciate your business and do not require advance payments for providing their services.
Monthly agreement
Read the terms and conditions carefully before signing the agreement and make sure that you only sign on a monthly basis and not 6 months or annual basis. Enquire about the cancellation fees for your contract.
Reliable
The ability of your web hosting company to provide steady, reliable service cannot be over emphasized. Downtime means loss for your online business and should be avoided at all costs. Conduct thorough research and choose a web host that provided for minimal downtime.
Customer support
No matter how simple your setup or how smooth the operations, there are bound to be technical problems sooner or later. You need to be sure that you are dependent on sound technical support.
Bandwidth
Your website will not always remain the same. If you want your online business to grow, it will require changes in your website. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transferred to and from your website and 5 GB is usually accepted as the industry norm for all websites.
Backup
It is very important for your web host to maintain backup files so that your data remains intact during times of power breakdown or serious crashes. If this facility is not present, you may face a lot of difficulty in coming back into business.
FTP access
Your web hosting company must provide FTP access as it permits you to upload your site at any time and make necessary changes.
Email accounts
Many good hosts offer plenty of email accounts to service your business. the amount you need depends on the type of web business you develop and run.
Additional features
If you can get more features for the same price, why not? Look for deals that include extra domain names, applications, design templates and other features but make sure that there are no hidden costs for the same.
Price
Of course, this is one of the most important factors for deciding upon a particular web hosting package. Mostly, you will be paying about $5.95-$19.95 but you must only buy a web hosting package that takes care of the needs of your website.
Control panel
You have signed up for a web hosting account and your website is up and running. Now, you need to have the ability to manage your host from one place and monitor the activities of your site. All this is done through the control panel offered by the web hosting company.
Connectivity speed
The faster the speed of connectivity and downloading of your site, the better it is for your online business. You will be getting visitors from all over the world and you can’t afford to lose their interest to competitors. Speed of connectivity makes a lot of difference to the time your site loads up.
I hope these tips help you make a more educated decision regarding your web hosting needs and purchases.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Your Web Hosting Company May Be A Secret Reseller
The evolution of web hosting resellers began when the web hosting companies with large investments in servers and infrastructure started recruiting third-party companies as a type of commissioned sales force to help them get return on their investment as soon as possible.
Such third party companies were given incentives to “resell” web hosting services with advanced technical support, private labeling and volume discounts. This helped in making the primary web host completely transparent to the reseller’s customers. Basically, more the number of customers that a hosting reseller can deliver to the web host, greater will be the discount earned by the reseller and more will be the money they can make.
In fact, a large number of today’s primary web hosting companies actually began as web hosting resellers and later bought their own servers and added staff by expanding and reinvesting their profits.
You will come across thousands of resellers who operate under their own brand names but prefer that their web hosting customers do not come to know that they are actually reselling another company’s hosting services. Does that affect your online business?
The answer is Yes and No.
Sometimes, resellers may be able to offer more attention and personalized service to their customers because they don’t have as many customers to deal with as a full-fledged web hosting company. Moreover, they can offer value-added benefits to their customers by including other services in their web hosting packages, like:
Unlike other intermediaries, the resellers may offer hosting packages at the same or even lower price than originally provided by the web hosting company. This will also depend on the volume discount they receive and the margin they need.
However, you must also understand that all web hosting resellers may not be trustworthy and reliable, even if their primary source or web hosting company is an established, reputable entity. If a reseller is unable to pay or chooses not to pay their hosting bills, they can be shutdown by the primary web hosting company without any warning to the customers like you. Since your hosting contract is with the reseller, you may not even get any recourse to the primary web hosting company.
As resellers don’t have any investment in equipment and infrastructure, it is very easy for them to get out of business at any time. They can come up with another name and get associated with another brand, leaving you stranded with a worthless web hosting package.
If you want to avoid such a situation, it will be a good idea to ask the reseller about their company, experience and the primary web hosting company. A reputable reseller will be honest and offer value to its customers through their web hosting packages. If the reseller doesn’t want you to know that they are not the original host, you will find it difficult to confirm about their operations. You could ask to visit their data center and enquire about their services from past customers and in hosting forums.
In short, you need to be inquisitive and investigate about the reseller thoroughly before choosing to host your website with them. Whether it is a reseller or not, your primary concern should be to get quality service for your website and reliable support at all times.
Such third party companies were given incentives to “resell” web hosting services with advanced technical support, private labeling and volume discounts. This helped in making the primary web host completely transparent to the reseller’s customers. Basically, more the number of customers that a hosting reseller can deliver to the web host, greater will be the discount earned by the reseller and more will be the money they can make.
In fact, a large number of today’s primary web hosting companies actually began as web hosting resellers and later bought their own servers and added staff by expanding and reinvesting their profits.
You will come across thousands of resellers who operate under their own brand names but prefer that their web hosting customers do not come to know that they are actually reselling another company’s hosting services. Does that affect your online business?
The answer is Yes and No.
Sometimes, resellers may be able to offer more attention and personalized service to their customers because they don’t have as many customers to deal with as a full-fledged web hosting company. Moreover, they can offer value-added benefits to their customers by including other services in their web hosting packages, like:
- Search engine optimization
- Database management
- Web design
- New applications
Unlike other intermediaries, the resellers may offer hosting packages at the same or even lower price than originally provided by the web hosting company. This will also depend on the volume discount they receive and the margin they need.
However, you must also understand that all web hosting resellers may not be trustworthy and reliable, even if their primary source or web hosting company is an established, reputable entity. If a reseller is unable to pay or chooses not to pay their hosting bills, they can be shutdown by the primary web hosting company without any warning to the customers like you. Since your hosting contract is with the reseller, you may not even get any recourse to the primary web hosting company.
As resellers don’t have any investment in equipment and infrastructure, it is very easy for them to get out of business at any time. They can come up with another name and get associated with another brand, leaving you stranded with a worthless web hosting package.
If you want to avoid such a situation, it will be a good idea to ask the reseller about their company, experience and the primary web hosting company. A reputable reseller will be honest and offer value to its customers through their web hosting packages. If the reseller doesn’t want you to know that they are not the original host, you will find it difficult to confirm about their operations. You could ask to visit their data center and enquire about their services from past customers and in hosting forums.
In short, you need to be inquisitive and investigate about the reseller thoroughly before choosing to host your website with them. Whether it is a reseller or not, your primary concern should be to get quality service for your website and reliable support at all times.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tips For Professional Web Hosting
Tips For Professional Web Hosting
Since the beginning of the Internet and website creation, one of the biggest problems has been to keep the web pages in a secure place. Unfortunately, most computers do not possess the kind of security required to protect web-based pages from external intrusion and hacking.
These circumstances have led to the evolution of web hosting companies which help individuals as well as online businesses in keeping their websites safe, scalable and well-maintained through their servers.
On the web, millions of websites can be found. All these have been supported by web hosting packages that offer different services and features necessary for keeping the website up and running. For any internet business, it is vial to have a website that can be accessed by users on a 24/7 basis.
To being your search for a web hosting company, just type “web hosting” in a search engine and choose from the thousands of relevant results displayed on your computer. While different web hosts offer good quality of different services, it is very difficult to find a web hosting company that will provide effective solutions on all the different aspects of your business.
Basically, you must ensure that the OPERATING SYSTEM being used by the web hosting company is a good one. Common OS include Windows NT, UNIX and Linux. The operating system is the place where the computer will be working. Also, check the amount of DISK SPACE offered to your website. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY and TECHNICAL SUPPORT are other aspects that cannot be ignored while selecting a web hosting package.
This means that the minimum requirements for a good web hosting service include:
Keep all these requirements in mind while searching for the right web hosting for your website. Check the quality of their services to get a total efficient service as a user or customer. After all, a professional web hosting service is crucial to make your online experience a success!
Since the beginning of the Internet and website creation, one of the biggest problems has been to keep the web pages in a secure place. Unfortunately, most computers do not possess the kind of security required to protect web-based pages from external intrusion and hacking.
These circumstances have led to the evolution of web hosting companies which help individuals as well as online businesses in keeping their websites safe, scalable and well-maintained through their servers.
On the web, millions of websites can be found. All these have been supported by web hosting packages that offer different services and features necessary for keeping the website up and running. For any internet business, it is vial to have a website that can be accessed by users on a 24/7 basis.
To being your search for a web hosting company, just type “web hosting” in a search engine and choose from the thousands of relevant results displayed on your computer. While different web hosts offer good quality of different services, it is very difficult to find a web hosting company that will provide effective solutions on all the different aspects of your business.
Basically, you must ensure that the OPERATING SYSTEM being used by the web hosting company is a good one. Common OS include Windows NT, UNIX and Linux. The operating system is the place where the computer will be working. Also, check the amount of DISK SPACE offered to your website. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY and TECHNICAL SUPPORT are other aspects that cannot be ignored while selecting a web hosting package.
This means that the minimum requirements for a good web hosting service include:
- Clean and medium ambient temperature environment rack hosting
- Linux or windows servers
- At least 1000 MB hard disk space
- Fast speed of data transfer
- Unlimited domain names and sub domain names
- E-mail accounts
- 27/7 technical and customer support
- Easy to use control panel
Keep all these requirements in mind while searching for the right web hosting for your website. Check the quality of their services to get a total efficient service as a user or customer. After all, a professional web hosting service is crucial to make your online experience a success!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Easier Credit Card Transactions With An E-commerce Web Hosting Account
An e-commerce website needs to have certain features for being a successful online business. One such feature is the ability to accept credit card payments for products and services offered on your website.
Basically, you can select from two options:
a. Setup your own merchant account with a bank
b. Sign an agreement with a third party credit card payment facility
A major benefit of setting up your own merchant account is that you can pay a lower credit card fee on each transaction processed. Depending on the issuer of credit card, this fee may range from 1.5% to 4%. Usually, American Express and Discover will charge you more than Visa and MasterCard. The shortcoming of setting up a merchant account is that it can cost you about $1500 upfront for the fees, software and equipment for dialup and processing through your computer.
An effective alternative is to process your payments via a third party payment facility that will charge you from 6% to 15% on every transaction. According to the number of transactions and dollar amount that you will be handling, this may actually be a good way to setup a merchant account that pays for itself in the form of saved transaction fees.
Other fee or charges that may be associated with your merchant account include transaction fee, monthly statement fees, minimum traffic fees, charge-back fees and more. The transaction fee is charged by the merchant provider to cover their costs of network usage, equipment, etc. you must not hesitate to ask for the complete list of features and fees before signing up for an e-commerce web hosting account.
There are plenty of advantages of setting up your merchant account through an e-commerce web hosting company. Don’t forget to compare various web hosting providers before making a selection for your e-commerce website. This way, you can surely find the turnkey solution that includes everything needed for accepting credit card payments online.
Some of the essential features to be considered while choosing an e-commerce web hosting company include:
1. Free instant set-up
2. Real-time credit card processing
3. Shopping cart software
4. Secure payment gateway
5. Web designing tools
6. Secure server certificate
7. Unlimited products capacity
8. Web control panel
9. Support for VeriSign, PayPal, etc
10. Website statistics software
11. Sound e-commerce support service
12. Web marketing tools
13. Import/export data to your accounting software
14. Real-time shipping system
15. Automated shipping calculation through FedEx, UPS and USPS
16. Upto 90 day money back guarantee
Basically, you can select from two options:
a. Setup your own merchant account with a bank
b. Sign an agreement with a third party credit card payment facility
A major benefit of setting up your own merchant account is that you can pay a lower credit card fee on each transaction processed. Depending on the issuer of credit card, this fee may range from 1.5% to 4%. Usually, American Express and Discover will charge you more than Visa and MasterCard. The shortcoming of setting up a merchant account is that it can cost you about $1500 upfront for the fees, software and equipment for dialup and processing through your computer.
An effective alternative is to process your payments via a third party payment facility that will charge you from 6% to 15% on every transaction. According to the number of transactions and dollar amount that you will be handling, this may actually be a good way to setup a merchant account that pays for itself in the form of saved transaction fees.
Other fee or charges that may be associated with your merchant account include transaction fee, monthly statement fees, minimum traffic fees, charge-back fees and more. The transaction fee is charged by the merchant provider to cover their costs of network usage, equipment, etc. you must not hesitate to ask for the complete list of features and fees before signing up for an e-commerce web hosting account.
There are plenty of advantages of setting up your merchant account through an e-commerce web hosting company. Don’t forget to compare various web hosting providers before making a selection for your e-commerce website. This way, you can surely find the turnkey solution that includes everything needed for accepting credit card payments online.
Some of the essential features to be considered while choosing an e-commerce web hosting company include:
1. Free instant set-up
2. Real-time credit card processing
3. Shopping cart software
4. Secure payment gateway
5. Web designing tools
6. Secure server certificate
7. Unlimited products capacity
8. Web control panel
9. Support for VeriSign, PayPal, etc
10. Website statistics software
11. Sound e-commerce support service
12. Web marketing tools
13. Import/export data to your accounting software
14. Real-time shipping system
15. Automated shipping calculation through FedEx, UPS and USPS
16. Upto 90 day money back guarantee
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