by: Charles Waters
It’s not hard to find Frontpage Web Hosting. Just do a google search and you’re likely to find hundreds of sites that provide it. But there are some things that you’ll want to look for and consider.
1) What version of Frontpage are you using? This is important because Frontpage features are implemented through the use of Frontpage Extensions and those extensions are different between each version. So you’ll need to make sure that the Frontpage Host you select supports the Frontpage extensions for your particular version.
2) Do you really need a site that supports Frontpage extensions? This may seem strange, but you’ll find that there are two primary hosting types; Linux based and Windows based. The Linux based hosts are generally a bit cheaper than Windows based hosting. If you have no plans to take advantage of Frontpage extensions, and you’re only using Frontpage to create HTML documents, then regular Linux hosting will do fine.
3) Don’t use Frontpage Extensions if you really don’t have to. These extensions will give you the ability to do creative things (flashing text, calanders, etc) that don’t really add value to your website. Consider this risk… as Microsoft updates its software, they may change a Frontpage extension in such a way that your websites may not work. If this happens, you would have to rewrite your web page with updated references to extensions to make it work again.
4) Is the host reliable? There are literally THOUSANDS of Frontpage Web Hosting providers on the market. All you need to set up a web host business is a Windows based server and an Internet connection. You, the home users, really have no idea if the host is reliable or not. For this reason, it’s a good idea to check Frontpage hosting providers ratings before making a selection. Use a service like:
http://www.webhostingratings.com/ or http://www.hostcompare.com/showcases/frontpage.html
5) How long do they want you to sign up for? Typically, a web host will have a monthly contract with price breaks if you prepay for longer terms. You don’t have to be crazy and buy 5 years. 1 year will do. Also, along with your Frontpage hosting account, you’re going to have to purchase a domain name. Generally, I do this through the same company, but you don’t have to do it this way. For example, on occasion, a domain name registrar called RegisterFly will offer .info domains for as little as .60 per year. Normally you would expect to pay about $5.00 per year, so this is a great discount. I’ve purchased hundreds of domains through RegisterFly and am very happy with them.
6) Does your Frontpage Web Host have a simple to use web front end for administering your site? This makes things much easier. You will undoubtedly be creating a directory structure, uploading files, changing file permissions, etc, while you develop your site. Having a convenient web based portal for administering these changes makes things nice.
7) How many e-mail accounts will your Frontpage Web Host provide? Normally this is a non-issue, but if you’re setting up a website for a business and they need e-mail addresses to go along with their web hosting service, then you’ll want to confirm that enough e-mail addresses are provided by the host. Lately, I’ve noticed this number going up and up and up. A few years ago, 5 e-mail addresses was normal. Now, I’ll get hundreds per domain (which I never use).
8) How much space will your Frontpage Web Host provide? Again, this number is going up and up and up. But don’t be caught off guard. Make sure they will provide enough space for your needs. Typically, you’ll see 100 MB or so for cheaper accounts. Unless you have a vast database that will be part of your site, this is generally more than enough.
9) Will your Frontpage Web Host put a cap on the amount of bandwidth you can consume? If you expect to get lots of visitors to your website, make sure your hosting provide will supply the bandwidth. I recently ran into a problem with on of my accounts because a graphics intensive page was referenced by a very popular authority site, I consumed my allotted bandwidth for the month, in 2 days. They kept my account operations, but I had to pay extra for the bandwidth consumption. Other sites have been turned off due to excessive bandwidth consumption.
10) Finally, will your Frontpage Web Host allow you to register domain names privately? This is a feature of Domain Registration where your private information remains private. When someone performs a “Whois” on your domain, they would see the contact information for the web host. This is nice if you plan to put up many, many sites and want to avoid any spam.
I would say that choosing a Frontpage Web Host is only slightly more difficult than choosing a Linux Host. If you check some of those review sites that I mentioned above, you can be confident that you’ll find a Frontpage host that will provide excellent service to you. You can find out more about Frontpage Web Hosting here -> http://www.frontpagewebhosting-site.info
About The Author
Charles Waters has been developing web sites for several years as part of his Affiliate Marketing strategy. In the beginning, he used Frontpage extensively, but over the last few years has migrated to the cheaper, more ubiquitous Linux hosting. See http://www.frontpagewebhosting-site.info for more information.
What To Ask For At Your Web Hosting Service
by: Ricardo D Argence
Web hosting is the backbone of your online business and it is one of the most crucial services that ensures your online presence. There are thousands of web-hosting service providers and all of them claim to be the best. Therefore, it is a difficult process to identify the right web hosting service provider.
There are a few important questions that you must ask your web-hosting service provider before you sign up. Normally, the first question people ask is about the cost involved. Though it is an important factor that will help you make your decision, cost should not be treated as the primary factor. There are other crucial factors that need to be addressed.
You must first ask your web host about their average server uptime. Most of the hosting service providers advertise 99.9% uptime, but, in reality, it may not be so. There are a number of server related problems that can keep the visitors off from your website.
Second, you must ask your web host about the connection speed. You must have fast connections to give your website users an enhanced visitor experience. If the connections are slow, your website will take a long time to load and server connection will get disconnected before people can see your website, leading to annoying "The page cannot be displayed error."
Third, you must know how much web space you get for the package you are signing up for. Most web hosts offer flexible packages. You should be able to advise your web host on the web space depending on the nature of your requirements. There are web hosting packages that range from 10mb or less to several GBs. The greater the space the greater the price.
Along with the allotted web space, you must also be clear about the data transfer bandwidth that is allowed for your package. If you anticipate high traffic, it is better to go with packages that have higher bandwidth capabilities.
The next question will be on the number of email addresses you can configure. There are many web hosting companies that offer unlimited email addresses. If you choose a lower end package, the number of email addresses may be limited to 5 or 10 or 25, depending on the web-hosting package you choose.
You must also be clear about the nature of the database tools that are available and the database types supported by your web-hosting service provider.
If your website is intended to sell your products online, it is important that you have a reliable shopping cart. Make sure you check with your web host whether you have any built-in shopping carts installed and the procedure to customize them to your specific need.
With the advent of the open source technology, web hosting service providers offer a number of free yet useful scripts for their customers bundled with the web hosting package. Check with your web host on the available free scripts, such as forums, blogs, chat support, web statistic tools, etc.
The control panel should be highly user friendly. Your list of questions to your web host must have a question about the control panel features.
Above all, the customer support capabilities of your web host and the turn-around time to resolve server related issues and other complaints is very crucial. To stand the competition, most web hosting service providers offer 24x7 customer support service to their clients. Make sure that your complaints will be addressed during weekends as well.
About The Author
Founder and actual CEO, Ricardo d'Argence has been in the field for more than ten years. http://Alojate.com is now one of the biggest web hosting providers in Mexico. http://www.alojate.com http://www.alojateextra.com.
Web hosting is the backbone of your online business and it is one of the most crucial services that ensures your online presence. There are thousands of web-hosting service providers and all of them claim to be the best. Therefore, it is a difficult process to identify the right web hosting service provider.
There are a few important questions that you must ask your web-hosting service provider before you sign up. Normally, the first question people ask is about the cost involved. Though it is an important factor that will help you make your decision, cost should not be treated as the primary factor. There are other crucial factors that need to be addressed.
You must first ask your web host about their average server uptime. Most of the hosting service providers advertise 99.9% uptime, but, in reality, it may not be so. There are a number of server related problems that can keep the visitors off from your website.
Second, you must ask your web host about the connection speed. You must have fast connections to give your website users an enhanced visitor experience. If the connections are slow, your website will take a long time to load and server connection will get disconnected before people can see your website, leading to annoying "The page cannot be displayed error."
Third, you must know how much web space you get for the package you are signing up for. Most web hosts offer flexible packages. You should be able to advise your web host on the web space depending on the nature of your requirements. There are web hosting packages that range from 10mb or less to several GBs. The greater the space the greater the price.
Along with the allotted web space, you must also be clear about the data transfer bandwidth that is allowed for your package. If you anticipate high traffic, it is better to go with packages that have higher bandwidth capabilities.
The next question will be on the number of email addresses you can configure. There are many web hosting companies that offer unlimited email addresses. If you choose a lower end package, the number of email addresses may be limited to 5 or 10 or 25, depending on the web-hosting package you choose.
You must also be clear about the nature of the database tools that are available and the database types supported by your web-hosting service provider.
If your website is intended to sell your products online, it is important that you have a reliable shopping cart. Make sure you check with your web host whether you have any built-in shopping carts installed and the procedure to customize them to your specific need.
With the advent of the open source technology, web hosting service providers offer a number of free yet useful scripts for their customers bundled with the web hosting package. Check with your web host on the available free scripts, such as forums, blogs, chat support, web statistic tools, etc.
The control panel should be highly user friendly. Your list of questions to your web host must have a question about the control panel features.
Above all, the customer support capabilities of your web host and the turn-around time to resolve server related issues and other complaints is very crucial. To stand the competition, most web hosting service providers offer 24x7 customer support service to their clients. Make sure that your complaints will be addressed during weekends as well.
About The Author
Founder and actual CEO, Ricardo d'Argence has been in the field for more than ten years. http://Alojate.com is now one of the biggest web hosting providers in Mexico. http://www.alojate.com http://www.alojateextra.com.
3 Benefits of Cheap Web Hosting to Get Your Site Up and Running
by: Chris Robertson
If you're thinking of signing on with a virtual host for cheap web hosting, you might receive more long-term benefits than you realize. Cheap web hosting is more readily available today because there is so much competition in the web site hosting arena. You can still find great domain hosting for only a fraction of what companies once paid. Even with low cost web hosting, the benefits are tremendous if you choose the right virtual host. Here are three benefits of cheap web hosting.
1. Save Money for Now and the Future
When comparing cheap web hosting plans, you should carefully consider the cost of your virtual host payments. You'll likely be paying every month or year for many years to come if you plan to build a solid online business. Therefore, you'll need a host that's dependable as well as affordable. The benefit of cheap web hosting is you will save money every month or year over a long period of time.
If one company charges $9.95 per month and another virtual host charges $6.95 per month with similar features, then you'll save $3 per month by choosing the cheap web hosting. In one year, you'll save $36. In five years, you'll save $180. It doesn't seem to be much, but from a business standpoint, any savings are worth the effort! You can also save even more if you need more than just basic web page hosting.
2. Minimal Overhead Costs with Cheap Web Hosting
Where else but the Internet can you open a store for only a few dollars per month? Imagine opening a store on Main Street in your town. You could incur thousands of dollars in monthly bills (rent, water, power, repairs, etc.)
With cheap web hosting, you can open a store for only a few dollars per month and add pages to it any time you wish with very little or no increase to your web page hosting bill. It's the lowest overhead you could ever have, and the profit potential is tremendous. Even using features such as PHP and MySQL integration for databases adds very little (if any) extra to your monthly bill.
3. Reseller Hosting Benefits
No matter what type of business you own, you might benefit by offering reseller hosting. Reseller hosting enables you to sell cheap web hosting packages to your customers. You can sell all types of hosting, but be sure to narrow your ads to reach your target audience. For example, if you own a wholesale candy store, you can advertise to your customers (candy retailers) that they can have their very own candy website. Of course, they can choose a low cost web hosting plan from your site, and you earn hosting payments every month! You might even provide web design templates they can use to get their site up and running quickly. The possibilities are endless.
These benefits and more are valid reasons to search for dependable but low cost web hosting. Start saving with cheap web hosting today!
About The Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com
To learn more about subjects like cheap web hosting please visit the web site at: http://www.avahost.net
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Internet directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Internet
If you're thinking of signing on with a virtual host for cheap web hosting, you might receive more long-term benefits than you realize. Cheap web hosting is more readily available today because there is so much competition in the web site hosting arena. You can still find great domain hosting for only a fraction of what companies once paid. Even with low cost web hosting, the benefits are tremendous if you choose the right virtual host. Here are three benefits of cheap web hosting.
1. Save Money for Now and the Future
When comparing cheap web hosting plans, you should carefully consider the cost of your virtual host payments. You'll likely be paying every month or year for many years to come if you plan to build a solid online business. Therefore, you'll need a host that's dependable as well as affordable. The benefit of cheap web hosting is you will save money every month or year over a long period of time.
If one company charges $9.95 per month and another virtual host charges $6.95 per month with similar features, then you'll save $3 per month by choosing the cheap web hosting. In one year, you'll save $36. In five years, you'll save $180. It doesn't seem to be much, but from a business standpoint, any savings are worth the effort! You can also save even more if you need more than just basic web page hosting.
2. Minimal Overhead Costs with Cheap Web Hosting
Where else but the Internet can you open a store for only a few dollars per month? Imagine opening a store on Main Street in your town. You could incur thousands of dollars in monthly bills (rent, water, power, repairs, etc.)
With cheap web hosting, you can open a store for only a few dollars per month and add pages to it any time you wish with very little or no increase to your web page hosting bill. It's the lowest overhead you could ever have, and the profit potential is tremendous. Even using features such as PHP and MySQL integration for databases adds very little (if any) extra to your monthly bill.
3. Reseller Hosting Benefits
No matter what type of business you own, you might benefit by offering reseller hosting. Reseller hosting enables you to sell cheap web hosting packages to your customers. You can sell all types of hosting, but be sure to narrow your ads to reach your target audience. For example, if you own a wholesale candy store, you can advertise to your customers (candy retailers) that they can have their very own candy website. Of course, they can choose a low cost web hosting plan from your site, and you earn hosting payments every month! You might even provide web design templates they can use to get their site up and running quickly. The possibilities are endless.
These benefits and more are valid reasons to search for dependable but low cost web hosting. Start saving with cheap web hosting today!
About The Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com
To learn more about subjects like cheap web hosting please visit the web site at: http://www.avahost.net
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Internet directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Internet
Small Business Web Hosting, How To Choose
by: Ove Nordkvist
The best choice of small business web hosting is not only about a storage space for your content, it has to include a comprehensive tool kit to allow you to build your own web site. It must also include the tools and services You need to maintain a small business web site.
The best web hosting providers give you easy to use web site builders and user friendly interfaces. This kind of service providers are targeting small business owners for whom a high standard web site is essential. Since you pay your host for their services, it saves you workforce for your web site maintenance and upkeep.
You don't need to worry about server crashes and technical issues. You can relay on your web hosting provider to make sure your visitors has easy access to your web site.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you choose web site host for your small business. This will help you to get efficient services. The main thing, will be to choose a reliable web hosting service that provides you with enough server space to host your web site.
You want to see that the technical support are top notch. And the web site builder have to be user friendly. What kind of special features are included? and what features do you need at your website? Your web site host should also offer you some flexibility to move around and grow with your business and the traffic at your site.
Some of the best web hosting providers also offers web design services. Professional web hosting designs are user friendly, ready made templates that give your web site a professional look and feel. These are custom made by the provider and you can choose from a variety of templates. there are different templates for specific business purposes.
Once you choose a design template, all you need to do is upload your content. Sit back and enjoy the effect of an eye catching web site.
To create your web site with a template, is a good way to avoid falling in the trap of create a flashy site with a lot of graphics and slow navigation. People don't like to wait, keep your site lean and mean.
About The Author
Ove Nordkvist is the Founder of the web site http://small-biz-ideas.net, where you can get help with ideas, tools and resources to start a small business. You can download free Masters Courses for a variety of small business ideas at http://www.small-biz-ideas.net.
Visit http://www.small-biz-ideas.net/web-hosting.html to learn more about web hosting.
The best choice of small business web hosting is not only about a storage space for your content, it has to include a comprehensive tool kit to allow you to build your own web site. It must also include the tools and services You need to maintain a small business web site.
The best web hosting providers give you easy to use web site builders and user friendly interfaces. This kind of service providers are targeting small business owners for whom a high standard web site is essential. Since you pay your host for their services, it saves you workforce for your web site maintenance and upkeep.
You don't need to worry about server crashes and technical issues. You can relay on your web hosting provider to make sure your visitors has easy access to your web site.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you choose web site host for your small business. This will help you to get efficient services. The main thing, will be to choose a reliable web hosting service that provides you with enough server space to host your web site.
You want to see that the technical support are top notch. And the web site builder have to be user friendly. What kind of special features are included? and what features do you need at your website? Your web site host should also offer you some flexibility to move around and grow with your business and the traffic at your site.
Some of the best web hosting providers also offers web design services. Professional web hosting designs are user friendly, ready made templates that give your web site a professional look and feel. These are custom made by the provider and you can choose from a variety of templates. there are different templates for specific business purposes.
Once you choose a design template, all you need to do is upload your content. Sit back and enjoy the effect of an eye catching web site.
To create your web site with a template, is a good way to avoid falling in the trap of create a flashy site with a lot of graphics and slow navigation. People don't like to wait, keep your site lean and mean.
About The Author
Ove Nordkvist is the Founder of the web site http://small-biz-ideas.net, where you can get help with ideas, tools and resources to start a small business. You can download free Masters Courses for a variety of small business ideas at http://www.small-biz-ideas.net.
Visit http://www.small-biz-ideas.net/web-hosting.html to learn more about web hosting.
What Is The Difference Between Windows and UNIX Web Hosting?
by: Paul Santos
Windows and UNIX are in fact two different systems and of course we are referring to computer systems. A web host uses computers, (we shall refer to them as servers, just computers, but sometimes larger) to host websites, and all computers need a operating system, so Windows and UNIX are the operating system.
The Windows used is normally Windows NT or 2000 and of course as you know Microsoft charges for it's software, while UNIX is an open source operating system, this means that the original creators of the system have given up the rights and anyone can use it, change, improve or do anything they want with, free of charge.
From this we already have to main differences, Window hosts are more expensive and UNIX is more reliable, because it as been improved by thousands of anonymous people.
Most probably you are reading this in front of your computer which most probably is operates on a Windows XP, have you noticed that it sometimes, it freezes, and the only solution is to restart it? UNIX is much more stable, robust, time-tested, flexible platform for a web server.
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
But Windows servers have also it's positive sides, they are compatible with Microsoft applications, and fully support Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Access and MS SQL, they also offer advance-programming environments and features such as Active Server Pages (ASP), the ASP.NET framework, Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server, Macromedia's and Cold Fusion.
Windows operating system require little or no experience in web development to get advanced features working very quickly because of better graphical user interface (GUI) Software such as Microsoft's FrontPage is specially developed for the webmaster to decrease the website development time and efforts.
Lets go back again to UNIX, they support FrontPage, Flash, Shockwave, Real Audio/Video, Cgi Scripts, Perl, PHP, SSH (Secure Telnet), MySQL, Web-Based Control System, Anonymous FTP, Web Site Graphical Statistics, Web-Based Email System, Miva/XML, Cold Fusion Perl, JAVA, PHP, C, C++, Miva, Shell Access and other wide verity of feature like Telnet and SSH that provides lots of flexibility and freedom in managing file and directories, but some of this require advance knowledge of Unix commands in order for you to customize the scripts to match your website needs.
Because of the nature of UNIX, (open source) and the people who love it, there is on the WWW freely available software and scripts, again bringing the cost down.
Concluding which one is the best, it really depends what you need, if you need high uptime, security and not so expensive then go with UNIX, if you need to run Windows applications like, MS Access or the MS SQL SERVER then Windows is your choice.
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
About The Author
Paul Santos
CEO
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
Windows and UNIX are in fact two different systems and of course we are referring to computer systems. A web host uses computers, (we shall refer to them as servers, just computers, but sometimes larger) to host websites, and all computers need a operating system, so Windows and UNIX are the operating system.
The Windows used is normally Windows NT or 2000 and of course as you know Microsoft charges for it's software, while UNIX is an open source operating system, this means that the original creators of the system have given up the rights and anyone can use it, change, improve or do anything they want with, free of charge.
From this we already have to main differences, Window hosts are more expensive and UNIX is more reliable, because it as been improved by thousands of anonymous people.
Most probably you are reading this in front of your computer which most probably is operates on a Windows XP, have you noticed that it sometimes, it freezes, and the only solution is to restart it? UNIX is much more stable, robust, time-tested, flexible platform for a web server.
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
But Windows servers have also it's positive sides, they are compatible with Microsoft applications, and fully support Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Access and MS SQL, they also offer advance-programming environments and features such as Active Server Pages (ASP), the ASP.NET framework, Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server, Macromedia's and Cold Fusion.
Windows operating system require little or no experience in web development to get advanced features working very quickly because of better graphical user interface (GUI) Software such as Microsoft's FrontPage is specially developed for the webmaster to decrease the website development time and efforts.
Lets go back again to UNIX, they support FrontPage, Flash, Shockwave, Real Audio/Video, Cgi Scripts, Perl, PHP, SSH (Secure Telnet), MySQL, Web-Based Control System, Anonymous FTP, Web Site Graphical Statistics, Web-Based Email System, Miva/XML, Cold Fusion Perl, JAVA, PHP, C, C++, Miva, Shell Access and other wide verity of feature like Telnet and SSH that provides lots of flexibility and freedom in managing file and directories, but some of this require advance knowledge of Unix commands in order for you to customize the scripts to match your website needs.
Because of the nature of UNIX, (open source) and the people who love it, there is on the WWW freely available software and scripts, again bringing the cost down.
Concluding which one is the best, it really depends what you need, if you need high uptime, security and not so expensive then go with UNIX, if you need to run Windows applications like, MS Access or the MS SQL SERVER then Windows is your choice.
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
About The Author
Paul Santos
CEO
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com/
Your Web Hosting Company - Are You Just a Number?
by: Greg Cesar
By now I'm sure you know how important your choice of web hosting company is to your business. But just in case you don't, let's review. At first glance, cheap web hosting may seem like a pretty good deal. Who doesn't want to save money? However, there are some areas in which you, as an online business owner, just can't afford to cut corners. Would you put water in the gas tank of your car just to save money? Choose a cheap web hosting company and you are doing exactly that. While you can cut corners in other areas of your business, your web hosting company is not where you want to do this, if only for one simple reason: with free or cheap web hosting companies, you are little more than a number, just another website.
Let's take a look at how cheap or free web hosting companies make their money and how they do business. First, how can they offer such cheap prices? Or even free web hosting? There is only one answer: volume. They host thousands of websites, some smaller, some larger than yours. Do you think that in hosting thousands of websites, they can give you the personalized service that you deserve? Let me answer that one for you: they simply cannot. Why? Because the number of sites hosted, coupled with the low pricing simply makes it an infeasible business practice. Practically speaking, from a business standpoint, they cannot do this. It would not make sense to their bottom line. Second, large web hosting companies generally run lean and mean. That is, in business 101, they do more with less. They are not going to provide more people to service more customers when they can do the same job with less. Granted, customer service will suffer. But to them, this is a tradeoff that they make up for with volume.
Now let's look at things from your point of view (an online business owner). You already know that time is money. You have probably already figured out that, sadly, time is not on your side. Thus, every time your site is down you are losing money. Even 5 minutes is too long for your site to be inaccessible to visitors (potential customers). Online business runs 24/7. Does your web hosting company understand that? More importantly, when you have a problem, is your business "just another website" to them? Or will they take personal ownership of the problem and solve it as soon as possible? What about follow up? Are you just another website in the heap? Or will they follow up with you to make sure that you are a satisfied customer and your site is running smoothly? Better yet, will they follow up personally, via phone call? Or will they just send an email - an automated one at that?
Many Internet business owners make the mistake of choosing a cheap web hosting company, thinking that it will help save them money. Often, it costs them more in the long run in the form of downtime, time spent waiting for answers from the hosting company and lost customers. Below are 6 tips that should tell you if you are "just another website" to your web hosting company:
* Time - Does your web hosting company have an "open door policy"? If you have a question, Will they have the answer or will they refer you to their Help Page URL? As an online business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than calling the web hosting company for help and then being told to go to a URL for help. If your web hosting company does this to you, then you are just a number to them.
* Accessibility - Is your web hosting company answering the phone promptly? When they do, who is it? Sales? This is a big tip-off. A web hosting company that really knows you and cares about your business won't automatically try to sell you something and they won't hide behind an answering machine or salesperson. A cheap web hosting company definitely won't know you by name; they will know you by the domain that you have with them.
* Business Knowledge - Does your web hosting company know what your needs are as a website owner? Do they care? Are they hiring teenagers from the local high school to answer the phones (who can't really help you)? Does your web hosting company have Internet Marketing experience? If you are with a cheap web hosting company, the answer is no, because they do their business by volume and can't be focused on those kinds of issues. Kind of ironic, don't you think, given the fact that you have a website in the first place due to the Internet?
* Advertising/Sales Tactics - As your business grows, how many services is your web hosting company trying to sell you? How many emails do they send you trying to get you to upgrade, pay upfront, etc, etc.? Better yet, how do they make their sales? I'll tell you how: aggressive advertising and sales tactics. For a cheap web hosting company, it's the only way, because it is all about the numbers. And you are one of them.
* Relationship-Driven - Does your web hosting company want a relationship with you or with your money? I bet by now you can guess the answer. The fact is, cheap web hosting companies make profits by increasing sales. If one customer leaves, so be it, because they have the volume to make that up. They really don't have the time, resources or the inclination to really make sure they have a satisfied, long-term client in you.
* Patience - Lots of Internet business owners don't know the ins and outs of web hosting. That's understandable. When you talk to the sales department of your web hosting company do they use Plain English or "technospeak" that you don't understand? Do they have the patience to explain everything to you? Or do they automatically assume that you should know and become more impatient the more questions you ask? To put is bluntly, do they make you feel stupid or dumb? If you are trying to give the web hosting company your business and they are making you feel stupid for asking questions, they may as well be saying "Next!" Why would they do this? Because your business is just another website to them.
Generally, a business web hosting company that gives you personalized service, has answers to your questions (or ways of getting those answers) will serve your online business better. Having tons of options is fine, but even better is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that to your web hosting company, your business and its success is priority one.
About The Author
Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg's web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting this link: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com
By now I'm sure you know how important your choice of web hosting company is to your business. But just in case you don't, let's review. At first glance, cheap web hosting may seem like a pretty good deal. Who doesn't want to save money? However, there are some areas in which you, as an online business owner, just can't afford to cut corners. Would you put water in the gas tank of your car just to save money? Choose a cheap web hosting company and you are doing exactly that. While you can cut corners in other areas of your business, your web hosting company is not where you want to do this, if only for one simple reason: with free or cheap web hosting companies, you are little more than a number, just another website.
Let's take a look at how cheap or free web hosting companies make their money and how they do business. First, how can they offer such cheap prices? Or even free web hosting? There is only one answer: volume. They host thousands of websites, some smaller, some larger than yours. Do you think that in hosting thousands of websites, they can give you the personalized service that you deserve? Let me answer that one for you: they simply cannot. Why? Because the number of sites hosted, coupled with the low pricing simply makes it an infeasible business practice. Practically speaking, from a business standpoint, they cannot do this. It would not make sense to their bottom line. Second, large web hosting companies generally run lean and mean. That is, in business 101, they do more with less. They are not going to provide more people to service more customers when they can do the same job with less. Granted, customer service will suffer. But to them, this is a tradeoff that they make up for with volume.
Now let's look at things from your point of view (an online business owner). You already know that time is money. You have probably already figured out that, sadly, time is not on your side. Thus, every time your site is down you are losing money. Even 5 minutes is too long for your site to be inaccessible to visitors (potential customers). Online business runs 24/7. Does your web hosting company understand that? More importantly, when you have a problem, is your business "just another website" to them? Or will they take personal ownership of the problem and solve it as soon as possible? What about follow up? Are you just another website in the heap? Or will they follow up with you to make sure that you are a satisfied customer and your site is running smoothly? Better yet, will they follow up personally, via phone call? Or will they just send an email - an automated one at that?
Many Internet business owners make the mistake of choosing a cheap web hosting company, thinking that it will help save them money. Often, it costs them more in the long run in the form of downtime, time spent waiting for answers from the hosting company and lost customers. Below are 6 tips that should tell you if you are "just another website" to your web hosting company:
* Time - Does your web hosting company have an "open door policy"? If you have a question, Will they have the answer or will they refer you to their Help Page URL? As an online business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than calling the web hosting company for help and then being told to go to a URL for help. If your web hosting company does this to you, then you are just a number to them.
* Accessibility - Is your web hosting company answering the phone promptly? When they do, who is it? Sales? This is a big tip-off. A web hosting company that really knows you and cares about your business won't automatically try to sell you something and they won't hide behind an answering machine or salesperson. A cheap web hosting company definitely won't know you by name; they will know you by the domain that you have with them.
* Business Knowledge - Does your web hosting company know what your needs are as a website owner? Do they care? Are they hiring teenagers from the local high school to answer the phones (who can't really help you)? Does your web hosting company have Internet Marketing experience? If you are with a cheap web hosting company, the answer is no, because they do their business by volume and can't be focused on those kinds of issues. Kind of ironic, don't you think, given the fact that you have a website in the first place due to the Internet?
* Advertising/Sales Tactics - As your business grows, how many services is your web hosting company trying to sell you? How many emails do they send you trying to get you to upgrade, pay upfront, etc, etc.? Better yet, how do they make their sales? I'll tell you how: aggressive advertising and sales tactics. For a cheap web hosting company, it's the only way, because it is all about the numbers. And you are one of them.
* Relationship-Driven - Does your web hosting company want a relationship with you or with your money? I bet by now you can guess the answer. The fact is, cheap web hosting companies make profits by increasing sales. If one customer leaves, so be it, because they have the volume to make that up. They really don't have the time, resources or the inclination to really make sure they have a satisfied, long-term client in you.
* Patience - Lots of Internet business owners don't know the ins and outs of web hosting. That's understandable. When you talk to the sales department of your web hosting company do they use Plain English or "technospeak" that you don't understand? Do they have the patience to explain everything to you? Or do they automatically assume that you should know and become more impatient the more questions you ask? To put is bluntly, do they make you feel stupid or dumb? If you are trying to give the web hosting company your business and they are making you feel stupid for asking questions, they may as well be saying "Next!" Why would they do this? Because your business is just another website to them.
Generally, a business web hosting company that gives you personalized service, has answers to your questions (or ways of getting those answers) will serve your online business better. Having tons of options is fine, but even better is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that to your web hosting company, your business and its success is priority one.
About The Author
Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg's web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting this link: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com
Take Advantage of Cheap Web Hosting without Sacrificing Quality Service
by: Chris Robertson
You've probably read the ads promising very cheap web hosting. They promise web page hosting at dirt cheap prices, but are you really getting a bargain at these low hosting prices? Let's find out. Here are some great tips on finding low cost web hosting without sacrificing quality service.
Avoid the Freebies
Websites that offer free web site hosting usually aren't really free when you consider the benefits you must give up. Most free web site hosting offers give you free space on another company's website, but you are not getting actual domain hosting. You're getting one or a few of your web pages displayed on someone else's domain. Therefore, you can never fully promote your website or help it to reach its full potential. If the company is shut down tomorrow, your site will shut down as well.
Another disadvantage of free web page hosting is you will probably have advertisements on your web pages. At the very least, you'll have an ad for the company that is providing the hosting space. This can cause your visitors to click out of your website before buying your products.
Even some cheap web hosting services offer similar services as the free hosts. The only difference is they charge you for poor hosting service!
Compare Virtual Host Packages
When shopping for cheap web hosting, be sure to compare web site hosting packages - not only prices. Some key features to look for are the amount of web space you're getting for the money. You might not need much web hosting space at the start, but as you expand, the website will grow much larger. So, you'll most likely have to purchase more web hosting space if you don't purchase enough at the start. In comparing low cost web hosting packages, you might be surprised at the differences in amount of web space you get when paying only a dollar or two more.
Other things to look for when comparing cheap web hosting packages include customer and technical support availability, multiple email accounts and auto responders, detailed control panel such as cPanel or a similar program, password protected directories, etc. If you need special web design integration with PHP, MySQL and databases, be sure the virtual host offers these features. Also, if you plan to resell hosting to your customers, be sure the virtual host offers reseller hosting as well.
Decide on Web Design First
Before choosing a cheap web hosting package, decide on how you will design your website. What programming language will you use in your web design? Will you need to integrate a shopping cart and/or customer database? How will you handle your customer emails? All these questions should be considered before choosing a cheap web hosting package.
Take some time to find the web site hosting service that will meet your needs, both today and in the future. Keep in mind that you will probably use your web host's services for many years to come. Taking time now to find the best possible cheap web hosting with all the features you need will save you from many headaches in the future.
About The Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com
To learn more about subjects like cheap web hosting please visit the web site at: http://www.avahost.net
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Internet directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Internet
You've probably read the ads promising very cheap web hosting. They promise web page hosting at dirt cheap prices, but are you really getting a bargain at these low hosting prices? Let's find out. Here are some great tips on finding low cost web hosting without sacrificing quality service.
Avoid the Freebies
Websites that offer free web site hosting usually aren't really free when you consider the benefits you must give up. Most free web site hosting offers give you free space on another company's website, but you are not getting actual domain hosting. You're getting one or a few of your web pages displayed on someone else's domain. Therefore, you can never fully promote your website or help it to reach its full potential. If the company is shut down tomorrow, your site will shut down as well.
Another disadvantage of free web page hosting is you will probably have advertisements on your web pages. At the very least, you'll have an ad for the company that is providing the hosting space. This can cause your visitors to click out of your website before buying your products.
Even some cheap web hosting services offer similar services as the free hosts. The only difference is they charge you for poor hosting service!
Compare Virtual Host Packages
When shopping for cheap web hosting, be sure to compare web site hosting packages - not only prices. Some key features to look for are the amount of web space you're getting for the money. You might not need much web hosting space at the start, but as you expand, the website will grow much larger. So, you'll most likely have to purchase more web hosting space if you don't purchase enough at the start. In comparing low cost web hosting packages, you might be surprised at the differences in amount of web space you get when paying only a dollar or two more.
Other things to look for when comparing cheap web hosting packages include customer and technical support availability, multiple email accounts and auto responders, detailed control panel such as cPanel or a similar program, password protected directories, etc. If you need special web design integration with PHP, MySQL and databases, be sure the virtual host offers these features. Also, if you plan to resell hosting to your customers, be sure the virtual host offers reseller hosting as well.
Decide on Web Design First
Before choosing a cheap web hosting package, decide on how you will design your website. What programming language will you use in your web design? Will you need to integrate a shopping cart and/or customer database? How will you handle your customer emails? All these questions should be considered before choosing a cheap web hosting package.
Take some time to find the web site hosting service that will meet your needs, both today and in the future. Keep in mind that you will probably use your web host's services for many years to come. Taking time now to find the best possible cheap web hosting with all the features you need will save you from many headaches in the future.
About The Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com
To learn more about subjects like cheap web hosting please visit the web site at: http://www.avahost.net
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Internet directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Internet
Web Hosting Features
by: Carl Madison
Finding a Web hosting provider seems like a difficult job. You think you've found a provider, but then another one offers some Web hosting features a little different than the first provider. So you have to decide what to do. Many of the features you won't even use. A Web host provider will add alot of features to your package to make it enticing. Instead of talking about all the features, I will discuss which ones are important. If you have a simple website, you can combine these features with a cheap web hosting package and be okay. Below are the most important features.
1. Disk Space
One of the biggest concerns you may have is how much disk space(also disk storage or web space) you may need. It all depends on how your website is created. First, let me tell you that Web host providers will show you disk space they provide you in either GB(gigabyte) or MB(megabyte). 1 GB equals 1024 MBs. A website with text only can get by with about 20 megabytes. However, if you add graphics and videos, you will need more disk space. The more things you add to your website, the more disk space you will need.
2. Bandwidth
Bandwidth(or data transfer) is the amount of information your website can deliver to visitors that surf your site. When someone surfs your website or downloads anything from your site, they are using bandwidth. A Web hosting provider usually gives you a month to month supply of bandwidth. If you are planning on having a website with few visitors, then the minimum bandwidth allowed by your provider(between 1GB and 5GBs) should be enough.
Here is some information you need to know when you are calculating bandwidth:
1024 Byte = 1 Kilobyte (KB); 1024 Kilobyte(KB) = 1 Megabyte(MB) ; 1024 Megabyte = 1 Gigabyte(GB)
Note: Some Web host providers don't calculate bytes in 1024's. They instead use 1000 to make it easier. This is something to remember if your calculations are a little different than the providers. You should ask your provider if you want to know which number they use.
3.FTP
FTP(File Transfer Protocol) is a method of transferring files from one computer to another. This gives you the ability to upload your website to your Web hosting provider. In addition, it makes life easier because you can copy lots of files at one time.
4. Customer Service
Technical Support is very important. You should find a company that gives you 24/7 customer service. You may have some issues with your website that need to get taken care of right away. The longer the wait, the more potential visitors to your website you could be losing.
5. Email Services
You definitely want to have email access so you won't have to give your personal email address to visitors of your website. You should get a few email addresses to use for different reasons.
6. Site Statistics
Site Statistics are important because you can keep track of how many people are visiting your website. Therefore, you can know how well your site is doing. In addition, you will be able to determine how much bandwidth is being used.
7. Reliability
If you find a cheap web hosting plan, it doesn't mean you can't rely on them. Furthermore, you should have a provider you can count on to keep your website up and running. Most web host can guarantee your site will be up and running 99.9% of the time. If you come across a web host that guarantees less uptime, I wouldn't recommend you use their services.
Conclusion
These seven features, in my opinion, are features you should have for a basic website. Now if you are planning on doing more than putting basic information on your site, then you should look at other features that may pertain with what you are going to do. For example, if you're going to run programs on your website, then you will need to look into the different types of scripts(PHP, CGI, PERL, SSI, etc....). Another example is if you are doing business online then you want to have security on your site like SSL. As I said earlier, there are alot of features that come with your web host package, but most of them you won't need. If you need more than the seven listed above, chances are you already know what you need because you will have built your website around those features. These seven are for a person who wants to put a basic website together, with information about their business. Now all you need to do is find an affordable web hosting provider to go with these features and you are on your way.
About The Author
Carl Madison is a writer for http://www.hostdata101.com
Finding a Web hosting provider seems like a difficult job. You think you've found a provider, but then another one offers some Web hosting features a little different than the first provider. So you have to decide what to do. Many of the features you won't even use. A Web host provider will add alot of features to your package to make it enticing. Instead of talking about all the features, I will discuss which ones are important. If you have a simple website, you can combine these features with a cheap web hosting package and be okay. Below are the most important features.
1. Disk Space
One of the biggest concerns you may have is how much disk space(also disk storage or web space) you may need. It all depends on how your website is created. First, let me tell you that Web host providers will show you disk space they provide you in either GB(gigabyte) or MB(megabyte). 1 GB equals 1024 MBs. A website with text only can get by with about 20 megabytes. However, if you add graphics and videos, you will need more disk space. The more things you add to your website, the more disk space you will need.
2. Bandwidth
Bandwidth(or data transfer) is the amount of information your website can deliver to visitors that surf your site. When someone surfs your website or downloads anything from your site, they are using bandwidth. A Web hosting provider usually gives you a month to month supply of bandwidth. If you are planning on having a website with few visitors, then the minimum bandwidth allowed by your provider(between 1GB and 5GBs) should be enough.
Here is some information you need to know when you are calculating bandwidth:
1024 Byte = 1 Kilobyte (KB); 1024 Kilobyte(KB) = 1 Megabyte(MB) ; 1024 Megabyte = 1 Gigabyte(GB)
Note: Some Web host providers don't calculate bytes in 1024's. They instead use 1000 to make it easier. This is something to remember if your calculations are a little different than the providers. You should ask your provider if you want to know which number they use.
3.FTP
FTP(File Transfer Protocol) is a method of transferring files from one computer to another. This gives you the ability to upload your website to your Web hosting provider. In addition, it makes life easier because you can copy lots of files at one time.
4. Customer Service
Technical Support is very important. You should find a company that gives you 24/7 customer service. You may have some issues with your website that need to get taken care of right away. The longer the wait, the more potential visitors to your website you could be losing.
5. Email Services
You definitely want to have email access so you won't have to give your personal email address to visitors of your website. You should get a few email addresses to use for different reasons.
6. Site Statistics
Site Statistics are important because you can keep track of how many people are visiting your website. Therefore, you can know how well your site is doing. In addition, you will be able to determine how much bandwidth is being used.
7. Reliability
If you find a cheap web hosting plan, it doesn't mean you can't rely on them. Furthermore, you should have a provider you can count on to keep your website up and running. Most web host can guarantee your site will be up and running 99.9% of the time. If you come across a web host that guarantees less uptime, I wouldn't recommend you use their services.
Conclusion
These seven features, in my opinion, are features you should have for a basic website. Now if you are planning on doing more than putting basic information on your site, then you should look at other features that may pertain with what you are going to do. For example, if you're going to run programs on your website, then you will need to look into the different types of scripts(PHP, CGI, PERL, SSI, etc....). Another example is if you are doing business online then you want to have security on your site like SSL. As I said earlier, there are alot of features that come with your web host package, but most of them you won't need. If you need more than the seven listed above, chances are you already know what you need because you will have built your website around those features. These seven are for a person who wants to put a basic website together, with information about their business. Now all you need to do is find an affordable web hosting provider to go with these features and you are on your way.
About The Author
Carl Madison is a writer for http://www.hostdata101.com
Choosing The Best Web Hosting Provider For You
by: Heris Yunora
The use of good web hosting is badly needed to secure your web site remains online, in addition to the cost that you spend become less. Currently there are so many web hosting companies which respectively have different pricing plans and different features among each other.
Following are the points that you need to observe in choosing a web hosting company:
-Web Space
It constitutes the storage capacity of the whole data as required by your web site. Depending of the type of web site you design, it is better that you also consider your future needs. For example, if you want to build an article directory website, you will need a hosting with large web space.
-Bandwith
Bandwith is the amount of data that is transmitted from your web site. The more visitors visit your web site, the more bandwith you require. It is to be noted that your requirements for web space have not certainly comparable with the requirements for bandwith. For example, if you set up a web site with an Amazon Store script, the web space required is not big, but you need to prepare the bandwith that will possibly consume several Gigas. Keep in mind that other than web site visitors, don't forget that various search engine bots that will make effort to crawl the whole webpages.
-Reliability
The web hosting company you are choosing should have uptime guarantee amounting to at least 99%. In that way, the presence of your web site will be secured for 99% of a time span.
-Speed
Having a web site that can always be accessed is not enough. Your web site must always be loaded rapidly. Otherwise you will be missing a lot of visitors.
-Customer Support
The presence of reliable customer support has to become one of your considerations in choosing a hosting company. A good hosting service provider must be able to be contacted anytime. This is particularly useful to overcome technical problems. If a hosting company provides an online chatting facility for communicating with their customer service, try to submit some requests and observe the way they are serving you.
-Cost
So as to get the best price, compare the pricing plan from several hosting providers that have similar features. Don't forget to conduct checking to the guarantee as provided and whether or not there are other additional costs.
-Technical Features
If later on you have an intention to use certain scripts, check whether the web hosting has complied with the criteria as required. Otherwise, it is better for you to choose a hosting company that has Linux/Unix as the operating system with PHP and MySQL features. There are so many online business support programs such as autoresponder and various CMS's that need server using Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Besides, various free open source programs usually need to enable them for being used. Don't also forget other technical needs, such as whether you will use Audio and Video Streaming or requiring Frontpage Extension.
-Number of Web site
If you have a plant to set up several web sites, choose the one that allow you for hosting your web sites as mentioned in one account (multiple domain hosting). In that way, there is no additional cost that must be spent every month.
Whatever web hosting provider that you choose, it depends on your requirements and the amount of budget that you want to spend. It is to be noted that cheap is not always equal to inferior and expensive is not always equal to good. Some hosting companies which are realiable and having complete enough features, it turns out that they are charging lower monthly cost than other companies which are offering equal or even less complete features. Make sure the web hosting plan you choose will fit your needs.
Happy Choosing...
About The Author
Heris Yunora is the owner of http://www.unlimitedhostingplan.com, a website that provides information on the features of unlimited web hosting services.
The use of good web hosting is badly needed to secure your web site remains online, in addition to the cost that you spend become less. Currently there are so many web hosting companies which respectively have different pricing plans and different features among each other.
Following are the points that you need to observe in choosing a web hosting company:
-Web Space
It constitutes the storage capacity of the whole data as required by your web site. Depending of the type of web site you design, it is better that you also consider your future needs. For example, if you want to build an article directory website, you will need a hosting with large web space.
-Bandwith
Bandwith is the amount of data that is transmitted from your web site. The more visitors visit your web site, the more bandwith you require. It is to be noted that your requirements for web space have not certainly comparable with the requirements for bandwith. For example, if you set up a web site with an Amazon Store script, the web space required is not big, but you need to prepare the bandwith that will possibly consume several Gigas. Keep in mind that other than web site visitors, don't forget that various search engine bots that will make effort to crawl the whole webpages.
-Reliability
The web hosting company you are choosing should have uptime guarantee amounting to at least 99%. In that way, the presence of your web site will be secured for 99% of a time span.
-Speed
Having a web site that can always be accessed is not enough. Your web site must always be loaded rapidly. Otherwise you will be missing a lot of visitors.
-Customer Support
The presence of reliable customer support has to become one of your considerations in choosing a hosting company. A good hosting service provider must be able to be contacted anytime. This is particularly useful to overcome technical problems. If a hosting company provides an online chatting facility for communicating with their customer service, try to submit some requests and observe the way they are serving you.
-Cost
So as to get the best price, compare the pricing plan from several hosting providers that have similar features. Don't forget to conduct checking to the guarantee as provided and whether or not there are other additional costs.
-Technical Features
If later on you have an intention to use certain scripts, check whether the web hosting has complied with the criteria as required. Otherwise, it is better for you to choose a hosting company that has Linux/Unix as the operating system with PHP and MySQL features. There are so many online business support programs such as autoresponder and various CMS's that need server using Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Besides, various free open source programs usually need to enable them for being used. Don't also forget other technical needs, such as whether you will use Audio and Video Streaming or requiring Frontpage Extension.
-Number of Web site
If you have a plant to set up several web sites, choose the one that allow you for hosting your web sites as mentioned in one account (multiple domain hosting). In that way, there is no additional cost that must be spent every month.
Whatever web hosting provider that you choose, it depends on your requirements and the amount of budget that you want to spend. It is to be noted that cheap is not always equal to inferior and expensive is not always equal to good. Some hosting companies which are realiable and having complete enough features, it turns out that they are charging lower monthly cost than other companies which are offering equal or even less complete features. Make sure the web hosting plan you choose will fit your needs.
Happy Choosing...
About The Author
Heris Yunora is the owner of http://www.unlimitedhostingplan.com, a website that provides information on the features of unlimited web hosting services.
Cheap Web Hosting
by: Andy West
Getting set up with cheap web hosting can be a challenge these days in the world of web hosts that provide services like domain bundling, name registration, and free email to get users aboard. Many of these services end up costing you more than a traditional basic hosting account would in the first place, and therefore web hosting can be a hard thing to find for those looking for a bargain. Many people looking for cheap web hosting end up settling for a bundle deal that isn’t what they wanted. In order to get cheap web hosting one must first figure out what his or her needs are, and how best to meet them. This is not easy when it comes to cheap web hosting, because what your needs require may not be the same services offered by any given host. But taking the painful steps of identifying what your web hosting needs are will greatly enhance the ability and chances of finding the best deal in the end.
Most web hosts base their packages on bandwidth and storage space. This means that in order to get a deal on cheap web hosting, one must settle for less bandwidth, and less storage space. How much storage space do you need? Are you going to be hosting large files? Are you going to be hosting large amounts of email addresses, and various data? These questions need to be addressed before one can truly find cheap web hosting. Further, how much traffic you receive each day will have a lot to do with the cost of web hosting. If the traffic is moderate to light, you can expect to get a cheap web hosting deal without problems. If on the other hand there is a lot of traffic headed to your site, more bandwidth might be needed to keep it up and running.
Shopping for cheap web hosting is not an easy task simply because there are so many options today. Everything from basic beginner’s web hosting packages, to deluxe advanced web hosting packages for those running dedicated servers, and virtual servers as well. Making the most out of each package can be hard and therefore it makes sense to compare services.
One of the most popular hosting websites on the net today is godaddy. This website is the benchmark for cheap web hosting, and offers a variety of packages. The godaddy website is best known for its cheap domain registration. Godaddy also offers its users a variety of web hosting packages to fit most anyone's needs.
Another great web host is yahoo business. This website is based upon the need of small businesses looking for an easy way to host a merchant account ready website. This website hosting company provides cheap web hosting solutions for any small business that needs it.
In dealing with cheap web hosting it is important to compare all the options before making a choice. A good spot to compare services is Review Place, a website based on customer reviews of products and services. At Review Place you will be able to look at the different services, and figure out which one works best for you. It is important to compare prices and see what is offered. It will be easier to make an informed choice about what it is that you need, and which service you want to sign up with.
About The Author
Andy West is a freelance writer for ReviewPlace. For more information and reviews of Cheap Web Hosting, please visit ReviewPlace at http://www.reviewplace.com/cat-372-InternetBusinessTools--Web-Hosting.html.
Getting set up with cheap web hosting can be a challenge these days in the world of web hosts that provide services like domain bundling, name registration, and free email to get users aboard. Many of these services end up costing you more than a traditional basic hosting account would in the first place, and therefore web hosting can be a hard thing to find for those looking for a bargain. Many people looking for cheap web hosting end up settling for a bundle deal that isn’t what they wanted. In order to get cheap web hosting one must first figure out what his or her needs are, and how best to meet them. This is not easy when it comes to cheap web hosting, because what your needs require may not be the same services offered by any given host. But taking the painful steps of identifying what your web hosting needs are will greatly enhance the ability and chances of finding the best deal in the end.
Most web hosts base their packages on bandwidth and storage space. This means that in order to get a deal on cheap web hosting, one must settle for less bandwidth, and less storage space. How much storage space do you need? Are you going to be hosting large files? Are you going to be hosting large amounts of email addresses, and various data? These questions need to be addressed before one can truly find cheap web hosting. Further, how much traffic you receive each day will have a lot to do with the cost of web hosting. If the traffic is moderate to light, you can expect to get a cheap web hosting deal without problems. If on the other hand there is a lot of traffic headed to your site, more bandwidth might be needed to keep it up and running.
Shopping for cheap web hosting is not an easy task simply because there are so many options today. Everything from basic beginner’s web hosting packages, to deluxe advanced web hosting packages for those running dedicated servers, and virtual servers as well. Making the most out of each package can be hard and therefore it makes sense to compare services.
One of the most popular hosting websites on the net today is godaddy. This website is the benchmark for cheap web hosting, and offers a variety of packages. The godaddy website is best known for its cheap domain registration. Godaddy also offers its users a variety of web hosting packages to fit most anyone's needs.
Another great web host is yahoo business. This website is based upon the need of small businesses looking for an easy way to host a merchant account ready website. This website hosting company provides cheap web hosting solutions for any small business that needs it.
In dealing with cheap web hosting it is important to compare all the options before making a choice. A good spot to compare services is Review Place, a website based on customer reviews of products and services. At Review Place you will be able to look at the different services, and figure out which one works best for you. It is important to compare prices and see what is offered. It will be easier to make an informed choice about what it is that you need, and which service you want to sign up with.
About The Author
Andy West is a freelance writer for ReviewPlace. For more information and reviews of Cheap Web Hosting, please visit ReviewPlace at http://www.reviewplace.com/cat-372-InternetBusinessTools--Web-Hosting.html.
What is the difference between Windows and UNIX web hosting?
by: Paul Santos
Windows and UNIX are in fact two different systems and of course we are referring to computer systems. A web host uses computers, (we shall refer to them as servers, just computers, but sometimes larger) to host websites, and all computers need a operating system, so Windows and UNIX are the operating system.
The Windows used is normally Windows NT or 2000 and of course as you know Microsoft charges for it's software, while UNIX is an open source operating system, this means that the original creators of the system have given up the rights and anyone can use it, change, improve or do anything they want with, free of charge.
From this we already have to main differences, Window hosts are more expensive and UNIX is more reliable, because it as been improved by thousands of anonymous people.
Most probably you are reading this in front of your computer which most probably is operates on a Windows XP, have you noticed that it sometimes, it freezes, and the only solution is to restart it? UNIX is much more stable, robust, time-tested, flexible platform for a web server.
But Windows servers have also it's positive sides, they are compatible with Microsoft applications, and fully support Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Access and MS SQL, they also offer advance-programming environments and features such as Active Server Pages (ASP), the ASP.NET framework, Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server, Macromedia's and Cold Fusion.
Windows operating system require little or no experience in web development to get advanced features working very quickly because of better graphical user interface (GUI) Software such as Microsoft's FrontPage is specially developed for the webmaster to decrease the website development time and efforts.
Lets go back again to UNIX, they support FrontPage, Flash, Shockwave, Real Audio/Video, Cgi Scripts, Perl, PHP, SSH (Secure Telnet), MySQL, Web-Based Control System, Anonymous FTP, Web Site Graphical Statistics, Web-Based Email System, Miva/XML, Cold Fusion Perl, JAVA, PHP, C, C++, Miva, Shell Access and other wide verity of feature like Telnet and SSH that provides lots of flexibility and freedom in managing file and directories, but some of this require advance knowledge of Unix commands in order for you to customize the scripts to match your website needs.
Because of the nature of UNIX, (open source) and the people who love it, there is on the WWW freely available software and scripts, again bringing the cost down.
Concluding which one is the best, it really depends what you need, if you need high uptime, security and not so expensive then go with UNIX, if you need to run Windows applications like, MS Access or the MS SQL SERVER then Windows is your choice.
About The Author
Paul Santos
CEO
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com
Windows and UNIX are in fact two different systems and of course we are referring to computer systems. A web host uses computers, (we shall refer to them as servers, just computers, but sometimes larger) to host websites, and all computers need a operating system, so Windows and UNIX are the operating system.
The Windows used is normally Windows NT or 2000 and of course as you know Microsoft charges for it's software, while UNIX is an open source operating system, this means that the original creators of the system have given up the rights and anyone can use it, change, improve or do anything they want with, free of charge.
From this we already have to main differences, Window hosts are more expensive and UNIX is more reliable, because it as been improved by thousands of anonymous people.
Most probably you are reading this in front of your computer which most probably is operates on a Windows XP, have you noticed that it sometimes, it freezes, and the only solution is to restart it? UNIX is much more stable, robust, time-tested, flexible platform for a web server.
But Windows servers have also it's positive sides, they are compatible with Microsoft applications, and fully support Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Access and MS SQL, they also offer advance-programming environments and features such as Active Server Pages (ASP), the ASP.NET framework, Visual Basic Scripts, MS Index Server, Macromedia's and Cold Fusion.
Windows operating system require little or no experience in web development to get advanced features working very quickly because of better graphical user interface (GUI) Software such as Microsoft's FrontPage is specially developed for the webmaster to decrease the website development time and efforts.
Lets go back again to UNIX, they support FrontPage, Flash, Shockwave, Real Audio/Video, Cgi Scripts, Perl, PHP, SSH (Secure Telnet), MySQL, Web-Based Control System, Anonymous FTP, Web Site Graphical Statistics, Web-Based Email System, Miva/XML, Cold Fusion Perl, JAVA, PHP, C, C++, Miva, Shell Access and other wide verity of feature like Telnet and SSH that provides lots of flexibility and freedom in managing file and directories, but some of this require advance knowledge of Unix commands in order for you to customize the scripts to match your website needs.
Because of the nature of UNIX, (open source) and the people who love it, there is on the WWW freely available software and scripts, again bringing the cost down.
Concluding which one is the best, it really depends what you need, if you need high uptime, security and not so expensive then go with UNIX, if you need to run Windows applications like, MS Access or the MS SQL SERVER then Windows is your choice.
About The Author
Paul Santos
CEO
Hosting Marketers
http://hosting-marketers.com
Web Hosting – Let Me Explain
by: John Gibb
If you want a website, then before you do anything else, you’re going to need to get some web hosting.
You might not be too sure exactly how the web works, but don’t worry – it’s quite complicated, and you don’t really need to know about it until you want to make your own website. Basically, every time you go to a website, you connect to another computer (called a server) that sends you copies of that website’s pages. Server have to be powerful, as thousands of people could be asking for those pages every second on the web’s biggest sites.
For a small site, you don’t need your own server. You could set your own computer up to run as a server, but you would have to leave it switched on and connected to the Internet all day long, and if your site got even a little bit popular then your connection probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. Instead, what most people do is rent some space on one of those larger servers, paying a different monthly fee depending on how much data their visitors download and for any extra features they need.
If you want a website, then, the first thing you should do is find which one of these web hosts is best for you – that is, whose server you should rent space on. Much like looking to rent a home, this is really a matter of personal taste. Paying more is no guarantee of quality, as many hosts prey on their customers’ lack of understanding to charge unjustifiably high prices. In general, the best way to find a good web hosting company is to ask around, read reviews, and ask on forums for people’s experiences. You’ll often find that what seemed like a good deal is actually a disaster, and be steered towards something much better.
About The Author
John Gibb is the owner of web-hostng-advice-and-info2k.info, for more information on web hosting check out http://www.web-hostng-advice-and-info2k.info
If you want a website, then before you do anything else, you’re going to need to get some web hosting.
You might not be too sure exactly how the web works, but don’t worry – it’s quite complicated, and you don’t really need to know about it until you want to make your own website. Basically, every time you go to a website, you connect to another computer (called a server) that sends you copies of that website’s pages. Server have to be powerful, as thousands of people could be asking for those pages every second on the web’s biggest sites.
For a small site, you don’t need your own server. You could set your own computer up to run as a server, but you would have to leave it switched on and connected to the Internet all day long, and if your site got even a little bit popular then your connection probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. Instead, what most people do is rent some space on one of those larger servers, paying a different monthly fee depending on how much data their visitors download and for any extra features they need.
If you want a website, then, the first thing you should do is find which one of these web hosts is best for you – that is, whose server you should rent space on. Much like looking to rent a home, this is really a matter of personal taste. Paying more is no guarantee of quality, as many hosts prey on their customers’ lack of understanding to charge unjustifiably high prices. In general, the best way to find a good web hosting company is to ask around, read reviews, and ask on forums for people’s experiences. You’ll often find that what seemed like a good deal is actually a disaster, and be steered towards something much better.
About The Author
John Gibb is the owner of web-hostng-advice-and-info2k.info, for more information on web hosting check out http://www.web-hostng-advice-and-info2k.info
Website Builder Tools for a Hosting Company
by: Rodney Ringler
In today's very competitive world of web hosting it is hard for a hosting company to set itself apart from the competition. Prices, storage and bandwidth have become such a commodity that adding additional features is about the only way. One feature that is becoming popular is offering your customers a Website Builder tool. These tools allow a user to build a professional looking website in minutes without writing any code or having to be a technical person. They are great packages to attract the novice or beginner to your hosting company. Many find their web hosting company through the website designers they use. Now a hosting company can offer a website builder tool that bypasses the website designer and allows the web host to provide it all.
These packages vary in functionality and costs but they all provide the same basics. A user selects from a set of pre-built templates. The template is the graphic design or "look" of the website. The user then enters company information like name, logo, address, and email. Next you select which subpages you want and enter text and images for them. And finally, for the advanced packages, you select additional pre-built functionality to include such as a photo album, blog, forum, of shopping cart. That's it and you have a professional looking website. The user then has a control panel to log into to make changes, add pages, etc.
Some people love these packages and some people hate them. It really depends on your programming ability and goals. If you want a website that's easy to build and you doesn't need a lot of customization then these packages are great. If you are a programmer and want specific functionality or design then you will find these products very confining.
For this article we researched 4 products, SwSoft's SiteBuilder, SiteGalore, SiteReptile, and RV StieBuilder. In general, by size, costs, and features, SiteGalore is the largest, then SiteBuilder, followed by SiteReptile and RV SiteBuilder. We were disappointed with the response and website from SiteGalore. They did not offer prices or a demo on their website. They require a form to be filled out to request each of these, which we did, and have still not heard back after 3 days. All of the other sites have prices and demos right on their website. So, even though, SiteGalore is the largest we do not recommend them. We have found that value propostion means a lot in a business relationship. If you are one small customer to a large company then what kind of attention will they give you? If a site cannot be responsive when they are trying to sell you their product don't expect it when you need support.
Below is a table we have built comparing the costs and functionality of the 4 products. We recommend Swsoft's SiteBuilder first for it's overall features and low cost. If you need cPanel integration then SiteReptile is your best choice. RV sitebuilder is a new product and is still lacking some key functionality.
SwSoft's SiteBuilder
Price - $19.90/month($199 onetime fee) 100 websites
Control Panel - Plesk
Templates - 300+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - photo gallery, e-shop, PayPal, blogs, voting
SiteGalore
Prices - Not online. No reply after 2 days
Control Panel - None
Templates - 900+ designs, 15,000+ templates, flash intros
Pre-Built Functionailty - photo album, blog, online shop, customized forms
SiteReptile
Price - $9.95/month($159 onetime fee) 100 websites, your brand
Control Panel - cPanel, Plesk, Ensim, DirectAdmin
Templates - 100+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - news, polling, photo album
RV SiteBuilder
Price - $6/month unlimited, your brand
Control Panel - cPanel
Templates - 50+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - page effects, guestbook
There are many more products on the market and this just 4 of them. We tried to pick 2 large ones, a medium one, and a small startup. All of these products will add functionality to attract the beginner website builder to your hosting plans. This will be well worth the monthly or one time license fee that they charge. The fees are relatively low compared to the functionality added to your company. We recommend all personal web hosting and budget web hosting companies add a website builder tool to their business.
About The Author
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including Web Hosting Providers - HostChart, Reseller Hosting Providers - ResellerConnection, Budget Web Hosting - FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.
In today's very competitive world of web hosting it is hard for a hosting company to set itself apart from the competition. Prices, storage and bandwidth have become such a commodity that adding additional features is about the only way. One feature that is becoming popular is offering your customers a Website Builder tool. These tools allow a user to build a professional looking website in minutes without writing any code or having to be a technical person. They are great packages to attract the novice or beginner to your hosting company. Many find their web hosting company through the website designers they use. Now a hosting company can offer a website builder tool that bypasses the website designer and allows the web host to provide it all.
These packages vary in functionality and costs but they all provide the same basics. A user selects from a set of pre-built templates. The template is the graphic design or "look" of the website. The user then enters company information like name, logo, address, and email. Next you select which subpages you want and enter text and images for them. And finally, for the advanced packages, you select additional pre-built functionality to include such as a photo album, blog, forum, of shopping cart. That's it and you have a professional looking website. The user then has a control panel to log into to make changes, add pages, etc.
Some people love these packages and some people hate them. It really depends on your programming ability and goals. If you want a website that's easy to build and you doesn't need a lot of customization then these packages are great. If you are a programmer and want specific functionality or design then you will find these products very confining.
For this article we researched 4 products, SwSoft's SiteBuilder, SiteGalore, SiteReptile, and RV StieBuilder. In general, by size, costs, and features, SiteGalore is the largest, then SiteBuilder, followed by SiteReptile and RV SiteBuilder. We were disappointed with the response and website from SiteGalore. They did not offer prices or a demo on their website. They require a form to be filled out to request each of these, which we did, and have still not heard back after 3 days. All of the other sites have prices and demos right on their website. So, even though, SiteGalore is the largest we do not recommend them. We have found that value propostion means a lot in a business relationship. If you are one small customer to a large company then what kind of attention will they give you? If a site cannot be responsive when they are trying to sell you their product don't expect it when you need support.
Below is a table we have built comparing the costs and functionality of the 4 products. We recommend Swsoft's SiteBuilder first for it's overall features and low cost. If you need cPanel integration then SiteReptile is your best choice. RV sitebuilder is a new product and is still lacking some key functionality.
SwSoft's SiteBuilder
Price - $19.90/month($199 onetime fee) 100 websites
Control Panel - Plesk
Templates - 300+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - photo gallery, e-shop, PayPal, blogs, voting
SiteGalore
Prices - Not online. No reply after 2 days
Control Panel - None
Templates - 900+ designs, 15,000+ templates, flash intros
Pre-Built Functionailty - photo album, blog, online shop, customized forms
SiteReptile
Price - $9.95/month($159 onetime fee) 100 websites, your brand
Control Panel - cPanel, Plesk, Ensim, DirectAdmin
Templates - 100+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - news, polling, photo album
RV SiteBuilder
Price - $6/month unlimited, your brand
Control Panel - cPanel
Templates - 50+ templates
Pre-Built Functionality - page effects, guestbook
There are many more products on the market and this just 4 of them. We tried to pick 2 large ones, a medium one, and a small startup. All of these products will add functionality to attract the beginner website builder to your hosting plans. This will be well worth the monthly or one time license fee that they charge. The fees are relatively low compared to the functionality added to your company. We recommend all personal web hosting and budget web hosting companies add a website builder tool to their business.
About The Author
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including Web Hosting Providers - HostChart, Reseller Hosting Providers - ResellerConnection, Budget Web Hosting - FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.
3 Options For Hosting Multiple Websites
by: John Lenaghan
The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it's possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.
The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.
If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.
They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.
On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.
Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.
Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.
If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.
Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.
The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.
A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.
Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.
The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.
Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.
About The Author
John Lenaghan writes about web hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more information, visit http://www.hostingreport.org
The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it's possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.
The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.
If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.
They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.
On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.
Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.
Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.
If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.
Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.
The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.
A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.
Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.
The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.
Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.
About The Author
John Lenaghan writes about web hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more information, visit http://www.hostingreport.org
5 Common Web Hosting Mistakes
by: John Lenaghan
Mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, but if you can learn from other people's mistakes it can save you from having to deal with them yourself. When it comes to web hosting, there are basically two kinds of mistakes - technical and general business.
Technical mistakes usually come up because of a misunderstanding of the internet and how it actually works. The first mistake many people make when creating a website is to cram as much information, photographs, images, etc. on each page as possible.
This makes the site take longer to download, leading to many visitors just moving on and never actually looking at the site. It also makes it more difficult to find what they're looking for if the page is unorganized.
Another common error is creating a web site that isn't search engine friendly. If the search engines can't determine what your site is about, they aren't going to be able to send you people who are searching for what you offer.
A mistake that many people make when starting out is to choose a host solely based on price. This is obviously an important factor, especially in the beginning, but if you choose the cheapest host you may be limited in your scalability as the website grows in popularity and traffic.
On the business side of things, the most common mistake is trying to be everything to everyone. You should have a plan for your website - a purpose for its existence - and build according to that plan.
Choose your target market and stick with it. Advertise in places they would see. Market in ways that would be of interest to them. Resist the urge to branch out into other areas just because something catches your eye. A site that tries to do everything usually ends up achieving nothing.
Another common business mistake is following the competition's lead. You'll obviously want to keep an eye on them to see what they're up to, but if you copy everything they do you'll always be one step behind.
Use your creativity and come up with unique ways to stand out from the rest of the websites in your market.
About The Author
John Lenaghan writes about web site hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more helpful web hosting information visit http://www.hostingreport.org
Mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, but if you can learn from other people's mistakes it can save you from having to deal with them yourself. When it comes to web hosting, there are basically two kinds of mistakes - technical and general business.
Technical mistakes usually come up because of a misunderstanding of the internet and how it actually works. The first mistake many people make when creating a website is to cram as much information, photographs, images, etc. on each page as possible.
This makes the site take longer to download, leading to many visitors just moving on and never actually looking at the site. It also makes it more difficult to find what they're looking for if the page is unorganized.
Another common error is creating a web site that isn't search engine friendly. If the search engines can't determine what your site is about, they aren't going to be able to send you people who are searching for what you offer.
A mistake that many people make when starting out is to choose a host solely based on price. This is obviously an important factor, especially in the beginning, but if you choose the cheapest host you may be limited in your scalability as the website grows in popularity and traffic.
On the business side of things, the most common mistake is trying to be everything to everyone. You should have a plan for your website - a purpose for its existence - and build according to that plan.
Choose your target market and stick with it. Advertise in places they would see. Market in ways that would be of interest to them. Resist the urge to branch out into other areas just because something catches your eye. A site that tries to do everything usually ends up achieving nothing.
Another common business mistake is following the competition's lead. You'll obviously want to keep an eye on them to see what they're up to, but if you copy everything they do you'll always be one step behind.
Use your creativity and come up with unique ways to stand out from the rest of the websites in your market.
About The Author
John Lenaghan writes about web site hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more helpful web hosting information visit http://www.hostingreport.org
Dedicated Web Hosting - When & Why
by: Joshua Mabilia
Dedicated web hosting means leasing an entire host-server - not shared by anyone else - in which to locate your website. Usually the main consideration is security of data while deciding whether or not dedicated web hosting is needed for a website. In this article, we will walk down the aisle and try to understand why you would need dedicated web hosting.
Why dedicated web hosting?
Imagine you are a home-based programmer and you use your desktop computer for your work. Imagine again that your kids too use your computer, when you are not working, to chat online or to send and receive emails. A scenario such as this works fine until one fine morning you discover your computer has stopped functioning and all your data is lost. Not because you did something wrong but because your kids have inadvertently let in a virus that has wreaked havoc on your computer.
What would you do? Logic suggests you stop your kids using your computer so that your hard work is not wasted this way. Dedicated web hosting is similar to this concept. If you choose not to allow any other website to be hosted on your server, you are in fact opting for dedicated web hosting.
Who may need dedicated web hosting?
For many companies, data security is a major issue. Think of multinational banks or credit card companies. Since they store and transmit sensitive data of their customers, it is imperative that any possibility of data theft or manipulation is completely eliminated. Dedicated web hosting is a necessity for them.
Then again, consider big software companies who work on and create software products. They need to test and retest their products before releasing in the market. They have a large stake and privacy is uppermost. For them too, dedicated web hosting is a must.
Resellers of hosting services are another lot who prefer dedicated web hosting. If you are in business of providing hosting solutions, you will not want your server space cluttered with others.
Isn't it costly?
Yes indeed. Dedicated web hosting comes at a price. Starting around $100 a month the cost may top $1000 or more depending on service and amenities needed. Typically, if you settle for lower monthly charge, you get a bare-bone server plus an assurance of routine maintenance and some minimal service like system upgrade, tweaking firewall, configuring control panel and suchlike. In many cases of dedicated web hosting, hosting providers may ask to be compensated for technical support.
If you need more assistance for your dedicated web hosting, your cost will increase. But at the same time, expect greater level of management support from your hosting provider. Before you decide which way to go, it is a good idea to talk over details with a few providers to ensure that you will get what you want.
Advantages of dedicated web hosting
Despite higher cost, dedicated web hosting has certain distinct advantages. First is of course the liberty to tailor-make your software requirements that would reside on your server. You choose only those you need. This means freeing up your server space to a large extent. Second, dedicated web hosting will let you afford not only large storage space but big amount of bandwidth as well. This is crucial because surfers looking for your site can gain access fast.
Third, with dedicated web hosting, you will have direct control on your server. You can quickly attend to your clients, should the need arise.
Summing Up
If paying more than usual for your hosting solution is not a bother, dedicated web hosting will prove eminently viable. More so if your website needs:
- higher security over data storage and transmission,
- large storage space,
- large bandwidth volume, and above all,
- proprietary software to test and implement.
Be independent; be responsive with dedicated web hosting.
About The Author
Joshua Mabilia - admin @ hostingfrenzy.com
Josh is the webmaster of http://www.hostingfrenzy.com
Visit his site for a comprehensive web hosting directory, articles, tools, and much more.
Dedicated web hosting means leasing an entire host-server - not shared by anyone else - in which to locate your website. Usually the main consideration is security of data while deciding whether or not dedicated web hosting is needed for a website. In this article, we will walk down the aisle and try to understand why you would need dedicated web hosting.
Why dedicated web hosting?
Imagine you are a home-based programmer and you use your desktop computer for your work. Imagine again that your kids too use your computer, when you are not working, to chat online or to send and receive emails. A scenario such as this works fine until one fine morning you discover your computer has stopped functioning and all your data is lost. Not because you did something wrong but because your kids have inadvertently let in a virus that has wreaked havoc on your computer.
What would you do? Logic suggests you stop your kids using your computer so that your hard work is not wasted this way. Dedicated web hosting is similar to this concept. If you choose not to allow any other website to be hosted on your server, you are in fact opting for dedicated web hosting.
Who may need dedicated web hosting?
For many companies, data security is a major issue. Think of multinational banks or credit card companies. Since they store and transmit sensitive data of their customers, it is imperative that any possibility of data theft or manipulation is completely eliminated. Dedicated web hosting is a necessity for them.
Then again, consider big software companies who work on and create software products. They need to test and retest their products before releasing in the market. They have a large stake and privacy is uppermost. For them too, dedicated web hosting is a must.
Resellers of hosting services are another lot who prefer dedicated web hosting. If you are in business of providing hosting solutions, you will not want your server space cluttered with others.
Isn't it costly?
Yes indeed. Dedicated web hosting comes at a price. Starting around $100 a month the cost may top $1000 or more depending on service and amenities needed. Typically, if you settle for lower monthly charge, you get a bare-bone server plus an assurance of routine maintenance and some minimal service like system upgrade, tweaking firewall, configuring control panel and suchlike. In many cases of dedicated web hosting, hosting providers may ask to be compensated for technical support.
If you need more assistance for your dedicated web hosting, your cost will increase. But at the same time, expect greater level of management support from your hosting provider. Before you decide which way to go, it is a good idea to talk over details with a few providers to ensure that you will get what you want.
Advantages of dedicated web hosting
Despite higher cost, dedicated web hosting has certain distinct advantages. First is of course the liberty to tailor-make your software requirements that would reside on your server. You choose only those you need. This means freeing up your server space to a large extent. Second, dedicated web hosting will let you afford not only large storage space but big amount of bandwidth as well. This is crucial because surfers looking for your site can gain access fast.
Third, with dedicated web hosting, you will have direct control on your server. You can quickly attend to your clients, should the need arise.
Summing Up
If paying more than usual for your hosting solution is not a bother, dedicated web hosting will prove eminently viable. More so if your website needs:
- higher security over data storage and transmission,
- large storage space,
- large bandwidth volume, and above all,
- proprietary software to test and implement.
Be independent; be responsive with dedicated web hosting.
About The Author
Joshua Mabilia - admin @ hostingfrenzy.com
Josh is the webmaster of http://www.hostingfrenzy.com
Visit his site for a comprehensive web hosting directory, articles, tools, and much more.
Having The Best Web Hosting Plan
by: Michael Colucci
If and when you’re interested in starting a business online, there are a lot of things that you have to study first before you can rightfully expect a high ROI or return on investment.
First, you have to make sure that your company website has a user friendly interface which basically means links are visible, easily located and properly labeled and that the content provided in the website is complete, interesting, effective and grammatically correct.
Secondly, there’s the little matter of search engine optimization or SEO which requires you to employ a number of strategies that your company website is heard and seen by the right people. Common search engine optimization strategies would be keyword listing, site code optimization and top search engine placement.
And of course, we finally come to the main theme of our article: web hosting. No matter how great your website looks or how effective your SEO strategies are, if you don’t have the right web hosting plan, none of those would see the light of the day because your web hosting plan simply prevents them from being properly uploaded and viewed.
Web hosting is integral to your plans if you want your website to have its own niche in the Internet so do read carefully what we’re about to teach you.
You have mainly two choices when it comes to web hosting – you can get it for free or you can spend for it. Naturally, it would be lovely if web hosting would be free for all of us but understand that all the needs of your company website must be met by the free web hosting plan if you want your future to look rosy.
In order to determine whether your company website could do well even with a free web hosting plan, here are some key issues to address.
Are you willing to put up advertisements that may take too much space or would have an irritable effect on your readers? These ads are often required by free web hosting plans because it’s the only reason they can continue letting people enjoy free web hosting.
Are you okay with low bandwidth access and minimal web space? Because of these constrictions, you may not be able to create a website that’s exactly to your liking.
Are you capable of some basic software troubleshooting? Most free web hosting plans do not offer any free live customer support so you might be forced to solve a problem or two on your own when something wrong happens.
If you’re not ready for the situations enumerated above then perhaps it’s better that you go for a post paid web hosting plan so that all your worries would be over.
About The Author
Michael Colucci is a technical writer for http://www.299host.net - A site that offers different web hosting packages starting at $2.99 per month.
If and when you’re interested in starting a business online, there are a lot of things that you have to study first before you can rightfully expect a high ROI or return on investment.
First, you have to make sure that your company website has a user friendly interface which basically means links are visible, easily located and properly labeled and that the content provided in the website is complete, interesting, effective and grammatically correct.
Secondly, there’s the little matter of search engine optimization or SEO which requires you to employ a number of strategies that your company website is heard and seen by the right people. Common search engine optimization strategies would be keyword listing, site code optimization and top search engine placement.
And of course, we finally come to the main theme of our article: web hosting. No matter how great your website looks or how effective your SEO strategies are, if you don’t have the right web hosting plan, none of those would see the light of the day because your web hosting plan simply prevents them from being properly uploaded and viewed.
Web hosting is integral to your plans if you want your website to have its own niche in the Internet so do read carefully what we’re about to teach you.
You have mainly two choices when it comes to web hosting – you can get it for free or you can spend for it. Naturally, it would be lovely if web hosting would be free for all of us but understand that all the needs of your company website must be met by the free web hosting plan if you want your future to look rosy.
In order to determine whether your company website could do well even with a free web hosting plan, here are some key issues to address.
Are you willing to put up advertisements that may take too much space or would have an irritable effect on your readers? These ads are often required by free web hosting plans because it’s the only reason they can continue letting people enjoy free web hosting.
Are you okay with low bandwidth access and minimal web space? Because of these constrictions, you may not be able to create a website that’s exactly to your liking.
Are you capable of some basic software troubleshooting? Most free web hosting plans do not offer any free live customer support so you might be forced to solve a problem or two on your own when something wrong happens.
If you’re not ready for the situations enumerated above then perhaps it’s better that you go for a post paid web hosting plan so that all your worries would be over.
About The Author
Michael Colucci is a technical writer for http://www.299host.net - A site that offers different web hosting packages starting at $2.99 per month.
What Makes A Good Web Hosting Provider!
by: Jonathan White
When building your website and getting it hosted online, you want your site to be up and running on the World Wide Web 24/7 without any hitches so that it is making you money all the time and all you have to worry about then is getting visitors to your site, doing seo, getting repeat visitors, maximizing your sites revenue, etc. You don’t want to have to worry about your web hosting and it’s stability.
So, when choosing a web hosting provider to host your website with, you want to try and get the best web hosting provider so that your site is always up and running smoothly on the World Wide Web.
So what makes a good Web Hosting Provider?
There are many things that make up a good web-hosting provider. Some of these include good support, good uptime, good backup system in place, good hardware, offers loads of web hosting features including email features, scripting features and more.
So where can some good Web Hosting Providers be found?
There are many places across the web where you can find some of these good web-hosting providers. A good place to start is probably using a web-hosting directory as you can easily compare these web-hosting providers against what other providers are offering that’s listed within any individual web-hosting directory. For example, with http://www.1hostseeking.com you can easily find and compare a large amount of some of the top and most reliable web-hosting providers online. You can easily compare each web host against each other so that you can easily see what they offer for the amount of money that they charge.
When choosing a web host it is also best to choose one that offers free set-up and also a money back guarantee. This is because if you find that they don’t quite offer what you need for your website, then you can easily get your money back and choose another web hosting provider.
Even if you found some web hosting providers from a web hosting directory like http://www.1hostseeking.com that offer the features that you need for your website, but you still would like further information about the quality of their service, then you could also go to a web hosting related forum and ask others about what they think about these web hosting providers that you have chosen.
After you have done all this, you should then have a good idea or a better idea of which web hosting provider you are most likely to choose to host your website.
About The Author
Jonathan White has been involved in Web Hosting and other Webmaster activities on the Web for over two years now and is the Webmaster of http://www.1hostseeking.com - a categorized Web hosting directory listing a large amount of Web hosting providers.
When building your website and getting it hosted online, you want your site to be up and running on the World Wide Web 24/7 without any hitches so that it is making you money all the time and all you have to worry about then is getting visitors to your site, doing seo, getting repeat visitors, maximizing your sites revenue, etc. You don’t want to have to worry about your web hosting and it’s stability.
So, when choosing a web hosting provider to host your website with, you want to try and get the best web hosting provider so that your site is always up and running smoothly on the World Wide Web.
So what makes a good Web Hosting Provider?
There are many things that make up a good web-hosting provider. Some of these include good support, good uptime, good backup system in place, good hardware, offers loads of web hosting features including email features, scripting features and more.
So where can some good Web Hosting Providers be found?
There are many places across the web where you can find some of these good web-hosting providers. A good place to start is probably using a web-hosting directory as you can easily compare these web-hosting providers against what other providers are offering that’s listed within any individual web-hosting directory. For example, with http://www.1hostseeking.com you can easily find and compare a large amount of some of the top and most reliable web-hosting providers online. You can easily compare each web host against each other so that you can easily see what they offer for the amount of money that they charge.
When choosing a web host it is also best to choose one that offers free set-up and also a money back guarantee. This is because if you find that they don’t quite offer what you need for your website, then you can easily get your money back and choose another web hosting provider.
Even if you found some web hosting providers from a web hosting directory like http://www.1hostseeking.com that offer the features that you need for your website, but you still would like further information about the quality of their service, then you could also go to a web hosting related forum and ask others about what they think about these web hosting providers that you have chosen.
After you have done all this, you should then have a good idea or a better idea of which web hosting provider you are most likely to choose to host your website.
About The Author
Jonathan White has been involved in Web Hosting and other Webmaster activities on the Web for over two years now and is the Webmaster of http://www.1hostseeking.com - a categorized Web hosting directory listing a large amount of Web hosting providers.
Reseller Web Hosting Plan - Choosing A Right Reseller And A Proper Plan
by: Andy Lewis
Reseller web hosting plan is an easy business from web hosting bandwagon. It is but splitting up the drive space and bandwidth to give resellers resources so that they can provide the services that a major web hosting company provides even if they don’t know much technicalities of hosting.
If you are going to subscribe space and bandwidth from giant web hosting companies - http://www.serverplex.com/corporate.html, you should know to manage web server services through control panels, though your dedicated server does most of the maintenance task. As a part of marketing you can plan alluring resellers with different hosting packages. You can also use some reseller hosting programs and GUI control panels that will enable your clients to manage their web resources.
Once you have the space, bandwidth and hosting programs, you will deal with add/remove accounts on a server, point domains, control bandwidth, manage disk space and more.
Dealing in reseller web site hosting plan you might have offer more space and bandwidth then a regular shared web hosting - http://www.serverplex.com/sharedh.html, plan. Web hosting is very competitive business that your success depends on the performance of your dedicated server. Cheaper reseller hosting to win the price war may sometimes be dangerous in case of a long time downtime. Because most of the web resources today are dynamic where the profit may depend on the search engine rankings.
Offering multiple domain names on a shared hosting account can one of the value additions to your reseller hosting package. Other selling points of your service can be flexible packages in terms of space and price, and options to upgrade space over time. Because a successful client will need more space after some time.
Before you dive into reseller web hosting plan - http://www.serverplex.com/reseller.html, make sure to:
• Choose a reliable host
• Offer flexible web hosting packages in terms of price and space
• Offer user-friendly Control Panel to the clients
• Handle customer queries fast
About The Author
Andy Lewis is web solutions expert. He frequently addresses issues related to web hosting services - http://www.serverplex.com/corporate.html.
andy@orientinfosolutions.com
Reseller web hosting plan is an easy business from web hosting bandwagon. It is but splitting up the drive space and bandwidth to give resellers resources so that they can provide the services that a major web hosting company provides even if they don’t know much technicalities of hosting.
If you are going to subscribe space and bandwidth from giant web hosting companies - http://www.serverplex.com/corporate.html, you should know to manage web server services through control panels, though your dedicated server does most of the maintenance task. As a part of marketing you can plan alluring resellers with different hosting packages. You can also use some reseller hosting programs and GUI control panels that will enable your clients to manage their web resources.
Once you have the space, bandwidth and hosting programs, you will deal with add/remove accounts on a server, point domains, control bandwidth, manage disk space and more.
Dealing in reseller web site hosting plan you might have offer more space and bandwidth then a regular shared web hosting - http://www.serverplex.com/sharedh.html, plan. Web hosting is very competitive business that your success depends on the performance of your dedicated server. Cheaper reseller hosting to win the price war may sometimes be dangerous in case of a long time downtime. Because most of the web resources today are dynamic where the profit may depend on the search engine rankings.
Offering multiple domain names on a shared hosting account can one of the value additions to your reseller hosting package. Other selling points of your service can be flexible packages in terms of space and price, and options to upgrade space over time. Because a successful client will need more space after some time.
Before you dive into reseller web hosting plan - http://www.serverplex.com/reseller.html, make sure to:
• Choose a reliable host
• Offer flexible web hosting packages in terms of price and space
• Offer user-friendly Control Panel to the clients
• Handle customer queries fast
About The Author
Andy Lewis is web solutions expert. He frequently addresses issues related to web hosting services - http://www.serverplex.com/corporate.html.
andy@orientinfosolutions.com
Virtual vs. Dedicated vs. CoLo: Which Web Hosting Do I Need?
by: John Hasson
You know you need a web host, but you don’t know where to start. So you do a web search to research potential solutions and get a bit overwhelmed with all the jargon: UNIX, dedicated servers, POP3, CoLo... the list goes on.
Step back a bit. You don’t need to learn everything about web sites to choose a host. You do however need to know what a web host is, and the basic types of web hosting. This knowledge will lead you to know what type of hosting you need, and ultimately you can make a sound decision.
To begin, let’s define the term. Web hosting is a service that hosts web pages on servers that can be accessed through the Internet. There are three primary categories of web hosting providers that cater to the requirements of site owners; these include virtual web hosting, dedicated web hosting, and co-located hosting. There are various sources online that offer detailed information and reviews on these services, but there are several details you should pay most attention to. The points to consider before selecting a web hosting provider include the number of clients they service, years in business, customer service reputation, hardware specifications, and backup routines. With that out of the way, let’s jump in and explore the basic types of web hosting.
Dedicated hosting
A dedicated web server is basically like the name sounds: it’s dedicated to your site only. Typically it is leased to a site owner. The hosting company is responsible for the maintenance, backing up, security, and power management. The site owner manages the software-related issues.
Dedicated hosting is useful for websites that need extra bandwidth and system resources because of the use of technologies such as e-commerce software, customized server applications, and heavy traffic. Such websites are often better served by a dedicated hosting provider rather than developing and running an in-house solution. Dedicated hosting is possible with Windows, Mac, and Linux servers. A dedicated server can cost upward of $100 / month.
Pros and cons: 24/7 tech support is available. Speed, dependability, and customizability of website are often enhanced. The response time of dedicated servers is fast as compared to shared servers where the activity of other sites affects server speeds. Reliability and customizability of websites are improved as dedicated hosting offers greater storage capacity and greater freedom in terms of hardware configurations and software installations; hard drives can be upgraded and bandwidths increased with growth.
Shared servers and CoLo hosting are cheaper alternatives to dedicated hosting. Moreover, as the server is not owned by the site owner, security of sensitive data can be an issue.
Virtual hosting
Virtual hosting, also called shared hosting, is a popular and cost-effective web hosting solution. The hosting provider leases the website hosting server, services, and bandwidth to more than one website. Small and medium-sized websites, which do not have high traffic and have limited bandwidth requirements, benefit from virtual hosting. A virtual hosting offer by a service provider usually includes features such as Internet connection, domain name registration, file storage, email account, and may also include website design assistance. The cost of virtual hosting is in the range of $5-40 per month. It can be more or less depending upon the package selected.
Pros and cons: Virtual hosting enables the establishment of an online presence with no expensive equipment purchases required on part of the site owners and therefore is the perfect solution for SMBs.
One of the limitations of virtual hosting is that sites compete for the provider’s service; this may result in slow server response times in periods of heavy traffic and make browsing inconvenient. Since websites hosted on a server may be grouped under a single IP address, there is a chance that a site owner may have to share an IP address with adult or scam sites. This can lead to debarring from search engine placements which will have an adverse effect on the traffic. As the software components are shared between websites, a site owner may not be able to personalize the website as per his business objectives and target audience.
While purchasing virtual hosting services, it is useful to have an idea of the total anticipated traffic during the day as well as the visits during the peak period. This helps in obtaining a package with sufficient bandwidth for immediate and near term needs. Also, the cost of an upgrade and changes to the package should be understood.
Co-location (Co-lo) hosting
In Co-location hosting, the server is owned by the site owner and it is leased at the co-lo facility, where it is installed along with other servers in the facility. A co-lo service enables site owners to make maximum use of network access points and the freedom to choose between telecom lines provided by the hosting company and other telecom lines. Co-location hosting enables site owners to utilize high bandwidth at a cost that is not significantly higher than that of a normal web hosting package. The site owner maintains the server while the hosting provider ensures smooth running by providing regular power supply and IT support.
Co-location hosting services can be standalone data centers or companies that operate by leasing server space from a co-location web hosting reseller. The cost of the server and the volume of rack space required by the servers of a site owner influence the cost of co-lo hosting. Servers that fit in with the dimensions of the racks can help to save costs; co-locating tower servers usually cost more. Additional services provided by the hosting provider and insurance are other factors that affect cost. The monthly cost of a co-lo service for a half-rack of server space can be up to $1000.
Pros and cons: The benefits of co-location hosting include temperature and humidity controlled environment for the servers; security from hacking, fire, and theft; provision of redundancy and backup. It enables the site owner to control the critical features of web hosting such as bandwidth allocation, routers, VPN, server space, and VLAN.
Site owners may not find it easy to locate a co-lo service that is situated close enough to facilitate easy and safe transfer of servers and at the same time provide the best connection speeds. Co-lo hosting is of greater advantage to those who have hosting experience and consequently are better placed to recover the costs involved.
Ultimately, it is the requirements of the site that dictate the choice of web hosting solution. Online stores and sites with heavy traffic are better off with dedicated hosting, personal blogs and small sites without ecommerce activity that do not have high bandwidth consumption can function with virtual hosting, and websites that require a high degree of customization and deal with sensitive data benefit from a co-lo hosting arrangement.
To determine what type of host you need, ask yourself what type of site you have, and it should all flow naturally from there.
About The Author
John Hasson writes for FindAWebHost. See http://www.findawebhost.org/ for more information.
johnhasso@gmail.com
You know you need a web host, but you don’t know where to start. So you do a web search to research potential solutions and get a bit overwhelmed with all the jargon: UNIX, dedicated servers, POP3, CoLo... the list goes on.
Step back a bit. You don’t need to learn everything about web sites to choose a host. You do however need to know what a web host is, and the basic types of web hosting. This knowledge will lead you to know what type of hosting you need, and ultimately you can make a sound decision.
To begin, let’s define the term. Web hosting is a service that hosts web pages on servers that can be accessed through the Internet. There are three primary categories of web hosting providers that cater to the requirements of site owners; these include virtual web hosting, dedicated web hosting, and co-located hosting. There are various sources online that offer detailed information and reviews on these services, but there are several details you should pay most attention to. The points to consider before selecting a web hosting provider include the number of clients they service, years in business, customer service reputation, hardware specifications, and backup routines. With that out of the way, let’s jump in and explore the basic types of web hosting.
Dedicated hosting
A dedicated web server is basically like the name sounds: it’s dedicated to your site only. Typically it is leased to a site owner. The hosting company is responsible for the maintenance, backing up, security, and power management. The site owner manages the software-related issues.
Dedicated hosting is useful for websites that need extra bandwidth and system resources because of the use of technologies such as e-commerce software, customized server applications, and heavy traffic. Such websites are often better served by a dedicated hosting provider rather than developing and running an in-house solution. Dedicated hosting is possible with Windows, Mac, and Linux servers. A dedicated server can cost upward of $100 / month.
Pros and cons: 24/7 tech support is available. Speed, dependability, and customizability of website are often enhanced. The response time of dedicated servers is fast as compared to shared servers where the activity of other sites affects server speeds. Reliability and customizability of websites are improved as dedicated hosting offers greater storage capacity and greater freedom in terms of hardware configurations and software installations; hard drives can be upgraded and bandwidths increased with growth.
Shared servers and CoLo hosting are cheaper alternatives to dedicated hosting. Moreover, as the server is not owned by the site owner, security of sensitive data can be an issue.
Virtual hosting
Virtual hosting, also called shared hosting, is a popular and cost-effective web hosting solution. The hosting provider leases the website hosting server, services, and bandwidth to more than one website. Small and medium-sized websites, which do not have high traffic and have limited bandwidth requirements, benefit from virtual hosting. A virtual hosting offer by a service provider usually includes features such as Internet connection, domain name registration, file storage, email account, and may also include website design assistance. The cost of virtual hosting is in the range of $5-40 per month. It can be more or less depending upon the package selected.
Pros and cons: Virtual hosting enables the establishment of an online presence with no expensive equipment purchases required on part of the site owners and therefore is the perfect solution for SMBs.
One of the limitations of virtual hosting is that sites compete for the provider’s service; this may result in slow server response times in periods of heavy traffic and make browsing inconvenient. Since websites hosted on a server may be grouped under a single IP address, there is a chance that a site owner may have to share an IP address with adult or scam sites. This can lead to debarring from search engine placements which will have an adverse effect on the traffic. As the software components are shared between websites, a site owner may not be able to personalize the website as per his business objectives and target audience.
While purchasing virtual hosting services, it is useful to have an idea of the total anticipated traffic during the day as well as the visits during the peak period. This helps in obtaining a package with sufficient bandwidth for immediate and near term needs. Also, the cost of an upgrade and changes to the package should be understood.
Co-location (Co-lo) hosting
In Co-location hosting, the server is owned by the site owner and it is leased at the co-lo facility, where it is installed along with other servers in the facility. A co-lo service enables site owners to make maximum use of network access points and the freedom to choose between telecom lines provided by the hosting company and other telecom lines. Co-location hosting enables site owners to utilize high bandwidth at a cost that is not significantly higher than that of a normal web hosting package. The site owner maintains the server while the hosting provider ensures smooth running by providing regular power supply and IT support.
Co-location hosting services can be standalone data centers or companies that operate by leasing server space from a co-location web hosting reseller. The cost of the server and the volume of rack space required by the servers of a site owner influence the cost of co-lo hosting. Servers that fit in with the dimensions of the racks can help to save costs; co-locating tower servers usually cost more. Additional services provided by the hosting provider and insurance are other factors that affect cost. The monthly cost of a co-lo service for a half-rack of server space can be up to $1000.
Pros and cons: The benefits of co-location hosting include temperature and humidity controlled environment for the servers; security from hacking, fire, and theft; provision of redundancy and backup. It enables the site owner to control the critical features of web hosting such as bandwidth allocation, routers, VPN, server space, and VLAN.
Site owners may not find it easy to locate a co-lo service that is situated close enough to facilitate easy and safe transfer of servers and at the same time provide the best connection speeds. Co-lo hosting is of greater advantage to those who have hosting experience and consequently are better placed to recover the costs involved.
Ultimately, it is the requirements of the site that dictate the choice of web hosting solution. Online stores and sites with heavy traffic are better off with dedicated hosting, personal blogs and small sites without ecommerce activity that do not have high bandwidth consumption can function with virtual hosting, and websites that require a high degree of customization and deal with sensitive data benefit from a co-lo hosting arrangement.
To determine what type of host you need, ask yourself what type of site you have, and it should all flow naturally from there.
About The Author
John Hasson writes for FindAWebHost. See http://www.findawebhost.org/ for more information.
johnhasso@gmail.com
Different Types of Web Hosting Explained
by: Paul Hanson
There are many different types of web hosting available. Which type one chooses should hinge upon what one wants to accomplish with his or her web site. Some web hosting services are free, but place ads on web sites. Whereas other web hosting types can be more expensive, but provide a lot more assistance and bandwidth. The four main web hosting types are free web hosting, shared web hosting, and dedicated web hosting (both managed and unmanaged).
Free web hosting is the simplest kind of web hosting that one can get. This type of web hosting is usually supported by ads on hosted web sites. Features for this type of web hosting are limited, and therefore it is a better option for people who are just starting out on the Internet and are interested in having a small site with little traffic. The type of domain one receives in free web hosting is typically a subdomain (yoursite.webhost.com) or a directory (www.webhost.com/~yoursite). Most free web hosts do not have support for MySQL, multiple e-mail accounts, and PHP.
Shared web hosting is actually the most popular type of web hosting service. Shared web hosting allows more than one site to be hosted on the same server. Additionally, the hosts provide system administration. For users that do not want to have the burden of running a sever, shared web hosting is a great choice. The individual hosting plan may differ, but most hosts provide the user with elements such as PHP, ASP, MySQL, more bandwidth, and multiple e-mail addresses. More services are often available in shared web hosting than are available with simple free web hosting (including the ability to have your own domain name!).
The last two types of web hosting are managed dedicated web hosting, and unmanaged dedicated web hosting. Dedicated web hosting is a wise choice for someone who wants more storage and bandwidth, and also wants features that are not available with shared and free web hosting. In dedicated servers, users are not limited to a certain number of databases and e-mail addresses. Additionally, users usually receive a very high amount of bandwidth in comparison to other hosting types. The typical dedicated server plan provides the user with 500 to 1,000GB of monthly bandwidth.
In unmanaged dedicated web hosting, the user is the server administrator. This allows the user the greatest amount of control and flexibility. Of course, many people do not know how to handle the task of being a server administrator and do not want to learn. Therefore, this is not a viable option for some.
When looking for a web host, it is important to consider the purpose of the web site and what one’s capabilities are. Pricing for web hosts is dependant upon the support, reliability, features, and security one wants. Choosing a type of web hosting may seem like a daunting task, but simply doing research and making an educated decision should yield satisfaction and success on this critical matter.
About The Author
Paul Hanson recommends Net Explorers ( http://www.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk/ ) for quality UK hosting services.
There are many different types of web hosting available. Which type one chooses should hinge upon what one wants to accomplish with his or her web site. Some web hosting services are free, but place ads on web sites. Whereas other web hosting types can be more expensive, but provide a lot more assistance and bandwidth. The four main web hosting types are free web hosting, shared web hosting, and dedicated web hosting (both managed and unmanaged).
Free web hosting is the simplest kind of web hosting that one can get. This type of web hosting is usually supported by ads on hosted web sites. Features for this type of web hosting are limited, and therefore it is a better option for people who are just starting out on the Internet and are interested in having a small site with little traffic. The type of domain one receives in free web hosting is typically a subdomain (yoursite.webhost.com) or a directory (www.webhost.com/~yoursite). Most free web hosts do not have support for MySQL, multiple e-mail accounts, and PHP.
Shared web hosting is actually the most popular type of web hosting service. Shared web hosting allows more than one site to be hosted on the same server. Additionally, the hosts provide system administration. For users that do not want to have the burden of running a sever, shared web hosting is a great choice. The individual hosting plan may differ, but most hosts provide the user with elements such as PHP, ASP, MySQL, more bandwidth, and multiple e-mail addresses. More services are often available in shared web hosting than are available with simple free web hosting (including the ability to have your own domain name!).
The last two types of web hosting are managed dedicated web hosting, and unmanaged dedicated web hosting. Dedicated web hosting is a wise choice for someone who wants more storage and bandwidth, and also wants features that are not available with shared and free web hosting. In dedicated servers, users are not limited to a certain number of databases and e-mail addresses. Additionally, users usually receive a very high amount of bandwidth in comparison to other hosting types. The typical dedicated server plan provides the user with 500 to 1,000GB of monthly bandwidth.
In unmanaged dedicated web hosting, the user is the server administrator. This allows the user the greatest amount of control and flexibility. Of course, many people do not know how to handle the task of being a server administrator and do not want to learn. Therefore, this is not a viable option for some.
When looking for a web host, it is important to consider the purpose of the web site and what one’s capabilities are. Pricing for web hosts is dependant upon the support, reliability, features, and security one wants. Choosing a type of web hosting may seem like a daunting task, but simply doing research and making an educated decision should yield satisfaction and success on this critical matter.
About The Author
Paul Hanson recommends Net Explorers ( http://www.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk/ ) for quality UK hosting services.
Shared Web Hosting Explained
by: Joshua Mabilia
Shared web hosting is a service offered by web hosts wherein more than one website is hosted on a single server. It is an economical option since the overall cost of running and maintaining the web server is shared among many websites.
A real-life comparison can be that of a students' dormitory where all students share the same facilities. Except that in case of shared web hosting, individual website owners do not normally know each other.
Usually small websites prefer shared web hosting to keep overhead cost minimum. It is quite common to find websites from any part of the world availing shared web hosting service from a single provider. For them, ability to host own website is more important than other considerations.
On the other hand, in many large companies every department has its own server which is shared only by department personnel. Clearly then the concept of shared web hosting varies from need to need depending on necessity and ability to afford the cost involved.
In the paragraphs below we will look at the pros and cons of shared web hosting in more details:
Shared Web Hosting - The Pros
If you are dipping your toe in web-world for the first time, shared web hosting will be a good choice. Costs are low since you are entitled to a small portion of the whole pie. More than that, shared web hosting offers unique advantage of many features and software that already come installed in host server. In addition, a system administrator, available 24x7, will be there to help you in case of any trouble with your shared web hosting.
Depending on service provider, typical freebies in shared web hosting include open-source software such as fully-featured shopping cart (like Agora, Oscommerce, CubeCart, Zen Cart, etc.), content management system or blogs (like Nucleus CMS, Drupal, Wordpress, etc.), image galleries (4Images, Coppermine, etc.) and so on.
This apart, most shared web hosting plans come equipped with web statistics facilities like Awstats and Webalizer, and sometimes even with a site-builder so that you can design your website in no time.
Since all hosting-related needs are taken care of, shared web hosting specially appeals to those website owners who want to focus on their web businesses and have no reason to bother about nitty-gritty of host server. In short therefore, with shared web hosting, one gets going without too much of hassle and certainly in shortest possible time.
Shared Web Hosting - The Cons
Not everything is rosy with shared web hosting. The principal concern is lack of privacy. If your website deals in sensitive data, then shared web hosting is not preferable. Since you have no control on what others are doing in shared web hosting, there is no guarantee that your website data will not be tampered with intentionally or otherwise.
It is true that some shared web hosting will offer SSL and TLS shields (SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and TLS means Transport Layer Security) to ensure that all your web communications remain totally confidential. But in practice this is not so. This is because in shared web hosting, all websites have same IP address (Internet Protocol Address) and therefore share the same SSL/TLS digital certificate.
Another issue of concern is when your host server malfunctions. This can happen even if yours is not a shared web hosting. The problem is that since you do not control the server, you will not know what ailed the system and so you cannot take any preventive measure.
Summing Up
Shared web hosting is without doubt the first stepping stone across the turbulence of web world. Once you graduate and progress you will find you no longer prefer shared web hosting for various reasons. You have grown big and have reached a point where it will be a better option to move out of shared web hosting, for good.
About The Author
Joshua Mabilia
Article by Josh - admin @ hostingfrenzy.com
Josh is the webmaster of http://www.hostingfrenzy.com
Visit his site for a comprehensive web hosting directory, articles, tools, and much more.
Shared web hosting is a service offered by web hosts wherein more than one website is hosted on a single server. It is an economical option since the overall cost of running and maintaining the web server is shared among many websites.
A real-life comparison can be that of a students' dormitory where all students share the same facilities. Except that in case of shared web hosting, individual website owners do not normally know each other.
Usually small websites prefer shared web hosting to keep overhead cost minimum. It is quite common to find websites from any part of the world availing shared web hosting service from a single provider. For them, ability to host own website is more important than other considerations.
On the other hand, in many large companies every department has its own server which is shared only by department personnel. Clearly then the concept of shared web hosting varies from need to need depending on necessity and ability to afford the cost involved.
In the paragraphs below we will look at the pros and cons of shared web hosting in more details:
Shared Web Hosting - The Pros
If you are dipping your toe in web-world for the first time, shared web hosting will be a good choice. Costs are low since you are entitled to a small portion of the whole pie. More than that, shared web hosting offers unique advantage of many features and software that already come installed in host server. In addition, a system administrator, available 24x7, will be there to help you in case of any trouble with your shared web hosting.
Depending on service provider, typical freebies in shared web hosting include open-source software such as fully-featured shopping cart (like Agora, Oscommerce, CubeCart, Zen Cart, etc.), content management system or blogs (like Nucleus CMS, Drupal, Wordpress, etc.), image galleries (4Images, Coppermine, etc.) and so on.
This apart, most shared web hosting plans come equipped with web statistics facilities like Awstats and Webalizer, and sometimes even with a site-builder so that you can design your website in no time.
Since all hosting-related needs are taken care of, shared web hosting specially appeals to those website owners who want to focus on their web businesses and have no reason to bother about nitty-gritty of host server. In short therefore, with shared web hosting, one gets going without too much of hassle and certainly in shortest possible time.
Shared Web Hosting - The Cons
Not everything is rosy with shared web hosting. The principal concern is lack of privacy. If your website deals in sensitive data, then shared web hosting is not preferable. Since you have no control on what others are doing in shared web hosting, there is no guarantee that your website data will not be tampered with intentionally or otherwise.
It is true that some shared web hosting will offer SSL and TLS shields (SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and TLS means Transport Layer Security) to ensure that all your web communications remain totally confidential. But in practice this is not so. This is because in shared web hosting, all websites have same IP address (Internet Protocol Address) and therefore share the same SSL/TLS digital certificate.
Another issue of concern is when your host server malfunctions. This can happen even if yours is not a shared web hosting. The problem is that since you do not control the server, you will not know what ailed the system and so you cannot take any preventive measure.
Summing Up
Shared web hosting is without doubt the first stepping stone across the turbulence of web world. Once you graduate and progress you will find you no longer prefer shared web hosting for various reasons. You have grown big and have reached a point where it will be a better option to move out of shared web hosting, for good.
About The Author
Joshua Mabilia
Article by Josh - admin @ hostingfrenzy.com
Josh is the webmaster of http://www.hostingfrenzy.com
Visit his site for a comprehensive web hosting directory, articles, tools, and much more.
Why Should I Pay for Web Hosting?
by: Nate Landerman
The advent of blogging and free blog space has brought about a revolution in web publishing that pushes the boundaries of terms like “webmaster” and “website.” In today’s brave new world of Internet publishing for the masses, the traditional means of building and hosting a personal website has fallen out of favor for many new webmasters.
If you count yourself among the many bloggers who use a free subdomain blog account, you’ll have to think about web hosting sooner or later. Unfortunately, most don’t consider the ramifications until it’s too late. In the beginning, a free blog account or ad-supported web hosting seems like the obvious choice for a personal site. Unfortunately, this decision – or lack thereof - can cause problems down the road. Issues with free hosting and subdomain hosting range from SEO complications to ownership and control issues. Both free and paid hosting have their own merits and drawbacks, of course, so the ultimate decision is yours to make. But understanding these pros and cons is the first step in making a good decision for your site.
Free Hosting
Pros:
• It’s free. This is obviously the single most important advantage of free web hosting.
• It’s easy. Anyone can open an account on Blogger or any number of other free services and instantly get a free website requiring no more effort to publish than writing an email.
• No experience necessary. Anyone can create a site using one of these free services, with no programming, technical, or even HTML knowledge required.
Cons:
• Branding. As your blog or website grows, a subdomain hosting account offers little in the way of branding, and may adversely affect your credibility.
• SEO. If you move away from a subdomain account to your own domain, you will have to start over building links to your new domain.
• No control over ad content. With free hosting, you are at the mercy of your hosting company’s discretion as to what type of ads will be displayed on your site. Pop-ups and ads for adult sites are not uncommon.
• Limited or no accountability for site outages and other problems. When you’re getting something for nothing, it’s all too easy to become the victim of corporate apathy.
Paid Hosting
Pros:
• You can host your own domain. With paid hosting, you can brand your site with your own domain name (e.g. MySite.com) and add legitimacy to your content.
• Control. With paid hosting, you control every aspect of your site, including design and advertising content.
• SEO advantages. With a paid hosting account and domain name, you can build links to your site safely without worrying about whether or not you’ll be changing domain names. In addition, a hosting account allows you programmatic and scripting abilities not usually found in free, pre-built websites.
• Custom site development. Unlike free blogs, a hosted website can typically run a variety of CGI and scripting applications, and can be built any way you choose.
• Accountability and Portability: When you pay for hosting, you hold more leverage over your hosting company in the event of problems. Additionally, by retaining control of your source code and data, you can easily move your site to a new host.
Cons:
• Expense. Though you can get hosting plans as cheap as $2-$3 per month, it’s still a cost that free hosting does not incur.
• Some assembly required. Though many paid hosts offer site builders and blog software as part of the package, it still requires more technical work than signing up for a Blogger account.
• Maintenance. When you create a site yourself, you become responsible for the upkeep of your own code. In fact, you become responsible for just about everything involved with the site except for the server and connectivity.
So in summary, making the right choice between free or blog site hosting and paid hosting is heavily dependent on both you and your site. Though I’ve focused heavily on hosting for blog sites, much of the same information applies to free hosting vs. paid hosting for other types of sites as well. The important thing is to take a good hard look at what you want your site to eventually be, how much effort you’re willing to put into it, and then make your decision.
If you do decide on paid hosting, make sure you look at all options available. Use a web hosting review website such as www.inetpublication.com to compare available options. Not all web hosting is alike, and many hosting companies offer free tools to ease the pain of migration as well as other perks you may not have realized you were missing.
About The Author
Nate Landerman is the owner of www.inetpublication.com, a web hosting review website. This article may be reprinted freely, provided that all links to iNetpublication remain intact.
n.landerman@inetpublication.com
The advent of blogging and free blog space has brought about a revolution in web publishing that pushes the boundaries of terms like “webmaster” and “website.” In today’s brave new world of Internet publishing for the masses, the traditional means of building and hosting a personal website has fallen out of favor for many new webmasters.
If you count yourself among the many bloggers who use a free subdomain blog account, you’ll have to think about web hosting sooner or later. Unfortunately, most don’t consider the ramifications until it’s too late. In the beginning, a free blog account or ad-supported web hosting seems like the obvious choice for a personal site. Unfortunately, this decision – or lack thereof - can cause problems down the road. Issues with free hosting and subdomain hosting range from SEO complications to ownership and control issues. Both free and paid hosting have their own merits and drawbacks, of course, so the ultimate decision is yours to make. But understanding these pros and cons is the first step in making a good decision for your site.
Free Hosting
Pros:
• It’s free. This is obviously the single most important advantage of free web hosting.
• It’s easy. Anyone can open an account on Blogger or any number of other free services and instantly get a free website requiring no more effort to publish than writing an email.
• No experience necessary. Anyone can create a site using one of these free services, with no programming, technical, or even HTML knowledge required.
Cons:
• Branding. As your blog or website grows, a subdomain hosting account offers little in the way of branding, and may adversely affect your credibility.
• SEO. If you move away from a subdomain account to your own domain, you will have to start over building links to your new domain.
• No control over ad content. With free hosting, you are at the mercy of your hosting company’s discretion as to what type of ads will be displayed on your site. Pop-ups and ads for adult sites are not uncommon.
• Limited or no accountability for site outages and other problems. When you’re getting something for nothing, it’s all too easy to become the victim of corporate apathy.
Paid Hosting
Pros:
• You can host your own domain. With paid hosting, you can brand your site with your own domain name (e.g. MySite.com) and add legitimacy to your content.
• Control. With paid hosting, you control every aspect of your site, including design and advertising content.
• SEO advantages. With a paid hosting account and domain name, you can build links to your site safely without worrying about whether or not you’ll be changing domain names. In addition, a hosting account allows you programmatic and scripting abilities not usually found in free, pre-built websites.
• Custom site development. Unlike free blogs, a hosted website can typically run a variety of CGI and scripting applications, and can be built any way you choose.
• Accountability and Portability: When you pay for hosting, you hold more leverage over your hosting company in the event of problems. Additionally, by retaining control of your source code and data, you can easily move your site to a new host.
Cons:
• Expense. Though you can get hosting plans as cheap as $2-$3 per month, it’s still a cost that free hosting does not incur.
• Some assembly required. Though many paid hosts offer site builders and blog software as part of the package, it still requires more technical work than signing up for a Blogger account.
• Maintenance. When you create a site yourself, you become responsible for the upkeep of your own code. In fact, you become responsible for just about everything involved with the site except for the server and connectivity.
So in summary, making the right choice between free or blog site hosting and paid hosting is heavily dependent on both you and your site. Though I’ve focused heavily on hosting for blog sites, much of the same information applies to free hosting vs. paid hosting for other types of sites as well. The important thing is to take a good hard look at what you want your site to eventually be, how much effort you’re willing to put into it, and then make your decision.
If you do decide on paid hosting, make sure you look at all options available. Use a web hosting review website such as www.inetpublication.com to compare available options. Not all web hosting is alike, and many hosting companies offer free tools to ease the pain of migration as well as other perks you may not have realized you were missing.
About The Author
Nate Landerman is the owner of www.inetpublication.com, a web hosting review website. This article may be reprinted freely, provided that all links to iNetpublication remain intact.
n.landerman@inetpublication.com
Dedicated Servers – Backup and Recovery Strategies for Web Hosting Companies
by: Rodney Ringler
What kind of backup recovery strategy should a company have for its dedicated server? Web hosting companies have been debating this architecture since their existence began. It is really a question pondered by the whole IT community. There are many right solutions, dependent on your company’s ability to handle downtime. The correct solution for you will factor in the amount of redundant protection you need against the overall cost.
Before we discuss the different options for backing up and recovering your dedicated server, we should mention that the server hardware, data center, and fiber connection are all critical to reliability. This article is specifically focused on strategies to backup and recover your server’s data.
At a minimum, you can create a partition in your hard drive and backup your server weekly or monthly. There is no cost to this kind of solution, but the downsides are obvious. If your hard drive crashes, you will lose your backup as well. This kind of solution is only recommended if you can afford to lose all of your data, which most web hosting companies cannot.
Next, you can contract a remote backup service to set up offsite backups. These backups can be run daily, weekly, or monthly. The cost of this solution is around $30-$50/month depending on the web hosting provider. This option gives you a solid backup in case your hard drive crashes. The downside is that recovery time will take 6-12 hours or more depending on how much data you have. The data has to be manually copied over, and this is a slow process. If you can afford the cost, this solution is part of an overall backup system, but it is not recommended as your only solution.
The next backup option is to have a second hard drive installed on your server and have it set up to do daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Most web hosting companies that provide dedicated servers will charge between $15-$30 for a second hard drive. This is a nice compliment to the previous solution if you have the budget for both. The recovery time is faster then a remote backup. But unlike a remote backup, if your dedicated server or the datacenter are down, then you cannot access the backup. For most small web hosting companies this is not a problem. If their entire server or datacenter are down, they have larger issues to worry about. We recommend this as a complimentary option with a remote backup.
Next, a web hosting company can use mirrored RAID drives. This option will cost $50-$80/month more, but it provides the fastest possible recovery in case of a hard drive crash. You can just reboot using the mirrored drive, and you are back in business. The cost is a little higher, but this is a nice luxury. The downside of this option is that if your server is unavailable, then you still cannot reach your data. Additionally, if the hard drive becomes corrupted it will also corrupt your backup. This is why we recommend mirrored drives as part of a larger solution that includes other backup systems.
Finally, there are mirrored servers. This entails the largest cost and is really not necessary, except for those web hosting companies that can tolerate no downtime at all. In this scenario, if the server itself dies you can have another server ready to take the load. In fact, if your company is large enough, you might already need this kind of solution for performance. Some websites require multiple servers to handle the performance, and it is load balanced across them. In this case, if a server dies the system still runs. This is the best solution but it is not always necessary. And, of course it is costly.
We recommend a weekly remote backup to provide you with a fail safe version. Even if the datacenter burns down, you will have a copy of your data. To this we would add either mirrored RAID drives or a second hard drive, depending on your hosting company’s needs. If you are more worried about recovery time from hard drive crashes, which is the most frequent hardware problem with dedicated servers, then go with the RAID drives. If you are more worried about the hard drive getting corrupted, go with the second hard drive.
We hope this article provides you with the information you need to adequately back up your dedicated server!
About The Author
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including HostChart.com, ResellerConnection.com, FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.
rodney@hostchart.com
What kind of backup recovery strategy should a company have for its dedicated server? Web hosting companies have been debating this architecture since their existence began. It is really a question pondered by the whole IT community. There are many right solutions, dependent on your company’s ability to handle downtime. The correct solution for you will factor in the amount of redundant protection you need against the overall cost.
Before we discuss the different options for backing up and recovering your dedicated server, we should mention that the server hardware, data center, and fiber connection are all critical to reliability. This article is specifically focused on strategies to backup and recover your server’s data.
At a minimum, you can create a partition in your hard drive and backup your server weekly or monthly. There is no cost to this kind of solution, but the downsides are obvious. If your hard drive crashes, you will lose your backup as well. This kind of solution is only recommended if you can afford to lose all of your data, which most web hosting companies cannot.
Next, you can contract a remote backup service to set up offsite backups. These backups can be run daily, weekly, or monthly. The cost of this solution is around $30-$50/month depending on the web hosting provider. This option gives you a solid backup in case your hard drive crashes. The downside is that recovery time will take 6-12 hours or more depending on how much data you have. The data has to be manually copied over, and this is a slow process. If you can afford the cost, this solution is part of an overall backup system, but it is not recommended as your only solution.
The next backup option is to have a second hard drive installed on your server and have it set up to do daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Most web hosting companies that provide dedicated servers will charge between $15-$30 for a second hard drive. This is a nice compliment to the previous solution if you have the budget for both. The recovery time is faster then a remote backup. But unlike a remote backup, if your dedicated server or the datacenter are down, then you cannot access the backup. For most small web hosting companies this is not a problem. If their entire server or datacenter are down, they have larger issues to worry about. We recommend this as a complimentary option with a remote backup.
Next, a web hosting company can use mirrored RAID drives. This option will cost $50-$80/month more, but it provides the fastest possible recovery in case of a hard drive crash. You can just reboot using the mirrored drive, and you are back in business. The cost is a little higher, but this is a nice luxury. The downside of this option is that if your server is unavailable, then you still cannot reach your data. Additionally, if the hard drive becomes corrupted it will also corrupt your backup. This is why we recommend mirrored drives as part of a larger solution that includes other backup systems.
Finally, there are mirrored servers. This entails the largest cost and is really not necessary, except for those web hosting companies that can tolerate no downtime at all. In this scenario, if the server itself dies you can have another server ready to take the load. In fact, if your company is large enough, you might already need this kind of solution for performance. Some websites require multiple servers to handle the performance, and it is load balanced across them. In this case, if a server dies the system still runs. This is the best solution but it is not always necessary. And, of course it is costly.
We recommend a weekly remote backup to provide you with a fail safe version. Even if the datacenter burns down, you will have a copy of your data. To this we would add either mirrored RAID drives or a second hard drive, depending on your hosting company’s needs. If you are more worried about recovery time from hard drive crashes, which is the most frequent hardware problem with dedicated servers, then go with the RAID drives. If you are more worried about the hard drive getting corrupted, go with the second hard drive.
We hope this article provides you with the information you need to adequately back up your dedicated server!
About The Author
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including HostChart.com, ResellerConnection.com, FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.
rodney@hostchart.com
Free Web Hosting or Paid? Here's How to Decide
by: Anthony Hamill
Have you wondered if free web hosting is any good? More importantly, is it a viable option for someone who wants to set up an online business presence without a significant cash commitment?. It may be but only if you take the time to understand what it will and will not provide.
Free web hosting usually comes with significantly limited capacity and services. And while free web hosts may not charge you anything for hosting your web site, they still have to generate revenue to stay in business.
The Price of “Free”
The way most of them do this (there are exceptions as you’ll see below) is by inserting paid ads on your web site. And since you won’t be able to control what kind of ads are posted on your site, there’s a good chance you’ll have ads from competitors (if you’re trying to run a business) or ads that may not be on a topic you want to be associated with. Unfortunately, that's often the price you’ll pay for "free" web hosting.
To limit the amount of resources you can use, free web hosting plans come with very limited disk space and bandwidth and may even impose restrictions on the types of content you can upload to your site. For example, you may not be allowed to sell anything on your web site.
What do you really want to do?
If you intend to start a business on the cheap then this obviously isn’t going to be satisfactory. Some free web hosting plans prevent you from uploading videos or music files because they take up a lot of storage space and use a great deal of bandwidth when your visitors try to access them.
The Big Risk
Finally, and of greatest concern, is that you may wake up one day and find that your web site has simply vanished without warning. Companies that provide free web hosting pop up practically every day, but they also disappear with alarming regularity.
So if you plan on putting any real effort into developing a web site for personal or business use, you'll be better served by selecting an established, reliable web host.
Professional Image
There are a number of companies that provide free web hosting under your own unique domain name (not a subdomain under them). All you have to do register your domain through them and pay the annual renewal fee of around $15-25. This way you’ll be able to have free hosting under your own domain and the credibility that comes with it.
The Bottom Line
You should look for a free hosting provider that provides a simple upgrade path. This way you can can enjoy free web hosting now and have your own unique domain name (plus the credibility it brings) for nothing more than the cost of a domain registration fee. You should later be able to upgrade with no disruption when and if you decide you’re ready to move up to a paid plan.
About The Author
Anthony Hamill is the founder of http://www.Web-Host-Watch.Com which is devoted to helping new webmasters learn the basics of web hosting. It provides tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a list of Top Web Hosts.
Have you wondered if free web hosting is any good? More importantly, is it a viable option for someone who wants to set up an online business presence without a significant cash commitment?. It may be but only if you take the time to understand what it will and will not provide.
Free web hosting usually comes with significantly limited capacity and services. And while free web hosts may not charge you anything for hosting your web site, they still have to generate revenue to stay in business.
The Price of “Free”
The way most of them do this (there are exceptions as you’ll see below) is by inserting paid ads on your web site. And since you won’t be able to control what kind of ads are posted on your site, there’s a good chance you’ll have ads from competitors (if you’re trying to run a business) or ads that may not be on a topic you want to be associated with. Unfortunately, that's often the price you’ll pay for "free" web hosting.
To limit the amount of resources you can use, free web hosting plans come with very limited disk space and bandwidth and may even impose restrictions on the types of content you can upload to your site. For example, you may not be allowed to sell anything on your web site.
What do you really want to do?
If you intend to start a business on the cheap then this obviously isn’t going to be satisfactory. Some free web hosting plans prevent you from uploading videos or music files because they take up a lot of storage space and use a great deal of bandwidth when your visitors try to access them.
The Big Risk
Finally, and of greatest concern, is that you may wake up one day and find that your web site has simply vanished without warning. Companies that provide free web hosting pop up practically every day, but they also disappear with alarming regularity.
So if you plan on putting any real effort into developing a web site for personal or business use, you'll be better served by selecting an established, reliable web host.
Professional Image
There are a number of companies that provide free web hosting under your own unique domain name (not a subdomain under them). All you have to do register your domain through them and pay the annual renewal fee of around $15-25. This way you’ll be able to have free hosting under your own domain and the credibility that comes with it.
The Bottom Line
You should look for a free hosting provider that provides a simple upgrade path. This way you can can enjoy free web hosting now and have your own unique domain name (plus the credibility it brings) for nothing more than the cost of a domain registration fee. You should later be able to upgrade with no disruption when and if you decide you’re ready to move up to a paid plan.
About The Author
Anthony Hamill is the founder of http://www.Web-Host-Watch.Com which is devoted to helping new webmasters learn the basics of web hosting. It provides tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a list of Top Web Hosts.
Underestimating the Value of Free or Low Cost Web Hosting Services and Tools
by: Anthony Hamill
A variety of free or low cost web hosting services and tools is provided by most web hosting companies. However, in their search for the best web hosting package, many webmasters do a good job of comparing the basic offerings but fail to examine the wide range of additional free or very cheap services and tools offered by their prospective web host.
Overlooked and undervalued
Most web hosts don’t tout these freebies as prominently in their sales copy as they do the basics such as storage space, bandwidth, and tech support. This is simply because they know that most potential customers are only comparison-shopping on the basics.
However, low cost web hosting services and/or free web tools can mean the difference between a robust, customer-friendly web site that supports your expanding business and one that is stuck in low gear just as the traffic begins to increase.
What will you need later?
There is a wide array of these free or nearly-free web hosting services to choose from but first you must know, or at least be reasonably able to predict, the ones you are likely to need when your business grows.
Depending on the nature of your online business you may need some or all of the following:
- Custom web site design
- Search engine optimization services
- Inward and outbound link tracking
- Visitor counts
- Free e-mail
- e-mail forwarding
- Spam filters
- Free web templates
- Free HTML software
- Free website builders
- Auto-responders
- RSS feeds
- Live chat
- Shopping carts
These are just some of the many free or low cost web hosting services and tools you should evaluate before committing to any hosting package.
The bottom line
Stretch your dollars by choosing the low cost web hosting plan that provides as many of these value-packed extras as possible so you don’t wind up having to pay full price for them later when your business finally needs them.
About The Author
Anthony Hamill is the founder of http://www.Web-Host-Watch.Com which is devoted to helping new webmasters learn the basics of web hosting. It provides tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a list of Top Web Hosts.
A variety of free or low cost web hosting services and tools is provided by most web hosting companies. However, in their search for the best web hosting package, many webmasters do a good job of comparing the basic offerings but fail to examine the wide range of additional free or very cheap services and tools offered by their prospective web host.
Overlooked and undervalued
Most web hosts don’t tout these freebies as prominently in their sales copy as they do the basics such as storage space, bandwidth, and tech support. This is simply because they know that most potential customers are only comparison-shopping on the basics.
However, low cost web hosting services and/or free web tools can mean the difference between a robust, customer-friendly web site that supports your expanding business and one that is stuck in low gear just as the traffic begins to increase.
What will you need later?
There is a wide array of these free or nearly-free web hosting services to choose from but first you must know, or at least be reasonably able to predict, the ones you are likely to need when your business grows.
Depending on the nature of your online business you may need some or all of the following:
- Custom web site design
- Search engine optimization services
- Inward and outbound link tracking
- Visitor counts
- Free e-mail
- e-mail forwarding
- Spam filters
- Free web templates
- Free HTML software
- Free website builders
- Auto-responders
- RSS feeds
- Live chat
- Shopping carts
These are just some of the many free or low cost web hosting services and tools you should evaluate before committing to any hosting package.
The bottom line
Stretch your dollars by choosing the low cost web hosting plan that provides as many of these value-packed extras as possible so you don’t wind up having to pay full price for them later when your business finally needs them.
About The Author
Anthony Hamill is the founder of http://www.Web-Host-Watch.Com which is devoted to helping new webmasters learn the basics of web hosting. It provides tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a list of Top Web Hosts.
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