Web Hosting Review

2007-02-19T01:12:00.000-08:00

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What should you consider for when choosing a web hosting provider?

2007-01-12T05:38:00.000-08:00

There are a vast number of web hosting companies to choose from in the market today. The decision to pick the right one can definitely be daunting. When attempting this task, you will need to look at several different factors to make an informed decision about who you would want to trust with your website. The first thing that you will need to decide is who will design your website.

If you plan on doing it or hiring someone to do it, you will need to make sure that the packages provided by the potential host will allow for the method and tools that will be used. This includes any scripting languages, development tools, and access that you will need. Any hosts that can't support your plan can be eliminated from the list. Otherwise, you can see if the prospective host has site building tools or services that you can sign up for. You will then need to look at the packages offered in detail.

You will want to check the storage space, bandwidth, and account management functionality that is included in the package and compare these with the price that you will be paying. If you plan on just building a small site without any current plans to expand the site, you may be able to go for a lower cost package with less storage space. You will also want to do some research about the server uptimes of the potential hosts.

You should want to make sure that there are not reports of excessive downtime for other people hosting with the potential hosting company. You may also want to take note of other services that are provided by the hosting company. Some additional services that you will want to look for are search engine submissions and domain registration.

There are many companies that will throw some of these features for free with your hosting. One of the biggest things that should play a part in your decision is the quality of technical and customer support. You will want to make sure that if there is ever a problem that you will receive quick and thorough assistance in getting it resolved. The final assessment that you will need to make when choosing a web hosting company is to make sure that you find a partner that will help you in delivering a stable and well-designed website.

hosting, web hosting, hosting provider, free hosting, cheap hosting

Which Web Host is right for you?

2007-01-12T00:20:00.000-08:00

There are thousands of Web Hosting Companies out there and counting. How do I choose the ideal plan for my Web Site? The key here is to understand what your Web Site’s needs are. Once you know what is required, you can eliminate many options. These are the most important points that you need to focus on:

Determine the requirements of your site.
Choosing an Operating System.
Choosing between Shared and Dedicated solutions.
Determine which hosting company is better.

So, what are the requirements of my site?
Answer all the following questions. If there is any question that you do not know the answer to, try to work with your Web Designer. If you do not have a Web Designer, try to ask any Web Hosting Provider. If you do not understand any of the terms, see Web Hosting Terminologies at http://www.sirunet.com/WebHostingTerms.com.

Some of the questions above may have approximated answers. Try to do your best and it will help you when choosing your hosting provider and plan.

Most of the sites out there need less than 100 Megabytes (MB) of disk space. Notice that one Megabyte is equivalence to eight Megabits, so do not be fooled by numbers. If your web site is not for heavy media downloads, in most cases you do not need more than 10 Gigabyte (GB) of Monthly Transfer. There is an equation that can be used to calculate your bandwidth:
Monthly Transfer = Monthly Visitors x Average Hits per Visitor x Average Page Size

Unless you have a web site hosted already, otherwise it is impossible for you to determine the site’s monthly visitors and average page hits per visitor. So lets put this aside for now.

There are many types of databases. The most commonly used database types are MYSQL (Windows & UNIX), ODBC (Windows), and MS Access (Windows). By knowing what type of database you use, it will help you decide which Operating System to go for.

The most popular Scripting Languages are CGI and Perl. While most of the web hosting plans include these as standard features, you do not have to worry too much here. Note: some Free Web Hosting plans DO NOT support scripting languages.

Choosing a Web Host with Servlet Technology is very hard because it is not commonly supported and even for those who say they support it, they do not have sufficient technical support. The most commonly used Servlet Technologies are Active Server Pages (ASP) and Java Server Pages (JSP). While JSP is best supported in both Windows and UNIX environment, ASP is currently well supported only in Windows. Although Sun Java System

Active Server Pages do work on UNIX environment, it is still in testing stage; as of July 2004.

What Operating System should I go for?
Windows based hosting plans are usually more expensive than those are UNIX based. Why would I need Windows Hosting then? There are many factors. If you use ODBC or MS Access database you may be required to use Windows Hosting. If you use ASP you may be required to use Windows Hosting. If you or your Web Master is more familiar with Windows environment you may consider using Windows Hosting. If you do not need any of the above, I would recommend you to use UNIX based Hosting. Why? Because they are much less expensive in terms of service fees and software licensing than Windows Hosting. Windows hosting are often slower than UNIX hosting in performance. If you have two servers with exact hardware specs, one in UNIX and the other one in Windows, the UNIX server will have better performance in terms of speed, reliability, and security.

Should I use SHARED hosting or DEDICATED hosting?
There are only a few reasons that you will need dedicated hosting. Your site contains sensitive information that you need better security and dedicated hosting does that. If you need flexible software support, you should consider dedicated hosting. If you need total control over your account, you should consider dedicated hosting. If you need to host a large web application, dedicated hosting is your choice. So who should choose dedicated hosting? Any Web Sites that need any of the above should choose dedicated hosting. If you do not need any of the above, I would recommend you to use shared hosting because it is more cost effective than dedicated hosting.

Hints on choosing a Web Hosting company
Ok. Now I know the requirements of my Web Site and which type of hosting to choose, but how do I know which Web Hosting company is better? There are two factors that you should focus on. First, check if the company offers all the things your Web Site needs. Second, check if the company is reliable in terms of services and support. The only way for you to know if a company is reliable is to try them, so sign up for the plans that have at least 15 days Money-back guarantee. This way you can always cancel the account if you do not feel comfortable with the company. How would you know if they have what you want? Well, the best way is to ask them. Make sure to provide them all of the requirements of your Web Site. There are other ways to know more about the companies, such as finding reviews on hosting community sites. But the reviews are often misleading, thus the best way is still trying it yourselves.

To summarize, make sure to know both what your Web Site needs and what Web Hosting companies are offering before making your final choice.

About the Author

Shawn Si, is an editor and Marketing Director of Sirunet.com, a leading ecommerce enabled web hosting service provider. He can be reached at shawn@sirunet.com

Free Web Hosting, do some research before you choose.

2007-01-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

Where can I find free web hosting?
There are hundreds of free web hosting services on the web. You can type “free web hosting” into any major search engine and get an expanded list. However, when you sign up for free hosting account, you are basically signing an expanded advertising agreement.

What exactly is free hosting?
In exchange for free hosting, the company can place ads your website. The ads can be placed on the top of the main page, the top of every page, or on the sides. The ads are usually not targeted. It is possible that they won’t match the demographics of your web visitors. In addition, they are not customized to match the content on your web page.

This is a very expensive exchange program if your goal is to build up an online business. The area above the fold, everything that is visible without scrolling, is the most effective advertising area on the entire site. This is the area you should use for your affiliate links, Google Adsense, paid links and expanded site navigation.

Some free web hosting contracts go a step further and ask for your participation in their email marketing campaigns. You will receive emails that require a click through to a merchant site, and/or fill out endless surveys. This can be very time consuming and annoying.

Before you sign any free hosting contract ask to see sample sites. You want to get a feel for the types of ads that are being shown on other website. What do you want to look for?
1. Do you see pop-up ads? What about banners?
2. How large are the ads?
3. Are they just off topic or are they inappropriate?
4. Where are the ads? Are they on every single page or on selected pages?

Even if the ads are not on every page, watch out. It could mean that the hosting service has figured out which pages bring in the most revenue and they can afford to ignore everything else. Guess what? If it brings in lots of revenue for them, it could probably bring in lots of revenue for you.

There’s free and then there’s FREE
If the space is free, what about the domain name?

If your new site will look like http://yoursite.freewebhost.com you’re getting a subdomain for your site. It’s not really your unique domain name. They are simply loaning you a space for your stuff.

This is not a unique domain name that you can use to brand your business. You can’t use it anywhere except with this particular web hosting company. Ditto if the new domain names is http://www.freewebhost.com/yoursite/.

So what if they offer a truly unique domain name?
How long will it take before you actually own the domain name? Even the cheap web hosting services will require that you stay with the company for thirty to sixty days before you can keep a free domain name.

What happens if you want to switch to another company before the period is up? Sometimes there’s a charge to keep the domain name or to transfer it. This should be clearly stated in their FAQ's or in the text of the hosting contract before you agree to use their service.

Do you have enough bandwidth?
Many free web hosting services are providing their services in such a way that you will need to upgrade your hosting package if your site has any degree of minor success. The tipping point is usually bandwidth. That is a measure of how much text, pictures, ftps etc. you can send to your web customers every month.

The Bandwidth in your contract is measured on a monthly basis. Check the contract to see if there are any fees for going over your monthly amount, or if you will lose your free hosting privileges.

Free host today, no host tomorrow
There is a very high turnover for free web hosting services that heavily depend on advertising revenue. Even the most successful web companies will find that their advertising revenue varies on a monthly basis. Will the company suddenly go out business if they hit a three month slump?

There should be a written policy on what happens to your content if they site suddenly goes out of business. Can you still access your files? Is there an alternative URL or login site with your information? How much time do you have?

You are only as reliable as your hosting service
Check out the statistics on the uptime for their servers. This applies to any hosting service, whether you are paying or not. If their uptime is in the low 90’s and below, then try to find another hosting provider.

You are taking a big risk if you use a free web hosting services for your business site. The inability to control your advertising, high turnover rates among the free hosting providers, and variable contracts usually spells disaster for e-commerce sites.

To run a successful online venture, 24-hour live customer service, high uptimes ratios and control of your advertising space is a must. These features are also the major weaknesses of the average free hosting provider.

A better option for you company would be to sign up for an affordable or cheap web hosting provider. You will have many service options in this category and can usually avoid the limitations of the free hosting companies.

Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, a Financial Solutions Website. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com

Tags:
hosting, web hosting, free hosting, free web hosting

Why Your Web Host Could Be Out Of Business Tomorrow

2007-01-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

What are the chances of you waking up tomorrow and finding your web host and your website gone? Actually much higher than you may think and there are several reasons for this. For starters, the number of web hosting businesses these days is extremely high and growing all the time. This means that there is increased competition. In this kind of scenario only the fittest will survive. It is the law of the jungle and the law of life too. It means that hosting businesses that do not carefully think through their business plan and strategy are in great danger of soon finding themselves out of business.

Competition usually ushers in something else that is also a great danger to the survival of any business. And that is a price war. Many hosts are trying to outdo each other with the price they offer for hosting. Low prices work because some people are only looking for the lowest price. We fail to realize that a low price puts considerable pressure on any business and more so a web hosting business which is dependant on so many other outside services. It makes it a lot harder for them to pay their bills and sustain their hosting enterprise. This is not to say that higher priced web hosts cannot go belly up on you. They definitely can, especially when they do not have a solid business plan and strategy for survival. There are so many things that can go wrong. Even the hosts who charge an arm and a leg for a tiny amount of bandwidth can easily go out of business. They can fail to get enough clients to sustain their enterprise.

What all this means is that it is very important for every online entrepreneur to take precautions. Look for a hosting company that has been in business for many years. Look for a web host that has in-house employees and is not dependant on the whims of an out-sourced support company based in another country. Be sure to regularly back up everything on your site, just in case.

These are some of the reasons why using a directory becomes useful as you are able to gather some information from a third party with their names at stake. This should help you smell out a bad deal much quicker.

About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the website hosting industry.

hosting, web hosting, hosting provider, hosting company, web host

Free Blog Hosts Vs Independent Hosting

2006-08-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

Blogilepsy first started out as a free blog on Blogger. I was so excited to get the project started, that I posted quite a bit of stuff within a few days. On Tuesday, March 7 I received an unpleasant surprise when I logged into my account. Blogger had frozen my blog on the suspicion that I had setup a Splog.

A Splog is a blog created expressly to propagate spam. We’ve all seem them. They are 99.9% Adsense and .1% reprinted content. It’s purely coincidental if you get any useful information out of them. Blogger had me verify that the blog had been setup and was being operated by an actual human being. Then I had to wait about a day for another human being to look at the blog and verify that it was not full of spam before they released it back into my control.

I puzzled over this for a few days wondering what triggered the shut down. After speaking with other bloggers, I’ve determined that it was the fact that I had added a lot of links within a short period of time. I had put up about 30 links to various blogging resources (templates, web forums) within a twenty four hour period of time. Other bloggers reported doing the same thing and the common denominator is that we were all locked out of our blogs.

Blogger takes spam blogging seriously. Perhaps a little too seriously. I was one of the lucky ones in that I was only locked out of my blog. Other bloggers report having their blogs deleted with no warning whatsoever. Kevin Kennedy of Health Hack spent about four months building one of his blogs only to log on, one day, and find it completely gone. Luckily, he was able to rebuild and relaunch the site on its own domain and recoup some of his losses.

Everywhere you turn a new blog host is popping up offering server space for your blog, under their domain of course. Should you take up their offer or are you better off striking out on your own?

Well that all depends on what you plan to do with your blog. Is it a personal blog for casual posting or a professional blog to promote your business? Will you be talking about “safe” topics or risqué ones? Some hosts do not allow family unfriendly material and will delete your blog if you include such. How much traffic are you expecting or want to have? To keep server costs down, some hosts limit the number of visitors you can have per month. What I’m getting at is that if you host your blog on someone else’s server, you have to play by their rules.

But there are benefits to having a hosted blog. First and foremost they’re free which is a good thing with gas prices being what they are nowadays. Secondly, setting up a blog and getting started is usually as easy as making pie. Well at least for those who know how to make pie. Then there is the fact that you are usually apart of a community, who, out of curiosity, will visit the newbie and some blog communities have an internal marketing system that you can tap into for marketing your blog.

But all of these benefits can be outweighed by a few consequences. You can lose your blog for no reason and with no explanation. With Blogger, once your blog is gone, someone else can register the domain name. With other hosts, such as WordPress.com, once deleted the domain is no longer available even to you. Another draw back is if the host has server issues, you have server issues and worse if the host’s business goes under, well, there goes your blog.

Hosting a blog on your own domain, while eliminating many of these issues, comes with its own set of challenges. There is the cost of the server space and monthly traffic. Then you must install and configure the blog software which, for a newbie to computing, could prove to be a challenge. There is the upkeep and maintenance of the blog and you have work twice as hard at marketing yourself.

However, the major benefit to having your own space on the net is similar to buying a house versus renting. It’s yours to do with whatever you want. You have complete control. If your blogging takes off and you start getting more visitors than you know what to do with, you can open a web store and sell items. You can add a forum. If you hate your web host, you can change to a different one without changing web addresses. If you have the know-how, you can become a blog host yourself. The possibilities are endless.

So before you jump onto the free blog bandwagon, think long and hard about whether or not it will take you where you want to go. With free blog hosts, you may just find yourself heading towards a dead end.

Indigo Black is the founder of The Towne of Blogilepsy, the community for bloggers where they learn the fine art of caring for a blog and connect with like minded adults. She also the administrator of SmutWriter, the place for erotica authors to go to share, and find markets for, their work.

Free Web Hosting Options

2006-08-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Where can I find free web hosting?
There are hundreds of free web hosting services on the web. You can type “free web hosting” into any major search engine and get an expanded list. However, when you sign up for free hosting account, you are basically signing an expanded advertising agreement.

What exactly is free hosting?
In exchange for free hosting, the company can place ads your website. The ads can be placed on the top of the main page, the top of every page, or on the sides. The ads are usually not targeted. It is possible that they won’t match the demographics of your web visitors. In addition, they are not customized to match the content on your web page.

This is a very expensive exchange program if your goal is to build up an online business. The area above the fold, everything that is visible without scrolling, is the most effective advertising area on the entire site. This is the area you should use for your affiliate links, Google Adsense, paid links and expanded site navigation.

Some free web hosting contracts go a step further and ask for your participation in their email marketing campaigns. You will receive emails that require a click through to a merchant site, and/or fill out endless surveys. This can be very time consuming and annoying.

Before you sign any free hosting contract ask to see sample sites. You want to get a feel for the types of ads that are being shown on other website. What do you want to look for?
1. Do you see pop-up ads? What about banners?
2. How large are the ads?
3. Are they just off topic or are they inappropriate?
4. Where are the ads? Are they on every single page or on selected pages?

Even if the ads are not on every page, watch out. It could mean that the hosting service has figured out which pages bring in the most revenue and they can afford to ignore everything else. Guess what? If it brings in lots of revenue for them, it could probably bring in lots of revenue for you.

There’s free and then there’s FREE
If the space is free, what about the domain name?

If your new site will look like http://yoursite.freewebhost.com you’re getting a subdomain for your site. It’s not really your unique domain name. They are simply loaning you a space for your stuff.

This is not a unique domain name that you can use to brand your business. You can’t use it anywhere except with this particular web hosting company. Ditto if the new domain names is http://www.freewebhost.com/yoursite/.

So what if they offer a truly unique domain name?
How long will it take before you actually own the domain name? Even the cheap web hosting services will require that you stay with the company for thirty to sixty days before you can keep a free domain name.

What happens if you want to switch to another company before the period is up? Sometimes there’s a charge to keep the domain name or to transfer it. This should be clearly stated in their FAQ's or in the text of the hosting contract before you agree to use their service.

Do you have enough bandwidth?
Many free web hosting services are providing their services in such a way that you will need to upgrade your hosting package if your site has any degree of minor success. The tipping point is usually bandwidth. That is a measure of how much text, pictures, ftps etc. you can send to your web customers every month.

The Bandwidth in your contract is measured on a monthly basis. Check the contract to see if there are any fees for going over your monthly amount, or if you will lose your free hosting privileges.

Free host today, no host tomorrow
There is a very high turnover for free web hosting services that heavily depend on advertising revenue. Even the most successful web companies will find that their advertising revenue varies on a monthly basis. Will the company suddenly go out business if they hit a three month slump?

There should be a written policy on what happens to your content if they site suddenly goes out of business. Can you still access your files? Is there an alternative URL or login site with your information? How much time do you have?

You are only as reliable as your hosting service
Check out the statistics on the uptime for their servers. This applies to any hosting service, whether you are paying or not. If their uptime is in the low 90’s and below, then try to find another hosting provider.

You are taking a big risk if you use a free web hosting services for your business site. The inability to control your advertising, high turnover rates among the free hosting providers, and variable contracts usually spells disaster for e-commerce sites.

To run a successful online venture, 24-hour live customer service, high uptimes ratios and control of your advertising space is a must. These features are also the major weaknesses of the average free hosting provider.

A better option for you company would be to sign up for an affordable or cheap web hosting provider. You will have many service options in this category and can usually avoid the limitations of the free hosting companies.

Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, a Financial Solutions Website. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com

What To Consider With Web Hosting Plans And Services?

2006-08-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

There are many important aspects to consider with web hosting services and plans. Choosing the wrong web hosting plan can cause a real problem down the road with your business. This in turn, can cost your business lost customers and sales. If you take some time to compare the different options available to you, and to see what is the best web hosting plan for your situation, it can help you in the long run.

Are You Going To Have A Personal Home Page Or A Business Site Hosted?

The first thing you may want to consider with the web hosting service is the type of website you are going to have hosted. A small business may not need the options that come with larger hosting plans. On the other hand, if you are going to plan on having a large e-commerce site hosted, you may want all the bells and whistles that are provided from some web hosting services. When you have decided on what type of website you will have hosted, you can then figure how to compare the web hosting services and plans.

How Much Data Transfer And Disk Space Is Offered From The Web Hosting Plan

Some of the aspects you will want to compare are the disk space and bandwidth to see if the hosting plan can handle the data transfer from your business promotions that can cause large amounts of traffic. On the other hand, if you have a simple home page you will not need much disk space and bandwidth. Only you can decide on what you will really need from the web hosting service, options and plans that are offered.

Aspects To Consider For Your Web Hosting Needs

Some of the aspects of the web hosting service you may want to consider are, the cost and fees, customer support, control panel, POP email accounts, FTP transfer limits and if you have unlimited space transfer.

Web Hosting Costs And Possible Setup Fees?

When you compare the cost of the web hosting plan, be sure you understand what the costs are, before you sign up. Make sure you know what the setup fees might be, if any.

What About Customer Support From The Web Hosting Company?

Customer support is very important because you don’t want your site or sites down for long periods of time. Be sure to see if they offer 24 hours a day customer support and what experience they have with customers in the past. You can easily check with the BBB to see how the web hosting company rates with customer service. This simple consideration can help save you from hassles and lost revenue.

Is A Control Panel Available?

Some people do not have much experience with web hosting control panels. You may want to see what type of control panel the web hosting service offers to see if it is user friendly and that it will fit your needs. An experienced webmaster may not need a control panel, but a control panel is a must for the rest of us.

Are POP Email Accounts Available?

Another aspect of web hosting service plans you may want to consider are, the POP email accounts that may be offered. Most business plans will need email service from their web hosting plan. Check to see how many are available to you, if you think you will need access to email accounts.

What About FTP Transfer Limits?

Again, be sure to look into the FTP transfer limits with the web hosting services you are considering. You want to make sure the web hosting plan offers FTP transfer for your business needs. Most web hosts do not have limits on FTP use.

Check out the web hosting plan to see if they offer unlimited space transfer. Read the terms of service to see if you can upgrade, if you need more space in the future. You do not want to have a problem with the web hosting service if you use too much space on the server.

By taking the time to shop around and compare web hosting plans and services, you will know you have made a well informed decision.

Author: Dean Shainin is a consultant specializing in web hosting plans and services. Get valuable resources, tools, more articles and information on web hosting, visit this site: http://web-hosting.deans-knowledgebase.com

Web Hosting Basics

2006-07-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

If you have decided you or your company is in need of a website, you will have to purchase web hosting services from a hosting company. There are many different web-hosting companies to choose from, and they can easily be found on the internet. If you do a quick search for them in any search engine, you will find that there are almost too many to count. Choosing the company that is right for you can be a harrowing experience, but there are really only a few basic things to consider.

The first factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is how much space they will give you for your account. If you merely want a single page on the Internet with little or no graphics, you can get by with purchasing an account with the smallest amount of space available. However, if you are planning to create a full e-commerce site with multiple pages and order forms, you will need to make sure you have enough server space to support your entire operation.

Before you sign your web-hosting contract, you will first have to choose and purchase a domain name. Though many of the names you might want are already taken, you can often find one that suits your needs, especially if you get creative with it. For instance, if your business is called Cards For You and that domain name is already taken, you might consider choosing More Cards For You or Cards For You Today. The possibilities are endless, and with a little thought you will be able to think of a snappy domain name.

You can often purchase a domain name through your web hosting company, or you can purchase it through a private domain name retailer. These companies are very easy to find. Often times, if you type the domain name you want into a search engine, a domain name seller will pop up if the name is not already taken. You can purchase a domain name for a year at a time, or for several years, depending on how much you want to invest at the get-go.

Once you have a domain name, you will of course have to create a website to put on the Internet. There are many do-it-yourself web design programs that are fairly user friendly. Software like FrontPage makes web design a cut and paste, fill in the blank soft of affair. However, if you would like a more professional look, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or Image Ready to make your sites. There are always freelance web designers looking for work who are ready to take on your cause if you are not savvy enough to do it yourself.

Web hosting companies give passwords to allow you access your space on their servers. You can upload files and pages using their own interface programs, or you can utilize the upload tools built in to your web design program. Once you upload a page, it is important to make sure it looks correct on a variety of different web browsers. Because each browser interprets information differently, you may run into trouble if you build a site while only previewing it in Internet Explorer. There are often compatibility issues between Safari and Mozilla browsers that distort site tables and images.

However, once you work out the kinks and create an excellent site, all you have to do is pay your web hosting bills, and your site will be available for the whole world to see. Web hosting companies usually offer options regarding payment plans. You can pay for a year at a time, or you can monthly or quarterly to maintain your place on the World Wide Web.

About The Author

Sintilia Miecevole has many years experience on the internet. Be sure to visit http://www.ritzyhosting.com for expert information on hosting, providers, host finders, resources, reviews, reliability and much more. To find the right web hosting plan to meet your business and ecommerce needs click on http://www.ritzyhosting.com.

All About Dedicated Hosting Providers

2006-06-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Unless overtly listed otherwise, most web hosting packages you'll come across in your search are what are called shared hosting providers. What this means is that the server or servers that host your website are simultaneously hosting numerous other websites also. This gives you a discounted rate on web hosting services in exchange for tolerating certain technical constraints, like bandwidth, disk space, upload and download speeds, security and privacy, traffic, and probably the most notable restriction -- total control.

If you want total control not only over the administration of your website but also over the very hardware and software used to run it, then you should be evaluating not shared hosting providers, but dedicated hosting providers. If your business is large enough or growing fast enough that it requires its own internet connection and server, you may need a dedicated web host.

What's the downside to going with dedicated hosting providers? In a word: responsibility. In most areas of life, with total control comes total responsibility, and it's no different with hosting providers. With a dedicated server, the onus is on you to buy, install, and maintain the actual equipment -- the server itself -- mounted in the dedicated hosting providers' data center.

Fortunately, you still get the benefit of their presumably top-notch, around-the-clock security over the physical premises, but you remain fully responsible for the security of your cyber-premises. Likewise, dedicated hosting providers will ensure that the systems in the building are all provided with redundant uninterruptible and backup power and environmental controls, but it's you who must keep your machines and cables maintained and functioning in this idyll environment.

How do you identify whether it's time to switch from a shared host to a dedicated host? There are 3 main indicators to stay alert for:

Speed
If the traffic streaming through your shared server is slowing down your customers' pace as they browse your site (or your employees, if an in-house site), it may simply be time to look for more unencumbered shared hosting. But if you've tried several shared hosting providers with the same results, then it may be time to remind yourself how impatient the average web surfer is. While you're jumping from shared host to shared host trying to save a buck, your customers are jumping ship. Your ability to respond promptly and effectively to customer transactions and inquiries cannot be overemphasized either.

Reliability
The limits to your control are nowhere more apparent than in the areas of reliability and security. It's not simply that problems can arise: problems do arise. It's the nature of the biz. And if you don't have unlimited access to your own operating system, software and database apps, etc., there's not much you can do when one arises.

Customizability
If your company is growing fast, you're going to be changing many aspects of your web presence along with it. You may regularly need to tweak your disk space and bandwidth and experiment with using different applications to better serve your changing needs. On a shared host, upgrading in such a way usually involves leaping from one "package" or "plan" to another. These packages are generally preset and may or may not serve your immediate needs. They may be riddled with programs you don't yet need, for example, yet lack in the one singular program you do. Or the next leap up from your current plan has way more disk space and bandwidth than you need at the moment. With a dedicated server, you can make changes incrementally, step forward, step back, heck, step sideways if you need to -- and when you need to.

In large part, it's the size and growth rate of your business that will dictate whether you need a shared or dedicated host. Affordability and personal time commitment are nice secondary considerations, but if your business is booming, you would do it a great injustice to try and save on a few bucks and few extra hours per week of your time in exchange for slower and poorer quality of service for your customers.

By the same token, however, if your business is small enough to function quite smoothly on any of the shared hosting providers out there, don't squander your precious capital on a dedicated server just so you can have total control. Because sometimes total control isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Author: Sage Kalmus

Hosting-Review.com is the premier resource on web hosting providers. Visit http://www.hosting-review.com for comprehensive reviews and rankings of over 50 web hosts, as well as informative hosting articles.

Cheap Hosting to Build a Website

2006-04-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

Even a Cheap Hosting Company Can Help You Build a Website

It's no secret: the internet is the place to be. And there is no shortage of web hosting companies out there -- cheap hosting or otherwise -- all vying for the scads of business flocking to the internet to grab their share of the pie. You might say it's a Buyer's Market. eMerchants of all kinds know that consumers are all bargain hunters and as our appetites grow fatter and our palates grow wiser, we demand more and more from the companies that serve us at less and less of a cost to us. The result? These days, web hosting companies can't afford not to be cheap hosting companies.

To compete, cheap hosting companies have to provide an assortment of tools and services to make them stand out above the rest, and the least of these is website design and building. If your cheap hosting company can't help you design and build, publish, and edit and maintain your website, then it's too cheap. This article will lay out some of the most common and useful features you could reasonably expect a good, cheap hosting company's website builder/editor to have.

In brief, a website builder (whatever fancy name the individual cheap hosting company slaps on top of it) is essentially a point-and-click program for designing and building websites. These programs have evolved over the years to the point now where they are so simple that even a retired great-grandparent could do it. (You thought we were going to say "a child", didn't you? -- and apologies to the tech-savvy great-grandfolks out there.)

The software exists, and has existed for a while now, to empower anyone at all to design, build, and publish not just a website, but a website that works. One that's error-free, that'll be search engine-approved, that's attractive and easily navigable, that encourages traffic, and that doesn't require you to know a whit of HTML code.

The foundation of any website builder/editor are these are predesigned webpages, designed around specific themes or categories -- sales, membership organizations, service provider, in-house, family scrapbook, self-promotional, etc. -- that you are free to use as your own. Simply fill-in-the blanks with your own information and customize the look and feel to suit your tastes.

You see, a template is just a springboard for your website. Sure, you can use it as is; that's fine if it's a personal website for you and your friends, but don't expect an un-tweaked template to generate a lot of business. Templates are designed to be fully customizable, and that includes background colors, fonts, text sizes, graphics, backgrounds, borders, page layout, and more. You should exercise that facility to its fullest.

Cheap hosting companies' website builders/editors should include not only a wide variety of templates in a wide variety of themes/categories, but a wide variety as well of color sets, fonts, graphics/clip art/photo databases, backgrounds/borders, etc.

Templates may also exists for many of the most common and popular website tools that people use, like photo albums, event calendars, feedback forms, and user forums.

The cheap hosting company of today needs not only to be able to convert your vision into sensible HTML code, but it needs also to empower you to code Javascript and Flash-based content. These might not seem like valuable features at first glance, but without them, you might find yourself restricted to building websites that visitors find flat, uninteresting, and non-interactive.

There should also be a suitable Preview feature included so that you can see the progress of your website at each step along the way. You should be able to see exactly what your visitors will see once your cheap hosting company puts your site live.

Finally, crucial to any website that's not intended merely for personal use -- which is most of the websites out there -- is making a sale. And if there's one thing a cheap hosting company's website builder has got to have for you, it's a shopping cart.

Take a look at the shopping cart the cheap hosting companies you're considering offers. How customizable is it? Is it easy to use? Is it confusing? Does it support the major payment methods -- from credit cards to PayPal -- both online and off?

Armed with these tips, you'll be in a better position to make the right decision when choosing your cheap web hosting company.

About the Author
Hosting-Review.com is the premier resource on cheap web hosting. Visit http://www.hosting-review.com for comprehensive reviews and rankings of over 50 web hosting providers, as well as informative articles about everything to do with hosting.

InovoHost Review

2005-10-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

• 99.9% Uptime Guaranteed
• Free domain name
• Free 24/7 technical support
• Accounts activated within 1 hour
• Easy to use control panel
• 30 days money back guarantee

iNovoHost offers one complete solution that will accommodate all your hosting needs. At only $7.95 per month, you'll receive an eCommerce enabled shared hosting account boasting 3GB of disk space, 30GB of data transfer and 500 email accounts.

Their hosting package include all the most popular and standard web tools such as CGI, MySQL, PHP, Tomcat 4, SSI and FrontPage and also several eCommerce tools you can use to maximize your online business.

Within your accounts, you will receive a Getting Started Guide. They also have a free call support (for US & Canada customers) and also email support.

iNovoHost offers a 30 days money back guarantee to all clients. If you are unhappy with their service, they will refund your money with no questions asked.

Features:
Hard Disk Storage 3000 MB
POP3 Email Accounts / Web based 500
Data Transfer 30 GB
Your-name.com Yes
International Domain Names Yes
Sub-Domains Yes
Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam Yes
Forwarding Accounts Yes
Autoresponder Yes
CGI-BIN Yes
MySQL Yes
CGI Library Yes
PHP Support Yes
Tomcat 4 Support Yes
Server Sides Includes Yes
Log Files + Detailed Site Stats Yes
FrontPage 2000/2002 Extension Yes
Account Control Panel Yes
FTP Access Yes
Anonymous FTP Accounts Yes
Browser Based E-mail Yes
30-day Money Back Guarantee Yes
Site Builder

OSCommerce Shopping Cart and E-commerce Solution Yes
PHP-Nuke Content Management System Yes
PostNuke Content Management System Yes
PHPOpenChat Chat System Yes
Gallery Photo Album Yes
Formmail PHP Script Yes
PHPBB2 Discussion Board Yes
Invision Power Board Yes
Blog Yes
PHP Support Tickets Yes
Crafty Syntax Live Help Yes
Mailing List Announcement System Yes
Website Search Engine Yes
Online Calendar Yes
Mambo Yes

Price:
6 Month Price : $7.95/month + $30 Setup
12 Month Price : $7.95/month + FREE SETUP + FREE DOMAIN

SimpleHost Hosting Review

2005-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Free Domain Name
$7.50 /month
No Setup Fees
Unlimited Storage Space
Control Panel
No Annoying Ads
Same Day Account Setup
Money Back Guarantee

Started in web hosting business since 1996, SimpleHost is a fast growing member of the hosting community. They provide a reliable hosting solution for hundreds of clients around the world.

They offer one hosting plan only with unlimited storage and generous 50 GB bandwidth. On every hosting plan you purchase you will get a free domain name, with unlimited email accounts. And there's no set up fee.

They are so confident that you will be able to get your website online, and they even offer a no questions asked 30 day money back guarantee.

SimpleHost is a recommended web host to people seeking an established hosting provider at a budget price not to mention you can't beat the free domain name they throw in just for signing up with them which is most definately a nice perk.

Features:

Unlimited Storage Space
50 GB of Bandwidth
Free Domain Name
Unlimited Sub Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains

Site Builder
24x7 FTP Access
FrontPage® Extensions
Online File Manager
Web Mail
Custom Error Pages
Hot Link Protection

50+ Installed Scripts -New!
Guestbook
Bulletin Boards
Form Mail
Counter
Blogging Software
Shopping Carts
Complete List

Unlimited Email Accounts
Unlimited Forwarding
Unlimited Email Aliases
Catch-all Default Account
Unlimited Mailing Lists
Unlimited Auto responders
Spam Protection

Shopping Cart
SSL Certs
Your own CGI-BIN
Detailed Web Statistics
Free Search Engine Submission

Unix/Linux Servers
Multiple OC-3 Connections
Apache Web server
Cisco Switches and Routers
Battery Backup (UPS)
Diesel Backup Generator
Redundant HVAC system
Video camera surveillance
24x7 Network Monitoring
24x7 Server Monitoring
Weekly/Monthly Backups
99.9% uptime

Customer Support
24x7 Online Support
Telephone Support
Simple Flash Tutorials
Simple Documentation

StartLogic Web Hosting Review

2005-10-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

all plans are include:

Unlimited Email Accounts
eCommerce Enabled
FREE Setup & FREE Domain
CGI, PHP, and MySQL Support
Web Builder
Front Page 2002/2003
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
Click Here to see their latest promo!

StartLogic offers an outstanding amount of storage and bandwidth for a reasonable price.
They have several hosting plans starting from $7.50/month come with 5 GB storage and
100 GB bandwidth. They also offer dedicated server plan for large web site.

Customer Support
Toll free phone support
Knowledge base
Ticket based email support
Live Chat

Money-Back Guarantee:
StartLogic offers a 30 days money back guarantee.

Features:
Startlogic's 5000 MB of Storage Space
Web Traffic Transfer 100 GB
Unlimited E-Mail Accounts
VDECK 2.0 Control Panel
Setup Fee

Software Support:
CGI-BIN and Library
PHP Support
PerlScripts
MySQL
SSL Secure Server
SSI Management
Log Files + Site Stats
Frontpage 2000 / 2002 / 2003 Extension
Shopping Carts
Web Hosting Control Panel
Browser Based Email

E-Mail:
POP3 Emails Unlimited
Forwarding E-Mails Unlimited
Autoresponders Unlimited
E-Mail Filtering Unlimited
Web E-Mail Unlimited

More...

PowWeb Hoting Review

2005-10-23T04:27:00.000-07:00

$7.77 per month
- PHP, JSP, ASP, Perl PHP, JSP*, ASP* & PERL
- 5000 Megabytes Storage
- Toll-free Telephone Support and Live Chat
- 10 Gigabytes Bandwidth per DAY ( 300GB/Month)
- FTP Access FTP Access
- 5 Free MySQL Databases
- FrontPage Extensions supported
- Free Domain when purchasing 1 yearly/bi-yearly service

Started their hosting business in 1999, PowWeb is one of the few older generation hosting companies that's survived the internet business fall. They have their own infrastructure, built and developed in-house, with a great customer support team. Their reputation as one of the top hosting companies is proven with their massive community and hosted sites.

Rather then other web hosting company with a variety of plans and features, PowWeb has only one plan, PowValue Package. This plan gives you 5000MB disk space, 10GB transfer per day and 1000 POP3 email accounts. You will get this generous hosting plan in a low price, as follow:

3 Months $30 Setup Fee $53.31
1 year No Setup Fee! 1 Year FREE Domain Name*
2 years No Setup Fee! 2 Years FREE Domain Name*

Customer Support:
Powweb delivers at that level by providing quick and responsive email, fax, live chat and toll free phone support. Customers also can read the FAQ's, Walkthroughs, and a members' help documentation on their website. They also have a forum to help the customers to get assistances and keep up to date with the server and network updates.

Money Back Guarantee:
Powweb ensures customers a risk free, 30-day money back guarantee.

PowWeb Complete Features:
Disk Space (Raid Storage) 5,000 MB
Data Transfer / Bandwidth 300 Gigs/Month (10 Gigs/Day!)

Website Access / Control
Member Operations Control Panel
DNS Management (A records, Cnames, MX records)
Sub-Domains (something.yourdomain.com)
24/7 FTP Access, 10 FTP Users (separate directories)
Web-Based FTP File Manager, Site Manager
Password Protect Directories
Custom Error Pages (403,404, and 500)
SnapShot Instant Click and Restore Daily Backups
Rock Solid Unix Platform

Scripts:
Wordpress
phpBB
osCommerce
Gallery & Gallery 2
PHP-Nuke
More...

Supported Software
FrontPage 98/2000/2002 Extensions
PHP4 & PHP5 w/Zend Optimizer, Perl5, Sendmail
CGI-BIN, SSI, .htaccess, Cronjobs
Flash, Shockwave, Midi, Multimedia Support

Database
MySQL Database 5
phpMyAdmin
Daily Database Backups

Web Statistics & Logs
Webalizer & AwStats Web Statistics
Bandwidth Report
Access, Error, Referral Logs, Raw Log Files
Real-Time Logging

LunarPages Hosting Review

2005-10-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

FREE Domain Name For Life
UNLIMITED MySQL Databases
Up To 3000 Megabytes Storage
100 Gigabytes Data Transfer
E-Commerce
Easy to use Web Builder
Blog, Forum & Photo Gallery
Microsoft® Frontpage® Compatible
Spam Protection

LunarPages offer several web hosting plan. Shuttle and Voyager (shared hosting), LunarPages Dedicated Hosting Plan, and LunarPages Reseller Hosting plan. On this page I will only review their basic hosting plan, Shuttle hosting plan. You can see other hosting plans on LunarPages web site.

LunarPages Company Overview:
Lunarpages was founded in the summer of 2000. With superior customer service in mind and rock solid hosting platforms Lunarpages currently has a very large client base hosting over 50,000 websites and growing. Lunarpages offers industry leading infrastructure built with the best equipment, including: Dell, Sun and Cisco Network Devices. Their state of the art datacenter, located in Los Angeles, California, provides the highest level of security, safety, redundancy, reliability, scalability and technology. Their internal gigabit fiber network is multi backboned with Mzima Networks, NTT/Verio, Global Crossing, Genuity and Cable & Wireless.

Customer Support:
LunarPages has the best customer support on hosting industry. Their support team are the brightest people on this industry. Lunarpages provides toll free telephone support to the United Kingdom as well as Canada and the US. They also has a customer support forum.
Money back Guarantee
Lunarpages offers a 30 day money back guarantee, so if for some reason you are unsatisfied with the service you recieve, you will recieve a full refund for the package you signed up for. Please note that all setup fees and domain costs are non-refundable.

Special Features
1. Unlimited Sub-Domains - LunarPages standard plan comes with unlimited sub-domains.
2. Free 1 Add-on domain. - This allows you to host another website at no cost under same account.
3. Mailing List - you can create 1 mailing list.
4. CPanel - LunarPages useds CPanel, one of the best web hosting control panel.
5. PHP and MySQL - You can use PHP to create dynamic website. Or you may use MySQL database to create a database driven application with this hosting plan.
6 . 30 days money back guarantee.
7 . ASP or JSP/ Servlet available at $2 extra per month.
8 . Fantastico Installer. - All hosting account comes with Fantastico script installer, this tool comes with many freeware/shareware script installer. eg. Blog, Crm, Chat, Phpnuke and etc.
9 . Dedicated IP, SSL can be purchase as an add-on

Shuttle Plan Features
- 100 GB Transfer
- 3000 MB Disk Space
- unlimited Pop e-Mails
- CGI, PHP, Frontpage..
- e-Commerce enabled
- 1 add-on domain
- 24/7 Support
- Daily Backups
- $50 Overture credit
- Free Setup
- Free Domain For Life
and more.....

IpowerWeb Hosting Review

2005-10-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

- 50 GIG Transfer
- 3000MB Disk Space
- 500 e-Mails
- Free Domain
- e-Commerce enabled
- 99.9% Uptime
- 24/7 Support
- Free Setup

Starting their web hosting business since 1999, Ipowerweb have hosted more than 250,000 websites which make them one of the largest web hosting company. Many website owners recommend iPowerweb for their great features, good supporting staffs, and their reasonable prices.

New features added. When you purchase their service, you will receive a free $50 overture advertising credit you can use to drive quality traffics to your website from Yahoo! and MSN search engine. A great advantage.

Money back guarantee
IPowerWeb, offers an unconditional 30 days money back guarantee on all hosting services. If you are not satisfied with the services offered by IPowerWeb, you can ask your money back before 30 days of your registration.

IpowerWeb Complete Features

Disk Space: 3000 MB
Bandwidth/Transfer: 50 GB
Money Back Guarantee: 30 days
Server Sides Includes: Yes
Log Files + Site Stats : Yes
Frontpage 3000/2002 Extension: Yes
Account "Control Panel": Yes, VDeck.
FTP Access: 15 accounts
Anonymous FTP Accounts: Yes
30-day Money Back Guarantee: Yes
SSL Secure Server: Yes
Password Protected Directories: Yes

Email Accounts: 500
Forwarding Accounts : Unlimited
Autoresponders: Unlimited
POP3 Email Accounts / Web Based : Yes

Platform OS: Linux
Control Panel: vDeck
Web Stats: Webalizer
MySQL Database: 3
PHPMyAdmin: Yes
Perl MySQL DBI: Yes
CGI-BIN: Yes
PHP: Yes
Perl: Yes

Server Configuration:
High Performance Dell PowerEdge Servers
Customized Apache Web Server Software
Dual OC-48 Connections on Diverse Backbones
Cisco Routers Using BGP4 Protocol
Daily Tape Back-ups
UPS Power Back-up, Diesel Back-up Generator
24/7 Network Monitoring

Globat Hosting Review

2005-10-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

FREE WITH ALL WEB HOSTING:
Unlimited Email Accounts
Spam Guard Security
Shopping Cart
Toll-Free 24/7 Support
PromoPak™ Marketing
$50 Yahoo!® Credit
Globat Gallery Photo Album
Globuild™ site Builder
Globat Command Console ®
SSL Encryption Security
NEW Globat Support Center
Peace of Mind

Globat has just reduced their hosting package price to $4.95/month if you prepay for the first year. With this such low price, you will get a hosting plan with 5000MB diskspace, 75Gb bandwidth. READ THEIR LATEST PROMO

Data Center
Globat current utilitize a OC-12 connection to the internet and is located in Los Angeles. Their data center currenty holds over 50 servers and they have a fully redundant power supply. They also host customers on a fully redundant, state-of-the-art infrastructure of brand name equipment such as Cisco Systems, Network Appliances, Foundry and Sun Microsystems.

Customer Service
Globat offers support not only via telephone, but also live chat through its control panel interface. It seems that the only way of getting a hold of them was through email and trouble tickets. On a positive note, they responded to trouble tickets quickly and activation time for account was less than 5 minutes, which is a big plus. Out of the all the web hosting companies, they provided one of the most comprehensive online help documentations. Their FAQ's, online web tutorials, online ticket system are of top notch quality.

Features:
5000 MB web server space
Generous 75 GB data transfer
Geographical domain hosting
Support for Multiple Domain Pointers
5000 POP e-mail Accounts
Your very own cgi-bin directory
MS FrontPage 2002, Flash, MYSQL, PHP4, PERL5 and SSI Support
Unlimited e-mail forwarding, alias & autoresponders
Web based e-mail
Web based account management center
Real Time Tech Support
Money back guarantee
More....

Web Package Hosting - Researching Different Alternatives

2005-10-21T23:34:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to find a good web host package is to listen to what others say about companies that provide web hosting. Whether you're a business owner or an individual, you are likely looking for reliable web hosting at a competitive price. Finding the company that can best meet those needs can be a real challenge. But once you've found a company that does provide the service you expect with a price you can afford, you'll realize that the time you spent doing research in an effort to find a good web host package was time well spent.

Obviously, online sources for web hosting are one of the most convenient ways to search for the service you want. Any search engine will offer plenty of results on how to find a good web host package. If you don't consider yourself to be computer savvy, you might also want to talk to friends and colleagues who have experience with web hosting and web hosting packages.

For a good list of reviews of web hosting service providers, you might start with a site such as the Web Hosting Inspector site (www.webhostinginspector.com). By following the links to their reviews, you'll find a list of web host service providers. The reviews on this website are broken into sections with ratings given for each. Even if this site doesn't include a review of the company you are considering as a web host, you might try using their categories to create a rating system of your own. Comparing bandwidth, web page space, reliability, customer service and speed, along with any factors you personally consider to be important, will help you find a good web host package.

Remember that you are a potential client and any web hosting company should view your questions as important. Whether you know a lot about web hosting or you're a novice with little idea of how the process works, a company should be able and willing to answer your questions promptly. If the company isn't able to quickly communicate answers to questions, you should question their ability and willingness to provide reliable customer support once the company has your business. As you consider how to find a good web host package, remember your first impressions.

As you work through the process of finding a good web host package, you should also keep a log of your search. While it will probably be easy at first to remember that you've already looked at Company A and discarded them because their customer service seemed weak, or that Company B didn't offer free set up as part of their web hosting package, it probably won't take long for the names and your impressions to begin to run together. Keeping track of which company you were and were not excited about following up on should be an exercise requiring paper and pencil (at the very least). Tangible numbers are a good indication of which companies will and will not likely be good web host providers, but remember to include your first impressions of the company as well. Was their website easy to navigate? Did they answer questions? Do they provide other services that you might need in the future? All are good questions to ask as you consider how to find a good web host package.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Thorn is a professional writer for Webhostpacks. For more information and tips about hosting visit: web package hosting and cheap package hosting in the web.

How To Transfer Your Web Site To a New Web Hosting Service?

2005-10-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

There are various reasons why an online business owner like you has decided to switch to a new web hosting providers. Your old web hosting provider probably has very poor technical support, or their web server is always down, or may be your old web hosting provider cannot meet your hosting requirements anymore or you could have discovered a cheaper web hosting service...and etc. Regardless of the reasons, now you have found a new web hosting service and you need to transfer your website from your current web host to the new web host. Below is the steps-by-steps guide that you can follow to achieve a painless and error free of moving to a new web hosting provider.

Transfer Schedule
Ideally, you should plan the transfer one month before you terminate your old web hosting plan in order to have sufficient time to perform a smooth transfer. Doing the transfer in less than one month time frame will put your website in risk of inaccessible.

New web hosting service registration
Now, sign-up your new web hosting service once you have decided the termination date mentioned above. Depending on your new web hosting provider, your new web hosting account usually will be set up within 24 hours.

Files Backup
While waiting for your new web hosting account to be created, it is time to backup all your web files on the old web hosting provider. In most cases, you already have all the files of your website on your local computer. However, it is still a good idea to backup all your files from the old web server. In addition to the normal HTML files, you may need to backup any script files, databases files, and even server logs files if it is necessary. You should create a directory structure that is similar to the directory structure on your web server and download the files into the respective directory.

Files uploading
Once you are notified that your new web hosting account has been created, you will receive a notification email from your new web hosting provider. In that email, it contains all the information required to set up website, this including the FTP server information. With that FTP information, you can now FTP to your new web hosting server and upload all your files. You should start by first creating the directory structures on the web server, and then upload all the files to the respective directory.

It is the time to install any script files or databases if there are used in your website. Likewise, it is a good time to set up all the email accounts through the administration panel.

Once you have finished uploading all the files and installed the script files or databases, you can now use the temporary URL to test your site. The temporary URL can be found in the notification email from your new web hosting provider. The temporary URL could probably in this format:
http://viola.lunarpages.com/~your-web-account-name

Testing
Using the temporary URL directory, you can now test your web site online. Due to the fact that different web hosting server may require different server environment to execute. Therefore, you need to verify all the scripts (such as CGI, Perl) are working accordingly. In addition, you should test all the hyperlinks in the normal web pages if possible to ensure no broken links. While you are testing through the temporary URL directory, your website hosted on the old web hosting provider is still continue operating.

Transfer domain name
Once you have finished testing your new website on the temporary URL and verified it is working perfectly. The next step is to contact your current domain name registrar (i.e. the company where you register your domain name) to change the old DNS (Domain Name Server) to point to the new DNS of your new web hosting provider. Usually, the DNS information is sent to you through email after you register successful with the new web hosting provider. Alternatively, you will be able to find the DNS information from the website of your new hosting provider.

Domain name servers control how a domain name is resolved. Typically, the domain name servers are in following format:
NS1.YOUR-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM
NS2.YOUR-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

Some domain name registrar requires the IP addresses of the DNS, in this case you have to provide the IP addresses of your new DNS. For example:
NS1: 216.193.194.212
NS2: 216.193.207.106

Typically, it will take about 24-72 hours to get the DNS record changed and propagated through all the WHOIS servers. You can use Whois tools on the Internet such as whois.com to monitor the status of the DNS transfer. Once the transfer is completed, you will notice the change to your new DNS. Alternatively, you can make a minor modification to your home page (for example, adding a new image or symbol) and upload to the new web hosting server. When you access your home page through the normal domain name (www.your-website.com) and you notice the new home page, then you are sure that the DNS has been transferred successfully.

Final Testing
Now, your website on the new web hosting provider is officially transferred. You should repeat all the tests to ensure it is fully functional. Once you are confirmed the new website is working correctly, you can go ahead to terminate your old web hosting account.

About the author:
Andrew Loh is the owner of "Cheap Web Hosting Review", a website that provide complete and detail reviews on low cost web hosting providers. You can visit his website at http://www.lowest-price-web-hosting.com/

Selection A Domain Name That Clicks!

2005-10-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

After making the decision to join the World Wide Web Business Community. Another important step awaits your attention.

You will certainly want to select a Domain Name for your business.

That's right! Your very own Domain Name for your online business.

Selecting the right domain name is often a hard task for many new online business owners.

They want a catchy name that will get attention plus deliver the paying customers to their website. Unfortunately, many online business owners insist on the wrong name. One that is not only improper for their business but also might give potential customers the wrong impression.

I've heard of quite a few online business owners naming their new business after a family pet, a child, or significant other. Not necessarily in that order!

But, alas, that "catchy" name might make it difficult for potential customers to find your website or you might attract the wrong crowd.

And speaking on the wrong crowd..."I guess you've heard the joke about the elderly woman who hooked impressive rugs for a living and decided to start a website called hookers.com. Well, she received many hits to her website from many disappointed lecherous male surfers, so the story goes."

Before deciding the proper Domain Name let's cover a few basics:

What's A Domain Name?In basic terms a domain name is your business name on the World Wide Web. This is how customers will find your website. The domain will show your location and whether your website is commercial (com) organizational (org) educational(edu) governmental(gov) or any one of several other suffixes.

How Might A Domain Reflect Your Business?If you repair cars, your domain might be:-www.autorepairs.com-www.Qualityautorepairs.com

If you design websites a good domain might be:- www.Qualitywebdesigners.com-www.cheapwebdesigns.com

If you sell house plants a good domain name might be: www.houseplantsforyou.comwww.houseplants.com

If you repair computers a good domain name might be: www.computerservice.comwww.computer-repair.com

By reflecting exactly what your business concerns it will beeasier for potential customers to find your website even if they don't know the exact URL (Universal Resource Locator) They might simply go to a search engine like Google.com and type the kind of business they are looking for. Suppose you own a home based computer repair service on the Internet. A potential customer types "computer repair" on google...and up pops your website! They visit your website. Contact you about your repair services. Cool...huh?

What's The Deal With The Suffix?Selecting a suffix is important. Even though com, net, org, gov, edu, tv, enjoy amazing popularity, It would be wise to select com. Why? Because it is the most popular. Plus "com" is the one your browser will automatically fill in if someone types in your business name without the suffix. Once again this will make it easier for a potential customer to locate your website. Only use net, org, or any other suffix if "com" is not available.

Availability?After selecting your Domain Name you should determine if that name is available. You might want to download a domain lookup tool. Or use a domain lookup service online. Many webhosting services have a domain lookup tool readily available.

Domain Lookup Tool http://www.whois.net

Download Doman Lookup Tools at: http://www.downloads.com

If your desired Domain Name is available NOW is the perfect time to decide if you want to register the name and select a web hosting package. Usually you will have the option to register the name for a year, two years, three for a predetermined price. I've seen prices starting at $9.99 and up per year.

Note: Many webhositng services offer free domain registrationwith a webhosting package. Many webhosting packages start at around $15.00 and up per month for a starter website.

SourcesYahoo Hosting - http://geocities.yahoo.com

Let's Review:-Decide You Want A Professional Name That Gets Attention.-Select A Name That Describes Your Business.-Select A Name That Will Be Easy To Find Online.-Check Availability.-Register Your Domain With Optional Hosting Package.

After reading this informative article you should have a good understanding on selecting a Domain Name That Clicks!

BB Lee is the editor of SmallBizBits Newsletter.SmallBizBits will give you the information you need tostart a home based business. Each issue featuresoriginal articles, tips, business ideas, downloads,plus more. http://www.smallbizbitsnews.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BB Lee is a freelance writer and the editor of SmallBizBits News. A free online home based business newsletter packed with info on starting a business from home.

Adult Web Hosting: The all you need to know

2005-10-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

What sort of web hosting options should you go for if you want to host an adult website? You need to remember that this is the most critical aspect of your adult website. Facts like shared or dedicated adult web hosting, the maximum allowed bandwidth, the average uptime of the server and the server space should be critically taken into consideration while researching for your adult web host.

Now let us visit some points in detail to make sure that you choose the right adult web host to host your adult website.

SHARED OR DEDICATED ADULT WEB HOSTING?

Most web hosts provide shared web hosting by default. By 'shared web hosting' we mean that your website is being hosted on a server that hosts other websites too. For a basic website with limited bandwidth requirement and server space this is a preferred option to go for.

For an adult website, on the other hand, one should go for dedicated web hosting because if you host an adult website, then you'll obviously be storing hundreds of images there. The traffic will be huge (at least compared to non-adult websites) and hundreds of visitors will be downloading/loading the images, consuming lots of bandwidth in the process. Besides, if you host an e-commerce adult website where your visitors have to pay a subscription fee to download images and movie flicks, you'll need a dedicated server to avail the secure server facilities.

CO-LOCATED ADULT WEB HOSTING

You may feel apprehensive about leaving your crucial data (images, movies, credit cards, email addresses) on some one else's web host. One option is to maintain your own server data center, which can be very costly and most adult webmasters cannot afford it. Besides, it is not even sensible to incur so high a cost unless you are running a mega e-commerce website.

Such a requirement can be solved by having a co-located server. With co-located servers, your hosting company connects your hardware to the Internet and provides you with rack space, a secure environment to store your server in, and technical support. On your part, you need to provide the company with the actual server, maintenance and software in order to host your adult website on your co-located server. Co-located servers generally give you more control over your hardware without having to worry about vandalism, hacking, theft or connectivity outages.

LEGAL CONCERNS:

There are some web hosting companies that have issues with hosting adult content. Prior to booking the server space and uploading your website, you should make it clear to your web host that you're planning to host an adult website on their server.

SPACE REQUIREMENT

Adult websites naturally take up lots of server space because you'll be keeping high-resolution images (.jpg) and movies (.mpg, .wmv, .avi, etc). On an average 200 image files will need anywhere between 50-80 MB of disk space. You should always get much more space than your current requirement because before you know it, you'll be running out of space.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT:

Before you choose your adult web host, make sure you are aware of their technical support standard. It's not enough to just have a website and quality adult content. In case there is some problem, your adult web hosting company should be able to address the issue as promptly as possible.

HIDDEN COST:

Hidden adult web hosting costs can throw your budget in a disarray if you're not prepared for them. Make sure you're aware of all the costs involved with hosting your adult website because you'll obviously be requiring more than the standard package.

ADMINISTRATION TOOLS:

Various tools like form handling CGI scripts, shopping carts, control panel, email management, file management, etc. are provided by the web hosting company without extra charge. Before you host your adult website, find out what all tools that are available.

PARALLEL SERVER:

Downage can always be expected, but established companies run a few parallel servers so that in case one server collapses, the rest take over. If you charge your viewers for accessing "members only" content, they'd like to access your adult website as and when they feel like. Your website should always be functioning and if it is often "down", this may get you lots of irate customers.

We hope that these tips help you choose your adult web hosting company in a better manner

Copyrights ©2005 Web-Hosting-Service-Directory.Com All Rights Reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rodel Garcia is a freelance programmer and web developer. Owner and webmaster of
http://www.web-hosting-service-directory.com/adult-web-hosting.html

Dedicated Server: Smart Web Hosting Choice

2005-10-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

This article describes the benefits of dedicated server to host your web site.

Hosting your personal or business web sites on your own dedicated server may seems expensive choice in comparison to shared web hosting, but at the end, it proves a smart choice. Shared web hosting, no matter how well managed, cannot be 100% reliable and stable. However if you have your own dedicated server you can manage to avoid most of the variables affecting the reliability and stability of a server, commonly experienced by shared hosting accounts; variables such as: overload, bad codes and scripts from other users (especially beginners); and, too many applications and components uploaded, and so on.

On a dedicated server you will install only software and applications you want to use, while on a shared hosting server you will find a host of other software and applications installed for other users.

By the very nature of the account, a dedicated server: reduces your dependency on the web host; and bypasses time delays and possible expenses incurred from these. With dedicated server hosting you can provide instant support to your own clients whenever required, which is not possible if you are on a shared server. A reliable and fast support service is vital for your own business growth just like the stability and reliability you wish for your own website. In business, reliability is reflected through word-of-mouth as one of the most effective promotional activities.

For people with clients, such as Graphic Designers and Web Designers a dedicated server is invaluable. A dedicated server will bring extra income into the studio, not just as a hosting facility, but, as a designer knows only too well, for the extra ‘bread and butter’ income value. If you have 24hour access to your own dedicated server then you can adjust, correct or update a clients website in minutes, allowing you to keep the dollar back in your studio and not in someone else’s. Ready availability results in reduced labour costs for the client, but higher studio-income frequency for the designer. Hence you will see the return of all your regular offline clients, bringing their web work with them.

The need for a dedicated server to your average shared server user is realized when stats tell you: how quickly people left your site because it was taking too much time to download; or how many daily visitors you are down by, because your site was not up. The true negative is the worry of how many lost visitors could have been your future paying-customers. The loss could easily equal the value of the upgrade to a Dedicated Server!

For a business, a website that is quickly downloadable and up all the time gives the visitor encouragement that your service is just as reliable, hence you will be more likely to make a sale. It will also enhance the company’s image and encourage existing customers to refer your service to others. This will result in more sales for less promotion.

If you are serious about your online presence you need to get a Dedicated Server.

By: Paras Shah

Changing to a New Host? No More Worries!

2005-10-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

John's online business is expanding. His customers are increasing day by day. However, he feels very frustrated at the moment as he finds his website is 'down' about every 4th day. Whenever he calls up the support team of his web host, he gets the same old answer that his problem will be rectified soon. If the problems do persist it will surely hamper his business.

He has been with his present hosting provider for the last year but now he feels he has to find a new web host as soon as possible because his present hosting package is also not able to meet up with his growing demands. This is not a one-off occurrence that has happened only to John, it happens with many people like him. Changing the web host might become a cumbersome task if John and other people like him don't know the correct procedure of doing it. So, let's have a look at the following easy and simple steps:

First of all, it's very important to have a backup of your website and everything related to it, like databases, scripts etc. It will be very helpful in case there is data loss because of any unforseen reason. Save at least 2 copies of everything and store them separately, so that you can work with one and the other one will function as a backup. You can take backup in various ways. One is by using software programs like a FTP program (e.g. Smart FTP http://www.smartftp.com/) for downloading data.

Now, the time is to look for a new web host that meets all your requirements and provides better technical services than your previous host. Since you have already been through the search procedure it won't take you much time to come across a reliable hosting company.

Once you have taken a new web-hosting plan and you are ready to upload your web pages, databases etc., check that you have received an IP number, FTP or FrontPage login, and password from your new hosting company. Now, upload all your files to the new server; you are just repeating the same procedure that you've done in the past when you uploaded your files for the very first time.

Only a few more steps more and you will be completely done. Before transferring your DNS servers over from your previous host to your new one, debug and test the new site from an individual IP number. Check that all the web pages exist, the links point to the right pages and that all your scripts are running. One important point which people always forget is their domain name expiration date. If you plan to move near the expiration date, it could cause you lots of problems. To be on the safe side, make sure that you have at least 3-4 weeks in hand before the domain name expires, or just renew it for another year.

To transfer domain name service to a new host identify registrar using "WHOis" lookup http://domreg-m6.net/domains/WHois.asp, verify registration of your domain name, identify the name server information for the host your are transferring to, and make changes in the DNS information at the registrar. During this DNS transition period new DNS information has to be propagated throughout the world's DNS servers. This propagation might take 2-4 days as an International root name server will firstly have to check all the various Domain registrars for updates, and then every ISP provider will update their DNS setting to show the new changes. Not only this, even Internet, i.e. Internet routers and caching engines have to update/clear its DNS cache as well. During this propagation period, you keep your old site running so that the visitors whose ISP provider haven't updated can still visit your website.

It's advisable that you don't cancel your old hosting service during the transition period, as you will need to check your mail from both the hosting providers, as some will direct e-mail to your old server whereas other Internet regions will send mail to your new server. After one or two weeks you can annul the account with your old host.

On the very first notion it sounds like a painful task to find a new web host and make all the necessary changes, but with the steps known, people like John will not find this procedure problematic. With so many automation software packages available, it has now become easier to switch over your web site from old host to new host. If both hosting providers have the same operation system platform, the procedure will become even simpler. But remember, the most important task in the whole host-changing scenario is to find a host that meets your requirements so that you don't have to go through this entire procedure again in the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Priyanka Agarwal
Hosting evangelist
http://www.m6.net/

Uptime Guarantee – Good Idea?

2005-10-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

When looking for a Web Host there are lots of factors that come into play. Usually the deciding factors are price and bandwidth. A common overlooked item is the uptime guarantee. This is the percentage of time your account will be up and running

What do these numbers really mean?

If we look at these percentages and convert them into the amount of time your site is going to be down we get some very telling information. The chart below lists the uptime gurantee percentage and how that equates to time.

99% - 5256 Min/Yr or 87.6 Hours/Yr – 438 Min/Month or 7.3 Hours/Month
99.5% - 2628 Min/Yr or 43.8 Hours/Yr – 219 Min/Month or 3.65 Hours/Month
99.9% - 525.6 Min/Yr or 8.76 Hours/Yr – 43.8 Min/Month or .73 Hours/Month
99.95% - 262.8 Min/Yr or 4.38 Hours/Yr – 21.9 Min/Month or .365 Hours/Month
99.99% - 52.56 Min/Yr or .876 Hours/Yr – 4.38 Min/Month or .073 Hours/Month

As you can see that while 99% uptime sounds like a lot, it actually allows for the host to have over 7 hours of downtime per month, or a whopping 87.6 hours per year. Your host could be down for over 3 ½ days over the course of a year and still hit their target of 99% uptime. As you go to 99.5% and 99.9%, it gets much better, and with 99.95% and 99.99% you would have little or no downtime.

Is this realistic?

Is it realistic to get 99.99% uptime? Probably not, but it is always nice if you can get compensated for downtime. However, if the host only compensates you for the actual downtime you have, it probably won’t be a large amount. Let’s assume you pay $20 a month for your hosting, which is probably on the upper end of what you’d be paying ofr a hosting account. We will also assume there a 30 days in the month. Breaking that down, you’re paying roughly 3 cents per hour for your hosting. This means if you site is down for 24 hours, 1 full day, you will only get 72 cents of compensation. By no means is this good if it means your site goes down and you get some pocket change.

So what does this mean to me?

So the more decimal places, the better the uptime guarantee. We also now know that we probably won’t be getting lots of money back if our site goes down. The ultimate goal is to find a web host that has an uptime guarantee and maintains that level of service. You don’t need the money back but you do need the peace of mind of having your website up and running.

Author Info:
Scott is the owner and chief designer for Smith-Concepts a successful web development firm. Related Links: http://www.smith-concepts.com

Get started to Virtual Dedicated Web Hosting

2005-10-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

Most webmasters on the net today are familiar with what the industry calls "shared" web hosting accounts. A shared hosting account is where you rent a small amount of space on a server which is shared among many other users.

This is a cheap way to get started online but it has many disadvantages - you will encounter email delivery problems because of spam complaints against other sites on the same server. You will find your site's grinding to a halt when someone else does some heavy database work on your server. You might even find your site going down because of a denial of service attack against someone else hosting hacking or piracy related material on your server (these type of sites attract antisocial elements!)

How can you avoid all of this drama?

By upgrading to a virtual dedicated server. A virtual dedicated server lets you run your sites as if you had your own "dedicated" server, except it is cheaper because you are really just using part of a server that has been split into multiple virtual dedicated servers.

You can find out more about this by searching Google for "virtual dedicated hosting". Virtuozzo is the main commercial software that web hosts use to run virtual hosting services.

You will find virtual dedicated server accounts starting at just $30 a month. You'll get a much larger chunk of bandwidth compared to shared hosting, and none of the problems that go with a shared host. You can also get multiple IP addresses that are exclusive to your sites.

So what's the catch? Not much. You'll probably spend a bit more on hosting each month. The main disadvantage of upgrading to virtual dedicated hosting is that you will need to be more technically proficient so that you can administer the server.

This requires a bit of time learning the necessary Linux skills to make sure your server runs smoothly.

Many hosting providers will have a "premium" support offering that includes a bit more hand holding - this is definitely recommended if you don't have much experience with Linux, or are new to virtual dedicated hosting.

With the increased speed and bandwidth that a virtual dedicated host offers, and none of the shared hosting headaches, the move is one you will never regret. So, the question now becomes, are to ready and willing to take-on the challenge of virtual dedicated web hosting and save yourself some hard earned cash? The choice is yours...

Scott Morris manages his personal site on computer-hacking and hacking tricks http://computer-hacking.com for more information, you can visit http://computer-hacking.com

Collocation Hosting: It Pays To Know

2005-10-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

Collocation hosting is a relatively easy thing to find on the web. If this is the method that you plan to utilize for your business, it pays to take the time to compare companies as well as prices for several reasons. With more and more people turning to the web for help in locating their hosting solutions, there is little doubt that the right option is here. But, considering the cost of many collocation hosting services, you should invest some time in finding the right company. It takes only a few minutes.

Here are some things to consider when comparing collocation hosting companies:

• First and foremost, make sure that the hosting company you consider offers collocation hosting, not all do.

• Do they specialize in it? Many do not and therefore have other solutions to concentrate on as well. Your goal is to find the right balance of expertise and price.

• And, of course you will want to compare prices. It makes sense to. Make sure to look at monthly prices as well as quarterly and yearly. You may save money going with the longer option but if you don’t plan to use the service that long, then think again.

• Make sure to compare the details as well. You’ll want to find out what they can offer you compared to other hosting solution companies.

To be the right collocation hosting service for you, it should be one that meets or exceeds your needs as well as offers the best price for your budget.

There are also many information portals now devoted to the subject and we recommend reading about it at one of these. Try googling for “collocation hosting” and you will be surprised by the abundance of information on the subject. Alternatively you may try looking on Yahoo, MSN or even a decent directory site, all are good sources of this information.

for more information please see http://www.colocation-host-shack.co.uk
by Leon Chaddock

Reseller Web Hosting - A Cheaper Alternative ?

2005-10-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when the internet bug hits us all and we tend to acquire a wealth of domain names and web sites to feed ourfrenzy.

We start out with the best intentions, set up a personal homepage with a few details about ourselves, then create more for ourfamily, then our business and before we know it we have severaldomain names and web sites spread across several web hosting companies.

A more convenient approach would be to set yourself up with areseller account with one hosting company.

Most people assume that to have a reseller account, you need tobe in the business of selling hosting. This is not true. Anyone can set up a reseller account and enjoy the benefits of saving money and also having the convenience of only dealing with one company for all your hosting needs.

I'll take my hosting reseller http://www.HostingRevolution.com as an example. They provide a very competitive reseller accountpriced at $35. Their Reseller's Package allows you to host 100 Domains. You are allowed to give every Domain you host up to 20 GB's of monthly transfer and up to 2.5 GB of storage.

Previously I had over ten domain names and associated web sitesthat were costing me around $5 - $10 a month to host. The averagemonths hosting costs were around $50 - $60. Therefore, by settingup a reseller account and transferring my domains and web sitesover to my reseller account I made an instant saving of $15 amonth.

Now, another extension of this would be to start selling hostingto your friends, after all, you have a reseller account. So ifyou have ten friends, ask them if they would like web hosting onyour server, maybe offer it free to them and ask them torecommend your services to their friends, these can then become"paying" customers. Now YOU can get people to pay for hosting andmake back the monthly reseller fee. Just sell ten accounts for $3a month and you have instant income of $30 to offset the $35reseller fee you are paying. So you get hosting for $5 a monthfor as many domains and sites as you like.

So, with the reseller account you have helped yourself, helpedyour friends, and possibly started making money as well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Usher is not a guru or an internet genius. He's just an ordinary guy trying to make his way in the world. Visit his web hosting information site here:- http://more-web-hosting.info if you need more resources and information relating to this article

Web Site Hosting Plan - Key Elements

2005-10-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

What are the key elements in a good web host package? The answer to that question depends mainly on the service you expect from the web host provider. To decide what you need, you'll need to have at least a brief understanding of the typical services and features offered by web hosting companies.

The number of e-mail accounts available might be one of the key elements in a good web host package. If your ability to send and receive e-mail is important, you'll want to carefully consider whether a particular web host package includes enough e-mail accounts to accommodate that need. Some companies tout unlimited e-mail accounts and depending on your specific needs, this might be a very favorable element of a potential host company. If you are a businessperson, remember that it's possible your company will grow in the future. While you might need to only establish one or two e-mail accounts now, consider what your future needs could be. It would probably be difficult to change hosts later if you find that you need additional (even unlimited?) e-mail accounts.

Which brings up another of the key elements in a good web host package. If you are establishing a connection with a web host provider for business purposes, consider your provider's ability to grow with your business. The last thing you want to do is start with a company that will be unable to keep up as your business grows. Changing companies later is always an option, but that transition is not likely to be without problems.

The amount of disk space that will be allotted to your web site is another of the key elements in a good web host package. While it might seem that 30 megabytes is plenty of room, the potential for growth of your company means that you could easily need more space later. If you choose a web hosting provider that simply can't offer more space, you might find that your growth will be severely limited.

Other issues that can be key elements in a good web host package include the bandwidth, security and speed. Finding a company that provides the best of all these features is likely to be a daunting task, but it is possible.

Price is naturally a key element in a good web host package as well. Prices generally vary only by a few dollars per month and the difference between paying $6.95 per month and $9.95 per month is not likely to play a significant role in the final choice. If the less expensive service provider doesn't fulfill your needs, you'll certainly face significant expense and trouble rectifying the situation later.

In the end, deciding which are the key elements in a good web host package will be up to you. If you need large storage space, that becomes an important element. If your needs include larger-than-normal space requirements, that becomes one of the most important elements in a good web host package. The true test of a good web host package is answered with one easy question: "Will this provider adequately meet my needs at a competitive price?"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Thorn is an avid internet enthusiast who writes easy-to-understand articles about web hosting. Also check out: cheap web hosting package, internet service provider hosting and email domain hosting.

Determine Your Needs Before Choosing A Hosting Service

2005-10-13T05:01:00.000-07:00

Choosing a hosting company for your web site can be very confusing given the multitude of companies available on the Internet today. Do not choose a service by price alone. The very cheapest is not necessarily the best. You can get a good hosting service for under $10.00, but first determine your requirements.

Before going into any more detail, let’s look at some definitions:

Hosting service - A hosting service or company is an Internet company that provides hundreds or even thousands of computers like yours with service by “renting” you space. With this service your web site is now on the Internet and can be viewed by millions of others.

Sure you could be your own host, but it would be very expensive because you would need to buy a server, house it in the proper environment, maintain it 24 hours a day, and put up with all the other headaches that come with hosting. Wouldn’t you rather concentrate on selling your product?

Server
A server is a large computer, which can service many other computers. Sometimes a large software package on a host’s server (like a mail software package) is also referred to as a server.

Have you seen scenes on TV which show rooms wall-to-wall with big computers busily working and flashing their lights? These are servers.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. If you started your web site from scratch, you will need to upload your web pages to the host you selected. To do this you use a FTP software package.

There are some excellent tutorials on FTP at http://www.pageresource.com/putweb/ftptut1.htm

CGI
CGI means Common Gateway Interface. While CGI primarily refers to the way a server communicates with other software on the server, CGI scripts are a popular way programmers install counters, forms, and other interactive items on a web site.

If you see cgi-bin, the “bin” refers to binary from a time long ago when most programs were referred to as binary. Now cgi-bin refers to the location in the server where cgi scripts are stored.

Now, let’s go back to the hosting service. When you surf the net and “go” to a particular site, you are not actually going to that site. The hosting company’s server (in this case your ISP) receives your request, searches the web, finds your requested site, and downloads it to your computer. So you see, you don’t go to a site, the site comes to you, courtesy of a server.

How do you go about choosing a hosting service?

It is pretty much up to you based on the size of your website, the number of visitors you expect, and, of course, the state of your wallet.

If you are just starting out, a free or low cost service is all you will need, but as your business grows you might want to consider a service that gives you more storage and more transfer room.

Storage is the amount of room your web site takes up on the hosting company’s server, “Transfer” refers to network transfer space. If you have a large web site and a lot of visitors you will need more storage or disc space and more network transfer space. The more people accessing your site; the higher the volume of data being transferred.

How to calculate your disk space:

1.Count the number of pages in your web site and add a buffer for future expansion.
2.Determine the average number of characters per page – not the number of words. The number of characters includes everything, letters, spaces, and, punctuation. Most word processing programs such as MS Word will count the number of characters for you.
3.Multiply the average number of characters times the number of pages in step 1.
4.Now: one character = 1 Byte, and 8 Bytes = 1 bit, so divide the total number of characters determined in step 3 by 8. This gives you the total number of bits.
5.1000 bits = 1 KB; 1000 KB = 1 MB, and 1000 MB = 1 GB. Note: For the technical minded 1 GB actually equals 1024 MB, but there is really no necessity to get that picky in this case.
6.Divide the total number of bits by 1,000,000 and your answer will be the number of MB of disk space you need to rent from the hosting service.

Determining the amount of transfer space you will require is largely an approximation based on the number of visitors you expect per day. Most of the better hosting services provide you with about 3 GB, which is ample for the average web site. If you expect more than a thousand visitors a day, you will, of course, need more transfer space.

The top ten hosting companies are listed conveniently at http://www.webhostinginspector.com/index.php?from=1 along with their rankings, disk space offered, bandwidth (transfer space), and reviews.

Copyright 2005 by Nancy Casseur.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nancy Casseur, a retired journalist, is currently a Team Leader with SFI Marketing Group and the Webmaster of two web sites - http://www.newsiteinfo.net and http://www.notreallyretired.com. SFI Marketing group is considered to be the largest and most successful affiliate program in the world. See http://www.moreinfo247.com/8459751.36/FREE

Good Web Hosting – What is it?

2005-10-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

With hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from today it can be hard to know which ones are actually worth using. Below is a guide of things to look for in a web host:

Services - A lot of times we are sold on the idea that bigger is better. I like to look at web hosting companies with a quality over quantity perspective. If lets say you need a site to just simply host your little guy’s minor league soccer team, do you really need a terabyte of bandwidth? Are you ever going to make use of all of those gigabytes of storage space. A lot of webhosting companies will oversell their servers in this way, and rely on the little sites that won’t reach their limits to keep things running. These companies are spreading themselves thin, and I wouldn’t recommend getting on board with one of them. Find a host that is going to meet your sites current needs, and that also allows room for growth.

Prices - I’ve seen small packages go for expensive sums, and large packages go for very cheap. This goes back to the point above, and also the point below. Make sure that you are actually getting what you pay for! Getting more than you pay for isn’t normally a good thing, as chances are you aren’t with a top quality host as they recognize that to keep things running they need to charge more. Another way in which Web Hosting companies will often cut costs is in their Customer Service. Most hosting companies online are simply reseller services, and can have terrible response times and customer support, as they are over extended or simply don’t care.

Customer Service - This I feel is the most important aspect to keep in mind when looking for a good web host. Don’t over look this! Chances are at one point in the life of your website you are going to have a problem with your host, or a question, inquiry,etc. What good is it if they don’t answer? Look for hosts that provide 24/7 email support. Email is the most common although a lot of hosts will also offer live chat, and some even phone support. Support I feel is what makes or breaks a host. Datacenters are all pretty similar, and often times a lot of resellers are at the same datacenter. Test out a company’s response time. And over a couple days. One my first hosting experiences I found a site with live chat, got online, asked my questions, and then joined. A few days later I had some support problems, and there was no one there, same thing a month later,etc. Even just to cancel my account took a month. Quality hosts will be consistent and timely with their support.

Web hosting can be a pleasant experience or it can be a nightmare. Take your time and test out a company before you join. A little time now, will save you a lot of time/energy/money down the road!

--

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Author Info:
-Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Web Hosting Which is a great web directory and information center on Web hosting and related topics like Unlimited Domains web hosting

The Hidden Cost Of Cheap Hosting

2005-10-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

We often see server uptime statistics when looking for hosting providers, for example 99.8%, 99%, or 99.99% server uptime guaranteed. Though 99% server uptime may sound good, but is it really and what does it mean?

99% server uptime means that in a year of 365 days, your server will be up 99% of the time, which is 361.35 days (365 days x 99%). This is not really good, because even with 99% uptime your site could be down for 4 days. It would be disastrous if you owned an online store because even an hour's downtime would cost you. Imagine, not only lost revenues, but also customers who switched to your competitors while your site was down.

Here are some server uptime examples with calculations showing what various percentages mean.

100% server uptime
Up = 365 days
Down = 0 days = 0 hours = 0 minutes

99.999% server uptime
Up = 364.9964 days
Down = 0.0036 days = 0.0876 hours = 5.256 minutes

99.99% server uptime
Up = 364.9635 days
Down = 0.0365 days = 0.876 hours = 52.56 minutes

99.9% server uptime
Up = 364.635 days
Down = 0.365 days = 8.76 hours = 525.6 minutes

99.8% server uptime
Up = 364.27 days
Down = 0.73 days = 17.52 hours = 1051.2 minutes

99% server uptime
Up = 361.35 days
Down = 3.65 days = 87.6 hours = 5256 minutes

Initial hosting offerings of very low prices bundled with a lot of disk space and server features may be lucrative, but when it comes to server uptime, you could be paying a heavy price.

You can use other tools like ping and traceroute to measure server response times and hops required to reach your server.

Author Info:
Sanjib Ahmad: Sanjib Ahmad - Freelance Writer and Product Consultant for Business.Marc8.com ( http://business.marc8.com/ ). You are free to use this article in its entirety as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content, and include the resource box listed above.

Linux vs. Windows web Hosting, does it make a difference?

2005-10-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

One of the most confusing decisions someone new to web hosting will have to make is which platform their server should be on. There are a number of different choices out there but the main two are Linux and Windows web servers. There are also a lot of sources of information about hosting, but the majority of them are tainted by the author's biased personal opinion unfortunately confusing the issue. Having just put in some solid hours researching the topic I have come to the conclusion that in general it quite probably does not matter which server you use. For the majority of people it will be far more important to choose a really good web host than to worry about the server-type that they implement.

Microsoft developed and owns the Windows operating system. Linux is open source and generally free. This means it can often be more expensive to set up and run a Windows server. However, this fact doesn't really affect you unless you are actually setting up a server for yourself and if you're reading this article then I'm guessing that it's safe to assume you're not. This article is going to offer information for those trying to decide which hosting company to go with. The cost involved in running a server does not affect the cost of a web-hosting package as much as you may think. Despite the general opinion that Windows servers are more expensive to run, buying a Windows hosting package can often turn out to be just as cheap or even cheaper than an equivalent Linux hosting package.

Some people naturally assume that because their PC runs Windows they need to buy a Windows hosting package. This isn't true. Access to your web account will most likely be through FTP or a control panel and both servers support these methods. The main difference is that some of the FTP commands are slightly different between Linux and Windows and some FTP programs will be designed with one or the other in mind. This means you may occasionally find that when you try and get your FTP program to do something it returns an error message, but it won't happen very often.

Your choice of server platforms should be dictated by the use to which you intend to put it. The majority of web features run fine on both platforms including PHP, mySQL, POP3 etc. If you intend to create your site using ASP, FrontPage, the .NET environment, Windows Streaming Media, Access, MSSQL, or any of the other Microsoft proprietary technologies then you probably need to use a Windows host. There is limited support for a number of these technologies in Linux, but they can be expensive and are usually lacking in features. It is probably worth considering the fact that if you use server specific technologies and then change hosts you'll have a much harder time of it than if you use technologies that can be run on any system. Having it run generic technologies removes the need to focus on specifics and allows you to focus on the quality of service itself.

The reliability and stability of the different platforms have been the topic of many long arguments. The main reason that Windows is seen as being insecure is that it is the most widely used operating system for home PC's. People spend more time looking for flaws in the most common system. With Linux being the most common server type, it has a surprising number of successful hack attempts made on it. In the end the security of both platforms comes down to the competency of the system administrators. If you are security minded then you'll do better to make sure that the hosting company is reputable and highly skilled than to worry about the server they use.

In terms of performance there's not a huge difference between the two servers. Linux reportedly performs faster because Windows (as usual) attempts to offer an 'all in one' package instead of the extendable Linux implementation. You'll generally not notice a difference but if performance is of utmost importance to you then maybe this will influence your decision.

I've come to the conclusion that unless you are specifically using features that are unique to one platform or another your time will be much better spent looking for a really good quality host than a really good quality server. Developers are constantly improving both Linux and Windows so they should be fairly close in terms of features, security, and reliability for a long time. It's the people implementing them that you should be basing your decision on.

Author Info:
Daniel Punch M6.Net Web Helpers http://www.m6.net Daniel Punch is a writer working at M6.Net: 'The web-hosting company for humans.' M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime

Web Site Hosting – An Easy Guide

2005-10-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

What is web hosting anyway? What do I get when I buy a web hosting solution?

To make thing clear from start let’s just say how it all works.

Web Hosting – Made Simple

Web pages basically consist of text and images. Generically, the information contained by these files is called content. The look of the web page is called design.

In order to be accessible to online users, all these files must be stored on a web server. You can think of web servers as computers storing the files of tens or hundreds of web sites. These computers are all connected to the Internet through high-speed connection. When you access a web page, your browser connects to the web server that stores that page and downloads it to your computer.

So a web server is a must when you plan to share your web site content with online users via the Internet. There are thousands of web servers in the world, and there are companies that own them. Such a company is called web-hosting provider.

A web-hosting provider can have dozens of web servers hosting thousands of web sites. The web server computers are found usually in large numbers and are all housed in special buildings or sections of buildings called data center. Apart from the high-speed Internet connection, these locations are set up to ensure the optimum operational conditions and security for the web servers. HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning) control, fire protection, virus protection, data backup facility, power backup, even autonomy in case of disaster. Another term for the web servers in the data center is a web farm.

To be able to run your site properly you need a space on the web server to store your data and an Internet connection to it. The amount of data available to you on a web server is simply referred as space and is usually quantified in MB. The Internet connection needed so that your web site can be accessed online is referred as bandwidth and is also measured in MB or even GB.

Having the glimpse of the basics, it must be said that different web-hosting providers offer different space and bandwidth. Space and bandwidth are usually the main characteristics of a web-hosting plan.

The terminology associated with web hosting can be quite dazzling: virtual web hosting, dedicated hosting; co-locating hosting, shared hosting reseller hosting.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting or virtual web hosting are two terms for the same thing. Shared web hosting means that on a web server are hosted many web sites that all have a defined quota of HDD space and bandwidth. They all run simultaneously and there can be from hundreds to thousands of web sites on the same web server. Given the high number of web sites should you worry about exceeding the performance of the web server, issue better known as slow server response, meaning that your visitors will have to wait too long for your web pages to load.

That is usually not a real problem when dealing with serious web hosting providers, because the operational parameters of the web servers are monitored and appropriate actions will be taken in order to maintain the level of service contracted.

The greater number of web sites sharing the resources of a web server (HDD space, bandwidth, memory, CPU time), the web hosting provider can afford to offer its services at a lower cost. A minus would be that, even with high level of service, you will have to accept a slower server response time when choosing shared web hosting.

Reseller Web Hosting

When web-hosting providers offer their services, typically with a discount, to a third-party (a reseller that will thus become a web-hosting provider itself) and the latter subsequently offers web-hosting services under his branding. Indeed technically the reseller web hosting is very similar to shared web hosting, as many web sites end up sharing space and bandwidth on the same web server. The resellers usually are web designers or web developers who offer web hosting services as part of their integrated services. As the web-hosting provider offers resellers important discounts, the price they can offer is among the smallest in the industry.

Compared with the shared web hosting, this system has technical support problem. It takes time and communication problems may occur on the course of your problem from the reseller to the web-hosting provider. Unless your site is a personal web site or non-commercial one, this poor support issue is enough to not consider this your primary option.

Continuing this line of thought, how can you distinguish a reseller from a real web-hosting provider? It’s not the professional design of the web site, not even the support contact facilities offered as may resellers might have contracts with the provider on the technical support and the person taking your calls might be working for the provider and identify himself to you as an employee of the reseller. Solid company information is made available usually only by serious providers. The price, that can get as low as under 5$/month is another hint, but you should consider it carefully with prices dropping through the industry.

Dedicated Web Hosting

In dedicated web hosting one single web server is rented to a single customer.

Although this is the common belief, web-hosting providers usually divide a single web server computer between up to three customers. On the other hand there are web-hosting providers that actually give an entire web server to a customer. Even with three customers sharing the web server, the dedicated web hosting option offers the customers the option to host more than one web site, configure the software to best meet the needs of his site or scale the available bandwidth.

The high prices combined with the availability of resources recommend this type of web hosting for highly important web sites such as e-commerce sites.

Co-location Web Hosting

Co-locating web hosting is similar with dedicated web hosting.

The main difference is that while in dedicated web hosting the web server computer belongs to the web-hosting provider and is only rented by the customer, in co-locating web hosting the customer owns the web server computer. The web-hosting provider only houses the web server computer and sells bandwidth to the customer. This gives the customer using co-locating web hosting full control of the web server combined with the security of the data center.

Now you should be equipped with the necessary information to decide on you web hosting. You shouldn’t try and find the lowest price possible, but give some extra thought to the quality of service you are buying and to the support offered by a web host provider.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Calin Indre is editor at HostPinPin (http://www.hostpinpin.com), a Cheap Web Hosting Directory Resource.
HostPinPin.com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company. Providing web hosting reviews, compare hosting plans, web hosting articles, tips and more.

What Is Web Hosting?

2005-10-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

Many businesses, from one-man-bands to multi-national corporations, have a web-presence these days. i.e. They have a website telling their customers about their companies: what they do, where they're based, their company history, how they're different from their competitors, etc. Many of these businesses also sell products and/or services online.

If you own a business and wish to have a presence in cyberspace, then you need to consider buying a package from a web hosting company.

Web hosting refers to the process of renting computer space and bandwidth (data transfer capacity) from a company so that you can make your website visible to the outside world.

Put simply, you buy an allocated space on a computer from a hosting company, then transfer the files of your website to this computer. Your website then becomes available to users around the world, and this enables them to browse your website, as well as download files and buy products and services from you.

Domain Name

First of all, you need to choose a domain name for your website. A domain name is simply an address for your website. Examples are www.microsoft.com and www.yahoo.com. Avoid choosing a domain name which is too long or too complicated for users to remember.

Design Your Website

There are three ways to get your website designed:

1. You can do it yourself. There are many website authoring software packages available on the market. Two popular packages are Microsoft Frontpage and Macromedia Dreamweaver. With these programs, you can design and edit your web pages easily and see instantly how they will look to the users.

2. Some companies offer an easy way for you to create your website by providing templates for you to choose from. With this type of service, all you have to do is choose a layout from a number of pre-defined templates, select some color, font and graphics options, enter some text, and you'll end up with a decent-looking website.

3. Get a web design company to do it for you. This is the most expensive option but you will end up with a more professional and stylish website, looking exactly the way you want it to look.

Getting a web host

Now that you have chosen your domain name and have designed your website, you need to find a web hosting company.

There are thousands of hosting companies out there. Search the web for a company with a good reputation and offers the kind of services you need. Friends may be able to recommend a reputable company. We recommend www.frontierpowerhosting.com.

Next, select a web hosting package to suit your needs and sign up for an account. Usually you'll pay for the hosting service by credit card online. If you have not already registered your domain name elsewhere, you'll have the option to do so with your hosting company.

Once payment has been processed, you'll receive a confirmation email with details about your hosting package. Take some time to read this email carefully as it contains information on how to log on to your hosting account.

Next you'll have to upload all the HTML pages, graphics and other files on to your web space. This can be done via the control panel on your website, or by using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program such as CuteFTP.

Now that your website is online, users from around the world will be able to view it, so make sure that the information it contains (such as your email address and telephone number) is up-to-date. This is particularly important if you will be using your website to sell products and services.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Bacak became "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com

Cheap Web Hosting is No Bargain!

2005-10-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Ever heard the saying "Penny-wise and Dollar-foolish"?

Well bargain priced website hosting may just represent the perfect example of watching a jar full of pennies while bucket loads of dollars fly out the window!

When I launched my first website (way back in the "dark ages" of 1997) I paid almost $150 a month in hosting and data transfer charges. My web host watched how many files I uploaded like a hawk and always seemed to send their hefty invoices earlier with each passing month.

I'm obviously not the only one who felt that way, because suddenly a whole industry of "bargain" web hosts sprang up all over the web.

On the surface they all sound great, especially when you think you can go from $150 a month down to $4.95 a month!

Five bucks a month sounds great, until you realize the amount of data transfer (number of page views) and bandwidth (the amount of data transfer your host allows in a given period) you get for that low price potentially hampers your ability to do business.

This realization - along with a panic attack and a quick lesson in calculating data transfer and bandwidth - usually comes at the least convenient time.

When you exceed your limits, a bargain host usually just shuts you down with no warning. Most webmasters realize they've made a mistake choosing a bargain host when their site suddenly loads a blank page in the middle of a big promotion traffic spike.

Believe me, everything just stops!

Here are a few bargain hosts that provide good service, but you need to carefully check the fine print for how much bandwidth they allow.

www.FeaturePrice.com For about $24.95 a month you get to host up to six independent websites with a single account. You get unlimited data storage, unlimited email and a variety of other higher end services, but their bandwidth policy seems hard to understand.

They did shut me down when we had a moderate level of success even though I paid them an extra $300 to get what they called "maximum" bandwidth. I was NOT pleased and promptly moved the site (http://www.7dayebook.com) to another host.

www.HostSave.com Host Save is another low price hosting company that delivers a wide range of services for only $6.95 per month. They recently raised their allowable data transfer, but their policy on how much bandwidth you can use at a given time seems non-existent.

www.DotEasy.com For $25 DotEasy offers a domain name purchase along with one year's hosting. Sounds incredible until you read the fine print to discover they limit you to 1 Gigabyte of data transfer a month. Not much data once you start getting
reasonable site traffic.

The moral here?

Either prepare to have your business shut down mid-stream if you get successful, or pay a few extra bucks each month to ensure you have enough bandwidth and data transfer to operate without any service interruptions.

At a minimum, specifically ask about and read the fine print regarding the host's policies before it's too late!

Jim Edwards is the co-author of the best selling ebook:

"33 Days to Online Profits"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
How much would you pay to get day-by-day instructions from 2 top Internet marketing experts every day for 33 days?
** How about 88 cents? **
You can start with a few bucks and a good idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I'll teach you how no matter what product you sell... => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com

How Much Hosting Space Do You Need?

2005-10-10T05:42:00.000-07:00

Many web hosts try to sell you a large amount of web hosting space that then costs you a lot each month. However, you may not need this much space. Have you ever calculated just how much disc space (MB) your web site uses? Do you really need an expensive hosting solution for your web site?

For my first web site, I purchased 20mb of disc space and wondered if this would be enough as I added pages to it. Well, recently I checked the size of this site which had grown to over 20 pages. To my surprise the size was only 3,269KB. This means it only uses a little over 3Mb of disk space.

Most of my friends sites also only use 2-3Mb for their sites. Therefore it is not necessary to purchase a large amount of space for a small site (if 20 pages = 3Mb, then 20Mb = 140 pages approx). Are you paying TOO much for the actual space you need?

How Do You Calculate The File Size Of Your Web Site?

1. First you need to understand how file size is measured.
The smallest unit on a computer is a bit. One bit is one electronic on or off pulse. 8 bits strung together make one byte. One byte of information can put a letter, such as "B" on your screen.

If you put 1024 bytes together and then you have one unit of information called a kilobyte. Put 1024 kilobytes together and you have a megabyte. (Most floppy disks hold around 1.4 megabytes of information). Most of your graphics and web pages are measured in megabytes.

2. To determine your total site file size, right click on the root folder where your web site is housed – this will not only give you the total site size but also how many files and folders are contained in your site.

3. If you use an editor, such as FrontPage, go to the reports view, click on the site summary and you will get a reading of the total site file size. In Dreamweaver, just use the method in No 2.

Prepare To Expand Your Hosting Plan. You may want to add pages, graphics, features eg scripts, databases etc, to your site in the future. Begin with a small hosting plan at first (even 5mb is enough to start out with), and then expand it as you add new features.

Check with your web host, if you can easily upgrade your hosting plan as you grow your site. You don't want to go through the hassle of changing hosts every few months.

Once you have determined your total site file size, check what hosting plan you have purchased and how much disc space has been allocated for your site. If you are only using 3mb of disc space but are paying for 100mb, then you may want to switch hosting plans and save yourself a ton of money each year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster(CIW)owner and author of iSiteBuild.com
Low Cost Hosting, Site Design and Promotion(http://www.isitebuild.com/sitehosting.htm)

How to Find the Right Host for Your Web Site

2005-10-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Developing a professional web presence requires a comprehensive strategy to ensure success. The most important element to the overall success of your website is your hosting service. Your hosting service cannot guarantee your site will succeed, but it can surely devastate it. No matter what applications you use (streaming video, audio, discussion forums, etc.) or plug-ins (Flash and Shockwave), if your visitors cannot load your site within a few seconds your finished. Recent studies have shown that you only have 20 seconds to grab your visitor's attention. The longer it takes your site to go from download-to-live, the less time you have to retain your visitors. Remember, your competition is only one click away.

The best way to choose a web hosting company is to follow these six suggestions. Remember, selecting the right web hosting company is vital to your success on the Internet.

Determine how much disk storage space and how much monthly data transfer your site requires? Disk storage space refers to the amount of server space allocated to your account. The files that make up your website are stored in your storage space. These files include your html files, audio/video, graphics, etc. The data transfer is how much data your site transmits each month. Generally, data transfer includes any outbound traffic from your site, with the exception of e-mails. In general an average HIT is about 10K. This would mean that a monthly data transfer account of 2.0 Gigabyte would allow approximately 200,000 hits. Remember, if your data transfer rate is higher than the amount allocated by your hosting company you will have to pay for any extra data transfer.

How should you Host? There are three different ways to host your site. The three ways are shared hosting, dedicated hosting and colocated hosting. Shared hosting means that your site is positioned among other "websites" on a single machine. This type of hosting is usually adequate for the majority of "text-n-gif" sites. Dedicated hosting refers to your own dedicated machine. As you add more interactive elements to your site, you may want to consider a dedicated host. The final is a colocated server. You own the server, but it is located in your host's facility. You chose the bandwidth and your host provides the access.

How Much Technical Support do you Need? Do you need 24/7 live technical support or do you only work on your website during business hours? If you only work on your site during business hours, you probably don't need 24/7 technical support, so why pay for it. However, you need to determine how much on-demand support you need for your site.

What Features are Included? Does your hosting package support e-commerce, multi-media, database, etc? These type of features should be included in even the basic of packages. If these are not, look elsewhere.

Make sure the ownership of your domain remains in your name. Some hosting companies place their name in the Administration and Technical Support of the domain registration. Query the Whois.net database (whois.net) to ensure your name is recorded in these positions. If the hosting company is listed, contact them and have it changed. If they refuse, transfer your business to another hosting company.

What is the Attitude of the Employees? Is the telephone answered in a friendly and courteous manner? Is the technical support department helpful? These are the people you will be dealing with for many years to come. Make sure it is a pleasurable experience.

Make sure to answer the proceeding six questions before you select a company to host your website. Remember, the web is global, just because you live in a certain city, doesn't matter you should host your site with a local company. If a local hosting company doesn't provide quality customer service, high-quality hosting and competitive pricing, it is very simple to locate a company that does provide exactly what you need.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew LaPointe is President of the website Your Online Business.com. He offers $9.95 hosting, $19.95 domain names and a FREE Internet Starter Kit. He is also the author of the Internet course - Your Online Business.com - A Complete Guide to Marketing Your Online Business. http://www.youronlinebusiness.com

3 Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing a Web Host

2005-10-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Choosing a web host is the first vital step you'll take toward having your own website. Your web host will provide space on the Internet for your site so that the whole world can view it. But, choosing a web host is not as easy as it may seem.

There are a few mistakes to avoid while choosing your host. I'd like to share these with you below, and explain why it's important to avoid these mistakes at all costs - especially if you wish to start an online business.

3 Mistakes to Avoid

1. Free Web Space - Remember seeing all those ads that mention "free web space"? Please avoid participating in these services. In most cases, the reason it's free is because the company will place advertisements for other websites all over your web page. This defeats the entire purpose of having "your own" web business.

Why should you have to give your potential customers away? Shouldn't you be able to keep the visitors that you have paid to receive through your own ad campaigns?

With "free web space" sites, you'll give away more business than it would cost you to get your own domain and hosting service. It's not worth it.

2. Limited hosting - Avoid hosting packages that will not allow you to add order forms, statistics, or multiple email accounts to your website. These are necessary tools for any webmaster who desires to open an online business.

It's best to choose a hosting service that offers many options such as:

-- Multiple POP Email Accounts
-- Dedicated Hosting
-- Secure Servers
-- Web Usage Statistics
-- Web Space Allocation (you can get how much web space you'll need)
-- URL Redirection
-- Autoresponders

These are just a few "necessary" services to look for when choosing a web host for your new website.

3. Low Cost Hosting - Watch out for very low cost hosting packages (i.e. $2.50 per month). They usually require something in return, which can take away profits from your online business.

I must admit that it does sound appealing to sign up for free or very low cost hosting, but count the costs before signing up...

- Each time an advertisement banner is placed on your website, it's designed to get your visitor to click out of your website and go some place else. Most free or low cost web hosting services place these banners at the very top of your web page - giving the visitor an opportunity to click out of your site before getting to the first words of your presentation.

- One complaint that comes to mind about a free hosting service was that the company's server became overcrowded and the customer could not get their website to come up 50% of the time. When this happens, your business is closed - and you have no control over this situation.

One final point about hosting before closing. If you get your own domain name, and your own hosting, your visitors will have more confidence in your site, and will be more willing to buy your products or services.

Search for a web host that offers fabulous service, affordable rates, and everything
you'll need for your online business. You'll be glad you did!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Candice Pardue, editor of
Web Design Weekly. Still searching for a web
host that meets the requirements above? Look no further.
Go here for a special hosting starter package offer...
http://www.webmastercourse.com/web-hosting/

Cheap Webhosting - Is it for You?

2005-10-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

There is an old adage which states that "You get what you pay for".

In most areas of life, and business, this holds true. Not necessarily so, however, in the webhosting industry. Often, you pay too much, and don't get what you pay for.

Several weeks ago I got a call from a web designer friend of mine.

"John," He said "You won't believe this".

He went on to tell me about a Plastic Surgeon he was redesigning a website for. This client was paying $600.00 per month for his webhosting account.

"The incredible thing is" He related, "I can't get the current host to return my phone calls or emails".

After looking at this clients needs, I was shocked to find that there was nothing special about his site that justified his being on anything other than a basic shared webhosting plan. We quoted him a monthly rate of under five dollars.

In this case, the client was being raped by an unscrupulous host who was not only overcharging him, but not even providing the basic support he needed.

This is an extreme example, no doubt, but it all to often characterizes the poor deal which most website owners fall into.

Several years ago, there was no such thing as a webhosting industry. Nearly all websites were hosted by local ISP's. The average monthly cost for hosting a website was $20.00 per month. Often, if you called the ISP with a technical question, they would tell you to buy a book or take a class.

Around 1996, we saw the emergence of a few "webhosting" companies. These were companies which were strictly committed to hosting websites. Using the economy of scale, they were able to offer incredibly useful webhosting packages for around $10.00 per month. What's more, some of these companies provided useful tech support which was geared towards meeting a website owners needs.

Fast forward to 2005 and we now see the emergence of a new type of web host - the cheap webhosting provider. These are companies which offer hosting for less than $5.00 per month.

Generally, cheap webhosting providers are newer companies. There's a reason for this. It's extremely difficult for the older companies to lower their prices when they already have a large customer base which pays higher prices. They'd be slashing their gross, and most companies just can't afford that.

So how do cheap webhosting providers offer such a low price to begin with?

Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Cheap webhosting providers capitalize on this.

Another part is that cheap hosting providers use a different business model than the older providers. Webhosting is a very competitive business. Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that not everyone needs everything. Most web hosts provide free backup services to all of their clients. Backups are costly, and not everyone needs or wants them, but everyone pays for them because they're built into the cost of the package.

A cheap webhosting provider, on the other hand, might give you the basic features that everyone uses, but offer weekly backups as an available add on feature, putting the cost of backing up websites on only those customers who want that service.

This all sounds great, I know, but what about service? Will I get competent and fast customer support from a company which charges me $4.00 per month?

The answer, surprisingly, is usually yes.

Obviously, not all cheap webhosting providers will give you great service. But not all expensive webhosting providers will give good service either. Our Plastic Surgeon friend couldn't get his $600.00 host to return his emails.

But, with a cheaper provider, the key for the providers success is customer retention. A savvy web host will endeavor to please his existing clients by providing the best support possible.

Author Info:
John Pierce is a technology writer and the Customer Service Manager for Gold Zero Web Hosting - http://goldzero.com .

Choose Web Hosting Service

2005-10-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

OK. You've built your website with great contents ready to attract many visitors.
But it still on your hard drive. You need to upload it to a server so anyone can access/visit it. Running your own web server will be too expensive for most people. This way, then, you need to hire a web hosting.

A host is a company who rent space in their server for you to store your website. There are thousands of this company around the net. Choosing a web hosting service isn't an easy process. You don't want to waste your good work only because you chose the wrong hosting service.

With all the hosting companies and options out there for you it's tough to know which one is for you. Follow this tips before making any decisions.

How to Choose Web Hosting Service

Several important factors to consider when comparing web hosting services

1. Quick human response
Make sure that the hosting company offers technical support to you so that you will get help anytime you have a problem. You can make a test by sending them a question by email. Is there really anybody there? How fast they responds?
Some web hosting services offer 24-hour support. Quick customer service responds is rare and indicates a superior service.

2. Server performance
You need a reliable web hosting server. How often a server goes down means lost business and lost sales and no one needs that. You also need a fast web server. Don't make your visitors wait forever.

3. Compare traffic allowances/bandwidth
It is the amount of data transfer you get with your account. It means, amount of data transferred to visitors as they view your web site. Usually, it is in gigabytes data transfer. 1 gigabyte equals 1000 megabytes.

Fact, most web sites use far less then the located amount.
Perhaps you need less than a hundred MB/month now, but why put yourself
in a position where you have to move when your traffic takes off?
Plan ahead, allow for growth.

4. Space
How much space do you expect to eventually want for your web site? Planning ahead can save you time later. You will need enough server space to host your entire site.
Most basic websites only need 2-3 megabytes of web space. Since you expect to grow, look for sites of 20 MB or more. This will let you grow your site without worrying the space limits.

5. Features.
Consider what features you want to simplify development of your web site. Perhaps you will need these two features:

Control Panel
The Control Panel where you control all aspects of your account, such as managing email accounts, reading statistics, and configuring autoresponders. Make sure your hosting company has a centralized control panel for your management needs.

CGI Scripts
CGI stands for the "Common Gateway Interface" and is a protocol through which web pages interact with scripts on a server. You have to be able to run CGI or Perl scripts on your hosting account. Most will give you this ability, but make it sure before you buy the service. The scripts is needed on any interactive web elements such as forms, shopping carts, affiliate programs, click tracking, etc.

Web Stats
Most hosting services provide a website statistics program. This will provide you these following information:
- Unique Visitors. How many individual visitor come within a specific period of time.
- Referrers. Where do your visitors come from?
If they come from other sites, what sites are they?
If they come from search engines, what keywords they use to find your site?
- Page Views. Total page views gives you snapshot of the overall activity on your site.

6. Guarantee
With so many web hosting services to choose from, why not choose one that offers a guarantee? If you are unhappy with your hosting site, you'll want assurances that you'll get your money back. Services that offer a money back guarantee are confident that you'll be delighted with their service.

7. Price
You have many offers to choose. Of course price equals with the quality. Don't waste more money for the same quality. Are there any hidden cost? Check your credit card statements to ensure that you are not being overcharged or billed at an incorrect frequency.

Web Hosting Review

2005-10-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Links to our web hosting review page. Make sure to read our web hosting review before choose your web hosting company. Don't forget to read our hosting related articles as your guide to get the best deal on web hosting industry. Read our Web Hosting Articles here.

Globat Hosting Review

IpowerWeb Hosting Review

LunarPages Hosting Review

PowWeb Hoting Review

StartLogic Web Hosting Review

SimpleHost Hosting Review

InovoHost Review

Partners Link

2005-10-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Let's link. If you want to make link with this blog, please drop me an email to jurugan(at)gmail.com

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Site Map

2005-10-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

Choose Web Hosting Service

Cheap Webhosting - Is it for You?

3 Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing a Web Host

How to Find the Right Host for Your Web Site

How Much Hosting Space Do You Need?

Cheap Web Hosting is No Bargain!

What Is Web Hosting?

Web Site Hosting – An Easy Guide

Linux vs. Windows web Hosting, does it make a difference?

The Hidden Cost Of Cheap Hosting

Good Web Hosting – What is it?

Determine Your Needs Before Choosing A Hosting Service

Web Site Hosting Plan - Key Elements

Reseller Web Hosting - A Cheaper Alternative ?

Collocation Hosting: It Pays To Know

Get started to Virtual Dedicated Web Hosting

Uptime Guarantee – Good Idea?

Changing to a New Host? No More Worries!

Dedicated Server: Smart Web Hosting Choice

Selection A Domain Name That Clicks!

Adult Web Hosting: The all you need to know

How To Transfer Your Web Site To a New Web Hosting Service?

Web Package Hosting - Researching Different Alternatives

Cheap Hosting to Build a Website