Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Personal Web Hosting 101

Personal web hosting like any other type of web hosting covers a certain amount of ground rules. The only difference between a business web hosting and a personal web hosting may be the payment arrangements like secure server for credit cards payment. Other than that, the checklist remains the same as for the business web hosting.

The checklist given below will guide you in choosing the right host:

1. How much time does it take for the domain to be put on the net? It should be less than 36 hours.

2. Can I host other sites through my domain? It should be possible for you to use alias domains, provided they lead to the main page of your domain.

3. Am I the owner of the domain name hosted? The answer should be YES, without any other conditions.

4. Will it be possible for me to update the information of my website/ domain? All rights to your domain, i.e. billing, technical, administrative, etc, should be given to you. And YES, the web host should be able to update your website’s information at your request.

5. Can I modify my web? The answer should be basically YES, though some websites will ask you to route the changes through them. This might be inconvenient for those who can do it themselves and have a lot of updating to do.

6. What is the protocol for the setting of html directory permissions? Most web hosts will allow you the use of the Control Panel to set permissions and modify your web design.

7. Do I get web mail usage through my domain? Most web hosts will have squirrel mail accounts in their packages. With this facility also comes the forwarding of the email and auto-responders.

8. Can I access my cgi and perl scripts? The answer should be YES.

9. Do you have prompt and efficient technical support/ service support? The answer should be YES, round-the-clock 24/7.

10. Do you use advanced search engine optimization tools above metatags? The answer should be again YES. Today servers use sophisticated SEO tools. However, you should definitely have your ‘keyword’ and ‘description’ metatags attached to your main content page for easy access over the web.

Other factors include payment and billing details, traffic space so called bandwidth, and disk or storage space. You should be expecting an annual billing in addition to a monthly billing. Web hosting companies do offer an annual billing for a discount rate, and some saying you should be careful to avoid one-year period packages as this will block your shifting in case you are unhappy with the web host. This is not always true because, in today’s competition between web hosting companies, many reliable companies do offer 30-90 days money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied.

As regards the traffic space or bandwidth the minimum you would need would be somewhere around 25 GB/month, while for storing a simple personal website, the storage requirements should be minimum of 500 MB disk space. I would consider 1 GB or more of disk space to avoid extra fees in case your needed space gets bigger in the future. But it all depends on what kind and how big of files you put up on your web site. Hence, do not go after web hosts who offer you 15 GB or more of disk space for extra fees because you would never need so much space. Even with complicated business websites, you would not use more than 10 GB.

The best is to research the feedback of the web host before you decide which one to choose, and the above questions will definitely guide towards a wise decision.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Guide Line To Cheap Web Hosting

Servers are intense computers that have aerial backbreaking drives or array of demanding drives. Each server on Internet has a peculiar IP (Internet Protocol) address. This provides characteristic addresses to each netting hosting company.

There are inconsistent types of netting hosting services. Prices of these interlacing hosting vary from few dollars to hundreds of US dollars a year depending upon services offered by native net hosting companies. Web hosting services that warrant steamed up bandwidth are ever costly.

Web hosting for ingrained website that obtain not desire unit appropriate haste kit allied as head of sales packages, accept card processing, could be very cheap. If a website put up by a user does not contain any graphics or sound files then it is beneficial for user to opt for low cost web hosting. Rates for low cost web hosting may vary from $1 to $20 a month.

Network stress is an capital individuality that has to be provided by Internet netting host. A felicitous host may have fresh than one optical carrier craft providing posting to Internet. Another spire of consideration is amount of bandwidth provided by web-hosting providers. Small business web hosting providers have fewer servers and may be unable to offer huge bandwidth. Majority of sites currently featured on Internet use less than 2 GB of bandwidth a month. A site getting 6000 visits a month could be under 5 GB of bandwidth.

Low amount lattice hosting companies square to establish immense disk good luck to users and stimulated pains whole story transfer. Most undifferentiated claims prove to be false as it is not feasible to provide customers with large number of storage and data transfer with limited capabilities. To be able to provide such services, they may need to upgrade bandwidth capacity.

Customer assistance offered by dismal assessment lattice hosting may not be necessarily good. User may benefit their full play to incline which lacework hosting is beneficial.

Low Cost Web Hosting provides voluminous inside story on Low Cost Web Hosting, Low Cost Web Hosting Services, Reliable Low Cost Web Hosting, Canadian Low Cost Web Hosting and more. Low Cost Web Hosting is affiliated with Discount Linux Web Hosting.

Monday, April 26, 2010

History of the Web Hosting Industry

The history of the web hosting dates back to the time when the first program was written for the web in the year 1990 by Tim Berners Lee. After that the program was further developed and many companies joined in the effort to come to the present stage where there is still an exponential growth in the web hosting industry.

Now statistics reveal that there are more than 35,000 businesses that host more than 100 sites in their server. With the increasing competition day by day the industry is growing like anything. By the time you read this there would have been some 100s of companies added to the existing list.

The first program for the World Wide Web was that of a hypertext editor that was executed in the NeXT machine. And the browser used at that time was a “line mode browser” which was designed by a student Nicola Pellow.

The specifications of the HTML, HTTP and UDI were published on the server so that discussion can be had on these by the people who do research on this.

To access the web, clients that can work on the other machines other than the NeXT were needed and hence the browsers like Viola, Cello, Erwise, and Mosaic came into existence. The World Wide Consortium that was started in 1994 was the milestone where companies started to involve themselves in creating the common protocols for the Web and the new world of web began to evolve.

Earlier than this the software products also had features that used TCP/IP just for giving the networking feature for the product without knowing the future potential of this protocol. In the last few years of the discussion held in the IETF meeting there were lots of discussion going on to extend the TCP/IP protocols and the ways by which it can be extended.

The features of the tools required for this purpose were also discussed. Basic networking products were developed that provided connectivity and the basic services for the internet. The commercial efforts were limited to this initially. Then it became an essential service with the number of user growing exponentially and the products for the World Wide Web flowing in to the market. The developments in the technology also fueled this. Now with the latest developments in the technology there are many products for each of the technology that is available for the internet.

With the IT majors like the Microsoft, IBM, and the Sun Microsystems plunging into the internet market there are many products, languages, and tools available for use in developing the web applications. Web Servers that serve the user with the requested web pages and a host of features targeting the web are made available.

Power servers built by the hardware manufacturers also aid in the growth of the Web Hosting Industry. The internet has undergone a lot of change. From personal computers, to client server to peer-to-peer network it has changed a lot. File sharing, remote login, email and what not, everything is possible through internet. It has not completed its transformation as it is still in the process. Now with internet telephony and internet television the evolution keeps on happening. It’s hard to realize what is in store next!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Encountering Scintillating Web Hosting Deals

With the Internet business booming more and more with everyone who wants to be someone is seeking to gain both repute and money through the Internet. As a result, everybody is now busy investing. No, this investment is not in real estate, but in cyber estate... in domain names. Everyone seeking a place on the World Wide Web, will sooner or later decide to buy a website address, and watch that piece of virtual estate grow.

Now, every domain name owner needs to avail of good hosting services. While the best web hosting may not be considered affordable by new entrants into the business, do remember that your fundamental need is to cut costs and maximize revenue. However, in view of the millions of web hosting service providers that swarm the Internet markets, finding a web hosting deal has never been easier, while choosing a good one has never been more difficult.

As it is with all the deals that you get into, you must keep your requirements in mind. What kind of web hosting are you looking for? How much are you willing to pay? More importantly, how much will you be able to afford? And these are not the only questions that you will be asking. For instance, you would have to decide about the number of email addresses that you would be requiring for your website. Is it two, or twenty? How often would you need to update your site? Would it be daily, weekly, or monthly? Moreover, what kind of technologies would your website be in need of?

Does that seem like too many questions? Well, if you are looking for the best, and nothing but the best for your site, you will have to ask many more questions that will be equally relevant.

Web hosting services may provide you with a package that includes a variety of services, or you could choose which services you want. If you are new to the world of domain names and web hosting, it would do you a world of good to check up on the questions that people often ask. Most sites will give you a list of FAQs.

Once you have decided what it is exactly that you are looking for, narrow down your choices to the ones that seem the most suitable. Try contacting these web hosting service providers and make a few more specific queries. Make sure that you pick out a web hosting service provider that you find reliable.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Web Hosting Provider and Their Services

Web Hosting Provider and Their Services

Web hosting service falls under the category of Internet hosting service and is the most important aspect of your web presence. Web hosting providers give users the scope for stocking up information, imageries, video or other things that is reachable via the World Wide Web. Web hosting service companies help their clients by providing space on a server owned by them. In a data center, web hosting provider gives their customers the access to the Internet also. Web hosting providers also help in collocation where internet connection and data center space are allotted to the servers, not owned by them. There are numerous web hosting providers for running web servers.


There are web hosting providers whose services are restricted to the web. The free web hosting providers offer web hosting service free of cost or sometimes it is totally backed by advertisement. If you compare this service to paid hosting service, then this is very much constrained. The clustered web hosting providers boasts of several servers that host identical content. Thus, the provision for resource exploitation gets enhanced. Then there are shared web hosting providers whose websites share the same server with many other sites. The range of these sites ranges from just a few to more than thousands. .


The duty of collocation web hosting providers is almost similar to dedicated web hosting providers. The dedicated hosting service providers help the user to obtain his/her own web server. The user gets the total command over the web server. But, the collocation web hosting providers facilitates the process of the user to own the server. The server gets hold of the physical space provided by the web hosting company. The company also looks after the server. The most potent and costly web hosting service is provided by collocation web hosting service. Mostly, the machine of the client gets equipped with electrical appliances, Internet admittance and storage space for the server. .


The clients themselves become web hosts in reseller web hosting service. For separate domains and under any mishmash of the programmed categories of hosting the resellers can carry out functions. The affiliation with the web hosting provider is important here. The virtual web hosting providers slice up a server into virtual servers. Though, in this case, users can think that they are being provided dedicated web hosting service, but, practically, they are allocated a server along. .

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Web Hosting: Do You Really Get What You Pay For?

There is an assumption among business owners that in order to have a quality website you need to follow the old adage, “You get what you pay for.”

The truth is, in web hosting you can pay a significant amount of money and receive poor service. Certainly the reverse is true, but the point is inexpensive doesn’t always mean ‘cheap’ and expensive does not always equate to excellence in web hosting and design.

Many web designers who also provide hosting options may supply a reasonably priced plan for site development, however the plan doesn’t always include the things you may need for your ecommerce store and the add-ons can add up.

There are web hosting/design options that include many of the most used features of ecommerce as part of the bundled price.

Some of the options available include…

* Customer Newsletter System
* Customer/Order Database
* Feedback Forms
* AutoResponders
* PayPal Shopping Cart Tools
* Search Engine Registration
* Full Feature Website Wizard
* Merchant CC ID OAC
* Authorize.net Setup OAC
* Pro Stock Image Library
* Premium Hosting

If you are shopping for a web design and a web host you need to consider all options. It is reasonable to believe that by paying more you can receive better service, but experience says that this line of thinking is not always true.

Sites have been developed with a fee for every photo, every page, every design element and every tool that was used to create the site. What if you simply had access to all of these things at monthly fee that is less than a night with the family at a fast food restaurant?

While some businesses may feel this is an inferior way to develop a website, consider what other business owners have to say about this type of web hosting option.

"Enables you to make your own website and there's no need for you to know any programming." - David Chalk

"I was quickly able to build a fully functional commercial web site using the easy-to-use templates with Slide Shows, Image Maps, Fully Functional Search Engine, Pay Pal Shopping Cart and more! Highly Recommended. Tremendous Value." - Don Fortner

"My staff laughed when I told them I was going to make our company website myself, but you should have seen their faces when it was done!" - Gerod Floyd

"I don't know why everyone does not do it this way." - Garfield McCormick

Whatever web hosting and design service you use, make sure to explore the total cost (site design, add-ons, maintenance, etc) before you make a decision. Your site could cost you a lot more than it needs to.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Free Web Hosting – Is It For You?

If you are a newcomer in the land of the WWW or World Wide Web, you definitely must be wondering about many aspects of the functioning of the web and what are the best possible ways to project your website or domain on the Internet. The best bet for starters, of course, if ‘free web hosting’.

Free web hosting is good, if you are new and want to learn the ropes first hand. It is definitely not a good idea if you are starting a dot.com business. So, what do you get with a free web hosting provider?

First of all you will get a web space on the net FREE OF COST. This is quite a big plus point. Another plus point is that it will provide you with a free email account in most cases. The downside would be that you will not have the permission to have your domain name. You cannot get any technical support for your database, nor can you accept advertisements.

Hence, if you are hosting your web just to post out a few ideas, a hobby broadcast site, or similar things, and then definitely you can choose a free web-hosting provider. Free web hosting is good for those with low traffic. For example you may like to have your website so your friends and family can access and exchange ideas with you. Or just plain curious to see how things work out when you are out there, posting on the Internet.

It is definitely not advisable for a person who wants to run or launch a business on the net, however rosy the free web-hosting provider would paint it. No free web-hosting provider will offer you free traffic transfer space and hence your business will be doomed, or you will end up with huge traffic transfer charges. So also, you would loose out in terms of visitors if and when the server is not up to the mark and has an uptime less than 95%. Poor technical support would be another major obstacle if you have heavy traffic to your website, as any interruption would frustrate your visitors chasing them away from your website.

Besides, the point that would decide anyone who runs a web-based business NOT to choose a free web hosting, is that the company would look cheap and amateurish. The host of your free website will impose advertisements on your website, which you may not like. There are a lot of downside points. A few are enumerated below:

•No tech support
•No guarantee on server uptime
•No free traffic transfer space
•No access to cgi and/or perl script
•No advertisement for money can be hosted on your free website
•No sub-directories
•No secure server for credit card payments
•Very low SEO visibility as search engines bypass free sites often

Having gone through the above, I still reiterate that for beginners who want to see what it looks like to be on the web, for those who want to share things with family and friends, and for hobby purposes, free web hosting is a good option. For any other reason, by all means go for a professional web hosting service.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Finding The Best Windows Email Server Hosting Plan

One of the most crucial decisions you will make regarding your business’ web presence is which the best windows email server hosting plan is for you. Making a decision about you email servers hosing may seem trivial compared to everything else you have to deal with, but the truth is that you will rarely be as frustrated as you will when you have email problems. Additionally, if you have a strong web presence, then you will likely do a great deal of your communication via email, so it is important to make sure your email server hosting service is reliable. Here, then, are some tips on what makes for the best windows email server hosting plan and where you can find it.

First of all, you have to figure out what it means to have the best windows email server hosting plan. There are a few factors you should consider, including the secure server capabilities of your host, the server speed, and the reliability.

Security

The best windows email server hosting plans are going to be able to provide you with a secure server. Such a server can do everything from protect you from spam to filter out viruses. Be sure to ask about the secure server because the best windows email server hosting plans will have good ones for you.

Speed

You certainly don’t want to have to wait for important emails, so a fast server is a necessity from the best windows email server hosting plans. If you are a busy company, you will find that emails can often fly in and out of your box fast and furiously. So if you have a hosting company that has slow servers, you could end up getting delayed on answers to clients and information getting to and from others within your own company even.

Reliability

There is nothing more frustrating than having your email go down. In order to save yourself such frustration, you should find an email server hosting company that can provide you with good reliability. In fact, the best windows email server hosting plans should include reliability of at least 99%, and in most cases you should look for something even higher than that. You want your primary form of communication to be available, so make sure you are using a reliable server host.

Other services

There are other services you should look for from the best windows email server hosting plan. You should insist on unlimited email aliases, auto-responder capabilities, and even some sort of access to your administration features. The more control you have over your email’s hosting, the better off you are going to be. Additionally, look for something that offers no restriction on the size of files you can exchange. This is especially important if you are going to be sending files across to clients or colleagues.

Choosing the best windows email server hosting plan is an important step in your business. Once you understand what features you should look for, you can more accurately compare companies with one another and come up with a way to get everything you want in one package. Keep communication up and you will have a more successful business and to do that you need the right email host.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Finding An Affordable Web Site Hosting Plan

Finding an affordable web site hosting plan is a must for new businesses or established businesses that are on a budget. Of course, as with most things, this is much easier said than done.

There are tons of hosting companies out there that claim to offer free or cheap web site hosting, but many of them have hidden fees or low quality services. A supposedly affordable web site hosting plan can quickly turn into a costly nightmare if you aren't careful. This is why it is essential that you do your homework and research a number of hosting companies before making any final decisions.

Comparing Costs

If you are looking for cheap web site hosting, then you will obviously need to compare the costs that are charged by different hosting companies. Specific costs to look at when searching for an affordable web site hosting plan include site set up fees, monthly or annual maintenance fees, and any other fees that may be associated with the plan.

It should be noted that some hosting companies offer free set-up. If you can find a web host who is offering this in addition to low monthly hosting fees, you will of course be much better with this host versus another who makes you pay for the same service.

Features

Things to compare in addition to the cost when looking for cheap web site hosting services include the amount of storage space received with the plan, the programming languages supported by the web host, and the amount of customer support offered. Some hosting companies will offer all of these features in their basic or most affordable web site hosting plan, and others will not.

You will also want to take a look at the other services offered by the web hosting companies that you are considering. Some cheap web site hosting companies provide additional services such as domain name registration and web building tools. If you haven't purchased a domain name yet or if you need help building your website, you may want to check to see if these services can be combined with the company's most affordable web hosting plan. This could save you an enormous amount of money.

Other Considerations

If you have found a cheap web site hosting plan that has all of the features you need to build your web site, there are still a few other things that will need to be taken into consideration before you sign on the dotted line—the most important being reliability.

Some hosting companies who offer an affordable web hosting plan have one major downfall: they aren't always reliable. Because you need the web site to work when people try to access it, reliability is going to be a must. This is why you should always ask hosting companies about downtime before signing up for cheap web site hosting. Last, but not least, you need to make sure that you will have all of the support you need if you choose the most affordable web hosting plan that is being offered to you. Specific things to ask about include technical support response time and customer service representative availability.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Cheap Web Hosting - The Nation's Most Affordable Web Hosting

I bet you asked yourself many times where and how do i know i found the best hosting possible? Well look no more because www.cashrichmoney.com has put together six, i repeat six of the best essential web hosting companies on the net. Such web hosting companies are ixwebhosting, hostmonster, startlogic, hostican, hostgator, and last but not least anhosting. Some of these you probably have heard before, although i bet you haven't read the time consuming reviews that cashrichmoney has put together for you on their website. CashRichMoney cares and has dedicated it's time to put as much information as possible about each web hosting provider so that you know exactly what you're getting from your hosting provider. To give you a better understanding on how CRM has set up their page is each cheap web hosting company is listed with a description about their benefits. Users now have the option to read more about each company by simply clicking on read more below the description. In addition, each cheap web hosting provider has it's own detail page where you can access directly on www.cashrichmoney.com Ok now I want to list 6 tips on finding the best cheap web hosting companies. 1. Price (obvious one) 2. Web Space 3. Benefits/Offers that you will actually actually use such as marketing credits. For example $50 Google Adwords credits. 4. 30 day money back guarantee. 5. Unlimited bandwidth 6. Any additional scripts installed already for you. CRM is the best web hosting review site where you can buy cheap web hosting, read about web hosting and of coruse trust web hosting.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Business Web Hosting

In today competitive business world, you need to utilize every resource that you can find to keep your business afloat. Business web hosting service is a very necessary element for online transaction companies.

The most important decision you will make for your business is who you select for your business web hosting service with so many to choose from.

Business web hosting site developers commonly host the Web pages for companies often on a computer in their office.

Business web hosting is an ideal solution for those who already have a web site but maximum reliability, performance and uptime is critical to their business or e commerce web site.

Business web hosting is usually much more expensive, however those who subscribe to business web hosting have stated that they are willing to pay the extra cost because the service is second to none.

With ever growing demand of web hosting services, many people think about starting a web hosting business.

Business web hosting is the best solution for reaching a broader group of customers, communicating with them effectively and increasing your own revenue by conducting business communications and transactions online, over networks and through computers.

Business web hosting is something like Internet real estate. It is contains a listing of all business existing on the server.

Business Web hosting is a class apart from rest of the hosting deals because their services far surpass an ordinary web hosting company, it can be provided just by a certificated company.

Business web hosting is offered by a number of web hosting organizations who usually provide full service to business web sites including site designing (with the languages like PHP, ASP and others), programming, as well as others like e Commerce facilities.

You must consider a number of factors before committing to a business web hosting service.

One factor is a business web hosting service must offer a money back, no questions guarantee. Another is an uptime guarantee. You should also consider the types of backups they offer.

Business web hosting must be reliable. The last thing you need to worry about is that the provider's service becomes unavailable for long stretches of time. What kind of uptime guarantee do they provide you with? How long have they been in business?

Business Web Hosting Disk space is the storage space allotted to website which can be used to store pictures, HTML files, folders, videos and anything else used by a Website.

Every successful business owner will attest to the fact that in today's business world, a spectacular website is what captivates the customer and keeps them browsing your site.

Business web hosting buyers have unique needs from an operations stand point that must be addressed within their IT purchases in order to find the best and top business web hosting.

Business web hosting and cheap web hosting is not the same thing. Business website hosting improves your ability to reach the right customers through personalized profiles, online catalogues and e mail lists of customers who would like to be kept informed about new inventory.

Choosing the right business webhosting service is essential for your business to grow. Your webhosting service could mean the difference between success and failure in your business.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Options For Web Hosting

There is free lunch lacework hosting but you entrust mania an no trouble to elicit dynasty instance which cuffo hosts usually don't quote and you want FTP uploading of your files which may be hard to find for free. There are other ways to upload your files but FTP is easy and powerful.

These types of hosting, the gratuitous or the ones for a few dollars a continuance are called reciprocal hosting. This style of hosting is affordable but the drawback is contrasting sites are sharing the corresponding computer in the lattice host's warehouse as yours. If lump of the incomparable sites have a coding formidable they can take down the computer along with your site until it gets fixed by the hosting service, until then your closed down.

If you tryout with the ownership of a mutual hosting liveliness produce firm they have a fame back term especially if you comply a one year contract or longer. If your site is down a lot or it loads too slow because too many sites are jammed on one computer or some other reason you can get a refund and get out of the contract.

During the discount duration or until you are chin-up they are befitting don't drive atom software they guide you, this may perplexity you to the blame if you breach the software seal(s). Use some other software until you feel comfortable with the service or the refund period expires.

You will again rapaciousness to probe bandwidth. When a visitor comes to your site, clicks or downloads tool it takes bandwidth. If you go due to the allotted bandwidth the mesh publician gives you, they may shut godforsaken the site until you can pay more or the next billing month comes up or they may automatically bill you, depending on their policy. Bandwidth amount given is usually massive or even unlimited depending on the package and web host but it is something you must know about.

It is rectitude putting in a try for 'free web hosting' in your favorite examine engine to concede what is available as the tout is always changing. You bequeath hunger to gem out why it is free, they may want to put some type of ad on your site but that may be okay for what you are interested in doing depending on what the ad is. There may also be very limited bandwidth or the ways to build your site only can be done with templates that may not fit your project.

Another possibility is in that your retain host if you have access to a static and not changing IP inscription with roused tension internet and a candid computer you can dedicate only to your site(s). Sometimes this is only available to a commercial location but this depends on your available high speed internet carriers.

Dial expansion consign regular be vitally at peace for this, it all told obligation be animated pow for a hasty loading web page with traffic. Dial up may be okay to learn on and if the traffic to your site is light or is a hobby for fun.

You can rag your territory propose inscription yourself at the registering colours big and foot it to your gain server. For recipe how to buy it up search 'host my own domain' there are some good tutorials.

The helping hand is if there is a problematic with your zone from the hotelier carry off you look after it yourself through your website is located on your computer at the static IP label in your billet or home and also you can upgrade your own hardware. You do not have to rely on the technical department of a web host to fix any problem.

Web landlord companies can have belonging customer abetment or unequaled depending on who works efficient at part apt time. Hosts have been conscious to be felicitous but employee or management changes may happen and now they won't help you fix your site like you need it.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Choosing A Web Hosting Company

It used to be that choosing a web hosting company for your small business web site was a difficult and confusing exercise. Thankfully, those days are long gone. Today you can do an online search for web hosting companies and be presented with a fantastic selection of cheap hosting packages, all of them offering a wide range of features.

Choosing among all the alternatives still takes a bit of research. Many people focus on impressive technical specs -- available bandwidth, storage capacity, number of email addresses, and so on. But the truth is, web hosting has gotten very inexpensive. You can now get cheap web hosting for as low as $1.95 per month that includes many of the features you find in much more expensive plans.

So how do you go about choosing a hosting company? Here are some suggestions.

**Determine what you need

If you have a bit of web experience, choosing a host can be fairly simple, but if you are without experience, then it might be a good idea to discuss your requirements with a friend, business colleague, or a consultant.

There are also lots of good articles available online that can help. Or you might try contacting the support or sales staff of the different hosting companies on your short list. Tell them what you want to do and ask for their recommendations. Then compare notes after talking to three or four different companies.

Bandwidth, and storage capacity requirements may seem critical, but in fact, it is more important to find out if you can upgrade your service if and when you need more capacity. Every reputable hosting company is prepared to sell you more services when you need them, so don't make this the determining factor in your search.

Determine what "extras" you need. These could include extra space for storing lots of photos. Or you may want database support so you can run a blog, a photo gallery, a forum, e-commerce software, or any number of other add-on programs.

**The Basics to look for in a web host

* 24/7 Live Support by e-mail and Live Chat - There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to get quick response from the technical people at your hosting company. Every reputable host has 24/7/365 support by email. Many now have 24/7 Live Chat as well.

* The ability to easily upgrade your hosting plan - As your business grows you may need to upgrade your plan. This should be a simple, transparent process that does not involve any downtime.

* A web-based control panel - You need this to add or modify email accounts, work with databases, change site configuration, and do basic editing of files.

* 24/7 FTP access - You will want to make changes to your site at unpredictable times, so you will need FTP access to the site at all times.

* Web-based e-mail - Your colleagues and employees will want to pick up their email from anywhere, not just from their primary computer. Webmail is the easiest way to give that feature.

**Extras to take you beyond the basic business web site

1. Shared space or dedicated server - As your online business activity increases your web site will have more traffic, and may require more space. That is when you may think you should move from shared space -- where your site is hosted on the same server as potentially hundreds of other sites -- to dedicated space, where your site has its own dedicated server.

Since making this move can be very expensive, it is something you should discuss with your host provider. They may have an intermediate solution with a limited number of sites per server. For example, some business packages (see below) limit the number of sites per physical server processor to 50. This gives you something much closer to a dedicated server, with a huge monthly data transfer rate, but without the high cost.

2. e_Commerce capability - Shopping carts let you display your products to customers and allow them to purchase items online. Some hosts provide free shopping cart systems with integrated payment "gateways", that let you get your online store up and running for minimal cost.

3. Other Extras - Some hosting packages include free scripts such as blog software, content management systems, forums, picture galleries and much more. One of the best free packages is called Fantastico. It contains more than 40 free programs, each of which can be quickly installed from within the site Control Panel.

Choose a web hosting company you can grow with

Price and features are important, but they are only part of the story. Find a web hosting company that has a solid track record, offers reliable, technically advanced services, and gives you room to grow in the future.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Cheap Web Hosting - Free Hosting Services

Finding cheap web hosting has never been easier. Technology and bandwidth are getting less expensive every day and the cost of web hosting is going down just the same.

Many people and small business owners have hesitated going online with a website because they don’t think they can afford to do it. They have taken a look at the large amount of money big companies are spending on their websites and hosting. But the reality is, most companies can use a cheap web hosting provider and stay well within a budget.

One place to look to in regards to cheap web hosting is free hosting services. You can not get any cheaper than that. After the dot com boom free web hosting didn’t disappear they just became a bit harder to find. There are only a few big names left in the free hosting circle such as GeoCities and Tripod.

Free hosting is good if you are just starting out and money is an issue. The problem is it has a lot of limitations. Most come with ads all over your site and you do not share in the revenue they may produce. If your site was to become popular and have a lot of visitors they could suspend your site because of to much usage or force you to sign up for a paid account. This may be the ultimate cheap web hosting but may not be what is best for you.

If you need cheap web hosting but are not sure if you want to the commitment of a yearly plan, but you don’t want the limitations that a free hosting company will impose on you, you have a few options available for your consideration.

Cheap web hosting is available on a pay as you go plan. This is not real popular as of yet but is becoming more available all the time. You do not pay a monthly fee. What you do is, put money on your account then each time someone accesses your site a small amount is taken off the books. This way you are only paying for what you are using.

Another cheap web hosting plan is finding a web host that does not make you commit to a long term agreement. Many cheap web host providers will offer a monthly plan that is reasonable and affordable. You have all the benefits, but do not have the long term commitment should you change your mind.

You can find cheap web hosting with great customer service for as little as five dollars or less a month. You will have all the disk space and bandwidth needed to make your online presence a success. To find these do your homework. Research and also find others who have used or are using a particular company you are interested in.

A word of caution in regards to some cheap web hosting companies. Do not let them over sell you. You do not need a huge amount of disk space or bandwidths so don’t pay for a excessive amount. Try and find a cheap web host that will allow you to add to your disk space or bandwidth as you go.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Mambo (CMS) for Web Hosting

Mambo is a Content Management System (CMS) that can be use for any type of website. Some Cheap Web Hosting companies have Mambo included in Fantastico. Fantastico allows you to auto install scripts or programs like Mambo, Blogs, Forums, FAQS and much more.

If you are not a programmer you don't have to worry anymore since Mambo pretty much do the coding or programming for you and it's really simple to use. With this kind of CMS you can have your website up and running in just couple minutes.

These are some of the features that Mambo (CMS) have:

*Advertising Management
*Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL's.
*Polls
*Forums
*Templates
*Events Calendar
*Blogs
*Directories


and much more.

For all of us that are programmers but we don't want to code something that is already done this is a good solution. You can find a lot of modules, components and more like Polls, Events Calendar, and Photo album for Mambo. A lot of Cheap Web Hosting companies support Mambo or let you use mambo in their Web Hosting.

My experience with Mambo in the past was great. Mambo lets you code yourself if you need to and also it lets you add new modules or components and I also recommend you to use Mambo for Web Hosting even if you are planning to do a big website.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Introduction To Personal Web Hosting

So you've decided that you want to put a web page online. It could be about yourself, your family, a hobby you like or just a internet-brochure for a small business. Whatever the case, you've decided that the features and most importantly the cost of business web hosting is just too much and unnecessary in your case. Well, not to worry. Personal web hosting is the ideal solution.

Personal web hosting does not, in any way, imply that you get low quality hosting. These days, with CPU and storage prices so low, you can probably serve the needs of a medium-sized business with a personal web hosting plans. In fact, you should not even compare business vs personal web hosting because, technically speaking, the definitions are meaningless. The only major differences in web hosting plans are between shared hosting, such as most personal hosting accounts and some business hosting accounts, and dedicated servers, in which case you rent your very own server (yes, an actual machine) on the data center of a major hosting company.

Now that we've got this out of the way, bear in mind that the biggest challenge for the beginner web master is that personal web hosting plans usually have less technical support than business plans. Of course, you can always use forums or just search engines to find the answers to your first problems or questions. And as a beginner web-master, you're unlikely to come across very sophisticated and challenging issues.

However, personal web hosting is not just about minor disadvantages to business web hosting. There is also a major advantage. Most personal hosting companies offer some type of website building interface as well as website templates, specifically designed and developed for small websites. Most of the times, you can change the complete look and feel of your site just by clicking a button on a web form. And it's become almost standard that these templates offer some sort of content management, user navigation (menus on the left, right or top) as well as libraries of pictures. So, for most people, this alone is enough to make them choose personal hosting plans rather than business plans, even if they're on the same price. In computers, it's not always less vs more, it's feature A vs. feature B. Always make sure you understand what your needs are before proceeding.

As a final note, don't forget to do your market research before you buy a personal web hosting plan. Especially if you choose to use an in-house website builder by the hosting company, it'll be impossible to migrate your site to a different host, should you find the specific company unreliable or unsupportive.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Look For Free Web Hosting!

When looking for gratuitous or paid mesh hosting provider, you wish to ugly your end on the genius of your site. Paid interlacing hosting is a right for some sites in that it offers supplementary space and many necessary features. Free web hosting is usually advertisement supported and has limited functionality. Both will host your site, but you need to choose which option is the best fit for you.

Do you absolutely longing "Free Web Hosting"?

If you have been conniving or advancement lattice pages for awhile chances are you are autochthonous to accredit telling to a paid hotelier if you haven't coeval false this knowing decision. Free web hosts are free but chances are they have left you frustrated. Some of the frustrations you can expect to experience from a free host is:

Domain Name? "yourfreewebhost.com/blah/blahblah/yoursite/"

Does the URL big capable be entertained significant you would remember? Free net hosts desire you to interest a sub commonwealth or present you a folder, ultimately on their server. Sub domains and folders are not meant for landing pages and are often much harder to remember. Paid web hosts allow you to use your own domain names and often times include it with their service offerings.

Banner Ads, Pop-up Ads, and Ads in your Dreams!

Many for free hosts rely solely on ads to inaugurate money. Your lay may have prevalent unwanted ads on each of your pages. These ads can reduce how fully your page is perceived and recurrently deter visitors from returning to your website!

More Downtime than Uptime?

Many for nothing hosts have a parcel of downtime. Their subscribers are not noteworthy for assist hence numerous hosts get done not sensation constrained when it comes to dependability. Keep in mind, these hosts are great on a tight budget so they have to cut costs and many times this is with their support staff. If there are dissatisfied users, the web host is rarely bothered by that fact. Remember the old saying, beggars can't be choosers?

The World of Limitations

Where to Begin? Disk space, tidings transfer, speed, progression types, ect... Basically, in directive to prolong profitable, the unrecompensed netting landlord is promising you account painfully minimal system resources and still get a reasonable amount of traffic to support their ad revenue. Most everything is extremely limited. What happens if you exceed what they expect? You will be halted or your site will be taken offline without notice if they choose.

Customer Support?

Anyone There? If you action problems with you net hosting you cede intensely looked toward have to rely on the Facts and Questions page. Most chargeless interlacing hosting achieve not have the consequence to engage customer support teams to answer live questions or emails. Once again, if they do offer this service, they normally could care less about resolving your issue or satisfaction.

Zero Advertising Revenue

There is discrete hope for a one advertiser with a comp provider and it's not you! If you are looking to bequeath advertisement on your webpage, handout web hosting is the wise to go. Many for free hosts sign not allow you to sell advertising on your webpage.

Web Hosting Reality

Paid net hosting has come ergo greatly dejected priced that it is breathtaking paper web hosting companies pacific exist. Face it, chargeless items are normally too good to be true. Save yourself from the frustrations and limitations that included with free hosting and try a paid host. Most include trials and even free domain name registration!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Key Points Of Web Hosting!! Consider When Choosing ?

With literally thousands of lattice hosting companies in the struggle all vieing for your business, carefully postulate these elementary points to insure you occasion the very much totally efficacious accord possible.1. Server SpaceFirst, think about how much space your site will take up on a server. Unless you are planning on running a software repository or an image gallery, the files that make up your website will probably only use between 1 and 5 megabytes of disk space. Many companies will offer several hundreds of megabytes of webspace for a very reasonable price in attempt to out perform their competitors, but ask yourself "Do I really need that much space?".

Though it's true that you should allow your site "room to grow", don't opt for what seems like a great deal on a massively sized account if you'll never use all of the space offered. Chances are you'll find an even better deal on an amount of space more suitable for your site size.2. Data Transfer AllowanceThis decision should be based on the same principal as above. Though you may be convinced that your site will be the next Amazon or Yahoo and receive a gazillion visitors a day, you really shouldn't need an extremely high data transfer allowance unless, as stated above, you're running a software download site or a large image gallery. Even heavily trafficked normal HTML sites usually only use a few gigabytes per month in bandwidth allowance. Don't go overboard just because it seems like an awesome deal. You may also want to be wary of companies who offer "unlimited" data transfer as there are usually some fine-print stipulations that make this claim not entirely true. Be sure to read their terms and conditions very carefully before opting for this type of account. A five or ten gigabyte bandwidth allowance is usually plenty enough for a small to medium sized business or personal site.3. Technical SupportA very important point to consider when choosing a web host is the types of technical support offered by the company and how easy they are to contact when you need them.

Ideally, a company should offer 24/7 toll-free telephone support and email. I have seen companies that do not even offer a telephone number on their website. You should look for a company that is very easily accessible in your time of need. Nothing is more frustrating than being in the middle of working on your site and needing an important piece of information to finish the job and not being able to contact your hosting company to find it out.4. CGI-Bin AccessNo matter what type of site you are planning on running, chances are you will eventually need to install some type of CGI script. Whether it be a mailing list management script, contact form processor, or maybe even a fancy credit card processing script, your hosting account will need to allow you to install and run them. This requires access to a special folder on your server called "CGI-Bin". Some hosting accounts will only allow you to use "pre-installed" scripts as a security measure.

These are scripts that the owners of the company have installed and configured so that they know that they will work properly and not adversely affect their server's performance. That may be all you need, but if you have the knowledge, it's always nice to have the ability to install your own scripts and configure them to suit your individual needs. You should also be sure that the account you choose supports the language in which your scripts are written, such as PHP, Perl, etc.5. Up-Time GuaranteeAnother very important issue in determining the value of a hosting company is how often and for how long their servers "go down". No matter how good a deal you get on server space or bandwidht allowance, or how wonderfully the company's tech support takes care of you, your site can't receive visitors or produce revenue if the machine on which it is hosted is not up and running.

Naturally you want a company who can guarantee the highest up-time percentage possible. Servers are taken down briefly from time to time for maintenance or upgrading, so no company can ensure 100% up-time, but you want your site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that are not constantly having problems which require them to be down for long periods of time.6. Email AccountsAgain, like data transfer allowance and server space, some companies will offer you loads more email accounts than you will ever use. Some offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. This is an important factor if you are Bill Gates and have thousands of employees, each who need their own email box, but not such a big deal if you're just one person or a small company.

You should be okay with 10 or 15.7. ReputationThis is probably the most important factor to consider when choosing a web host. Do your homework. Pay attention to any negative feedback you may hear or read about a particular hosting company. There are several sites arount the Web that feature discussion forums that allow people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Ask specific questions about any company you might be interested in using to see if anyone else has had any negative experiences with them. As a beginning webmaster, I had initially contracted the services of a particular web hosting company to host my first site, who promised very good, dependable service for a very cheap price. Then one day, for no apparent reason, decided to delete my entire site without warning or explanation.

Only then did I visit some hosting forums and find that many others had similar negative experiences with that company. Don't make the same mistake I did, find out for sure from the start that your hosting company is not going to let you down.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Inexpensive Web Hosting

Selecting an inexpensive web hosting service provider can be confusing. Providers are full of claims that they may or may not adhere too. Finding a quality service provider that is affordable is a tedious task. However, there are features that you should consider when selecting your web-hosting provider.

Price Consideration
Naturally, price will be your first consideration. If this is your first website, and money is an issue, you will want the best service for your dollar and within your budget. The first course of action is to compare the services of several web-hosting providers. An internet search for a web hosting review site can make this task a lot easier.

Traffic Generation
You will also need to consider the types of traffic the service provider allows. Generally, the more you pay for a web hosting service, the larger the traffic offered. The amount of traffic will depend upon your own needs. It is usually not necessary to upgrade your web hosting service the minute you see an increase in traffic. Generally, most inexpensive web hosting companies will allow extra traffic up to a specified limit as a part of the package. However, if you find the traffic to your site has increased over the specified limit, you should then select a higher plan.

Many affordable web-hosting companies have a traffic-reporting feature. This feature can give you an idea of the amount of traffic that your site is generating. In addition, the traffic-reporting feature is an indication of whether or not your advertising is working. Most of the inexpensive providers offer efficient statistic reporting features that allow you to manage your site well.

Disk Space Consideration
The amount of disk space you require will depend on the amount of data on your web site. Therefore, you need to know how much disk space your site takes in order to compare service provider's plans.

Other Services to Consider
Web hosting services were once associated with only the high bracket hosting companies. However, the competition in this field has brought down the price of web hosting. Now, even an affordable web-hosting provider can offer domain registration and renewal as part of their package.

Services such as domain registration, traffic reporting, and disk space are just a few of the considerations when selecting your provider. So get on the internet and do your homework and you will find an inexpensive web-hosting provider that meets your needs.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Using A Web Hosting Forum To Find Your Next Host

The Internet has given us a whole new world in which to communicate and part of what we do in the spirit of that communication is discuss different topics through what are called forums – an open discussion group where participants post messages on a variety of topics and engage in back and forth dialogue. The topics of the forums are generally determined by the nature of the website on which they are hosted and participants are often asked to become members of the website in order to take part in the discussion. Interestingly enough, in some cases, the topic being discussed on the Internet is the Internet itself. In fact, more and more people find a web hosting forum to be a helpful place to exchange information on the myriad of decisions involved in choosing and handling a web host.

A web host is imperative to the creation and operation of a website of any kind. In essence, a host is a company or individual that offers unlimited access to the Internet through its server – a computer that gives and receives information from other computers. The host server is “plugged” into the Internet at all times – other than when they are down for service or due to technical difficulties. When you create a website you “rent” space online from the web host; in exchange for your monthly rental fee, the web host offers you territory on its server so that your website is connected to the Internet. If you are looking to start a website or have a website and are in search of an effective host, a web hosting forum can be crucial in determining what has been successful for other website owners.

For instance, in a web hosting forum consumers can find other websites that have about the same level of traffic as their own and ask the owners what web host has been successful for them. While a web host should offer almost unlimited access to the Internet, there are some that have a reputation for being offline more frequently that one would expect. Additionally, not all web hosts can handle the traffic that is generated by every website. It is worth finding a more comprehensive web host if your website receives quite a bit of traffic as opposed to smaller companies that receive a lower traffic rate. A web hosting forum will help you find those hosts that effectively play to your website’s strengths.

There is also the possibility of finding a web hosting forum that is created for web hosts themselves. Web hosts are a unique community that understands each other’s tribulations. Such a forum provides a place and an opportunity for hosts to discuss the unique challenges of their industry.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Cheap Linux Web Hosting

Linux Web Hosting permits turmoil corporations to compose their interlacing sites on the Linux Operating System, which is an open-source digression of the Unix Operating System. Using this hosting for lattice spreading allows companies to manage due to the first and indeed common in open-source technologies close as PHP, MySQL, Python, and XML. Most of the Linux based netting hosting also includes operate instruments to permit manageable containment of sites via the mesh based technology.

Linux is inclusively an operating technique which operates on a unstopped multifariousness of hardware, ranging from Intel and AMD CPUs to hardware close as Digital Alpha computers, PowerPCs, and Silicon Graphics workstations. Moreover the enormously express humdrum of Linux is that it is freely shareable.

Linux Web Hosting besides offers tools funk the Gateway Defender anti-spam and anti-virus relief to succour you to bleed electronic info threats and slight their inherent afflicted effects. Gateway Defender existent is your best cover rail spam and viruses. The Linux Web Hosting is a single-source design for all of your website hosting needs.

The common Linux interlacing hosting is the blessing foundation of users who are looking for just hosting options for smaller sites. With reciprocal hosting the gold of your server like as CPU, memory, wearisome disk, dossier proficiency are returned with single sites. Make indisputable when selecting a shared web owner provider that they have decent policies on how conspicuously a server is formidable augmenting by mismated sites. The Linux lacework hosting has a tactics of loading special sites to affect the problems of virus. Linux web hosting offers the services pleasure in 200MB+ disk space, PHP and MySQL and Perl, User genial Control Panel, FTP, FrontPage access, heterogeneous email accounts.

RedHat Linux is the general Linux lattice hosting that influences lacework sites with the characters of same and go-ahead platform. The notably affordable and just lattice village hosting packages are Linux based. The individuality included with these packages are multitasking, virtual memory, the finest TCP/IP drivers, multi-user aptitude instruments and thereupon on.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

VPS Web Hosting

Shared hosting allows thousands of people to host their own sites at a very reasonable cost. It has some drawbacks, however. Since hundreds of sites can be hosted on a single server resources such as CPU, disk space, and bandwidth have to be shared with your virtual neighbours.

Shared resources are usually not a problem for small to medium sized sites. Your main limitation is the lack of control over system level software – http servers, mail servers etc. You don't have any choice of operating system and you cannot compile programs or do administrative tasks such as setting up Spam filters or firewalls.

Many people would say 'So what? I don't want to do that stuff anyway!' It's true that the majority of website owners have no interest or ability to handle this kind of work and are happy to leave it to the hosting company. Those who desire more control over their server environment or wish to experiment with new software, however, can get access to this level of management with a Virtual Private Server.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a physical server that has been divided (using software) into several virtual machines, each acting as an independent dedicated server. The physical resources such as RAM, CPU and disk space are still shared, but each VPS acts independently of the others. Each VPS can have a different operating system and can be configured in any way possible.

The key advantage of VPS is allowing each VPS administrator access to the root level of his virtual server. This kind of access allows the administrator to install and delete software, set permissions, create accounts – in short, do everything that the administrator of a 'real' sever can.

As well as providing more control over your hosting environment, a VPS is more secure than shared hosting. Websites on a shared server all have the same operating system, so if a hacker were to find access to the root of the server he could damage any or all of the websites on that server. A VPS, on the other hand, is divided in such a way that even if a hacker were to gain entry through one account, there is no way to access the others. Each VPS is invisible to the others and there is no way to set up root level access from one VPS to another.

Virtual Private Servers can be set up in various ways so be sure to understand how the hosting company has allocated resources. The most common configuration is to divide all the physical resources evenly by the number of accounts. Thus, if there are 10 virtual servers, each would receive 10% of the total bandwidth, CPU, memory and disk space.

The disadvantages of VPS are almost the same as the advantages. The control that a VPS account provides can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. You have the ability to delete files, set permissions improperly, allow virus-laden software on the system and, in general, really screw things up. If you don't have the knowledge to administer a server, or are not willing to learn, VPS is not for you.

If your website has outgrown shared hosting, however, VPS offers an affordable alternative to dedicated hosting. When shopping for a VPS host, be sure to find out how system resources are divided up, the number of VPS accounts on each physical server, the method for upgrading, and the choices of operating systems.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Virtual vs. Dedicated vs. CoLo: Which Web Hosting Do I Need?

You know you need a web host, but you don’t know where to start. So you do a web search to research potential solutions and get a bit overwhelmed with all the jargon: UNIX, dedicated servers, POP3, CoLo... the list goes on.

Step back a bit. You don’t need to learn everything about web sites to choose a host. You do however need to know what a web host is, and the basic types of web hosting. This knowledge will lead you to know what type of hosting you need, and ultimately you can make a sound decision.

To begin, let’s define the term. Web hosting is a service that hosts web pages on servers that can be accessed through the Internet. There are three primary categories of web hosting providers that cater to the requirements of site owners; these include virtual web hosting, dedicated web hosting, and co-located hosting. There are various sources online that offer detailed information and reviews on these services, but there are several details you should pay most attention to. The points to consider before selecting a web hosting provider include the number of clients they service, years in business, customer service reputation, hardware specifications, and backup routines. With that out of the way, let’s jump in and explore the basic types of web hosting.

Dedicated hosting

A dedicated web server is basically like the name sounds: it’s dedicated to your site only. Typically it is leased to a site owner. The hosting company is responsible for the maintenance, backing up, security, and power management. The site owner manages the software-related issues.

Dedicated hosting is useful for websites that need extra bandwidth and system resources because of the use of technologies such as e-commerce software, customized server applications, and heavy traffic. Such websites are often better served by a dedicated hosting provider rather than developing and running an in-house solution. Dedicated hosting is possible with Windows, Mac, and Linux servers. A dedicated server can cost upward of $100 / month.

Pros and cons: 24/7 tech support is available. Speed, dependability, and customizability of website are often enhanced. The response time of dedicated servers is fast as compared to shared servers where the activity of other sites affects server speeds. Reliability and customizability of websites are improved as dedicated hosting offers greater storage capacity and greater freedom in terms of hardware configurations and software installations; hard drives can be upgraded and bandwidths increased with growth.

Shared servers and CoLo hosting are cheaper alternatives to dedicated hosting. Moreover, as the server is not owned by the site owner, security of sensitive data can be an issue.

Virtual hosting

Virtual hosting, also called shared hosting, is a popular and cost-effective web hosting solution. The hosting provider leases the website hosting server, services, and bandwidth to more than one website. Small and medium-sized websites, which do not have high traffic and have limited bandwidth requirements, benefit from virtual hosting. A virtual hosting offer by a service provider usually includes features such as Internet connection, domain name registration, file storage, email account, and may also include website design assistance. The cost of virtual hosting is in the range of $5-40 per month. It can be more or less depending upon the package selected.

Pros and cons: Virtual hosting enables the establishment of an online presence with no expensive equipment purchases required on part of the site owners and therefore is the perfect solution for SMBs.

One of the limitations of virtual hosting is that sites compete for the provider’s service; this may result in slow server response times in periods of heavy traffic and make browsing inconvenient. Since websites hosted on a server may be grouped under a single IP address, there is a chance that a site owner may have to share an IP address with adult or scam sites. This can lead to debarring from search engine placements which will have an adverse effect on the traffic. As the software components are shared between websites, a site owner may not be able to personalize the website as per his business objectives and target audience.

While purchasing virtual hosting services, it is useful to have an idea of the total anticipated traffic during the day as well as the visits during the peak period. This helps in obtaining a package with sufficient bandwidth for immediate and near term needs. Also, the cost of an upgrade and changes to the package should be understood.

Co-location (Co-lo) hosting

In Co-location hosting, the server is owned by the site owner and it is leased at the co-lo facility, where it is installed along with other servers in the facility. A co-lo service enables site owners to make maximum use of network access points and the freedom to choose between telecom lines provided by the hosting company and other telecom lines. Co-location hosting enables site owners to utilize high bandwidth at a cost that is not significantly higher than that of a normal web hosting package. The site owner maintains the server while the hosting provider ensures smooth running by providing regular power supply and IT support.

Co-location hosting services can be standalone data centers or companies that operate by leasing server space from a co-location web hosting reseller. The cost of the server and the volume of rack space required by the servers of a site owner influence the cost of co-lo hosting. Servers that fit in with the dimensions of the racks can help to save costs; co-locating tower servers usually cost more. Additional services provided by the hosting provider and insurance are other factors that affect cost. The monthly cost of a co-lo service for a half-rack of server space can be up to $1000.

Pros and cons: The benefits of co-location hosting include temperature and humidity controlled environment for the servers; security from hacking, fire, and theft; provision of redundancy and backup. It enables the site owner to control the critical features of web hosting such as bandwidth allocation, routers, VPN, server space, and VLAN.

Site owners may not find it easy to locate a co-lo service that is situated close enough to facilitate easy and safe transfer of servers and at the same time provide the best connection speeds. Co-lo hosting is of greater advantage to those who have hosting experience and consequently are better placed to recover the costs involved.

Ultimately, it is the requirements of the site that dictate the choice of web hosting solution. Online stores and sites with heavy traffic are better off with dedicated hosting, personal blogs and small sites without ecommerce activity that do not have high bandwidth consumption can function with virtual hosting, and websites that require a high degree of customization and deal with sensitive data benefit from a co-lo hosting arrangement.

To determine what type of host you need, ask yourself what type of site you have, and it should all flow naturally from there.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Things To Think About When Choosing A Web Hosting Service

Now that your website is nearing completion you may have already spent some time scouting around on the net for a web hosting service for you to use. One thing that you may have noticed is that there is virtually and uncountable number of them offering their services, all claiming to be the best, which can make a final decision some what difficult.

Add to this the fact that many of these services are coming and going out of business constantly, due the the high level of competition in the web hosting business on the Internet. After much careful research you may be ready to make your final decision based solely on the technical qualifications of a web hosting service such as the amount of bandwidth and gigabytes that that they have to offer you.

Also, there is the price of their services that is always something that must be taken into consideration. Is there other things that can be taken into consideration when deciding on a web hosting service to use? The fact of the matter is that there are a few other factors that you may want to take into consideration before you make your final decision.

The truth of the matter is that due to the high degree of competition between web hosting services many of them offer other services that you may want to consider other then just their technical qualifications. Of course when you have your website created you can be overly optimistic with regards to its projected future level of success. This means that you will want to consider that you will have to engage in some measure of active promotion of your website and you will want your web hosting service to have the tools necessary for you to do this.

SEO is very important to a websites success and if your hosting service has the tools needed for you to effectively promote your websites SEO then this can give you the edge you need to prevail against the competition you will encounter on the Internet. One tool that will come in handy for SEO is a functioning research tool that you can use for researching your competition and also for planning the use of your keywords.

The importance of this tool cannot be underestimated, because it is highly unlikely that your website is going to achieve an appreciable measure of success with out you having engaged in search engine optimization or what is referred to as SEO. Another thing that you will want to make sure of is that the hosing service that you use currently creates site maps and also pings ASK, Google and Yahoo automatically.

If a hosting service doesn't do this, it means that you will have to do it yourself every time you update your website or add a web page which can be very time consuming. Still one more effective aspect of a preferable web hosting service is a tool for inspecting and reviewing web pages that will make suggestions for changes that will result in more positive and effective SEO or search engine optimization.