Scottsdale, Arizona - February 25, 2008 - Web hosting firm, GoDaddy’s network of registrars, are reportedly the first to back-up all customer information with an outside data storage firm under new regulations set forth by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The Registrar Data Escrow (RDE) program is an ICANN initiative designed to protect consumers from losing control of their domain names should a registrar lose its accreditation or go defunct. Of course, Go Daddy, the global leader in domain registrations, has always backed up its data - including the registrant and other contact information - through a multi-pronged program that also protects registrants - privacy.Escrowing the data with ICANN, per the new regulations, provides an additional layer of security, while also setting a good example for the registrar community.
Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of Go Daddy noted, ”Go Daddy’s customers already enjoy unparalleled, world-class customer support and security. But as the world’s undisputed leader in domain registrations, we feel it is our responsibility to take the lead on this important issue.”
Go Daddy’s registrars are partnering with information protection and storage firm Iron Mountain, also the ICANN designated Registrar Data Escrow Agent, on the project. The new initiative requires all registrars to deposit a copy of their registration databases each week, with high-volume registrars depositing incremental updates daily.
John Boruvka, Vice President of Iron Mountain’s Intellectual Property Management services noted, ”By getting industry leaders, such as Go Daddy, on board - early in the process - our testing with large volumes of data is streamlined. Go Daddy’s participation has been key to ICANN’s rollout of the Registrar Data Escrow program.”
The Go Daddy Group is led by its flagship, GoDaddy.com, the world’s largest domain name registrar. Go Daddy has more than 27 million names in its portfolio and serves 5 million customers worldwide. It is also one of the planet’s best web hosting providers. It hosts more web sites with SSL certificates – which guarantee the encryption of sensitive data - than any other company on the globe.
The Go Daddy Group, Inc. is a domain name registrar with more than 22 million domains under management and 24-hour-a-day customer support. More than 4 million customers are serviced by Go Daddy for domain registration, web site hosting, email and related Internet services. Go Daddy is a provider of services designed to enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy also provides a variety of on-demand and other services. GoDaddy.com is the world’s No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2006, The Go Daddy Group registered approximately one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info.
2/25/2008
Which Web Hosting is Best For You?
With thousands of beginners trying their hand at websites, it is certain that the market is becoming quite crowded. From music blogs to gossip communities and technological havens – these online avenues can be a wonderful hobby for people who just want an audience. After all, who wouldn't want to be heard among thousands of visitors every day? For this reason alone, websites are one of the most popular forms of entertainment. While making a website is essential, the majority of beginners do not realize that web hosting is even more important.
In simpler terms, web hosting provides you with the space to create your masterpiece. When you design your layout, post thousands of pictures, and even set up a chat room, you absolutely need a place to do so. For instance, if you were to do something like this outside of the virtual world, and build a theatre, wouldn't you need your own space? Luckily, web hosting is extremely affordable and can be easy for even the beginners to use.
In simpler terms, web hosting provides you with the space to create your masterpiece. When you design your layout, post thousands of pictures, and even set up a chat room, you absolutely need a place to do so. For instance, if you were to do something like this outside of the virtual world, and build a theatre, wouldn't you need your own space? Luckily, web hosting is extremely affordable and can be easy for even the beginners to use.
After you purchase a domain name, the next step is to find a company that will host your website. There are many different paths you can take to do this, but it depends on your main goals. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself why you want to create a website. Is it for personal use – simply to post your pictures from college? Or perhaps your dream is to create the most popular music website on the internet. Regardless of your priorities, companies have built specific web hosting packages based around your needs.
If you are looking to just post pictures or create something for fun, a free web hosting company is the way to go. There are many of these around the web, including Geocities and AngelFire. These two companies are dedicated to helping beginners. As a result, new webmasters do not need to know extensive HTML or CSS. In this day and age, it is quite easy to build a masterpiece. While these hosts give you a large amount of space and freedom, there are downsides. The majority of companies will stick pop up advertisements on your space, in order for them to market their company. Unfortunately, this is an annoyance for most, and can cause visitors to leave immediately. Luckily, Geocities lets you close the box when you enter the website. Nevertheless, if you are looking for an easy website and do not care about visitors, you simply should try it out.
On the other hand, if you are looking for something a bit more professional, you should be emptying your wallet. Providentially, 3ix.org and GoDaddy are two companies that offer extremely cheap website hosting. This means that you can easily pay $12/year just for an abundance of space. Still looking for more features? These companies will let you add on everything from FrontPage Maker to extra bandwidth. If you are serious about your venture, these are places to check out.
Web hosting may sound like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be difficult. With so many beginners flooding the internet, companies have put it upon themselves to make these programs much easier to use. As long as you can type in your name, have overflowing creativity and an e-mail address, the opportunities are endless.
A Soundry of Options for Web Hosting
Since the birth of the internet, millions upon millions of websites have been created. They may contain different information and designs, but they all have one thing in common. Web hosting, one of the most important functions in the website process, allows website owners to put up their creative masterpieces. Regardless of what they do decide to display, this type of program gives them the independence to say whatever they'd like.One of the biggest misconceptions of web hosting is that every package is the same. We all assume that one size fits all, and that there are no in betweens. Surprisingly, this is just the opposite. Depending upon the type of website you are making, and its popularity, you may need something much more professional and expensive. Nonetheless, there are affordable packages, no matter how tiny or large your budget is.
If you are just starting out and want no string attached, there are plenty of alternatives. Free hosting allows you to not only create a website, but it helps beginners, no matter how much experience they have. Although there are popup downsides and other annoyances, free web hosting will give you everything that you need. If you are not sure if you even want to extensively design one, Geocities or AngelFire is great to experiment with.
Are you looking for something a bit more customized? For many webmasters, shared hosting is a favorite. This means that an abundance of websites are actually on one server. While this only costs a few dollars a month, there are still issues that come along with it. For instance, if a fellow webmaster were to have done something illegal, chances are your website would be shut down as well. This is because you share an IP, which of course can be quite dangerous. For this reason, you must be careful when choosing people to share a host with.
While these are great alternatives, many professional companies enjoy dedicated hosting . Fortunately, the website is the only one on the server, which results in a lot less complications. With freedom comes a plethora of features, which include extra bandwidth, visitor trackers, and your own I.P. As a result, you do not have to worry about illegal situations occurring within your server. Everything is based around your needs.
Reseller hosting is another admired amenity. If you are a webmaster and are looking to make some extra cash, this is a great opportunity. In simple terms, you purchase a web hosting package from a company and divide the space into several sections. These sections can easily be purchased by fellow webmasters, who are in need of space. With this business in place, you will effortless make a few dollars.
Regardless of what you are looking to make, web hosting is necessary. From free companies to dedicated servers with only one website, there are endless opportunities. Although people assume that there is only one type of package, this article clearly shows how wrong the myth can be. The only requirement is that you are ready to work hard, be innovative, and stand out among the crowd. With these factors in mind, you could be to the top in no time.
Hostgator Coupon 2008
Host Gator Coupons - Save money with Hostgator webhosting Now - Get the first month of hosting Free
Below are given instructions to get your webhosting coupons for hostgator shared web hosting plans, hostgator reseller web hosting plans and hostgator dedicated server plans with unlimited domains and cpanel, fantastico, whm .
Hostgator has updated its shared or virtual web hosting offers with 3 shared hosting plans - Hatchling, Baby, & Swamp. This coupon applies only to your first billing cycle. After that the standard HostGator pricing will be billed.
See below how much you can save on Hostgator Hosting Packages
Hatchling Regular Cost - $8.95 (paid monthy)
After using the Hostgator Coupon - $9.94 saving (when paid for full year)
Baby Regular Cost - $9.95 (paid monthly)
After using the Hostgator Coupon - $9.94 saving (when paid for 1-month or more)
Swamp Regular Cost - $14.95 (paid monthly)
After using the Hostgator Coupon - $9.94 saving (when paid for 1-month or more)
For more details about the Hosting packages, visit HostGator’s website
To save upto $ 9.94 on Hostgator Shared Hosting, enter any of the below mentioned hostgator coupon codes on the order page
Hostgator Coupon Code : WEBHOSTING
Hostgator Coupon Code : TURKEY
Hostgator Coupon Code : FINDMYHOST
Hostgator Coupon Code : TOPHOST
Hostgator Coupon Code : HGC25
Hostgator Coupon Code : 404PAGE
Hostgator Coupon Code : HOSTGATOR
Hostgator Coupon Code : WORDPRESS
Hostgator Coupon Code : ICEISHOT
And to save upto $ 24.94 on Hostgator Reseller Hosting, enter this hostgator reseller hosting coupon codes on the order page
Hostgator Resellers Coupon Code : CO_NR
Click here to submit your order
For detailed examples with screenshots, click on the thumbnails below to see where to enter the coupon code and to avail the discount on your hosting package.
Starting you orderSelect the second option “I will use my existing domain”Enter your domain name in the input box of “Existing Domain”Then click “Next”
Choosing the Billing Cycle & Entering the couponSelect your billing cycle and in the coupon box, enter coupon as JURYThen click on “Calculate totals”
Making sure you see the Coupon discountYou can confirm here that you have got the coupon discount benefit of $25 or as the case may be
Submitting your order details and login infoEnter your login details and other information
Entering & submitting your payment information Select your payment method - paypal or credit cardEnter the relevant payment detailsAgree to the terms & conditionsClick on “Verify my order”
After confirming and submitting your order details, you’ll be receiving an email in about 10-20 minutes with your order and login access details.
Now you can Start building your website. Enjoy !
Host Gator Best Reseller Hosting Awards
Let’s have a closer look at why Hostgator for your websites:Hostgator is a privately owned company founded in 2002 that has no debt, is very profitable, and has NO intentions of selling any time soon. We provide service to over 700,000 websites on our shared and reseller plans. We are the world’s leading provider of reseller accounts with over 10,000 resellers who have chosen us to provide the network, servers, and support required to launch a hosting business.
Rating:
Definitely 5 out of 5
Product Features:
Most popular plan runs $7.95/month and these are just a few of the features:
600 Gigs of Web Hosting Space
6,000 Gigabytes of Bandwidth
Host UNLIMITED Websites
FREE Instant Setup
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
CGI, PHP 4 & 5, RoR, Perl
MySQL, SSH, SSL, IMAP, POP
FREE Site Builder
cPanel Hosting ( View Demo )
24/7/365 Upgraded Support
No Contracts or Hidden Fees
Hosting Plans:
Linux/Unix Hosting Plans
Hatchling: 350 GB disk space, 3000 GB bandwidth @ $4.95/month
Baby: 600 GB disk space, 6000 GB bandwidth @ $7.95/month
Swamp: 1000 GB disk space, unlimited bandwidth @ $12.95/month
Semi-Dedicated: 25 GB disk space, 500 GB bandwidth @ $74.95/month
Product Summary:
Insane Customer Dedication
Hostgator may eat up the competition, but we have nothing but love for our customers! Our team has over forty support veterans that are here to assist you 24/7/365 by chat, phone, and ticket system. Many companies claim to offer this type of support and customer satisfaction but not many are willing to prove it.
We welcome you to give us a test call at 1-866-964-2867. Are you still not sure if hostgator is the right choice? What if you had a special hookup? Well you do! Our owner Brent Oxley is at your disposal for any problems you may have. While Brent might not be reachable by phone all the time you are welcome to request your ticket be assigned to him for the extra TLC you deserve!
Who It’s For:
From the hatchling beginning website to the Master Marketer
Product Advantages:
The best host. The best network. The best choice.
Product Disadvantages:
I really cannot find any or have experienced any I started using them
Recommendation:
Although they have a great website builder, it would be great if they provided website templates to upload to your website or web 2.0 blog theme.
Popularity: 89%
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting
One of the most crucial decisions that most online businesses have to make is choosing the best web hosting service. With a popular or well known and reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP) you won't face many problems, however with a poor web hosting service provider it can be a nightmare.
Choosing the right kind of web hosting service can be a very daunting task at times as there are some very important features that you need to make sure of. Here you can find below what exactly to look for when choosing the best web hosting service.
Amount of web space: A web hosting service provider would usually assign you a certain amount of space on their server. You need to ensure that does it have the right amount of space for your website and your business requirements. You might want to expand your online business tomorrow and would require much more space. So it's imperative for you that the web hosting company should be able to provide you with ample of space especially if your website is rich in graphics or has video clips.
FTP access: FTP access is very crucial since it provides the ability to upload new pages. Some web hosting service providers allow you to just design your web pages with their own personal web builder. This may be useful for beginners however you need to ensure if they provide you the facility to expand later when you enhance your online business capabilities.
Degree of reliability, security and speed of access: Speed, security and reliability are extremely important for the success of any online business. While choosing a reliable web hosting service you need to ensure that this is taken care of. A site that is not available, not updated on time or is down, will lose many online visitors. If an online visitor finds your site listed on a search engine, and he tries to access it but finds it down, he is sure to move on to the next link and you lose an important customer or visitor. Even slow working websites are very frustrating. So how do you know if a hosting company is reliable or not? By word of mouth or feedback from others! If that's not possible then you can yourself try accessing your site during peak hours and non-peak hours too. Your site has to be secure of intruders at the same time, especially if it's an ecommerce website.
Dependence and support: Does the web hosting service provide 24x7 supports? Do they respond rapidly to your issue? Can you depend on them? If you need 24-hour technical support that larger companies need then expect to pay substantially more. In fact, people are much more expensive than machines.
Pricing plans : Price is also one factor that you should look out for when choosing the best web hosting service. It's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. Simply compare prices and services before you finalize one.
Data transfer (Bandwidth): You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. After all it's your website and you need to ensure that you are getting the best services for the money you invest.
Choosing the right kind of web hosting service can be a very daunting task at times as there are some very important features that you need to make sure of. Here you can find below what exactly to look for when choosing the best web hosting service.
Amount of web space: A web hosting service provider would usually assign you a certain amount of space on their server. You need to ensure that does it have the right amount of space for your website and your business requirements. You might want to expand your online business tomorrow and would require much more space. So it's imperative for you that the web hosting company should be able to provide you with ample of space especially if your website is rich in graphics or has video clips.
FTP access: FTP access is very crucial since it provides the ability to upload new pages. Some web hosting service providers allow you to just design your web pages with their own personal web builder. This may be useful for beginners however you need to ensure if they provide you the facility to expand later when you enhance your online business capabilities.
Degree of reliability, security and speed of access: Speed, security and reliability are extremely important for the success of any online business. While choosing a reliable web hosting service you need to ensure that this is taken care of. A site that is not available, not updated on time or is down, will lose many online visitors. If an online visitor finds your site listed on a search engine, and he tries to access it but finds it down, he is sure to move on to the next link and you lose an important customer or visitor. Even slow working websites are very frustrating. So how do you know if a hosting company is reliable or not? By word of mouth or feedback from others! If that's not possible then you can yourself try accessing your site during peak hours and non-peak hours too. Your site has to be secure of intruders at the same time, especially if it's an ecommerce website.
Dependence and support: Does the web hosting service provide 24x7 supports? Do they respond rapidly to your issue? Can you depend on them? If you need 24-hour technical support that larger companies need then expect to pay substantially more. In fact, people are much more expensive than machines.
Pricing plans : Price is also one factor that you should look out for when choosing the best web hosting service. It's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. Simply compare prices and services before you finalize one.
Data transfer (Bandwidth): You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. After all it's your website and you need to ensure that you are getting the best services for the money you invest.
Web Host AIT Targets Resellers
February 25, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting provider Advanced Internet Technologies (ait.com) announced on Monday that it is launching some offerings targeted towards resellers that includes reseller hosting, domain registration and becoming a search engine through AIT's tyBit (tybit.com).
"I started in my garage as a reseller and now AIT is located in a 93,000 state-of-the-art data center with 210,000 customers worldwide," says Clarence E. Briggs CEO and founder of AIT. "We know how to make our resellers and customers successful, because that's how AIT was founded. In fact, Go Daddy started out as one of our resellers."
AIT says that resellers will have over 100 free private-label products and services they'll be able to resell, including shopping carts, email marketing, credit card processing, instant portals and Web design.
Last week, AIT developed a set of hosted Web applications to help companies quickly and easily create an online presence.
"I started in my garage as a reseller and now AIT is located in a 93,000 state-of-the-art data center with 210,000 customers worldwide," says Clarence E. Briggs CEO and founder of AIT. "We know how to make our resellers and customers successful, because that's how AIT was founded. In fact, Go Daddy started out as one of our resellers."
AIT says that resellers will have over 100 free private-label products and services they'll be able to resell, including shopping carts, email marketing, credit card processing, instant portals and Web design.
Last week, AIT developed a set of hosted Web applications to help companies quickly and easily create an online presence.
2/03/2008
BidPay Abruptly Closes Online-Payment Service
BidPay.com sent an email to users on Wednesday informing them it was discontinuing operations effective December 31, 2007, but gave no reason. It was 2 years ago this month that First Data Corporation abruptly closed BidPay before selling it to CyberSource Corporation.
A disappointed eBay seller wrote to AuctionBytes, "It's sad to see Bidpay leaving us out in the cold once again. We have used Bidpay on a daily basis for our international buyers and I am currently wondering what we will replace Bidpay with, and on top of that make sure that they new payment service should be a payment service that is not against eBay's policy."
BidPay President David Hansen told AuctionBytes it was a corporate decision to close the online payment service, and a major league disappointment. Hansen had also been President of BidPay under First Data Corporation's ownership.
How well BidPay was able to compete on eBay against the online auction site's own PayPal payment service is questionable. eBay heavily promotes PayPal to its buyers and sellers and offers protection to buyers only for PayPal-funded transactions. According to SEC documents, CyberSource reported that BidPay.com's third-quarter revenue in 2007 was approximately $120,000 and generated losses.
This year, BidPay expanded its service beyond eBay into ecommerce storefronts, and just twelve weeks ago, it launched an API that allowed developers to integrate BidPay into their shopping carts and ecommerce platforms. But in November, CyberSource acquired a service called Authorize.net that already addressed the needs of small merchants, making BidPay's off-eBay service redundant and, likely, inconsequential.
BidPay was one of the few online payment services eBay allowed sellers to accept aside from its own PayPal service. For eBay sellers who don't want to accept PayPal and may be too small to get their own credit-card merchant account, this may be a major setback. Off-eBay merchants do have the choice of using services like Google Checkout, and, as of this month, Amazon Payments.
Effective 5:00 P.M. PST, December 25, 2007, BidPay will cease accepting payments. From January 1, 2008 through 11:59 P.M. PST, January 31, 2008, registered users will have read-only access to their BidPay account information, and customer support services will be available through January 31, 2008 by contacting support@bidbay.com.
Web Hosting Provider Go Daddy Gives Millions to Charities and Employees
With 2007 “the company’s most successful year ever” and a “record year for donations and incentives”, Web hosting provider Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com) has given millions of dollars to charities and employees, it was reported recently.
Go Daddy’s philanthropic works during 2007 totaled $1.4 million in donations.
Go Daddy’s employees have also received awards of more than $1 million in 2007, with employee prizes including cash, cars, a year’s mortgage paid, a four-year college scholarship and a trip around the world that included 20-paid vacation days and $10,000 spending money. “We learned a long time ago, happy employees are productive employees,” add Mr. Parsons. “We hold fun contests all throughout the whole year.
Sedo Holds GreatDomains Auction
Domain online marketplace Sedo announced on Thursday that the first GreatDomains Auction (greatdomains.com) of 2008 starts today at 2:00 p.m. EST.
The auction, which will run through January 24, will feature many highly sought after domains, including flats.com, Indian.com, latest.com, test.net and other one-word premium domains.
This marks Sedo's first GreatDomains auction since December’s record auction that featured 308 bidders from 42 different countries who bid on a range of premium domains including via.com, which closed at $157,500, and click.net, which closed at $56,000. The total dollar amount of the auction reached almost $1.7 million, which was accomplished largely in part by the sale of domains like chica.com ($41,000) and fattuesday.com ($16,500).
Sedo announced in November that it concluded its second .mobi "premium name" online auction on November 7, generating $760,000 for generating mobile content tools like taxi.mobi, dating.mobi, homes.mobi and adult.mobi.
EasyCGI makes Window Server 2008 Available to All Hosting Customers
EasyCGI hosting customers now have the flexibility of hosting their clients' websites using Windows Server 2008, which provides better performance and greater security that Windows 2003, plus powerful hosting features that will save programming time and make hosted sites potentially more profitable.
Microsoft Partner, Easy CGI, has become one of the first web hosting companies to offer Windows Server 2008 hosting for all shared hosting plans.
Windows Server 2008 hosting features IIS 7 (Internet Information Services 7) which builds upon the previous IIS 6 release to provide enhanced security and performance for web hosters. With the new server platform, Easy CGI's hosting customers now have the flexibility to set up their hosting plans on Windows 2008, or continue with Windows 2003.
Microsoft says IIS 7 is the most ambitious Microsoft Web server it has yet offered, having such features as FastCGI, which runs powerful PHP applications at high performance levels, and feature delegation, which lets users modify many website settings quickly through the web.config file. By offering more and better controls to developers, Windows Server 2008 enables them to develop applications locally, and then transfer them to the live server, without having to make updates to the server site.
Easy CGI has opted to provide Windows Server 2008 with IIS 7 for several reasons:
"Easy CGI is proud to be one of the first providers of Windows 2008 hosting" said Ted Beckwith, vice president of Easy CGI. "As a Microsoft Partner, EasyCGI has the ability to learn, implement, and deploy new Microsoft technologies before other providers. We then use this expertise to offer optimal web hosting products and support to our customers."
"Windows 2008 and IIS 7 have many new features that will reduce total cost of ownership and improve manageability; these benefits will be passed on directly to our customers" said Dan Richfield, President of Easy CGI. "For example, technologies such as FastCGI pre-compile an image of the PHP script being used. This gives our customers the ability to develop robust PHP applications that will perform at the highest level and not cause to much overhead on Easy CGI's servers. It's a win - win situation for both.
Web Hosting Company, Future Hosting, Releases Future Protect Backups
Web hosting company, Future Hosting, an Internet Solutions provider serving small to medium sized businesses internationally, will offer a new data protection service free of charge, to all Virtual Private Server customers.
Future Protect provides data back up every six hours, stored on a remote server. In the event of a disaster or hardware failure, the company can quickly and seamlessly restore backed up data, minimizing any potential downtime and providing an extra layer of security. Future Protect utilizes R1Soft's revolutionary Continuous Data Protection technology to offer such frequent backups.
Charles Kowalski, COO of Future Hosting noted, "For businesses operating on the Internet, we recognize that data security and service uptime are absolutely mission-critical. Hardware failures and other disasters are often unforeseen and unpreventable. Even so, businesses need assurances that their data will survive unexpected situations, and that recovery will be quick. Future Protect meets that need and offers an important level of security."
Currently, Future Protect backups are only available for disaster recovery. Customers are encouraged to keep their own backups to be used in the event of an accidental deletion or other case of human error. Future Protect has been automatically added at no charge for VPS customers, and dedicated server customers can elect to add Future Protect for an additional monthly fee, based on their individualized data size requirements and backup frequency. Dedicated server customers are encouraged to contact the company’s Sales department for more details about the new service.
Future Protect provides data back up every six hours, stored on a remote server. In the event of a disaster or hardware failure, the company can quickly and seamlessly restore backed up data, minimizing any potential downtime and providing an extra layer of security. Future Protect utilizes R1Soft's revolutionary Continuous Data Protection technology to offer such frequent backups.
Charles Kowalski, COO of Future Hosting noted, "For businesses operating on the Internet, we recognize that data security and service uptime are absolutely mission-critical. Hardware failures and other disasters are often unforeseen and unpreventable. Even so, businesses need assurances that their data will survive unexpected situations, and that recovery will be quick. Future Protect meets that need and offers an important level of security."
Currently, Future Protect backups are only available for disaster recovery. Customers are encouraged to keep their own backups to be used in the event of an accidental deletion or other case of human error. Future Protect has been automatically added at no charge for VPS customers, and dedicated server customers can elect to add Future Protect for an additional monthly fee, based on their individualized data size requirements and backup frequency. Dedicated server customers are encouraged to contact the company’s Sales department for more details about the new service.
Different Web Hosting Plans
The internet is comprised of many websites that are joined together
throughout a network of servers, cabling and communications software. The
hosting facilities for these websites might have one web address, but
the customers that buy web space to place a website, will look at many
plans before they decide what type of webhosting plan will fit the needs
of the site from then on out.
throughout a network of servers, cabling and communications software. The
hosting facilities for these websites might have one web address, but
the customers that buy web space to place a website, will look at many
plans before they decide what type of webhosting plan will fit the needs
of the site from then on out.
A business would not benefit from having to relocate all the time, so
people look for a web host that they can trust to remain in business for
the duration of the business relationship they have with the customers
they serve. The web site owner might visit the webhosting site to see
what rates they offer on a monthly basis to host the business website.
Some monthly prices are remarkably low and most people would naturally
check in to what services they would be getting for that charge each
month.
An entrepreneur will benefit greatly from the webhosting site that
offers plans with free setup services for ecommerce sites. Some webhosting
companies charge for each type of service that will be needed and the
accumulated cost of the final version of a working website will make the
operation of a business online almost unaffordable. Some webhosting
sites will charge customers to build a site, and more to install a
shopping cart, and even more to market the site so that customers who are
looking for the products will be able to locate the website.
The webhosting site might have several webhosting plans that offer a
varying degree of bandwidth for customers to use each day. The person
might realize that the eCommerce website they want to run will not require
a large load of data to be transferred and that the low prices on
webhosting sites that offer bandwidth in a 6,000-gigabyte range would be
able to handle all the data transfer needs that customers might require
to place orders and make payments.
Most of the webhosting plans will offer basic services such as data
storage because this is needed by the business owner to place product
descriptions and digital images in that will ultimately create the
atmosphere of a well-organized business. The webhosting plans might charge for
scripts that owners can use to animate certain product selections and
if this service is not needed then most would expect that charge to be
excluded from the webhosting price.
The webhosting sites may include 24-hour customer service in the
monthly hosting plan, or they might charge a nominal fee for these services
if the business owner will rely on those services 24-hours a day. Most
webhosting plans will promise prospective customers a certain amount of
time each day that the hosting services will be available to customers.
Website owners could read webhosting reviews to find out if the
webhosting plans have kept that commitment to others who have used those
webhosting services.
The webhosting packages are generally tailored to the needs of each
customer so the price of each plan can change dramatically if more changes
occur overtime with the business website. Some companies will require
the use of a dedicated server because the quantity of the files that
are stored will exceed even the most generous allotments offered in
webhosting plans. Some businesses will only need email hosting because the
business operates as a mail-order business and webhosting fees charged
for this type of business will be noticeably less than those that
require several servers and other webhosting resources.
How To Find Some Of The Best Web Hosting Companies
Web hosting (webhosting) is a service provided by companies that will help you host your web pages so that other internet users can find them on the internet. Webhosting companies will usually provide some ways for us to upload our files to their hosting sites.
How do other internet users find my site? The importance of Domain Name.
On top of uploading your files to a webhosting companies, You can register for a domain name. Other internet users will find your site based on domain name that you have. If you are not particular about having individualized and meaningful domain names, you can find lots of webhosting companies that provide you with free subdomains.
An example of free subdomain is easyaffiliatemarketingguide.wordpress.com the main domain is actually wordpress.com and easyaffiliatemarketingguide is what i registered with wordpress. Wordpress is a place where you can get a website started in a very short period of time, within a couple of minutes, it is one of the most popular site which support Web 2.0. The only draw back that i can see is that there are some restrictions on advertising and more advance functionalities if you website is hosted with them. Read more about how to use wordpress to support your internet affiliate marketing efforts in my other articles.
If you would like to have your own domain name like www.tzeyong.com you can register for a domain name at any of the domain registrar available. Most top webhosting companies will provide you with free domain names. So make sure you check out and decide which company you want to go with for your webhosting before registering a domain name.
What to look out for in webhosting companies? Six main criteria of choosing the right webhosting company.
1. How much disk space is available?
This would really depends on what you want to have a website for. Is it for a company? Or is it your personal site? Are you going to upload lots of multimedia files and photos? Or are you mainly using it for text based pages? This would ranges from 10 Gigabytes for personal text based pages to 300 Gigabyte for businesses.
2. How much bandwidth is provided?
For all the different webhosting plans that a company offer. You will have to decide on the bandwidth that you requires. This closely relate to your disk space usage. If you are planning to have lots of multimedia on your website. It would be better to get a plan with higher bandwidth allowance. Typlical bandwidth limits starts from 300 GB for a basic webhosting plan up to 3,000 GB for a business webhosting plan.
3. What kind of support will be provided?
Because you would need to remotely administer your website. It is important to consider the kind of support that your webhosting company has. Is the support 24 hours, 7 days a week? What are the forms of support? Toll free phone? Email support is a norm nowadays.
4. Reliability of the webhosting service?
What is the uptime promise? With todays advancement in server technologies, uptime of 99.9% are often provided by some of the web best webhosting firms.
5. Pricing of webhosting plans?
With the number of webhosting companies increasing, webhosting plans now are very competitive. Most basic plan offerred by webhosting companies ranges from $5 to $10 per month. Anything more than that would be kind of a rip off.
A very important point about price plan for your consideration is that it is a recurring fee that you need to pay per month (or annually). Some webhosting companies would give you very good discount initially, however, if the monthly fees are higher that the rest, in the long run you are actually at the losing end.
6. What are the freebies that the webhosting company is going to provide?
This is actually a very important point. No matter what is the purpose of your website, the bottomline is that you would like to draw traffic to your website. There is no easier way than using pay per click advertising through search networks. Some top webhosting firm will actually give you free credits vouchers to be used in the search network.
Another consideration is if the webhosting firm supports the latest web technology. In recent years, Web 2.0 has slowly became the de facto standard which good webhosting firm will support.
Above stated are the main criteria that is good to review and think about before one engages a webhosting company.
How do other internet users find my site? The importance of Domain Name.
On top of uploading your files to a webhosting companies, You can register for a domain name. Other internet users will find your site based on domain name that you have. If you are not particular about having individualized and meaningful domain names, you can find lots of webhosting companies that provide you with free subdomains.
An example of free subdomain is easyaffiliatemarketingguide.wordpress.com the main domain is actually wordpress.com and easyaffiliatemarketingguide is what i registered with wordpress. Wordpress is a place where you can get a website started in a very short period of time, within a couple of minutes, it is one of the most popular site which support Web 2.0. The only draw back that i can see is that there are some restrictions on advertising and more advance functionalities if you website is hosted with them. Read more about how to use wordpress to support your internet affiliate marketing efforts in my other articles.
If you would like to have your own domain name like www.tzeyong.com you can register for a domain name at any of the domain registrar available. Most top webhosting companies will provide you with free domain names. So make sure you check out and decide which company you want to go with for your webhosting before registering a domain name.
What to look out for in webhosting companies? Six main criteria of choosing the right webhosting company.
1. How much disk space is available?
This would really depends on what you want to have a website for. Is it for a company? Or is it your personal site? Are you going to upload lots of multimedia files and photos? Or are you mainly using it for text based pages? This would ranges from 10 Gigabytes for personal text based pages to 300 Gigabyte for businesses.
2. How much bandwidth is provided?
For all the different webhosting plans that a company offer. You will have to decide on the bandwidth that you requires. This closely relate to your disk space usage. If you are planning to have lots of multimedia on your website. It would be better to get a plan with higher bandwidth allowance. Typlical bandwidth limits starts from 300 GB for a basic webhosting plan up to 3,000 GB for a business webhosting plan.
3. What kind of support will be provided?
Because you would need to remotely administer your website. It is important to consider the kind of support that your webhosting company has. Is the support 24 hours, 7 days a week? What are the forms of support? Toll free phone? Email support is a norm nowadays.
4. Reliability of the webhosting service?
What is the uptime promise? With todays advancement in server technologies, uptime of 99.9% are often provided by some of the web best webhosting firms.
5. Pricing of webhosting plans?
With the number of webhosting companies increasing, webhosting plans now are very competitive. Most basic plan offerred by webhosting companies ranges from $5 to $10 per month. Anything more than that would be kind of a rip off.
A very important point about price plan for your consideration is that it is a recurring fee that you need to pay per month (or annually). Some webhosting companies would give you very good discount initially, however, if the monthly fees are higher that the rest, in the long run you are actually at the losing end.
6. What are the freebies that the webhosting company is going to provide?
This is actually a very important point. No matter what is the purpose of your website, the bottomline is that you would like to draw traffic to your website. There is no easier way than using pay per click advertising through search networks. Some top webhosting firm will actually give you free credits vouchers to be used in the search network.
Another consideration is if the webhosting firm supports the latest web technology. In recent years, Web 2.0 has slowly became the de facto standard which good webhosting firm will support.
Above stated are the main criteria that is good to review and think about before one engages a webhosting company.
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Domain Names Intro
You may have heard that it can be difficult to find available names. That was true a few years ago, when domain names were limited to only 22 characters, but since late 1999 the limit was raised to 63. So fear not, all the good domain names are not taken. Ideally, you want a name that conveys your product or service. Think of your domain name as your identity online. You want your name to be eye-catching, yet simple and easy to remember. As the first thing your visitor sees, your domain name gives them their first impressions about you. The last thing you want is your visitor to form a bad first impression. Here are some general Do's and Don'ts when deciding on a domain name:
Be Professional
The best domain names sound professional. People are impressed by quality and value, but above all else, they expect professionalism. You want your domain to project a high level of quality. The right domain name, coupled with a quality product at a genuine value, will not only prove you're a professional, you'll also earn your customer's loyalty and trust.
Get a .com extension
You should always try to obtain a .com extension rather than .net, .org, .biz, etc. The reason is most people will automatically add .com as the extension when they type an internet address. There is nothing wrong with owning other extensions, but if you own a domain with a .net extension without first owning the .com extension, you will lose visitors.
Use keywords
If your domain name contains common keywords, you're likely to get a higher listing in the search engines. Search engines list sites by sending out "spiders" to constantly crawl from website to website, going through every page looking for keywords and cataloging what they find for later listing. Once they decide to list your site, they consider the domain name as part of the ranking. If your domain contains keywords, it will usually get a higher ranking.
Don't use hyphens
Unless a word or phrase has a natural hyphen, such as "real-time" or "soda-pop" leave it out. They are harder to remember, and you will lose visitors who either forget, or don't know about the hyphen in the address.
Don't misspell
The spelling and structure of your name should be clear. If the visitor has heard of your site through word-of-mouth, they will most likely type in the incorrect address if you misspell your domain. For example, www.UltimateEntrepreneursGuide.com is obvious, while www.UltimateEntrepreneurzGuide.com is not. Replacing the "s" with a "z" at the end of a word is fine if you are a pop band, but if you do it in a domain name you'll only end up losing most of your visitors to your competition with the correct spelling.
Be memorable
This is crucial. If people can't easily remember your domain name, you won't get the kind of traffic you need to be really successful. Keep your potential visitors in mind, and try to put yourself in their shoes when choosing a domain. Write down as many names as you can think of, and one by one ask yourself, "Would I remember this domain name if I heard it on the street?" When you can answer "yes" you've found your domain name.
Registering your domain name is quick and easy. The entire process usually only takes about 10 minutes once you've found an available name. Your name is your brand, so choose it wisely. The right domain name could mean the difference between success and failure.
Be Professional
The best domain names sound professional. People are impressed by quality and value, but above all else, they expect professionalism. You want your domain to project a high level of quality. The right domain name, coupled with a quality product at a genuine value, will not only prove you're a professional, you'll also earn your customer's loyalty and trust.
Get a .com extension
You should always try to obtain a .com extension rather than .net, .org, .biz, etc. The reason is most people will automatically add .com as the extension when they type an internet address. There is nothing wrong with owning other extensions, but if you own a domain with a .net extension without first owning the .com extension, you will lose visitors.
Use keywords
If your domain name contains common keywords, you're likely to get a higher listing in the search engines. Search engines list sites by sending out "spiders" to constantly crawl from website to website, going through every page looking for keywords and cataloging what they find for later listing. Once they decide to list your site, they consider the domain name as part of the ranking. If your domain contains keywords, it will usually get a higher ranking.
Don't use hyphens
Unless a word or phrase has a natural hyphen, such as "real-time" or "soda-pop" leave it out. They are harder to remember, and you will lose visitors who either forget, or don't know about the hyphen in the address.
Don't misspell
The spelling and structure of your name should be clear. If the visitor has heard of your site through word-of-mouth, they will most likely type in the incorrect address if you misspell your domain. For example, www.UltimateEntrepreneursGuide.com is obvious, while www.UltimateEntrepreneurzGuide.com is not. Replacing the "s" with a "z" at the end of a word is fine if you are a pop band, but if you do it in a domain name you'll only end up losing most of your visitors to your competition with the correct spelling.
Be memorable
This is crucial. If people can't easily remember your domain name, you won't get the kind of traffic you need to be really successful. Keep your potential visitors in mind, and try to put yourself in their shoes when choosing a domain. Write down as many names as you can think of, and one by one ask yourself, "Would I remember this domain name if I heard it on the street?" When you can answer "yes" you've found your domain name.
Registering your domain name is quick and easy. The entire process usually only takes about 10 minutes once you've found an available name. Your name is your brand, so choose it wisely. The right domain name could mean the difference between success and failure.
Web Hosting Glossary - Common Hosting Terms
Apache - A very popular open source web hosting software, available for numerous platforms.
Bandwidth - The amount of data traffic that can or is transported from one computer to another.
BIND - Berkeley Internet Name Domain is an implementation of the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol.
Co-lo - Co-location, refers to an agreement that sees a client owned server hosted in an ISP's data center.
Daemon - An application or utility that runs in the background on the server.
DNS - Domain name system, turns domain names in to IP addresses.Domain name - An alpha-numeric combination that can be used instead of IP addresses.
Enom - An ICAAN registered domain name registrar.
Fantastico - An integrated application that allows web hosting clients to automatically install popular scripts.
FrontPage - A Microsoft web development application.
FTP - File transfer protocol, allows users to transfer files from one computer to another.
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language is a simple markup language used to design web pages.
HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol allows the transfer to web files over the Internet, viewable in a browser.
ISP - Internet Service Provider.
Linux - An open source version of the UNIX operating system that has gained popularity as a web hosting platform.
Managed Hosting - A web hosting service where the provider supports the daily upkeep of the server, including activities like updates and patches.
MySQL - An open source application of a SQL server that is quite popular with numerous web hosts.
NameServer - Converts domain names into appropriate IP addresses and vice versa.
NOC - Network Operations Center.
Overselling - When a web host sells more space, bandwidth or CPU cycles than they have at their disposal, with the belief that the customers won't actually use them all.
PERL - Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, is a programming language frequently used for creating CGI programs for web use.
PHP - An open-source, server-side scripting language used to create dynamic web pages.
phpMyAdmin - A web based application to manage MySQL databases.
RedHat - A commercial Linux distribution, popular amongst web hosts.
Reseller - A webhost who resells web space off of a shared server with other resellers.
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.Squirrelmail - A web based e-mail program.
SSL - Secure Socket Layer is a protocol that transmits data in an encrypted form.
Terabyte - 1024 Gigbytes worth of storage or bandwidth.
TLD - Top Level Domain, like .com, .ca, .org
VLAN - Virtual Local Area Network.
VPS - Virtual Private Server is a software based private server hosted in a shared environment.
Whois - A universal database maintained by registries and registrars with domain contact information.
WWW - World Wide Web.
Bandwidth - The amount of data traffic that can or is transported from one computer to another.
BIND - Berkeley Internet Name Domain is an implementation of the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol.
Co-lo - Co-location, refers to an agreement that sees a client owned server hosted in an ISP's data center.
Daemon - An application or utility that runs in the background on the server.
DNS - Domain name system, turns domain names in to IP addresses.Domain name - An alpha-numeric combination that can be used instead of IP addresses.
Enom - An ICAAN registered domain name registrar.
Fantastico - An integrated application that allows web hosting clients to automatically install popular scripts.
FrontPage - A Microsoft web development application.
FTP - File transfer protocol, allows users to transfer files from one computer to another.
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language is a simple markup language used to design web pages.
HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol allows the transfer to web files over the Internet, viewable in a browser.
ISP - Internet Service Provider.
Linux - An open source version of the UNIX operating system that has gained popularity as a web hosting platform.
Managed Hosting - A web hosting service where the provider supports the daily upkeep of the server, including activities like updates and patches.
MySQL - An open source application of a SQL server that is quite popular with numerous web hosts.
NameServer - Converts domain names into appropriate IP addresses and vice versa.
NOC - Network Operations Center.
Overselling - When a web host sells more space, bandwidth or CPU cycles than they have at their disposal, with the belief that the customers won't actually use them all.
PERL - Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, is a programming language frequently used for creating CGI programs for web use.
PHP - An open-source, server-side scripting language used to create dynamic web pages.
phpMyAdmin - A web based application to manage MySQL databases.
RedHat - A commercial Linux distribution, popular amongst web hosts.
Reseller - A webhost who resells web space off of a shared server with other resellers.
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.Squirrelmail - A web based e-mail program.
SSL - Secure Socket Layer is a protocol that transmits data in an encrypted form.
Terabyte - 1024 Gigbytes worth of storage or bandwidth.
TLD - Top Level Domain, like .com, .ca, .org
VLAN - Virtual Local Area Network.
VPS - Virtual Private Server is a software based private server hosted in a shared environment.
Whois - A universal database maintained by registries and registrars with domain contact information.
WWW - World Wide Web.
Changing web hosts
Changing your Web Host can be an expensive, time consuming and difficult practice; being the main reason why many dissatisfied customers prefer to stay and put up with an awful hosting service.
During most website migrations, through lack of knowledge or experience, many website owners end up loosing clients and damaging time-built company images, because their sites are unavailable for days or weeks on end. Another problem is loss of emails, some crucial, making migrations very expensive and even dangerous. Migration from one web host to another is not difficult; it can be fast and safe when one knows what the experts know. By following the steps below you will stand a better chance of a smooth transfer.
The most important start to website migration is finding another web host, one that will not give you reason to migrate again, or soon. A whole book can be written on how to choose a web host; or by searching on ‘choosing a web host’ in a major search engine, there will be many articles available. The steps below will give you an idea on how to start and how to avoid a lot of the pitfalls.
First, make a list of all the features your website uses or requires, and will require in the future, be prepared.
Make a list of web hosts who offer these features; you can find hosts in web hosting directories, message forums, or by searching on a major search engine.
Read the information on their websites carefully, specially their terms and conditions.
Avoid any long-term contracts and full-payments in advance.
Ask questions about all things you have a doubt about.
Email their support department at various times (both day and night) and check the response time.
You will find customer reviews on hosts in web hosting directories. (Unfortunately they may not be the most accurate due to much web host guerilla activity, but greater scrutiny will often help.)
Talk to people in web hosting related message forums; you may find useful information on hosting companies by their existing or past, customers.
Sign-up an account with your new host. Upload all of your files, databases and test your site using the IP address given to you with your new account. Make adjustments in the coding, necessary for the change in the server environment. Then check each and every page, link and image on your website. On your new mail server, re-create all email accounts currently in use; and set up auto-responders, forwarders and aliases at the same time. If available, enable the “catch-all” feature; this will help you to retrieve all emails sent to a non-existing email account; which you may have forgotten to create! Remember though, the new email addresses will only work after the transfer of domain is complete. Unfortunately, there is no way to test them on new server before the transfer.
The next step is transferring the domain; to do this you need to start by changing the DNS server details, which is pretty easy to do. Obtain the Primary and Secondary nameserver details from your new web host. Go to your domain registrar’s site (the site from which you registered the domain name) and login into your control panel, offered by most of the domain registrars, to maintain your domain name. In the control panel, look for the ‘DNS’, ‘Nameserver’ or ‘Delegation’ option and change the previous nameserver details, with the new one (you just obtained from your new host).
Some domain registrars confirm these changes by sending an email to the address you nominated while registering that domain. You will need to reply using that email address. Most of the hosts offer a free domain transfer service and will be happy to make the necessary transfer changes for you. The domain transfer can take 24 to 72 hours to be confirmed by the domain registrar; and, so too for the new host, if doing this service for you. If it is not transferred within 72 hours, it is advisable to contact the domain registrar and look into the matter.
Once your domain is transferred you will start receiving emails from your new mail server and see your website from your new account. Leave your old web hosting account open for 3 or 4 more days, just to ensure you receive all emails, including those losing their way in the domain transfer and directed back to your old email account. After a few days, ask your previous web host to cancel your account. Make sure you follow all of your previous host’s closing procedures, and leave cleanly. You will find that the transfer should go smoothly and all parties will be more helpful.
Web Hosting Checklist
Once you have decided what web hosting services you require, it is then time to make a list of certain web hosting features and options you must consider. Here are some of the most important aspects of web hosting;
Disk space and bandwidth
You should have figured out how much data your website will generate, and also the amount of bandwidth you will need. The disk space is the amount of storage assigned to the account by the web hosting provider. Bandwidth is the amount of traffic that the provider allows to be transferred to and from the website. Websites that include a lot of graphics would require more hard drive storage than a predominantly text based site. The same would be the case when dealing with bandwidth. If your website is dynamic or uses databases, make sure to check if the webhost has separate limitations on the size of databases. Also check how much your web host charges for extra hard drive space and bandwidth. If you envision that your site will continually grow, then allow some headroom in terms of storage and bandwidth. Remember, there is no such thing as unlimited or unmetered bandwidth! Internet bandwidth and storage space are finite commodities, they are not available in infinite amounts and are capped at some point of based on hardware or service levels. Don't be fooled by the 'unlimited' or 'unmetered' monickers, there is no such animal.
Operating system and programming tools
Most web hosts run on a Unix based operating system, usually Linux or BSD. Unix based hosts will provide PHP, Perl/CGI, Frontpage, and very limited ASP functionality. If you will be developing your own web applications, it would make sense to get a good idea of their operating system environment. If you will be running an application that requires ASP, .NET, MS SQL, SBS or Access, you will need to find a Windows based web host; usually a little more expensive. In some cases, Windows webhosts will also provide access to other technologies like Perl/CGI, PHP and MySQL.
As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". This certainly holds true in the realm of web hosting services. If you focus too much on the price, you are likely to end up with a sub-par web host that will provide you with a combination of overloaded servers, poor connections to the Internet backbones, frequent downtime or little or no support.
Support, guranteed uptime, and backups
Always choose a reliable web hosting provider with a good service level agreement (SLA) and support options. Many web hosts provide telephone support - some even have 24/7 support through local or toll-free numbers. Other ways that web hosts provide support includes online trouble-ticket/helpdesk systems, web discussion forums, live chats with technicians and email support. With respect to uptime, this guarantee is usually a little harder to find and enforce. If you settle for 99% uptime, that means your website could be down for an average of 14.4 minutes a day. That is acutally quite a lot, especially considering the amount of potential revenue you might be losing. On the other hand 99.99% uptime makes a huge difference and leads to a average negligable down-time per day. Some webhosts will also provide refunds if they do not meet their SLAs and others may include extra security features like automated backups and load balancing. So if you need reliable webhosting, make sure to check the support, uptime and backups provided by any prospective hosting company.
Hosting features included
A plain vanilla HTML based website requires different resources compared to a PHP/CGI/ASP based site that uses a database, special image libraries, and custom programming. So if you are developing anything more than an HTML web site that will require custom programming work or uses any type of scripting language, make sure the web host supports these standards and needed features. Often, web hosting companies list everything they offer up front, but if you have questions, make sure you ask. Apart from programming languages, you might need special access to your website, say through FTP or Telnet. Just about every paid web host allows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your website, but Telnet or SSH access is more rare or might cost more. Same with mail, just about every web host will provide SMTP/ POP3 and web based access to email. If you require IMAP or say a secure access protocol, check with the hosting provider.
Data centers, bandwidth quality, and security
Web hosting providers both big and small need a central location where they house their servers and equipment. It is important to have some idea as to where these systems are located. If you seek reliablity and high quality you may not really want your important web venture hosted in someone's basement off an xDSL connection. You might also want to check what type of data connections/providers are being used your web host. Just because someone says that they have a "10-MBit Internet backbone" does not mean high quality and reliability. One would rather see them accessing the Internet backbone through multiple, reliable providers that allow world wide traffic to be routed in the most efficient manner. Most web hosting companies will provide some detail on their data centers including the built-in redundancies, their use of UPS and/or diesel generators, the different bandwidth providers they use, and physical security of their premises. It is really worth looking into this aspect of web hosting.
Determining Your Web-Hosting Needs
Once you decide to create an Internet presense that will require a web site and web hosting, it is key to figure out the types of resources you will need. This determination can make sure that you are not overpaying for service, paying for features you won't be using, or worse yet, paying extra for functionality that you required but failed to check on.
What type of web site are you building?
This is a key question. Are you going to use the web site for an e-commerce business, as a hobby site writing about your interests, will the site be static or interactive, used as a blog or online forum, or a site that will provide information and generate revenuss? If you will be running an e-commerce site you will need to find an online payment system, you might need to have your web host support the secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, and you should inquire whether they provide any shopping carts like MIVA merchant. If you will be developing custom e-commerce software, it is essential to make sure that you know the web hosting environment to ensure that your software will work on their systems. A blog or a online forums site will most likely require PHP or Perl/CGI scripting and in most cases access to a database system like MySQL, PostgreSQL or Microsoft's SQL Server.
How much storage space would you need?
If you are running a small, static website, you don't require a very large amount of storage space. On the other hand, an extensive information or e-commerce site with thousands of web pages and images or a large online forum would require much more data storage. In many cases, the databases are given their own seperate storage limit and could cause problems since 100 megabytes of data capacity may not always equal 100 megabytes of database capacity.
How much bandwidth would you need?
After storage capacity, bandwidth is the next most hyped web hosting feature. If your average webpage (html code + graphics) is 5KB, and you receive an average of 100 hits per day, you can easily see that you are using up (5 x 100) 500 KB of bandwidth a day. Multiply this number by 30 and you have an average monthly figure. It is essential that before you sign up for any web hosting service, you put some thought into how big your web site will be, how popular the category is, and what type of service you will be providing. For example, oneline discussion forums use up a lot more bandwidth than any other type of website because users usually stay on for longer time as they read posts or contribute, and there is a much higher rate of repeat visitors who come back to read new messages, etc. Therefore, your bandwidth needs should be considered prior to signing up for a hosting plan.
What hosting features will you need?
A plain vanilla HTML based website requires different resources compared to a PHP/CGI/ASP based site that uses a database, special image libraries, and custom programming. So if you are developing anything more than an HTML web site that will require custom programming work or uses any type of scripting language, make sure the web host supports these standards and needed features. Often, web hosting companies list everything they offer up front, but if you have questions, make sure you ask. Apart from programming languages, you might need special access to your website, say through FTP or Telnet. Just about every paid web host allows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your website, but Telnet or SSH access is more rare or might cost more. Same with mail, just about every web host will provide SMTP/ POP3 and web based access to email. If you require IMAP or say a secure access protocol, check with the hosting provider.
What type of web site are you building?
This is a key question. Are you going to use the web site for an e-commerce business, as a hobby site writing about your interests, will the site be static or interactive, used as a blog or online forum, or a site that will provide information and generate revenuss? If you will be running an e-commerce site you will need to find an online payment system, you might need to have your web host support the secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, and you should inquire whether they provide any shopping carts like MIVA merchant. If you will be developing custom e-commerce software, it is essential to make sure that you know the web hosting environment to ensure that your software will work on their systems. A blog or a online forums site will most likely require PHP or Perl/CGI scripting and in most cases access to a database system like MySQL, PostgreSQL or Microsoft's SQL Server.
How much storage space would you need?
If you are running a small, static website, you don't require a very large amount of storage space. On the other hand, an extensive information or e-commerce site with thousands of web pages and images or a large online forum would require much more data storage. In many cases, the databases are given their own seperate storage limit and could cause problems since 100 megabytes of data capacity may not always equal 100 megabytes of database capacity.
How much bandwidth would you need?
After storage capacity, bandwidth is the next most hyped web hosting feature. If your average webpage (html code + graphics) is 5KB, and you receive an average of 100 hits per day, you can easily see that you are using up (5 x 100) 500 KB of bandwidth a day. Multiply this number by 30 and you have an average monthly figure. It is essential that before you sign up for any web hosting service, you put some thought into how big your web site will be, how popular the category is, and what type of service you will be providing. For example, oneline discussion forums use up a lot more bandwidth than any other type of website because users usually stay on for longer time as they read posts or contribute, and there is a much higher rate of repeat visitors who come back to read new messages, etc. Therefore, your bandwidth needs should be considered prior to signing up for a hosting plan.
What hosting features will you need?
A plain vanilla HTML based website requires different resources compared to a PHP/CGI/ASP based site that uses a database, special image libraries, and custom programming. So if you are developing anything more than an HTML web site that will require custom programming work or uses any type of scripting language, make sure the web host supports these standards and needed features. Often, web hosting companies list everything they offer up front, but if you have questions, make sure you ask. Apart from programming languages, you might need special access to your website, say through FTP or Telnet. Just about every paid web host allows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your website, but Telnet or SSH access is more rare or might cost more. Same with mail, just about every web host will provide SMTP/ POP3 and web based access to email. If you require IMAP or say a secure access protocol, check with the hosting provider.
Free Web Hosting
There are many times when you are not able to, do not feel like, or don't need to spend money to host a web site. This could be the case for times when you are building a small site as an experiment, a hobby, as a test platform, or as a backup for your other site. In these and other cases, you can look for free web hosts. In the Internet's heyday, when everything was free, web hosting was plentiful and quite reliable and feature rich. As many of the web hosts succumbed to a slowdown in the online advertising market, the number of free web hosts decreased significantly. Further more, those who provided free services scaled them down and switched to paid only models for the extra features. Others innundated their free clients with a bevy of banners, popups, popunders, inline ads, javascript and flash advertising, and more.
Pros of free web hosting
The obvious thing going here is the cost of the web hosting - its FREE! There are many free hosts that provide a high level of service, and even more that provide many of the extra features like scripting and databases that are usually seen in paid hosts. These services are an excellent way for novices to cut their teeth and also allow backup sites along with a testing platform for more experienced webmasters.
Cons of free web hosting
There is no free lunch, so there must be some drawbacks to free web hosting, and there are. For one, you are usually forced to show some sort of advertising. The web host has to re-coup their costs, they would even like to make money and you cannot blame them for that. Banners, text links, pop-ups, pop-unders and combinations of them are common. Free web hosts also tend to limit the storage space they provide, they limit the type of files and the subject of the content, they usually have size limits on the files you can upload, they don't usually provide features like scripting, shopping carts, databases and more. Apart from that, some free hosts might provide sub-domains and while others might have sub-directories - so no custom domain names. Lastly, hosting on a free web host does not give a very professional impression, especially if the website is an e-commerce or business site.
Free Hosting Overview
The price is right, free
Don't have many features, limited resources
Constrain the type of content and files you can have online
Does not give a professional impression
Pros of free web hosting
The obvious thing going here is the cost of the web hosting - its FREE! There are many free hosts that provide a high level of service, and even more that provide many of the extra features like scripting and databases that are usually seen in paid hosts. These services are an excellent way for novices to cut their teeth and also allow backup sites along with a testing platform for more experienced webmasters.
Cons of free web hosting
There is no free lunch, so there must be some drawbacks to free web hosting, and there are. For one, you are usually forced to show some sort of advertising. The web host has to re-coup their costs, they would even like to make money and you cannot blame them for that. Banners, text links, pop-ups, pop-unders and combinations of them are common. Free web hosts also tend to limit the storage space they provide, they limit the type of files and the subject of the content, they usually have size limits on the files you can upload, they don't usually provide features like scripting, shopping carts, databases and more. Apart from that, some free hosts might provide sub-domains and while others might have sub-directories - so no custom domain names. Lastly, hosting on a free web host does not give a very professional impression, especially if the website is an e-commerce or business site.
Free Hosting Overview
The price is right, free
Don't have many features, limited resources
Constrain the type of content and files you can have online
Does not give a professional impression
Reseller Web Hosting
The area of reseller web hosting is an interesting one for those who wish to create an e-commerce venture, selling web hosting and other related services. Reselling web hosting means that you contract with a hosting provider to sell their server space under your brand. Reseller agreements can be based on per signups, that is you sell one of a number of hosting packages and pay a certain amount of the fees to the hosting company. Another option involves a carte-blanche approach where you pay a set fee and receive certain resources that you are free to resell. Yet another option would be to lease a dedicated server and resell the web space, keeping all the profits.
Pros of reseller web hosting
It allows you as a client, to earn a potential income. If you do web design services, you can easily offer your clients a complete package that includes design and hosting. The clients would appreciate the lower costs and convinience of getting all the services under one roof and you can start building a business that brings in recurring monthly income. Another good use of reseller accounts is if you have a network or websites you wish to host. You might not have enough to justify a dedicated server, but too many to pay for individually. Multiple domain hosting can get expensive if you have to get an individual service for each of your web sites. So a reseller hosting plan can either allow you to create your own web hosting business or host multiple domains from one easy to manage place.
Cons of reseller web hosting
If you decide to get into the business of web hosting, you will have certain responsibilites and expenses. For one you will have to provide support for your clients. This could be anything from email support, live chats to phone support if you business grows. Other responsibilites could include ensuring that your clients are adherering by the terms of service and managing the billing cycles. Unless you are reselling from a dedicated server, this is again a shared or virtual hosting service. So all the pitfalls of shared web hosting would apply here.
Reseller Hosting Review
Allows you to earn an income by re-selling web hosting and services
Good for multiple domain hosting
Usually come with helpful control panels to manage all the sites
Can vary greatly in price, but more expensive than shared hosting
Pros of reseller web hosting
It allows you as a client, to earn a potential income. If you do web design services, you can easily offer your clients a complete package that includes design and hosting. The clients would appreciate the lower costs and convinience of getting all the services under one roof and you can start building a business that brings in recurring monthly income. Another good use of reseller accounts is if you have a network or websites you wish to host. You might not have enough to justify a dedicated server, but too many to pay for individually. Multiple domain hosting can get expensive if you have to get an individual service for each of your web sites. So a reseller hosting plan can either allow you to create your own web hosting business or host multiple domains from one easy to manage place.
Cons of reseller web hosting
If you decide to get into the business of web hosting, you will have certain responsibilites and expenses. For one you will have to provide support for your clients. This could be anything from email support, live chats to phone support if you business grows. Other responsibilites could include ensuring that your clients are adherering by the terms of service and managing the billing cycles. Unless you are reselling from a dedicated server, this is again a shared or virtual hosting service. So all the pitfalls of shared web hosting would apply here.
Reseller Hosting Review
Allows you to earn an income by re-selling web hosting and services
Good for multiple domain hosting
Usually come with helpful control panels to manage all the sites
Can vary greatly in price, but more expensive than shared hosting
Server Co-Location
In situations dedicated or managed servers provided by a web hosting provider do not meet your needs, it is always possible to custom build your own server and place it in the data center of a provider. Co-located hosting means that you purchase a server from Dell, Gateway or your neighborhood hardware vendor and supply it to the host. The host will in turn plug your server at its data center providing you access to its network and infrastructure. The webhost is reponsible for the network infrastructure and the data center while you are responsible for the server through remote access. This type of solution allows the very customized and specialized web sites to function at peak performance. Many of the ulta-popular websites use a co-location strategy to provide them with the combination of customization and best possible performance. With co-location you would have to evaluate the specific providers to go over their terms of service, the security of their location, their bandwidth providers, backup and power systems. Some co-location hosting providers may also offer seperate management contracts for the day to day maintenance of your server.
Pros of server co-location
Co-location provides the ultimate in flexibility, choice and control. You as the customer know exactly what type of hosting service you need, and if your own custome server is the answer, you can put it together, house it in a data center and manage it as you please. Most providers will include a secure cage that ensures security and will also allow you to use your own specialized components like routers to increase efficiency.
Cons of server co-location
With co-located servers, you as the customer are fully responsible for the equipment. Most data centers will monitor and manage your system, but any problems will have to be dealt by the owner unless maintenance agreements are in force (extra costs). Co-located servers are most likely to contain specialized software or operating systems aswell, which have to be managed by experienced staff or the customer.
Co-located Hosting Review
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows you to use customized hardware and software for hosting
Usually the most expensive hosting solution
Pros of server co-location
Co-location provides the ultimate in flexibility, choice and control. You as the customer know exactly what type of hosting service you need, and if your own custome server is the answer, you can put it together, house it in a data center and manage it as you please. Most providers will include a secure cage that ensures security and will also allow you to use your own specialized components like routers to increase efficiency.
Cons of server co-location
With co-located servers, you as the customer are fully responsible for the equipment. Most data centers will monitor and manage your system, but any problems will have to be dealt by the owner unless maintenance agreements are in force (extra costs). Co-located servers are most likely to contain specialized software or operating systems aswell, which have to be managed by experienced staff or the customer.
Co-located Hosting Review
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows you to use customized hardware and software for hosting
Usually the most expensive hosting solution
Managed Web Hosting
Managed or "fully managed" web hosting solutions take the dedicated model to a higher level. We know that dedicated hosting allows the client to have full control of the server but dedicated servers can be difficult to operate technically and require that you have certain knowledge about server maintenance and system administration. The notch above is managed hosting, as it takes the dedicated features and adds extra services like reporting and monitoring, load balancing, security, setup, system administration and software updates. This is the most hands-off solution for the client.
Pros of managed web hosting
Managed hosting solutions continue to provide the benefits of a dedicated server, that is you have access to the complete server. Your package would be tailored to the amount of bandwidth and hard drive space that you might need and CPU intensive applications could operate without hindering other sites or being conflicted. Added as well is the management service that would ensure that the server operates at an optimum level by installing the needed software, updating patches, and providing support for any hardware or software issues. But you must make sure that the provider has the specialized people on staff and provides 24/7/365 support.
Cons of managed web hosting
Managed web hosting solutions are usually the premium offerings of a company and represent the top tier in terms of service. Therefore they usually command the highest prices - managed hosting solutions are more expensive than their dedicated cousins. Managed hosting packages will also likely involve some sort of a setup fee as it is more time consuming to setup a complete server than it is to create a hosting account in a shared environment. Managed solutions could also be an overkill. If you know your way around the operationg system being used and have system administration experience, you might be paying extra for something that you could do yourself.
Managed Hosting Review
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows custom web applications and higher level of uptime
Provides complete server support and system admin
More expensive than dedicated hosting
Pros of managed web hosting
Managed hosting solutions continue to provide the benefits of a dedicated server, that is you have access to the complete server. Your package would be tailored to the amount of bandwidth and hard drive space that you might need and CPU intensive applications could operate without hindering other sites or being conflicted. Added as well is the management service that would ensure that the server operates at an optimum level by installing the needed software, updating patches, and providing support for any hardware or software issues. But you must make sure that the provider has the specialized people on staff and provides 24/7/365 support.
Cons of managed web hosting
Managed web hosting solutions are usually the premium offerings of a company and represent the top tier in terms of service. Therefore they usually command the highest prices - managed hosting solutions are more expensive than their dedicated cousins. Managed hosting packages will also likely involve some sort of a setup fee as it is more time consuming to setup a complete server than it is to create a hosting account in a shared environment. Managed solutions could also be an overkill. If you know your way around the operationg system being used and have system administration experience, you might be paying extra for something that you could do yourself.
Managed Hosting Review
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows custom web applications and higher level of uptime
Provides complete server support and system admin
More expensive than dedicated hosting
Dedicated Web Hosting
Unlike shared hosting where tens to hundreds of websites of various customers are hosted on one computer, dedicated web hosting solutions allow a client to lease the complete computer and have access to all its resources to host one or multiple websites. This makes a dedicated hosting solution especially attractive for large high-traffic websites, custom development projects creating complex web based applications, and web sites that require a high degree of uptime and total control of the hosting environment.
Web Appliances
Dedicated servers can be based on one of many different types of web appliances, like Sun Microsystems' Cobalt line. These servers are usually low profile machines that are mounted on racks, and are optimized for web hosting. If choosing a web appliance based dedicated server, make sure that it will run all the software and scripts your site might require.
White box servers
These dedicated servers are regular PCs or server machines, running a Windows or Unix based operating system along with web hosting software.
Pros of dedicated web hosting
When you purchase a dedicated hosting package, you have access to the complete server. Dedicated packages are usually tailored to the amount of bandwidth, memory, and hard drive space that you might need and they allow for CPU intensive applications to operate without hindering other sites or being conflicted.
Cons of dedicated web hosting
The extra functionality and control does come at a higher monetary costs - dedicated hosting solutions are more expensive than the virtual options. But they are providing you with a lot more in terms of resources. Most dedicated hosting packages will involve some sort of a setup fee as it is more time consuming to setup a complete server than it is to create a hosting account in a shared environment. Most dedicated packages will also require that you as a user (or someone on your staff) have the needed computer knowledge to manage the server on a day to day basis. This would include the ability to do remote problem solving, having knowledge of the operating system, protocols and the software installed on the computer. The hosting companies will replace any hardware componets if they develop problems but might not be willing to meddle with the server setup or the software if you have problems. Or they might have an hourly charge to fix these problems. This aspect is important as it could add unforseen costs to your budget.
Dedicated Hosting Review
More expensive than shared/virtual hosting
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows custom web applications and higher level of uptime
Could require software maintenance and system administration duties.
Web Appliances
Dedicated servers can be based on one of many different types of web appliances, like Sun Microsystems' Cobalt line. These servers are usually low profile machines that are mounted on racks, and are optimized for web hosting. If choosing a web appliance based dedicated server, make sure that it will run all the software and scripts your site might require.
White box servers
These dedicated servers are regular PCs or server machines, running a Windows or Unix based operating system along with web hosting software.
Pros of dedicated web hosting
When you purchase a dedicated hosting package, you have access to the complete server. Dedicated packages are usually tailored to the amount of bandwidth, memory, and hard drive space that you might need and they allow for CPU intensive applications to operate without hindering other sites or being conflicted.
Cons of dedicated web hosting
The extra functionality and control does come at a higher monetary costs - dedicated hosting solutions are more expensive than the virtual options. But they are providing you with a lot more in terms of resources. Most dedicated hosting packages will involve some sort of a setup fee as it is more time consuming to setup a complete server than it is to create a hosting account in a shared environment. Most dedicated packages will also require that you as a user (or someone on your staff) have the needed computer knowledge to manage the server on a day to day basis. This would include the ability to do remote problem solving, having knowledge of the operating system, protocols and the software installed on the computer. The hosting companies will replace any hardware componets if they develop problems but might not be willing to meddle with the server setup or the software if you have problems. Or they might have an hourly charge to fix these problems. This aspect is important as it could add unforseen costs to your budget.
Dedicated Hosting Review
More expensive than shared/virtual hosting
Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
Allows custom web applications and higher level of uptime
Could require software maintenance and system administration duties.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting
A Virtual Private Server (VPS), also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS), provides the features of a dedicated server for multiple web hosting customers in the form of "virtual computers". At first blush it sounds somewhat contradictory - how can you have a dedicated server if it is being shared by multiple users? Isn't that a regular shared or virtual hosting environment? It is true that with a Virtual Private Server you still share system resources like the CPU and RAM with other users but the resources are allocated in such a way that you cannot tell that the system has anyone else on it, much like a dedicated server. So resources are usually setup in such a way that each hosting client is only allowed to use an allocated percent, meaning that resources assigned to you will always available to you. Each virtual server looks and acts like a dedicated server.
Pros of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting
Most hosting customers would rather have complete control of their server environments. They don't want to be hosted on a server with tens or hundreds of other users, who could easily use up all the resources or cause the server environment to be unstable. But at the same time most websites don't need a dedicated server. The Virtual Private Server (VPS) alternative is a very attractive niche hosting solution for a fairly large chunk of web hosting clients who would like the stability of a dedicated server but on a smaller scale. With the resources setup in such a way that each person can only use what is allocated to them, your site will be more consistent because it will always have the same amount of access to the CPU, memory, and bandwidth. Virtual Private Servers are also more secure since even as you share the memory and CPU time, you are allocated your own file system. If a website on the server is hacked, the hackers will only have access to that particular file system and would not harm the other websites. A VPS is also much cheaper than a dedicated server.
Cons of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting
Now that you have read the pros of a VPS you are probably thinking that this is the best thing since sliced bread. Well, almost - as is the case with every other type of hosting service, not all providers setup or define Virtual Private Servers, also known as Virtual Dedicated Servers, the exact same way. You must make sure that your provider guarantees that their setup is robust enough to handle operations at a peak level. A trick used by many providers in the reselling and shared space is 'overselling'. What this means is selling more in terms of services than what physically available, with the hope that the end users wouldn't use up all the service that were advertised to them. In the realm of VPS this can be a bit more serious, since atleast the expectation is that you are operating in a more robust environment and many clients could be running more intensive applications like message boards or custom web applications. A shortfall of resources could end up causing problems for everyone hosted on such a server, therefore negating the benefits of a VPS. In a shared or dedicated environment you might be able to access more resources during peak or spike periods but since the VPS environemnt limits you to to your slice of the server resources, it can be a drawback.
As if the technology rich lingo of regular web hosting wasn't enough, the VPS services add a few new wrinkles. Apart from storage space and bandwidth you must also deal with CPU cycles and RAM. So you will see ads for hosting that might include XYZ Mhz and AB mb RAM to go with the usual hosting related features. It would be a good idea to find out how many other virtual servers are running on a physical server (contention ratio) as this will determine the ratio of CPU time and memory each virutal server can realistically expect. It is somewhat harder to figure out how much CPU time or RAM you might need, so seek out a hosting provider that will provide you with some benchmarks and the ability to upgrade or downgrade the VPS service if needed.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting Review
Allows complete control of your virtual server and its resouces
Allows you to run web applications without adversely affecting other clients
Flexible - cheaper than dedicated hosting, more expensive than shared
Pros of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting
Most hosting customers would rather have complete control of their server environments. They don't want to be hosted on a server with tens or hundreds of other users, who could easily use up all the resources or cause the server environment to be unstable. But at the same time most websites don't need a dedicated server. The Virtual Private Server (VPS) alternative is a very attractive niche hosting solution for a fairly large chunk of web hosting clients who would like the stability of a dedicated server but on a smaller scale. With the resources setup in such a way that each person can only use what is allocated to them, your site will be more consistent because it will always have the same amount of access to the CPU, memory, and bandwidth. Virtual Private Servers are also more secure since even as you share the memory and CPU time, you are allocated your own file system. If a website on the server is hacked, the hackers will only have access to that particular file system and would not harm the other websites. A VPS is also much cheaper than a dedicated server.
Cons of Virtual Private Server (VPS) web hosting
Now that you have read the pros of a VPS you are probably thinking that this is the best thing since sliced bread. Well, almost - as is the case with every other type of hosting service, not all providers setup or define Virtual Private Servers, also known as Virtual Dedicated Servers, the exact same way. You must make sure that your provider guarantees that their setup is robust enough to handle operations at a peak level. A trick used by many providers in the reselling and shared space is 'overselling'. What this means is selling more in terms of services than what physically available, with the hope that the end users wouldn't use up all the service that were advertised to them. In the realm of VPS this can be a bit more serious, since atleast the expectation is that you are operating in a more robust environment and many clients could be running more intensive applications like message boards or custom web applications. A shortfall of resources could end up causing problems for everyone hosted on such a server, therefore negating the benefits of a VPS. In a shared or dedicated environment you might be able to access more resources during peak or spike periods but since the VPS environemnt limits you to to your slice of the server resources, it can be a drawback.
As if the technology rich lingo of regular web hosting wasn't enough, the VPS services add a few new wrinkles. Apart from storage space and bandwidth you must also deal with CPU cycles and RAM. So you will see ads for hosting that might include XYZ Mhz and AB mb RAM to go with the usual hosting related features. It would be a good idea to find out how many other virtual servers are running on a physical server (contention ratio) as this will determine the ratio of CPU time and memory each virutal server can realistically expect. It is somewhat harder to figure out how much CPU time or RAM you might need, so seek out a hosting provider that will provide you with some benchmarks and the ability to upgrade or downgrade the VPS service if needed.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting Review
Allows complete control of your virtual server and its resouces
Allows you to run web applications without adversely affecting other clients
Flexible - cheaper than dedicated hosting, more expensive than shared
Shared Web Hosting
Shared web hosting (also called virtual hosting) is the most common type of hosting service used. As the word implies, shared web hosting means that you are sharing one server (CPU time, memory, OS, applications, bandwidth, etc) with a number of clients of your hosting company. The webhost manages the server to ensure uptime, upgrading hardware and software. The cost of shared hosting often depends on the number of clients being hosted on a server as the hosting company tries to maximize profits per server. You will have no control over the server but full control over your website through a control panel.
When shopping for shared web hosting, you must check the terms of service to see if there are any scripts or types of software that aren't allowed by the host. Since all the resources are shared, it is important to ensure that no one user is hogging the pooled resources. Server software like Apache or IIS allows the administrators to localize any errors or unusual CPU utilization so as to not affect the other users, but there remains a possibility of a problem occuring and all the websites on a given server going down.
Pros of shared web hostingShared or virtual web hosting has several things going for it. The main being price - they are usually the cheapest and most affordable solutions for an online presence. Since the company hosts tens of websites on one server, they are able to pass the savings to the consumer. Performace could be a downside, but with hardware getting cheaper and software getting better, this aspect might not be relevant for everyone. Take for example web storage space. Hard drive sizes continue to increase (over 100 GB is now common) and prices fall, allowing providers to give the end-users a better deal. The same holds true for CPUs and other components; dual CPU, RAID, ATA-133, and SCSI based computers are common in the web hosting world. With respect to softare, better management tools have allowed virtual hosting clients to have much of the functionality of their more expensive counterparts.
Cons of shared web hostingEven though a lot of websites run on shared or virtual hosts, this type of web hosting is not necessarily the best solution in all cases. If your web application requires an excessive amount of CPU, RAM or other resources, or you need special software plugins and drivers, a shared hosting environment may not be for you. The hosting company has to consider all the clients hosted on a computer and would not appreciate someone hogging the resources nor will they install foreign software as it could have a detrimental impact on their other clients. If your web site needs to have guaranteed or very high rate of uptime, you wouldn't want to take chances in a shared environment as it might be possible that other clients hosted on the computer could cause problems for everyone.
Shared Hosting Review
Usually the cheapest web hosting solution.
Good for small to medium size sites and email domains
Can be used for emergencies or as a backup hosting solution
When shopping for shared web hosting, you must check the terms of service to see if there are any scripts or types of software that aren't allowed by the host. Since all the resources are shared, it is important to ensure that no one user is hogging the pooled resources. Server software like Apache or IIS allows the administrators to localize any errors or unusual CPU utilization so as to not affect the other users, but there remains a possibility of a problem occuring and all the websites on a given server going down.
Pros of shared web hostingShared or virtual web hosting has several things going for it. The main being price - they are usually the cheapest and most affordable solutions for an online presence. Since the company hosts tens of websites on one server, they are able to pass the savings to the consumer. Performace could be a downside, but with hardware getting cheaper and software getting better, this aspect might not be relevant for everyone. Take for example web storage space. Hard drive sizes continue to increase (over 100 GB is now common) and prices fall, allowing providers to give the end-users a better deal. The same holds true for CPUs and other components; dual CPU, RAID, ATA-133, and SCSI based computers are common in the web hosting world. With respect to softare, better management tools have allowed virtual hosting clients to have much of the functionality of their more expensive counterparts.
Cons of shared web hostingEven though a lot of websites run on shared or virtual hosts, this type of web hosting is not necessarily the best solution in all cases. If your web application requires an excessive amount of CPU, RAM or other resources, or you need special software plugins and drivers, a shared hosting environment may not be for you. The hosting company has to consider all the clients hosted on a computer and would not appreciate someone hogging the resources nor will they install foreign software as it could have a detrimental impact on their other clients. If your web site needs to have guaranteed or very high rate of uptime, you wouldn't want to take chances in a shared environment as it might be possible that other clients hosted on the computer could cause problems for everyone.
Shared Hosting Review
Usually the cheapest web hosting solution.
Good for small to medium size sites and email domains
Can be used for emergencies or as a backup hosting solution
Web Hosting Guide and Tips
Buying the right web hosting solution is a very important decision. Whether your website is for an online business, an information resource, a discussion forum, or for sharing views on a hobby or interest; you must use a web hosting service that will allow everyone else to view your creation. It is web hosting that empowers you to share information, sell prodcuts and services, and interact with people through a web site. Trying to choose a web host can be a very confusing exercise, especially when you consider the growing number of web hosts and their confusing advertisements. Therefore, it is important that before jumping in, you go through some sort of a research process for selecting the most appropriate web hosting company for your Internet presence.
In the heyday of the Internet giving things away for free was so fashionable that a lot of companies burned through millions of dollars giving things away, before most of them eventually went bankrupt. If you wish to run an e-commerce site or would like to generate an income from your web site, it is recommended that you seek a good paid host. There will always be the desire to keep expenses down or to cut corners, but one must take the complete picture into account. On the Internet the first impression a visitor (potential customer) gets is everything. They can easily go to another web site to seek information or to make a purchase, so you have to keep your visitors on your site. You want them to see a professional business or information web site that they can trust, not one that is too cheap to pay for a professional service.
Your particular needs are crucial in determining the kind of hosting you need as web hosting comes in many different flavors and at equally numerous price points. There are many web hosts who try to justify charging higher than average prices by offering a vast assortment of extra features. Many people don't need all these bells and whistles and never end up taking advantage of them. But by offering tons of extras that almost no one will use, some web hosts can jack up their rates. So its important that you know what services you require, shop for them by scrutinizing and reviewing the web hosts you come across.
It is important to keep in mind that like any other Internet business, web hosting has grown leaps and bounds over the last decade. In this time thousands of big and small companies have started offering various Internet services. But with the downturn of the early 2000s many of these companies have struggled and some have even gone under. Even with all of the consolidation in the web hosting industry, there are still tens of thousands of hosting companies providing various levels of hosting services.
As technology evolves these web hosts are changing as well, providing various services in addition to plain vanilla web hosting. If you run an e-commerce site, a more comprehensive content web site or a large web forum community, there are many tools that could help in your ventures. Web hosting reviews, opinions and checklists can be helpful in finding the right webhosting service provider for your needs.
In the heyday of the Internet giving things away for free was so fashionable that a lot of companies burned through millions of dollars giving things away, before most of them eventually went bankrupt. If you wish to run an e-commerce site or would like to generate an income from your web site, it is recommended that you seek a good paid host. There will always be the desire to keep expenses down or to cut corners, but one must take the complete picture into account. On the Internet the first impression a visitor (potential customer) gets is everything. They can easily go to another web site to seek information or to make a purchase, so you have to keep your visitors on your site. You want them to see a professional business or information web site that they can trust, not one that is too cheap to pay for a professional service.
Your particular needs are crucial in determining the kind of hosting you need as web hosting comes in many different flavors and at equally numerous price points. There are many web hosts who try to justify charging higher than average prices by offering a vast assortment of extra features. Many people don't need all these bells and whistles and never end up taking advantage of them. But by offering tons of extras that almost no one will use, some web hosts can jack up their rates. So its important that you know what services you require, shop for them by scrutinizing and reviewing the web hosts you come across.
It is important to keep in mind that like any other Internet business, web hosting has grown leaps and bounds over the last decade. In this time thousands of big and small companies have started offering various Internet services. But with the downturn of the early 2000s many of these companies have struggled and some have even gone under. Even with all of the consolidation in the web hosting industry, there are still tens of thousands of hosting companies providing various levels of hosting services.
As technology evolves these web hosts are changing as well, providing various services in addition to plain vanilla web hosting. If you run an e-commerce site, a more comprehensive content web site or a large web forum community, there are many tools that could help in your ventures. Web hosting reviews, opinions and checklists can be helpful in finding the right webhosting service provider for your needs.
Change to a new web host
Often you can save money or get a better support by select a better host. It´s not hard to do it, here is how.
1. Setup your new account.
2. Transfer your site. If your not using a database you can just upload your files to the new host via ftp.
3. Setup your email accounts on the new host.
4. Change the dns. If you bought your domain separate from the hosting you have to log in to their website. Otherwise contact your old host and tell them you want to close your account and change to the new one. The new host will give you the names of their nameservers this information must be updated. The dns will take 24-72h to update so you have to wait a couple of days before you can access your site on the new hosting company.
1. Setup your new account.
2. Transfer your site. If your not using a database you can just upload your files to the new host via ftp.
3. Setup your email accounts on the new host.
4. Change the dns. If you bought your domain separate from the hosting you have to log in to their website. Otherwise contact your old host and tell them you want to close your account and change to the new one. The new host will give you the names of their nameservers this information must be updated. The dns will take 24-72h to update so you have to wait a couple of days before you can access your site on the new hosting company.
Unlimited traffic
Some hosting companies advertise with "unlimited traffic" but what does it really mean?
When you read the user agreement of hosting offers with "unlimited traffic" there is almost allways a section saying that you are not allowed to missuse the account so that other hosing clients suffer. This means that you can't use the unlimited traffic to the unlimited. This offers is not good if you use alot of transfer per month as you cant say when you must pay extra for the transfer.
When you read the user agreement of hosting offers with "unlimited traffic" there is almost allways a section saying that you are not allowed to missuse the account so that other hosing clients suffer. This means that you can't use the unlimited traffic to the unlimited. This offers is not good if you use alot of transfer per month as you cant say when you must pay extra for the transfer.
Spice up your design with stock photos
These professional photos can help you create a positive image of your company and your new website.
Nowadays it can be really cheap to buy good stock photos for your web site. But be carefull if the photos depicts persons nad require that the stock photo company have a model realese so you can use the photo in your commercial website.
Nowadays it can be really cheap to buy good stock photos for your web site. But be carefull if the photos depicts persons nad require that the stock photo company have a model realese so you can use the photo in your commercial website.
Buy your web design or diy?
When it is time to design checkout these options.
1. DIY. The cheapest way but can be time consuming if you are not good at using your computer.
2. Get a template and fill it with content yourself. This can be a good option and templates can be as cheap as $0 for a simple but user friendly design.
3. Let a web designer do the job. This is perhaps the easiest way to do it but can be expensive.
1. DIY. The cheapest way but can be time consuming if you are not good at using your computer.
2. Get a template and fill it with content yourself. This can be a good option and templates can be as cheap as $0 for a simple but user friendly design.
3. Let a web designer do the job. This is perhaps the easiest way to do it but can be expensive.
Choosing a web Hosting Company
You are ready to select a web hosting company to host your new web site but which one of the numerous webhosts should you choose? Here are some factors you should consider.
Storage: How much space does your website need, most packages comes with at least 50-200Mb. When you need more space you should be able to upgrade your
account.
Traffic: How much traffic you will need are harder to calculate as it depends on how "heavy" your web site pages are. Will you use a lot of images, movies and mp3 on your site or are you creating a simple information site with mostly text content. Web hosting packages often comes with 1Gb of transfer per month which are enough for most of websites. If you are unsecure on how much you will be using, check the hosting companies prices for extra transfer.
Support: This is an very important factor. When you experience some problems with your site will you be able to get fast and good support from the webhost? Are they offering support 24h a day 7 days a week? How fast do they answer questions?
Reliability: How fast and secure are their servers and how much uptime do they provide. If they guarantee a certian amount of uptime for example 99,5% how do they compensate if they can't deliver 99,5% uptime.
Storage: How much space does your website need, most packages comes with at least 50-200Mb. When you need more space you should be able to upgrade your
account.
Traffic: How much traffic you will need are harder to calculate as it depends on how "heavy" your web site pages are. Will you use a lot of images, movies and mp3 on your site or are you creating a simple information site with mostly text content. Web hosting packages often comes with 1Gb of transfer per month which are enough for most of websites. If you are unsecure on how much you will be using, check the hosting companies prices for extra transfer.
Support: This is an very important factor. When you experience some problems with your site will you be able to get fast and good support from the webhost? Are they offering support 24h a day 7 days a week? How fast do they answer questions?
Reliability: How fast and secure are their servers and how much uptime do they provide. If they guarantee a certian amount of uptime for example 99,5% how do they compensate if they can't deliver 99,5% uptime.
Choosing a domain name
The first step when you are creating a new website is to choose the name for it. Domain names is best when they are easy to remember, short and easy to spell.
Of course if you have an established company you want select your company name as domain. Your domain will be connected to one of the tld, top level domains. The main top level domain is .com. But other alternatives if your prefered .com name is taken are .net,.org,.us, .info, .biz and many country specific domains as .to,.tv.
Register the domain name which are your brand name if you already have a known brand. It will be easier to market and for people to remember.Avoid hyphenated names like my-domain-here.com beacause they are harder to market and to remember.
And at last get that domain name before somebady else does.
Of course if you have an established company you want select your company name as domain. Your domain will be connected to one of the tld, top level domains. The main top level domain is .com. But other alternatives if your prefered .com name is taken are .net,.org,.us, .info, .biz and many country specific domains as .to,.tv.
Register the domain name which are your brand name if you already have a known brand. It will be easier to market and for people to remember.Avoid hyphenated names like my-domain-here.com beacause they are harder to market and to remember.
And at last get that domain name before somebady else does.
What is Webhosting?
You wonder what webhosting is here are the answers?
Webhosting is the service to host your web pages at a server connected to internet. It´s a file server which serves the clients "web surfers" with webpages and other files such as movies, pictures etc.There are free webhosting and paid ones. Domain hosting includes to option to use your own internet domain name. Subdomain hosting is when you get some name like yourname.hosting.com
Webhosting is the service to host your web pages at a server connected to internet. It´s a file server which serves the clients "web surfers" with webpages and other files such as movies, pictures etc.There are free webhosting and paid ones. Domain hosting includes to option to use your own internet domain name. Subdomain hosting is when you get some name like yourname.hosting.com
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