Cheap Web Hosting Services

Choosing a Cheap Web Hosting Service For Your Website 5 Essential Points to Consider

2010-07-27T13:42:00.001-07:00

In choosing a cheap web hosting service for your website there are some things that you need to take into consideration. While your number one priority right now might be pricing, just focusing on that could lead to you making a bad decision. There might be just minor differences in pricing and value between some of these providers, but it can make a big difference in whether your business succeed or fail.

There are some web hosting providers out there that offer similar service to others, but have different costing. While there are some who charge the same price, yet there are differences with the services that they provide. The only way to figure out what is going on and make sure that you get the "best bang for your buck," is to do some research. If you are planning to be in business for a while then you need to make sure that you get the right hosting now.

Here are five (5) things to look for when choosing a cheap web hosting service fro your website:

(1). Hosting Up-time - This is a critical element to look for when choosing a web host. The up-time will tell you how reliable a specific company is. You should be looking for hosting service that provide a guaranteed 99% and over. Your site has to be up and running to make money, and if your hosting service up-time is low then your income will suffer.

(2). Unlimited Hosting - Although you may not need a lot of resources initially, you will want to allow for growth. There are many companies who offer unlimited web hosting for under $5 per month so you can look out for those. You should always be thinking long term in getting your business up and running as this could avoid major headaches later on.

(3). cPanel Hosting - Many cheap web hosting services provide cPanel to help you navigate and administer your settings. This type of control panel is extremely user friendly, and easy to operate. Many of the activities only require one click operations. Make sure you choose a provider that have this in place, especially if you might be uncomfortable with the technical aspects of this.

(4). Support Multiple MySQL Databases - Content management plays a significant role in building and designing websites and blogs. They are like word-processors, but instead of creating documents they build websites. Content management systems allow you to build websites and blogs with just a few clicks of your mouse, but they require MySQL support to work. Be sure that your hosting service have some of these in place to make your job easier.

(5). Support for Multiple Domains - This is another resource that many cheap web hosting provider offers. It gives you the freedom to expand your web property by setting up multiple businesses all having different domains. Stay away from hosting services that allow you only one domain. Trust me on this, no matter where you are right now you are going to need more later on, so choose wisely.

Choosing a web hosting service for your website should be approached just like with anything else about your business. You should do your research to see what is out there, but before you even start looking you should at least have some idea of what you want. Having some basic needs in mind can help you with your decision. Check out reviews and information about the subject so you can know what to look for.

One of the biggest mistakes that many people make is just looking at the price. While this might be important to you now, you should look for the best value that you can get. Look at the different companies and the services that they provide. Above all else, do not just choose a web hosting provider simply because they offer the cheapest rate.

Godfrey Thaxter is a marketing consultant who writes informative articles providing tips and strategies for "Home Business Success" with your internet marketing business. Click The Link Now To Get Instant Access To The "Highest Quality Advertising & Marketing" On The Internet - And To See How You Can Explode Your Traffic Generation Using Articles!

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Cheap Web Hosting Services Work - Know How to Find the Good Ones

2010-07-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

You will inevitably find problems in getting the suitable web hosting service in the world of Internet. There are numerous suitable candidates in the internet world. In recent years, more and more companies are established to provide the web hosting services and this further increases the difficulty for you to find a good one.

Luckily, with the keen competition, the price of the web hosting service is obviously decreased. And with the advancement of the technology in the world, the equipment for providing the service will decrease continuously in the future. Therefore, it is actually possible for you to obtain some good and cheap web hosting services from the quality service providers.

In the past, only a few web hosts will participate in the cheap web hosting service market. However, more and more of them have admitted the fact that this type of service is hot in the market and they must cater for the demand of the customers.

Some bad service providers try to give poor service, which scares away a lot of web site owners. When you search on the internet, you will realize that there are still a lot of website owners telling you that the cheap web hosting services are never reliable, because they had tried once before and they were trapped. No doubt, there are some bad guys in the market but this does not mean that every cheap plan is bad and not reliable.

If you are careful enough, you can get the suitable help and you can obtain the cheap plans without facing a lot of troubles. You can work well under this plan and gain a lot of businesses for you.

Firstly, you need to look at the features included in the plans. There are many things that you should look at, such as bandwidth, storage space, uptime guarantee, etc. All these things are important for you to establish a good website. It is not a must for you to get the unlimited services for all the features indeed. You just need to analyze the nature of your business and the website, and judge for the best and most suitable plan.

Besides, you have to check whether the customer service provided by the company is of quality. You have to make sure that you can get the help from the service provider quickly. Sometimes, it will be very difficult for you to receive an answer from the web host after you ask the question. These hosts are not efficient and they cannot give you full support for setting up a wonderful, attractive websites. To beginners of web hosting, customer support from web host is very important and this should surely be one of the factors that you have to consider when you choose the plans. If you ignore the importance of this part, you will surely find that you cannot get the help conveniently and you will need to wait a lot of time before you can establish the website. This will be harmful to the development of the business website.

Want more tips for getting cheap web hosting services? Visit http://www.hostreviewgeeks.com/ and you will get to know more about the website hosting world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cindy_Cox

How to Find Top Hosting Selling at Discount Price

2009-10-23T02:59:00.000-07:00

Many website owners or people who are going to launch their new websites are always on the lookout for top hosting companies that offer low cost and affordable website hosting services. Finding a top hosting at discount price could be a quite difficult task. This is mainly because not all top hosting companies will offer discount price to everyone. Furthermore, the discount price is only offered for a limited time, so buying the web hosting services when the offer is still available is most important if you want to get an affordable and cheap hosting solution from a reputable top hosting company.

Many top companies offer web hosting services at discount prices using different methods at different times. You need to lookout for special offers provided by them. Let’s look at some of the ways you can use for finding affordable hosting solutions online.

Most of the reputable hosting service providers offer seasonal discounts. There are always some kinds of festivities going on and hosting companies offer special seasonal discounts on such occasions. You should lookout for these seasonal discounts offered around special events like Mother day, Valentine’s day, Spring’s day, Christmas, New Year, etc. by visiting the websites of the known web hosting providers. The seasonal discounts are generally available for a shorter period of time like few weeks or couple of months.

Some of the leading website hosting companies will provide coupon code to their potential clients in order to gain their business. By entering the coupon code while placing your order you will get discounts according to the package you choose. Such discounts are offered for a longer duration of time. Hosting companies issue special coupons in order to attract more business and it is the common way of getting a top hosting at discount rates. However, not all companies issue the coupon codes, and they are not that easy to find. You need to get them either visiting the website of the company during special promotion drive or search for them over the Internet.

There are some prominent web hosting companies that offer special discounts. These special discounts are only available for the people who come from particular websites and are not available for everyone. The special discount sanction code authorizing the lower price is embedded in the link of a specific website and hosting company can easily track this and offer you a discount price. For getting this you need to find specific websites that promote these special discounts. Many web hosting forums provide such facility. You can search for them or other specific sites over the Internet.

The good thing about getting the top hosting at discount price is that you will get the same services that you would have got if you bought it at regular price. As now you know the types of discounts offered by leading website hosting providers, finding a trustworthy and low priced affordable hosting service should not be that difficult for you.

Dedicated Hosting - Must For Ever-Growing Or Big Organizations!

2008-08-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

Every company has taken to the internet as web presence helps in earning more popularity and clients from all over the world. You can showcase your products and services to the whole world. As more and more people people's preferences are changing, people want to find all their requirements on the internet instead of wasting their holidays or off on shopping or any thing that is time consuming. And why should somebody take all the trouble when everything is available at the click of a button, after all? Companies have understood the outlook of people and have launched their company websites to gain all those potential customers. There are a number of hosting services on offer these days and dedicated hosting happens to be the most preferred choice for big brand companies.

Dedicated hosting in itself means hosting your website on a server which is totally dedicated to one company or organization. There is no sharing of any sort in this hosting type. This is mainly an option for companies looking for more dedication from the web hosting company, where they have a complete loyal technical support that takes care of the visibility of the site on the internet.

Dedicated hosting is more expensive compared to other hosting services. But, if you are getting a secure and well protected server which will guard your website from internet thieves and hackers (especially when you have an ecommerce or any type of businesses where transactions are made on a daily basis) then there is no harm in shunning out a little extra money. Plus, you get the benefit of getting an independent server which is not shared with any other website, where the whole focus shall be on your business. You can be guaranteed to gain more and will not be facing any sort of losses in any field.

Due to growing competition in the market, within dedicated web hosting also there are various packages and many web hosting companies are offering a variety of it. So, how do you choose the right company and hosting service? It is actually quite simple, in other words, it is like a policy that should be followed in any thing - whether you are choosing a product or a service, you should do a thorough research on the company as well as read reviews on the company's services from clients. It will give a wider and clear picture on the reliability and stability of the company which is providing the service. It will help you narrow down your search and fetch you the best deal!

The author is associated with IDS Logic, a professional Web Hosting Company providing fully managed Web Hosting and Web Hosting India solutions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alpana_A

Do Unlimited Bandwidth and Disk Space in Web Hosting Really Exist?

2008-08-22T01:49:00.001-07:00

In web hosting today, customers demand is getting harder and harder to satisfy. Unlimited disk space and bandwidth seem to be compulsory on the packages that they offer. Companies which do not have this seem to loose out in the competition. However, can unlimited disk space and bandwidth really be possible? In the market today, it is possible with the marketing technique of Overselling.

Like we mentioned, Overselling is merely a marketing method for providers to describe their product or services. For an example, a company organizing a dinner for 50 people will provide 60 tickets for sale. With their statistics, they know that 5-10 people will not turn up. Therefore, they do not have any disadvantages at hand. However, this Overselling technique could be disastrous for your company's reputation if used incorrectly.

In web hosting, this technique is very commonly used because competitors are found everywhere. Overselling could meet the demand of the customers. By doing that, they can stay in contention with other companies. Moreover, customers want to get more while paying less, this reason males the company even more reason to use this overselling technique.

Here is an example of Overselling used in web hosting. Company A is a company that is capable of delivering 20 000 GB of bandwidth and 2000 GB disk space. They offer a plan that offers 2000 GB o bandwidth monthly and 200GB storage space. They are able to do this because they calculated that 90% of their clients never use more than10% of the resources they were provided. Mathematically, they can only accept 10 clients. Therefore, they are overselling.

For unlimited bandwidth, it is clear that it is impossible to be achieved. The bandwidth really depends on the resources that you are provided. They are the CPU Time, RAM Usage and Database Connection. Before unlimited bandwidth can be achieved, you will have to sort out the limited resource that you have. Company will usually state this in their terms of service 'If a user is monopolizing a server resources, XXX Hosting Company has the right to immediately suspend the account for resource abuse. No refund will be offered.' This is a way the companies trick their clients. Therefore, it is always better to choose a provider that has a good reputation backing their honest service.

Looking for an affordable web host Check out Lunarpages You'll get 15,000/1,500 GB bandwidth/disk storage in less than $5 with them. More details on LunarPages web hosting here.

Article written by Justin Knights.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Knights

Affordable Website Hosting Plan - 3 Tips When Choosing a Cheap Web Host

2008-08-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

We all try to get an affordable website hosting plan when we have just registered a new domain name. But finding a cheap web host is not always easy. There are many things that can go wrong when you choose a cheap host over some more expensive web-hosting.

To help you a little bit along the way when you are choosing an affordable website hosting plan, here are a few things you need to keep in mind:

* Type of server your domain is hosted on
* Type of tracking software installed on the server
* The amount of space and bandwidth allowed

Depending on how advanced you are, you might want to choose a server type for your hosting that will fit your needs in the long run. Foremost this is about what type of programs and script you will be able to install and run on your server in the future.

When you spend both time and money on your website and strategy, much of that will go to waste if you can't track your visitors properly. By studying your home page and site map etc. you can learn much from your visitor's behavior. The knowledge you gain here can be used to create a more profitable web site. But of course you need tracking software on your server that can do this for you.

As your website grows both in size and in traffic, you have to make sure that your cheap hosting plan can support that. Changing spacehosting later on is something that you definitely want to avoid.

For more tips on choosing an affordable website hosting plan, visit http://johnnyknows.com/. Here you will get detailed instructions on how to choose a cheap web host. Choosing a website hosting plan is the one step you don't want to do wrong.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clark_Thompson

HostMonster Web Hosting Review

2008-08-07T21:27:00.004-07:00

I Use Seven Different Web Hosts

I have a decent amount of experience with shared web hosting accounts as I currently have accounts with seven different webhosts and I've used three other web hosts in the past (that I've left.) Of those 10 total web hosts I've used only one have I never experienced any down time with: HostMonster web hosting. Considering that the prices & features of shared web hosting services tend to be pretty similar it's up time and ease of use that I care most about. In those categories, HostMonster is without peer.

Additional Domains With Free Privacy

A great feature that is unique to HostMonster (in my experience anyway) is that they allow you to buy additional domains for your account (which you can host unlimited domains with with unlimited bandwidth and unlimited hosting space) at $10 a pop with free privacy included. If you're like me and you like to buy privacy on all of your domains this actually ends up saving you a bit of money compared to buying a domain at GoDaddy and adding the privacy separately.

I Host 16 Domains With My HostMonster Account Currently

I push my web hosting account pretty hard. For just $6.95 a month I currently have 16 domains all hosted on my one shared account and I've never had any problems at all.

All Of The Features You Would Expect

MySQL, Perl, Frontpage Extension, all of the features that you get with any decent web hosting account. You'll get them here. Like I said, these feature are pretty much the same everywhere, so don't worry about them.

Customer Service?

I can't really give any report on the customer service. Why not? In a year and a half with HostMonster, I've never had to contact them because I've never had a single problem. It's an easy service to use and I've never had any down time. That's the kind of customer service I like best, no problems to start with.

CLICK HERE: HostMonster. Learn more about this fantastic web hosting service. Sign up right now (your first domain is free with free privacy included!)

Domain Registration.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_Moon

Essential Requirements to Check When Selecting Cheap Web Hosting

2008-08-07T21:27:00.003-07:00

If you are looking for a cheap web host for your website or blog then it is essential that you have a list of minimum requirements that all your potential web hosting companies must provide. If they do not meet these important criteria then you should ignore them and find a better hosting company.

Technical Support and Customer Service

As with any business arrangement communication is key. You will find that if you do not understand anything or have a problem or query then you need to be able to talk to your web hosting company whether they are a cheap web host or not. Your ability to ask questions and get sensible answers in a timely fashion is extremely important.

Submitting online support tickets with a 24 hour or worse turn around is not really the best way to go as you never know if your request is being attended to or not. It is always better to have 24/7 phone or online chat support to technical staff at the web host so you can call and check that your issue is being resolved when you have a problem. Also if you just have a question it is good to be able to talk to someone when you need to.

Always try to talk to technical staff before you commit so you can check whether they are technically proficient and easy to talk to. Ask them some questions about your requirements and the options available then see how they respond. If you are not happy with their response just move on.

Features, Capacity, Reliability and Security

There are also some essential requirements for the physical hosting aspect of your website or blog. You will need to carefully check what is on offer in relation to disk space capacity, bandwidth and any up time guarantees. In all cases these should be as high as possible, so compare web hosts companies to see what they all provide before you decide what you want.

For some the more technical aspects of their hosting will be important such as PHP or ASP support. For others the option to run more than one website or domain or MySQL databases from their hosting account is critical, especially for specialist software such as Wordpress. Some offer unlimited domains for those that need it.

The speed, power, reliability and security of the server your website will be hosted on are also important aspects of any web hosting account. Find out as much as you can about these items and compare carefully before you buy.

Many web host companies provide user control panels for you to manage the websites in your hosting account. The best to get is cPanel with Fantastico as this provides for easy one-click installation of software like Wordpress and is extremely simple to use especially for the less technically oriented.

Low Monthly Price and Money Back Guarantee

With cheap web hosting cost is always one of the important criteria, but make sure that all your other essential requirements are met before you look at the prices. Web hosting is so competitive that there are always special offers being promoted and you should be able to get a great deal with typical monthly prices well under 10 dollars. If you are in a hurry check that instant account activation is available so you can start building your website or blog immediately.

Finally get a full money back guarantee if you can so that if you find you are not happy with the web host service provided in the first thirty days then you will be able to cancel and get all of your money back. Many web hosts now offer this and it just makes common sense to use it.

For more information on all aspects of Cheap Web Hosting and to find out who I recommend and use as My Cheap Web Hosts just visit our web hosting website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Joa

Principles of a Successful Large Scale Website

2008-08-07T21:27:00.002-07:00

In this day in age with so many websites competing, if one was to launch and run a successful website you must be aware of 2 principle rules that can be carved in stone.

A website must have an angle in order to drive traffic to it. This angle can be one of two types. Either unique content or reasonably unique content or a unique method of delivery. I will explain both of these in more depth since it is not as obvious at it may seem.

1. Unique content. Remember there are millions of websites out there so even if there are 50 websites with exactly the same content the surfer still has to find them all before you need to worry about competition. Due to the nature of finding information through search engines and large large number of sites it is pretty much a given that the server has almost 0% chance of finding even 2 websites with exactly the same content. So this means that you don`t need such original content that it is not available anywhere on the web in order to be called unique content and thus to make money. If your content can easily be found on other sites with a few google key phrases then you are no longer falling in this category. So the point again is, you don`t need to be 100% unique just reasonably unique in the scope of the web.

2. Unique Method of Delivery. The best example I can think of for this is Youtube. Youtube does not have any original content at all. In fact, the videos there can be found everywhere like peer2peer networks, usenet and personal blog websites and where available long before youtube even existed. But no one ever new about the video sharing phenomenon until youtube.
They invented and implemented a unique method to allow content to be uploaded in masses and shared to the masses. Youtube is reported to have a monthly bandwidth bill of over $1 million. There may in fact have been other entrepreneurs who thought of the idea first, but no one had the guts to implement it for the fear of large loss. But you see, youtube made its fortune because it found a unique method of delivery and took the chance. How big is youtube? Well, it was bought by Google a few years ago.

Its never too late to jump in on internet bandwagon and make fortunes as long as your online plan has one of these principles. If you can manage to have both of them present at the same time then you really are one of the very few.

I am going to use the technology example of youtube to give you an idea of a great angle you could implement using the unique method of delivery principle.

If you keep an eye on the latest internet communications technologies you could get the scoop on a excellent new video compression. With this you could offer HD video for your new sharing website at the same cost as youtube. Can you imagine what would happen? Or perhaps you find a must cheaper option for bandwidth somewhere offshore that is new. Get the scoop first and there is your angle for unique delivery.

My name is Vladimir Gregorian I am an online marketer now living in the tropical city of Salvador Brazil. Visit my site for tips on legitimate making money tips: http://www.imoneyonline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vlad_Gregorian

Saving on Your Hosting Bill With Squidoo Lenses

2008-08-07T21:27:00.001-07:00

Hosting can cost from $1 to over $100, though the average price is usually less than $20. Sound cheap? Well, it is until you multiply that number by 100 or even 1,000. And, if you're going to be a serious Internet marketer, eventually, you will have that many sites in your repertoire. This is why it's important to consider free hosting alternatives. One of the best is Squidoo.

What is Squidoo? Squidoo is a powerful Web 2.0 site that allows people to create their own blogs, (also known as lenses). There is no charge for hosting, and virtually no limit to how many lenses can be created. Additionally, Squidoo participates in AdSense revenue-sharing. This means that they will allow you to keep revenue from your AdSense clicks a certain percentage of the time. The exact percentage will depend on what is being promoted.

So, what's the best way to create a money-making Squidoo lens? Well, first make sure you can write solid articles surrounding whatever your official website or affiliate program is about. Don't fall into the temptation to just post a bunch of advertisements on your lens. Readers will only be put off by your lens and not click on any ads, whether they are your own links or AdSense. It's much better to provide valuable information that will build up interest to your product or service rather than advertise it outright.

Anyway, as you are writing your articles, don't forget that you want to try and make secondary income from AdSense, should your reader not click on any of your links. To do this you will need to incorporate keywords that AdSense bots will pick up. Try to use more popular keywords, since this will net you more money. In fact, if you can, consider buying a list containing the most expensive AdSense keywords. You should be able to find these easily by doing a basic search on Google or another search engine. Once you get it, find the keywords that best match what you're talking about and use them 2 to 6 percent of the time throughout your text. If you do things right, the more expensive keywords will get integrated into your lens. Granted, you won't always get the revenue, but at least when you do, you can be assured that it will be high.

Okay now, at this point many AdSense gurus might feel uncomfortable at the thought of sharing any revenue with another company. They may feel that it's better to just get a regular hosting account for their blogs than to go that route. Well, again, there's still the issue of the numbers game if you do massive Internet marketing. But there's another issue at stake presence. Squidoo is already indexed by search engines, and has a high page rank. This means that any lenses produced on their network are more likely to get noticed by search engines than a new, no-name website. And for newbies who may not know how to rank high on their own, this is a major advantage that can't be overlooked.

In conclusion, Squidoo is the best place to turn if you're looking for an affordable way to create a blog or series of blogs. There are no recurring charges, but you will have to share any Adsense revenue you make. This is a disadvantage, but Squidoo's popularity in search engine listings should overcome it at least for the newbie.

The 12 part E-course walks you through step by step on how to get the traffic coming to your site. This is traffic that you just put your time into, you don't have to spend any money for it. Find out more at http://www.newwebtraffic.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dj_Judkins

Giving It Away Is Not Enough - Company Business and Marketing

2008-02-15T03:52:00.000-08:00

As the technology behind IP telephony matures, the companies offering it face a shakeout.

ITXC BEGAN LIFE IN 1997 AS A networking company that carried phone traffic for cheap prepaid calling cards. By late last year, its service had became good enough for second-tier carriers to begin putting some of their international traffic on ITXC's networks, since they were cheaper than old-fashioned phone lines. Now the Princeton, N.J.-based company claims that 13 of the 14 largest U.S. carriers, along with a host of international players, send phone traffic over its networks. ITXC's growth reflects the anticipated expansion of Web-based telephone traffic, or IP telephony. Slowly and stealthily, the Internet is taking over more and more of the world's phone traffic. Research firm IDC estimates that 300 million people will be making Internet voice calls by 2003. Though less than 1 percent of worldwide phone traffic is carried over the Internet, a host of startups already offer free Net-based telephone calls, undercutting the lumbering incumbent phone companies.

But now companies that rely exclusively on the IP telephony market are watching their growth level off, their access to the capital markets shut down and their business models become open to question.

"In 10 years, phone traffic will have moved off the public-switch networks and onto the Internet," says Tom Evslin, CEO of ITXC. "But just carrying traffic at cut rates for the phone companies doesn't cut it. We need new phone applications." The IP telephony service providers include networking companies such as ITXC and Burlington, Mass.-based iBasis, plus a handful of established players like Genuity that carry Net phone traffic. More numerous are companies like PhoneFree.com, Dialpad and Firetalk that buy network capacity from the networking firms and give away phone calls on the Net.

Since April, the stock prices for most IP telephony companies have fallen, and the IPO pipeline has narrowed. Equipment-maker Sonus is one of the few to successfully go public, earning a $10 billion market capitalization in May. Genuity has lost 35 percent of its value since its June IPO. ITXC's Evslin acknowledges that this fledgling industry has entered an early phase of consolidation.

Analyst Jeff Pulver, through his eponymous firm Pulver.com, has been perhaps the most vocal proponent of Internet telephony. But even he is mystified by the business model of many of these companies. "A lot of these people are my friends, but I don't know how they can survive by selling banner ads and giving away phone calls for free," he says. "The only way to make it is to take advantage of the Internet. It's flexible and there's going to be a lot of really cool stuff built on it - applications that appeal to more people."

ITXC and iBasis were once limited to carrying Internet calls from computer to computer, attracting plenty of hard-core computer users but few mainstream callers. Now they've added more sophisticated PC-to-phone and phone-to-phone calling, making IP telephony easily available to less tech-savvy customers.

Companies that give away phone service on the Web find it tough sledding, though. San Francisco's Firetalk announced last week it would start charging subscription fees. Established providers like PhoneFree, which has more than 2 million active users, hope to make money by tacking on value-added features such as unified messaging and voicemail applications to basic services.

Some of these startups may eventually find shelter in the arms of established companies. PhoneFree CEO Jan Horsfall acknowledges he's been involved in acquisition or merger talks with several companies. Horsfall also says he's talked to four struggling IP telephony companies about buying them. In fact, lots of companies like PhoneFree, which has grown by dissing the phone companies, would now welcome their embrace. "There's brackish waters between us and the portals and the phone companies," Horsfall says. "They'll figure out they need us soon enough."

Giving It Away Is Not Enough - Company Business and Marketing

2008-02-14T03:04:00.000-08:00

As the technology behind IP telephony matures, the companies offering it face a shakeout.

ITXC BEGAN LIFE IN 1997 AS A networking company that carried phone traffic for cheap prepaid calling cards. By late last year, its service had became good enough for second-tier carriers to begin putting some of their international traffic on ITXC's networks, since they were cheaper than old-fashioned phone lines. Now the Princeton, N.J.-based company claims that 13 of the 14 largest U.S. carriers, along with a host of international players, send phone traffic over its networks. ITXC's growth reflects the anticipated expansion of Web-based telephone traffic, or IP telephony. Slowly and stealthily, the Internet is taking over more and more of the world's phone traffic. Research firm IDC estimates that 300 million people will be making Internet voice calls by 2003. Though less than 1 percent of worldwide phone traffic is carried over the Internet, a host of startups already offer free Net-based telephone calls, undercutting the lumbering incumbent phone companies.

But now companies that rely exclusively on the IP telephony market are watching their growth level off, their access to the capital markets shut down and their business models become open to question.

"In 10 years, phone traffic will have moved off the public-switch networks and onto the Internet," says Tom Evslin, CEO of ITXC. "But just carrying traffic at cut rates for the phone companies doesn't cut it. We need new phone applications The IP telephony service providers include networking companies such as ITXC and Burlington, Mass.-based iBasis, plus a handful of established players like Genuity that carry Net phone traffic. More numerous are companies like PhoneFree.com, Dialpad and Firetalk that buy network capacity from the networking firms and give away phone calls on the Net.

Since April, the stock prices for most IP telephony companies have fallen, and the IPO pipeline has narrowed. Equipment-maker Sonus is one of the few to successfully go public, earning a $10 billion market capitalization in May. Genuity has lost 35 percent of its value since its June IPO. ITXC's Evslin acknowledges that this fledgling industry has entered an early phase of consolidation.

Analyst Jeff Pulver, through his eponymous firm Pulver.com, has been perhaps the most vocal proponent of Internet telephony. But even he is mystified by the business model of many of these companies. "A lot of these people are my friends, but I don't know how they can survive by selling banner ads and giving away phone calls for free," he says. "The only way to make it is to take advantage of the Internet. It's flexible and there's going to be a lot of really cool stuff built on it - applications that appeal to more people."

ITXC and iBasis were once limited to carrying Internet calls from computer to computer, attracting plenty of hard-core computer users but few mainstream callers. Now they've added more sophisticated PC-to-phone and phone-to-phone calling, making IP telephony easily available to less tech-savvy customers.

Companies that give away phone service on the Web find it tough sledding, though. San Francisco's Firetalk announced last week it would start charging subscription fees. Established providers like PhoneFree, which has more than 2 million active users, hope to make money by tacking on value-added features such as unified messaging and voicemail applications to basic services.

Some of these startups may eventually find shelter in the arms of established companies. PhoneFree CEO Jan Horsfall acknowledges he's been involved in acquisition or merger talks with several companies. Horsfall also says he's talked to four struggling IP telephony companies about buying them. In fact, lots of companies like PhoneFree, which has grown by dissing the phone companies, would now welcome their embrace. "There's brackish waters between us and the portals and the phone companies," Horsfall says. "They'll figure out they need us soon enough.

Choosing The Right Web Hosting Company For Your Business

2008-02-02T02:48:00.000-08:00

Whether you are a first-time website designer looking for a parking place in cyberspace or you are a novice webmaster who is looking for new web hosting, there is no shortage of companies to compete for your business.

When shopping for web hosting, it is important to consider your primary use of a website. Will it be for business or personal use? How many visitors do you anticipate having each month? Each web hosting company provides a variety of packages, each of which has a bandwidth limit. This is the number of visitors that can access your website on a monthly basis and the price of your web hosting will be largely determined by this and other factors.

Many companies offer free web hosting services in exchange for them placing banner advertisements on the website owner’s page. The majority of free web hosting services, however, are designed for personal or small business use. The reason is because they offer a small amount of megabyte availability for website storage and do not provide a URL that is easy to remember.

Affordable web hosting services are ideal for new startup businesses due to the fact that they offer a modest bandwidth and megabyte availability for the website, along with FTP access and customized e-mail addresses. Most paid web hosting packages start at $20.00 per month and go up from there depending on the owner’s wishes.

An organization who plans to advertise their website and generate increasing amounts of traffic may want to go ahead and purchase a web hosting package that will fit their needs during the first few months of service. Once a website reaches it’s bandwidth, the web hosting company may suspend visitor access to the site until the owner upgrades to a more expensive package to accommodate the customers. It is always best to select a web hosting company that offers various packages so that, if you are pleased with their service, your website can grow with them.

As a final thought to choosing a web hosting company, it is best to deal with a business that offers a toll-free customer service number with extended hours. It is important to know that your web hosting company will be there incase of interrupted service or delays, advice and general questions. At the same time, it is important that your web hosting company have a toll-free number so that you aren’t spending your dime in the event that you are placed on hold while calling customer service.

Do Only Beginners Pay for Web Hosting?

2008-02-02T02:46:00.000-08:00

When I started out doing business online, I had so little knowledge about web hosting that I was easily ripped off by the Web Hosting Community. But it is no longer the case. Nowadays I host my own websites and as I am running about 25 websites, it has actually become easier for me to handle. But where do you start?

First of all you should understand that as with anything else, cheapest is not always the best. Don't go for the extremely cheap services and burn your fingers. Your website is a great asset to you if it is handled correctly, and it can make you a lot of money. Don't gamble with it. There are good ways of setting up your own web hosting system.

The web hosting that I am using is not cheap, it is actually free. No Advertisements, no emails in my inbox every day, just plain FREE.

First thing that you should do is to find a reliable web hosting company of which there are plenty, and then set up an account with them.

I was amazed at how easy it was to actually become my own Web Hosting Company. The Web Hosting Company that I joined gave me all the tools that I needed and helped me to get started in a small amount of time. You can actually set up an unlimited amount of other websites and market them as your own packages, brands and at your own prices. I have made up my entire web hosting costs, by just finding two other people that wanted to host their sites. Now my 25 websites are being hosted for free.

Later on as I was using all the tools that these guys gave me, I discovered that there was such a huge amount of services that they offer, which is actually included in this service, and I was stumped. For instance, I wanted to add a service on my website that could act as a forum, but I did not have the skills or the time to actually write such a program. I went into my Members Area and there I got a selection of add on modules that I could use. I just installed it and my forum was up and running. I added blogs the same way. In actual fact there are so many free services included in the package that I still have not figured all of them out.

I can set as many email addresses as I want, delete them, create new ones, add databases and the list just goes on. Wonder how I worked on the short leash all those years.

So why is this not public knowledge? I asked myself that questions many times and realized that the guys that make you pay huge amounts will keep this secret from you.

There is not much to hosting your own websites, just take the time to figure it out, and you will be on your way. Remember that you are paying for your Web Hosting, not because you have to pay for it, you are paying because you do not have the knowledge to do your own hosting.

Video Sites Web Hosting Needs

2008-02-01T02:34:00.000-08:00

Video sites typically have free web hosting services and this might not actually pose as too much of an issue as one might think. There can be numerous reasons why an individual would opt for hosting a video online. It can be for the purpose of commercial marketing or networking or simply for entertainment. Regardless of the reason, a good site needs to have stable web hosting.

First, an important factor to consider as one looks for web hosting for a video site. Keep in mind that a video site would be needing some kind of special software for the videos to be streamed. If this specific streaming software is not in place, then you and your visitors would not be able to properly appreciate the videos quality, as you will not be able to view it well.

If the video site is launched without the software then users would have to download the video file first to be able to view it unlike when there is a software already when users could easily view it on the website. This kind of streaming software has to be installed properly on the chosen web server.

There are lots of cheap alternatives if you would be looking for hosting services for video sites. As you shop around, make sure that you should be able to view your video online. You would also need to look for real player or any similar player, as real player is probably one of the most famous applications used to view videos online. Most companies have services that would allow you to see the videos on the sites in which they are hosted.

Some other things to do would be: check for the compatibility of the video and the player; check if the web server that you would be using would be able to hold files of large sizes; and check if the provided bandwidth would allow a lot of transference.

Looking for Web Hosting- Keep These Points In Mind

2008-02-01T02:33:00.000-08:00

This article has been written with reference to Shared Web Hosting. Shared Web Hosting is suitable for anyone looking for an economical Web Hosting solution with total Web Space Requirement not exceeding 2 GB.

Decide your Requirements before You Choose Anything- Before choosing which hosting plan you want, decide what software you want to use first. It should not be that you buy a hosting account with a web hosting company, and then start looking around for software that does what you desire. When you eventually find what looks like the perfect software, it turns out that the software is not compatible with the web hosting account. Most often, in a Shared Hosting environment, any kind of customization is not possible.

To cut a long story short, decide upon your requirements before you actually start zeroing in on a Web Hosting Provider.

What you Need- If you are just starting out with your online Web Presence, you do not need to start off with a fancy Hosting Account. You can start off with a Basic Hosting account and upgrade as and when your requirements increase.

Implementing an E-Commerce site requires web-hosting services, which are somewhat different from the plain vanilla hosting services. Issues like SSL set up and Payment Gateway Integration need to be resolved. Your web-hosting company can usually take care of these 2 matters. However what needs to be taken care of is compatibility between what the Web Hosting Company is offering and what are your requirements. Take the example of Payment Gateway Integration. You might have decided to buy Payment Gateway services from one service provider whereas the Web Hosting provider would be in a position to provide Payment Gateway Integration for another service provider.

The Bare Minimums- A few of the givens with any good web hosting company are Unlimited FTP Access, 24*7 Web Support, and Uptime guarantee, Money Back Guarantee in case of non-satisfaction. Some of the other expected features are No Set Up Fee, Web mail with email, Web Based Site Admin, Email Forwarding, Unlimited Email Aliases, Email Auto Responders, server anti Virus Protection, etc.

Deciding Criteria- In terms of short listing a web hosting provider, look at the past record of the web hosting provider, number of years in web hosting business for the service provider, type of clients they have, their SLA, location of Data center and technical specifications of the hosting servers that are being offered for your shared hosting. If the service to be signed up for includes some advanced features like Tomcat support, look for compatibility between your applications and the hosting features offered by the Hosting provider. Look at the Control Panel offered by the Web Hosting Provider and what exactly is offered in that Control Panel.

Web Hosting: Simple, Easy, and Understandable

2008-01-31T03:48:00.000-08:00

Web hosting is essential for individuals and companies that want to start and run a website. Unless you have a server that is always on and has a static IP address, you will need the services of a web hosting company. You have gone through the domain registration process and web hosting is the next step.

What does a typical web host provide? Well, the most important services they provide are mentioned above. Again, web hosts provide you with a server that is always on and an IP address that does not change. The server must always be on so that people can find your website at any time of the day. The server must have a static IP so that the website can always be located. Beyond these two basics, web hosts provide speed, website space, database access, script ability, email capability, and more. A list of typical web hosting services is provided below.

Typical Web Hosting Features
- Disk Storage
- File Transfer
- Email Accounts
- FTP Access
- CGI
- FrontPage Extensions
- Website Statistics

So what should you look for in a web host? Start by identifying web hosting services that you think are critical. I suggest you look at uptime, server space, database connectivity, scripting ability (.NET, PHP), bandwidth allowance, number of email addresses, support, and the administration interface. Once you have decided on your own list of web host essentials, make a list of 3 – 5 qualified candidates. Take your list of web hosts and find the corresponding monthly rate for each. Now you have apples to apples comparison of web hosts that you can sort by monthly hosting fees. Find a web host that is within your budget and do a further investigation of their web hosting solution. Once you have identified a web hosting company that meets all your needs, then you are ready to sign up. A list of potential web hosting companies can be found below. Perhaps it will help you along in your search. You may also want to get a copy of our summarized web hosting checklist to use in your analysis.

Web Hosts:
- FortuneCity
- BraveNet.com
- Yahoo! Small Business
- iPowerWeb

For more information on web hosting and the companies that provide them, simply run a search for “web hosting” on Google and you will get plenty of addtional information.

Cheap Web Hosting - How to Select the Right Web Hosting Provider

2008-01-31T03:47:00.000-08:00

So, what is cheap web hosting?

Finding a quality service provider that is cheap is a tedious task. For some users, the one big downside of having an unmanaged dedicated host is that you must be your own server administrator.

These hosting services are with cheap rates. So,what things that should be keep in mind while looking for cheap web hosting services?

a. First, check company’s background and verify that whether the hosting company is reputable or not. Be sure the hosting service provider offers as much disk space as you want.

b. Disk Space Consideration & Features

How much hosting disk space your site takes in order to compare service provider's plans. Most people on shared servers will not have access to a command line to be able to use the chmod command. Make sure that you know your needs before you start looking for your web host. In general, a disk space with 500 MB to 1000 MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement.

c. Other Services to Consider

Even an cheap web-hosting provider can offer domain registration or doamin renewal as part of their hosting package. Some, will actually register your good domain in their name. This way, they locked you into service with them as switching web hosting providers now means losing your domain name. Be carefull. A host that supports databases is normally a must have feature

d. Traffic Generation

If you found the traffic to your site has increased over the specified bandwidth limit, you should select a higher hosting plan. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data (pages, files) served from your website to your customers, if your website will be subject to high traffic, you will need to take the amount of bandwidth the host provides.

Before you decide on a web hosting plan, be sure to check this:

- What is the monthly data transfer/bandwidth allowed?

- Are you able to upgrade/add on your bandwidth?

- Will you be charged if your website exceeds its limit?

Anyway, look for ones with good reputations or just email them and compare their quickly results from different places. The question you should ask an existing customer is; “how reliable is the host?”.

No Contact Information: If you can’t find on their website at least one way email address, query ticket, phone number get in touch with the hosting provider you are considering, stop considering them. Also send technical support an email to test how long it takes to receive a response. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support

Always choose a hosting provider that meets your expectations and with whom you feel comfortable with. Does your web hosting provider offer a guarantee of discounts for each hour that your Web site is down from their servers. Ask as many questions as you can, see how the different hosts differ in their answers. But if you really have a serious website, and want to run a successful business you cannot do it without using a dedicated server.

The Most Important Web Hosting Tips and Tricks

2008-01-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

The investments in a website might often involve large amounts of money, often reaching 5 figures. However, regardless if you have a highly complex website or a personal web site, there are a few things that you want to know for sure. The hosting provider should guarantee a server up-time of over 99% and you should also have a backup server in case the main server has problems - these are essential requirements for any web hosting services company. FTP and email access should also be discussed and there are a few other details that you want to be certain of before you make a commitment.

A little shopping around can pay off for you in cheap web hosting and design services, especially if you're building a business web site. There are several web hosting services that offer all-in-one design and hosting services starting at $9.95 a month for a one page business card site to $50 a month for a 9-10 page full service catalog. Some require a commitment of 12-24 months, though they'll only bill you the monthly fee up front, and all require that if you leave their web hosting service, the site design belongs to them. If the web hosting company is otherwise dependable, reliable and offers all the bells and whistles that you need, an all-in-one package can be a great way to get a professional design at cheap rates.

As a novice who doesn't understand all the web hosting jargon this can pose a problem. Are you an individual, small business, blog, or a big time corporation? What do you need and how do you get it. You know you are a customer and a person, not just a number on a sales receipt. I believe the hosting companies are the same. A smaller hosting company will probably treat its users with more honest integrity as well as having more flexibility in dealing with your individual situation. They can often tailor web site packages to accommodate exactly what you are looking for as well as the ability to update them quickly when your needs change. My advice is to contact a few of the smaller companies. Look for ones with good reputations or just arbitrarily email them and compare results from different places. Which one do you feel most comfortable with? Go for it; ask as many questions as you can, see how the different hosts differ in their answers. Try one; if it doesn't work out try another, it's really easy to move around. Don't be afraid, you've got nothing to lose except the fear itself!

Professional Web Hosting And Ecommerce

2008-01-30T01:57:00.000-08:00

In the fast-changing scenario of today’s world, the Internet has become a major tool for commerce. In order to make a mark, it is essential for a business to have a presence on the Web. Having your own web page means thousands of potential customers across the world will have access to your goods and services just at the click of a mouse. And for this purpose, you will have to take the help of a Web server that will store your page and download it to your potential customers on request.

But as owning and operating a Web server is highly expensive and needs technical expertise as well, most businesses find it convenient to hire a host, called the hosting service provider (HSP) that owns the Web server and provides the necessary technologies and services. They collect a rental fee from exchange for their services. There are some free hosting providers that offer you only limited services. You can get many more services from the “paid” class of hosting services. Paid hosting can be shared, dedicated or managed and you can choose the one that suits you best. In the case of shared hosting, several Web sites are shared on one server. Although less expensive, they are incapable of handling large amounts of storage or traffic. In dedicated hosting, a Web site is allotted its own server. Apart from a dedicated server, managed hosting also provides extensive technical support, maintenance and monitoring services.

You will find a number of HSPs offering you various types of packages at various prices. The packages may include a variety of services from personalized email address to your own domain name. The services offered by different HSPs are usually competitive and affordable. All you need to do to spread your business is choose the right one according to your requirements. Remember, to succeed in e-commerce, you have to make your presence felt on the Web.

Check Out Web Hosting Reviews Before Selecting a Web Host

2008-01-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

Anyone who runs a business knows the importance of having a good website. A website is important for promoting one's wares. It also serves to reach out to customers and investors. A small business doesn't need to invest heavily in servers, hardware, and other equipment. Instead, one can choose a successful web hosting service. But how does one choose from all of the specialized vendors? An easy way to gather information is to read through web hosting reviews.

It is easy to find reviews of web hosting companies on the internet. There are literally thousands of companies competing for your business and they will do whatever they can to attract you. You should still be very thorough in comparing and evaluating their service offerings and their prices to be sure you get what you truly need at a price that works for your business.

Above all, you must determine your precise requirements. Wading in a sea of web hosting reviews isn't much help if you don't know precisely what you are looking for from a web hosting service. This usually refers to your space needs and the nature of the information you want to post on your site.

Most web hosting services also sell domain names. Make sure you know what kinds of domain names they have available, because you definitely need a name that is has something to do with your type of business. You may also need to check out a number of web hosting reviews in order to find one that will provide you with mailboxes if you want them. A lot of providers do not offer this service.

Once you have ascertained your need, make a list of service providers. This is necessary for evaluating web hosting services against the benchmark you have decided upon. Don't be misled by cheap rates as many web hosting services quote cheap rates for the first year only. The charges for second year become exponentially higher and you end up paying a huge sum because the trouble of migrating from one web hosting service to another acts as a deterrent.

It may not be easy to choose a web host, but don't give up. Consult with friends and colleagues who have websites to see who they recommend. One thing to check for is the amount of time it takes to load a page with each of the service providers. You're not going to be happy paying big bucks for a super slow service that deters customer accessibility. You can use web hosting reviews as guidelines as long as you remember they aren't guaranteeing you anything.

Choosing The Right Web Hosting Plan

2008-01-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

A variety of affordable web hosting plans and tools is provided by most web hosting companies. However, in their search for the best affordable web hosting plans, many webmasters do a good job of comparing the basic offerings but overlook the wide range of good quality free or very cheap services and tools offered by their prospective web host.

Most web hosts don’t advertise these free tools as prominently in their sales copy as they do the basics such as storage space, bandwidth, and tech support. This is simply because they know that most potential customers are only comparison-shopping on the basics.

However, affordable web hosting plans can mean the difference between a robust, customer-friendly web site that supports your expanding business and one that is stuck in low gear just as the traffic begins to increase.

What will you need later?
There is a wide array of these free or nearly-free affordable web hosting plans to choose from but first you must know, or at least be reasonably able to predict, the ones you are likely to need when your business grows.

Though low cost does not necessarily mean low value for money when it comes to an affordable web hosting plan. A good quality web host can be found for just a few dollars a month or free as an added bonus when you purchase a domain name with them, this is fine as long as you do not mind someone else’s ads permanently on your website. You see even if its said to be free, there is always a catch!

Affordable web hosting plans are good value for money. Make sure that when you are looking for the best deal for a low cost web hosting service don’t expect too much bang for your buck

Starting Your Business Web Site Hosting Service

2007-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Web site hosting is the business of selling the use of the internet. It provides (or sells) storage, internet connection, web designing, web site maintaining, and other services necessary to build web sites. Web site hosting is also the providing of gateway for the user to access the web sites he/she wishes to visit. Web hosting is often a preset of a general Internet access plan.

The web host is the one providing the hosting. Web host companies vary in the way they present their web hosting plans. There are some web host firms that offer free services while there are some that really require big amount of money, depending on the web hosting package being offered. The web hosting plans or packages are the detailed enumeration of the specifics of services being offered by the web host with its corresponding amount.

How do you start a business website hosting service?

As a web host provider, you should be able to identify what you can and can not deliver. It should also know beforehand the kind of web sites it is capable of hosting and the web host firm's target market. The company should also draw its objectives and purpose why it settled a business in web site hosting.

Another thing to consider when starting a business web site hosting service are web hosting plans. It is on those plans where the services, which the web host company is capable of doing, are being reflected. It also serves as the marketing tool for the web host firm.

How will the people know about your web site hosting?

As a businessman providing web hosting service, learn to use the many marketing strategies and tactics to your advantage. It all boils down to advertising and promotions. Of course, utmost research and analysis should be made in order to arrive with the appropriate ways in reaching the target market. This can be done by looking in a wider perspective the market's movement (in this instance, the web hosting industry), the customers approach towards web hosting, and the competitors plans and strategies ("what is their edge?" or "what does your web hosting company has which the competitors do not possess?)

Make use of the media to let people know about your deals and offers. And with this digital age, the medium of Internet is the most efficient, practical, and the easiest method of reaching the target market. One can make use of digital newsletter to spread the good news.

How You Can Stay Longer in the Business

A good image is very important in maintaining your share of the market. Credibility is very important. It is through it that customers will choose your web hosting mainly for the reason that these people trust your web host company over than other web hosts.

The web offers fast developments and, consequently, as a web host provider, you must also keep your business updated with the latest hosting features. This can be done by introducing new and sophisticated web hosting features, such as updated database server software, new scripting software, and free inclusion of PHP or java modules.

Cheap Web Hosting Plan Cheap Domain Name Registration

2007-12-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of finding a reliable web hosting company to host your web site? There is a way to go for a most feasible choice. It is web hosing directory that will help you to better analyze the efficiency of a web hosting company and their services.

In general, web hosting directory is a web site that is designed to furnish relevant information about web hosting providers to prospective customers. The pertinent information furnished includes the names of web hosting companies, web hosting services, price of web hosting service and so on. Thus for people gearing ahead to buy web hosting plan or pertaining services, web hosting directories are ideal means to rely upon. Other than this, they are also best at conferring information about cheap web hosting service plan that remains the desire of many webmasters.

Whether a web hosting company offering cheap web hosting solution will be able to meet your web hosting demands is a question worth ponder over? Nobody will better answer than a web hosting directory. They facilitate visitors with several alternatives so that they can compare all available cheap web hosing providers and select a superlative and economical web hosting solution for their website.

The inexpensive web hosting services available on web hosting directory are assorted in different price ranges for the convenience of visitors. Some web hosting directories also render alternatives to examine the quality of the cheap web hosting services offered by web hosting providers. They will further help you out to identify which web hosting company offer domain registration, technical assistance, website design along with their cheap web hosting services.

However while checking out such cheap web hosting companies, make sure they are equipped with ample technicians to deal with mechanical failures. The other fundamental features that you should never overlook include password security, uptime and customer care.

Web hosting directories are also the pertinent information pool to judge the credibility of web hosting providers through reviews. Here you can read reviews of people who have utilized web hosting services offered by such cheap web hosting companies so far. Thus, whenever you decide upon to buy web hosting plan, be it cheap or expensive, never give web hosting directory a mis make online money.

Cheap Web Hosting

2007-12-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

Reliability is the bedrock cheap web hosting services that are of good quality. Any cheap web hosting sevice that is not reliable should never be patronized. Getting an easy-to-remember domain name is a vital part of getting traffic to your site. Your adsense money is sure, you can use is it in e-book selling....thereby raking in you millions month after month. Follow the link below to get a memorable, personalized and cheap webhosting service and domain name--as well as URL Forwarding, E-Mail Fowarding, and other helpful online services--at an affordable price. Reliable cheap web hosting services will have the following features included in their web hosting packages:

* Reliable servers: Cheap web hosting services that are reliable have good servers. These servers will be up and running almost through out the whole year. This means that your website will be available online most of the time.

* Technical support: Cheap web hosting services that provide quality services will always have a way of allowing their customers get in touch with them. This kind of customer support would be a real one. Customers should be able to get in touch with quality cheap web hosting services via the phone or email or both. They will also have the ability to respond promptly to requests.

Value added - Brief Article

2007-07-25T05:17:00.000-07:00

Thomason, president and chief investment officer of Thomason Capital Management L.L.C. in San Francisco, searches for stocks with good growth prospects that have recently suffered "temporary glitches"--an earnings shortfall or unsuccessful product launch--leading other investors to sell their shares. These stocks could be revived by, say, a change in management or the sale of an unprofitable division. "I'm looking for growth-oriented stocks but at a value," those that have the potential to grow 15% to 20% a year, says Thomason. He also searches for stocks that are inexpensive relative to their sectors.

Of course, with 60% of the $10 million Thomason Capital/SRI Equity Fund he manages invested in high-flying technology stocks, finding cheap stocks with tremendous growth potential is easy.

Thomason's combination of gut instinct and fundamental analysis, aided by his healthy position in tech stocks, has helped boost his fund's year-to-date return to 26.57% as of October 29.

Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GBLX) fits Thomason's criteria. The stock of the Hamilton, Bermuda, provider of long distance and global Internet services has been hammered recently. He likes the Web hosting business GBLX will obtain as a result of its acquisition of Frontier Communications. Further, Global Crossing is building its main business--undersea communications cables--through acquisitions and strategic alliances in Latin America and Asia.

He also likes Informix Corp. (Nasdaq: IFMX), a Menlo Park, California, provider of relational database management software for government and business. The company recently entered into a deal with Red Hat Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT) to provide software for its Linux operating system, a potential rival to Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows' OS.

Chiron Corp. (Nasdaq: CHIR), a biotechnology firm in Emeryville, California, is a riskier play, Thomason admits, since its fortunes rise and fall with how successful its new drugs are, which are in the early development stage. Still, the company could use its $1.5 billion in free cash flow to buy another biotech or pharmaceutical firm with drugs that are closer to hitting the market.

Thomason's last two picks are in the financial services arena--both of which should benefit from the recently passed Financial Services Modernization Act. Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL), a Northbrook, Illinois, insurance firm, was recently hurt by hurricane- and disaster-related claims, but could either be an acquirer or takeover target. And Citigroup (NYSE: C), the New York City financial services giant, stands to benefit greatly from its acquisition of San Francisco investment bank Hambrecht & Quist Group, a powerhouse in underwriting high-flying technology and Internet stocks.

All eyes are on you … - ISP trends - Industry Trend or Event

2007-07-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

ISPs (Internet service providers) are faced with new challenges every Web-minute. Witness new entrants into the Internet market from every direction, constant technology changes, "free" service providers, dropping service costs, tightening margins, and higher customer expectations.

Many owners of small and midsized ISPs are questioning whether they have a future in the Internet business. Microsoft announced in early August that it is considering providing free Internet access. There are also free Internet PCs, free e-mail, and free Web hosting. The Internet is free! But surviving in the land of the lost profits is a challenge. This is exactly what "balance sheet ISPs" (those ISPs that actually intend on being profitable) are struggling with.
Every day new competition enters the game: PC manufacturers, software companies, discount retail stores, national providers, and local providers. There's a POP on every Internet corner. All of the players launch with products, services, and technology they think will be the most profitable--access, hosting, mail, on-line applications. Dial-up 28.8K access was the only option until 56K came about (requiring the replacement of every port). Now, just as the equipment is being paid off, xDSL is rolling across the country and forcing equipment replacement once again.

The impact isn't fully realized until the "more-for-less" ratio (and expectation) is detailed. It's not just "cheaper" in many cases, it's quite literally "free."
How does the little guy (or the big guy for that matter) survive? I was told "to remain viable in the ISP market space, one would need to install superior infrastructure to embrace new standards currently under development. That one would further have to divest the return-on-equity model in exchange for a broader market-reach model encompassing metrics, such as reach, subscribers, and hits."

What, you say? If you would like to save time and money on that consultant, the translation is as follows: Spend all the money you can on new buzz-word technology, hire highly experienced (and expensive) tech support so it might worm and then, if it does, give away the service for free.

Even if you can understand how a "standard under development" is a standard, this model doesn't pay the bills. Today, there are companies like us that provide free Web hosting as a part of xDSL service packages--but there are also companies like Hiway Technologies (hiway.com) that provide hosting at premium prices. Just as there is hotmail providing free e-mail (hotmail.com), there are entire companies built around outsourcing e-mail for a fee. There are also free Internet access companies and those that charge a premium, such as USA.net.

In the frictionless Internet world, this disparity can't be due to customer ignorance. The price (or lack of price) is only a mouse click away. These profitable companies exist because they provide a service clients can understand, incorporate into their daily lives, and depend upon. These are services worth paying for--services that make our lives better.

The "secret" is being an opportunity sniper. Choose the business you're going to be in (e.g., Internet access) and create a differentiating factor (e.g., high-speed DSL) with a product and/or service(s) that makes you the best (price is not an acceptable differentiator), and then bundle the other products and/or services (e.g., e-mail and Web hosting) as an added bonus (cheap or free) that completes the service offering for a total solution.

Then work only with companies that are well suited to consume your product/service, that have people you enjoy working with, and that understand the issues in delivering and consuming the product.

In no other industry is the phrase "You get what you pay for" so appropriate. The Internet service provider in the new millennium will provide a superior service defined by reliability, accessibility, performance, and ease of use. For this, the ISP will command and be rewarded with paying customers. No business can provide superior technology, service, and support forever without a profit. Those that continue to attempt to do so will disappear on the banner ads that they flew in on.

Spreadsheets forever: on the eve of its silver anniversary, the electronic spreadsheet remains golden. Co-creator Dan Bricklin explains why - Intervie

2007-07-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

THIS MONTH THE SPREADSHEET TURNS 25.4. OR 23.9. OR 241 THAT'S THE beauty of the spreadsheet: change your assumptions and the numbers that derive from them change as well. So whether you're dating the spreadsheet's creation from its initial conception, its first commercial release, or the incorporation of the company that brought it to market, the ramifications of a new approach to a problem can be calculated instantly. To ask what-if is to know "What if ...?" Actually, that's just one of its many beauties. In the quarter century since Dan Bricklin first conceived of the idea of the electronic spreadsheet, the software program has proved to be astoundingly flexible and nearly" ubiquitous, used by people in every conceivable walk of life to not only "run the numbers" but also manage data in scores of ways, many of them unforeseen even by its creators. After all, in that spring of 1978 when Bricklin first imagined the product that would come to be known as VisiCalc, all he wanted to do was ace business-school case studies. And then came the Pepsi Challenge.
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As a Harvard MBA student, Bricklin was assigned a case study built around Pepsi's marketing campaigns. At a time when students relied on hand calculators and ratios to crunch the numbers, he was able to offer a series of very specific projections built around many variables. Asked by the professor how he managed to present so much detail, Bricklin danced around the issue, in part to keep the product a secret (he already knew where his postgraduate life would take him) and in part to avoid having to explain that the early program code didn't always compute. But he and co-creator Bob Frankston soon worked out the bugs, formed Software Arts Inc., and saw their product become one of the two undisputed "killer apps" (the other being word processing) that gave people a reason to own a personal computer. Now chief technology officer at Web-hosting company Interland Inc., Bricklin sat down with CFO IT editor Scott Leibs for a look back, and ahead.

How is it that a program created in the earliest days of PCs, inspired at least in part by the immediate need to tackle a class assignment, has become a staple not only of the business world but also of life in general?

A lot of it depends on the basic structure of the spreadsheet. When you work with numbers, a grid of some sort proves to he extremely useful. The electronic spreadsheet took basic calculating, simple numerical computing, and other functions and married them with a layout for expressing and presenting results. It's a very powerful combination of restrictions and freedom. It took the calculating aspect and the input/output and combined them in a very natural way. It's a general-purpose tool, and in fact, as VisiCalc gave way to Lotus 1-2-3 and then to Microsoft Excel, those products further emphasized the use of columns and rows as a simple database. That was a major development; it made the spreadsheet a word processor or desktop publisher of financial information.

Even so, are you surprised that, given the incredible pace of technological innovation, the spreadsheet lives on?

General-purpose tools are really hard to knock off. Word processors can do everything, right? Anything you want to write, more or less, you can write with a word processor. The same is true of spreadsheets, but it's not true of many other programs.

With computers, you like to learn one tool and learn it well and customize it to your needs. Talk to the people at Google: the broad nature of the search requests they get is amazing. Britney Spears may be the most searched-for name, but that represents just a tiny fraction of what people search for. Everyone has individual needs, and general-purpose tools that can be customized play a huge role.

The fact that you can modify it is extremely useful. How many CFOs inherited the spreadsheet of their predecessor and then modified it?

Interesting that you'd cite word processing. I imagine not many people know that you actually helped develop word-processing programs before you began to develop VisiCalc.

It's not surprising that given my background I'd come up with something like VisiCalc. Others probably would have, too, and others actually did come up with the general idea; I just made sure mine came to market! My technology background [Bricklin attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an undergraduate] combined with a knowledge of interactive computer languages, word processing, and what I learned as an MBA student all played a part. I was not just looking for financial forecasting; I was also looking for production planning and for how to do marketing-oriented calculations, so again it comes back to that idea of a general-purpose tool.

Are Microsoft's Papers in Order? - Microsoft Passport - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

2007-07-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Even for a colorful speaker like Steve Ballmer, it was an impassioned performance. Like a hotshot trial lawyer working the jury, the Microsoft CEO clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, alternately whispered sweetly and shouted explosively to the gallery. Delivering the closing keynote at the company's annual Financial Analysts Meeting, he turned to the subject of Passport.

Microsoft has been accused of an array of crimes over its plans to implement this online user ID service by hosting a massive centralized database of personal information. The charges: It would destroy online privacy; it would threaten security; it would position the company as an all-powerful middleman between Internet businesses and their customers.People say, 'ooh, is there some big plot here?"' said Ballmer. Then, in Johnny Cochrane rhyming rhythm: "The customer gets to choose how their data is used." Furthermore, he insisted, the businesses that partner with Microsoft and use its .Net services needn't worry either. "They own their own data," said Ballmer. "They own their own customers."

To achieve broad adoption for its Web services platform, Microsoft must win the trust of both consumers and business partners. So Ballmer is out there making promises about privacy and security that will be difficult to break. "There's no other philosophy that makes any sense at all," declared Ballmer, resting his case.

But if consumers and Internet partners buy Ballmer's defense, it's the software giant's competitors who really need to worry. Unlike the browser wars, no company yet has a product to compete with Passport; and Windows XP, which is almost ready to ship, will support no rival service. Microsoft could win simply by being there first, providing the gateway -- maybe the sole gateway -- between users and Web services. Passport's potential to dominate the market raises the stakes in the current antitrust settlement talks.

Passport is a key part of Microsoft's .Net Web services strategy, which entails building a services infrastructure that's integrated with all its products. In the .Net future, your travel service will contact you on your desktop, handheld, pager, smartphone or even game console with a special offer, perhaps a hotel package for dates you've designated in your online calendar. It'll book a plane ticket for you, and on the day of travel it will message you details of the inevitable flight delay. With your pre-approval, these activities will happen automatically.

Inventing new Web services promises to be a fruitful field for software programmers. As Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was quick to realize, Web services bundled with Office and Windows could extend indefinitely the shelf lives of both of those lucrative monopoly products.

Next year, Microsoft will ship basic components, called HailStorm services, that developers will be able to plug in as "building blocks" for their own Web applications. Later the company will release a flow of its own premium services, code-named Harmony which users will pay for via monthly subscription.

A mechanism for identifying users that isn't tied to their machines but resides in the "Internet cloud" is a crucial piece of the plumbing. Passport will be the ID service for all Harmony services and for any Web app built from HailStorm components. Starbucks' e-commerce system will use Passport exclusively. When Gates launched HailStorm in March he openly declared the goal of having "virtually everybody who uses the Internet" registered for a Passport. Windows XP won't deliver full functionality without one. Essentially, Passport is a new platform that will for the first time extend Microsoft's reach directly to consumers.

Passport was developed from technology invented by Firefly. In 1998 Firefly CEO Nick Grouf sold the company to Microsoft for around $40 million and relocated to Redmond for about a year. Now CEO of PeoplePC, Grouf observes with some pride what's become of his baby.

"It's a rare thing to be able to say 'I was involved in helping build the next platform for Microsoft,'" says Grouf. "The Firefly vision is playing out in a very palpable form. In a selfish way it makes you feel good."

"But we're not always selfish," he adds, switching gears. "The consequences of Microsoft's dominance will be potentially quite chilling to the industry."

Grouf sees Microsoft poised to aggregate an unmatchable membership base. Once individuals enter their profile information, it'll be hard for them to switch from Passport.

Microsoft counters that the centralized Passport database poses no threat. Executives say any large partner may choose to host almost all its own data, with Passport acting only as a key to enter that database. The Microsoft servers would hold minimal information on the partner's customers.

And though every significant data exchange will involve a call to a Passport server, Microsoft executives from Ballmer down dismiss assertions that it wants to "take a cut" from every transaction on the Internet. "I don't foresee a world in which users are paying Microsoft for buying things on the Internet," says Brian Arbogast, VP for .Net core services, including Passport.

All eyes are on you … - ISP trends - Industry Trend or Event

2007-06-19T02:48:00.000-07:00

As an ISP, you are expected to do more (if not everything) for less (if not free).

Many owners of small and midsized ISPs are questioning whether they have a future in the Internet business. Microsoft announced in early August that it is considering providing free Internet access. There are also free Internet PCs, free e-mail, and free Web hosting. The Internet is free! But surviving in the land of the lost profits is a challenge. This is exactly what "balance sheet ISPs" (those ISPs that actually intend on being profitable) are struggling with. Every day new competition enters the game: PC manufacturers, software companies, discount retail stores, national providers, and local providers. There's a POP on every Internet corner. All of the players launch with products, services, and technology they think will be the most profitable--access, hosting, mail, on-line applications. Dial-up 28.8K access was the only option until 56K came about (requiring the replacement of every port). Now, just as the equipment is being paid off, xDSL is rolling across the country and forcing equipment replacement once again.

The impact isn't fully realized until the "more-for-less" ratio (and expectation) is detailed. It's not just "cheaper" in many cases, it's quite literally "free."
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How does the little guy (or the big guy for that matter) survive? I was told "to remain viable in the ISP market space, one would need to install superior infrastructure to embrace new standards currently under development. That one would further have to divest the return-on-equity model in exchange for a broader market-reach model encompassing metrics, such as reach, subscribers, and hits."

What, you say? If you would like to save time and money on that consultant, the translation is as follows: Spend all the money you can on new buzz-word technology, hire highly experienced (and expensive) tech support so it might worm and then, if it does, give away the service for free.

Even if you can understand how a "standard under development" is a standard, this model doesn't pay the bills. Today, there are companies like us that provide free Web hosting as a part of xDSL service packages--but there are also companies like Hiway Technologies (hiway.com) that provide hosting at premium prices. Just as there is hotmail providing free e-mail (hotmail.com), there are entire companies built around outsourcing e-mail for a fee. There are also free Internet access companies and those that charge a premium, such as USA.net.

In the frictionless Internet world, this disparity can't be due to customer ignorance. The price (or lack of price) is only a mouse click away. These profitable companies exist because they provide a service clients can understand, incorporate into their daily lives, and depend upon. These are services worth paying for--services that make our lives better.

The "secret" is being an opportunity sniper. Choose the business you're going to be in (e.g., Internet access) and create a differentiating factor (e.g., high-speed DSL) with a product and/or service(s) that makes you the best (price is not an acceptable differentiator), and then bundle the other products and/or services (e.g., e-mail and Web hosting) as an added bonus (cheap or free) that completes the service offering for a total solution.

Then work only with companies that are well suited to consume your product/service, that have people you enjoy working with, and that understand the issues in delivering and consuming the product.

In no other industry is the phrase "You get what you pay for" so appropriate. The Internet service provider in the new millennium will provide a superior service defined by reliability, accessibility, performance, and ease of use. For this, the ISP will command and be rewarded with paying customers. No business can provide superior technology, service, and support forever without a profit. Those that continue to attempt to do so will disappear on the banner ads that they flew in on.

Snell is president of Systech Systems in Raleigh, N.C.

Value added - Brief Article

2007-06-19T02:47:00.000-07:00

Of course, with 60% of the $10 million Thomason Capital/SRI Equity Fund he manages invested in high-flying technology stocks, finding cheap stocks with tremendous growth potential is easy.

Thomason's combination of gut instinct and fundamental analysis, aided by his healthy position in tech stocks, has helped boost his fund's year-to-date return to 26.57% as of October 29.

Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GBLX) fits Thomason's criteria. The stock of the Hamilton, Bermuda, provider of long distance and global Internet services has been hammered recently. He likes the Web hosting business GBLX will obtain as a result of its acquisition of Frontier Communications. Further, Global Crossing is building its main business--undersea communications cables--through acquisitions and strategic alliances in Latin America and Asia.

He also likes Informix Corp. (Nasdaq: IFMX), a Menlo Park, California, provider of relational database management software for government and business. The company recently entered into a deal with Red Hat Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT) to provide software for its Linux operating system, a potential rival to Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows' OS.

Chiron Corp. (Nasdaq: CHIR), a biotechnology firm in Emeryville, California, is a riskier play, Thomason admits, since its fortunes rise and fall with how successful its new drugs are, which are in the early development stage. Still, the company could use its $1.5 billion in free cash flow to buy another biotech or pharmaceutical firm with drugs that are closer to hitting the market.

Thomason's last two picks are in the financial services arena--both of which should benefit from the recently passed Financial Services Modernization Act. Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL), a Northbrook, Illinois, insurance firm, was recently hurt by hurricane- and disaster-related claims, but could either be an acquirer or takeover target. And Citigroup (NYSE: C), the New York City financial services giant, stands to benefit greatly from its acquisition of San Francisco investment bank Hambrecht & Quist Group, a powerhouse in underwriting high-flying technology and Internet stocks.

New Study From Csc Identifies Six 'Disruptive' Technology Areas That Will Make Or Break Companies

2007-06-18T22:43:00.001-07:00

Think tanks call it "digital disruption" -- the arrival of a technology so radically superior that it has the potential to render entire industries obsolete. It's happened more in our lifetime than in any other period, as the vacuum tube, LP record and countless other technologies have been swept from homes and offices into museums. And the pace is accelerating, according to a new report from Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) entitled On the Edge: Exploring Next-Generation Digital Disruptions.The companies who profit from and adapt successfully to such change will be the ones who saw it coming," says Skinner.

The report identifies six areas of technology fostering the most significant change.

The first is evolutionary computing advances. Computers continue to get smaller, faster and cheaper. Today's computers are 10 billion times more powerful than the first machines, and some are barely visible to the naked eye. "Smart Dust" refers to tiny devices, each about the size of a grain of sand, which contain sensors, processors, radios and power supplies. Once developed and cheap enough to deploy in large numbers, they can be scattered in the air to help monitor weather, determine the presence of chemical agents and even help protect personal property.

Evolutionary advances are accompanied by several revolutionary computing advances in miniaturization, speed and storage. Researchers in molecular-scale electronics are seeking to create computer components -- transistors, memory and wires -- from individual molecules. The core advantage is the potential to pack vastly more circuitry onto a microchip and do it cheaply. A molecular electronic device is 60,000 times smaller than the tiniest transistor.

"Miniaturization is a key driver in these disruptions," says Bill Koff, vice president and director of CSC's Leading Edge Forum (LEF), which sponsored the study. "Scientists have created video cameras small enough to swallow as a pill. The patient experiences no discomfort and the doctor obtains more accurate information from which to form a diagnosis."

Biotechnology is the third disruptive area. The use of high-performance computers has enabled researchers on the Human Genome Project to identify the 30,000 genes that determine our physical traits and many of our behaviors. This information will dramatically change drug development by eliminating much of the guesswork. Today, even with our increased knowledge of medicine, it takes an average of 10 years and $200 million to bring a new drug to market.

Intelligent systems and robotics are another area of tremendous growth. Scientists can now embed intelligence in everyday objects, while robotics enable intelligent systems to reach out and touch the world. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, robots were used for search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center and to investigate anthrax letters. Last December, a robot opened a suspicious letter carrying enough anthrax to kill more than 100,000 people.

Progress is also taking place in the area of human-computer interfaces. Computers are becoming more intuitive -- they're able to tap into our senses and become part of our environment. Haptics, the science of touch, allows individuals to handle digital objects exactly as they would in the real world. "Haptics is invaluable in the development of prototypes as well as in the medical field," says Skinner. "For example, a doctor can practice medical procedures on virtual patients and actually feel resistance with each incision."

The sixth area is connections between people, objects and information. MIT's Project Oxygen is exploring how computers can help anticipate our needs and reduce tasks. For example, an individual attending a business meeting assumes the facility will have adequate lighting and, therefore, does not bring a flashlight. Project Oxygen seeks to do the same for computing. A computer network tracks your movement and allows you to connect to numerous appliances via verbal and non-verbal commands. Instead of manually reconfiguring your computer to print to a new device, you will merely say, "print to the nearest printer." Oxygen uses cameras, microphones, displays, sound output systems and radar systems to tap the human senses.

The report identifies six "drivers" behind these disruptions. In addition to miniaturization described above, the others include the interconnectedness of people and things; advances in biology; the acceleration of technology and business processes; the digitization of many products and services; and consumerization.

Beaten-Down Bargains - technology stocks - Brief Article

2007-06-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

There's a lot more value in the technology sector than there was just two months ago. Marc Klee, who with partner Barry Gordon has run John Hancock Global Technology fund (800-257-3336) since 1983 (making him a veteran in the sector), identifies some depressed but attractive tech stocks.

* Applied Science & Technology (symbol ASTX, Nasdaq, recent price $25). Applied Science makes components and subsystems that are incorporated in semiconductor-manufacturing equipment produced by companies such as Applied Materials (the firm's largest customer) and Lam Research. "Business for semiconductor-manufacturing equipment is robust, and as Applied Materials' business moves up, it comes right back to Applied Science," says Klee. With the stock off from a 52-week high of $45, it sells at about 19 times consensus calendar 2000 earnings estimates of $1.30 per share. Earnings should grow 25% to 30% a year over the next three to five years, says Klee.

Web Seems Like Good Fit for Sale of Custom Toe Rings - Shelby's Foot Jewels - Brief Article

2007-06-07T05:22:00.000-07:00

FRUSTRATED by the lack of easy-to-use electronic shopping cart programs, Shawn Roop hired a software consultant to create a customized e-commerce program to sell his mother's toe rings online.

"A few days later, he called me back and said he read about a site where you could set up an online store for free," said Roop. "He said, 'I know I'm going to lose business, but this will really help you."'

A grateful Roop still paid the consultant $300 for his help. Then, in less than 10 hours, Roop created a simple online store using a template-driven program offered by Freemerchant.com. The firm, which was recently acquired by Network Commerce in Seattle, has set up free stores for about 100,000 companies, according to a company spokesman.

Shelby's Foot Jewels, founded by Roop's mother, Shirley Elliot, in 1991, now reaches a global market with its handmade silver and gold toe rings, thumb rings, waist chains and "Shoewels," the beaded barefoot jewelry originally designed by his mother for herself.

"We've gone from serving people who are very liberal to grandmas wearing toe rings," said Roop. "We sell to all ages, primarily women 32 to 42 years old."

Shelby's Foot Jewels has evolved from a small seasonal, tourist-oriented business in Laguna Beach to a year-round jewelry empire. Web sales accounted for 19 percent of the company's business this year, up from 4 percent in 1999. Roop declined to reveal total sales for the privately held company, but said they were under $5 million.

Web hosting on a roll - Industry Trend or Event

2007-06-06T06:07:00.001-07:00

As operators race against each other to roll out ambitious networks of data centres across Europe -- to house rack after rack of web-serving hardware -- many an old hand in the telecoms world is beginning to detect the first whiff of consolidation in the air. The demand for robust web hosting services has been driven by fear. Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming reliant on the internet for sales, customer service operations and even in some cases applications. With so much riding on their websites, captains of industry want assurances that their fancy-looking, e-commerce enabled urls will not keel over in the face of traffic surges. Enter the web hosters.The web hosting business first took off in the more internet savvy US market. West coast web hoster Exodus quickly emerged as one of the leader from among a host of smaller start-ups; meanwhile an alliance between AT&T and IBM has shown that the industry stalwarts are prepared to hit back.

Web hosting on a roll - Industry Overview

2007-06-06T06:06:00.002-07:00

As operators race against each other to roll out ambitious networks of data centres across Europe -- to house rack after rack of web-serving hardware -- many an old hand in the telecoms world is beginning to detect the first whiff of consolidation in the air. The demand for robust web hosting services has been driven by fear. Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming reliant on the internet for sales, customer service operations and even in some cases applications. With so much riding on their websites, captains of industry want assurances that their fancy-looking, e-commerce enabled uris will not keel over in the face of traffic surges. Enter the web hosters.The web hosting business first took off in the more internet savvy US market. West coast web hoster Exodus quickly emerged as one of the leaders from among a host of smaller start-ups; meanwhile an alliance between AT&T and IBM has shown that the industry stalwarts are prepared to hit back.

Web Sites On-the-Cheap for Low-Budget Campaigns - Brief Article

2007-06-06T06:06:00.001-07:00

A variety of approaches are available for candidates to join the Web world, from hiring a consultant to doing it yourself with either tools on your own computer or "hosted" tools.

DOES YOUR GRADE-SCHOOL child have a Web site, but you're still fiddling with e-mail and your Web browser? Do you feel you or your political career has been left behind by the Internet revolution?

A variety of approaches are available for candidates to join the Web world, from hiring a consultant to do it all for you to doing it yourself with either tools on your own computer or "hosted" tools.

Bear in mind that if you're one of the Web homeless, you're not alone. Many small campaigns still do not yet have an Internet presence.

Despite the current turmoil in the dot-corn world, with many Web-based businesses going under, the advantages of having a Web site remain, particularly in aiding the campaigning effort. This is why, even though the overall economy is precarious, organizations that already have Web sites are planning to invest more in them this year, according to a survey of businesses, educational institutions and government agencies by Interactive Week magazine.

The easiest way to throw your hat into the Web ring is to farm the work out to someone who's done it many times before. You'll spare yourself the arcana of Dynamic HTML, CSS, XML, Pen, Java, JavaScript, ActiveX and other Internet technologies used by sophisticated Web sites.

Web Sites On-the-Cheap for Low-Budget Campaigns - Brief Article

2007-06-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

A variety of approaches are available for candidates to join the Web world, from hiring a consultant to doing it yourself with either tools on your own computer or "hosted" tools.

DOES YOUR GRADE-SCHOOL child have a Web site, but you're still fiddling with e-mail and your Web browser? Do you feel you or your political career has been left behind by the Internet revolution?

A variety of approaches are available for candidates to join the Web world, from hiring a consultant to do it all for you to doing it yourself with either tools on your own computer or "hosted" tools.

Bear in mind that if you're one of the Web homeless, you're not alone. Many small campaigns still do not yet have an Internet presence.

Despite the current turmoil in the dot-corn world, with many Web-based businesses going under, the advantages of having a Web site remain, particularly in aiding the campaigning effort. This is why, even though the overall economy is precarious, organizations that already have Web sites are planning to invest more in them this year, according to a survey of businesses, educational institutions and government agencies by Interactive Week magazine.

The easiest way to throw your hat into the Web ring is to farm the work out to someone who's done it many times before. You'll spare yourself the arcana of Dynamic HTML, CSS, XML, Pen, Java, JavaScript, ActiveX and other Internet technologies used by sophisticated Web sites.

Costs range from several hundred dollars for a simple site consisting of a few pages to a half million dollars or more for an e-commerce site with easily updateable databases, a search engine, animated demos, secure online transactions and audio and video.

Choices include independent site developers with political experience, Web design shops, technology consulting firms, traditional advertising and public relations agencies, and interactive agencies. You could even hire a student or hobbyist. Referrals make sense here.

If you're willing to roll up your sleeves, and your needs aren't terribly elaborate, you can usually save some money by creating your Web site yourself.

For some years now individuals and campaigns have been creating their own Web sites using "HTML editors" - HTML is the language of the Web. The latest programs are easier than ever and are similar in complexity to a word processor or low-end desktop publishing program. One newer and affordable package that a lot of people are talking about is Trellix Web, at www.trellix.com.

The program comes with attractive pre-designed pages, or templates, and add-ons that you can simply drop on any page of your site, from a map to your office to a tool for alerting those interested about new information you add to your site.

The program has attracted such a following that some computer manufacturers have preloaded it onto their machines, including Compaq and Hewlett-Packard. You'll also find the program at some Web services that provide free space for hosting your site, including Tripod at www.tripod.com, though you can use Tripod's version of Trellix only at Tripod.

You'll have more flexibility if you buy an standalone version of Trellix, which costs under $70. Most Internet service providers offer plenty of free Web space for a relatively simple site.

The most widely recommended high-end HTML editor for some time now has been Macromedia Dreamweaver, at www.macromedia.com. You won't get the hand-holding as you would with Trellix, and you'll pay more than $250 for the program, but you'll have a high degree of control in creating sophisticated effects.

After you've created your Web site and found a host for it, you shouldn't stop there. You will also want to give it a distinctive, easy-to-remember name. Check out Internet Goldrush, at www.igoldrush.com, for more information on selecting a "domain name" for your site.

"If you build it, they will come" may work for Hollywood, but it doesn't hack it on the Web. You'll need to promote your site to attract visitors. At the very least, if it's a campaign site, include your Web site address in your other campaign materials. You should also submit your site to the major Web search services, such as Yahoo and Lycos - and, of course, this magazine to include it in its Bandwagon site links available at www.campaiguline.com.

Finally, keep your site up to date. On the fast-moving Web, nothing makes you look worse than outdated information.

Reid Goldsborough is author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway. He can be reached at reidgold@netaxs.com or members.home.net/reidgold.

Web hosting on a roll - Industry Trend or Event

2007-06-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

The European market for web hosting services has changed dramatically in the past 12 months. What was once a mere add-on service offered by ISPs has grown into a highly focused and specialised business operated by the major telecoms companies and a pack of smart start-ups.

As operators race against each other to roll out ambitious networks of data centres across Europe -- to house rack after rack of web-serving hardware -- many an old hand in the telecoms world is beginning to detect the first whiff of consolidation in the air. The demand for robust web hosting services has been driven by fear. Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming reliant on the internet for sales, customer service operations and even in some cases applications. With so much riding on their websites, captains of industry want assurances that their fancy-looking, e-commerce enabled urls will not keel over in the face of traffic surges. Enter the web hosters.

The web hosting business first took off in the more internet savvy US market. West coast web hoster Exodus quickly emerged as one of the leader from among a host of smaller start-ups; meanwhile an alliance between AT&T and IBM has shown that the industry stalwarts are prepared to hit back.

Earlier this year it became obvious that Europe was following in America's wake. Summer and autumn saw swarms of systems integrators and specialist building contractors descend on most of Europe's major cities. Their mission: to gut old warehouses or knock up sturdy-looking sheds to securely house row upon row of quietly humming web-servers. These new internet data centres (IDCs), each with specially fitted floors, air-conditioning units, fire-protection and security alarms systems are the physical encapsulation of operators' web hosting plans. They are designed to send a clear signal to customers that the company is a serious player in the internet space and has the ability to guarantee fast, secure access to their websites. The data centres also represent an important strand of their owners' business plans.

Growth area

Network operators keen to improve margins and build a place for themselves higher up the IP service chain have seized on web hosting as a godsend. As an added bonus it gives them something to crow about in meetings with analysts, as the implications of pricey 3G licences sink in and cause considerable downturn in the share prices of many of the European majors. Most operators rejoice in anything that will boost their popularity on the European stock markets.

For some of these hard-pressed operators, web hosting has been the fastest growing area of their business. Network-focused companies like Gable & Wireless are beginning to place a much greater emphasis on their web and application services. "There is no question that the market is there for these services and, in fact, there are not yet enough players to satisfy the demand. So we are not yet faced with the problem of too many participants," argues Hanco Bowmann, managing director, Iaxis (now operating as Extent) in the Netherlands. 'No, the problem lies in size. You have to attain a certain size to achieve economies of scale. The bottom line is you need a lot of cash. These specially built data centres do not come cheap, at least not if you do it right. To build a 10,000[m.sup.2] data centre requires an investment of [pound]25 m([epsilon]12 in)."

Earlier in the year it seemed that Iaxis was on the brink of collapse as it completed its first round of building out 19 small IDCs each between 100-200[m.sup.2] in size. A recent rescue by Extent, the telecoms wing of US energy company Dynatech, bought Iaxis the necessary financial injection. Bowmann's is therefore one voice of experience -- "The problem for all companies is getting their financial backing right. Even KPN Qwest, which has IBM as a hardware supplier, may find that it wants to bring in another partner [possibly Bellsouth] to help fund the required investment."

The funding game

The immaturity of the market seems to have driven most start-ups and even some established telecoms players to seek extra funding for their expensive roll-out plans. Metronexus is another example. The Paris-based company which began building a series of internet hotels or data centres earlier this year has now been bought out by Morgan Stanley. Digiplex is now funded by the Carlisle Group.

While major players may like to make a song and dance about the money they are diverting to this new area, it has to be seen in context. For example, some in the industry are dismissive of the [pound]100 m ([epsilon]167 in) investment in IDCs which was proudly announced by Cable & Wireless earlier in the year. 'With that kind of money they are looking at small sites across Europe' was the most common insider's reaction. In C&W's case of course this could be easily rectified. It has access to some impressive funds. After selling off Global Marine, Bouygues, One2One, Japanese Mobile, Bezeq, CWC Consumer and the biggest of them all, Hong Kong Telecom, it recently boasted that it has a war chest of some US$18 bn ([epsilon]21 bn). As the company's CEO put it recently, displaying a mastery of understatement, 'You can do quite a lot with US$18 bn'.

Web Hosting Bandwidth Explained

2007-05-12T02:50:00.001-07:00

What is bandwidth related to Web Hosting? In terms of web hosting the bandwidth is a measure of the data that sent to web surfer computer from web hosting company. If you have a big site that offer downloadable large files or thousands of visitors visit your website daily than you probably need more bandwidth.

Web hosting companies offer variety of plans with different bandwidth option. Many web hosting company offer unlimited bandwidth feature but they will charge you higher. So, best is that if you go thro each features and plan and compare it with your web site requirement and signup for web hosting service. Many webmaster make mistake in choosing a web hosting plan because they never expect that the website will be more popular and more and more visitors visit site. For the over usage of bandwidth your web hosting company may shut down your website until you pay extra money or at the end of the month when new billing cycle begins. Some web hosting companies do not shut down your website but they will charge you per MB extra usage and the cost will be much higher than your expectation.

How much bandwidth I need? Bandwidth can be a crucial part for the success of your website. While searching for a web hosting company you must know how much traffic you expect to your website and depend on that traffic choose a web hosting plan that most suitable to your website. The price of a web hosting plan varies mostly because of bandwidth requirement. If you have high bandwidth plan your website is able to handle more traffic at same time.

To calculate your website bandwidth usage you need to do mathematical calculation. First calculate the size of the images you have on one page and than calculate the size of the text part of the page. Now multiply the sum with the average traffic you expect from internet and than multiply it with days of month. The final remainder shows the approximate bandwidth requirement of your website.

Save bandwidth It is very simple to understand how you can save your allocated bandwidth. Your bandwidth usage reach at its optimum range if your website designed with high resolution graphics, images, online movie, music, etc.

To save bandwidth usage, make your pages as small as possible. Use HTML text content for reducing file size and also use graphics and images in reduce form. Use GIF format for graphics and JPEG for images and photos. Use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is also one simple and important way to save bandwidth.

If you are seriously looking for web hosting provider then please take a look at Web Hosting Directory where you can find some top notched web hosting companies with reviews and rating. Also you get web site that provide reliable connection and good bandwidth limit.

What Do I Look For In A Hosting Company?

2007-05-12T02:49:00.001-07:00

What do I look for in a hosting company ?

This is the one of the singular most common yet important question. The main reason is that web masters are comparing all the WRONG Specifications with different hosting companies as nearly two thirds of what is usually offered is totally not useful to webmaster. The most common things to look for when you are hosting a small business or personal site are :

Email accounts Try to give every employees you currently have within your office, including future personal explanation plans.

Easy & Quick Setup Should be less than 5 hours, as some company take up to 48 hours to set up a new account.

Sufficient Data Transfer This is the most misunderstood specifications of web hosting, technically speaking most sites just only need about 1 GB. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that's right !

Uptime Guarantee This is very important. If they aren't offering it, they can't guarantee it which is a bad sign. A 98% Uptime Guarantee or above is deem to be average.

Sufficient Disk Storage Space Most sites only need up to 50 MB, so don't be greedy or are enticed by the seller providing over the top storage as you won't need it & are just paying for nothing !)

24/7 Live Support Good to have, but not necessary if you are just beginning to built your website empire as you will have to pay more for this, but it comes in real handy if you site is down ! Live chat usually works just as good as phone support.

Can I switch hosting companies if I don't like their services ?

YES, off course. Who is there to stop you from do so ?

Unfortunately, there are many people whom do not realize how easy it is to switch hosting companies. All you have to do is re-publish your site to the new address for the new hosting company. Most hosting companies will give you your new IP address where you can publish your site in as little as 10-20 minutes !

Just publish your site, and don't forget to update your name servers. This just means that you will have to go to the company where you purchased your domain name, and put in the name servers that the new hosting company have. Your domain name will point to your new hosting account in about 24 - 48 hours. Also, you will need to create your new email addresses at the new hosting company. That's it !

So, don't feel like you are stuck with a bad hosting company. Because you're not.

Do I have to buy my domain name with my hosting account ?

No & Yes.

No, you can buy your domain name anytime. So, don't loose the domain name you want just because you are researching hosting companies. Buy that now.

But, don't pay more than $20/year since that is the average price these days.

Yes, if you have not initially purchase it already.

If you purchase domain name & hosting account together, some company whom offered both these services may at their own discretion provide a better deals or discount.

Multi-Purpose Web Hosting

2007-05-12T02:46:00.003-07:00

Founded on a “pipe dream” according to company CEO Bryan Gan, Comdev’s vision has been to introduce to the world virtual computers and hosted desktops, making installation on PCs a thing of the past. With the recent release of oDesktop, Gan told TopHosts his company is even closer to its ultimate objective.

The first-of-its-kind software – specifically designed for the Web hosting industry – serves as a personal online desktop that mimics the behavior of Windows-like applications. It can be accessed from any Internet connection around the world on a subscription basis. Built-in features such as oDrive, oNetwork, oPhoto, oMusic, oEmail will allow users on the move to access their own personal desktop, from any browser, upload files, photos or music and even share them with others using a hosted oDesktop Network.

For Web hosting companies, SaaS products like oDesktop represent a new and exciting realm of product offerings, allowing companies to go beyond simply selling server space for websites and emails.

“The main focus currently in the (Web hosting) industry is website hosting, web design, eCommerce and SEO,” Gan said. “However, the industry has become extremely competitive which translates to lower profit margins, higher customer turnover rate. SaaS will eventually change the landscape for the industry.”

Through the SaaS model that oDesktop delivers, Gan says Web hosts can deeply expand the range of their business, access different market segments and stabilize user-turnover, which will in-turn ensure customer loyalty and return Web hosts to higher profit margins.

John Enright, Vice President of Marketing for Affinity Internet’s hosting division, Gate.com, is in strong support of SaaS products like oDesktop because it allow users to utilize their Web hosting space in new and different ways.

“Products like oDesktop help Web hosts to move beyond simple Web pages and the fact is that these days network attached storage can be used for many things beyond just the Web,” Enright said. “It’s a great convenience for customers if they could have one company they can work with that can store their site, their images and provide their backups. Products like oDesktop makes this idea possible.”

By enabling companies to host entire desktops – from personal storage drives to email – many different types of applications can exist under one roof, Enright said, giving clients added convenience, and giving Web hosts many new hats to wear. Customers will no longer have to turn to different functional hosts, specializing in online photo storage for example, but can instead rely on just one multi-purpose Web host, supplying them with any type of storage necessary – “the way things are headed in the future,” Enright said.

Gan of Comdev says his new SaaS product also introduces exciting new aspects to security and mobility. End-users will no longer have to worry about updating security and having files exposed to hackers, viruses, or spyware on their PC. With a hosted desktop, Web hosts can supply customers with personal data protection and safe storage on their online desktop.

oDesktop also has the power to revolutionize business travel, Gan says. Rather than carrying a laptop, an external hard disk, or a pen drive, on-the-go individuals can simply log into their oDesktop personal account from any computer connected to the Internet. “The primary target audiences of oDesktop are the business travelers and frequent Internet usage users that require mobility and the ability to access their data and files from anywhere in the world via the Internet,” Gan said.

Matt Coy, owner of InFront Desktop.com, invested in the oDesktop system for his business. He thinks that one of the most exciting elements to oDesktop is it’s an alternative to the current file-size limitations apparent today. He’s set to launch his niche Web hosting or “Desktop Worldwide” operation through the new oDesktop model, and believes that it’s only a matter of time for SaaS technology like Comdev’s to truly take shape.

“An example of our current limitations is in sending large files through email. As we progress our attachments are getting much larger,” Coy said. “With a model like oDesktop you can upload a 2 GB file onto oPhoto, for example, and then invite your colleague to log in and get to that file through oNetwork.”

With technology evolving the way it is, and file sizes getting bigger and bigger, end-users are presented with more obstacles Coy said. oDesktop provides an alternative to emailing humongous files or having to access FTP sites, and it allows Web hosts to sell more server space quickly.

A Focus on Image Hosting

2007-05-12T02:46:00.001-07:00

With the digital age in full swing – and with mobile phones and digital cameras spreading at exponential rates – providing a place to store and display photos is becoming a serious online business. That’s where image Web hosts come in. They allow individuals to upload images on to a website and to store those images on their Web servers.

Depending on what a user is looking for, image hosting comes in various forms. Do a Web search and you’ll find solutions ranging from free, bare-bones uploading on an ad-splashed site – where images may never be found again – to paid services, offering organized features, unlimited bandwidth and quality support.

With such an extensive market facing consumers, TopHosts took a deep look at the state of Image hosting, where it’s headed and what to look out for.

Free Services Peaked

Brett Marks is Proprietor and CEO of ImageViper, a provider of free and paid image hosting services. He thinks that the industry as a whole has already plateaued and that the basic, template-based image hosting sites, usually offered for free, are in decline. He says more and more paid, feature-based image hosting services are hitting the scene.

“It seems nowadays that every man and their dog has an image hosting site,” Marks said. “But I think they (free/basic image hosting websites) have hit their peak and their infancy is starting to die down a bit now.”

ImageViper offers the best of both worlds. Free accounts provide the company with the exposure they need, Marks explained, while giving users a “taste” of their services, and perhaps encouraging them to purchase a paid account down the road.

Paid Solutions Growing

Web hosting provider, SiteGround.com, is well known for their paid image hosting services and expertise. Its image hosting plan costs $4.95/month and comes with free domain name registration, 40 GB of space, 900 GB traffic and free installation of popular open source applications, namely, Coppermine and Gallery online picture galleries.

Lilyana Yakimova, Marketing Manager at SiteGround, says that image galleries are among the top five most popular purchases for the company. She believes demand for image hosting, especially paid services, will grow in the coming years because digital-technology is becoming more widespread and easier to use.

“Making quality pictures and even videos is getting more and more easier,” Yakimova said. “People will start looking for more space to fit the bigger sizes of quality images and faster connection for easier upload.”

Compare Features, Limitations

Yakimova says if you’re looking for more freedom, online security and no advertisements, paid image hosting is the way to go. Free image hosting limits users in disk space and bandwidth, and may also provide questionable software and server security.

SiteGround’s image hosting solution functions as their regular hosting plans do. They come with a free domain, personal email accounts, free installations, free tutorials, expert 24/7 support and an uptime guarantee.

Marks of ImageViper says that, most importantly, paid image hosting offers generous space limits. He says to always check out and compare the limitations offered if you’re considering a paid service. ImageViper’s paid solution, ranging from $1.99/month for 100 MB to $4.99/month for 300 MB, comes with unlimited bandwidth, unlimited amount of folders, multiple image uploading ability, no ads and an array of other features.

Not Just About Space

He says customers appreciate the many features, user-friendly interface and unlimited bandwidth – especially power users who know that large amounts of storage space is useless without the bandwidth to serve images.

“Be wary of sites offering large amounts of space but low bandwidth,” Marks said. “Also don’t get fooled into hosts wanting to charge you a ‘per image’ charge or places that are offering too many confusing plans and limits.”

Yakimova of SiteGround agrees that space should not be the only criteria when considering a paid image hosting service. “The customers should avoid judging a hosting provider based only on the space and the traffic it provides,” she said. “As I said, server security and technical support are the most important features.”

Virtual Private Servers, a Happy Medium in Web Hosting

2007-05-12T02:45:00.002-07:00

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is like driving in the middle lane – not exactly the dedicated fast track, but unlike the inferior shared hosting lane too. Right now however, the VPS path is looking wide open, with more and more choosing that route over shared and dedicated solutions. TopHosts examines why the trend continues and what to expect down the road.

With a VPS plan, small businesses can take advantage of dedicated services for about the same cost as a high-end shared solution. Simply put, VPS is a server within a server, allowing Web hosts to partition a single unit into multiple “virtual” machines. It acts as a dedicated server but, like a shared solution, the cost of hardware and software is distributed across many clients.

VPS Popularity Surging

John Enright, Vice President of Marketing for Affinity Internet’s Gate.com, believes VPS hosting is currently taking off and will gradually steal more and more business away from dedicated and shared.

“Every year VPS plans become a more appealing alternative to high-end shared hosting customers and a more attractive alternative to dedicated solutions,” Enright said. “VPS is truly carving out its own niche and I think in the next 5 years it will overtake shared and dedicated servers, which are the options of choice right now.”

One of the primary forces driving the VPS rush, according to Enright, is the evolving technology behind it. When the virtualization concept began about six years ago, servers could not maintain a significant amount of customers, and the servers that did so were “high end” making it unappealing to end users and Web hosts alike. The Virtualization of servers also once demanded more resources and required a great deal of overhead costs.

Finer VPS Technology

Today however, VPS servers are vastly more powerful, with almost no overhead costs associated with it Enright explained. Prominent VPS management software programs, such as SWsoft’s Virtuozzo, Plesk, Ensim, H-Sphere or Sphera, have also come a long way. “VPS remote management interfaces are incredible these days, and they’re so powerful and easy to use,” Enright said. “The technology’s open to so many more right now.”

Thanks to the improved technology surrounding VPS solutions, Web hosts are finding it easier to offer it, which is in turn driving prices down and making it available to a wider market. With technology also delivering much more power and convenience, the service is becoming just about as attractive as a dedicated service, at a much lower cost.

A Happy Medium

Will Childs is Director of Partnerships for Canada Web Hosting (CWH), a leading provider north of the U.S. border. Childs says VPS hosting plans are growing in popularity every day because it supplies customers with a happy medium, for less cost.

“If you look at virtualization technology today, it’s coming into maturity,” Childs said. “Most developers in today’s climate don’t necessarily want to initially invest in a fully managed dedicated service without test driving the hosting organization first. On the flip side they don’t want to go through a shared platform either. VPS let’s them focus on developing rather than managing.”

Childs explained that evolving VPS technology is providing many of the same advantages of a dedicated solution. Every day, developers and small businesses are growing more comfortable with the power and capabilities of a VPS solution, Childs said, which also keeps them free from having to manage a larger infrastructure environment.

Difference from Dedicated Minimal

According to Enright of Affinity, there’s virtually no difference between a VPS plan and many dedicated server solutions out there right now, thanks to improved technology. He says today’s virtualization isolates clients extremely well from others on the “box” and – unlike being in a shared environment where too much CPU or bandwidth consumption affects a client’s Web performance – VPS customers are rarely impacted negatively in any way.

“A couple of years ago, VPS might not have been as fast as dedicated, but that’s no longer the case. I would say there’s no difference between your typical VPS account and a low-end dedicated server plan,” Enright said. “When you log into a VPS you have root access and when you run typical Unix commands you can’t tell if it’s VPS or dedicated these days.”

A Stepping Stone

With technology improving and VPS costs coming down, many more are also looking to VPS as a stepping-stone or the next best thing after a shared hosting plan, or as a step before investing in a dedicated plan. Childs of CWH says it’s very common these days for clients to outgrow their shared plan and ask to migrate over to a VPS account.

Childs also noted that more and more Web hosting providers themselves are offering VPS as a stepping-stone, to improve and enhance their own business. Growing companies, that want to offer more services but can’t quite compete in the dedicated hosting arena, see VPS platforms as a great opportunity.

“VPS hosting is a very hot market right now, because many hosting companies that are growing at the moment want to jump from a shared hosting company to something with bigger revenue potential,” Childs said. “Moving into the high-end dedicated market may be quite a jump, so a lot of companies are using VPS as a stepping stone for their own internal growth.”

The Green Web Hosting Movement Marches On

2007-05-12T02:45:00.001-07:00

Green Web hosting has become a pretty common term these days, with a multitude of companies proudly taking on the description and promoting clean renewable methods of powering their data centers. Plug in the term “green Web hosting” on the Internet and an overwhelming amount of sites will display, promising technologies such as “wind powered hosting,” “solar powered servers” or “sustainable websites.” TopHosts took a closer look at this new hosting market and at what it truly takes to uphold this environmental stamp of approval.

Phil Nail, Technology Manager of Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO.net) told TopHosts that they currently stand alone within the industry as a truly green Web host. The company provides a 100% solar powered operation, their own environmentally friendly designed data center, and a redundant solar powered network, on their own land in Romoland, California.

Their steel framed data center – with no wood except for the door frames – maintains 120 solar panels on two large sets of arrays, capable of generating up to 60 kilowatts of electricity each day. Through its commitment to solar hosting, and through various other clean, renewable practices, AISO’s system eliminates the production of 19,890 pounds of Carbon Dioxide (greenhouse gas) per year, 5.9 pounds of Nitrous Oxide (NOX/smog) per year, and 0.45 pounds of Sulfur Dioxide (acid rain) per year – equivalent to planting 3.5 acres of trees per year. And all the while, Nail says AISO supplies Web hosting plans comparable in price and just as reliable as any other company out there.

Degrees of Green Hosting
But while more green hosting companies hit the scene, Nail warns most are not as environmentally committed as they appear. “We check everyday and haven’t found anybody else that actually has green power at their facility,” Nail said. “You really have to read between the lines to see what they really have and then finally you see – green credits.”

In fact, what makes the vast majority of these Web hosts green is the purchase of renewable energy credits (REC). Web hosts audit the amount of harmful greenhouse-gas producing energy they use, and then purchase RECs which fund and support the production of renewable energy across the country. This process is said to offset the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the Web host, which allow these companies to label themselves “green”, Nail explained.

According to AISO’s website, many of the so-called green Web hosts out there don’t run any environmentally friendly technologies at all, but instead buy RECs as a marketing tactic in hopes of making you think they’re helping the environment. AISO says many RECs merely go toward helping polluting power companies boost their green portfolios and meet EPA or government guidelines. “One of the things that has to change is these companies have to stop looking to traditional power and data centers. They have to buy their own buildings and land and use their own green services… and buying green credits doesn’t make your company green,” Nail said.

Green Hosting Compromise
Yet Greg Willson, an Environmental Engineer with PlanetMind.net, a green Web hosting provider, says installing solar panels or constructing wind turbines isn’t exactly a viable option for every Web host at the moment. Without more government help and subsidies, entry costs for implementing renewable technologies can be high and difficult without the proper land, location and money. Willson says purchasing RECs, while employing as many environmentally sound practices as possible, is also a significant part of the green Web hosting movement.

“If a business and employees are true in their own minds about being green and are committed… and help fund green technology they’re helping the future of the (Web hosting) industry… They’re setting the example now,” Willson said.

Wind and Solar Hosting
Planetmind works with a renewable energy retailer that promotes the development of wind energy. Electricity bills are a bit more expensive but the investment ensures that money goes directly to wind farms in the U.S.

David Hardy, also of Planetmind, thinks wind power holds a lot of potential as a source of powerful green energy, so funding it helps the cause. Yet, it remains out of reach for the average company. “Wind is tough, you really need the right location. It’s more suited for the power companies to handle,” Hardy said. “But solar isn’t out of reach at all for the average company.”

Planetmind favors solar power because it can be generated locally and because the cost to install solar panels is currently dropping. Planetmind, in the small mountain community of Nederland, Colorado, generates their own local solar power of about 250 Watts of photovoltaic – enough to power their solar hosting servers and their EcoMail service of about 1,500 accounts.

Carbon Neutral Web Hosting
Even large-scale hosting operations, like Rackspace Managed Hosting, are finding greener ways of doing business. In late 2006, Rackspace announced the UK’s first carbon neutral Web hosting service. Together with the International Tree Foundation, for every online application hosted by Rackspace that opts into the program, one tree will be planted for every server used. That equates to between 200-300 servers a month, Rackspace said, which will offset the carbon emissions produced by each customer’s hosting solution.

Jacques Greyling, managing director of Rackspace Managed Hosting stated: “Rackspace’s clients, which include everything from blue chip, multi-national enterprises to innovative start-ups, are increasingly looking at ways to minimize the negative impact they have on the environment.”

Of course, it’s not exactly green Web hosting, but the attention paid to the environment by a larger operation such as Rackspace’s reflects perhaps a promising future for ecologically aware hosting solutions.

Related Reading: See how server manufacturers and other Web hosts are using technology to save energy and money.

Web Hosting Basics - Extended Validation SSL Certificates

2007-05-12T02:39:00.003-07:00

In 2005, a group of leading certification authorities (CAs) and Internet browsers came together to establish a more rigorous and harmonized approach to online SSL security.

Known as the CA/Browser Forum, the group decided a standardized Secure Socket Layer (SSL) method was needed, to prove a website’s authenticity across all browsers, for all CAs and for all Web users. In January 2007, new Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates were at last released worldwide, and are expected to greatly enhance eCommerce and boost the confidence of online shoppers everywhere.

Wayne Thayer, Vice President of Development for GoDaddy – a world leading SSL Web hosting provider, domain registrar and major member of the CA/Browser Forum – told TopHosts that the aim of EV SSL is to provide a much needed, unvarying way of ensuring legitimacy online.

“There were a number of major players that felt we needed to create some sort of standard we could bring to the marketplace,” Thayer said. “A certificate that meant the same thing no matter where you bought it from.”

Up until the launch of EV SSL, Thayer explained many differing levels of SSL certificates could be obtained, but none really going beyond WebTrust – a seal awarded to sites that adhere to certain business standards. Many different types of SSLs, like GoDaddy’s Turbo SSL and High-Assurance SSL, for example, provide great protection and online assurance, but may not abide by the same rules and regulations of other CAs and Web hosting providers. There is simply no uniformity among them, and they don’t address growing concerns regarding phishing, a form of Internet fraud that aims to steal valuable information such as credit cards, SSNs, IDs and passwords, through fake websites.

With EV SSLs, all CAs must adhere to the same security standards when processing certificate requests, while visitors to EV SSL-secured sites can trust that the online organization has undergone the same universal authentication process.

“The EV vetting process creates a very strong tie between the organization that is named in the certificate and the actual real world organization,” Thayer said. “… EV SSL has a number of additional steps that make it much more difficult for fraudsters to perform phishing and pretend they’re something they’re not.”

The CA/Browser forum outlines a new EV SSL vetting process, which validates elements such as, the legal existence of the site, the legal name of the entity, a registration number, right to use the domain name, along with other legal indications. To apply for an EV SSL, the business must present a letter from an attorney or an accountant. The process verifies the organization’s identity, the validity of the request and the overall legitimacy of the business.

Unlike the standard padlock icon method used for all other SSL certificates, browsers with EV support will display a green address bar and a special label, which names the website owner and the CA that issued their certificate. This visual tool is especially useful for domains considered to be a high-risk target of phishing and other fraud schemes. Banking sites, auction sites, retailers and other financial services can better communicate their legitimacy to users, allowing visitors to confirm that any online information they volunteer is safe and protected by EV.

Currently, only Internet Explorer 7 and Opera 8 browsers are EV-ready and support the new visual indicators. Mozilla and Safari are known to be committed to supporting the concept of EV, with Firefox expected to implement it in their version-3 release.

So far, Thayer says adoption of EV SSL has been slow, but exactly what was expected. Larger eCommerce sites are taking to it more quickly, as they recognize its potential for combating phishing. But it might take longer for it to take off within the smaller business community.

Currently, the standard requires companies to be incorporated to qualify for EV, which severely limits adoption by smaller entities wanting the universal assurance EV SSLs offer. Thayer explained the difficulty behind implementation of EV SSL with smaller businesses, as they don’t maintain the same official documentation corporations do.

Instead, smaller businesses identify themselves through mainly state-level and local files, making it harder to apply them to the universal EV SSL approach. But Thayer says GoDaddy and the CA/Browser forum are working to establish EV SSL security for the smaller business community, in the near future.

Yet, as IE 7 becomes more widespread and as more SSL certificates begin to expire, companies will likely consider the advantages of EV and take on the new certificates.

“I think as you see Internet Explorer 7 gain more traction and as more begin to see and recognize the green address bar, we’ll see more adoption of these certificates,” Thayer said. “It’s too early to tell right now, it’s only been a couple of months, so if most SSLs expire within a couple of years of issuance… we’ll see a majority of sites rolling over to EV by January 2009.”

Is Multiple C Class Web Hosting an SEO Solution?

2007-05-12T02:39:00.001-07:00

Website owners are becoming more and more in tune with Search Engine Optimization, and continue to fret over how they’re seen in the eyes of Google and other search engines. More are turning to their Web hosting providers for fresh SEO solutions and answers.

Leading Web hosting firm, Host Gator, decided to tackle this evolving demand by launching SEO Web Hosting – and by zeroing in on a growing concept and concern: Multiple C Class Hosting.

To understand this new brand of hosting, one has to look closely at an IP address to spot the C class. The set of the first three numbers is known as the C class. For example, within the IP 209.68.33.140, the C class is 209.68.33. An IP of 209.68.34 – with the last number different – is within the same ‘class C’ range. Websites with similar C classes may be close to each other or may even reside on the same server.

So why has Host Gator decided to focus on this issue for customers? Brent Oxley, President and Founder of Host Gator, explained that SEO experts have long suspected that Google checks for interlinking between websites hosted on the same C class, to uncover relationships and to detect spammers. Google, and likely other search engines, may use this info to penalize websites. They may devalue a site’s search ranking or even ban them from showing up on searches. Google may even penalize sites for merely being linked to such sites.

Except for perhaps core search engine programmers at Google, no one truly knows if this theory is correct. Many other forms of data and WHOIS information is used to pick out spammers, but it is safe to assume that search engines choose to ignore links they do not trust. If sites share the same C classes, they may in fact be labeled as spam.

Oxley told TopHosts that he’s not exactly sure if the theory is completely valid, but knows what his customers want, and he’s reading them loud and clear.

“Our customers work hard on their websites. They build up legitimate websites, and wish to link their work on all their sites,” Oxley said. “They’ve been asking for IPs in different C classes for a long time. We are simply giving them what they want.”

Currently, Oxley says Web hosts may charge high prices for IPs in different C classes, and in many cases, customers are forced to work with multiple hosting providers to fulfill this need. Host Gator’s Multiple C Class Hosting enables customers to select a 100 or more different C classes for sites, for as low as $5 per month per C Class, while having it all integrated into a single control panel.

For over two years, Oxley says they’ve provided the multiple C class service to select customers in a testing manner. Customers cite ‘SEO’ as the reason for the request, so Host Gator decided to officially launch the new service under the brand ‘SEO Web Hosting’. Oxley says it’s a unique initiative, and that only a select few hosting providers could supply the offer.

“The reality is that many of our customers wanted at least 50 different C classes to spread their sites across,” Oxley said. “With 255 IPs per C class, that means over 10,000 IPs. Not a lot of companies have the scalability to achieve this type of offering.”

Host Gator is also promoting other important SEO elements, as part of their new SEO strategy for customers. Stemming from their overall approach, Oxley says search engine spiders are attracted to fast loading websites, so they guarantee “blazing fast” service and 99.9% uptime. Also, customers with more than 25 sites will get a dedicated account rep to help them manage any issues they may have.

Oxley also hopes their new hosting brand will become a valuable source for those seeking SEO information and help. “SEOHosting.com will be more than just a commercial website – it will have articles, tips, and experts to help educate our customers, and others about the evolving trends in SEO,” he said.

Web Host Overselling - What It Is (And What It Can Mean For Your Hosting Experience)

2007-05-12T02:38:00.002-07:00

What is Overselling?

Overselling is a marketing gimmick that many hosting companies use where they promise more (often far more) resources than they have available to try and lure clients onto their servers. Extreme amounts of disk space and bandwidth for very low prices to try and convey value are the hallmark of these providers.

If you’ve recently gone searching for a hosting plan, you’ve undoubtedly seen an ad or two (or a thousand) promising “$2 a Month! 500 GB of Storage! 2 TB of Bandwidth! Host Unlimited Domains!”or some equally outrageous offer. This is overselling at its finest.

Anatomy of the Oversell

A new hosting provider leases a dedicated server with 2 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive and 500 GB of monthly bandwidth and costs $150 per month.

Now let’s suppose that this host was planning to sell hosting packages for $3 with 100 GB of disk space, and 500 GB of bandwidth (which, by the way, is nowhere near the extremes that some hosting plans go to).

Anyone who understands basic math instantly recognizes that if the host actually allowed just a single user to use the resources he or she has purchased, he would have nearly used up his entire hard drive and would have accounted for all of his monthly bandwidth on the server he is leasing. All with one $3 a month client.

In order for this hosting provider to arrive at any reasonable amount of success in the business, they now have to pack as many clients onto this server as possible (quite often up to 500 or more are put on a single server) in the hopes that the clients never actually use the resources they have purchased.

What Can Overselling Tell You About the Host?

Overselling can (and should) raise several warning flags to those searching for a hosting plan including:

• That they are involved in hosting only for the short term (or possibly even as a hobby during summer break). The barrier to entry is very low in hosting. Anyone with an allowance a reseller account and a website can portray themselves as a legitimate company. These types of hosts, not knowing anything about providing hosting services, think that by setting up shop and offering the moon for $3, they’ll be on the road to riches. A more likely scenario is they’ll disappear at the end of the summer leaving you without an account (and more importantly, your data).

• Quality of service is not a priority. Many hosts that oversell need to pack as many clients onto a single server or reseller account as possible in order to realize any profit from their operations. With this many people fighting for the same RAM and processing power of the server, poor service quality is inevitable. Clients often have to endure this low level of service for months (if they haven’t bailed by already) until the host can save enough funds to get an additional server. Even then they will likely start overcrowding that one as well.

• Customer support is not a priority. By offering cheap plans, a host that can attract new clients in large numbers now has a new dilemma on his hands: how to support a large user base with any kind of quality. Long response times to help tickets and responses that do not solve the problem but only buy time for the host should be watched out for. “We’re taking a look at this issue” is a popular response hosts use to keep you waiting another few hours.

How Can Overselling Impact Your Hosting Experience?

Account Suspension/Termination: A host who oversells is counting on you to never use the resources you’ve paid for. Their business depends on it. If your blog, forum or online store becomes popular and your traffic increases significantly, you run the risk of your hosting provider suspending or terminating your account so that they don’t have to live up to their advertised offers.

Frequent Migrations: If your site gains any degree of popularity or your ecommerce site sees an increase in transaction you may be asked to pay more or leave. In other words, if you actually use the resources you were promised you will likely not be welcome anymore.

Slow Site Performance: As mentioned above, with often hundreds of sites competing with yours for valuable resources, servers can easily bog down and become unresponsive. If a solid support and monitoring system is not in place, you can be stuck in this situation for days.

Exposure to Malicious Users: Cheap hosting (especially those with 30 Day Money Back Guarantees) is very appealing to spammers and other users with less than admirable intentions. Being able to get in on the cheap, run their scripts and leave without much accountability (if any) is the perfect vehicle for this crowd. Many hosts will try and protect against this kind of behavior but if you’re not on the ball 24/7 monitoring activity, you may not see them until they’ve done their damage.

Things You Can Do to Avoid an Overseller Nightmare

Ignore the Sales Pitch: Forget how big the resource allocations are. In reality, you are not really getting all of these resources anyways. Look for other signs of value such as: software and tools offered with your account, tutorials (if you’re new to hosting), reputation of the host on forums and message boards, account transfer services, a comprehensive knowledgebase, a busy company forum, multiple avenues to contact the company, etc.

Pay Attention to Response Times: Send a sales inquiry or technical question via the company helpdesk and note the response time and the quality of the response itself. You often tell if a host takes their business seriously by how quickly they get back to you and how well they answer your questions.

Ask About The Company’s Operations: If a host owns their own equipment and has significant investment in their operations, they are likely (though not always) to go the extra mile and provide a higher level of service quality.

Is the Company Organized as a Formal Business Entity?: Using a formal business entity (corporation, LLC, partnership, etc) can be an indication of how serious the owners of a hosting company are likely to be. This process takes time and investment to do properly and most "fly by night" hosts do not bother with this formality.

Are there hosts that don’t oversell who provide poor quality of service? Sure. Can you wind up with some of the same experiences noted above with a large company? Of course. Overselling is an unfortunate part of today’s hosting industry and is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. One thing you can and should do to avoid a hosting nightmare is to do your own due diligence when looking for a host and remember, with hosting (like with so many other things in life), you ultimately get what you pay for. The next time you see an outrageous hosting offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

How to Build a Successful Website

2007-05-12T02:38:00.001-07:00

Learning how to build a successful website can be a daunting task for anyone starting on the Internet. To do this, you need all the help you can get.

You need a web host to help you to research your market to see where you can find a keyword niche that you can carve out for yourself. If you attack a really popular keyword, you will be fighting an uphill battle against old established websites. If you are not on the first couple of search engine results pages of Google or Yahoo, you are probably doomed to failure unless you find an alternative way to drive traffic to your site. This is a major answer to the question, "How to Build a Successful Website".

You need help in planning your website construction so it flows well and your user can navigate it easily. If the viewer encounters any difficulty, "click" and "poof" the viewer is gone.

You need a way to easily build good web pages even though you do not know HTML code. This includes a way to construct the page and view it before posting it live.

You need assistance in reviewing your web page before posing it live to make certain that it is search engine friendly. You handle the job of making certain that the page is human friendly. You need a tool to assist you in making it rate high with the search engines.

You need assistance in automatically updating your sitemap and pinging the search engines each time you update your site. This includes automatically posting the changes to your blog.

Did we say blog? Every good website needs a blog so look for a web host that provides blogging too.

You need a web host that provides tools to monitor the traffic to your site so you can evaluate how to change the site to improve it.

You need a tracking tool to help you understand where your traffic is coming from so you can improve your linking program. This will also help you evaluate the effectiveness of any pay per click campaigns that might set up to drive traffic to your website.

You need a web host that will help you to easily create forms to gather data from your readers. This is how you get your readers to tell you want they want and then you just fill that need. It makes you look like a hero. Once you gather the data, the web host should provide a data base to hold the data.

Web Host for Beginners

2007-05-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

You are just beginning to explore the Internet and you have decided that you need a website on the Internet to be successful. You researched the many web hosts that all claim to have the best features and you are over whelmed by all the possibilities.

Let's discuss what a web host for beginners book should tell you.

Most of the time, people looking for a web host asks all the wrong questions about the web host. Since the Internet is considered "technical", it seems that people automatically start looking at how many gigs of memory and how much bandwidth each web host provides for the price. They read that they can get 10,000 email addresses, 1,000 FTP accounts, and 1,000 mailing lists (Isn't that a joke? Walmart might need that kind of support, but a starting website? I don't think so!) They consider what software is provided? .ASP, Perl, PHP, .NET, Cold Fusion, etc. (Yes, "etc." is not software).

My observation is that people tend to get so bogged down in the technical aspects (hardware and software) of what a web host offers that they lose site of the basic fact that the hardware side of the web host is only the medium that carries their message to the world via the Internet. It is the means to the end.

Web hosts are a dime a dozen and the competition for customers is fierce.

On the hardware technical side, a web host should provide:

* A secure data center that stays up running 100% of the time.
* Bandwidth wide enough to handle the all the traffic quickly.
* Storage to handle all the data.
* Processor speed fast enough to process the traffic without delay.
* A secure, reliable connection to the Internet

Any of the major web hosts provides these so why research it to the Nth degree? It is a waste of time.

What people starting to build a new website should really ask is "what is the mission of my website"? Then they should look for the best web host that helps them build a website that satisfies that mission.

All web hosts are not all things to all people. Spend the time finding the best web host that satisfies the needs of your new website.

Find Success Through Yahoo! Web Hosting

2007-05-12T02:35:00.003-07:00

Anyone who has recently created a website – or those who are currently researching the steps necessary to do so – will tell you of the necessity of finding a reputable and effective web host to maximize the offerings of your website. Searching for the web host that will provide you the services that you need at a price you can afford can seem overwhelming. What most website owners find, however, is that working with a web host that has built a reputation on quality will often ensure a successful and profitable relationship. Yahoo! web hosting, for example, is just another service provided by a company that’s name is synonymous with quality.

Small businesses, especially, have historically found success through Yahoo! web hosting – a company that’s focus on personalized customer service appeals to the small business owner. What began as a way to organize website visits for two Stanford students in 1994, quickly became the first online navigational tool in existence. Today, Yahoo! has evolved into the top Internet brand in the world – globally recognized by Internet users. Parlaying this success into a multitude of business ventures, Yahoo! also acts as host to numerous websites – offering reasonable and comprehensive service for those looking to establish an online presence.

Small business owners can choose from among several Yahoo! web hosting service packages designed to meet the needs of a variety of different businesses. The first package that Yahoo! web hosting offers is the starter. The starter costs less than $9 a month for which customers receive set-up services, a domain name, 100 sub-domain names, 200 email addresses, a disk space of 5 GB, and a 200 GB data transfer rate.

The standard package – for less than $15 a month – provides customers with all of the features of the starter package but with the inclusion of another 5 GB of disk space – bringing it to 10 GB, a transfer rate of 400 GB, 2000 sub-domains, and 500 email addresses.

Finally, the professional package offered through Yahoo! web hosting – and best for a larger business - includes 500 sub-domains, 1000 email addresses, and an increase to 20 GB of disk storage and a 500 GB data transfer rate – all for a monthly rate of under $27. And no matter what package you choose, Yahoo! web hosting always includes reliable 24/7 customer service.

PHP Hosting - What To Look In Order To Find A Provider That Meets Your Need

2007-05-12T02:35:00.001-07:00

Nowadays, PHP has become the main language used by many webmasters around the world. As the most popular dynamic web programming language, you can find many websites that use scripts written in that language for various purposes, from building websites to shopping system. In essence, with PHP you can do a large variety of programming. Now, in order to be able to use PHP scripts you have to use a web host that provides that feature. Although it is not difficult to find the right host, there are several aspects you should also think about.

Make sure that the hosting company supports your PHP scripts. It seems that some scripts currently available in the market can run well only with the latest PHP version. To solve this compatibility issue there are hosting providers who provide two PHP versions. You may need to customize or change some scripts which are intended for the older PHP version environment.

Next, bear in mind about the PHP modules which are required by your scripts to be installed. There are different modules available to perform different activities. If the hosting provider you are choosing does not list it, ask them about the modules which are required by the scripts you intend to use. If they do not provide the modules, you should make sure that you are at least allowed to install them later.

There are two different ways in making use of PHP on a server, running PHP in CGI mode and using it as an apache module. Both have different advantages and disadvantages. Running PHP as an apache mode means that the interpreter will be loaded as a part of Apache. The result is the execution of your PHP script will be faster. Unfortunately many web administrators claim that this type of installation also opens security holes. Especially without a safe mode, a user in the same server can see his or her neighbour. With a safe mode, you trade security for flexibility where you can not use many third party scripts, because many PHP functions are deactivated.

Running PHP in CGI mode signifies that some security issues have been resolved. Unfortunately every time a request comes up, a new instance has to be created. It means that besides having to use more resources, you will likely find your program run slower when running PHP in this mode. Some experts believe that this configuration constitutes the best way to use PHP in a shared hosting environment while the others think differently due to performance issue.

Nowadays many hosting companies provide Fantastico to allow customers to install many PHP scripts with some clicks of mouse. Before installing any script manually, you can take a look at the list of scripts provided. If you can not find the scripts you need, you have to use the one from another source. To make sure that the script is really compatible with your hosting environment you may try to compare the requirements of the script you want to install with the ones in the list.

PHP is the tool for you to have dynamic and interactive websites. One of the most useful features of PHP is that it can connect to MySQL and other popular database programs using its own open source libraries developed for the users by the users. But anyway always remember to use a PHP hosting provider that meets your requirements.

Checkouts & Security - Your Web Host Is Key

2007-05-12T02:34:00.001-07:00

From a commercial site owner's perspective, the checkout is the most rewarding of all site pages. It's the reason the site was built - to generate sales. Smooth, hassle-free transactions.

Unfortunately seven out of ten visitors who place an item in their carts never complete the sale. Many times, the problem lies in the site's checkout - its look, feel, security and most importantly, its ease of use.

Your web designer and host should offer a tool box of checkout solutions free, or at preferential pricing. Your web host should also provide the server security you want and need.

What Do Potential Buyers Expect At The Checkout?

The same thing they expect in a brick-and mortar outlet. Convenience, no long lines, security and politeness. So, how do these visitors' needs translate to a site's checkout design?

Convenience:
Numerous payment options are a convenience. Naturally, any site must accept credit cards - the big ones, any way. But what about PayPal, electronic bank transfer or how about an old-fashioned, hard copy check or mail order? The more ways to pay, the more sales are made. And a one-click checkout option for regulars boosts sales even more.

No Long Lines
Clear, easy-to-follow directions on every check-out page. And limit the number of checkout clicks and checkout pages.

Security
And plenty of it. Buyers expect complete, secure encryption of their transactions. They want to see the padlock lower-right, the http s in the address box and an SSL secure logo. Or no sale.

Politeness
Checkout copy that's reassuring. The ability to back out to previous pages and a follow-up thank-you/confirmation e-mail are all ways of demonstrating commitment to customer care.

Checkout Apps
Checkouts are available as separate applications that simply bolt on to your site's back office. Some of these checkouts are open source, while others cost a few bucks.

osCommerce is an open source application that's under constant development by experts from the ecommerce community who volunteer their time to refine this free and fee-free software. It's a great option for start ups - simple interface, straightforward administrator's console and compliant with all site servers - a critical consideration.

MIVA Merchant 5 comes in at the other end of the checkout spectrum, providing numerous checkout options, a feature rich administrator console, sales metrics, visitor tracking and many more features.

Most web hosts offer open source checkouts as part of their applications libraries, a real money saver when first starting out. And upgrading to a more sophisticated checkout is easy for the site owner and the hosting service.

Web Hosting and Checkout Security.

If you've been in business on-line for a year, you have a great deal of sensitive data stored on your web host's server. Names, addresses, credit card numbers - a veritable treasure trove to any script-kiddie or cracker. The information collected during the buyer checkout process must be secure for the sake of your business and for the sake of your buyer's confidence in your enterprise.

Regardless of whether you opt for an open source checkout or spend big bucks on the out-of-the-box supermall edition, your web host should provide site security in several ways.

SSL Certification
In order the take credit card payments, sites must be SSL certified and receive an SSL ID code.

Any reputable site host supports SSL certified secure connections. So, if you subscribe to a shared hosting package, in which you share server space with other sites, you'll be able to use the host's SSL certification to accept credit card payments through your site. There shouldn't be a charge for this since the host must have the SSL cert any way.

Is There A Steel Cage Around Your Checkout?
If a site accepts credit cards and uses other payment options (PayPal, Paystation, etc.), it must be secure. Now, a site owner can (and should) install quality software on the business system, but that's just the beginning. What kind of security does your hosting service offer?

Sensitive customer data, names, addresses and credit card numbers, make small sites attractive targets to hackers. And since this sensitive data is stored on your business system and your host server, that web host better have state of the art security on its shared and private servers.

And not just one layer of protection - a firewall and virus zapper. To protect the business and keep check-out transactions private, web hosts require multiple layers of security to protect against a variety of digital malpractice: brute force attacks, wardriving, malware injections and other forms of server intrusion.

Today's most advanced (and reliable) security is capable of defending itself automatically, detecting suspect incoming data and diverting it before it even reaches the host server.

Sure, any site owner must locally defend against intrusion with top-flight malware protection installed on the office computer or network. But without a secure server, the doorway to the www is wide open and anyone can walk in.

Downtime

Another important feature to consider when searching for a hosting service is downtime. When an on-line enterprise suddenly finds itself off-line due to a server malfunction, you might as well close up shop until the problem is solved.

Regardless of what checkout application you employ, from low-cost open source to high-priced tools that do it all, a host that can't deliver reliable, consistent service is going to cost money in downtime.

What kind of reliability should you expect? 99% plus. That's right, almost perfect uptime. Today's technology makes 99% reliability achievable. And that's what any site owner should expect from a hosting service.

The Bottom Line? Your Bottom Line.
When looking for a web host to connect you to the www, it's essential that you and the host consider checkout options to determine that the package you select is compliant with the host's servers and other hardware.

A well-equipped host should offer a toolbox of useful applications including an open source (free) site design and management package. And as you grow, it's important that your host be able to upgrade your checkout app without any downtime. Remember, you may start out small but you'll grow, your business will process more and more orders and you want to make sure your host can grow right along with you, offering everything you need to expand your on-line empire.

For shared hosting accounts, you should be able to use the host's SSL certification to enable you to take credit card orders. This service should come as part of the hosting plan, not as an add-on.

Finally, learn all you can about the host servers' security. Look for multiple layers, hardware- and software-based firewalls, virus detection, spam shooters and other 'at the gate' features to keep intruders at bay.

Working with your web host, you'll be able to design and develop an on-line checkout that's simple to use, accessible to customers 24/7/365 and impervious to threats from the outside.

Web Hosting and Why Service Is King

2007-05-12T02:32:00.000-07:00

If you are an Internet business owner, you definitely have a website. Where you choose to maintain that site makes a big difference. You can’t afford to trust your Internet business to just any web hosting company. You need a web hosting company that understands that service is all they really have to offer.

Technical Matters

No one can dispute the fact that server speed and reliability, upgraded hardware and software and web hosting features are all important. After all, these are the features that will determine how fast your Internet business will be able to grow and expand. You don’t want to have to change web hosting companies in the middle of the game. Ideally, you want to stay with the same web hosting company for as long as you own your business. It just makes life easier.

Time Is Money

One important aspect of web hosting that people frequently overlook is the service. Yes, price matters, but service matters even more. Low prices won’t mean a thing if your website is down. If your site goes down, you lose sales – it is as simple as that. Also, when you have an Internet business, time is money. You don’t want to waste time waiting for the web host to provide you with that much-needed support. Every minute, hour or day that you have to wait for answers is another day that you could have spent doing what matters most – providing service to your customers and increasing your bottom line.

Why Service Counts More

These days, it is hard to find a web hosting company that focuses almost entirely on customer service. Yet, if you are able to find one of them, you will have hit the jackpot! A web hosting company that specializes in customer service is very valuable to you. Why? Because their aim is to keep you happy as a customer. This means that they will answer your calls promptly and provide you with the very best service. Additionally, because their focus is on you, the customer, this means that they want your business to succeed as well. It is in their best interest to make sure that they are providing you with the tools that you need for your business to be successful. Instead of trying to sell you a cookie-cutter web hosting package that has been sold to hundreds, perhaps thousands of businesses, they will listen to your needs and be able to customize a web hosting package especially designed for your business. In addition, they will:

* Provide customer support 24/7

* Give you real-time access to their server status

* Give you a money-back guarantee

* Assist you with moving your website from another web hosting company

* Have a toll-free customer support phone number

* Consult with you on customized solutions for your busines

Your Internet business is your livelihood – don’t leave it to chance. Your choice of web hosting company can make the difference between the success and failure of your business. By choosing a web hosting company that focuses on service, you can make the right decision and give your business a fighting chance!

Webhosting Reseller Programs - Look Before You Leap!

2007-05-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

So, you're considering reselling and you need the straight scoop on it?

There are so many hosting companies, all claiming to be the best deal, and all telling you that you'll make more money reselling their services. Who's to trust? Which is best?

Hopefully you have questions about the business itself. How does this all work? How do I set my prices? How do I market the product? What works? What doesn't? Who is my competition?

My name is Larry Dozier, and I am part owner of a primary web presence provider business. In real English, that means I partially own and operate a web hosting company. I started out in the Hosting Industry by reselling accounts for another company. Today, we operate our own servers and have a reseller program of our own.

This has given me a unique view of both sides of the reselling coin.

How you choose to run your reselling business will depend, primarily, on how you answer the following 3 questions:

1. Will reselling be your primary or secondary focus?

2. Once you sell a hosting account, will you retain control of the website it houses? I.e., you are the designer and will maintain the site.

3. Will you be marketing online, or to your current clients?

How you determine your pricing structure will hinge on how you answered these three questions.

If you will be offering hosting to existing clients as an added service, you can, generally, charge more than if you were marketing exclusively online.

When an individual purchases web hosting online, they take a risk. Perhaps their newfound host will be a top-notch outfit with superb tech support, reliable servers and excellent prices. On the other hand, perhaps they will find themselves in the middle of a horrendous tale of inadequacy.

But, if this same individual already has an existing business relationship with you, a person they already trust, much of the fear is removed. This reduction of risk, worry and stress is worth a premium. Ask any website owner if they would rather pay a little more for reliability, or stay up at night worrying about their website.

Another factor in deciding your prices is cost. Your number one cost will not be the wholesale price you pay your provider. Your number one cost will be your time. What is it worth, and how much time is involved?

If you answered yes to question number 2, your time investment will be minimal. Customer support is a huge time expenditure, especially if you do it right. By being both the host and the site administrator, you come out way ahead.

Finally, you must look at your competition. In order to do this properly, you must determine which market you will be competing in.

In general, there are two markets for web hosting services. These are the online market and the local market.

If you choose to market online, you will be forced to keep prices extrememly low. You will also incur some fairly heavy customer support costs. Because your prices will be lower, so will your profit margin. This means one thing - VOLUME.

For the online operator, automation is crucial. The more streamlined your system, the higher your profits and the lower your blood pressure.

Let me interject one thing here, while we're talking about marketing. Streamlined does not mean neglecting your customers. A little consideration goes a long ways in this business. If you answer your customers emails, return their calls, take time to listen to them, you'll build a large base of loyal customers in no time at all.

Regardless of your marketing approach, there is one more huge question to answer before you begin.

Who will you be reselling for?

When choosing an upstream provider, pay particular attention to the three R's:

* Reliability

* Resalability

* Relationship

The company you resell for should, above all else, be impeccably reliable.

Consider this scenario:

It's 2 A.M. on a Wednesday morning. Your phone rings. It's your most valued client, and his website is down. You quickly check your email, and find several more pleas for help. You dash off a quick email to your upstream provider.

It's 6 A.M. No answer from your provider.

It's 2 P.M. You receive a garbled email from your provider. Something about a relay that went down in Kentucky, and it's completely beyond their control.

It's 6 P.M. The server is still down. You seriously consider taking your own telephone off the hook. You wonder if you'll be able to keep half your clients. You realize, with a sick feeling in your gut, that there is nothing you can do. You have placed your credibility in the hands of a company that is not returning your calls.

Hopefully, this scenario drives home the fact that when problems occur, you can do little more than call your provider. It's crucial that your provider be reliable.

Resalability comes next on the list. Take a good look at the product. Can you sell it? Would you buy it yourself? Are there plenty of features and selling points?

Finally, consider the relationship you have with your provider. Can you call the company and talk to a real person? The same person each time? Do they remember your name? Do they answer your emails promptly? Remember that your upstream provider is the only link between you and the server. Having a strong working relationship is vital to the success of your business.

Virtual Private Servers Compared to Shared Hosting

2007-05-12T02:28:00.002-07:00

Most internet marketing websites nowadays are hosted on a shared hosting server account. A dedicated server is the best form of hosting on the market but it is still expensive for the average internet marketer -price starts around $40/month. A much cheaper alternative to dedicated server is a virtual private server -VPS. A dedicated server is dearer because all the costs of the hardware is only shared by one person compared with VPS where there can be 10 or more customers sharing the resources.

VPS is in fact a mix between a dedicated server and a shared hosting account. With a Virtual Private Server you still share system resources like the CPU and memory with other users. VPS acts like a dedicated server because the file system is set up in such a way that users cannot tell that the system is being shared. Each VPS can be rebooted independently and executes exactly like a dedicated server for its users and applications. It has it’s own root access, users, IP addresses, memory, processes, files, applications, system libraries and configuration files. Virtual private server is much more powerful than the traditional shared system. VPS is more secure unlike shared server where one can actually figure whose site is hosted on the server. The major drawback of shared hosting is that, if one of the website goes down because of a bug in the system, there is a high probability that all other websites on shared hosting account will also go down. This will not happen on a Virtual Private Server since each websites are independent of each other.

There are limitations to having shared hosting services and the biggest one is you cannot usually compile or install any script or software. Many shared hosting company nowadays put limitations on number and frequency of cron jobs running. Some hosting companies have even banned popular script like RSS2Blog because shared hosting cannot cope with server resources needed for the software. Such limitations do not exist with VPS and dedicated servers - the users are in total control of the server.

Virtuozzo control panel, allows easy management of the virtual private server. You can reboot your server at one click.

4 Things to Look for When Choosing an Internet Host

2007-05-12T02:28:00.001-07:00

Cutting through the Hype After sifting through the Internet you will find that 90% of hosting providers offer the same service which we will call Domain Hosting. Domain Hosting includes hosting your domain, www.yourcompany.com, so that you can have a website and email addresses.

Transfer Sometimes referred to as bandwidth, transfer is the amount of data you are allowed to move to and from your domain over a period of time - this includes email and website traffic. The amount of data you transfer is usually tracked monthly with the usage getting reset at the end of your billing cycle.

Disk Space You may see it called storage, disk space is the amount of room you have to store data in your domain. Disk space is measured in either Megabytes(MB) or Gigabytes(GB) where one GB is equal to 1000 MB.

Common Ploys That’s it. You now have the knowledge to choose a Hosting provider based on the two fundamental measures: transfer and disk space. But you should read on - there are several marketing ploys used to convince you to sign-up for service, only to leave you stuck when you realize you did not get what you expected.

1) Payment terms The most blatant marketing gimmick is to offer a basement-bottom price, something in bright colors that is made to look attractive.(Some companies have even been known to have TV commercials with swimsuit models that advertise hosting and domain registration.) The fact that a price seems cheap is the first and most important warning flag. Often you must agree to pay the amount for an entire year to get the price that is advertised; some companies require you to sign a two-year contract! Though you typically get a short trial period in which you can get a refund, it takes months to realize the quality of a hosting provider. By the time you have your first outage or support issue your refund period has expired and you have no recourse.

2) Transfer as a Gimmick Recently many hosting companies have begun offering extremely high amounts of transfer. With a complete website size of under 20 MB many businesses are drawn in by companies that offer 250 GB, or more, of transfer each month. What these companies will not tell you on the front page is that they limit the types of files you can transfer, specifically they must be files that compose the website. This does not include media files which many business and individuals like to include on websites. Limiting the type of files that you are allowed to transfer makes the amount of transfer irrelevent.

3) Bandwidth Throttling Under times of heavy use many companies will limit the amount of bandwidth you have available by throttling, or reducing the speed at which your site can be viewed by visitors. Overloading servers with accounts will also give the same effect. Network resources such as Servers and Bandwidth are fixed costs for many hosting companies; a company can increase margins by putting more websites on a single server. The more websites on a server the fewer resources available to each website. The sites will still work but your performance will drop as each website fights for the resources provided by the server.

4) Disk Space as a Gimmick Many hosting companies will limit the types of data you can store on your website. Because you are restricted in the way you can use your disk space, you will be provided a ridiculously large amount of storage. As a background, premium disk space costs an IT company like IBM or EDS 4.00-20.00$ per GB of disk space. If you find a provider that gives you 1000 GB for 3.95$ per month, that is your warning sign that there are restrictions in the fine print. Also, some companies will limit the types of files you can store on your domain. All the disk space in the world is useless if you cannot use it without restriction.

Conclusion The most important thing you can do is create a relationship with a service provider that will help you accomplish your goals. We built Utropicmedia Network Solutions to be up-front - whether it’s pricing, support or developing new tools, our goal is to keep things simple so you can get more done. Please visit us at http://utropicmedia.net for more information on the services we provide. Be sure to check out the hosting page to see a no-nonsense list of packages that give you the tools to help your business grow.

Relation Between Good Hosting & Internet Marketing

2007-05-12T02:27:00.004-07:00

World is growing with internet. The use of internet has been increased up to more than 1000 times and because of this increment in internet visitors, everybody is coming on online business through search engine optimization and other internet marketing activities or tool that can help increasing his/her organization business and all this is possible with a brand new website. A website making is not a big task but when it comes to a website that really does business through search engines or any other marketing activities, this all depends on number of factors that really helps your online business. I would like to say with the confidence if you are not hosted on a good server you must not think about the marketing of any online business.

Let’s talk about couple of important point I choose to discuss –

Web Designing & Web hosting – Lets say you have chosen one of the best web designing company in your area to design & develop your website with the best of your knowledge and they have completed the website designing in couple of days now your website is ready to host on a server. May be you have already chosen another hosting company or it might be possible that the same company is hosting your website on their own servers. How to decide or how to choose a hosting company when you are ready to market your website over the internet. While choosing a hosting company for your internet marketing , you must be thinking about the prices and features and all other things you can think as a non IT professional. Or simple you will select the designing company server for your hosting because they can offer you discounted prices for the hosting package. And this is very true once you are working with a company and they recommend something that you need along with a discount (You think), you will simply go for this.

But

1 - Do you think that hosting package they are providing is really good for your online marketing…?
2 - Do you think the charges they are asking for hosting are genuine?
3 - Do you think the features they have with in the hosting pack are worth of the cost you paying?
4 - Do you think this server will be able to run your website for 24 hours everyday?
5 - Do you think this hosting server would be handling all of your internet visitor queries properly?

A number of other point are there in my mind I would like to discuss but I feel let me talk about the written point in details here only.

Available Internet Marketing are Search engine Optimization (SEO)- PPC, Website advertising, Online Paid marketing, adwords, adsense, and link exchange, CPM and other marketing activities.

I hope this SEO word is not a stranger with all the internet savvy now a days even most of the internet user says yes I can promote your website through search engine optimization over the Google, Yahoo, MSN and all. And I feel this is true because the use of internet has been greater than before and almost everybody knows about the Google, yahoo and MSN and all other engines. How they rank website and how they decide a website to rank. Anyways we were talking about the hosting. Lets say your site is well optimized and ranking well on all engines BUT when a user tries to open your website, It says page can not be found. The same page most of the site displays everyday, can not find server, or may be another message that server is down for maintenance kindly check back later. Now the point is if you are ranking well, your site is having quality content and everything is very good about your website then why choose a third class hosting package on a bad server. You worked hard in finding the visitor from the internet to come to your website and finally when arrive, all in vain. Simple he/she will try the website or try another webpage. So just because of a bad server all of your efforts go useless.

Not only SEO I am talking about but any of the marketing applied to your website. When a request has been sent to your server, your server must respond with in 3-5 seconds so that that can make sure your visitor to stay because your webpage processing bar is working but if a webpage does not open with in 10-20 seconds generally user close the windows and looks for the another step.

Here I have couple of good point you can read while selecting a hosting for your site.

1 - Try to check the other running website those are hosted on the same server.
2 - If possible send a personal request to the current running website owner to ask about the hosting and experience with the same.
3 - If possible ask your technical expert to involve in the selection of the hosting.
4 – Also check what all features & permission you have been given
5 – Check out the prices you have been charged and what is the market cost.
6 – Don’t go for the discounted rates as this might be the another wrong decision while selecting a package.
7 – Go for the brand name hosting company or check out the complete plan and then choose a package.
8 - Try to check how many domains are hosted on the same server. This will ensure you the server performance.
9 – Go for the best hosting; don’t go for the discounted prices.

I hope all these point will help you in a good hosting company selection while marketing a website. You go any marketing for your website but if you have got the best server that can respond to your online clients or visitors immediately.

Market a good website with good content hosted on a good server with qualified internet marketing strategist would be the best solutions for your internet business.

Web Site Statistics Help Webmasters Monitor Website Traffic and Optimize Their Sites

2007-05-12T02:27:00.003-07:00

As site designers, webmasters often feel that they have handle on the traffic that their web sites generate. Very successful webmasters, on the other hand, can be sure that they know what’s happening on their websites by taking advantage of the information provided by their web statistics.

Web site statistics can actually be a bit of a misnomer. The name makes them sound like an excel spreadsheet full of boring numbers that don’t relate to website usage … and some web stats packages can be just that: boring -- providing only the basic numbers about who’s on your site. (Unique visitors, page views, entry pages and exit pages come to mind). But in reality, web statistics have come a tremendously long way in a short time, and are able to paint a very unique picture of what website visitors are doing each and every time they visit a site.

New hosted web statistics solutions that no longer rely on web server log files, are capable of recording, keeping and displaying valuable pieces of information about each user of a website. Most of them allow webmasters and marketers to view the statistical information in real-time and display the statistics in easy-to-use graphical interfaces. Even better, they are now allowing webmasters to go beyond top-level statistical information and drill-down into a specific user’s session to determine how much time they spent on specific pages, what links they clicked on, or to track the exact path they followed from the time they arrived to the time they left.

Even more advanced tools have been developed to help webmasters translate statistical data into graphical representations of web site traffic activity. Heat maps and site overlays are some of the most effective methods to date to demonstrate exactly what type of decisions web visitors make as they look at a particular page.

Heat maps show the web page with a weather-map-like representation of where the “hottest” points on the page are. By viewing a heat map, webmasters can see where the attention on a page is being paid, which they can use to more effectively organize a page to emphasize a page’s most important elements.

Site overlay is a tool that demonstrates where users are clicking by displaying the page, with percentages overlaid on the page that show exactly what percentage of the total clickthrus are being done via that particular link. Like the heatmap, it demonstrates where user’s eyes are going, and can help webmasters understand where people are clicking and deduce why they choose the links they do.

In the end, the importance of the web statistics will only be determined by how much use that the webmaster can make of the information. Can they make effective changes to their site using the statistics they’re provided? With these new tools, web statistics providers have made it much easier to get statistics, and use that information to make their websites a better place for their users.

Looking for Hosting in All the Wrong Places

2007-05-12T02:27:00.001-07:00

Sounds like the old country and western song by Johnny Lee from the movie "Urban Cowboy"?

Well, most people are looking for web hosting in all the wrong places. They enter "web hosting" into Google or Yahoo and are inundated by all of the advertising for web hosts. When you read what they have to offer, it is all the same thing. There is really not one iota of difference between any of them.

Each web host tout bandwidth, gigs of storage, free domain names, great support, free software, etc. They have fancy websites done by professional graphic designers made to catch your eye and get you to sign up.

Another "wrong place" is under the search term "web host review". These sites are built to make the site owner money by referring people to the web host for which the reviewer receives an affiliate commission. Odds are the reviewer has never hosted a website on any of the reviewed sites. The reviewer is using second hand knowledge to post information about the sites.

The best web host is the one that provides you with the best chance of success. Unfortunately, the best web host will not be found in the hype of the review sites or on the first page of Google search for "web host".

You can find the best web host if you spend time and drill down for the right answer.

The right place to look for the best web host is to search for the one that publicizes the success rate of the websites that it hosts. You ask, "How do you measure the success of a website". The best way is to find its Alexa rating. This will tell you how the website ranks against all other websites on the Internet.

The Importance of Trusted Referrals in Choosing the Reliable Web Hosting Company

2007-05-12T02:26:00.000-07:00

In choosing the reliable web hosting company there are two ways that you can do at the same time. First thing you read as many as relevant information on this subject and the second thing ask the experienced user as part of your accessible referrals. It is not easy to find a reliable web hosting company since there are hundreds enterprises that claim themselves all as the reliable one. Indeed, it is very easy to become a hosting company you just have a networked computer and web server with certain amount of disk space and bandwidth. To get complete understanding on how to find a reliable web hosting company you need to check things such as their uptime support, and payment term.

For newbie, this is the first thing to be done. Check with your trusted friend, the one who already being an experienced internet user, what might be the reliable web hosting company with the right services. For instance, if you want to decide what type of hosting that better for your site the expert might recommend you to avoid a free web hosting because you can’t expect too much controls in this competitive business when you deal with something free. The opinion of an experienced user also important to understand the other side of testimonials listed in front page of a web hosting. Most of testimonials are superlative things and positive comments. So you better not trust them 100%. After all negative comment has been deleted.

Once you decided the reliable web hosting company as recommended by the experienced referral, please find a host with a good uptime as part of their supports. Some web hosting claim zero downtime in other word they guarantee 100% uptime. Please note that this is truly a big lie! Every servers (like your own PC) need to be rebooted every time including to updates and security purposes. A host has as many uptimes as they have servers. It all depends on what server they put you on, and how well they manage it from the time you're put on it. Good uptime doesn’t mean the server is never being shutdown. Uptime is not enough, they should provide a 24-hrs customer support: toll-free line, live chats, or at least email with prompt response.

What would your trusted referral say about price? In term of price, the best way is choosing web hosting with monthly price payment or another combination on it such as special offer for the first two month. Some leading web hosting company has $6.95 per month offering, some has almost $7.8 for the first two month as a starting plan. The price is very affordable and reasonable for starting up the internet business.

An experienced user might be recommend you better don’t take annual packages even though it seems cheaper in price. Why? It is probably because we are in ever changing world every bad things can happen and by choosing monthly basis upfront payment you already make a wiser hedging and better risk management for you business, besides it more comfortable for your cash-flow.

How to Find a Reliable and Affordable Web Hosting

2007-05-12T02:23:00.000-07:00

Before you start an internet business first come in mind would be how to find a reliable and affordable web hosting and where to put your domain name. There are tons of articles on this issue you can find but don’t bother with that huge of information, the first step simply just ask your trusted friend that already experienced on this issue what might be the best one they recommend. To save your efforts there are two important things related to the reliable and affordable web hosting: host server resources and where to purchase domain name.

Server Resources

Web hosting is a business that deals with a networked computer dedicated to providing certain kind or services that is storage for your website files and has a web server running on it. Don’t believe web hosting that offers unlimited disk space and data transfer (bandwidth). When it comes to server resources, all hosts have the same basic limitations. Nowadays average host has a 50 GB space and less than 1 GB bandwidth a month like in Yahoo! and Hostgator. Yes there is also an extreme offering from Globat that claims they provide Tera Byte (TB) disk space and bandwidth – a good way to stand out among the crowds! As far as I can see, yes they got a lot of customers year by year but it seems not everyone likes those extreme things.

To some extend, there is nothing to loose to be aware to the scam plans that might be introduced by a web hosting offering with thousand of space and bandwidth. Indeed, bandwidth and disk space used have nothing to do with the server resources being used. And this is the key point – the cheaper the plan is, and the more space or bandwidth included the more sites per server the host will have to pack to make their investment back. So don’t buy a host based on plans, again commendations and experience form trusted referrals are very important to get balanced information. Other provided features such as web tools, easy c-panel, and open source facility, would be part of their competitive advantages in a reliable and affordable web hosting.

Domain Name Tips

The second important thing is deciding where to buy domain. Some reliable and affordable web hosting companies provide free domain in their packages. However, if you are not sure about the reliability of those hosting company, try not to register your domain name with your web host because you should decide to part ways with your host, just incase bad things happened and it’s potentially a massive difficulty to move your domain as well. Considering that every side of business needs a risk control, you better split them up! Please purchase domain name from a reputable company. Range price is $1-10 depending on the extension and the amount of time you sign up for.

Always Review A Hosting Companies Terms Of Service

2007-05-12T02:22:00.002-07:00

Before you sign up with any web host you need to take a very close look at the TOS; this is short for “Terms of service”. The TOS should not be overlooked, a lot of hosting customers simply check the “I agree” box and continue without even reading the terms, and this can cause a lot of headaches in the long run.

TOS aren’t your typical user agreement that you will see when installing software applications. Hosting TOS contain very important information about what you can, and can’t do with your new web hosting account.

Some hosts may have a really good deal, great price, great disk space and bandwidth but if you look closely at the TOS you may find little get out clauses such as:

"Any customer using more than x% of system resources will have their hosting account terminated”

So even though the host is offering you a massive amount of disk space and bandwidth, if you get anywhere close to the limit you will often find that your account has been suspended. Why has it been suspended?

Because you broke the Terms Of Service!!

This is just one example of how not reading through the TOS can come back and bite you in the butt, there are many other policies that some hosts will include in the TOS. These include CPU usage limits, not being allowed to host downloadable files (.zip, .mp3, .pdf) and so on.

Perfect Web Hosting

2007-05-12T02:22:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest concerns for many companies that do business online is web hosting, and the services that web hosting services provide. Trying to find the best deal that is economical and reliable whether you are a small business, a SOHO business, mid sized or large business in Hong Kong can be a challenge. This is where Website solution can help.

A big problem for many customers looking for web hosting is to ensure that things like spam and email problems are reduced to an absolute minimum. This is especially important for companies that do the majority of their business online because email is usually the primary way they communicate with their customers. Spam email is one of the largest problems when it comes to email. When looking for a web hosting service look for a company that provides you with the most spam protection you can find. Look for reasonable rates and make sure that it has all the features that you are looking for. There are many different plans and options available. Each having its own set of features and various options, the types of features that you might be looking for are different based on the skill level and size of your business. FTP access is a good feature this allows you to upload things including whole pages onto your site easily. POP3 and SMTP services and enough bandwidth and storage space to handle your website. Another good idea is to check with companies that are already using a web hosting service that you are looking at. You can do this by contacting the web hosting companies and asking questions about issues or problems, how much down time is there or how are they at handling customer service.

The most important thing to ask yourself is, are the features you getting worth the price you are being asked to pay. It is also a good idea to make sure you carefully read the terms of service since many times what determines a good web host from a not so good web host will be listed in their terms of service. You will want to make sure that the relationship you have with your web host is a good and solid one. In order to do that you need to make sure that you agree with the terms of service and that the web host company has been in business and successful for a decent amount of time, down time is limited, features are available that you need and at a reasonable price.

Finding a web host service that can provide you with the features you need at the prices you want can sometimes be a difficult challenge. Taking the time to research exactly what you need and project your needs as best as you can into the future can ensure that you have the web hosting service that is right for you. Email support is also important so make sure that the web hosting service you use has enough accounts to handle your business and that they have adequate spam protection.

How To Choose The Right Web Host

2007-05-12T02:21:00.000-07:00

Choosing a good web host is not difficult. However, there are several important considerations that you must take into account in order to find the right web host.

1.) Disk Space

Disk Space is measured in bytes. 1 megabyte (MB) is roughly 1,000,000 bytes. 1 gigabyte (GB) is about 1000 MB.

It’s not difficult to calculate disk size needed for your web site. First, you must add all your files to find out how much space your site needs now. Then, you must consider future additions and updates to your web site.

Disk Space = Current Files + Future Additions

2.) Data Transfer, Bandwidth

Data Transfer measures how much data was transmitted from your site to the visitor and back.

If the web site consists of several pages for a total of 3MB, and there are 3,000 visitors a month who visit every page, then amount of data transferred is 3,000 * 3 = 9,000 MB. Since probably not every visitor will visit every page of your site, the best formula to calculate monthly data transfer is the following:

Data Transfer = # Of Visitors * Page Size * # Of Pages Viewed Of course, number of visitors and page viewes will differ from month to month, and so is amount of data transferred. Flash, video and music files usually account for most data tranmitted to and from your site.

3.) Operating System

Many web hosting services use Linux or Windows operating systems. Your choice of operating system should be based on what programs you plan to use.

Both Windows & Linux are fine for HTML files. However, Windows is best for ASP while Linux is fine with Perl/CGI. Take a look at what software and databases your prospective host is supporting.

Usually Windows hosting is more expensive. Some people wrongly believe that you must use the host that has the same operating system as your computer. Actually you can use Windows on your computer and have Linux host, and vice versa.

4.) Up Time

Up Time is a percentage of time your site is available online.

Sometimes even the very best web hosts shut down due to numerous reasons (outage, maintenance, human error...). However, your uptime must be at least 99% to 99.5%, and top web host provide it.

5.) Customer Support

It is very important to have professional help if something is wrong with your site. A good web host should offer at least a day time customer support and online support options.

6.) Price

Naturally you want to pay the lowest price possible for web hosting. However, sometimes cheap or free isn't necessarily good.

You want to make sure that your host offers enough web space, data transfer and good customer support even if it means paying a little more. This is especially true for E-Commerce web sites. If your site is too slow to load or is down for some time, you lose customers and money.

I don't recommend free hosts because they often place banners and other ads on your web pages. Many of them go out of business on a short notice or no notice at all. Also some free hosts won't let you use your domain name and you will have to use their domain that can make your address too long and hard to remember.

Top Tips for Selecting the Right Web Host for Your Business

2007-05-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

There are many affordable web hosting packages available today. How do you decide which one is right for you? Even when the price is important, you should never buy your package based on this factor alone. Remember the old adage "You get what you pay for".

If you know what to look for when shopping for a cheap web hosting package, getting the right one for your needs is easy. Just make sure to check out the following:

1. Disk space and bandwidth limits

Some packages offer very limited amount of disk space and low traffic volume. The hosting company will charge you extra for additional disk space and bandwidth. Even if your website is small at the moment, you will need some extra space to allow for its future growth.

2. Included domain name

Unless you already have one, you will need a domain name for your website. The domain name can cost you between $6 and $30 a year depending on the registrar. If you decide to use private registration to hide your personal data in the domain names registry you will have to pay around $20 a year on top of the regular registration fee.

3. Included email accounts and mailbox size

Most web hosting companies offer email as a part of their packages. If you need to have email in yours, decide how many addresses you will need. Make sure that the package you are getting provides enough email addresses and adequate mailbox capacity.

4. FTP access

You will need to upload different files to your website. Check whether you will have an FTP access to your server - some companies will only provide a web browser-based file upload tool. It's always better to have more than one way of transferring files to your server.

5. Dynamic scripts support

If you will have anything other than simple HTML pages on your website, you will need you web server to support dynamic scripts such as PHP, CGI or Perl.

6. Technical support

You need to have access to tech support whenever you require it. A good hosting company will provide you with 24/7 phone and email support even for the smallest packages.

7. How to close your account

If you are not satisfied with your package, you should be able to close your account within reasonable period of time - at least 30 days - and get full refund. Make sure your web host provides this option.

Now you know how to select the hosting package that won't disappoint you.

Don't Make These Web Hosting Mistakes

2007-05-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

Many people, especially newcomers, when they register their domain names, are convinced to sign up for a hosting account with the company that registered their domain name. That could be godaddy.com, yahoo.com or any number of other domain name registering companies. That's really unfortunate, because the hosting services those people usually get don't generally meet the needs of an online entreprenuer. Those hosting accounts just lack the functionality you really need to promote your business.

Here's what happens - the domain name registering companies will make you an offer of a low level hosting plan. Since the customers that are registering the domain names are usually beginners, they aren't aware of all the hosting choices that are readily available elsewhere. They think that just because the company they're dealing with can register domain names, they must have the best hosting too.

To make a long story short, people that buy into the hosting that's offered when they register their domains are usually disappointed once they get started with their new online business. Although they got what seemed like a low price, they'll find out later, when they compare it to other offers, that it really wasn't such a good deal.

But that's only part of the problem. As they become more and more involved in running their new online business, they discover that there may be some special software that they want to run on their website. Perhaps it's a shopping cart or maybe a content management system. When they look at the requirements of the software and compare those requirements to their hosting account, they'll see that their hosting account won't support the new software. You see, most marketing related software will use PHP or mySQL databases. If your web hosting account doesn’t support PHP and mySQL, you’re just out of luck.

Of course, these customers can go back to their hosting provider, who will explain to them that the features required for support of the new software are available to them, but they'll have to 'upgrade' their hosting account. And the upgrade isn't free, by the way. Their original hosting may have cost only $7.95 a month, but the new, upgraded hosting will cost them $25 or $30 a month. Now, all of the sudden, that great hosting deal doesn't seem so great anymore.

Don't waste your time and money with 'bargain' web hosting that won't do the job.

Another mistake is trying to run your business with free hosting. First of all, if you’re looking for free web hosting because you’re not willing to spend a small amount of money for your own web hosting account, you might as well just give up right now. If you want to do everything for free, you’re not looking for a real business, you’re looking for a hobby.

Usually, when you go with free hosting, your website URL will end up being something like "freehosting.megacities.com/18987/~parkavenue/1793" If your only interest is in having a place on the web to display your family photos, maybe the free hosting is right for you. But if you're trying to run a business, the free hosting can be a big handicap. For one thing, the URL doesn't look very professional.

And the free hosting companies tend to display their own advertising banners on the pages of your website. How does that look to your potential customers? Just imagine that if you're trying to operate a family oriented business and when prospects visit your website, banners advertising "Adult Chat Rooms" are on your pages.

Types of web hosting - Primarily, there are 2 different types of web hosting. One is Microsoft Windows based and the other is Linux/Unix based. My personal recommendation is to stay away from the Windows based hosting. I've had friends that went with Windows hosting, and then later found out that much of the software they wanted to run wasn't compatible with the Windows server. Most all web based software that is used for marketing purposes is designed to run on Linux servers, so I wouldn't recommend anything other than Linux based hosting.

Now that we've established the need for Linux based hosting and that you shouldn't get hosting from the same place you registered your domain, the question is - Where do you get hosting?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret - all those banner ads and email messages you probably see pitching hosting deals - IGNORE THEM. The absolute best hosting I've seen is available at dirt cheap prices on Ebay. Yes, Ebay, the online auction.

Just go to ebay.com and search for "web hosting reseller" By getting a reseller's hosting account, you'll get all the hosting you'll ever need. Here's how it works - A reseller's hosting account gives you the ability to sell hosting accounts to other people. One of the benefits of a reseller account is that you can usually host an unlimited number of domains.

Right now you may be thinking this isn't for you because you're not interested in selling hosting to other people. You just want hosting for your own business. That's OK, you don't need to sell hosting with the reseller's account. You can just use it for yourself. You can use it to host the new domain that you recently registered and then, later on, if you register more domain names, you can host those also - without paying any more money for hosting.

I bought a hosting reseller's account on Ebay about 3 years ago. It's full featured, reliable, and the service and support is great. I pay $139 a year and I currently have about 95 domains hosted. Do the math - that works out to a little over a dollar per year for hosting that has everything I need. I think that's a pretty good deal.

If you don't want to get a reseller's account, you can get by even cheaper. I have another hosting account I bought at Ebay that only hosts a single domain, but it only costs 75 cents a month. This 75 cent account supports PHP, mySQL, has unlimited space and bandwidth, unlimited email accounts and just about everything else you could think of.

I strongly recommend that you check out the hosting offers on Ebay before you make any other commitments. Here are the features you want to make sure your hosting has -

1) Linux based web server
2) CPANEL admin control. This is the web based admin where you can check traffic stats, setup mySQL databases, setup email accounts and a whole lot more
3) Fantastico - This is an installation aid that's really handy to have. It allows you to automatically install several high powered software applications with just a single mouse click. Want a WordPress blog? Click and you have it, ready to roll. Want an online forum - same deal, click and it's there. Catalog and shopping cart - You guessed it, click and you'll have it.

It goes without saying that you should check the seller's feedback on Ebay before you make any commitment. See what other customers have to say about the service. You want to make sure you're dealing with someone that's reputable.

Choosing Website Hosting - Behind the Curtain Tips

2007-05-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

The great old days when you could find a host with good price, check what hosting parameters they give and be safe are over. Today millions of site owners use advanced Internet marketing tools, solutions and scripts to make their online business really successful. And these IM tools demand from the hosting to fit their requirements. Usually the requirements aren't something beyond impossible.

But it turns out that many hosting companies - even big hosting brands - have some tiny pitfalls that can ruin the success of your online business.

List of Typical Pitfalls (usually hidden by hosting companies).

So, before you made a final decision to pay for the hosting package, make sure that they have answered your questions about:

(a) Crons or Cron Jobs

Many modern scripts are activated by cron jobs. These cron jobs are like a heart for Internet marketing scripts. When crons are activated, the script gets activated as well and executes necessary tasks (e.g. checks your backlinks or add news content that you have in a publishing pipeline, etc.) Without crons you will need to activate scripts manually and this is a pain in 21st century when robots must do most of the routine jobs.

Funny, but there are hosting companies that don't allow cron jobs. Now that you know what crons are doing - can you say that these hosting companies are ready to work in the new millennium?

(b) mySQL Databases

mySQL Databases store different types of information - your base of users and how to manage the sending of emails, or your content, or all your products that you are selling. It was really surprising to see that some hosts are not allowing mySQL databases or limit their number. And if you have 3 different scripts that need different mySQL databases on one site? Say bye-bye to scripts? No, better say bye-bye to this hosting.

(c) Limits on Sending Emails

Many hosts limit your possibility to send emails. They explain that they are fighting with spam and need to put limits. But if you have a decent base of 500 - 700 subscribers on your site, you will be surprised to find out that hosting is cutting down the broadcast on 300 messages, and the rest of your clients or subscribers don't get your messages.

Some companies put even a smaller limit on broadcasting the emails. If you plan to grow your business and be able to send messages to your base, make sure that your hosting company promises in written form that will not cut your broadcast down.

(d) Included Programs Not Installed

This is a rare trick, but it's used by one of big hosting brands. When you read their hosting parameters you see that they have different kinds of programs and scripts on their account (statistics checking, crons, mySQL databases, etc.).

On the salespage this host is saying to have everything included to the hosting account. But they don't say you will need to install all that scripts yourself! Great!!

(e) Blocking for Frequent Connections from one IP

This is another good example of brainless fight against spam. Some hosts will block the ISP IP is there are many connections from it. There have been cases when people who had to add content (descriptions of items in the Internet shop) several times a day where blocked and could not access the site. And when the host was squeezed to answer, the hosting support admitted they have a feature that blocks the IP from where these connections go.

It means your content writer or designer can get blocked, your affiliates who check the stats too often can get blocked, different pinging services (many blogs use them) can get blocked. It's a shame when some hosts instead of fighting spam, fight against site owners.

(f) Limit on CHMODs/Permissions

All pages on your site are files. And these files have specific permissions. Modern tools need permissions that allow re-writing the files, and some hosts don't allow it. Imagine you have a big article directory with 100 articles inside, and you need to change the place of AdSense block on all these pages. With a professional article directory script you just change one template, and the script itself re-creates all pages of article directory with the changes that you've done in the template - simple and fast solution.

But script needs permissions that allow re-writing on all files/pages of this directory, without these permissions script can't do this job automatically. So, the hosts who limit the permissions are suggesting you to do changes on all 100 article pages manually!! Good luck on doing that routine job.

Surely, hosts explain it with security reasons. But the script is ON the hosting account. So, if hosts are great at security, no one will get inside the host. And if someone intrudes inside, permissions will not save you.

(g) Quality of Support

Support is a big part of success or failure of your hosting. If you get quick answers from support team before you made a purchase - it can be a trick.

Most of the hosts have different support teams. One of the teams has the task to squeeze the client for a purchase and usually this team is super fast on answering your questions and giving big promises on the quality of their service. But after you make the payment and get some technical problem, don't be surprised to see that tech support can be a lot longer in answering your support tickets (and by far longer in solving them).

The best way is to test this hosting. If you plan to transfer many sites on the new hosting, test this new hosting for several weeks on one site. Check how fast they are on answering your support tickets and how professional the support is. It is not rare that even with big hosting brands only 2-3 guys on the support are qualified, the rest are just 'youngsters' who know some basics and always try to push the problem back on your shoulders.

SUMMARY.

Surely these are all pitfalls that hosting company may have, but if you ask these questions before the purchase - you will save your time, money and nerves. Don't be fooled by big brands, because even they can have black spots. And you deserve the best for the money that you pay.

What companies can do with a website?

2007-04-21T03:51:00.001-07:00

Surprisingly, even in this era of technology, many people are unaware of a company's potential benefits of having a website. It does not matter what is the size of a company when it comes to having a website, which can help companies excel universally. This article will briefly discuss the endless possibilities of a company website.

If a company is specialized in producing certain goods, then having a website can be immensely beneficial. Over the past few years, selling stuff over the internet has become extremely popular. Online shoppers are now interested in virtually everything. They not only buy expensive gadgets through the internet, but also tiny cheap ones if the price is right. One will be astonished to learn that these shoppers are millions in number and will be even more in the next few years. Even if a Web Hosting India company only sells others' goods over the internet, it can still make huge profit through commissions and service charges. Hence it should be crystal clear by now that a seller company can excel radically with the aid of a website.

Companies can also use their websites to impress potential customers and other parties. A suave website with a brief yet attractive company profile is sure to attract visitors who eventually begin to have a positive attitude towards the particular company. Using a highly functional website, a company can definitely edge out its competitors in the race of getting attention. Customers will obviously want to contact companies which have a professional looking website complete with every contact details. Furthermore, a website helps a company to showcase its experience and experienced workforce through a vivid online presentation at a minimum cost.

Companies can use website to give feedbacks efficiently and quickly. While manually giving feedback can be a slow and hectic process, online feedback is said to be very effective yet snappy. Previously, it was seen that customers are unhappy with a lot of companies as they were unable to give feedbacks on time. Furthermore, the quality of those feedbacks were said to be sub-standard most of the time. However, with the introduction of online feedbacks, complaints diminished significantly. A company can use the forums of a website to give these feedbacks in a nice manner.

Companies can give more attractive advertisements by using a website. It is possible because a potential customer is most likely to notice lucrative offers online rather than offline.

Companies can also be benefited financially by having a website. Small-scale companies can display tiny advertisements of other companies in their webpage to make money. These advertisements are too small to notice, yet they have the capability to draw a lot of money for the website-owner company. A company can also place vital payment information in their website which will let the visitors know how to pay in case a transaction occurs. Some companies even offer the customers a very easy payment procedure through the website which is getting popular day by day.

Web Hosting Jargon Buster

2007-04-21T03:50:00.002-07:00

Web Hosting Jargon Buster

In this article, I am going to introduce a few web hosting jargons in a concise way.

Disc Space - The term refers to the amount of physical space devoted to holding the client’s content (which is basically his website files or stored databasesemails).

Monthly Traffic – If people visit one’s site, data is sent from his server to their computer. That data may also include emails received and downloaded to one’s PC. At the end of each month, this request data is summed up to show the total data transfer or monthly traffic.

POP3 Email – POP means ‘Post Office Protocol’ which is a clientserver protocol for collecting email on a server from individual mail accounts.A straightforward online control panel lets client to configure the users and passwords.

IMAP – Instant Message Access Protocol (IMAP in short) differs from POP3 as it allows remote clients to access email stored on a remote server instead of downloading it. A user can always access his mail from his home PC or mobile devices since the mail is centrally stored. Microsoft OutlookOutlook Express and Mozilla MailThunderbird are known to have IMAP support.

Email Redirects – Email redirect is better known as email forwarding. Instead of collecting email from the server, one can arrange for mail addressed to his domain to go to mailboxes hosted elsewhere.

Domain Name – Domain name is a unique name which identifies a website. It workds as a permanent web address and provides a professional web presence. While moving a site can be really messy in case of a domain owned by others, registering one’s own domain name lets him keep same address even if his site is moved.

BBS - BBS stands for ‘Bulleting Board System’, a computerized meeting system where users can have discourses, make announcements and downloadupload files. There are copious BBSs around the world, most of which rely on a direct modem tomodem connection over a phone line using a single computer.

MySQL – MySQL is the most popular open source relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world with more than four million installations powering websites, business applications etc. It is a very effective language for adding, accessing and processing data in a database. MySQL is specially recognized for its flexibility, reliability and most importantly,speed.

CGI – CGI means Common Gateway Interface, a protocol that allows a webpage to execute a program on a web server. Common CGI programs include counters, guest books and forums. CGI scripts are programs written in PERL that is stored on the remote web server and run on the web server in response to a request from a particular user.

PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is a widely used general-purposed server side scripting language. It is very suitable for web development as user can embed it into HTML pages. Many popular CMS systems are based on MySQL.

Virtual Server – A virtual server is a UNIX based server environment which allows multiple independent servers to work on the same hardware. It is the significant trait which discerns virtual server from dedicatedshared servers.

A Guide To Changing Webhosts

2007-04-21T03:50:00.001-07:00

Here's a handy checklist for you to keep by your computer when moving web hosts so the move will go without a hitch

In the world of web hosting, practically nothing lasts forever. Of course, we all have web hosts that we've used forever not but sometimes we just go beyond our original plans and our web host doesn't have the ability to handle our new plans, or the price is just not what you're will to pay. Sometimes bad things just happen to good hosts and the support suffers for it and ends up not being the same as it used to be. No matter why you need to move webhosts, it's a bit of an upheaval so here are some things to keep in mind that you may easily forget otherwise.

Backups
You can never have too many backups. First thing you do before anything else is to create a full backup of your website. This can be easily done using your web host's control panel.

Emails
Make sure your email accounts are created over at the new host before you change the name servers. Don't forget email forwards. In the busyness of moving files and getting the website working, things like email accounts and forwarding tend to be forgotten especially if they are accounts you don't use often.

Service Overlap
Don't wait till the last minute to move. Make sure there is some overlap in service between the old and new hosting account, preferably a week or more. Sometimes an ISP hasn't updated or refreshed yet and will continue sending traffic and email to your old site. You want to be able to log in to the old host to check for those straggler emails.

Databases
This is rather unlikely especially when your website is powered by a database. The more likely scenario would be you didn't upgrade the script to reflect the changes. It isn't difficult to move databases but if you don't feel comfortable with it then you're better off to get someone else to do it for you.

Page Redirects
Make sure your htaccess and cPanel redirects are re-setup properly. Often, people overlook the htaccess altogether because it may have been hidden from them or the new web host already has an htaccess file created. But just by having an htaccess file doesn't mean your redirects will work automatically because chances are, the one at the new web host is just an empty file. If you have any 301 redirects, you need to open up the htaccess file from your old web host, copy and paste it to the new web host.

Paths
Different web hosts have different server setups. If you're moving a cPanel web host to another cPanel web host, this isn't usually an issue. If you are moving from one hosting system to another or control panel to another then you will have much more work to do in this case. If you're running scripts, check to make sure your scripts are referencing the correct paths. If you're changing the domain of your website as well, check your images and links too.

Files Outside Your Public_html Folder
These files are not public and so they are easy to forget. You may have stored some backups, drafts or anything else you wanted to keep for later in here so be sure to check it and not leave it there.

Forms
Seems obvious and easy to spot but not all scripts are in the forefront and forms are one of those. Maybe you haven't installed the form script on the new server or they have a different form mailer. Check that all your forms are working especially the contact forms.

As your site grows bigger, the more chance you'll miss things. Take a screenshot of your control panel file manager to see if your missing anything. It's a good idea to take an inventory of the scripts running on your website and to maintain this list as your build your website so that you won't have to rush around next time getting everything together. All the best of luck on your move.

Marketing Guidelines for Successful Hosting Business

2007-04-21T03:49:00.002-07:00

1) The Internet is offering plethora of opportunities for everybody today, and web hosting business is one of these. But along with the increasing number of hosting companies, the competition is getting tougher in the hosting segment.

2) The tips for Internet marketing in hosting will be beneficial for those medium or small hosting companies who can’t afford to pay an arm and a leg to the online marketing consultants and are willing to advertise their site online on their own.
The internet marketing strategy is really simple; you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Its components are as follows:

3)
1) a professional site speaking to the visitor;
1) properly positioned hosting service or services that you’re offering;
2) search engine optimization and email marketing;

4) To start with, your web site is your search engine marketing tool #1, so there’s no need to say it should be professional, neat and the most important, speaking to customers about hosting services you’re selling, don’t overestimate the importance of flash graphics on your site, your visitors will get distracted and may leave the site without buying what they initially intended to.

5) One more marketing trick is to get a visitor interested if not the hosting services themselves, than in the additional services like VPN, Proxy, domain registration services. Once he/she has signed up with you, it will be easier to offer the main service you are selling, hosting.

6) Seo is by right considered to be one of the core components of your online marketing strategies. Best ranking will drive more targeted traffic to your site, this can be achieved by on-site, as well as off-site optimization methods. Don’t disregard article submission to directories, link exchange with other hosting-related sites. Also try to avoid black hat seo methods that can easily ruin your online reputation.

7) What can you do outside of your site?
Email marketing strategy is very effective if you have your potential clients’ permission to get email from you. One of the ways to do it is to offer additional services, as pointed that out above.
You can send press releases and newsletters to all the interested newspapers and publications, as well as your clients to keep them updated with new services you introduce.

8) One of the cheapest way to get maximum exposure for your site and your services is active forum membership on hosting and programming forums, (it’s also good idea to make such a forum for your own users), you can win your potential clients trust by valuable recommendations, and the idea that your host or his support is hanging out on the forum really makes you feel more secure. There you can use your forum signature as a wonderful opportunity to generate more targeted traffic to your website, and on condition your site is professional enough not to put visitors off, you’ll get more clients through it.

9) Don’t forget to write article for directory submission not to miss the opportunity to improve your serp position, though here we should admit you need lots of patience, it will start working on you slowly but steadily.

10) Affiliate programs have been mostly forced out by reseller hosting programs, but if you don’t offer reselling packages, affiliate may work well for you. Don’t forget about clients in your locality, contact local businesses and offer their services to them. Take a single chance to advertise your site, and your efforts will turn your hosting company into prosperous business.

Web Hosting for Small Businesses

2007-04-21T03:49:00.001-07:00

There are a number of web hosting for small businesses. This type of plan will depend on the type of site you have. You may need a small business web hosting option that includes e-commerce. You may require something that will keep track of your customer list. Your site may be simple and only include company and product information. Whatever your situation, there is a small business web hosting plan out there that is right for you. To find a small business web-hosting plan that is right for your company, you’ll first need to decide exactly what your site will be used for. Do you want it to be very helpful and content driven? Do you want to sell your product items online? Do you want to maintain a database? Do you just need a web hosting plan that will accommodate an only designed website? If your site is already designed and ready to go live, it will be fairly simple finding a web-hosting plan that will lodge your small business. All you’ll need to do is collect a list of companies that offer small business web hosting plans and then see if they accommodate the features that you need.

You’ll need to research carefully, because web-hosting companies do not always disclose the finer details on their main pages. The better way to find a reputable web hosting company is to find current customers and ask them some questions. In order to truly understand how their customer service and consistency measure up, you’ll need to get past their website and see what other people have to say. For example, if you select a company based solely on its price, you could be losing money in the long run if the server is constantly down. By renting servers and memory allocation, the small business saves on time and resources. It also frees the small business from the trouble of dealing with maintenance protocols and securing the network.

If you are interested in acquiring the services of a web-hosting agency, ask for quotations, the products and a list of services that go along with them. Compare offers and always choose one that gives extensive after-sales support, as free technical support really benefits small businesses. Most Web hosting solutions providers feature are highly reliable, high performance platforms. The web host’s mainframes are usually located in areas least visited by tornadoes, earthquakes, and other calamities to decrease the risk of system failure. Servers and Mainframes are, of course, automatically backed up by emergency power supply. Web hosts also provide junk mail filtering, standard virus protection, and most importantly, a domain name for your Web site.

Using SEO to Increase Client Sign Ups For Web Hosts

2007-04-17T04:39:00.002-07:00

One of the ways that many web hosts fail to maximize the potential of their site is that they do not attract enough customers to it in the first place. You may have some of the best services and products around, but without potential customers visiting your site in the first place, how are you expected to sell? Therefore, getting sign ups is an extremely important part of web hosting, and with a little forethought and work, can be relatively easy. There are many ways to do this, but some of the best include:

Use a blog - although this may seem an unlikely way to get links and sign ups to your website, you'd be surprised. You could even make a dummy blog and sing the praises of your website or host, and that way interested or curious customers will start to visit.

Pay Per Click – this may be a little costly to start with, but in the long run the rewards far outshine the expense. Basically, Pay Per Click is where you pay a search engine like Google to make you a "featured" link on its front page, for instance. Then, when someone is looking for your product, your information is prominent. When an interested party clicks on your link, you pay Google a fee – for instance, ten cents per click. While this may seem like a lot, say you receive 100 visitors, at a cost of ten dollars, but you make a sale for double that. See how it makes sense?

Meta tags – this is one of the most under used yet important pieces of SEO that you can have. It's no good having a site without advertising it properly. Keywords and Meta tags are a way to do this – when submitting your site to Google and the like, write a good introduction and article about your site that uses keywords. So, if your business is Jim's Skate Boarding Store, write something along the lines of "For all your skate boarding needs, Jim's Skate Boarding Store can fix you up with all the latest skates, boards and other…". By mixing your business in this manner, you'll be far more successful in being picked up by search engines.

Advertise – although this may be common sense, advertising is still one of the key ways to attract new business and visitors. Advertise your services in online magazines and ezines; that way you will attract the exact type of people you're looking for.

Although there are a host of methods to enable you to increase your sign ups, each have their own plusses dependent on what your website offers, so look at who you wish to attract and this will make it easier to decide what way to proceed.

What Makes A Good Web Host?

2007-04-17T04:39:00.001-07:00

With the web hosting industry having over thirty thousand providers all offering different services, it can often feel like picking your way through a minefield to try and decide which one is right for your needs. After all, what may be fine for you as a personal website user is unlikely to be the same for a company looking for a web host, and vice versa. To make sure you have a good web host for you, there are a few important points that you should be looking for:

Quality - one of the main reasons that people choose to leave their existing web hosts and move to another is the quality of service offered (or not, as the case may be). With so many companies striving to get your business, you can afford to look around and compare. Find out what their support infrastructure is like – do they have twenty-four hour customer service seven days a week? This is pretty much standard now and is the least you should expect. Check into the background and reputation of the web host too – this can be easily found in various online forums, and will give you an insight into how legitimate your potential web host is.

Reliability – how reliable the service and back up is should be the next thing you look at. It's all very well paying less for one web host's services than with a competitor, but how reliable is their network? Can it cope with extra pages and content being added? Will it freeze when transactions are being carried out? Will any updates and repairs to the network adversely affect your website while they're being carried out? Unless you can be sure that you're picking a reliable network with support both immediate and on going, the savings made will be useless. Again, check web reviews and forums on a particular web host to see how they compare to others.

Continuity – this can be looked at in two ways, and is extremely important in both. You want to be sure that your web host will still be around in a year, two years, ten years and so on, and again this is tied in with quality. If you've a lot of information that's been built up over the years and you suddenly lose it or have to transfer it because your web host has gone out of business, this can be a major disaster. Similarly, if the web host needs to make changes to its infrastructure and implement new software, will this affect the design and functionality of your website, or will things continue as normal, just in a better manner? Check online again for how your web host is viewed by others.

Although it can be frustrating and take time to find the right web host for you, in the long run it won't only save you money, but possibly something more important – time, investment and peace of mind.

Which Hosting Should You go For? Windows or Linux

2007-04-17T04:38:00.002-07:00

Across the globe, mostly all web servers either run Windows or Linux. But, what difference does it make to you?

Simple. They both have their own pros and cons. Depending on your needs, you should choose which hosting to implement.

Linux is suitable for low cost economic hosting. This hosting is becoming more and more popular as it can now support more and more technologies. But even today, if you web site contains ASPs, I would recommend a windows platform for you. To some it may seem that Windows is a better option, but it has its own drawbacks too and also comes at a heavier price.

Additionally, with Linux your database solutions are cheaper as MySQL works better and naturally on a linux platform, while for windows solutions MS-SQL is the desired choice. While MySQL is free, you need to pay extra for MS-SQL. Also if you are programming in .NET and ASP .NET then you will have to choose Windows hosting.

But ASP is not the only scripting language. Perl, PHP, CGI, Python are all scripting languages which you can implement most effectively on a linux platform.

Don't buy into the paid advertising that Microsoft is putting out everywhere without considering it carefully. If you are large enterprise and running a network with over 100 clients with solutions designed to work better with Microsoft Windows servers, then it is a different issue. For most of us, looking to put up a reliable web site, I would highly recommend windows.

As a solution provider we keep the same margins on both linux and windows. Our net billing is lower by selling a linux solution, yet we recommend it whole heartedly, because I believe that the customer's benefit and value come first.

The Future of Dedicated Hosting Delivery

2007-04-17T04:38:00.001-07:00

For all the hype, over the last few years an increasing number of businesses have started moving not just distribution but more important business processes online in earnest. The main reason this much anticipated migration has dragged its heels is that change takes time, and businesses going online are faced with hurdles of cost, complexity, resourcing, and marketing at every step of the process.

The workhorse in terms of infrastructure of this fundamental change is hosting.

As many businesses now know, hosting has a wide range of options in terms of cost and function, but it's the growth of Dedicated Hosting that has continued to gather momentum over recent years. The most interesting aspect of this growth is that indicators show that most businesses are at the bottom of the adoption curve and that the most aggressive growth is yet to come.

What customers want

What customers have wanted, but more importantly needed, over the past years has changed considerably. As businesses become leaner and headcounts shrink, so priorities and their drivers have changed. So-called "Have-to-haves" or essential requirements are the issues ones getting any traction, relegating "Nice-to-haves" to the back-burner until they either become irrelevant or are escalated for other reasons.

This phenomenon has seen companies spend less time, resources and money on their online presence than they might have.

Priorities have changed.

Issues that have re-prioritised the importance and investment in online presence and tools now include better brand awareness through greater exposure, increased distribution driving higher sales and new markets, and better processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

As customers realise that their commitment to their online tools needs to increase, so too does their requirement for effective development.

Once the development has been defined and is nearing completion, the tool requires a means of delivery, being effective hosting.

Hosting is then divided into two categories: Shared hosting (otherwise known as virtual hosting, as opposed to virtualised hosting) and dedicated hosting.

Dedicated hosting is a requirement once the environment that the developer requires becomes either more complex. or more customised than a vanilla shared hosting environment.

In short, custom development requires the freedom that only a dedicated hosting environment can deliver.

How service providers are meeting customers’ needs

Dedicated hosting has traditionally been delivered by Carriers, Internet Service Providers or Hosting Providers. Of these, it has quickly become apparent that hosting, particularly dedicated hosting, is a specialisation requiring specific skills to deliver the required product offerings.

As dedicated hosting growth gathers momentum, so too does the need for fast, cost effective delivery. Until recently, delivering dedicated hosting has meant a long-winded and complex process for both service provider and customer alike, involving specifying and sourcing the right hardware, burn testing, server OS configuration, application configuration, IDC installation and connectivity configuration and finally a handover to the customer to, only then, start the process of final configuration for production rollout.

The process is long-winded, expensive and complex for all parties concerned.

Issues continue for dedicated hosting servers set up this way as, when the times to upgrade disk, RAM or even the whole server, the process begins again from the start.

Virtualisation: Not as good as, better

New virtualization technology is now set to deliver dedicated hosting in a way that not only eliminates most of the complexity for both service provider and customer alike, but introduces many additional virtualised hosting benefits that have not previously existed.

For service providers, it allows scalable, profitable and fast delivery of premium dedicated hosting.

For customers, it eliminates hardware, hardware drivers and hardware upgrades. In addition, due to the features included in some Server virtualisation technology, it delivers far higher levels of availability and allows clones of production environments to be created for seamless development and rollout.

Virtualisation and virtualisation

As either a service provider or a customer, it’s important to understand that many different flavours of server virtualisation exist, bringing different price points, levels of resource control and base-OS independence.

Apart from resource control and allocation, stability of, and independence from, the underlying OS is essential to realising all the available benefits of server virtualisation technology and quality Virtualised Hosting.

Of all the current crop of server virtualisation technology, VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 seems to lead the market against all of the above criteria, combining the highest available resource control with elimination of hardware drivers. Infrastructure 3 also allows intelligent high-availability redistribution of VMs from failed physical servers to the remaining healthy servers in the farm.

Server virtualisation technology is set to expand its market share as it has in the wider server market – it just depends on whether virtualised hosting service providers and customers alike realise the possibilities available for premium virtualised hosting.

Free Hosting V’s Paid hosting.

2007-04-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

Some people who go out to start a website think getting free hosting is a great way to get there site online. In this article we are going to go over the Pros and cons of each service to see what is best way forward for you and your website.

Free Hosting.

Pros.:
Free

Cons:
Unreliable.
Advert driven (some may show adverts on your website)
Bad support (Not all free hosts can afford dedicated support staff)
Space and bandwidth (you will more than likely be restricted to a certain amount and if your site grows you may have trouble upgrading)

Paid Hosting

Pros.
Support (Getting support for your website when its down is invaluable even if at 3am)
Uptime (Most paid hosts will have excellent uptime records)
Space and Bandwidth (they will allow your website to grow and you can upgrade to accommodate your website)

Cons:
Paid (You get what you pay for)

So there we have it whether your website is going to be a hobby or it is going to be your business then don’t go and put your site in jeopardy before you even start by getting it hosted free when these days for few $$ you can get reliable paid hosting for hundreds of top web hosting companies. Most companies now have excellent opportunities for upgrading and helping your site grow as it gathers momentum and grows into that great website you always dreamed you would have. so dont go and start on a bad foot and put your hand in your pocket and ensure you start as you mean to go on.

Publishing To The World Wide Web Made Easy

2007-04-12T04:55:00.001-07:00

Any new endeavor can be a daunting experience. Do you remember how it was when you started a new job, not knowing anyone in the organization or the internal politics etc.?

Well, using any new software program can also be a traumatic process for many, even if you have the manual that came with the software program sitting right beside you. And, if you are going to build and publish a web Site yourself, you will need a software program. Fortunately, most of the modern software programs for building Web Sites are very user friendly. You do not need a detailed knowledge of HTML anymore. you do not even have to know what the acronym "HTML" stands for, because modern Web Site building software programs use WYSIWYG.

Sorry if I am confusing you. "WYSIWYG" simply stands for, "what you see is what you get". In other words, you can simply type in what you want, and it will appear on the Web Site when published. Now, what can be simpler than that?

But what programs to use? The software market is a very competitive one, and there are dozens of good programs from which to choose.

Factors to consider in choosing a program are these:
1. How many Web Sites do you want to publish?
2. What is you budget?
3. How much time do you intend spending on building and publishing Web Sites.

Regarding point number 1 above. If you wish to get one only web Site published, and in a hurry, I would suggest you get some assistance from someone experienced in the field. But perhaps you want the challenge of learning something new!

Point number 2. Commercial software programs can range in price from around $50 to several hundreds of dollars. The saying, "you only get what you pay for", applies to a certain extent only. There is now a very good public domain Web Site building software program available. Being in the public domain area, means it is free. Yes you heard me correctly it is completely FREE.

There is a download link to this software on a link given in the resource box at the end of this article.

Regarding point number 3 above, if you do plan to publish several sites, there are advantages in paying for one of the better commercial products. And, the most expensive are not necessarily the best.

Well, you now have your web site built, and it is set to be published, but how do you go about this?

You will need to find a hosting service. This is not difficult, because there are thousands of them out there. But once again you will need to consider point number 2 above. What is your budget? Most web site hosting providers have fee structures ranging from economy for normal sized web sites, to much higher fees for the larger sites.

Your first web site(s) should fit into the economy range. And as a guide to fees, if you are paying more than about $5 a month for economy hosting, then I would suggest that you are being overcharged. It is a very competitive market, so shop around and get a really good price.

The first web site link I have in the resource box below is economy hosted, and this site has a total of 32 pages with text and graphics. So the economy size should more than meet your needs.

There is another alternative that you should consider, and that is free hosting.

Yeah! I know nothing is really free. And, there is a catch, but free hosting is certainly worth considering.

Free hosted sites are generally supported by advertising. Now, that advertising can be obtrusive, or more hopefully unobtrusive. Personally I find pop-up advertisements about as annoying as spam email. And that is pretty annoying! So, if your feelings about pop-ups are similar to mine, make sure you know what you are getting before you decide on a free hosting provider.

I give an example of a free hosted site in the resource box below. It has a strip of unobtrusive Google advertisements at the top of each page. Included in this strip is a Google search box, which can be handy for those accessing your web site.

Free Web Hosting - Top 7 Things to Expect in 2007

2007-04-12T04:54:00.002-07:00

What's new in free web hosting?

Alot.

In days of old, free web hosting typically meant dealing with banner ads and using kiddie-corner administrational panels that put a major cramp in your style. In essence, your website's pretty face had to take a hit in order to accomodate the advertisements that kept your free web host in business. On top of this you were denied access to all the yummy web development goodies that commercial web hosting packages offered.

Welcome to 2007 where free web hosting services are really starting to give commercial web hosts a run for their money. Nowadays, the kind of perks being offered up by some of the cutting-edge free web hosts are looking rather impressive.

If you take a good look around, here's what you can expect to find:

1. No ads ~ Yes that's right, free web hosting is no longer synonymous with the words 'butt ugly', as in the banner ads that hosts of old required you to display on all your web pages. Nowadays, free hosting with NO ADS is becoming more and more the norm.
2. Server-side scripting ~ Free web hosts are now starting to acknowledge that some freebie hunters have advanced webmastering skills. This means doing away with those front-end teletubby page wizards and providing a means to tinker around with complex back-end web development solutions using server-side scripting --most particularly PHP, Perl and SSI. This kind of support was unheard of four or five years ago.
3. MySQL databases ~ Another no-show in free hosting packages of yesteryear was MySQL databases which play a big role in allowing websites to move from static one-dimensional to dynamic interaction. The advance guard of free hosting are starting to include MySQL support among their growing list of bells and whistles.
4. Auto-script installation ~ To slap a little icing on free PHP/MySQL support thing, some hosts actually provide free automated script installations for blogs, forums and content management systems. This means you don't have to be a propellor head (nor have a plug nickel in your pocket) to set up a Wordpress blog.
5. FTP access ~ The file manager wizards offered up by old school free hosts (mentioning no names, of course) are slow, klunky and have limited capabilities. Can we say 'FTP access'? Yes that's right. This is also becoming the norm among freebies.
6. Domain name hosting ~ The quintessential giveaway that you didn't have the green to make the paid web hosting scene was a home page URL that looked something like: myname.cheapo-free-host.com. Nowadays, many companies offering free hosting packages are also allowing you to host your own domain name (and at no extra charge).
7. User support forum ~ What!? Free hosting with a technical support forum? Yes, in fact, I've seen some free hosts in recent years offer better technical support than some web hosting packages that I actually paid for. User support forums are rapidly becoming a standard especially since many free web hosts keep themselves alive by running a "post-for-hosting" business model (ads are displayed on forums which they require users to regularly post to in order to retain their hosting packages).

Some free web hosts actually provide all of the above and with no obligatory forum posting. However, you should never forget that the bottom line is all web hosting (brace yourself) COST$ MONEY. Hence, if a web host is not making money off ads displayed on users' web pages nor on forums that they require users to regularly post to then their cash flow is entirely dependent on 'upselling' the freebies to paid hosting solutions. (Which can be a tough sell if the freebie hunters are dug in like ticks on a hound because they're not too fussy about things like guaranteed uptime or high bandwidth allotment.)

Keeping that in mind, your best bet is to go with a free web host that appears to have some solid means of remaining solvent otherwise they'll tank before they see out their first six months (seen it happen many times). Oh yeah and guess who goes down with the ship?

One final note about free hosting in 2007... Despite the vast improvement in the bells and whistles being offered up by the freebies, a couple of things you'll probably never see are:

* High bandwidth and disk space allotments
* Uptime guarantees (yeah right... that'll be the day... *chuckle*)

For those two amenities, you'll definitely have to lay some cash on the barrel. Fortunately, the winds of change have also blown through the ranks of commercial web hosting. You can now buy a kick-ass web hosting package with tons of bandwidth, tons of disk space, multiple domain hosting, 99.9% guaranteed uptime and more goodies than you can shake a stick at for less than $10 a month.

Assessing Web Hosting Companies Technical Support Capabilities

2007-04-12T04:54:00.001-07:00

As a general practice all web hosting companies promise a 24 X 7 technical support system, while only a small percentage of these companies happen to meet these requirements effectively. your online presence is important and before you square down on a hosting company its important that you look into the various facets on this industry and the norms that a good hosting company should follow.

Having a smooth enquiry management system: The base for being able to offer good technical support depends largely on the enquiry management system. If something goes wrong with your website, you need to get in touch with the technical support department. The process of filing and tracking a support request needs to be evaluated. The following are some parameters one can look into to gauge a companies enquiry management system.

* Does the company a help management desk where are the support tickets are logged and can the progress be monitored by the client.
* What is the response time of the support request.
* Does the company offer phone support and do the timings suit your requirements.

Assessing the technical expertise of the company:

It is a fact that the support system will be as good as their technical expertise. ensuring that the people behind the support system are knowledgeable enough to hit the nail on the head and are able to sort the problems very quickly. This aspect of the company needs to be well analysed. One should call up the technical support department and talk to them to see and analyse their technical expertise.

Support Documentation and Tutorials:

It has been noticed that focused and experts hosting companies offer their clients with various documents to offer documented support system as a layer. This is often witnessed in the form of:

* online Hosting tutorials
* Flash based control panel tutorials
* Knowledge base of frequently asked questions.

If the hosting company in question falls short on any of the parameters you should reconsider and look for another hosting company.

What You Need From A Web Host When You Are Starting An Internet Business

2007-04-12T04:53:00.002-07:00

You have racked your brain. After lots of hard work your website is ready. Now your web site needs a home. While building and designing your web site it sits on your computer, on the hard drive. You can test it, tweak it and see it there, but nobody else can!

For it to be visible on the World Wide Web it needs to be on a computer that is connected in technically fast, secure and stable ways onto the internet. That kind of computer is called a server, and a company that provides this service is called a Host the service is called hosting.

Choose the wrong host and you are in trouble!

The hosting company owns many servers that serve up web pages to the search engines or to whoever types your domain name into the address bar of their browser program or clicks on the link for your domain name.

It is crucial that your server is reliable and fully functioning nearly 100% of the time. Technical support for the server and for you the user is the single most expensive item for the host company. If they save money there the server may perform poorly or even crash and the customers are left with poor service and support

For the sake of saving a few measly dollars many intelligent webmasters / business owners make the mistake of using a cheap host. They even feel smart about this until they get burnt!

Hosting Tips for Beginners To Internet Business

1. No technology is perfect. There are likely to small problems affecting performance in all hosts. But you need a very high uptime-most hosting companies will claim 99% or 99.9% uptime some will claim 100%.

2. Sufficient room for your web site. Files take up memory space on your drive before they are copied to the server. They take up server space once you have transferred them- enough space for us is probably 2 MB

3. Decent bandwidth-remember you want thousands of people to see your site. Each time your site is seen the server has to work. Practically speaking the bandwidth is a measurement of how many people can see your web pages. Some hosts claim "Unlimited Bandwidth" but really this is nonsense, such a claim is hype. A real number may be 2 GB per month

4. You want a company with sound finances. Lots of hosts go out of business by offering free or cheap hosting. You want a stable viable company that will be around as long as you will. Changing hosts is no joke; this is something you want to get right the first time (like marriage!)

5. You may not think that it is important in the beginning but you need a hosting plan which will allow you to host more than one website. At the beginning one website seems as daunting as a marathon race but after you have created your first website you will probably start getting ideas for your second website. Your hosting plan must allow you to grow!

6. I have left the most important requirement for a Newbie till last! It is support. We are Newbies. We are intelligent and hardworking, not dummies or idiots but we require proper support. Every Host will claim that their support is great-how would you find them saying that their support is rubbish? But if you look at the web sites of host companies you find different types of support

I list here the kinds of support provided with my comments:

• Knowledge base- fancy words for a few pages of other peoples questions. This is usually useless

• Ticket System-a way for a company to spend less on telephone support and provide you with slow, half baked answers

• Instant Chat-not much different from the ticket system. The customer support person is handling many requests at the same time, how good do you think that makes the answers you get?

• Telephone Support-now we're talking! Sorry about the pun! There are two types of Telephone support; General Customer Support-often about Billing and general questions and Technical Support.

My strongest recommendation is for you to choose a host who provide Telephone Technical Support. Some do this only in Office hours. Check what time zone they are in and that this fits your hours.

Very very few provide 24/7 Telephone Technical Support.

Now it could easily be that a host that provides good Newbie friendly customer support falls down in other ways Choosing a host is difficult but we got to do it! Just think about how difficult it is to find and choose a good home for your family. If you can do that you can find a good home for your web sites too!

Make sure you phone them and see how they treat you!

Notice that I used the plural, "web sites" Congratulations on starting your internet business and publishing your first web site but nobody makes a living from one web site. A real solid business will have second and third and more income streams, although you have to start with one website and focus on it until it works. This makes your decision about web hosting even more important. Using these hosting tips will give you solid support and help not just in starting your internet business but for years to come.

About Web Hosting

2007-04-12T04:53:00.001-07:00

All internet businesses, either personal or for your small business would find web hosting useful. To give a better idea of what a hosting account is, imagine that you have an offline business, now, a hosting account is like the space that you rent for your shop. So, for an online business you would need to build your site - which would become your online store and then promoting it to search engines, to get traffic to your website.

What is web hosting?

According to Wikipedia, a web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Hosting website is a service that promotes the websites to reside in the computer in a way that it can be accessible from the Internet 24 hours a day. This computer that host the services is called the host computer and the associated services are called website hosting.

How to get started?

You need to look around for the best web hosting site that suits you. If you are getting started with a website, then consider first to have a proper domain name. A domain name is used to locate your website in the Internet. Make it short and easy. The best domain name would include that which has your company name in it like www.yourcompany.com.You can register for domain names at Yahoo or www.godaddy.com. This is followed by building your website. You can create your own website by using any of the page builders like Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, or Microsoft FrontPage.

Your next step for hosting a website would be to sign up for affordable web hosting services. Prepare a web hosting account like Business account or Corporate account that can be accessed in exchange of a certain amount of money. Simply fill up a form stating your details and you can get the required account name. I would recommend the Ultimate Marketing Center, because they have a full range of services like autoresponders, trackers and of course a hosting account all in one.

Lastly, involves you promoting the website. Almost all the website traffic comes from search engines. So be sure to design your website with search engine optimization factors in your mind. Submit your website to the major search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. to get traffic to your site.

If you are having a Broadband or ADSL connection, then you can use it to host your own website. Make sure that while hosting website, you choose a company that will best suit your budgetary needs and provide you with a username and password to allow you to FTP [File Transfer Protocol] your website to the hosting space.

Customer service and support

You will need to find a web hosting service that provides excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer support if they take more than one day to response.

In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledge based, Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.

Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service. In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the number of customers that they currently have are also a good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the stability of the company. Even though cost of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration. Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition.

Hosting A Website - What Do You Need To Know

2007-03-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Web hosting is especially useful for personal and small business, and e-commerce sites. It simply involves building your site, setting up an online store and promoting it in the search engines to get traffic to your website.

Definition of web hosting

The term web hosting is used to describe a variety of services that are necessary to make a website and then support that particular website. Hosting website is a service that promotes the websites to reside in the computer in a way that it can be accessible from the Internet 24 hours a day. This computer that host the services is called the host computer and the associated services are called website hosting.

How to get started?

What you need to know about hosting website is the way to get started. To begin with you should select proper hosting service plans. Make a plan that will best suit your needs. If you are getting started with a website, then consider first to have a proper domain name. A domain name is used to locate your website in the Internet. Make it short and easy. The best domain name would include that which has your company name in it like www.yourcompany.com. The next step is building your website. You can create your own website by using any of the page builders like Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, or Microsoft FrontPage.

Your next step for hosting website would be to sign up for affordable web hosting services. Prepare a web hosting account like Business account or Corporate account that can be accessed in exchange of a certain amount of money. Simply fill up a form stating your details and you can get the required account name.

The last step of hosting website involves your promoting the website. Almost all the website traffic comes from search engines. So be sure to design your website with search engine optimization factors in your mind. Submit your website to the major search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. to get traffic to your site.

If you are having a Broadband or ADSL connection, then you can use it to host your own website. Make sure that while hosting website, you choose a company that will best suit your budgetary needs and provide you with a username and password to allow you to FTP [File Transfer Protocol] your website to the hosting space.

Categories of website hosting services

Hosting website services can be divided into four different categories like shared, co-location, dedicated and In House. Shared hosting website put multiple websites on one server and all of tem use the same network connection, the same software and the same hardware sources. You can only design and manage the content of the website. Dedicated hosting website means you can rent your own dedicated server from a hosting provider. Although you may customize the server with remote server access, the hosting provider remains responsible for buying hardware, installing software and maintaining the server.

The collocated web host allows your company with space that stores your own server hardware and a high-speed connection to the Internet for that server. The In House server hosting website system offers you to set up a server on your own premises. You can buy the connectivity, hardware and software, configure and maintain the system.

Secure Your Own Bandwith With a Dedicated Server

2007-03-26T06:11:00.002-07:00

If you are serious about your online business endeavors, you might just consider looking for an online dedicated server. The dedicated server is actually an entire server which is at your disposal, and which is not shared with anybody else.

Right from the start, the advantages are clear: you, as the webmaster, have full control over the server, including option of operating system, hardware, etc. You can customize everything according to your own personal needs, while the administration is still handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using an online dedicated server is that your website performance will not be affected by the traffic of the other websites with which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth.

The online dedicated server environment provides an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving yourself only. You do not share hard disk space with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Before dedicated servers existed, a web site developer used to have two hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A person who bought space on a shared host would get a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company would attempt to provide a wide range of options for the web site developer, in order to increase the popularity of their products. But, for example, if a customer needed a non-standard program installed or maybe wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run, he would be completely not allowed to achieve these goals.

A simple example might be a site which required a database to store the information in. Many hosting companies provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account.

And a dedicated server can be customized anyway you want. But, there's also a catch. Because it can handle much more traffic than a shared hosting account, their much better performance doesn't come cheap. A typical dedicated server can cost the savvy webmaster hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

Webmasters who don't fit into the standard shared hosting model and find that it doesn't work anymore for them, or whose sites grew very popular and required a large amount of resources have the alternative of a dedicated server. It can be customized to exactly fit the needs of you as a site developer. And as long as your business is very successful, you are probably way better with a dedicated server at your disposal.

Select a Web Server Dedicated to Your Success

2007-03-26T06:11:00.001-07:00

If you have a successful online business, you might want to consider looking for dedicated web hosting. The dedicated web hosting gives you the opportunity of having an entire server at your disposal, and that server is not shared with anybody else.

Even for a person who doesn't know too much about servers, the advantages are clear right from the start: you, as the webmaster, have full control over YOUR OWN server, including options of what operating system to use, the type of hardware, etc. You can customize everything according to your own personal desires, while the administration is handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using an online dedicated web hosting is that your website performance (like loading time, which is an important factor for your visitors) will not be affected by the traffic of the other websites with which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth.

The online dedicated web hosting environment provides you with an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving yourself and your business only. You do not share hard disk space with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Before dedicated web hosting existed, a web site developer used to have two hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated web hosting. A person who bought space on a shared host would get a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company, in its' attempt to increase the popularity of their products, would provide a wide range of options for the web site developer. But, limitations would still be there. For example, if a customer needed a non-standard program installed or maybe wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run, he would be completely not be able to achieve these goals.

A good example would be a web site which required a database to store the precious information in. Many hosting companies provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account. And trust me, databases are a very important element in the success of your internet business.

A dedicated web server can be customized anyway you want. But, there's also a catch. Because it can handle much more traffic than a shared hosting account, the far better performance doesn't come cheap. On average, dedicated web hosting can cost the savvy webmaster hundreds of dollars per month depending on the size of the server, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

Webmasters who don't quite fit into the standard shared hosting model and find that it doesn't work for them, or whose sites grow very popular and require a large amount of resources have the alternative of dedicated web hosting.

Switch to Dedicated Hosting for Expanded Service

2007-03-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

A serious online business needs dedicated hosting, there's no doubt about it. Having your own privacy and bandwidth which is not shared with anybody is a requirement when your business gets to a certain level. The standard definition of dedicated hosting is having an entire server which is at your disposal, as the web site owner, and which is not shared with other web sites.

This indeed has far more advantages than shared hosting the web site owner has full control over his own server, including customizing the operating system, hardware, database, etc. You can personalize everything according to your feelings, while the administration is handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using dedicated hosting is that your website performance will not be affected by other websites which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth with on a standard, shared server. Dedicated hosting provides an exclusive server or servers devoted to the only purpose of serving exclusively you.

Before the existence of dedicated servers, a website owner had two basic hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A web site owner who purchased space on a shared host would receive a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company would try to provide the web site developer with many options, in order to make their products more popular. Unfortunately, a customer who needed a non-standard program installed was not allowed to do that, even with all the efforts from the hosting company. This is because you depended on other persons, and in these cases majority decides.

As a basic example, you might have a site which requires a database to store your important pieces of information. Most hosting companies would provide the MySQL database to use on their servers, because it is a standard and most webmasters use it. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account.

Hosting your sites on a dedicated server is not an option from the start though. If you plan on designing a site which is merely a hobby, then shared hosting should do the trick. Dedicated hosting is for persons who want to make a living online and, moreover, their site begins to have too much traffic than a shared server can handle.

While dedicated servers can be customized and can handle a tremendous amount of traffic, their superior performance doesn't come cheap. On average, a dedicated server can cost you hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity, etc.

Choose a Dedicated Host for Exclusive Web Service

2007-03-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

If you are serious about your online business, you might just consider following the next dedicated hosting tips. By definition, dedicated hosting means having an entire server which is at your disposal, as the webmaster, and which is not shared with anybody else.

This clearly has more advantages than shared hosting because you, as the webmaster, have full control over your own server, including options of operating system, hardware, database, etc. You can personalize everything according to your needs, while the administration is handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using online dedicated hosting is that your website performance will not be affected by other high traffic websites which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth with on a shared server. The online dedicated hosting media provides an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving you, and no one else. You do not share a media with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Prior to the existence of dedicated servers, a webmaster had two basic hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A webmaster who purchased space on a shared host would receive a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company would try to provide a wide array of options and customizations for the web site developer, in order to increase to popularity of their products. But, unfortunately, a customer who needed a non-standard program installed or who wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run would be completely not allowed to achieve these goals, even with all the efforts from the hosting company. This is because you depended on other persons, and in these cases majority decides.

As an example that pops up into my mind instantly, you might have a site which requires a database to store your important pieces of information. Most hosting companies would provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account.

Hosting your sites on a dedicated server is not an option from the beginning though. If you plan on designing a site which is merely a hobby, then dedicated isn't for you. This option is for persons who want to make a living online and, moreover, their site begins to have too much traffic for a shared server to handle. A dedicated server can be customized to exactly fit the needs of a site developer. That's where it gets its' name from.

While dedicated servers can be customized and can handle a tremendous amount of traffic, their superior performance doesn't come cheap. A typical dedicated server can cost you hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

That's why, first and foremost, you need to be sure that you want to take your business the next level, and you really need a dedicated server before plunging in. If that's the case, listen to the dedicated hosting tips you've been told and go on with it.

What Not To Consider When Choosing A Web Host Provider

2007-03-22T04:02:00.001-07:00

Office location: local or abroad?

Some people still put a lot of weight on the office address of web hosting company. Somehow they get peace of mind knowing that the office is just a short distance away. If something goes wrong, they can easily knock on the door or pickup the phone and complain to their hearts’ desire.

The truth is it doesn’t really matter where the web hosting company is located. What matters is the reliability of their infrastructure. Try to find out where their data center/s is/are. Also keep in mind that a lot of local web hosting companies are just resellers of the service. Research!

Friendly technical support

While it’s nice to have friendly people all around you, when it comes to hosting your website, what you really need is a competent technical support. Make sure you can reach their technical support team 24/7 and with the right answers.

Features and applications: The required and nice-to-haves

Website hosting packages comes with tons of useful features like website analysis report, database, mail management, etc. And more features like message boards, chats, online polls etc. But pause for a moment and consider what you really need. Just because they offer a chat room doesn’t mean you need to have a chat room on your website. Remember that some of these applications will use up server space. And some requires constant maintenance. You might end up getting additional manpower and might hurt your operating cost in the process.

Discounts for longer payment terms

Not really as important as the others but something to consider. Web hosting companies will offer you a discount depending on the payment cycle you wish; monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual mode of payment. The longer your lock-in period, the bigger the discount you get. But consider this, say you decided to get the annual mode of payment, and it turns out that you’re not happy with the service; it can be a very frustrating experience. Unless you’re really sure with the service, you might want to try them out first for a couple of months or so.

Search Engine ranking

Just because they have a high ranking in Google(or any search engine for that matter), doesn’t mean they’re good. To rank high in search engines such as Google, a typical website requires Search Engine Optimization services. This goes for web hosting companies too. And there are SEO professionals and companies that get away with search engine trickery or “black hat” SEO methods. And this will enable one’s website to achieve good ranking in search engines. So watch out.

“We’re the Best”…as stated in their website.

Believe it or not, some still fall for this ancient advertisement tag-line. Well the BEST way to verify this is to ask around. Visit forums that discusses web hosting services or if you can, get in touch with their existing customers. A simple email inquiry will do. Introduce yourself and your intentions and ask if you can get their opinion about their existing web host.

They’ve been around for a long time, they must be good.

This is really not a good benchmark. Technology is continuously evolving at a very fast pace. Web hosting companies should be flexible to adopt new technologies without drastically affecting their service. And so the question is, how fast can a web host company upgrade their infrastructures with minimal, if not zero, service disruption?

They’re hosting more than a hundred customers.

Yes this can be a good criterion in choosing for a web host service. But take an effort to verify. Just because it’s posted on their website, doesn’t mean it’s really true. Randomly choose a client or so and politely inquire about their web host provider.

They’re cheap

The more sellers in the market, price gets lower, better for the consumer.

But this doesn’t mean that you go sign up immediately with the cheapest of them all. Make sure that it will fit your business needs. One of the most important factors that affects price is server space. Cheap web hosting packages offer small server space. And usually, it gets shared with your website pages and emails. A little planning should be done prior to getting a hosting package. Here’s a scenario, you have 10 website pages that’s about 3MB in size total. Obviously, a 10MB hosting package will suffice. But if you have 10 staff, sending emails with more than 2MB of file attachments a week, you will need more space.

It’s free

This is probably the granddaddy of all mistakes one can possible make when choosing a website host. Free hosts are NEVER the right choice if you are selling yourself, business, products or services.

Remember the phrase, “first impression lasts”? With free web hosting, you will not be able to use your own website address, yourcompany.com. Don’t give your customers the impression that you cannot provide yourself a domain name. I don’t think they’ll be convinced that you can provide anything for them, if you can’t even provide yourself one of the basics in doing online business.

And let’s just say you can use your own domain name, chances are, in exchange for the free service, your website will get tons of advertisements. This will tragically affect the look of your website. If you are entertained by online advertisements, doesn’t mean your customers feel the same way.

So do yourself a favor, if you want an effective business online, do not go for free website hosting service.

Keep these advices in mind when choosing a web host company and save yourself and your online business from some of the hassles and frustrations that comes from wrong decisions.

Choosing The Wrong Web Host Could Kill Your Business

2007-03-22T04:01:00.004-07:00

As an Internet Marketer I know first hand that we are sometimes so focused on the big picture that we sometimes overlook the small details. I mean you have to do market research, to see if you even have a product that will sell. Then you have to create a plan of action for your website, and then… It’s time to put all of the pieces together.

I know when I was launching my first site I was so excited. Everything was done to perfection “EXCEPT” finding a good web hosting provider. My train of thought at that time was a hosting provider was a hosting provider. After all they only had to provide me with a little space, and the rest was up to me.

Boy was I wrong! I had optimized my site and had excellent search engine rankings. At that time I had an opt-in list of about 5,00 people and a little over 40 JV partners who were ready to fire on my command. D-Day finally arrived I pushed the button and the launch was going well for the first two hours. Then disaster struck! My site went down and was down for over twelve hours. I literally lost thousands of dollars because I tried to initially save about ten bucks.

I realize that this is all apart of doing business. I just sought out another web hosting company and had my site back up and running the next day. This time I realized that I could not get my website ranked in any of the major search engines. After a few months and a ton of investigation the mystery was solved. The web hosting providers IP was on the black list. Which meant that no one on their server was able to get ranked in the search engines.

At this time the words of my grandmother began to ring through my head. She use to say, “If you want something done right… Do it yourself!” So that’s what I did – I started my own web hosting company.

Although I would appreciate your business, my purpose for writing this article wasn’t for me to drum up business for my web hosting company. There are a lot of excellent companies out there that you could use. The question that I need you to ask yourself is, do you really want to take the chance on loosing hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Some web hosting companies provide you with a huge list of items. This is to make you believe that you are getting this deal which is truly incredible. I love the companies that offer you a thousand emails, two hundred GBs of bandwidth, and any other thing that they can throw in their. You would be amazed at how often this marketing gimmick works, and right now as you are reading this - another victim is going to be scammed.

How to Get Reliable Web Hosting Without Sacrificing the Features?

2007-03-22T04:01:00.003-07:00

There are innumerable shared web hosting providers out there, but it can be difficult to choose the right one for you. However, shared web hosting solutions are worth checking out before you settle on a single one.

Generally, shared servers or dedicated servers are being used for small business web hosting. You can choose the either type but it all depends on the confidential data that is stored in the servers and the complexity of the web application. Many service providers offer shared web hosting for nominal fees.

Do check the features provided by the web hosting company because there are numerous options to buy the features that you want from them. You can purchase a plan that suits your requirement in small business web hosting. In the shared servers, the number of email accounts provided is limited in nature. If you want more email accounts, you ought to pay separately for each and every additional account.

You can get free domain name from the web hosting provider. Do research on the Internet to find such web hosting companies. But be careful before opting such servers because they may give you only less amount of space, and data transfer. Feel free to ask them about the free components that are available, the database that is supported, sub domains allowed, and options to have your own custom components.

Do look at the back ups and the restore facilities, which are available with the account in a small business web hosting.

Do you know handling Spam is really a Herculean task? Hence choosing an email account with Spam protection is an obligatory one. That’s why the majority of the small business web hosting companies provide you an anti-Spam package as their part and parcel of their offer.

In order to alleviate the flooding of worms and viruses from reaching your inbox, anti-virus solutions are also offered in the web hosting package. Usually most of the small business web hosting packages are provided with password protection. These servers offer password-protected directories also.

If you’re having a business entity to set up an online store to display and sell your products online, small business web hosting packages are the suitable one. For these type of businesses, e-commerce web hosting is available for a moderate fees.

As the payment details are going to be transmitted to the merchant account, transaction in the e-commerce websites have to be secure. SSL security is afforded for all those transactions. Separate modules are available in small business web hosting for order processing.

You can avail the shopping cart facilities in the checkout pages and custom error pages of the web hosting service. Inventory in the stores can be easily managed by separate tools available for that purpose along with the package.

If you’re not well versed with web designing, you need not worry or seek the help of a web designer to build your site because some of the small business web hosting providers offer easy to use templates for building your own website. Many web hosting packages provide support for design tools like Dream weaver and FrontPage. Happy Hosting!

Control Panel – The Control Center for Your Domain

2007-03-22T04:01:00.001-07:00

The control panel that comes with most hosting accounts is the control center for your domain. This is where you:

* Add or manage files.

* Add and manage email accounts.

* Add and manage sub domains.

* Add and manage MySql databases.

* Add and manage redirects.

* Add and manage responders.

* Add or manage email filters.

* Add or manage responders.

* Add or manage cron jobs.

* Add or manage scripts.

* Add or manage bulletin boards.

* And more.

There are 3 different control panels that I've encountered with different hosts. Cpanel, Plesk and Ensim. Of the three, I consider cpanel the best.

One reason I like cpanel is it is usually easier to teach a novice webmaster how to navigate cpanel than it is the other two options.

Not every control panel is the same and the features available within control panel may be disabled or limited by your web host. Some use the features available within control panel as some of the benefits associated with more expensive hosting packages.

Before you choose your hosting package, look to see which control panel is used and which features are available to you. If cpanel is used but the package limits you to 10 email accounts or just a few sub domains, will your current and future needs be satisfied with that?

You know your business and where it is headed so you need to know whether the stats program available in many control panels has been disabled, whether you need 10 email accounts or 1,000 and many other factors associated with the control of your business. The control panel is your interface to the platform your files and pages the server stores for you and your visitors. The web pages are your store front and the control panel is your back office.

Host Unlimited Domains - Big Strategic and Economic Advantages For Website Owners

2007-03-22T03:56:00.001-07:00

When you choose a host for your web site do you look for a low monthly cost, low domain registration costs, high monthly bandwidth or large storage capacity? If your attention is on any of these typically heavily advertised website hosting features you may be missing out on a key benefit that could be much more important to the success of your internet business. Before you let your thinking get railroaded down the track a web host wants to take you, perhaps you should first ask them: do they host unlimited domains?

If you only have one website, hosting unlimited domains may not seem that important to you. Be assured, if you are serious about your internet business you will almost certainly be wanting to register and host multiple domains quite soon.

There are a lot of reasons why your internet business may soon expand over several websites and domain names. As the internet becomes more competitive, success is rarely to be found in broad general websites. Search engines now give a higher ranking to websites that give very specific information that is directly relevant to the exact enquiry made by a searcher. It is all about improving the quality of an internet user's experience and the value a user gains from a search engine. Closely targeted niche websites are proving to be more successful at gaining a higher search engine ranking. Many internet businesses find they get better results by operating their business through several websites, each targeting a specific market niche, rather than trying to cover all of their business through one website.

You may also find it advantageous to approach each of your business niches from several directions in different websites. Perhaps each website targets a different demographic group, with different graphics, content and a unique style in each site. They all may be selling the same product or service, but they each focus on different user benefits and values. Suppose you are selling life insurance. One funky website might target younger people with the benefit of lower premiums when they start their policy at a young age and have more disposable income. Another more conservative website may target families with an emphasis on the security benefits for the children when their parents have life insurance cover.

Some internet users like to experiment, testing the effects of different approaches to their market with different websites. Testing and continuous improvement is a powerful way to grow your business and to strengthen your competitive position.

Domain names have also become a speculative asset, and substantial returns have been made from buying distinctive domain names and either just holding or parking them, or building their page rank to add value to them.

Cost and capacity differences between web hosts that offer hosting for just one domain name are becoming minor in the very competitive web hosting business. But a host that will permit you to host unlimited domains on your account has a game changing offer that can give you powerful flexibility in growing your internet business, and the ability to slash your average hosting costs per website.

Host Unlimited Domains - Big Strategic and Economic Advantages For Website Owners

2007-03-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

How To Choose A Suitable Web Hosting Plan?

2007-03-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Very so often I come across complaints and accusations directed towards web hosting providers on their hosting plans that are deceving their customers. How true it is that the provider is trying to be dishonest with its clients? I presume most famous or renowned providers won't do such a trick. After all, providers need the support of customers in order to survive, why would they dig their own graves? Maybe there is misunderstanding that exists in between the clients and providers until clients feel as if they have been cheated in the first place. Therefore, I see a need in writing this simple and straight to the point article on how to really choose a suitable web hosting plan so that no disappoinment or anger exists in the future.

Types of hosting plans:

Shared Hosting

As implied by the word "shared", this type of hosting plan is shared by a lot of hosting accounts in the same server. Usually, it's around 200 domains in one server ( as in Exabytes' case). Problems will arise when one or two black sheeps in the server causes CPU overloading (for customers, you can actually help to reduce CPU overloading. Kindly refer "The gists of being a happy and satisfied customer" in the paragraphs below). First headache, when hosting provider suspends the black sheep's hosting account, they will protest and got angry and then started posting bad review in forums on the respective hosting provider. Second headache, if the hosting provider does not suspend the account that causes CPU system hog, other 199 customers sharing the same server will be angry at hosting provider as well and start to post bad reviews in forums that the hosting providers' speed is slow, regret choosing the provider and so on. Now, it won't look good for the provider, of course, as they need to make a wise decision, either to tackle "headache #1" or " headache # 2".

Hence, whatever decision by the providers will in one way or another offends the customers. Therefore, please take note that shared hosting is meant for website with low traffic, uses less than 1000 emails daily, and will be great if it's for personal, family, small business purposes such as, personal websites, informative blogs, company website or photo gallery.

Semi-Dedicated Server Hosting

This type of hosting plan is almost the same as shared hosting. In fact, having the same concept as shared hosting but 1 level higher than shared hosting. Only key difference is that in one server, we have made it clear that we will host MAX 5 accounts. It's meant to conquer the problems faced by website owners in shared hosting environment. With less accounts in one server, definitely, there will be less problems. It's advisable that website owners especially those who are keen to involve in community portal, forums or medium-sized enterprise to opt for this semi-dedicated server plan. Take a simple analogy here, living in a terrace house is definitely better than living in a flat. Less noise, less congestion. Shared hosting is like a flat and semi-dedicated server is just like a terrace house. Think of it, you need to use lift and wait for your lift everyday.. but with terrace house, just open your main door, you are already out in the car porch.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Popularly known as VPS, this is a hosting plan considered as 1 step below a dedicated server. It's often used as a test server, or for those who wish to own a dedicated server but could not afford to. It has root access which you cannot find in the above-mentioned semi-dedicated server plan. All in all, it's a great plan for those software developers or small webhosts.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Needs no introduction to this "powerhouse" in web hosting world! Dedicated server is ideal for corporate usage, government, huge community and also web hosting provider like us, Exabytes. Those who are interested in media streaming, corporate portal, high traffic forums need to take serious note in finding more about dedicated server.

The gists of being a happy and satisfied customer:

This paragraph is specially dedicated to the customers on the roles they could play in order to ease themselves in the future. I'm sure they are customers who might think that such roles are to be played by the providers and not them since they have paid the money, of course they deserve to be served well. No doubt customers deserve to be treated extremely well, even better than a king, but sometimes, hosting providers will have to act sternly (and resulting anger from the affected customers) on some of the uncooperative customers to protect the welfare of other customers who happen to be in the "same neighbourhood". Ain't easy to be stucked in the middle of such a situation. Any steps taken will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the affected clients (as aforementioned in the paragraph

Free Ecommerce Web Hosting (Or Rethinking Your Business Model)

2007-03-22T03:53:00.001-07:00

Looking for free ecommerce web hosting?

Okay.

Now my second question is... Why?

Why not, you retort?

Well, here are three good reasons why you shouldn't rely on a free web host to set up your online store:

A Real Website
If you want to try to make money online using a service that allows you to setup a virtual storefront without actually having a website, you're going to be depriving yourself of all the amenities of having a real website. Things like a personalized contact page, an 'About Us' page, a privacy policy page and maybe even a blog can really help to build credibility when it comes to selling online. It's a jungle out there. If you want to be a cut above the rest, you can't afford to cut corners.

Downtime is Scary
Free web hosts are not accountable in any way, shape or form to those who avail themselves of their services. If they have downtime, you are basically up poop's creek without a paddle. Picture this scenario: Somebody just finishes making a big purchase and half an hour later your free web host goes down taking your site down with it. And it stays down for the next two days (and yes this happens) leaving your client thinking he just got flimflammed by some kind of online sharky. Hmmmm boy! That's some good customer relations, eh?

Subdomains Make You Look Like a Pro (NOT)
Unless you actually shell out some cold hard cash to get yourself a real domain name, you're going to be stuck with some kind of subdomain when you sign up with a free web host. And if you do this, you might as well put up a neon sign that says, "I don't believe in my business enough to spend a few dollars a month for real web hosting". And if you don't believe in what you're selling then why should anyone else?

DO IT UP RIGHT

Yes that's right. The bottom line is if you can't afford the mere $7-$10 dollars a month it takes to set yourself up with a commercial web hosting service (which should include several installable shopping cart solutions) then perhaps what you really need to do is rethink your business model. By the way, web hosting packages these days are offering up so dang much in the way of disk space, bandwidth, multiple domain hosting and other resources that you can't afford not to pay for web hosting.

Ultimately, free ecommerce web hosting may just turn out to be a free pain in the arse. If you're going to do the internet marketing thing, do it up right and pay the few bucks it takes to get the whole nine yards to create your online presence.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

2007-03-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

If in website hosting you are looking for multi-tenancy, virtualization, resource management and clustering; then virtual private server hosting is best for you. Virtual private server hosting has become very popular nowadays, as it allows resellers to multiplex resources on a dedicated server, by using an enhanced technology platform. At times people tend to keep shared, dedicated and virtual hosting in one bracket. This is a misconception.

Virtual dedicated server generally allows resellers to fully control and allocate resources to their customer. It also has been observed that once a reseller obtains a virtual private server hosting, they get the complete control not only over the resources but also they can instantly allocate Web space, e-mail accounts and other services. Using virtual private server hosting means you are providing high levels of control which has currently become the most popular option for resellers.

The biggest advantage of using virtual private server hosting is that it allows multi-tenancy factor. This means a reseller can easily host approximately hundreds of customers on a single, physical server. Above all, while using virtual private server hosting solutions you can actually virtualize CPU resources. This virtualization of CPU resources means they appear to customers as a standalone, dedicated server environment. In today’s cut throat competitive world virtual private server hosting not only provides innovative resource management but also enables systems administrators to control the customer resources levels.

Virtual private server hosting also offers service-level agreements and quality of service guarantees. If you are using virtual private server hosting then via this you can generate automated, control panel management, administrators can allocate resources and support the deployment of third-party software. Thus, if you are looking for a web hosting that provides clustering capacities, permitting customers to move data transparently among servers then virtual private server hosting is best for you.

There are various companies and websites offering best virtual private server hosting plan but Arachno Net is one company that provides best and easily affordable plan. Being the leaders in web hosting, Arachno Net knows that server security is of prime importance and thus for that it has equipped various security measures so that your website is in safe hands. Hence, if you wish to provide solidarity to your business and website then choose virtual private server hosting offered by Arachno Net.

Paid Versus Free Hosting

2007-03-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

For those just starting out in the world of online marketing it’s often a time where things need to be done as cheaply as possible. One of the areas where we try to cut expenses is through web hosting. With so many free web host providers available to us many often wonder why people would bother paying for web hosting.

There are no doubt pros and cons to both sides and as someone who has (and to a certain extent still does) used both free and paid hosting I thought I’d share some of what I have learnt in the hopes that it will help others out there make their decision.

Naturally the biggest advantage of free hosting is that the money you save can be used toward another part of your online business. And with the large amount of free providers available you are bound to find one the suits your needs, whether it’s the amount of bandwidth you need, the add-ons they may have: the ability to add forums or blogs, or the amount of sub domains you can have.

Though with all the pros of using a free host come several rather large cons. First and foremost to me is the lack of total control you have. Having recently experienced a major problem with one of the free hosts I used I quickly came to realise that if anything goes wrong you can be very limited in your options to fixing those problems. Another downfall may arise when your site starts building a lot of traffic – which will be what you’re aiming for – you and your visitors may lose access to your site for a certain period if you exceed the limit available to you. Then of course you may also find yourself limited in what type of advertising you can do: while not all free providers have advertising many may place certain ads, banners or even pop-ups on your site as a way of paying for the service they are supplying. This may not be a problem for personal web-pages but if it’s a business site you may quickly lose any credibility as it often lacks professionalism.

If you decide you want to start out with a free host make sure you read and understand all that is involved and any requirements/limits they may have before signing up. There is nothing worse than setting up a great page and building traffic to it only to find that in the long run you need to change providers.

When it comes to paid hosting the biggest con naturally is the expense, for many just starting out they can’t justify the expense as they are yet to see any return. As someone who has been in this position I well understand that reasoning, yet will honestly admit that once I took the plunge and decided to pay for my hosting it was the best decision I ever made.

With the competition being what it is, a little time spent researching will quickly reveal that you can get good hosting at incredibly reasonable prices. Paying for your hosting not only gives you total control over all aspects of your website, with a good provider you’ll not only find a lot of additional extras, things like cron jobs, unlimited mysql databases plus things like fantastico (one click installation of blogs and forums etc) and email management systems you will also discover that you can get often get unlimited domains and aren’t restricted by bandwidth limits etc.

How To Select The Ideal Business Server

2007-03-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

A web site for the business that you are conducting is essential nowadays, and this implies the use of business hosting. The web site can be your online store, but it has to be stored somewhere. That's why you will need to contact a hosting company, and then you will be able to choose from the business hosting options they have for you.

Finding a hosting company is usually the next logical step after registering a domain name. You can also find a company that provides both of these services, which could make things easier for you.

Now, as far as the hosting options go, you will have more than a few. The choice really depends also on the nature of the site you want to have, and the size of your business. The most important choice is made when deciding whether to store your site on a shared server or on a dedicated server.

The dedicated server has all the advantages when compared with the shared server, except for one though, which could make all the difference: the price. Dedicated servers don't come cheap, and the costs soar to a few hundred dollars per month.

But it dedicated hosting has some undeniable advantages. First of all, you don't need to share the server's bandwidth with anybody else. In other words, your web site will not be slowed down by other high traffic web sites stored on a shared server.

Then, you can customize a dedicated server according to your own needs and desires. You can install your favorite operating system, your favorite pieces of software, in short, you can personalize it any way you want. You would not be able to do all these things on a shared server.

When deciding for a web hosting company, take your time and search for one which offers you with the bandwidth, disk space and applications needed for your web site. Make sure that you check the background of the company and you read some reviews.

It might be a good idea to tell the host a little bit about your intentions with your web site. What is the purpose of the site and how are you envisioning the web site? You can also ask the company's assistant some questions about their equipment. Find out if they own and operate their own data center. Ask for some information on their data center and the specifications of their servers.

It is important to realize that a hosting provider, who may be ideal for one business, may not be suitable for yours. Most people make their final decision based on cost. However, I warn you to take your time and carefully consider what is available. After all, you want stable and reliable business hosting.

The Best Web Hosting Companies

2007-02-14T23:23:00.003-08:00

With more than 5,000 web hosting companies on the Internet, consumers are looking for a short cut to finding the best service for their business and personal requirements. A little known secret from the “geek” community can greatly simplify the process of finding the perfect match for you.

Since the mid-1990’s, a company in Bath, England called Netcraft has been providing free research data and analysis on many aspects of the Internet. They are a respected authority on web hosting providers, operating systems, ISP’s, electronic commerce, encryption, and content technologies, to name but a few. Netcraft is the place where webmasters and other information technology professionals go when they want answers to solve real-world problems. Fortunately, one of the best reports Netcraft produces is an on-line near-real-time web host performance report. It provides performance data on about 50 of the top web hosting companies on the Internet. Incredibly, the report is free and updated every 15 minutes.

Netcraft’s Hosting Providers Network Performance report can best serve those who are seeking to locate a reliable hosting service. It tracks outages over the past 24 hours providing the hours, minutes, and seconds of outages. Performance monitoring agents are operating in the USA and the UK so that the network performance can be determined from different points. Web hosting performance is comprised of the time to process the http GET request and return the page contents. The time reported depends on the speed of the processor, the size of the data, the number of concurrent requests being processed by the web server and so forth. Dynamic content generally requires more time than static content. During the http GET request Netcraft records four times: (1) DNS (2) connect (3) first byte, and (4) total.

The DNS category provides performance information on the time it takes for the Domain Name Service (DNS) to lookup the hostname. The customer’s local name server as well as the authoritative name server for the domain affects DNS response time. Due to the wide variability of this performance parameter it is not part of the total time recorded. The connect performance parameter is the first phase of the http GET request when the TCP/IP connection is made to the web hosting server. Connect is typically reflective of network latency but if the web host is under heavy load the time recorded will increase. The first byte performance parameter is the time from when the last byte of the http GET request is sent until the first byte of the response header is received. Although many different factors, including application associated processing, are involved this performance parameter is generally useful in determining how fast the web hosting server is responding. From a performance perspective this is the silver bullet because studies have shown that consumers purchase more often and in higher dollar amounts from fast performing web servers. The last performance parameter is the total, which is the time from when the http GET request is started until the last byte is received.