Web Hosting Solutions

Archive for January, 2009

Important Considerations When Choosing Web Hosting

There are many important issues to be aware of when looking for a company to host your web site. If you’re a beginner putting up a simple site that uses no programming or advanced features; then you would probably be fine with the starter packages offered by most hosting providers. Service support reliability and value added features like complimentary PHP or java modules are probably most important to you. However if you’re site is for business and/or involves programming languages and/or ecommerce features then you should be concerned with other issues:

do you need unix or windows hosting ? If you site is written in .Net or Active Server Pages then you definitely need windows hosting. Its the same if you use Microsoft databases like SQL Server or Access. Otherwise you would probably be ok with either platform. Most companies offer both.

do you need dedicated hosting or shared or dedicated hosting? If you expect very large amounts of traffic or you need a lot of administrative control over your web site or your site involves a complex setup of scripts databases multimedia content etc then you might need a web hosting company with dedicated hosting.

how many domains and subdomains do you need ? Hosting providers all differ in the amount of domains and subdomains you can have within your web hosting plan. Think carefully about whether this is or will become important to you. Its good to have room for expansion for your web activities without having to switch your web hosting service if you decide to host a new domain for example.

disk space and bandwidth make sure you have a good idea of the space and bandwidth requirements for your site. Usually disk space isn’t a big issue since the average web hosting company typically offers lots of space with even the starter web hosting plans. However if you’re storing lots of data or video audio files etc. than this will be something to look out for.

do you need ecommerce features such as shopping carts or credit card processing ? These tend to differ by hosting provider as does whether there’s an extra charge involved.

do you want custom PHP modules ? Some companies offer a selection of very useful PHP modules for no extra charge typically with a simple installation menu. This can be great if you want to add a blog MYSQL database guestbook or other PHP feature to your site.

support are there resources available to you to help you out? Can you reach a live person at the web hosting company for assistance at no extra charge?

reliability do they claim 99.5 or greater uptime ?

speed If the hosting site’s home page takes quite a while to load then your site probably will to ! See that as a bad sign and move on.

email services think over your needs and make sure that you use a web hosting service that provides you with the email solutions you want such as POP2 based web based auto responders and number of addresses.

About the writer:  I recommend the Top 5 Web Hosting Companies for some great choices. Also helpful is this article on Finding the Best Web Hosting Services.

How To Choose A Good Web Host

Not everyone who is new to the internet knows what hosting is so I will assume no knowledge of hosting on your part. Bear with me if you have some experience in this area.

Hosting is usually renting an area on a server or large computer or rack of computers on a hard drive. Most hosting is shared or sharing space on a single hard drive. Dedicated hosting is where a whole drive or computer is dedicated to one customer’s website and files.

Everyone of the websites you see on the internet is stored somewhere on a host computer and it is displayed using html and CSS so that a person’s browser will display the page you see.

Choosing a good host is one of the most important things you need to do.

I could write a separate article on choosing a domain name but I think the two are so related in nature as to be better dealt with together in this article.

Choosing a domain name is nothing more than picking a name by which your URL or web address is known by on the internet. For example one of my sites is called www.healyourselfnow.net. This is a domain name. I could say that the domain name is important and so it is but you need to know more than that.

You should normally choose a domain name that is a keyword for your site. For example if you are targeting computers as your main keyword you could use Cheapcomputers.com or Greatcomputers.com. This is just an example but you get the general idea. Many people use hyphens in the name but I don’t recommend them as the search engines don’t like them.

Security is another issue. How secure is your site? If you are selling the host should offer SSL certificates at a reasonable price of less than 30.00 so that your transactions are secure. Also do you have a virus scanner and does your host offer leech protection to protect your images and to prevent other members from giving out passwords to restricted areas of your site.

Does your host support Fantastico or one click access to important scripts like a CMS or content management system like JOOMLA or MAMBO that allows editing or updating of your web site content with the ease of using a word processor. No knowledge of html or css is needed. So anyone in your office can contribute to website content with minimal training! Also you can add a learning managment system like Moodle or a live chat program or forum and instantly make your website interactive.

An interactive website is considered “sticky” or a site that will attract and keep visitors coming back to over and over again.

The last and most important issue in choosing a good web host is customer support. Does your host offer 24 live chat support? There are things that can affect your site and you need the security and peace of mind that comes from knowing that you get competent friendly advice even at 3 am. Live chat is interactive like using Microsoft Messenger except that you are talking on a secure line for the express purpose of customer support. Live ticketed support uses a ticket and email based support system that is not as interactive as live chat but sometimes is necessary to solve a more complex problem with your site.

So to summarize does your host offer tutorials on your site for cpanel or whm if you are hosting more than one site? Does your host offer scripts with one click installation?
Does your host offer excellent chat based and ticket based customer support? How fast is their turn around time on that support? After all it does you no good to have 24 hour support if no one answers your call. Does your web host offer competitive prices? I would be remiss if I did not mention that bargain prices are not at all important if your host offers web design with your hosting or some other extras that are not available at other hosts. If you are new to the net and don’t have much experience you will need a lot of support at first to help you get to know that you are doing.

For example ebooks templates and software that you can re sell for money with master resale rights. It is acceptable for your host to charge up to 30.00 per month if they offer web design assistance and offer ebooks software and templates and a template based site builder that can put up a decent site in less than an hour. Economy hosting does not measure up for newbies.

If your host can answer “yes!” to all of these questions then you can rest assured that you have chosen a good host.

Your host determines your success on the internet as much as your efforts do so choose wisely.

About the writer:  Kathy Elliott is a professional computer programmer with 25 years experience with over 10 years working on the internet. She markets hosting that meets all of the above requirements and 3 sites reselling hosting with training and tons of software ebooks and templates with master resale rights. You can find Kathy at www.getcomputergold.com www.getcomputergold.com/joomla and www.minisitegold.net and www.minisitegold.net/joomla.

How Do I Go About Choosing The Best Web Hosting Service Provider For My Web Site?

If you are an online business owner it is important that you look into the best web hosting services available for you and your business. This is one of the most critical decisions you need to make. If you pick a dependable Internet Service Provider you don’t have to worry about any potential problems but if you choose an unreliable hosting provider the problems can be difficult to deal with. It can be challenging for the new online business owner to choose the right web hosting service so you need to look out for a few essential features when looking for a hosting provider. Here are the factors you should take into account when searching for the best web hosting service provider for your business:

Verify the extent of web space provided. It is standard procedure for any hosting provider to allocate a certain amount of space on their individual servers. It is important for you therefore to verify if the server is able to provide the required amount of space for your online business. If you are planning on expanding your business in the future you might require additional space for your business expansion.

Knowing the role of FTP access is crucial. Through FTP access your website will have the ability to make uploads on new pages. There are web hosting providers that permit you to make designs on your web pages using specific web builders. While this could be enough for new website owners you still need to make sure if the hosting provider can give you the tools for expansion should your business require it.

The reliability security and speed provided by the hosting provider for your site. If you are running an online business your website needs to be in top form all the time. This means your site should not merely be reliable; it should be secure and efficient as well. Before settling for a particular hosting provider you need to ensure that these factors are all supplied by the hosting company. Your business will suffer from unsatisfied web visitors and potential losses should your website experiences frequent difficulties. If your site is not accessible online you will not be able to earn repeat customers. Your target clients will find more reasons to choose the competition if your website remains down most of the time. Many online visitors get annoyed with slow websites so you should make sure your site is fast enough. If you are managing an ECommerce site you need to take care of security issues as well.

Level of dependability and support should not be discounted. Is your hosting provider up to the job at all times? Can they be reached immediately if you have any queries regarding their services? Are they dependable at all times no matter what the problem may be? You should prepare to spend a little more however if you seek for first rate customer support. Nonetheless you are assured of 24/7 customer support if you do.

Price rates available from the hosting provider. It is important that you look for the web host that provides excellent and reasonable pricing rates. Not all expensive hosts are known to provide exceptional services. Try to shop around and see which services suit your business best.

Bandwidth capacity is also important. Bandwidth is important when it comes to data transfer so you have to see if the hosting provider offers enough bandwidth for the requirements of your website.

About the writer:  If you need more help choosing the right Web hosting service provider then visit http://www.hostreviewgeeks.com/ and get tons of valuable information.