Reliable web hosting is vital for anyone attempting to earn money with a business website.
Choosing a host for your website is not easy when you are an Internet newbie and don't really know bandwidth from Band-Aid. What selection criteria do you use? If you are a total newbie, about the only thing you will know how to compare is price but if you do a search for web hosting you will have ads coming at you for all prices from $10 per year to $25 per month. Should you go for the most expensive on the basis that you get what you pay for or should you go for the cheapest because saving money is a priority while you are getting your business running?
The first thing to rule out is free web hosting. There are many great free resources to be found on the Internet including excellent anti-virus and anti-spy ware software. Free hosting is fine if you have a hobby website but, if you are running a business online and wish to achieve credibility with visitors and search engines, free web hosting won't do the job.
I discovered the hard way that cheap web hosting is not necessarily the bargain it might seem. When I started looking for hosting for a new website, I already had top class hosting that had come with my first website. There was an option to add on further domains for an extra $5 per month. That was cheap enough but I thought it would be a good idea to have my new website hosted completely separately (you know, the old eggs in one basket caution).
When I started checking around, there seemed to be millions of web hosts all offering what (to my untrained eye) seemed to be the same thing but at wildly varying prices, so I settled on a cheap hosting package. The cost was £1 per month (which was about $1.70 in those days) and I certainly got what I paid for!
At first everything was fine: I paid up, they hosted my website. The trouble is, you don't realize you have bought rubbish hosting until things start to go wrong.
The first sign that all was not well came a few months later when I was unable to locate my website. I raised a support ticket and waited. Four days later came the reply "everything seems ok now". Four days of downtime without a sensible word from support made me feel more than a little uneasy.
Things seemed fine for a while after that but then another problem arose: when I tried to log into my control panel all I got was a message telling me the license fee had not been paid. This time the reply to my support ticket was quicker, it only took two days. Unfortunately, however, it was completely unhelpful. The reply was "It seems to be a site-wide issue". Was I supposed to feel better because the whole site was messed up and not just my bit? They must have got round to paying the license fee because after a few more days, login was available again.
After that, I wanted to move to a new host but I had never moved a website before and assumed it would be really difficult and technically challenging (actually it is extremely simple). As a result of this fear my website remained where it was.
The crunch came when my domain name came up for renewal. In response to an email from the hosting company, I visited their website to make the required payment. Their PayPal link and credit card options did not work and there were several error messages showing on the pages I visited.
Emails to their support and billing departments went unanswered. My only means of arranging payment was via their website, so I kept trying. Each time I visited, there were more error messages, nothing worked and it began to look as if the site was actually melting bit by bit. It seemed the company had just packed up and left their website to self destruct.
Inquiries revealed that the only way I could renew my domain name ownership was through the hosting company because they had registered it on my behalf and they retained control of it. As they could not be contacted, there were only two options available. The first was to pay an agent a pretty hefty (and non-refundable) fee to try to contact the hosting company and negotiate the purchase the domain name from them. The second option was to lose the domain.
When you have to choose web hosting, the first thing to look for is quality of support. To keep prices low, the easiest way for the company to economize is to provide sub-standard support. Forget the offers of unlimited bandwidth, hundreds of email accounts, spam filters and other freebies. If support is non-existent, give the company a miss no matter how good their other terms might seem.
Showing posts with label Cheap web hosting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheap web hosting. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Web Hosting - Look For A Customer-First Attitude
The single most important factor when choosing a web host is reliability. This is confirmed over and over again in surveys of webmasters and online entrepreneurs.
But "reliability" is not a simple thing. If you assume for the moment that most web hosting companies are technically competent, have been consistently upgrading their systems, and have products that are reasonably priced, then a major component of web hosting reliability comes down to good old fashioned "customer service".
In other words, what you really want to know is, "When there is a problem with my website, can I get speedy no-nonsense solutions?"
With web hosts the "no-nonsense" thing can be a problem.
**Talking with technical support can be difficult
If you have ever talked to a web host technical support person you get the impression they are handling three or four calls all at the same time. That's because they have thousands of clients, and often the problems come in waves. And that can lead to frustrating conversations with your tech person.
For example, I have recently been having a problem with one of my web hosts. The problem has to do with accessing some of my sites to make changes. Now I have been doing web building for years, and with many different hosts, and this is the very first time I have had this specific problem.
So although I am open to the possibility that the problem is somewhere at my end, I think it is unlikely. All my sites with this host seem to have this same issue, and none with any of the other web hosts that I use. In either case, what I am looking for is some intelligent suggestions.
But so far I have not been able to get an intelligent response -- even though it has been happening on and off for about a week now. I get the standard response: "Have you tried this, have you tried that..." all of which imply that the problem must be at my end, and none of which give the impression that they are actually thinking about what is going on.
Having been there myself quite a few times, I can sympathize with the technical support person's dilemma. But in my experience, most tech support people have seen these problems before, and they probably know the answer. It is just very difficult to get them to actually focus on your issue.
**Reliability starts with a Customer-First Attitude
This has a direct bearing on the "reliability" of this host. Service people often take the attitude that if they stall long enough the problem will go away. And, yes, sometimes it does go away.
But on the other hand, I think they usually stall because they are just too stretched out to be focused on your little insignificant problem. In other words, they are not sufficiently "customer-focused" on me to solve my specific issue.
This is when web host "reliability" takes a hit. And it is when customers start thinking hard about changing hosts. While the tech person is stalling you are wasting time trying to get your blasted website to work. And more often than not, getting it to work just takes a little bit of effort on the part of the tech team at the other end.
This merely confirms what marketing people have been saying for years about "customer service". Customer service is important in every business, and at every stage of the sales and delivery process. Your sales and accounting people must be customer focused. Your production people must be customer focused. And your tech support people must be customer focused too.
Unfortunately many web hosting tech support people just do not understand this. They often consider themselves superior to their clients. And they have been able to get away with shoddy, unfriendly service because it is just too inconvenient for clients to change hosts.
Thankfully this is changing. There is enough step-by-step information available to help make a host change, and many hosts will actually help you trasfer your domain to their system.
**Making Your Choice Based on Customer Service
Unfortunately there is no completely fool-proof way to know in advance where you are likely to get good, reliable, customer-friendly service.
You can try looking at web host review sites to get some comparisons between hosts. But unfortunately many of these sites are themselves not reliable. For one thing, they are usually trying to resell hosting services, so the "reviews" are often tainted. For another, if they contain comments and reviews by the public, these can also be manipulated. Some hosts will post bogus reviews praising their own services and criticising those of their competition.
You can also scan web hosting forums for comments and recommendations. These seem to be generally reliable, but are still open to the kind of manipulation mentioned above. And since things change so quickly in the web hosting business, comments made a year ago about a specific web hosting company will probably be out of date.
My own preference is to look closely at the website of the host itself. If it is overly technical and confusing I usually move on. That usually suggests, to me at least, that the focus of this host will be on technicalities, that it may be difficult to navigate their support system, and I may have difficulty getting plain and simple answers to my inquiries.
A simple layout with a minimum number of customer-oriented products and an easily-accessed support system suggests the company is customer-focused. I also recommend contacting the customer help desk in advance of ordering just to see what kind of reception I get.
I also look for testimonials from real web hosting customers. Make sure they are clearly identified with names, physical addresses, and website addresses. If you really want to be aggressive, you might contact some of these people directly.
Of course I agree that none of this is fool-proof. But given the highly competitive nature of the web hosting business, all other things being equal, a simple, straightforward customer-focused approach is what you should be looking for in a web host.
But "reliability" is not a simple thing. If you assume for the moment that most web hosting companies are technically competent, have been consistently upgrading their systems, and have products that are reasonably priced, then a major component of web hosting reliability comes down to good old fashioned "customer service".
In other words, what you really want to know is, "When there is a problem with my website, can I get speedy no-nonsense solutions?"
With web hosts the "no-nonsense" thing can be a problem.
**Talking with technical support can be difficult
If you have ever talked to a web host technical support person you get the impression they are handling three or four calls all at the same time. That's because they have thousands of clients, and often the problems come in waves. And that can lead to frustrating conversations with your tech person.
For example, I have recently been having a problem with one of my web hosts. The problem has to do with accessing some of my sites to make changes. Now I have been doing web building for years, and with many different hosts, and this is the very first time I have had this specific problem.
So although I am open to the possibility that the problem is somewhere at my end, I think it is unlikely. All my sites with this host seem to have this same issue, and none with any of the other web hosts that I use. In either case, what I am looking for is some intelligent suggestions.
But so far I have not been able to get an intelligent response -- even though it has been happening on and off for about a week now. I get the standard response: "Have you tried this, have you tried that..." all of which imply that the problem must be at my end, and none of which give the impression that they are actually thinking about what is going on.
Having been there myself quite a few times, I can sympathize with the technical support person's dilemma. But in my experience, most tech support people have seen these problems before, and they probably know the answer. It is just very difficult to get them to actually focus on your issue.
**Reliability starts with a Customer-First Attitude
This has a direct bearing on the "reliability" of this host. Service people often take the attitude that if they stall long enough the problem will go away. And, yes, sometimes it does go away.
But on the other hand, I think they usually stall because they are just too stretched out to be focused on your little insignificant problem. In other words, they are not sufficiently "customer-focused" on me to solve my specific issue.
This is when web host "reliability" takes a hit. And it is when customers start thinking hard about changing hosts. While the tech person is stalling you are wasting time trying to get your blasted website to work. And more often than not, getting it to work just takes a little bit of effort on the part of the tech team at the other end.
This merely confirms what marketing people have been saying for years about "customer service". Customer service is important in every business, and at every stage of the sales and delivery process. Your sales and accounting people must be customer focused. Your production people must be customer focused. And your tech support people must be customer focused too.
Unfortunately many web hosting tech support people just do not understand this. They often consider themselves superior to their clients. And they have been able to get away with shoddy, unfriendly service because it is just too inconvenient for clients to change hosts.
Thankfully this is changing. There is enough step-by-step information available to help make a host change, and many hosts will actually help you trasfer your domain to their system.
**Making Your Choice Based on Customer Service
Unfortunately there is no completely fool-proof way to know in advance where you are likely to get good, reliable, customer-friendly service.
You can try looking at web host review sites to get some comparisons between hosts. But unfortunately many of these sites are themselves not reliable. For one thing, they are usually trying to resell hosting services, so the "reviews" are often tainted. For another, if they contain comments and reviews by the public, these can also be manipulated. Some hosts will post bogus reviews praising their own services and criticising those of their competition.
You can also scan web hosting forums for comments and recommendations. These seem to be generally reliable, but are still open to the kind of manipulation mentioned above. And since things change so quickly in the web hosting business, comments made a year ago about a specific web hosting company will probably be out of date.
My own preference is to look closely at the website of the host itself. If it is overly technical and confusing I usually move on. That usually suggests, to me at least, that the focus of this host will be on technicalities, that it may be difficult to navigate their support system, and I may have difficulty getting plain and simple answers to my inquiries.
A simple layout with a minimum number of customer-oriented products and an easily-accessed support system suggests the company is customer-focused. I also recommend contacting the customer help desk in advance of ordering just to see what kind of reception I get.
I also look for testimonials from real web hosting customers. Make sure they are clearly identified with names, physical addresses, and website addresses. If you really want to be aggressive, you might contact some of these people directly.
Of course I agree that none of this is fool-proof. But given the highly competitive nature of the web hosting business, all other things being equal, a simple, straightforward customer-focused approach is what you should be looking for in a web host.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Efficient Web Hosting For The Private Or Small Business Website
In the increasingly competitive world of virtual territory, keeping a website up and running efficiently is an important task. Welcome the web host: your website’s new home and source of constant, high speed internet connection. With this important role, when seeking the right web host you’ll no doubt want to locate a company that does quality, cheap web hosting. In addition, for small business owners and personal website owners, it is important to understand the concept of shared hosting, along with its benefits. Ideally and realistically, the web host should provide a constant and rapid connection, while keeping the prices low.
The word cheap hosting is as attractive to the consumer as the flame is to a moth. Thus, it is important to confirm that the web host’s service is as competitive as its prices. Clearly, a small business or personal site owner will seek out a competitive price, which is important. In this highly competitive industry, prices should be moderate, especially for the small business owner. A web host should offer packages specific to the business’ needs. There is no reason to pay for an extensive package, most of which will be money thrown out the window.
While sharing always was one of the toughest lessons to be learned in youth, shared hosting is a welcome lesson. It implies having a website on a server that serves multiple sites. It is beneficial because sharing a server is not like sharing your favorite candy bar – it is more like sharing an office building. Renting only the space needed is wiser and more practical than renting the entire office building. Thus, putting a website on a shared server will result in great savings with an efficient web host.
Beyond price, of course, is the service provided. Check the web host for their willingness to assist with any sort of problems that may arise with the website. The era of websites is still in its youth, and many computer users are still in the learning stages of their creation. Thus, someone who is learning about website construction should not feel abashed to approach their web host with questions and problems. The web host is responsible not only for the site to run smoothly, but also for the site owner to feel smooth about its operation. Response time to problems is vital, as a web host that is quick to help will be one that ensures the efficiency of the site itself, and thus fewer problems for visitors to the site.
Web hosts are responsible for keeping websites running efficiently on the web, especially when visitor traffic is high. A good web host will offer its services inexpensively. The consumer will be wise to consider shared hosting. Both economical and practical, with a good host, it is a very efficient way to run a site. Lastly, as are all good hosts, a web host should be available for his clients and should have good response time to clients’ needs and concerns. This type of package, without loads of extra features and price tags, is the best package for a website owner to look for in seeking out an appropriate web host.
The word cheap hosting is as attractive to the consumer as the flame is to a moth. Thus, it is important to confirm that the web host’s service is as competitive as its prices. Clearly, a small business or personal site owner will seek out a competitive price, which is important. In this highly competitive industry, prices should be moderate, especially for the small business owner. A web host should offer packages specific to the business’ needs. There is no reason to pay for an extensive package, most of which will be money thrown out the window.
While sharing always was one of the toughest lessons to be learned in youth, shared hosting is a welcome lesson. It implies having a website on a server that serves multiple sites. It is beneficial because sharing a server is not like sharing your favorite candy bar – it is more like sharing an office building. Renting only the space needed is wiser and more practical than renting the entire office building. Thus, putting a website on a shared server will result in great savings with an efficient web host.
Beyond price, of course, is the service provided. Check the web host for their willingness to assist with any sort of problems that may arise with the website. The era of websites is still in its youth, and many computer users are still in the learning stages of their creation. Thus, someone who is learning about website construction should not feel abashed to approach their web host with questions and problems. The web host is responsible not only for the site to run smoothly, but also for the site owner to feel smooth about its operation. Response time to problems is vital, as a web host that is quick to help will be one that ensures the efficiency of the site itself, and thus fewer problems for visitors to the site.
Web hosts are responsible for keeping websites running efficiently on the web, especially when visitor traffic is high. A good web host will offer its services inexpensively. The consumer will be wise to consider shared hosting. Both economical and practical, with a good host, it is a very efficient way to run a site. Lastly, as are all good hosts, a web host should be available for his clients and should have good response time to clients’ needs and concerns. This type of package, without loads of extra features and price tags, is the best package for a website owner to look for in seeking out an appropriate web host.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Cheap Web hosting
Your quest for cheap web hosting has finally come to an end, because if you keep reading you would get to know not only how to find cheap web hosts around every corner on the internet but also how to find cheap web hosts who are also good service providers, have a large customer database, extensive support and professional security, too good to be true? Read on.
Balance is the key, find the balance of services and the price they are offered at. Finding the right balance makes the most difference. The problem with most web hosting beginners is that it is not as easy task all the time to find a web hosting provider with proper balance. But if you are looking for a web hosting providers who are in your pocket’s range and you still want to make the best of them, look for the following elements, which you must acquire in your affordable package to get the maximum out of your web hosting experience.
The four ‘S’ of cheap web hosting, the Speed, Security, Services and Support.
Speed:
Speed is the first and foremost factor to be considered when buying a web hosting package that already seems compromised in financial terms. How to tell if your web site is going to be speedy enough ‘before’ purchasing the web space? simple, just observe the downloading and response speed of the web hosting provider’s web site, which obviously (and its never wrong) is hosted on their own web servers. If the provider’s web site is working fine and loading fast and is very responsive then chances are that by choosing those hosts, your website would have the same attributes.
Security:
Now if you don’t have corporate money in your pockets, do not mean you have to compromise on the security of your data, and your website. Security is a key issue when deciding to chose a web host. Read as much as is available on the host’s web site about their security measures and preferences. Talk to their customer representatives and ask them questions about their security. Find out about some of the previous customers of the company and send them and email requesting information about the web hosting performance of the said company. Gather as much information as you can, remember, the more you know, the more secure you are.
Services:
Your affordable web host must offer you some of the very essential services without any additional fees. These services would include features like Control Panel; the front-end software to manage the whole of your account in a point and click manner, additional domains, sufficient disk space, comfortable bandwidth, email addresses, built in scripts and programs e.g. the message board, website statistics. Some web hosts even provide search engine submission services on very low cost shared web hosting solutions. So what is basically required here is just a proper research on the available options and their comparison with each other.
Support:
And last but not least is the support. The web hosting support must be 24/7 and the service must be online with beginner help and FAQs. This ensures that the web host have a huge customer database and they are manned enough to cater to the needs of there customers and offer them quality product and services not to mention top notch security. Though you must not forget to document all the contact information about your web host off of their website and somewhere with you, this is because incase of a web server downtime you would know where to contact the web hosts off site, because there own web site may probably be hosted on the same web server and may be down along with all the rest of the websites.
When you find all the above specifications along with a good price in a web host you would definitely know that you have finally found a good web host. You would be certain about this discovery of yours when you have the best speed, top security, user friendly interface, option of additional scripts and software and the most important, you would be happy about the price.
I have reviewed and experienced many web hosting providers. I have used expensive and cheap and found out that some of the very best ones were the cheap ones. So you must also be always on the hunt for the next best company out there offering just a tad more than what you are getting now, maybe in the same price or maybe even in less because they do exist. Go ahead and do your basic research to find a cheap web hosting company with all the above qualities, that way you will not only just save money, you will be having a rare and pleasant time doing it all.
Balance is the key, find the balance of services and the price they are offered at. Finding the right balance makes the most difference. The problem with most web hosting beginners is that it is not as easy task all the time to find a web hosting provider with proper balance. But if you are looking for a web hosting providers who are in your pocket’s range and you still want to make the best of them, look for the following elements, which you must acquire in your affordable package to get the maximum out of your web hosting experience.
The four ‘S’ of cheap web hosting, the Speed, Security, Services and Support.
Speed:
Speed is the first and foremost factor to be considered when buying a web hosting package that already seems compromised in financial terms. How to tell if your web site is going to be speedy enough ‘before’ purchasing the web space? simple, just observe the downloading and response speed of the web hosting provider’s web site, which obviously (and its never wrong) is hosted on their own web servers. If the provider’s web site is working fine and loading fast and is very responsive then chances are that by choosing those hosts, your website would have the same attributes.
Security:
Now if you don’t have corporate money in your pockets, do not mean you have to compromise on the security of your data, and your website. Security is a key issue when deciding to chose a web host. Read as much as is available on the host’s web site about their security measures and preferences. Talk to their customer representatives and ask them questions about their security. Find out about some of the previous customers of the company and send them and email requesting information about the web hosting performance of the said company. Gather as much information as you can, remember, the more you know, the more secure you are.
Services:
Your affordable web host must offer you some of the very essential services without any additional fees. These services would include features like Control Panel; the front-end software to manage the whole of your account in a point and click manner, additional domains, sufficient disk space, comfortable bandwidth, email addresses, built in scripts and programs e.g. the message board, website statistics. Some web hosts even provide search engine submission services on very low cost shared web hosting solutions. So what is basically required here is just a proper research on the available options and their comparison with each other.
Support:
And last but not least is the support. The web hosting support must be 24/7 and the service must be online with beginner help and FAQs. This ensures that the web host have a huge customer database and they are manned enough to cater to the needs of there customers and offer them quality product and services not to mention top notch security. Though you must not forget to document all the contact information about your web host off of their website and somewhere with you, this is because incase of a web server downtime you would know where to contact the web hosts off site, because there own web site may probably be hosted on the same web server and may be down along with all the rest of the websites.
When you find all the above specifications along with a good price in a web host you would definitely know that you have finally found a good web host. You would be certain about this discovery of yours when you have the best speed, top security, user friendly interface, option of additional scripts and software and the most important, you would be happy about the price.
I have reviewed and experienced many web hosting providers. I have used expensive and cheap and found out that some of the very best ones were the cheap ones. So you must also be always on the hunt for the next best company out there offering just a tad more than what you are getting now, maybe in the same price or maybe even in less because they do exist. Go ahead and do your basic research to find a cheap web hosting company with all the above qualities, that way you will not only just save money, you will be having a rare and pleasant time doing it all.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Web Hosting - Choose Affordable, Cheap Web Hosting
The Basics:
Web hosting offers you the opportunity to put your web site online, when you think about it; it’s the only way you can do it. No matter how large or small in content your web site happens to be it has to go onto a web server. A web server is simply a larger and much more powerful computer than your own. Your internet content simply sits on this server for people to access and view your information. The web servers are stored within data centers, all you are simply doing is renting some space on the server.
Why use a web hosting service:
Firstly it’s very affordable. Web hosting companies will look after and update all software required to maintain your site, they will also add all security patches making sure your content is safe from hackers/viruses and unwanted spam. Once you register your domain name (web site name) you have to have it hosted for the public to view your information. If you run into any difficulties you will have a full technical support team to help you out. To host your own will cost too much on hardware, bandwidth and ongoing software updates.
I hear of shared web hosting – What is it?
When shopping around for a web host company you will find that many are offering shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is simply a server that has a number of different web sites sitting on it simultaneously. You will be allocated a certain amount of disk space on the server and this may allow you to have a number of web sites hosted on the one server. Shared web hosting is a very secure service even though you could be sharing the server with many different companies. No other company will have access to your files. Many people think that using a shared service will make the web site act very slowly, this is totally incorrect, the information will be displayed and downloaded equally as fast as if it where on the server on it’s own. Web host companies offer shared hosting simply to use up all the space on the server, there is no benefit to you or them having empty hard disk space.
What makes a good web host site?
If you have developed a web site for business opportunity or to sell merchandise online you need reliability. Downtime costs you money so the less downtime you experience the better chance of making money. You need to compile a list of questions to ask the web host company when it comes to hosting your site. You need a guarantee response time if the unthinkable should happen and the site goes offline. You need 24 hour access to your files with 24 hour support if you intend selling products online, most of your sales could be made in the evening or night time so you have to have support for any issues that could arise. Statistics are also important; you need to know how many unique hits (people visiting your site) you are getting so you can see the trend of people just visiting to those who are buying. Some web host companies offer very substantial stats while others can be less informative, you should ask for a demonstration.
Word of mouth is a great way to hear as to who is a good host and a bad host. If you know somebody in a similar position to you, ask their opinion from their experience. There are plenty of good honest web host companies out there but like every market there are a few bad apples. Ask the questions and make sure you are confident with the replies before you join up.
Will it matter if I host my web site in my own country or in another?
Generally speaking no. If you are happy with your questions answered and the company have 24 hour support to allow for time differences you should have the same level service as if the web host company was based just down the road. Some people think that by hosting their website outside of their registered country they will lose their domain identity, this is false e.g. if I was based in Ireland and I had a computer website it would be something like www.computerparts.ie The .ie is the identity of Ireland but if I wanted this site hosted in the US I would still keep the .ie, there is no need to change to .com. That’s the great thing about web hosting, the world is your oyster and you can shop online globally until your are truly happy with the service.
Web hosting offers you the opportunity to put your web site online, when you think about it; it’s the only way you can do it. No matter how large or small in content your web site happens to be it has to go onto a web server. A web server is simply a larger and much more powerful computer than your own. Your internet content simply sits on this server for people to access and view your information. The web servers are stored within data centers, all you are simply doing is renting some space on the server.
Why use a web hosting service:
Firstly it’s very affordable. Web hosting companies will look after and update all software required to maintain your site, they will also add all security patches making sure your content is safe from hackers/viruses and unwanted spam. Once you register your domain name (web site name) you have to have it hosted for the public to view your information. If you run into any difficulties you will have a full technical support team to help you out. To host your own will cost too much on hardware, bandwidth and ongoing software updates.
I hear of shared web hosting – What is it?
When shopping around for a web host company you will find that many are offering shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is simply a server that has a number of different web sites sitting on it simultaneously. You will be allocated a certain amount of disk space on the server and this may allow you to have a number of web sites hosted on the one server. Shared web hosting is a very secure service even though you could be sharing the server with many different companies. No other company will have access to your files. Many people think that using a shared service will make the web site act very slowly, this is totally incorrect, the information will be displayed and downloaded equally as fast as if it where on the server on it’s own. Web host companies offer shared hosting simply to use up all the space on the server, there is no benefit to you or them having empty hard disk space.
What makes a good web host site?
If you have developed a web site for business opportunity or to sell merchandise online you need reliability. Downtime costs you money so the less downtime you experience the better chance of making money. You need to compile a list of questions to ask the web host company when it comes to hosting your site. You need a guarantee response time if the unthinkable should happen and the site goes offline. You need 24 hour access to your files with 24 hour support if you intend selling products online, most of your sales could be made in the evening or night time so you have to have support for any issues that could arise. Statistics are also important; you need to know how many unique hits (people visiting your site) you are getting so you can see the trend of people just visiting to those who are buying. Some web host companies offer very substantial stats while others can be less informative, you should ask for a demonstration.
Word of mouth is a great way to hear as to who is a good host and a bad host. If you know somebody in a similar position to you, ask their opinion from their experience. There are plenty of good honest web host companies out there but like every market there are a few bad apples. Ask the questions and make sure you are confident with the replies before you join up.
Will it matter if I host my web site in my own country or in another?
Generally speaking no. If you are happy with your questions answered and the company have 24 hour support to allow for time differences you should have the same level service as if the web host company was based just down the road. Some people think that by hosting their website outside of their registered country they will lose their domain identity, this is false e.g. if I was based in Ireland and I had a computer website it would be something like www.computerparts.ie The .ie is the identity of Ireland but if I wanted this site hosted in the US I would still keep the .ie, there is no need to change to .com. That’s the great thing about web hosting, the world is your oyster and you can shop online globally until your are truly happy with the service.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Things you should know about Web Hosting
Some people or a lot of people knows what Web Hosting means, for those people that don't know what Web Hosting means I'm going to help you to understand more about Web Hosting. First Web Hosting is a service that some companies provide to users or people that want to have a web site online. If you are planning to have a web site or already have one web site, then you should ask yourself this questions; How big is my web site? How many people are going to visit my site? What programming language I want to use for my site? and how much money I'm want to spent? After you answer all the questions you'll have a better idea on what type of Web Hosting you need for your web site.
If you are not a webmaster or a programmer and you want to have your web site, I have good news for you. You don't need to be a programmer or a webmaster to have your web site up and running in a short period of time. Web Hosting companies have tools and software like CMS (Content Management System) which its already a site that have a lot of modules and templates that are ready for you to use. If you are a webmaster or a programmer the only thing you need to do is make sure that the company you are looking for Web Hosting support the programming language that you are going to use.
Make sure that you read and review all the information from the web hosting company since normally if you want to save money you need to pay a whole year in advance.
If you are not a webmaster or a programmer and you want to have your web site, I have good news for you. You don't need to be a programmer or a webmaster to have your web site up and running in a short period of time. Web Hosting companies have tools and software like CMS (Content Management System) which its already a site that have a lot of modules and templates that are ready for you to use. If you are a webmaster or a programmer the only thing you need to do is make sure that the company you are looking for Web Hosting support the programming language that you are going to use.
Make sure that you read and review all the information from the web hosting company since normally if you want to save money you need to pay a whole year in advance.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Advantages Of Cheap Virtual Dedicated Server
Most webmasters started off using single domain hosting or shared web-hosting services. Shared web hosting means you share a server with dozens of other webmasters. Typically, shared web hosting plans allows you to have more than 1 domain per shared web hosting account with a predetermined hard disk space and bandwidth. The cost is usually pretty low. You only need to pay around 3-10 dollars per month.
Although it is cheap to host your website on single or shared web hosting accounts, there are many disadvantages you should be aware of.
By the nature of shared hosting, the server resources are shared among many websites, therefore it is very easy for resources such as CPU and memory to be used up quickly. Certain types of websites such as proxy sites are known to generate high CPU utilization, therefore if your website is on the same server, be advised there is a possibility of your website going down. Spam complaints against other sites on the same server will also affect your website. Any form of denial of service attack against someone else hosting can impact on the uptime of your website.
Also some web hosting companies over packed too many hosting accounts on one server causing the server to be slow and sluggish. The end result is your website is up but takes too long to load and display properly.
How can you do to avoid this issue?
Years ago, the only solution is to get a dedicated server. However, nowadays you can get a cheap virtual dedicated server for less than 30 dollars a month.
A cheap dedicated virtual server or VPS allows you to run your sites as if you own the server virtually. In reality, the dedicated server is spilt into multiple virtual dedicated servers. The main advantage is that each virtual dedicated server has control over it’s own resources such as CPU, RAM etc. So each virtual dedicated server is totally isolated from other virtual servers and will not be affected if other webmasters bring their servers down.
Some web-hosting providers also have unmetered bandwidth, which is a plus.
So Are There Any Disadvantages in having a virtual dedicated server?
There are not many major disadvantages except for cost. It will cost a little bit more on hosting. The other disadvantage is you need to be technically proficient in administering the server. However, some web-hosting providers also can provide managed virtual dedicated server. It means they will help you to manage the server. Examples are routine server maintenance, security patches etc.
With increased speed and reliability from using cheap virtual dedicated server, you will rest easy that your websites are always up while you are sleeping.
Although it is cheap to host your website on single or shared web hosting accounts, there are many disadvantages you should be aware of.
By the nature of shared hosting, the server resources are shared among many websites, therefore it is very easy for resources such as CPU and memory to be used up quickly. Certain types of websites such as proxy sites are known to generate high CPU utilization, therefore if your website is on the same server, be advised there is a possibility of your website going down. Spam complaints against other sites on the same server will also affect your website. Any form of denial of service attack against someone else hosting can impact on the uptime of your website.
Also some web hosting companies over packed too many hosting accounts on one server causing the server to be slow and sluggish. The end result is your website is up but takes too long to load and display properly.
How can you do to avoid this issue?
Years ago, the only solution is to get a dedicated server. However, nowadays you can get a cheap virtual dedicated server for less than 30 dollars a month.
A cheap dedicated virtual server or VPS allows you to run your sites as if you own the server virtually. In reality, the dedicated server is spilt into multiple virtual dedicated servers. The main advantage is that each virtual dedicated server has control over it’s own resources such as CPU, RAM etc. So each virtual dedicated server is totally isolated from other virtual servers and will not be affected if other webmasters bring their servers down.
Some web-hosting providers also have unmetered bandwidth, which is a plus.
So Are There Any Disadvantages in having a virtual dedicated server?
There are not many major disadvantages except for cost. It will cost a little bit more on hosting. The other disadvantage is you need to be technically proficient in administering the server. However, some web-hosting providers also can provide managed virtual dedicated server. It means they will help you to manage the server. Examples are routine server maintenance, security patches etc.
With increased speed and reliability from using cheap virtual dedicated server, you will rest easy that your websites are always up while you are sleeping.
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