Web Hosting

The cheapest web hosting examined

2008-04-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

There are several hosting websites that can be found on the internet search engines to facilitate any personal web hosting need. These providers facilitate the upload of your web content and make it very affordable to create a personal site.

As a standard you will be supplied with free web hosting tools that will allow you to edit and improve your site easily. Even with the cheapest web hosting you will get a hosting package that will give you a pretty big hard drive space and lots of free email accounts. In addition you will find that you will get a fairly big bandwidth allowance which you will in all likelihood not need to use up.

Many people who chose the cheapest plans on the net just want to upgrade from an unreliable free web hosting provider that had more down time than uptime. These customers will find that many of the cheapest web hosting providers on the net actually are very professionally run businesses which provide a high uptime for your site and respond quickly and knowledgeably to any support queries you may have. The level of support is good enough for hosting small e-commerce sites or online communities. Once they get bigger you will have to upgrade your hosting of course.

On these plans which you will find at www.cheap-webhosting.in you will get a feature rich programming environment which will give you the liberty needed to design complex programs with programming languages such as PHP, Ruby, Perl, or Python. Many successful blogs or web businesses and online communities have developed on the cheapest web hosting plans and I received feedback from many webmasters who have built up sites with traffic in excess of 100,000 unique visitors every month.

The web hosting companies that were researched to find the cheapest web hosting all share an excellent customer reputation and have a flawless track record in the web communities. Most hosts are based in the US and offer their customers support 24/7 via email, live chat and in many cases an online forum.

About the Author

The author has mainly written for hosting related sites which are some of the webÂ´s best resources on cheapest web hosting features

Monitor Your Web Site for Downtime

2008-04-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

For those in the Internet business the availability of their web site is a major concern. The cost of downtime for web businesses can amount to $10,000 an hour. And this is without counting the losses caused by missed opportunities and lost sales. Losses in image and credibility these businesses suffer because eventual downtime is even harder to quantify.
Many of today's web hosting providers offer 99% uptime for their web servers. If you have already chosen one or if you are planning to use one with such a high uptime should you be concerned on the whole matter anyway?
Let's see how much 99% uptime means. For a 30-day month you have a total of 720 hours. 99% of this is 712.8 hours. Are you comfortable with your web site taking a day off every month? And this if 99% uptime happens. Can your web hosting provider back up its uptime promises with real facts? How can you tell that?
For companies making business online it might seem a good idea to move their Internet operations in-house. They develop their own infrastructure, hire specialized personnel, only to keep their business online. The cost of such an enterprise would seem rather high for the ones seasoned in the Internet business. Why? Because of the high cost implied: around $20,000 a year, without even thinking of the logistical burden.
The best way to avoid that while ensuring your business is online is to have monitoring reports available on your web host's uptime.
For companies or individuals having their web hosting providers monitored by a third party is a guarantee not only that their money is well spent, but also, an most importantly, that their Internet business is up and running.
Having their services monitored by a third party is beneficial even for the web hosting providers. That is serious web hosting providers. Offering reports of their uptime monitored by a third party and placing links to them on their home page is bound to boost the confidence of existing customers as well as the one of the prospecting customers in the quality of service that host is providing for its customers.
This is a not only a great marketing tool, but also translates to very good customer relationship. This is vital to web hosting providers as the cost of attracting a new customer is from 5 to 10 times higher than the cost of retaining an existing customer.
Having monitoring reports, even better if they are provided by a third party, available on the host's web site is sure to reduce the burden on the technical support center. Many calls to technical support centers from customers regard dial-up problems such as slow connection, download times, web site accessibility or various computer issues that are often related to the personal computer of the customer rather than are problems on the host's side. This is why the number of calls to the tech support center could be reduced up to a third simply by posting the monitoring reports on the hosting provider's web site or by simply providing a link to them.
As shown above, when talking about downtime problems the stakes are high in the Internet business. Disputes regarding the uptime will never be missing between the web hosting provider and its customers, and their resolution is almost every time a delicate issue. This is why independent monitoring provided by a third party can make the resolution of these disputes much easier for the conflicting parties.
Having a web host that provides monitoring of its uptime by a third party is the best guarantee that you can get for your web site's uptime. With such level of service you can be sure that the money you are spending for your web presence can give your or your company the best return of investment.
Calin Indre is editor at HostPinPin (http://www.hostpinpin.com
), a Cheap Web Hosting Directory. HostPinPin.com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company. Providing web hosting articles, tips, web hosting reviews, compare web hosting plans, free web hosting guide, free hosting quote, web hosting glossary and more.
This article may be reprinted or published without the authors consent as long as the "About" and "weblinks" are kept intact.

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Asp Net Web Hosting

Budget Web Hosting

Canadian Web Hosting

Cheap Web Hosting Php

Web Hosting Solutions In Birmingham

2008-04-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

Once you have a website you then need to think about hosting your site. There are many hosting companies offering different fees, therefore it can be quite difficult in finding the best deal.
There are many avenues to explore to find this best deal. I would advise asking the company who designed the website, if they know of any hosting companies which they could recommend.
Alternatively you can search the internet using a search engine like Google.
If you have a large number of websites which you need hosting for it is worth considering a reseller account. This is where you pay, normally a yearly fee, and are allowed an unlimited number of websites on the same server.
I myself have a large number of websites and use http://www.fasthosts.co.uk for my hosting. They charge £500 annually and this works out to be a lot cheaper than having individual hosting accounts for each of my websites.
There are other companies out there offering a similar service to fasthosts, however this is a company I was recommended to use, and I have had no problems with them as yet.
The only negative I could mention about fasthosts is that at times when you phone their customer services hotline, you are kept waiting quite a long time before you get to talk to an advisor.
A lot of the questions are though answered at their control panel, therefore it is quite rare that I have needed to phone them.
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including http://www.insomnia-symptom.co.uk and http://www.meditation-symptom.co.uk

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Internet Domain Registration - Establishing and Transferring Your Domain Name

2008-04-10T06:42:00.001-07:00

If you're in business, one of the most important things to you may be your ability to establish an internet presence. Operating some type of functional web site for your business helps your customers find you, can present additional marketing opportunities through e-commerce, and offers advertising opportunities that you can not get elsewhere. Companies that do not have a web site lose business to companies that do all the time.
Of course the real key to your web site is the internet domain registration. Everybody wants www.mybusiness.com - the problem is that domain names are unique and can be taken by anyone. If you don't register your desired domain name right away, someone else could take it. The fact is that internet domain registration can turn into a sneaky competitive game. In many cases business owners have gone to register a domain name and found that it had been registered years before they every started the company by some group that is in the business of registering domains and then turning around and selling them for exorbitant rates.
A humorous story came from the 2005 municipal election in North Las Vegas, Nevada when one candidate realized that the incumbent mayor had not registered an internet domain name. The incumbent registered the mayor's name dot com and as many variants of it that he could come up with, literally stealing the Mayor's plans for a web site out from under him. The tactic didn't win him the election, but the candidate managed to annoy the mayor quite a bit and still owns the internet domain registration names to this day.
The key to avoiding these sorts of problems lies in early registration of your desired domain name. If you find the one that you want (or a close variant of it), register it immediately. Even if you're not prepared to set up a web site yet or won't be for several years, register the domain right away anyway.
Registering a domain name before being ready to set up its web site will require the domain name being transferred to the servers of your desired host when you are ready to establish the site. Transferring the domain name once you have selected a web host is a very simple process, but does require you to establish the change with both the registration company and the new host. The new host will provide you with the server information that you, in turn, will need to provide to the company with whom you originally registered the domain. There may be a short waiting period (typically 24 to 72 hours) while both servers get the information updated. Once that process is complete, you'll have your domain safely residing on your host's servers and your site (as long as it's been built) will be ready to go.
The internet domain registration and transfer for your business web site is a simple process and can be completed through automated online systems in most cases. Clearly the most important part of this process is the registration of the domain name and this should always be done as soon as possible, even if it is going to be years before you're ready to get the actual web site up and running.
John Michaels is a freelance author for WebHostPacks.com where he regularly publishes articles on how to find a cheap web host and reviews of low cost web hosting services.

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Web Hosting Services

Web Hosting Solution

Web Hosting Solutions

Web Hosting Uk

Free Web Hosting

2008-04-10T06:41:00.001-07:00

There is no concept of free lunch in the world, this is exactly true when we talk about free Web hosting for the webmasters. Before going ahead we must talk about what hosting exactly is; Hosting is the process of storing files onto a web server so that it can be accessible to viewers through a web browser.
A lot of new webmasters have to face the decision of choosing the right host for their website and what attracts them is free web hosting that is available all over the internet worldwide. But as mentioned earlier, the free web hosting never comes as FREE as it may sound, it comes with its own limitations such as lack of autonomous domain name.
For the new webmaster, the choice of finding the best host may be very much difficult and even in the case of free hosting providers; the decision is to get the most out of them as most of these free webhosts try to get benefits from those webmasters who plan to use their services. Besides been some limitations, the use of a small server place and non-ability of using the FTP clients, no domain name, lot of ads from the web company and very low benefits may be faced when looking for a free hosting. The webhosts thus try to cover their costs by displaying their ads or some other companies.
Whenever you look for the decision of finding the free web hosting, then there are a few things that one must consider, what is your requirement, what the web host is offering, how much space they are offering, any statistics, what domain name they offer, do they offer the ability to use your own domain name or provide name servers, do their provide email address capability, what sort of ads that they put on your website and where they put that? All these questions are very much important to be answered completely in order to decide the hosting service that you choose for free.
As far as the requirement is concerned, today websites are either static or dynamic, most of the free hosts provide static webhosting and if your website is dynamic then you will have to look for a host that gives you the ability to host your website with the scripting languages that you have used. Very less free hosting companies provide dyamic services and those who do provide have a lot of limitation, like no database availability and stuff like that. Similarly, the requirement is concerned with the space that they are providing, most free webhosts provide from 5MB-50 MB of web space depending upon various other factors, the more space that you use, the more benefits the web hosting company would take from you. Most of the free hosts don't provide the use of your own domain names as it hinders their own benefits in this way. So, most of the times the web address that your website is uploaded becomes www.yourname.freehosting.com or www.freewebhosting.com/yourname
Besides giving the long URLs, another big issue of these free web hosts is their reliability which is always in question. It is often termed that most of the free host providers are one who have old servers and give free space so as to cover the cost by getting free advertising by providing space. That is why most of the free web hosts don't assure you that servers will be running 24 hours a day without frequent breakdowns? Similarly, these free webhosts don't offer a good bandwidth, hence you may be in a problem if your website is popular and it gets beyond the server bandwidth limit and it will block your website till next month.
So, keeping all the factors in mind, free web hosting is not bad, if you are just trying your hands out on the web and want to explore without paying much. Free web hosting have its own set of limitations but are extremely helpful for the newbies to make their impressions on the web.
Yasir Nisar is a 25 years old poet, writer, freelance journalist, script writer, director, software engineer and web master of many websites. He has been writing when he was in his early teens and till then he has written thousands of articles, tens of poems, have handled edited many magazines, directed as well scripted many shows and music videos. He has been handling and managing his own software house where he specializes in web marketing, web development, web promotion and technical writing. He can be reached at yani@yasirnisar.com or at his website http://www.yasirnisar.com

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Sender Policy Framework (SPF) - How to use it to Fight Email Forgery

2008-04-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

Spam is a real problem today. Forged email is a big part of the spam problem. Have you ever received a spam email from yourself? How many times have you received an email you know to be spam from someone only to find out it came from an invalid email address? When you try to block the email by choosing block sender, the spammer simply changes the email address to another variation and gets through the block. Until recently, there wasn't much you could do about it. Now there is.
What is Sender Policy Framework (SPF)?
SPF makes it easy for a domain, whether it's an ISP, a business, or a school to say that they only send mail from certain machines. If any other machine is claiming to send mail, they are lying. SPF aims to prevent spammers from ruining other people's reputation. When your machine receives an email from another server that has implemented SPF, your machine can easily tell if the incoming email really comes from the server it says it belongs to. More information about SPF can be found at http://spf.pobox.com/
By implementing SPF in your favorite application or on your server, you can be sure that a spammer will never be able to impersonate you when spamming others. Most well known domains and email applications have already implemented SPF on their servers and products. Some examples of vendors that are already implementing SPF into their products include Sophos, Symantec, Declude Junkmail, Brightmail, IronPort, Ciphertrust, MailArmory, MailFrontier, Roaring Penguin Software, Communigate Pro, and others.
Ready to fight email forgery? Install applications that support SPF today and get protected from email forgery!
This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/, a web hosting company that specializes in helping online business owners increase their website traffic. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely as long as you link back to my website from this resource box.

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Solving Common Problems with Hosting Companies

2008-04-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know what a "host" is. It's a company that provides a location, or address, on the Internet where your Web site resides.
In other words, just like a physical business needs an address, so does a Web site. You can't have a Web site and just "stick it up" on the Web. Unless you want to set up your own server, you have to go through a hosting company who gives you that address, including server space and bandwidth, that enables the search engines and visitors to find your site.
Let's look at some common problems we often have with hosting companies:

You can never find an actual person to talk to! They may have a 24-hour customer service line open, but you can never get through to a real person.
Hosting companies often think that the "lowest price" will always get the sale, but they fail to realize that what people really want is excellent customer service, servers that are up almost 100% of the time, and a variety of services that come with the hosting package.
Many hosting companies don't provide any other functionality other than Web site hosting. They don't provide a "control panel" full of goodies such as PGP secure e-mail, shopping carts, log analysis, database creation, etc.
Guess what? Technical support people often don't make the best "customer support" people. They may be technical gurus, but their main interest lies in their high tech servers and other functionality, rather than solving the simple problems of their customers.
In other words, weak customer service is a major problem with the majority of hosting companies these days.

Solution:
I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Combustion Hosting Company, and to say I was impressed is a vast understatement.
Here are some things that struck me as unbelievable. When the phone rings, whoever answers the phone is required to stand up to answer it and talk. After all, the sheer act of standing up requires that they're on the ball and are listening to your problems and concerns. And, you actually speak to a "real" person!
With Combustion, if you have a problem, they don't just "tell" you how to solve it, they solve it for you! Also, their services certainly aren't limited to "hosting." They can set you up with an account to where you can access the Internet through local access numbers no matter where you travel.
Their prices are extremely reasonable - much better than I had been paying previously. Plus, the "extras" I've received by going with Combustion are amazing.
But the one thing that makes Combustion shine over most Web hosting companies is their devotion to providing good customer service, and this is an area in which they truly excel.
So, if you're in the market for a new Web site, or if you aren't pleased with your current host, consider Combustion Hosting. It will be one of the smartest moves you could ever make for your Web site. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo
If you want further proof as to the benefits of using Combustion, read: http://www.techvibes.com/absolutenm/templates/template.asp?articleid=39&zoneid=2
About The Author
Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com) and is the content provider for GRSeo software (http://www.se-optimizer.com). She also teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).
robin@searchengineworkshops.com

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Web Hosting Com

Web Hosting Companies

Web Hosting Company

Web Hosting Free Domain

Finding a reliable hosting provider

2008-04-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

The website hosting business is very competitive these days
with hundreds of thousands of reliable hosting companies out there but what
company is best for your needs and that will provide you with a reliable hosting
service from customer support to the reliability of there web servers.
The following is what is the most important aspects you
need to consider when choosing a web hosting provider:
1)Customer Service - Customer service is a very
important aspect of any host if not the most important you will need to check
there reliability by:- Seeing if they have a 24 hour contact phone number
-FAQ section on there website to help you with the most common
questions such as what are name servers?
-Ticket support to answer any non urgent questions that you might
have
-Live support isn't essential but it is useful for quick help
2)Servers-The serer are the most important
part of a web host since without them they can be a host.
-Here are some useful tips for
finding a fast reliable server to host your site:
-The processor speed (CPU) e.g. Intel Pentium 2.8ghz (anything over
1.5ghz is sufficient)
-Memory (RAM) at least 512mb of ram
-Space this will all depend on your website needs if you are just
starting at least 500mb is enough
-Bandwidth this will all depend on how many visitors your planning
to visit your site in any given month. I would say that 5000mb will be more than
sufficient for any small website.
-Operating system - Linux is the better and cheaper option for any
website and is said to be better than windows in a web server environment. But
if you are required to use any windows scripts such as .asp you will need to use
the windows server
3)Customer Testimonials - See if other customers have
voted for the web host on popular hosting directories or have made comments on
the services that are offered by the host on there website.
These are the most important aspects that people look for
in finding a web hosting provider these days and don't be afraid to pay a bit
more than other companies as this usually reflects the service they offer but
also don't be fooled.

GOOD LUCK
Martin is the owner of many websites and is experienced in website development. Martin's newest website in his portfolio is his Search Engine Directory called SearchWIZ.org - webmasters add you link free

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Web Design And Hosting

Web Design Hosting

Web Hosting And Domain

Web Hosting Canada

Choosing Between Free or Paid Web Hosting

2008-04-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

There are a number of things to consider when choosing between a free or paid web hosting service. Setting aside cost for a moment, lets look at some factors that will help you make an informative decision.
The very first thing you must consider is the intent or purpose of your website. Are you looking for a convenient way to share photos of family and friends? Or, are you considering something a little more complex such as adding multiple pages with different content on each? How about a website to promote a product or business?
The purpose of your website will act as a key component in determining which type of web hosting service is best suited for you. For example, if your website will be used primarily for personal postings, your file sizes aren't very large and you don't expect a lot of traffic, you won't require a lot of disk space or bandwidth for your hosting.
If this is the case, a free web hosting service may meet your needs. Free web hosting services are also useful if you're inexperienced in creating web pages. This type of service can provide an excellent opportunity for you to learn and practice your html skills. You could even use a free service as a test site before uploading your web pages to your live website.
Keep in mind that most free web hosting services provide limited features compared to paid web hosting services, but normally offer enough disk space and bandwidth to host a small website. To help offset costs, though, most free providers will place advertisements on your web pages.
With paid hosting, you'll find a variety of available plans to choose from. These plans allow more disk space and bandwidth, and usually include a number of other features such as free domain names, free sub-domains and unlimited email accounts. Some of the more advanced common features are a CGI-Bin, MySQL databases and Microsoft FrontPage extensions.
Compared to free web hosting, you'll also find that the services provided by paid web hosting companies are much more reliable, not to mention offering a higher level of customer support.
Cost wise, there is no charge to register for a free web hosting service, although you may be required to purchase your own domain name. For a basic paid service, you can expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $10 per month - a very small price for the improved service, support and features you receive.
John Purdy is the owner of 1st Web Hosting Plans. We maintain a current directory of affordable web hosting providers and other website resources for personal internet users, online marketers and business owners. We also have directories dedicated to business and free web hosting. Visit us today at http://www.1st-web-hosting-plans.com

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Top Web Hosting

Buyer Beware: Web Hosting, Registration, and Site Building All in One Package Nightmares

2008-04-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Starting out in any type of online marketing or Internet business can be confusing and overwhelming. There are so many different aspects of a start-up: domain name registration and purchase, Web site host purchasing, and of course, the "building" of the Web site itself. This leaves many consumers looking for an easier way to purchase everything in one place, both to save money and to save time.
This has led to the rise of "total packages" by many hosting and Internet development companies, where everything is included: domain-name registration, software for design of a site or an online method of building a site, professional design of the site, and of course, the hosting. This is quite popular as it whittles down the process of getting a site up and running for many new to the Internet and online marketing.
However, with the convenience of Web-hosting packages of this sort, there also can be inconveniences. No road is paved "with gold" and this type of registration, hosting and design package deal is no exception. There can be problems that surface later on when purchasing a Web design and hosting package that also includes registration. These problems usually present themselves in the following forms:
1. Once a Web site becomes popular, the hosting charges may rise exorbitantly, as the "special" that was presented initially can become inapplicable once a certain amount of traffic or the size of the site changes. This is more of a problem for larger business sites than for smaller business sites or "personal" or "theme" sites.
2. Some "specials" only exist for a limited amount of time, and the charges can rise steadily after that period.
3. A Web site owner may have different needs as time goes on, and the "package" no longer suits the needs of the owner. This can include the inability to change the pages on one's own, or the inability to effectively track traffic, as some come with traffic statistics packages.
4. Downtime (when a site is down and can't be viewed) can be significant enough to warrant a change of hosts or domain name registrars.
5. A Web site, registration, and web hosting package company may go out of business, leaving a client with no way to contact them, and three services to quickly replace. This also leaves a site open to loss of the registered domain name, as well as loss of revenues while the site is "down".
6. A contract may exist which states that the "special" prices are only offered contingent on remaining with a certain company for a specified amount of time (which may be years).
7. The actual "name" of your site may not even be registered to "you" the perceived "owner", but to the hosting and registrar company that initiated the purchase through the package deal. This how the Web site hosting, design and registrar packages "save" money many times for consumers, as they "buy in bulk", registering hundreds of sites per month.
All the above seem simple enough to rectify. Simply "switch" the Web site, hosting, and domain name registrar to that of other companies.
This is the point, however, in which "trouble" can rear its ugly head. Some hosting and domain name registrars seem reluctant to "hand over" a site to any other company, as it does mean the loss of a customer and therefore, revenue, for themselves. The current hosting company and registrar may likewise delay a transfer, or refuse to provide sufficient information to a new host or registrar to effectively conclude a transfer. It becomes even more tangled, if the name of a site has been registered to them.
This is where it is possible for a "nightmare" of subterfuge regarding a site to begin. Sometimes, after numerous contacts, with no reply, a Web site owner will realize that the switching of the site has become a real battle.
Here's an actual real life example of a friend of mine, Katheryn:
After much downtime had occurred, Katheryn wrote to the initial hosting company, and domain name registrar, stating her disappointment in the service. A rather nasty letter was received in reply, telling her that she could either "like it or lump it" and that there was not anything they could do, as a contract was in place that could not be "broken" by any means. The language of the e-mail correspondence was rude and uncalled for, and a phone number was not provided anywhere for more personal contact, neither was the name of the support person that wrote the e-mail.
The site remained down consistently, as well, over the next few weeks, forcing Katheryn to sign up for a different hosting plan with a different host, and also re-register the domain with another registrar. Luckily for Katheryn, the registration of the site was in her name, and a new name did not need to be purchased. At the time of import, however, the previous "problem" host refused to initiate a transfer, claiming that the contract remained intact, and therefore the site could not be transferred. The new hosting company had to "maneuver" the site onto it's own servers without the cooperation of the previous company, costing the client more time and money than was necessary.
For months afterward, Katheryn was billed repeatedly by the previous hosting company for monthly hosting, even though a site no longer existed on their servers, and they were in essence hosting "air" at this point. Copies of all correspondence had to be sent to the billing service to "dismiss" this recurrent billing, which was the only option left to Katheryn at this point.
I'm sure there are many people like Katheryn who at one time or the other have gone through such ordeal.
Some possible methods of avoiding the "trap" of packages such as this:
1. Read all paperwork and contracts thoroughly. The fine print is indeed, very "fine" sometimes, for a reason, and reading everything thoroughly will save frustration and misunderstandings later.
Above all, make sure that the registration will be done in "your name", as the loss of a popular name, with a large amount of traffic, is a HUGE loss. Or better still, register your domain name yourself. With so many online domain registrars, it's very simple to register a domain name online. The only thing you need to do once you have bought a hosting package is change the "name servers" through the control panel provided by your domain registrar.
If at all you are not satisfied with your hosting company and would like to shift to a different company, simply change the name servers to point to the new company. That's it!
2. Make sure there is a contact phone number and physical address for correspondence with the companies if the need should arise. As in the case of Example #1, the lack of a phone number and physical address was detrimental to effective correspondence and resolution.
3. Take the time to research different plans and different companies. If at all possible, ask to speak to some of their other clients to ensure that they are indeed sensitive to the needs of their own customers and are flexible enough to adapt to changes in a site over time.
4. Take the time to correctly ascertain your own needs and the needs of any site you'll be building. The package needs to "fit your needs" explicitly.
5. If at all possible, use different providers for each stage of a Web site: hosting, domain-name registrar, site building. It does take longer to get a site up and running with this method, but the overall control that you will have over the site is well worth the extra effort, usually. If one provider proves to be a disappointment, it is easier to replace one service, rather than try to replace everything at once.
As you can easily see, sometimes "time saving" strategies are not really that, and can lead to heartbreak and headaches. As with everything else, "slow but steady" wins the race, and it does pay to take the time to initiate each stage of a Web site individually.
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/
An online community of people who work at home.

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Frontpage Web Hosting

Internet Web Hosting

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Low Cost Web Hosting

Web Hosting - How To Choose The Right Provider For You

2008-04-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Thousands of companies, tens of thousands of different plans and only a few of them are really suitable for your web site and for your online needs.
This is what you are confronted with when choosing a web-hosting provider.
Nowadays being part of the informational revolution that the Internet has brought along, it is compulsory for a business and also for individuals. No need to explain here why having a web site out there on the World Wide Web is such a must, instead we're only going to point out a few things related to choosing an adequate web host for your web site.
As complicated this entire business might seem, once you know what to look for, it's really easier to find it.
Analyze your requirements and stick to them
When evaluating their needs in terms of space and bandwidth many inexperienced web owners often buy more than they will ever need. As this is unbelievably common, many web-hosting providers size their web servers taking this into account and actually over sell the space and bandwidth thinking that customers will never make full use of it. To avoid web hosts that result to just that or crowed their web servers to get an extra profit per customer, simply ask them their client per server ration. As a diligent buyer, you should do this with all the other companies you find interesting to do business with and are eligible to host your web site.
A web site is almost like a living creature. It grows. So try to leave some room for it, don't just buy a web-hosting plan that will fit your needs just perfectly. Buy a little more so when the time comes to expand you would have the resources available. Think of the possibility that your initial bandwidth evaluation proves itself insufficient. You might find yourself in the position not to be able to use your web site because you have exceeded your bandwidth. So leave margin for error too.
Most web hosting plans come packed with features and some even offer pre-installed scripts and programs that might come handy for both knowledgeable and less knowledgeable web owners.
As you could consider any extra feature a plus, don't forget to look for the things you actually need like the OS (Operating System) or the PHP support. You decide what you need, don't let the provider talk you into something you don't want or is less than you have expected.
Support - can you get enough of it?
Support is something you might overlook when you consider an offer that suits you in terms of space and bandwidth and is packed with all the other features you will ever going to need. It might be good to understand that the road to all those features goes through Support city. If the web-hosting provider is careless about the support he offers to his customers, any technical problem concerning your web site could be solved only after long hours of waiting and making plenty of irritating support calls.
To test the quality and the responsiveness of the support personnel, e-mail them some pre-sales questions. Is the response fact enough for you? Imagine that your web site is down and your company is just attending a congress? many clicks are expected, but is your web site online to get them? Is the response you are getting from the support team thorough or is it merely scratching the surface? Is the response easy to understand for you?
A provider concerned about the quality of his support, would make available as many as possible ways to communicate with its clients. So find out as much as you can about its online support staff, help desk, message boards etc.
Information on the reputation of a web-hosting provider is something you might find on forums or discussion boards. Any disgruntled customers there? Would you like to be one?
Reliability is another aspect of the problem. Ask for the uptime of the company's web servers. Some hosts offer an uptime guarantee, usually 99.9% (100% is not a realistic figure in the computer world). The guarantee means that if your web site is not available 99.9% of the time, you will be refunded the money for that month or you will receive free web hosting for a month as compensation for your web site being unavailable.
Price
Well, true it's paid web hosting and this means you have to pay for it. My advice would be don't try too hard to find the cheapest possible web host. You will probably end-up wasting an incredible amount of time and is very likely that within two weeks after you have bought it, you will stumble upon a better deal. Apart from the irony of it and the loss of time, cheaper is not always better.
The other extreme, paying big money to get what you could have gotten for less is equally bad. At $50 for 200 MB of space with 2 GB of bandwidth you are definitely getting robbed, but the same service for $5 or $10 is a good deal.
The thin line between a profitable and, why not, enjoyable web presence and a nightmare with slow server response, unreachable support and irritating server downtime is drawn by you. By you choosing the web-hosting provider.
Choose carefully: there can be only one a few that will live up to their promises and deliver for you good quality web hosting!
Calin Indre is editor at HostPinPin (http://www.hostpinpin.com), a Cheap Web Hosting Directory Resource. HostPinPin.com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company. Providing web hosting reviews, articles, tips.This article may be reprinted or published without the authors consent as long as the "About" and "weblinks" are kept intact.

See Also

Business Web Site Hosting

Dedicated Server Web Hosting

Dedicated Web Hosting

Domain Name And Web Hosting

Making a choice of ISP to host your website

2008-04-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

Choosing a quality ISP (Internet Service Provider) is an essential aspect of deploying website. It is essential because it can ensure that the visitors of your website have fulfilling buying experience and do not leave the website because of encountering “Page Cannot Be Displayed” error. There can be many reasons for this error but most of the times it’s because of the server on which the site is hosted is not able to cater to multiple request for pages of the website at one point of time. Many times is happens that to cut down on cost people opt for hosting there website on FREE servers, from the point of view of cutting down costs it is good decision but the darker side is that all the effort you have done in developing your website and bringing it on a good position is search engine results goes for a toss. If people are not able to access your website due to error messages instead of page being displayed then the site is of no use. A free hosting provider will not provide you with backup and even will not ensure maximum up-time because it is not providing paid services and will be least bothered about how critical your website is for your business. Thus I never suggest going for FREE hosting because it costs to your business. The question might come that if no free hosting provider, and cost is a factor, plus always running website is requirement, then with all these conditions how can one make a choice for reliable service provider for hosting the website? Well there are many ISPs providing web hosting services, and nature of the website being deployed and how much you expect your website to add to your business will define the hosting provider you should chose. To generalize following could be factors that can be considered while choosing a web host for your website: - • Since how long the ISP is in this business and how many websites are hosted on there server. • Percentage of uptime is your ISP ensuring. • Does ISP provide customer support, if yes is it free or they charge a fee for it. • What polices the provider has to take care of emergency issues, like the site going down at odd hours of the day. • Do they offer features to upgrade the hosting, if yes can they do it without making the site go down. • What is configuration of the server on which the site will be hosted. • How much bandwidth the ISP will provide for your website • What all Scripting Languages and Database support is offered by the web host and does it matches with the language you have opted for developing your website. • What are the additional software packages the ISP is offering with hosting • What does others say about the services of the ISP – Testimonials. Thus if you are planning to deploy a website for your business then you have to be very conscious while choosing the web host. I do not recommend going for free web hosts in case you plan to deploy a website for your business, yes it can be a good choice if you are deploying a personal website and it does not have to do anything with your business. Maneet Puri having an extensive experience of web based applications has assisted him to implement various knowledge driven process for his clients, and at the same time he provides consultancy to his clients for their website maintenance. With this expertise he has successfully added KPO and website maintenance as verticals to the Web Development company he is heading.

See Also

Web Hosting Tutorial

2008-04-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

How does the Web work? How can I make my own Web Site?

What is a Web Host? What is an Internet Service Provider?

What is the World Wide Web?

The Web is a network of computers all over the world.
All the computers in the Web can communicate with each other.
All the computers use a communication standard called HTTP.

How does the WWW work?

Web information is stored in documents called web pages.
Web pages are files stored on computers called web servers.
Computers reading the web pages are called web clients.
Web clients view the pages with a program called a web browser.
Popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

How does a Browser Fetch a Web Page?

A browser fetches a page from a web server by a request.
A request is a standard HTTP request containing a page address.
An address may look like this: http://www.someone.com/page.htm.

How does a Browser Display a Web Page?

All web pages contain instructions for display
The browser displays the page by reading these instructions.
The most common display instructions are called HTML tags.
HTML tags look like this This is a Paragraph
.

If you want to learn more about HTML, please visit our HTML tutorial.

What is a Web Server?

The collection of all your web pages is called your web site.
To let others view your work, you must publish your web site.
To publish your work, you must copy your site to a web server.
Your own PC can act as a web server if it is connected to a network.
Most common is to use an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

What is an Internet Service Provider?

ISP stands for Internet Service Provider.
An ISP provides Internet services.
A common Internet service is web hosting.
Web hosting means storing your web site on a public server.
Web hosting normally includes email services.
Web hosting often includes domain name registration.

Summary

If you want other people to view your web site, you must copy your site to a public server. Even if you can use your own PC as a web server, it is more common to let an Internet Service Provider (ISP) host your site.

Included in a Web hosting solution you can expect to find domain name registration and standard email services.

You can read more about domain name registration, email and other services in the next chapters of this tutorial.

Web Hosting Providers

If you want your web site to be visible to the world, you have to store it on a web server.

Most small businesses and companies store their web site on a server provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Hosting Your Own Web

Hosting your web site on your own server is always an option. Here are some problems to consider:

Hardware Expenses

To run a "real" web site, you will have to buy some powerful server hardware. Don't expect that a low cost PC will do the job. You will also need a permanent (24 hours a day ) high speed connection to your office, and such connections are expensive.

Software Expenses

Don't forget to count the extra cost for software licenses. Remember that server licenses often are much higher than client licenses. Also note that some server software licenses might have limits on number of concurrent users.

Labor Expenses

Don't expect low labor expenses. Remember that you have to install your own hardware and software. You also have to deal with bugs and viruses, and keep your server constantly running in an environment where "everything could happen".

Using an Internet Service Provider

Renting a server from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is a common option. Here are some advantages:

Connection Speed

Most providers have very fast connections to the Internet, like full T3 fiber-optic 45Mps connections equivalent to about 2000 traditional (28K) modems or 1000 high speed (56K) modems.

Powerful Hardware

Service providers often have many powerful web servers that can be shared by several companies. You can also expect them to have an effective load balancing, and necessary backup servers.

Security and Stability

Internet Service Providers are specialists on web hosting. Expect their servers to have more than 99% up time, the latest software patches, and the best virus protection.

Things to Consider

24-hour support

Make sure your Internet service provider offers 24-hours support. Don't put yourself in a situation where you cannot fix critical problems without having to wait until the next working day. Toll-free phone could be vital if you don't want to pay for long distance calls.

Daily Backup

Make sure your service provider runs a secure daily backup routine, otherwise you may lose some valuable data.

Traffic Volume

Study the provider's traffic volume restrictions. Make sure that you don't have to pay a fortune for unexpected high traffic if your web site becomes popular.

Bandwidth or Content Restrictions

Study the provider's bandwidth and content restrictions. If you plan to publish pictures or broadcast video or sound, make sure that you can.

Email Capabilities

Make sure your provider fully supports the email capabilities you need. (You can read more about email capabilities in a later chapter)

Front Page Extensions

Make sure your provider fully supports FrontPage server extensions if you plan to use FrontPage to develop your site.

Database Access

Make sure your provider fully supports the database access you need if you plan to use databases from your site. (You can read more about database access in a later chapter)

Hosting and Domain Names

A Domain Name is a unique name for your web site.

Choosing a hosting solution should include domain name registration.

Your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to type.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is a unique name for a web site, like microsoft.com and w3schools.com.

Domain names must be registered. When domain names are registered they are added to a large domain name register, and information about your site - including your internet IP address - is stored on a DNS server.

DNS stands for Domain Name System. A DNS server is responsible for informing all other computers on the Internet about your domain name and your site address.

Registering a Domain

Domains can be registered from domain name registration companies such as http://www.dotdnr.com.

These companies provide interfaces to search for available domain names and they offer a variety of domain name extensions that can be registered at the same time.

Domain Name Registration provides registration services for .com .net .org .biz .info .us .nu .ws .cc and .tv domains.

Newer domain extensions such as .biz .info and .us have more choices available as many of the popular domains have yet to be taken. While .com and .net domains are well established and recognized, most popular domains with these extensions are already registered.

Choosing Your Domain

Choosing a domain is a major step for any individual or organization.

While domains are being registered at a record, new domain extensions and creative thinking still offer thousands of excellent choices. When selecting a name it is important to consider the purpose of a domain name, which is to provide people an easy way to reach your web site. The best domains have the following characteristics:

Short - People don't like to type! The shorter your domain, the easier it is to reach and the less are the chance the user will make a typographical error while typing it.

Meaningful - A short domain is nothing without meaning, 34i4nh69.com is only 8 characters long but would not be easy to enter or remember. Select a domain that relates to your site in a way that people will understand.

Clear - Clarity is important when selecting a domain name. You should avoid selecting a name that is difficult to spell or pronounce. Also, pay close attention to how your domain sounds and how effectively it can be communicated over the phone.

Exposure: Just like premium real-estate on the ground that gets the most exposure, names that are short and easy to remember are an asset. In addition to humans viewing your domain, you should consider search engines. Search engines index your site and rank it for relevance against terms people search for online. In order to maximize your sites exposure, consider including a relevant search term in your domain. Of course, this should only be considered if it still maintains a short, clear and meaningful domain.

Sub Domains

Most people are unaware but they already use sub domains on a daily basis. The famous "www" of the World Wide Web is the most common example of a sub domain. Sub domains can be created on a DNS server and they don't need to be registered with a domain registrar, of course, the original domain would need to be registered before a sub domain could be created. Common examples of sub domains used on the internet are http://store.apple.com and http://support.microsoft.com.

Sub domains can be requested from your web hosting provider or created by yourself if you manage your own DNS server.

False Domain Names - Directory Listings

Some providers will offer you a unique name under their own name like: www.theircompany.com/yourcompany/

This is not a real domain name, it is a directory - and you should try to avoid it.

These URLs are not desirable, especially for companies. Try to avoid them if you can afford to register a domain. Typically these are more commonly used for personal sites and free sites provided by your ISP, you may have seen www.theircompany.com/~username as a common address, this is just another way to share a single domain and provide users their own address.

Open competition in domain name registration has brought about a dramatic decrease in pricing so domain sharing is far less common since people can register their own domains for only $15 per year.

Expired Domains

Another source for domain registrations is expired domains. When you register a domain, think of it as a rental, assuming there are no legal or trademark issues with the domain name, you are free to use it as long as you continue to pay the yearly fee (you can now also register in advance as many as 10 years). Some people register domains as speculators, hoping that they can later sell them, while others may have planned to use a domain and never had the time. The result is that domains that were previously registered regularly become available for registration again. You can see, and search through a list of recently expired domains for free at http://www.dotdnr.com. If you wish to register an expired domain you pay the same fee as you would for a new registration.

Use Your Domain Name

After you have chosen - and registered - your own domain name, make sure you use it on all your web pages and on all your correspondence, like email and traditional mail.

It is important to let other people be aware of your name, and to inform your partners and customers about your web site.

Hosting Capacities

Make sure you get the disk space and the traffic volume you need.

How Much Disk Space?

A small or medium web site will need between 10 and 100MB of disk space.

If you look at the size of HTML pages, you will see that the average size is very small. Maybe even smaller than 1KB. But if you look at the size of the images (button, gif, banner, jpg) used inside the pages, you will often find images many times larger than the page itself.

Expect each HTML page to take up between 5 and 50KB of disk space on your web server, depending on the use of images or other space consuming elements.

If you plan to use lots of images or graphic elements (not to mention sound files or movies), you might be needing much more disk space.

Make sure that you know your needs before you start looking for your web host.

Monthly Traffic

A small or medium web site will consume between 1GB and 5GB of data transfer per month.

You can calculate this by multiplying your average page size with the number of expected page views per month. If your average page size is 30KB and you expect 50,000 page views per month, you will need 0.03MB x 50,000 = 1.5GB.

Larger, commercial sites often consume more than 100GB of monthly traffic.

Before you sign a contract with a host provider, make sure to check this:

What are the restrictions on monthly transfer
Will your site be closed if you exceed the volume
Will you be billed a fortune if you exceed the volume
Will my future need be covered
Is upgrading a simple task

Connection Speed

Visitors to your web site will often connect via a modem, but your host provider should have a much faster connection.

In the early days of the Internet a T1 connection was considered a fast connection. Today connection speeds are much faster.

1 byte equals to 8 bits (and that's the number of bits used to transport one character). Low speed communication modems can transport from about 14 000 to 56 000 bits per second (14 to 56 kilobits per second). That is somewhere between 2000 and 7000 characters per second, or about 1 to 5 pages of written text.

One kilobit (Kb) is 1024 bits. One megabit (Mb) is 1024 kilobits. One gigabit (Gb) is 1024 megabits.

These are connection speeds used on the Internet today:

Name	Connection	Speed per second
Modem	Analog	14.4-56Kb
D0	Digital (ISDN)	64Kb
T1	Digital	1.55Mb
T3	Digital	43Mb
OC-1	Optical Carrier	52Mb
OC-2	Optical Carrier	156Mb
OC-12	Optical Carrier	622Mb
OC-24	Optical Carrier	1.244Gb
OC-48	Optical Carrier	2.488Gb

Before you sign up a contract with any hosting provider, surf some other web sites on their servers, and try to get a good feeling about their network speed. Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option.

Web Hosting Tutorial

See Also

Web Hosting

Affordable Web Hosting

Business Web Hosting

Cheap Web Hosting

Domain Name Web Hosting

Ecommerce Web Hosting

Free Web Hosting

Web Hosting Domain