Web Hosting Information

How To Find A Dependable Web Host August 4, 2008

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 11:32 am

Your new website is ready to upload, and now you need a web host. Or perhaps you already have a web host, but uptime and support are lacking. Of the thousands of web hosts to choose from, how do you find one that you can depend on? Know what can go wrong and what to watch out for, and research prospective web hosts carefully.

What can go wrong with web hosting

Too much downtime

Problems happen, and even when they dont, server maintenance results in a minimal amount of downtime. A dependable web host not only maintains servers well, but also monitors the servers and fixes problems immediately. With the type of web host you want to avoid, however, your site may be down for days.

Features that dont work

When your email doesnt work, your business shuts down. Problems with databases and other features can also slow down or stop your business. Most web hosts understand this, but some dont place a high priority on keeping not only your site online but everything working as well.

Poor support

Dependable web hosts answer tech support questions within hours. Other web hosts, however, have been known to take days. And when those responses come, sometimes theyre canned responses that dont address the issue.

Poor communication

Support people with good communication skills help keep problems from becoming bigger problems. Being told, Everything looks fine here, so the problem is solved, leads to frustration. So is having your site shut down because it used too many resources rather than the web host contacting you about the problem first.

Billing problems

Even after you cancel your account, problems may continue. Some less-than-dependable web hosts dont honor their refund policy. Others dont stop automatic billing after the account is cancelled.

What to watch out for

When you see the following at web host websites, consider them red flags to warn you of possible problems.

Unsustainable pricing

If the pricing looks too good to be true, it probably is. Is it enough to pay for server maintenance and tech support? You get what you pay for.

Unlimited bandwidth

Nothing is really unlimited. If you sign up for an account offering unlimited bandwidth and then use a lot of bandwidth, expect to have the plug pulled on your site. The web host may find another explanation for discontinuing your account, but unlimited typically means as long as you dont use a lot.

An unprofessional-looking website

Consider how much effort the web host put into providing a usable website with informative content. Does it give you confidence in the web host, or is it full of unsubstantiated statements and grammar and spelling mistakes? A web host doesnt need to be a spelling expert, of course. But if the company hasnt put much effort into telling you about their services, will they be conscientious about meeting clients needs?

How to research web hosts

Finding web hosts is easy enough. Search engines can take you to the websites of thousands of web hosts. But after youve narrowed down your list by features and price, how do you find out which web hosts are dependable?

Read web host package details and TOS

If the hosting packages offer huge amounts of disk space and bandwidth for very low prices, consider yourself warned. Dont expect the company to have enough money for maintenance and support.

If you want to be sure that you can get a refund if you want one, check what the Terms of Service (TOS) says about refunds.

Read the web host forum

What is the ambience in the forum? Are clients questions answered satisfactorily? Dont be concerned if you see problems; instead, be concerned if you dont see any problems. Some web hosts remove posts that dont show their company in a positive light. If posts about problems remain in the forum, you can observe how the host handles problems.

Read web host reviews

Client feedback at the web hosts site may or may not be valid. Its possible for hosts to make up feedback, and some have even copied feedback from other sites. Look for feedback with links to the clients sites, and check via http://www.Whois.sc to see if the particular web host actually hosts that site.

Numerous forums allow people to post web host reviews. When you read reviews, consider the posters credibility. Some people bash their hosts just because theyre unhappy about something. If the host posts in response to a problem, observe how the host tries to resolve it.

Check the company background

The About Us or Company Background page at the web hosts site should answer these questions.

How long has the company been in business? A new company may be excellent, but its good to keep in mind that a lot of businesses fail within the first year.

Does the company publish a privacy policy? Does this policy clearly protect clients privacy?

Where are the servers located? Ideally, they should be in a datacenter, and not in someones basement.

What are the server uptime statistics? If the web host doesnt publish a link to a server uptime monitor, ask for a link to one. Uptime of about 99.7 percent or higher is generally considered good.

Does the company publish an address? You may never need it, but when youre placing your company website in another companys hands, you want to know that the company is legitimate and accessible.

Email pre-sales questions

Answers to your pre-sales questions tell you a lot about the web host. Youll see how fast the company responds and how well they communicate. Ask questions about any of the above points as well as questions specific to your needs.

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Finding a dependable web host takes time, but dealing with problems and moving your site takes more time. The time spent looking for a dependable web host is a worthwhile investment.

About the author: Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. http://www.websitesource.com. Her established writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years.

Web Hosting 101 July 27, 2008

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 11:32 pm

The Internet is probably one of the most valuable tools of communication that man has ever invented in the last decade. Since time immemorial, man has been constantly in communication with the world around him. From his dear relatives, to his favored peers, and even with the environment that he lives in. And this would not be possible without the people equipped with the knowledge of web hosting.

Because of this, man is in perpetual communication. Since then communication has always been associated with the words time and urgency. This was true because the time element in delivering the post was crucial especially during the great American Civil War. Responses were held at a minimum of two weeks for the replenishment of arms and men, and the element of time was always taken into consideration.

And because of this need, man further developed and pushed forward with the ultimate goal of delivering messages at the fastest time possible. Through the hardened effort of the people inside and outside the field of communication various ways of reaching people and places were invented and discovered throughout the development of the modern society.

Telegrams and telegraphs, Morse code messages, short wave radio frequency, and eventually the telephone, the mobile phone, the computer and of course the Internet. Throughout the ages, the internet was the most real time form of letter delivery system man has ever invented. Emails or electronic mails can circumnavigate the world over a hundred times in just one day. And the number of people being connected by the World Wide Web is truly enormous.

Because of this, there are certain times of the day when the internet service providers here and around the world are forced into disallowing some people access to the connection because of the massive traffic the information superhighway has to carry on a single line. This technology has reached far more people than what was originally thought of. Since a lot of people regularly go online to surf the net, shop, research, meet people and just plain hang out and chill, the idea of putting your business online is a very practical idea. On a regular day almost half of waking world go online at the almost the same time. What this could possibly mean to a business person is that the market they are after can be reached at a bigger scope at one time. And that being the case putting a SALE sign on the information superhighway would make lots and lots of waves for your business. The key there is to go online and find a company that can do web hosting for your business.

Web hosting by the way, is the way of uploading your web site or webpage to the internet. This is done by looking for a web hosting service and having your webpage uploaded through their server. The server will carry your webpage just like putting up a store or a house on a vacant lot. Web hosting is the lot. To have your webpage web hosted instead of putting up your own is the most practical way to do it.

One because, maintaining a running server for your website alone can cost more than what you really want to spend. But to look at the brighter side of things, having a web hosting firm do this for you can transform those internet surfers into potential sales. The advantages of having your business hooked up online through web hosting companies are numerous; one is that web hosting is actually much more practical than to launch an all out advertising campaign through conventional and traditional means.

Just try to remember some of the important things when trying to look for a good web hosting company. Look closely at the web hosting contract because some of these offer a trial period so make sure you take advantage of the free web hosting period.

Wayne Haines makes it easy to find and understand web hosting, quickly & easily. To learn the essential keys to web hosting that you must know visit be a web host then further your knowledge at advanced web hosting

Affordable Web Hosting Why Longevity Matters

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 7:32 pm

Today everyone is promising affordable web hosting. But did you know that recent studies have shown that the number of web hosting providers operating today is upwards of 40,000?

These companies all proclaim to offer affordable web hosting and they range from the biggest global names, Fortune 100 companies, to tiny Mom & Pop entrepreneurs who are trying to take advantage of the ever-decreasing costs of starting an internet business.

Pop Quiz

How many of the 40,000 web hosts do you think were in business 5 years ago?

There are many factors contributing to the relative youthfulness of the industry, not the least of which is the low cost of entry which makes it possible for just about anyone to set up shop as a cheap web host.

It is also one of the most highly competitive industries in existence today. Consequently, the weaker players, those who lack any combination of financial strength, personal commitment, or the vision and creativity to lead the industry rather than follow, are doomed to failure before they even begin.

Fight your own battles

Its going to be hard enough to make your own business succeed on the internet. The last thing you should have to worry about is whether you will outlive your so-called affordable web hosting company.

Web hosting on demand - not quite yet

Think of a web hosting provider as you would a public utility such as the telephone company. While its simple to switch telephone service providers swiftly and with virtually no disruption to your business, its not yet so easy to move your web site to a new service provider without risking significant disruption to your online business.

Cheap insurance

A simple way to safeguard your online business against web host churn while still achieving your goal of affordable web hosting to choose one who is a recognized leader in the industry and who has been in business for a substantial amount of time. In net years, that means at least 3 to 5 years, preferably more.

Surprise

The good news is that, most of the time, you wont even have to pay a premium for going with a veteran web host. In fact, the ones who have been around the longest usually have the most going for them in terms of price performance.

This includes all the things you should be evaluating when making your hosting decision, such as the amount of storage and bandwidth, technical support capabilities, and the additional free services and tools that create significant added value for your online business.

Thats what affordable web hosting is all about!

What else?

A web hosting relationship is a marriage of sorts, one that should not be entered into lightly if you intend to run a successful online business. So along with longevity, another great trait shared by the very best web hosting companies is: reliability.

Anthony Hamill is the founder of Web-Host-Watch.Com which helps online business owners master the basics of web hosting. Get all the facts you need to find affordable web hosting plans including tutorials, tips on avoiding common mistakes, a glossary of web hosting terms, and a web hosting review that profiles the web hosts who provide the best overall value in each hosting category.

Boost Web Host Market Share With Hosted Applications July 7, 2008

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 4:47 pm

Web hosting companies are continually searching for new hosting plans and services to help differentiate them from the thousands of other web hosts. It is a difficult market to stand out in, with worldwide competition growing at an exponential rate. Hosting companies typically focus on one of the following factors to sell their hosting plans:

Server Size

Speed of the Server

Size of the datapipe

Storage Space

User Friendly Control Panels

Competetive Pricing

Over the past decade, Web Hosting companies have successfully marketed these different plans and features. But with the growth of competition, there is very little a Web Host company can do to stand out from his competitors. Like Computer hardware, Hosting has now evolved into a commodity market, making it difficult for hosting companies to charge a premium for their services. Over the last two years, Host companies have doubled and tripled the size of hosting plans while decreasing prices, in hopes of retaining their client base. This method of marketing works only to a degree, and as every Hosting Company offers larger and cheaper hosting packages to retains one’s customer base, reducing prices and increasing plans will work less.

So how can a Web Hosting Provider draw in new customers while retaining the old? Hosted Applications are the next wave of services that will demand a premium, and Web Hosts are just beginning to recognize this potential. Traditionally, web hosts gave the customer space on a server to do with as they pleased. With a hosted application, however, Web Hosts provide the customer with a website as well, at no additional cost! Website builder tools were the first hosted application that Web Hosts used. They are already becoming a commodity service which customers now expect to be included in most low cost hosting plans.

The real estate industry has been a pioneer in this area. There are canned real estate websites with all the functionality a real estate agent would need for his website. All an agent has to do is enter the company name and info, and bingo, they have a great website with email forms, mls listings, school information, etc. Custom building this website would cost an agent thousands of dollars, but instead agents are willing to pay a premium price for the hosting plan that allows them to build their own website. It saves them a large upfront cost in exchange for a slightly higher monthly hosting plan payment. Almost any small business could benefit from Hosted Applications, whether it be mortgage brokers, lawyers, insurance agents, doctors, or restaurants to name a few.

DotNetNuke and Ruby on Rails are two complete development platforms that are being offered as hosted applications. Website programmers now buy DotNetNuke hosting plans to do their web development instead of loading Frontpage on their desktop and building a website. Some of the biggest markets to tap for Hosted Applications are:

-Personal Homepages: Myspace is the largest of these, but it is simply a hosted application for personal websites. Nearly every teenager and college aged person in the USA is building or wants to build their own personal web page to store and share music, pictures, videos, and games. The rapid growth of Myspace can be seen as a model for the new web hosting company. With Hosted Applications, any Web Host Provider can offer a similar package to this high growth market.

-Blogs and Forums: These are another recent example of Hosted Applications. A site like Blogdrive.com can have a team of programmers build a hosted application targeted for a certain industry, blogs in this case, and then capture most of that industry while charging a premium to do so. This certainly seems like a better approach to capturing a larger market share of the Web Hosting industry than the continual doubling and tripling of storage and bandwidth for the same price.

- Storage for digital photos, videos, and mp3 files: Mediamax, Photosite, and Zorpia.com have all tapped this market, providing digital storage for their customer’s entertainment needs. There have been online drive applications developed for this area to store all of your files. These are just additional hosted application that any web host provider can offer.

In the larger picture, the software industry as a whole is moving away from applications being run on each individual user’s personal computer. This model leads to large support issues and less revenue. With so many users installing their own software copy and running it on their pc, a lot of support issues are generated, because every user’s pc has a different setup. If the application is run on a central server, however, and each user is given access to that server, support issues tend to fall dramatically. The software provider can also reduce software pirating, and charge the user a monthly fee instead of a onetime charge. A subscription model is very advantageous to the software industry. As software makers move toward the hosted application and subscription model, Web Hosting companies stand to gain a huge number of customers looking for these Hosted Applications. And Web Hosts can charge a premium for this service! This certainly is better than competing for commodity customers wanting to pay $5 per month for a vanilla slice of a server.

About the Author: Rachel Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including - HostChart.com, Reseller Web Hosting - ResellerConnection.com, Budget Web Hosting - FoundHost, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.

Hosting Service Providers And Identity Theft

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 4:47 pm

My Hosting Service, My Security Service: How much protection does your web host give you from identity theft…and how much can they?

There are laws now that protect us from identity thieves, sure, but oftentimes, by the time the law gets involved, the damage is already done. Your website may be defaced. Your name may be sullied. Your hosting service may have locked you out. You lose customers. You lose money. To recover, you have to regain lost ground, which also takes time and money. But what can you do to protect yourself? And can your web hosting service help?

In two words: they’d better. At the very least a hosting service in the age of spammers, hijackers, and hackers (oh my!) should at the very least have one or more firewalls protecting your data. They should also be able to offer you protection from Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, a common outcome of internet identity theft. Some hosting services may offer you a Virtual Private Network (at relevant expense, of course) for additional protection.

Your payment area should be completely secure, at the bare minimum promising SSL digital encryption of all incoming and outgoing data. You should also make sure the shopping cart your hosting service provides is compatible with the major online payment processing gateways, such as PayPal, NETeller, Citadel, FirePay Click2Pay, UseMyBank, and others.

Identity thieves will often try to access your hosting service account using the fruits of their thieving. Once inside, they can hijack your domain away from you or delete important files from your hosting service. If this happens to you, one thing to do is check the server logs of your hosting service to figure out the exact date and time that the theft occurred. Note the IP addresses involved in the action and contact the associated ISP. This alone won’t resolve the problem. But it’s a start.

If your email address is stolen, you may find you start receiving returned messages that you appear to have sent but which you know for certain you did not. Print each and every one of those messages out immediately and make copies — they’re evidence. Not only may they come in handy in tracing the source of the theft, but they may be the very things that keep your hosting service from terminating your account (if, for one hypothetical example, a thief uses your email address to send X-rated material).

The other immediate action to take if you ever suspect yourself of being a victim of internet identity theft is notify your hosting service, your ISP, and your domain name registrar. Any instructions they give you, follow. You could also file a police report (and probably should, at least to get the crime on record), but as it’s unlikely anything will come of it (at least not immediately), this should really only be done after you’ve first contacted your hosting service, ISP, and registrar.

Hosting-Review.com is the premier resource on web hosting. Visit http://www.hosting-review.com for comprehensive reviews and rankings of over 50 web hosting service providers, as well as informative articles about everything to do with hosting.

Without Multiple Domain Hosting Your Web Host Is Making You A Fool!

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 4:46 pm

If your web host only allows you to host 1 domain name with 1 hosting account, please read on to learn why you have been taken advantage by your web host!

Also, if you own multiple websites and you are hosting each of them with a different hosting account, you are paying too much! You can actually host all your websites into one single hosting account and save a lot of money. This type of hosting account is called multiple domain hosting account, which just get popular recently.

The web hosting industries are now switching to the next important trend. Many web hosts have started to offer multiple domain hosting account. What that means is that you can host multiple websites under 1 hosting account! You dont need to pay for a full account if you want to host more websites.

This is a very important trend because nowadays, most web hosts are offering incredible amount of disk space and bandwidth with their hosting account. Unfortunately, the client is only allowed to host one website with each giant hosting account. And the reality is that most clients don’t even use up to 10% of their disk space and bandwidth!

If you already have a hosting account, think about it, how much percentage of the disk space and bandwidth are you utilizing now?

I strongly believe that these web hosts are throwing in the big offer as a marketing strategy to attract the consumers by exploiting consumers ‘the more the better’ mindset. Consumers don’t realize that the ‘large space’ and ‘large bandwidth’ is practically useless, as they will probably never use most of the ‘advertised’ resources. They are simply being lured into the marketing gimmicks.

However, the story is rewritten when many web hosts begin to offer multiple domain hosting account. They allow you to host a few domain names under the same hosting account without the need to pay for more. These add-on domains that are hosted under the same hosting account actually shared the same disk space and bandwidth of the main hosting account. This way, you can fully utilize your allocated resources and receive full value of your invested money.

I dont need to be an oracle to predict that sooner or later, most other web hosts, including those big web hosting companies will have to follow the trend by offering multiple domain hosting accounts. It’s the future of web hosting as domain names are very cheap nowadays and many webmasters will usually want to have more than one website.

When the traditional ‘1 domain per account’ web hosts are not getting the same amount of sales they are getting today, they will have to consider offering multiple domain hosting accounts. If they don’t keep up with the trend, they will be eliminated.

About The Author
James Clark is a crazy internet guy. He sits in front of the computer 14 hours a day building a lot of money-making websites. His job gives him the opportunity to try out many web hosts and thus give him a lot of real experience. If you do not want to risk your business by picking the wrong web host, visit his website now to find out the best multiple domain hosting companies you can trust.

Three Reasons Why You Should Spend Some Time Choosing A Good Website Host

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 4:45 pm

Most people spend their energies looking for a great website designer, but often neglect to choose a good website host. For most people they start examining their web host carefully only when their website goes offline because their web host goes down. While we cannot prevent such an occurance totally, it will help if you choose a good website host. This article covers three reasons why you should spend some time looking for a good website host.

This article covers three reasons why you should spend some time looking for a good website host.

1.Lost of sales

Any business owner knows that when your website is down, you lose sales. Its that simple. Spending time looking for a good website host with minimum downtime is important as it can allow you a good rest at night knowing that your internet sales websites is running like it should.

Mary an internet business owner had a problem with her web host and true enough the web site server went down and her ecommerce website also went down with it. To add to her troubles, she was running a Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign with several Pay Per Click Search Engines like Google Adsense, Overture, Findwhat and she had to quickly disable all her ads until her website came online again. She later realized that she should have spent some time looking for a website host that was not only value for money but had a good reputation.

2.Lost of Advertising Revenue

Another business model online involves advertising and content related websites. These websites provide lots of free content but make money when people click on contextual and banner advertising on these websites. Some popular websites have many visitors a day and the loss of advertising revenue can be staggering.

Yahoo.com in a celebrated case was down one day after a massive Denial of Service Attack. Although it had nothing to do with a web host, we can all learn a lesson from this. If your website is advertising supported and advertising is your main monetization income stream then, you need to choose a website host that can ensure that it stays up and has a reliable connection to the internet.

3.Inability to grow your website

Another reason to choose a website host is that when most of us first startout online, we know nothing about web hosting features and choose the cheapest deal around. The problem with this is that the cheapest deal may not be the best deal and when you have a huge content website later and want to grow your website, you may find that your current web host is unable to provide the support for certain scripts.

John was one such internet business owner. He wanted to add a sql database for this new script that he was to get then the reality of the cost factor hit him. The web hosting company that he was using had only two plans and the difference in one extra website was to be $50. He later spent some time looking online for a better website host and migrated his entire network of websites to that web host. You may not be so fortunate, if your website is too large, sometimes it may be very difficult to migrate it to another web host. Thus you want to spend some time thinking about the long term growth of your website before you choose a web host.

In conclusion, choosing a web host requires some serious thinking as it can limit the growth of your internet commerce business. Hopefully the three points above have highlighted the importance of choosing a good web host and provided some examples of web hosts to avoid.

Best-web-host-directory.com is a full featured web host directory with articles and directory listings of the best web hosting and website building companies online.

Without Multiple Domain Hosting Your Web Host Is Making You A Fool!

Filed under: Articles — admin @ 4:44 pm