A server houses your website. In other words, your website is hosted on a server. Every server has an IP address comprising of four number segregated by dots. Hosting is of different types; out of which shared web hosting is one. It is one of the most preferred types of web hosting.

In shared web hosting, a number of websites are hosted on one server and share all the resources available on that computer system. The disk space and bandwidth are divided equally on a monthly basis among all the websites and share the same IP address.

However, the sites that consume the allocated disk space are shut down by the web hosting provider. This is done to ensure fair play to all the other websites hosted on the server. Any activity performed by the neighboring websites affects everything within the server. This reflects a kind of ‘domino effect’. For instance if one of the sites on the server runs a corrupted program/script, all other sites hosted on the same server start facing that problem.

Shared web hosting is relatively cheaper when compared to other types of web hosting. It happens due to the equal division of operating cost of one server among a number of websites hosted on the same server.

One of the prime elements of shared web hosting is system administration. The web hosting provider, while offering shared web hosting, controls and manages the server, installs all the required applications and does everything needed to maintain all websites hosted on the common server.

If your website requirements are meager then shared web hosting is obviously the best option for you. It is a cost-effective option since there are many sharing the operating & maintenance cost of a single server. Any newbie or netizen aiming to create and build a low-traffic website must choose shared web hosting since this can meet their requirements best.

A maximum number of web hosting providers offer shared web hosting primarily since there is a greater proportion of people creating personal websites/blogs/small scale websites etc. There are a number of good web hosting providers, which offer good shared web hosting services such as LimeDomains, HostGator, FatCow etc. Also while choosing a shared web hosting provider, you need to look at the prices. Don’t go for the cheap offers claimed by everyday mushrooming web hosting providers on the Internet. Instead opt for affordable shred web hosting provider, which does not compromise on the indispensable element of quality.

Choose a web hosting provider that offers you good disk space & bandwidth (as per your requirements), 24 × 7 technical & customer support service, backup servers etc. at affordable prices. You can check out the reviews of all the providers on the Internet and then make a final choice.

So what are you waiting for? Go for shared web hosting for your website.



Affordable Shared Web Hosting

What do you look for in a web host? A low price? Reliability and good support I hope. If you’re anything like today’s ambitious webmaster, you’re on the hunt for the best features. There’s a lot of programs and management tools available to make your site standout but I bet there are some features you pay no mind at all. Often overlooked but one should never forget about critical security features as they will help to keep your web hosting environment protected from an array of threats. Security features are abundant but here some you simply can’t do without:

SFTP



Short for Secure File Transfer Protocol, SFTP is more efficient and secure variation of FTP. In its purest form, FTP only has the ability to transfer files, leaving them vulnerable to a range of security breaches such as eavesdropping, tampering and even interception of the entire file. A web hosting company offering SFTP provides you with the ability to secure your files in transit with SSH (Secure Shell Host), a protocol that protects data with government recommended 128-bit encryption.

SSL



Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, should be incorporated on any website that sells products or services. SSL is a standard encryption protocol designed to keep internet communications secure. If a web hosting company doesn’t support a shared or private SSL certificate, you need to turn in the opposite direction and find yourself another provider.

Data Backups



Data backup and restoration is not only something that should be practiced with the files on your hard drive, but those on the web host’s server as well. All it takes is one technical difficulty or natural disaster for the web hosting company to lose a server and all of your website data. The good thing is that most providers perform redundant backups to ensure that your data can be restored in the event of a failure. To be on the safe side, I recommend looking into a web host that offers a utility that allows you to backup your own data.

Network Security



Aside from protecting your files and website transactions, you also need to keep an eye out for security features that protect the web hosting company’s network. Do a little research to learn how the web host is protecting their infrastructure, keeping in mind that intrusion detection systems, firewalls, DDoS protection, virus and spam filtering are common features. Servers are prime targets of hackers and malicious code writers so if the hardware is breached or goes down, your website will suffer right along with it.

These are just a few of numerous security features a web hosting company should offer to ensure the safety of your website data. Hackers are constantly trying to ***** into web servers while malware writers are releasing new infectious strains everyday. A web host that doesn’t take this into mind is essentially leaving you wide open for exploitation.



Reliable Shared Web Hosting

Many hosting providers will have a “premium” support offering that includes a bit more hand holding – this is definitely recommended if you don’t have much experience with Linux, or are new to virtual dedicated hosting.

In a managed hosting environment, your web hosting provider owns the equipment, licenses software and is also responsible for nearly all aspects of the solution, excluding customer-specific application. The uptime guarantee of the managed hosting network service is close to 100 per cent. These days, the words, managed hosting, has got a new meaning for itself because more and more providers use it to describe different aspects of their services. Managed hosting service can be considered as an upgraded version of web hosting. Before anyone makes a decision to select a website hosting provider, he should enquire and verify the web hosting services and its reliability.

Sharing space through a shared web hosting organisation allows small businesses to create a website at an affordable cost to their business. Ultimately, if you are a small business or individual looking to start promoting your business via the internet, shared web hosting can be a fantastic way to get online without paying large fees. Servers with shared hosting can also vary in size and have different capabilities, making it important that you keep a careful eye on your particular usage levels. The greatest advantage of using shared web hosting is that the overall cost of purchasing Internet services is reduced. With shared web hosting service provider, they will create the different solution for personal web site or small business web sites with different price. Whilst the group members share the one server, each retains there own individual email address, FTP and URL link and files for their own site.

With today?s changing trends in web hosting services, it is important to get as much server space and bandwidth as you can. If you know what your website needs are, you will surely find a suitable web hosting plan that is right for you and your budget.

There are many low cost web hosting service providers to choose from which offer a high quality services for a very low prices at the same time Understanding what you need from a web host and visiting different host websites to see what they have to offer will give you some good information on which to make your choice.

Call the Phone support line and see how well you are attended to. Nothing is more frustrating than having a website that is not functioning properly and not permitting potential viewers to access it. Most webhosts have a forum for customers on their site, so browse through that and see if the general tone of existing customers seems to be happy with the webhost provider or not. Find out whether you are given your money back in case you are unhappy with the service. I don’t care how good you are or how experienced you are in building and uploading websites; there are times when you are going to require support from your website hosting provider.



Affordable Shared Web Hosting

Now we get to know that what is dedicated hosting and what are its needs. Firstly, it is worthwhile to note that dedicated server is quite an expensive service and so its optimum utilization is must. By maximum utilization of a dedicated server a business owner can run a successful business but this statement will be only considerable when we will present this statement with facts, which are as under.

Freedom and security

Above all of the conditions customer firstly wants to security as well as freedom and this can only be achieved by way of dedicated server. The best part of dedicated server is that now there is no need to share it with web sites. Further facility provided by dedicated server is that it gives customer the additional third party security for its sites and emails. It also enables deep access to its user’s server so as to configure it and optimize it in a way required. It also helps in selection of software that needs to be installed.

Power and functionality

User can get 50 to 100Gb of hard drive by dedicated server and also approx.1, 000 Gb of data transfer. According to user’s requirement he can customize the configuration and chose any CPU RAM. With the help of dedicated server dependency on web host tends to decrease as well as time delays tends to do down steeply thereby making it more economic in future.

Respectability

Its not worthwhile to run a popular website on a shared hosting. It’s not acceptable.

Summary

In a summarized form go for a dedicated server if the website is in a category of most popular and it is having tons of daily visitors, if work is on B2B basis, if additional security and functionality is required then its time to go for a dedicated server.



Affordable Shared Web Hosting

It would not be wrong to say that Dedicated Web Hosting is the most sought after service among the three primary web hosting methods. As the name suggests, Dedicated Web Hosting provides a dedicated server for a single IP address. This results in better connectivity, high speed and error free network. Just as Dedicated Web Hosting is the choice of many, Shared Web Hosting is also a popular web hosting service that gives direct competition to Dedicated hosting. Therefore, to understand Dedicated Web Hosting better, it is pertinent to understand Shared Web Hosting.

Many a times, people are unable to weigh the pros and cons of Shared and Dedicated Web Hosting. The difference between the two doesn’t lie in just being a paid and free service. There is much more that goes into these services. Shared Web Hosting has dozens, or may be hundreds of computer connections to its server, and obviously would have larger error risk than the Dedicated Web Hosting where one computer is linked with only one server. In Shared Web Hosting, the server uptime cannot be very reliable, though many companies provide high grade solutions. The error hunt-down and solution of the queries may also take time as there would be a long queue of computers who might have some technical or connectivity issue. You could be among the lasts in the queue and thus the query resolve session may take time. Even after considering these points, there still are many websites which are running successfully with Shared Web Hosting. With a medium sized business, you can keep your budget maintained by opting Shared Web Hosting.

Dedicated Web Hosting on the other hand has various advantages to its account, and is successfully opted by many website owners. If your website uses custom applications, has more number of web pages and higher traffic, you can no longer rely on Shared Web Hosting. A Dedicated server then becomes a must, with which you get the flexibility of administering and controlling the web server. As you are the only one who is sharing the resources such as hard drive space, bandwidth, processing speed, etc., the connectivity seems better, and your downtime is resolved easily. You also have a better administrative control in case some technical errors confront the internet connection. However, it requires no second thoughts that you need to pay a good price for dedicated servers, but with a large scaled online business, where a large number of visitors and potential buyers visit daily, can you take the risk of server downtime? Not really. And hence there are no real substitutes when it comes to Dedicated Web Hosting.

So whether you need Shared or Dedicated web hosting is something you need to decide. The magnitude of your online business and the size of your website could help you determine this.



Affordable Shared Web Hosting

As per study conducted by the Forrester Research, the current market is an ideal one for the emergence new web hosting companies, currently there is “positive — if modest — growth for Web hosting and managed IT services, at both the enterprise and SMB levels.”

It is an ideally suited business if one indulges as a web designer or rather IT consultant. This business suits best for small consulting firms. Now the question arises why to ignore such services which several small businesses potentially require? Hosting is a supreme source of revenue on monthly basis.

If one talks about the flourishing sectors of Internet then name of hosting industry will be among one of them. Several corporations such as Yahoo are in the race of providing web hosting services. Anyone who wishes to join this highly profitable business is always welcome and has the right to grab his/her financial share, except when he/she can rightly perform his/her duty.

For a dream web hosting company, one should adopt two tested and wrathful rules as mentioned below:

1.) The prime aspect of the user should be on offering high-quality services in a two-tiered pricing schedule.

2.) The user should know about the importance of an automated infrastructure for development of self-sufficient customers. In the case of marketing, it is very important for the user to increase the chances of accurate opportunities.

The facility of automation will not only enhance the self-sufficiency of the client but also will reduce the expenses of the user to a low level. For the purpose of giving level best services, the prime thing which user requires is at least the following processes to be automated:

1.) Order forms (in case of new customer account set up or existing customer updates),

2.) Billing system,

3.) Administration system,

4.) End-user control panel, and

5.) Technical support interface.

Order Forms:

It is mandatory that the front end of user’s order form should provide a minimum of the four key functional aspects given below:

a.) It should ensure the information of domain for registration purposes,

b.) It should legalize entered results,

c.) It should provide the facility to process the customer’s credit card or else provide creation of an invoice,

d.) It should register customer’s information into billing database for the future prospects.

It is must that the backend of the order form must process the domain registration, in case it is required by the customer and should generate the Web hosting account.

Administration System

One should know that the administration system is quite an essential factor in the purpose of managing ordered accounts. The user might require manually adding or eliminating several new domains, change passwords, etc.

End-User Control Panel

If one wants his/her customer should manage his/her account, then an end-user control panel is necessary. At the end, the customers should be in the condition where they can set up their own e-mail accounts, view Website statistics and can manage files etc.

Billing System

Another very important thing is the presence of automated billing system. The billing system should not only perform the functions like making e-mail invoices, charging credit cards, suspend overdue accounts etc, but should also enable user to issue credit or discounts as per requirement.

Technical Support Interface

There is a wrong opinion that technical support interface is merely a system that generates trouble rather it is an effective tech-support interface that automatically generates an FAQ-interface that customers can look out for before submitting trouble tickets. The advantage of these interfaces is that they can reduce technical support requests by a factor of 10.

Not only that, the company with which the user go with offers the option of taking care of technical support on his/her behalf but branded with user’s brand. Thus one can concentrate his/her potential on other parts of his/her business which requires greater attention.

How to maximize good marketing opportunities

If one knows about what platform to use, what packages to offer and set up a tiered pricing schedule and automated systems. So now how one does maximizes good marketing opportunities through new hosting service?

Pay per Click

This facility allows user to reach to a large segment of customers. In this case although one needs not to pay to list his/her site, he/she does pay when a customer clicks on one’s listing and connects to user’s site. Now an important question arises in one’s mind i.e. how does one gets his/her site high on the results lists? One option is user must engage in a bidding war over how much he/she is willing to pay for each person who clicks through to his/her site. Recently the prices of bidding have grown too high, so one needs to act careful. There are cases where one clicks into one’s site but didn’t convert into a new account. Thus, one needs to be sure to just select targeted keywords and not contending with everyone else for the same keywords. It is not at all an easy game, so one should find his/her role.

How to host Directory Sites?

There are plentiful Web sites known as hosting directories that intend to attract Web hosting customers. The utility of these directories lies in the fact that they are an excellent place to advertise, but one needs to be selective in his/her placement. There are several sites offering banner placement, spotlights, search enhancements, and other forms of advertisement. A key tip in this case would be one should always keep in mind that banner ads are considered much better for building brand recognition rather than generating new accounts, so one should advertise based on his/her budget, and should not just focus on his/her expectation for new customers.

How to influence current Client Base?

If one is running an established Web design firm, information portal, or domain registration service, he/she can quickly start marketing to his/her current clients. For him/her its not easy to generate clients as by sending a simple e-mail to his/her current customer base he/she can immediately generate a large number of accounts. Talking about marketing strategies, there are permission-based email marketing services that work best for earning more revenue from one’s current customers and gaining additional customers. Thus, one should try a free trial of one or more of these services to find one that works well for his/her needs.

How to retain customers?

One should always keep in mind that in order to retain his/her customer; one has to develop and offer new products and services and to make them feel better. This will not only help in retaining customers but also to generate additional revenue. But the most important factor is quality should not be compromised as it is in reality a key to success.



Reliable Shared Web Hosting

Let’s face it, hosting your website with a hosting company is a big challenge. One of those challenges is deciding if a shared hosting plan or dedicated server hosting plan is right for you. First the definitions.. A shared hosting plan is very inexpensive these days. That is because hosting companies can pack 50, 100 and even 400 website hosting plans on one linux web server at their data center. There is nothing wrong with this at all as that is how 80% of websites out there operate. As long as your hosting provider gives you a reputable admin control panel (like C-Panel or H-Sphere) and they have high end servers on fat internet connections, you should be fine.

With a full service shared hosting plan, your provider should give you all the necessary tools to completely control and customize your website. Shared plans have long had tons of options, SSL, dedicated IP options, E-Commerce, etc for some time. The current rate for a control panel based shared hosting plan starts around $3.95 per month. Beware though, as those very low rates are usually tied to ads and pop up banners on your site, or sometimes the low advertised rate is tied to you buying a domain name from that provider. What you don’t get from a shared hosting plan is the ability to have “root access” to the server. In a shared hosting plan, the provider gives you access to everything you need to customize your site and no access to things that you could “destroy”!

A dedicated server hosting plan gives you the same services as a shared hosting plan but much, much more. Essentially, you are given root access to the web hosting server. Just imagine that the dedicated hosting server is right on your desk. You will be given complete remote access, just as if you were standing right next to the box. With dedicated server hosting you typically have the ability to load any software you desire. That being said, you need to have good technical knowledge of this service or you will be lost for good!. Also a typical dedicated server web hosting plan with any provider usually starts around $100 per month. So, if you need full service and inexpensive hosting, shared hosting is the norm. If you want full control of your own web server, then fork out the dough!



Affordable Shared Web Hosting

Lots of people are looking for cheap hosting solutions. It is also true that the price of hosting has decreased over the past few years. It is now more affordable than ever to host your website. One should be careful however, of opting for the very cheapest that you can find. Most often, these providers do overselling. This basically works on almost the same principle as airlines that do overbooking. Because airlines realise that about 10% to 15% of people who book their tickets will actually never make it to the plane, the allow overbooking of tickets of up to 10%.

The trouble comes when EVERYONE decides to pitch up and use their tickets. That is when you get long queues, grumbling passengers and air hostesses that seem to have smiles pasted onto their faces….

The problem is that hosting providers often sell large amounts of hard disk space and bandwidth for very cheaply, knowing full well that you will never use the space. The problem comes in when everyone starts unexpectedly using all their space and bandwidth allocated to them. Then everyone suffers.

But let’s look at the principles of shared hosting – what it is and who it works for.

~Shared Hosting~

Shared hosting is the best solution for most small and medium websites. The most important advantage is cost. Shared hosting is much cheaper and affordable than hosting on dedicated servers.

Even though in theory you should just sign up for the features that you will really need and thereby avoid paying extra costs, the truth is that web hosting packages are really becoming more and more feature rich while becoming cheaper at the same time. You will therefore GET a lot of features whether you need them or not. This is not a bad thing since it does mean that you can easily upgrade your account or install new software when you find that you are requiring more functionality than when you started.

Shared hosting is also good for web hosting companies. It can host hundreds of small and medium websites on a single server. This reduces the installation and maintenance costs, and gives the hosting company a higher return on investment.

Because of the danger of overselling however, you should ensure that the company uses state-of-the art servers with high processing power. These servers should be connected to the Internet on high speed bandwidth lines so that there is no choking when the traffic spurts. Most of these companies do advertise the type of servers that they use. If they do not disclose their server specifications, it might be better to steer away from them. Ask a friend, family member or Internet expert for assistance in trying to understand which servers are good and which are not.

You should be able to upgrade easily between packages should the need arise to move to a larger server or more bandwidth.

The web host must also offer 24×7 toll-free technical support rendered by experienced and professionally trained technicians.

You especially need to check whether the hosting company owns servers or is reselling hosting solutions. The latter situation is not conducive for your needs because the web host is only a middleman and is not in control of the solutions that he is selling. You may find that the services provided are not in keeping with the promises made.

~Your exit strategy~

You must always have a backup plan in case your web host goes bankrupt. This should include maintaining a backup of all your data you post on the web site. You should not depend on the backups done by the hosting company themselves but should make sure that you run your own backups through the control panel (and you definitely SHOULD have a control panel!)

This is also why you should always register your domain name with an independent registrar and not with the hosting company itself, since if they do go bankrupt, you might not only lose your website content, but your complete domain.



Reliable Shared Web Hosting