Five Features You Need for Successful Web Hosting

So you need hosting for that great website you have planned. You did the obligatory Google search and found out there are a gazillion web hosting companies. They all are offering what you need (web hosting) and you found the price varies from free to sky’s the limit. You also found that there are a ton of features some of which you have no idea of what they are. So now what you thought was going to be an easy task has just turned into a semester of study at your local junior college. Well believe me I know what you’re going through. Through trail, error and mistake I have learned that not all web hosting is created equal. While there area ton of features and hosting plans offered by web hosting companies, there are five basics factors you will want to make sure you are getting when selecting your hosting provider.   

1. Databases
Be sure you are getting ample databases to support and expand your website. All blogging, forum, and Websites that use any form of dynamic data applications or capture user data require a database to function. Unfortunately, most shared hosting packages only offer one to five databases; this can limit your ability to expand and may not be enough to carry out the planned functions of your website. The minimum number of databases you should look for is ten. Granted you may not need that many but if you do they will be readily available without spending additional money to add on databases. Usually the higher priced hosing plans offer more databases but you should not have to opt for a more expensive plan to get 10 databases.

2. Multiple Domains
Web hosting companies usually limit the number of domains you can serve from your hosting plan. Some hosting plans, usually the lower cost or free plans, only allow one domain name per plan. If you are for sure you will only have one website then this will be of no consequence. However, if you plan on having multiple websites then you should look for a hosting plan that offers the ability to host multiple sites from a single hosting plan. A hosting plan that offers at least 5 domains is a minimum. You should be aware that the resources of your hosting server will be shared by all domains assigned to the web hosting plan. Make sure the plan you get provides ample disk space, bandwidth and databases to keep multiple sites up and running.    

3. Developer Support
Developer support is the litmus test for any Web host. You may be starting with a simple website but as time goes on many times you may want to add additional functionality or features to your site. Also when adding new websites to your hosting plan additional capabilities may be needed. This is where a hosting provider can easily make or break your plans. If your web hosting provider is limited on developer languages or web application offerings you may have to find a new hosting provider. This is something you do not want to do. Having multiple hosting accounts or hosting providers is a sure way for confusion and frustration. Most hosting companies offer various language support and misc. application support but why not get it all. Yes there are hosting providers that offer everything you will ever need and it doesn’t cost any more.
 
No matter what hosting package you are considering, make sure you are getting the most support possible. Below is a list of the most popular website development items available:

• PHP
• MySQL
• Ruby on Rails
• Python
• CGI
• Perl
• Java
• ASP.net
• Coldfusion
• Frontpage Server Extensions
• Content Managment Tools
• eCommerce Solutions
• Project Management Tools
• Blogs
• Message Board/Forum Tools
• Photo Gallery Tools
• Admin Tools
• Misc. web-site add-ons

4. Customer support
Working late at night on that website, or perhaps on the weekend (Sunday Night)? Got a deadline to get a site up and running but just ran into a problem. Perhaps you just discovered you need an additional web app or database. It can be very frustrating and sometimes costly if you cannot get customer support from your hosting company when you need it (on your schedule). Always look for a web hosting service provider that provides 24×7 customer support. That is 24 hours a day 7 days a week and I don’t mean just Email support. Email support is important and should be part of the customer support package but what you really want is phone support. Many times problems or issues need to be discussed to reach a quick resolution, passing Emails around can takes days or sometimes weeks. Your number one tool for support should be the phone, make sure your web hosting company is awake and working when you are. You will want to make sure there is an on-line knowledgebase as well. Not only is a knowledgebase good for answeering questions, it is also very usefull for use as a learning tool.  

5. Server Uptime
Your website should be up and running 24×7. However things do happen in the real world that can sometimes cause a website to go down. In spite of real world problems, your web hosting provider should offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. With today’s internet technology there are ways to insure websites stay functional virtually every minute of every day. Don’t settle for a hosting company that cannot guarantee your website is up and running around the clock.   

Web hosting is the backbone of the success of your website. While the content of your site is vitally important, any short coming in your web hosting service is sure to translate to failure at your site. The hosting company you start with is most likely the one you will stay with, so take the time to choose the right web hosting company from the start, you’ll be glad you did.     

Domain Registration – What you Need to Know

As your domain name is the name and address by which you’re known online, it’s the basis of your online identity. So it’s important to create the right domain name for your business. First we’ll look at how to choose the right domain name for your business from various companies who offer domain name registration in the UK.

Your domain name must be unique. Other than that, you have a lot of leeway in your choice. When you go onto any domain registration website, it would prompt you with a choice of similar possible web domain registration options. It can be anything between 2 and 67 characters long. Only alphanumeric characters and hyphens are allowed. Hyphens are not allowed at the beginning or end. You can use upper or lowercase characters, but it’s best to stick to lower case. If you were to choose longer domain names, sometimes you would be able to buy them from cheap domain registration companies, or if you were to buy a complete web hosting package, the domain registration company could offer you free domain registration.

Next you have to choose a top level domain (TLD) which is the extension at the end your domain name. Your options are .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .ws, and country-specific ones such as .uk. Most experts recommend going for .com or your country specific extension.

So what makes an effective domain name? Firstly it shouldn’t be too long as you want your customers to remember it easily. There’s less chance of someone making a mistake when typing it into a browser. If your company name is well known, you could incorporate that into your domain name. However, the trend nowadays is to base domain names on keywords relating to your product or service. This is a key component of search engine optimisation and search engine marketing.

After choosing your domain name you need to check if it is an available domain registration offered by any web hosting company. Many domain registration companies offer this service free of charge on their web sites, where you can get sometimes also find free domain registration. You simply enter your chosen name and it will search the domain registration databases and tell you if that name has been taken. If so, you can tweak it and check the new version for availability. Cheap domain registration is available by companies that include their company name in the URL, at times; it is possible to get them free from free domain registration companies. Domain hosting registration is a simple process, this can be done within minutes on any domain registration website and you could be online within minutes. Domain name registration in the UK has just recently started to take off, so there would be a lot of companies offering cheap domain registration and also free domain registration as promotional offers. This generally involves filling out a simple form on their web site and entering payment details. Costs range from $8 per annum and up depending on the TLD. You can also register for longer periods such as five years.

Domain registration is straightforward procedure but one that requires a lot of care. Fortunately, many firms exist to help you with the process. Some firms offer free domain registration but this is usually part of a domain hosting registration package. For domain name registration in the UK, there are many cheap domain registration firms around but look for one with a good track record. Your web hosting company and some web design companies offer domain registration services. The best deal of all can often be to entrust all your web site needs to one online marketing agency.

What You Need to Know About Dedicated Server Hosting

 

Dedicated Server Hosting

On initial set-up you will probably decide to host your web site on a shared server, this is generally a much more cost effective and risk free option with the additional advantage of requiring much less know how and input on your part. But as your business grows so will the content of your website, and more importantly so too will the traffic your web site receives. Many shared solutions offer masses of storage and unlimited bandwidth but it should be noted that this bandwidth refers only to the maximum you may use in one month without incurring an additional charge from your web host and does not mean you are able to accommodate an unlimited amount of visitors at any one time. With shared host you share your server with many other websites and if any of them are receiving lots of traffic the speed of your site will be adversely affected, this is where dedicated hosting comes into it’s own.

Un-Managed Server Hosting, is naturally cheaper than managed server hosting, but comes with some additional responsibilities, primarily that of maintenance. You will be expected to carry out any up-keep required including adding patches, security and software upgrades and altering configurations, you should only choose to host your web site on an unmanaged server if you are comfortable with how a server works and how to maintain it.

Managed Server Hosting, is where you lease the Dedicated Server from your web host and they run it for you, managed server hosting costs slightly more than unmanaged server hosting but gives you the peace of mind that all up-keep, maintenance and required upgrades are provided by the host.

Dedicated Server Hosting as with shared server hosting comes with many choices, the first of which will be that of disk space, then of processing power and finally but very importantly of platform, Windows or Unix based. Your choices will be driven by the type of web site you are hosting, how many visitors you receive and what you are intending to host on it. If you are intending to run Windows based software such as MS Access or host windows media files WMVs for music or video then compatibility and licensing issues will require you to use windows based hosting. If you do not need to host these type of software, and will be using mp3, Vlc or Quicktime instead then you will be able to use a Unix based server, which can prove much more cost effective as most providers use the Linux form of Unix which is open source software and free, a saving which can be passed on to you.

Your dedicated server will usually be provided to you at a set cost per month which is made up of the lease of the server plus any extra packages including server management and software if you choose to have them. Most dedicated servers come with a graphical user interface in the form of a control panel not unlike many of those provided by the shared hosting options, although you will have much greater flexibility over the configuration of your web space as you are able to alter the server’s configuration yourself.

There is no limit (other than disk space) to the number of domains you can host which makes dedicated hosting a valuable option for those who want to avoid having to pay for each of those domains to be hosted separately.

 

For more in formation visit, Which Domain Host

 

 

Do You Really Need a Free Web Hosting?

Often times we are found in a position to choose between going for a free item and going for a paid item. When it comes to web hosting and online venture you need to be very careful what you really go for. Most people and especially online newbie’s, the best place to start out your online endeavor is by trying out a few free web hosting companies. These companies offer you free web hosting accounts at no cost to you and they also offer you a free sub domain account to go with the hosting. The truth of the matter is that it’s not a bed idea to start off your online practice using a free hosting account as we all did at some point in time. But it now becomes a problem if you still keep using some of those free web hosting accounts for your really business online.

You will agree with me here that just as the name free web hosting sounds, the company does not own you any obligation to quality service and so you won’t be surprise to wake up one morning and notice that your site of gone. And in most cases this could mean that your website is gone for ever. Well that is perhaps why it’s called a free web hosting account. But if you think seriously about taking that your small business to the next level after weeks of trying out the free web hosting account, then you should look for a good paid hosting account for yor online business.

There are countless companies online which offer quality service and reliable web hosting services for a price almost regarded as free. So you don’t have a reason to stick to a free web hosting account and think that your business will ever be regarded as reputable by your visitors. In actually reality, the benefits of having a paid hosting account out weighs the benefits of a free web hosting account as anyone who visits a web site which is hosted on a free server can not buy a pin from such a site. This is because you are not seen as serious and ready to do big time business online.

Sites hosted on a free web hosting accounts are seen as mere practice sites by the online community and are not regarded as safe for monetary transactions. Also there are lots of drawbacks when making use of a free web hosting account, some of which are regular downtime, poor customer support system, lost of valuable traffic and lost of online reputation. As you can see from these numerous problems associated with having your business on a free web hosting, you can only do your self some good by going only for paid web hosting package.

It is also worthy to mention at this point that experience has shown that when you need to go for paid hosting account, you need to research well enough before parting with your hard earned money. You need to be sure that the company will give you value for your money by providing you with quality paid web hosting experience.

No Need to Climb a Hill for the Top Web Hosting

Finding Top Web Hosting

There are many ways in which you might want to go about finding top web hosting. In order to find top web hosting, you should look very carefully at the things certain web hosting places offer you, to see if you are going to get what you need.

Things To Look For

There are several things that you should look for when you are looking for top web hosting. First of all, one of the most important things that you need to be considering is space. When you are building a website, for whatever reason, you are going to want to make sure that you have enough space for everything that you might want to put on it.

You might want to consider having unlimited space, even if you don’t think you are going to be using that much space, because having unlimited space is the only way that you can be sure you will have enough room to incorporate any kinds of technologies that come out between the time you have your site and the time you might want to add more to it.

The top web hosting sites will be able to offer you unlimited space, and therefore you will be able to see that you have plenty of room for whatever you want to put on your space.

Another thing that you should keep in mind when you are looking for the top web hosting sites is whether or not these sites come with domain names that you can choose, or if you have to go through another company to find a domain name. If they do come with domain names, can you pick the ones that you want to pick, or does it have to be something that the company chooses?

All of these things are important for you to consider when you are looking for the top web hosting sites. Remember too, that you should always feel comfortable with the web hosting site that you have chosen, so if you don’t feel comfortable, it might not be a good place for you and your website to be.

The Abc’s of Online Web Hosting – What you Need to Know Before Selecting a Host!

When selecting a web hosting service, there is more to consider than just price alone. A web hosting service can often provide benefits such as guaranteed uptime and customer service support as well as amazing tracking tools that help you grow your business.

When choosing a web hosting service provider, go back to the basics. Follow the ABC’s of finding a good web hosting service and you will reap the benefits for years to come.
A – Advertising -

Depending on the type of web hosting service you select, you may be required to place advertisements on your site. To build a respectable web presence, choose a web hosting service that will not require advertisements on your site. These ads distract consumers and cause traffic to be redirected away from your webpage.
B – Business Knowledge -

Many web hosting services offer sophisticated software to help you analyze your online business. This software is invaluable as it often provides the only real read you have on whether your online marketing is working. Look for software that tells you how many total visitors and unique visitors you have. You can also find out how many times people are clicking on the different links within your site and how they found your site to begin with.
C – Competitive Pricing -

While pricing is not the only factor to consider, it should definitely be mentioned. When selecting a web hosting service provider, ask what is included in the cost. You will often find that different companies will offer different packages, so you need to find the one that best meets your needs. And remember the old adage – you get what you pay for. If a deal seems too good to be true, then watch out, because it just might be.
D – Domain Name Usage -

When selecting a web hosting provider, choose one that will allow you to use your own domain name instead of being required to use a subdomain of their domain name. People will be confused and not able to find your site if the web address is not intuitive and unique.
E – Email Accounts -

Many web hosting packages provide you with a certain number of email accounts included in the package. Take stock of what you will need for email accounts and make sure to get enough. For example, even if it is a one person business, it often makes sense to have several different email accounts to seem more official. Some example emails you might want include: webmaster@yourcompany.com, customerservice@yourcompany.com, complaints@yourcompany.com, and president@yourcompany.com.
F – FTP Access -

Unless you want either a cookie cutter site or a custom site that takes the web designer forever to upload to the server, you will definitely need FTP access as part of your web hosting service package. FTP access allows your webmaster to upload unique sites and make changes in a more efficient manner, which will save you money in the long run since you will pay less for the time it takes to upload your website.
G – Guaranteed Uptime -

Last, but certainly not least, is guaranteed uptime. While no web hosting provider can guarantee 100% uptime, look for one that has multiple servers and 24-7 support so that you are guaranteed as much uptime as possible. If a server goes down in the middle of the night, you don’t want your website traffic to have to wait until the next business day in order to be able to view your site.

Does My Company Need Singapore Web Hosting?

The web world created via the Internet has made enhanced web presence absolutely mandatory to be able to profit from the use of dedicated technology. It is very essential for any online business to invest in good web hosting services and in Singapore, there are professionally run web hosting service providers who cater to the needs of the local business and international clientele for an effective web presence.

Online research and dedicated comparison shopping should be able to help you to decide on whether or not a particular Singapore web hosting service provider is your business solution partner. You can narrow down your search after considering some basics that a web hosting provider enables your business to access, like:

• allowing the business products and services to be viewed by potential clients 24×7

• effective web hosting that creates an online visibility for you

• essential design that supports business referrals and other specific and unique needs

• tapping on the global network of companies

• specific company domains specially created

Singapore Web Hosting service providers should be checked for their range of services with regards to business-centric demands. The other areas that need to be checked include affordability of their hosting plans, and the reliability of the Singapore Web Hosting service provider for secure email hosting services. The quality of the services and compatibility with your online business requirements should also be considered prior to making a decision.

Most Singapore Web Hosting service providers provide you with all this and more. They offer compatible systems architecture and clientele retention plans. They are reputed for reliability and security and value for money offers and efficiently help you to access un-metered data transfer and unlimited domains for optimized search engine rankings.

The best of the service providers are known for a ‘no compromise’ attitude on technical support and offer the services of staff that is among the best in the industry. Most of the Singapore Web Hosting service providers provide compatibility of their technical offerings with the kind of service your business requires. The services offered attract quick response and apply to specific requirements. Most of the best Singapore Web Hosting providers display industry certification, work ethics that are the best in the industry and established conduct for online business practice, compliance with set rules within the industry and network and optimized privacy and best business practices.

The business applications that are offered by the Singapore Web Hosting providers go through a strict audit process. The services are designed to offer real value for the investment and a fantastic combination of trust, service and optimized business.

The Singapore Web Hosting providers amply answer the question: Does My Company Need Singapore Web Hosting? The answer is yes. Every online endeavor needs to make the most of the technology at hand to ensure business visibility and profitability. The net is a near anonymous zone and the facelessness of the whole online interaction exercise only makes it more and more important to access services that cater to effective web presence. Good Singapore web hosting providers take care of just that!

What Features do I Really Need When Choosing a Web Host?

It can be quite intimidating with all the technical lingo that you will find when looking for web hosting. It can be hard to determine what feature that are really necessary to get. Do you really need unlimited bandwidth? Do you really need 1500GB of disk storage? Probably not. With just a little bit of knowledge you can be much smarter when buying hosting, and not pay a lot for bells and whistles you really do not need. A good rule of thumb is to not spend any time on any web host if you find their homepage confusing. After all, the homepage is their primary marketing tool, and if they screw that up there is no saying what they will do with the things your will rely on to have your page hosted.

Support

What every good host should offer you is without a doubt good support. It does not really matter if this is via email, chat or phone. The important part is if the support answers quickly and if they can actually help you and fix your problems. So try them out – send them a few questions. If they can’t answer you before you’re a customer, then don’t become a customer. Just as important as the actual support the host provides is the support the community can provide. Any good hosting company will have a support forum or wiki where users can help each other. Be sure to check these resources out before deciding on any host.

Bandwidth & Disk Storage

Bandwidth is the amount of data you are allowed to move to and from your hosting account, it is usually counted in Giga Bytes per month (GB/month). This includes all the data you upload to your web site and the data each of the sites visitors needs to download to their browser to see the site. Normal web sites need a very small amount of Bandwidth. Photos, big images, videos and big files (such as software downloads) take a lot of bandwidth, other files requires basically no Bandwidth even of you have quite a popular site. A couple of GB/month is more than enough for most sites.

Storage is the amount of data you are allowed to store on the web hosting company’s servers, it is usually counted in either Giba Bytes (GB) or Terra Bytes (TB). Just as with Bandwidth you do not need very much unless you are going to host a huge amount of photos and if you use to much you need to pay for the extra space you use. 10 GB or so is more than enough for most sites. So don’t be sucked in by the web hosting providers marketing and buy a hosting plan that has much more Storage and Bandwidth than you will ever possibly consume. Why pay for things you don’t use?

Control Panel

You absolutely need a control panel for your hosting, and it comes with 99% of all hosting you will find. A control panel is simply a web page you log into and there you find all the options you need to control your hosting. It is in the control panel you set up new databases, install programs (such as Wordpress) etc. The most common control panel used by web hosting providers is cPanel.

Technical Features

If the hosts you are considering have a good price, good support, a control panel and the bandwidth and storage you need then there are loads of more features the hosts lists to think about. This is the most overwhelming part, and you can ignore most of it. If you are going to develop the site yourself make sure that the web host you are considering has the technical features you need to run your site (such as MySQL databases and PHP5 support). If you will have somebody else develop your site make sure to check with the developer or designer that the host you are considering has the features they need to run your site. One nice feature that many hosts have is one-click installs of various programs, for example the Wordpress blogging software. So if you are going to use any such program you just need to click on one link in your hosting control panel to install it. That will save you a lot of time.

What You Need to Know About Business Web Hosting

 

Business Web Hosting
When choosing a business web host there are a few more factors to consider than when just buying a family or personal web space, if your site is to do anything other than purely market your business or if you are setting up an E-Business your hosting plan will need to have some specific features.

Statistics, tell you who is visiting your site, when they are doing it and which pages they are looking at, it will also tell you which page they land on first, all of which help you to market you site more efficiently most even record which browser visitors to your site are using which can be invaluable information for targeting software for example.

Email, is a basic requirement of every web hosting package, but a business site will need more accounts and the ability to manage mailing lists, for communicating with your subscribers an incredibly valuable marketing tool. Another Email utility is that of an autoresponder, which sends out adknowledgments to Email enquireys and also, cleverly saves the contact information automatically to your contact database.

SSL, or Secure Socket Layer security is a must have for anyone intending to take payments over the internet, it is a way of encrypting transfers that makes paying on line safer and more attractive for your customers.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of getting your website indexed and then ranked by the top search engines, such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, for the uninitiated this can be a very daunting and time consuming process and many good web hosts provide a Free rudimentary SEO service, in any event nearly all will submit your site to all of the top search engines for indexing. An additional incentive being offered although not really SEO ,is the inclusion of Free Google Adwords or similar coupons which help to get you started with one of the many pay per click ad campaign providers. 

As you are no doubt aware it can take months of careful marketing for your website to start to rank in the search engines, this is all time when your site it not making you any money, so you may be loath to shell out for a top of the range business plan for this period. Fear not help is at hand in the form of upgradeable packages or packages that enable you to bolt on extras, these plans enable your site to grow as required, and allow you to had more space, ecommerce options and addition domains as necessary.

In summary choose well, and don’t be afraid to pay for what you get, check out our great business web hosting solutions

at Which Domain Host

 

Some Of The Most Important Issues You Need To Consider When Choosing A Web Host Company

The vast array of new web hosting services on the market today can be more than a little overwhelming. There are thousands of web hosting services from which to choose. Because of all the choices, it has become increasingly difficult for the beginner to decide what web host will serve them best. Choosing your e-commerce hosting service basically comes down to the features the company offers and their customer service, which, especially for people new to setting up web sites and blogs, is extremely important. This article endeavors to cover some of the important issues you need to be aware of when choosing a web host.

First, a caveat regarding free web hosting: you may be tempted by free web hosting but these services offer very little in the way of features and almost nonexistent customer support. Good customer support cannot be stressed enough when you’re starting out in e-commerce. You will have problems and you’ll need a real live person who can help you. Cut-rate and cheap web hosting services aren’t much better. If you want to be successful you’ll avoid these kinds of web hosting services. Diving into e-commerce requires enough effort as it is; you don’t want added hassles from your service provider. If you’re serious about e-commerce on the Web, you need to start off with the right tools. The company you choose to provide your web hosting is one of these tools, and it can be the difference between failure and success.

Again, your web host’s customer support can make all the difference in the world. Quality customer service can make or break you. It’s what separates a good host from a bad host. One of the things you should look for in a hosting company is if it provides customer support 24 hour, 7 day a week availability with a toll-free number. You have to be able to get help whenever you need it. If you have just a few simple questions, the answers should be easily locatable on the web host’s site. If time isn’t of the essence, then you should be able to email customer support and receive a response within a day, if not hours. If you have more involved questions, there should be a toll-free number and friendly informative staff available at all times. Many hosts offer online support in the form of instant messaging. Being able to “chat” with a customer service representative is an excellent feature.

The next thing you need to determine is how much disk storage and bandwidth you’ll need for your online enterprise. If it’s a relatively simple affair then you should select a relatively small plan. Someone who just wants to put up an informative page about their business won’t need as much from their host as someone who intends to supply images, video, and audio. As always, it’s important to decide what you need and then base your decisions on that.

Remember, you’ll also want to give yourself room to grow. Read the company’s user terms and policies. If you’re contracted to stick with a certain plan for a certain amount of time, make sure that it gives you room to expand your site. Maybe your site will be more successful than you planned. How bad would it be if your site starting getting tons of visitors but you had a cheap plan, with little storage and bandwidth, and then your host shut it down for exceeding its limits? If you’re not sure what you’ll need, start out with the low-level plan from a good company, but don’t sign on for a year or two at once. Stick with monthly plans or make sure you can change yours at any time so you can adjust to unforeseen popularity.

Along with the amount of disk storage and bandwidth, make sure you check your hosts data transfer rate and uptime. It won’t do you much good if you choose a service with slow speeds and frequent crashes. Reliability and speed are of the utmost importance when doing business on the internet. It’d be like if you had a great store but the power kept going out and you closed randomly.

Another feature to look at is the control panel offered by the company. The control panel allows you to manage your web site and keep track of activity. It allows you to check your bandwidth and disk storage. It also lets you see what your customers are doing. The control panel should be intuitive and informative. It should provide more information than the novice knows what to do with so it can grow with you, but it should be easy to interface with at the same time.

The web hosting company you choose should be well-established, have the right hardware, and it should provide the appropriate tools for their clients. Research the issues and avoid second-rate web operations. Once you get past the initial bump in the learning curve, you’ll find that doing business on the web can be easy and extremely profitable.

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