Tips On Finding a WebHosting Company
November 27, 2009 by Web Hosting Watch
Filed under cPanel
Before choosing the right Web Hosting Company, You need to determine your hosting needs. How to do that? Rest assured as I am going to reveal to you 14 solid tips that can keep you save and stick with the best web hosting company.
They are:
1. Do you need to pay for the potential host setup? Setting up your account is definitely free of charge.
2. Are you allowed to sign up for month to month basis services or do you need to sign up for the entire year? By signing up a long term, you may get a better deal, however, you are also stuck paying the host for that contract period if you are unhappy.
3. Do select a host that offers enough server space (typically in megabytes) for as many as your pages and images required so your site can grow.
4. You need to calculate how much traffic/bandwidth usage you expect to have to your site. Bandwidth or data transfer rate is the measurement of the amount of data transmitted over an internet connection in a given time. Some hosts charge a lot if you exceed your transfer limit. Even if you don’t expect a lot of traffic, keep in mind that images on a page use more bandwidth than plain XHTML pages.
5. What kind of technical support does the host offer? Read the hosts support pages; are they comprehensive and easy to understand? Do they provide setup help to new users? Will the hosting company send out notifications when they are performing system maintenance and upgrades?
6. What type of control panel does the hosting company use? Many hosting companies now use CPanel. CPanel is an interface that allows users to control their domains. Through CPanel you can configure and check email (using multiple web interfaces), check site statistical information (visitors, referrals, etc.), manage databases, set directory permissions, edit .htaccess files, add hotlink protection, create and manage FTP accounts, upload and manage files, perform site backups, submit sites to search engines, and perform one click installation of CGI and other scripts. Many sites that offer CPanel will also offer Fantastico, an auto installer. Fantastico will allow you to install numerous content management systems like WordPress, Xoops, Mambo, pMachine, shopping carts, help desk systems, wikis, and loads of other scripts with a click of a button. Even though my current hosting company does not have CPanel or Fantastico available, if I was to move to a new hosting company I would make sure that both of these services were available.
FTP should be offered. You do not want to have to use a control panel, web interface, to upload files all the time.
7. What kind of scripting host will your site need now and in the future? Do you want to add database interactivity in the future?PHP/MySGL and/or ASP should be a part of the package. CGI should be available. If you plan to use FrontPage then FrontPage Server Extensions should be installed and supported. Is SSI offered? Does the host have a plan that would allow you to implement e-commerce?
8. What kind of statistical information does the host provide? You will want to track your site usage, make sure that traffic reports is offered by the host.
9. Does the host have a reseller plan? You may want to offer hosting to your clients when you get your business off the ground, check to see if your host has a reseller plan.
10. How is domain name registration handled? Do you have to register your domain name with the host? How much does it cost to register your domain name. Can your register your domain and have the name transferred for free or do you have to pay a fee?
11. How many mailboxes does the host offer, is there POP3 access or is the e-mail forwarded?
12. When you are compiling this information, be sure to plan for future growth. Be sure that the host that you select has other plans available if your needs change.
13. What is the hosts backup plan, how often do they backup client sites? This should be daily.
Once you have a list of potential hosts, use Google or another search engine to search for those hosts. Read comments about the host’s support, down time, etc. Read forums like WebHosting Talk to find out more information about the hosts. Avoid top 10 lists of host, these are frequently nothing more than paid advertising. Look for reviews by real people on their web sites or in message forums.
14. Some hosts will handle the Domain Name Registration, but at a cost. Find out if your host will transfer your domain and if there is a cost.
Shared Window Web Hosting
October 7, 2009 by Web Hosting Watch
Filed under Windows Hosting
Many web hosting companies provide different kinds of web hosting services like shared windows hosting. Shared windows hosting has become a popular way of web hosting in the recent times.
Web hosting – An introduction
Web hosting is a web site hosting service provided for the benefit of the individuals and enterprises who are keen on launching their own websites on the World Wide Web using the Internet. Web hosting enables them to establish their business presence using the services of the web hosting services provider. The web hosting services company provides the server space to the companies and individuals by charging monthly fees for lending their web hosting services.
Using the services of the host provider with high-end server and Internet connectivity, companies and individuals can establish a greater online presence
which helps them in promoting their business online.
These days shared windows hosting are offered by many web hosting service providers as a better option.
Types of web hosting
- Shared web hosting
Shared web hosting like shared windows hosting is the most popular among all the other types of hosting services. Shared web hosting services enable a number of clients to share a single server space by offering greater control to the customers over their websites.
-Dedicated web hosting
Unlike shared windows hosting, dedicated web hosting providers allow the customers to use the entire server with full access to all the server resources to host single or many websites which is suitable for high traffic volume websites in general.
Along with that there are other types of web hosting services like Reseller web hosting, Free web hosting, Managed web hosting, Virtual Private Server(VPN) hosting along with collocation hosting services that are widely available.
Shared Windows hosting
Shared Windows hosting provides a reliable and affordable web hosting solutions to individuals and large enterprises who need to access the powerful features of Microsoft office and other windows based applications like ASP(Active Server Pages), SQL Server 2000, ODBC database connectivity, MS Access, Windows Media.
These Shared Windows hosting solutions offer benefits and advantages like:
- High performance
- High uptime for servers
- Support for scripting languages
- Affordable prices
- Easy to use
www.servelogic.com , is a leading web hosting service provider in UK that provides a host of advanced web hosting solutions including shared hosting services like shared windows hosting. This sever hosting UK company well understands the needs of the customers by offering innovative and flexible web hosting solutions to companies.
Servelogic has extensive knowledge and expertise in providing cost-effective and performance oriented web hosting solutions suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises. Our due diligence and high quality web hosting services enable business to improve their sales and maximize their ROI.
Web Hosting Accounts
October 7, 2009 by Web Hosting Watch
Filed under Setting Up Accounts
You have just built or had built that perfect web site for your business. It was completed just the other day and it looks great when you demonstrate it on your laptop computer. But your web site cannot help to sell your product or service parked on your laptop and at some point it will need to be installed on the World Wide Web. This is where you are going to need to buy a hosting account to park your domain and web pages for presentation.
But there are so many different choices when it comes to web hosting. There are dedicated, shared, and reseller accounts. There are web hosting services that service only PHP pages and those that service Microsoft-type web pages written in either ASP or ASP.NET. There are those that provide MySQL databases and those that allow one to have SQL Server or Microsoft Access databases. So many choices and it can be very intimidating for the new web user who has traveled beyond the realm of just email and browsing.
To put it in simple terms, a web hosting account is a server space where you put your pages for serving to the World Wide Web. Usually, what happens is your web site is built on your local server (running on your laptop for instance). You then purchase a domain name, and then purchase the web hosting space and park your domain name with the web hosting company. The domain name is the www.”something”.com name that everyone will know your web site by. You could for example purchase the name www.yourcompany.com from a domain name seller like Register.com and then purchase web space at GoDaddy.com and park your domain name there. Then, when the general global population types in www.yourcompany.com, domain name servers and forwarders will find your pages located on GoDaddy.com because you parked www.yourcompany.com there.
But how do you go about choosing the web hosting that you need? There is a standard answer among information technology geeks and it goes like this: “It depends…” What does that mean? It means it depends on what you want to do. If your web pages were written in PHP with a MySQL database then you will need a web hoster that supports those types of web sites. If your web pages were written in ASP.NET then you will need a web hoster that supports ASP.NET. Also, be aware that there are two ASP.NET versions: 1.1 and 2.0 and the pages are not interchangeable. A good web hoster will give you the option of both. For example, www.omnis.com allows you to switch from the web hosting control panel whether your pages are written in ASP.NET 1.1 or 2.0.
Your decision on web hosting needs to consider whether you want shared or dedicated hosting. Dedicated hosting basically means you get your own server and you do not share the bandwidth of your connection or system resources with anyone else. There is also another twist to dedicated hosting and that is managed versus unmanaged dedicated hosting. Managed hosting means the hosting company will act as a web master and handle any issues arising with your service. Unmanaged is just the opposite and you are basically on your own in managing the server. One thing you had better be prepared for is if you are prepared to do all of the functions of a webmaster on your server.
There is also a revenue-generating type of web hosting and it is a reseller account. This is where you purchase a web space and resell it to your own customers (or even your friends for free) dividing up the space. You act as the web hosting company and bill your customers just as if you owned the servers. There are even some reseller account hosting companies that offer all management services to include billing for a small fee to you the customer. In fact, in some cases they do everything with the exception of marketing your hosting service. To the end user it looks like it all came from you. They have no idea you are the middle guy unless you tell them.
Some issues you need to consider is can you handle billing and collecting fees from customers and if you can handle the technical support issues. If you value your time off, make sure that you have the technical support area covered well. Also, make sure your reseller hosting company provides you with a powerful yet easy-to-use control panel so that you can set up the accounts for your customers. If you manage your reseller account well it can be a good source of residual income.
And finally, there is the shared hosting account where you purchase a “slice of the pie” so to speak when it comes to overall hosting space. You have your area shared with many other users who have their small areas as well. For most websites this is more than sufficient. Their big advantage is low cost because you are sharing. However keep in mind that you are sharing disk space, system resources, and bandwidth with who knows how many other users. If you need a high performance site with lots of space then this might not be the option for you. Of course the domain name you purchased points to your space in the shared realm and no one will be writing their files from their sites into your folder in the shared area.
It pays to educate yourself on all aspects of web hosting accounts as this will be critical to the effective presentation of your web site.
Web Hosting Tips for Searching a Web Host
April 11, 2009 by Web Hosting Watch
Filed under WebHost Reviews
This article is useful for understanding the hosting industry and studies its dynamics to know what to look for before selecting a web host.
Firstly it is good to have a proper introduction of web hosting chain. It is termed as chain because here about 3 upstream providers serve the end consumer. First the web-hosting provider, who is in direct contact, then comes the web host’s upstream company who maintains the servers and sells space to web hosts, and above that, the data center that serves the purpose of providing the connection and houses the servers. There are some web hosts who act as the server administrator and liase with the data centers directly.
The growth of the web hosting industry in at saturation point due to the presence of hundreds of web-hosting providers claiming to provide cheaper and better services to businesses and individuals. The reason for this is the availability of resources in abundance and at cheaper costs with reducing disk space and data-transfer prices. Its easy to enter the web hosting business as there are large resellers of server space providing cheap hosting and reselling plans that provides ground to incomers to join the business.
Due to growing number of suppliers with cheaper reselling plans, more and more web hosting businesses are coming up providing web-hosting solutions to business and individual websites due to lower fixed costs and investment. Not only that this increase in supply is not caused by factors in any particular country. As Internet is not limited to the boundary of any country so the data centers present in any part of the world can easily provide the servers and web space for a local hosting company. Due to Internet it is easy to communicate to each other and providers can easily exchange their services in the global space.
Maintaining a proper balance between supply and demand is quite good for the customers. But imbalance has forced several new web-hosting providers to offer extremely low prices for their web hosting plans or packages in order to make them self stand in the tough market. Now it’s time for customers to choose the hosting providers having lowered prices from the vast number of providers.
However, continuous decrease in prices is quite disadvantageous for both the providers as well as the customers. By reduces prices, companies are able to earn nominal profit and are even not able to cover their support costs. Customers suffer by getting less support with their web-hosting accounts. It’s quite obvious if the profits do not justify the costs, web-hosting companies will easily close down and takes their clients’ sites with them.
The following are the factors to consider while choosing a web-hosting provider: -
The most important factor to consider is Support for any individual or small business looking for a web host for their websites. The Internet web-hosting provider who is unable to provide the facility of responding to emails within 24 hours is probably having problems providing fast and reliable support services. One can’t ignore the validity of these services especially for the beginners who needs guidance with publishing their websites on the web hosting account provided. The success of any web hosting business depends upon the relationships between web host and web hosting customers. To make business success, provider should be able to provide services when and where required also its crucial for customers to know when their site is going offline for sake of maintenance.
After support next important factor is Stability. It refers to how much uptime one can expect from the web-hosting provider, which in turn depends upon the providers’ servers and network. If the providers are not having reliable and stable providers, it would affect their servers and cause problems for the website. It is must to have an uptime of about 99.5% in the industry, as there are other external factors, which may be beyond control of the provider.
Third factor to consider is Cost which depends on the purpose of the website and budget. The budget may be smaller in case of Personal /Individual websites and so they opt to go with a cheaper web hosting provider, possibly in exchange for support and stability. But in case of business sites as they need better stability and support they opt for expensive host providers. It is most often observed that cheap web hosting providers are able to attract customers in the beginning by offering low prices but afterwards fails in providing quality support to their customers thereby creating problems for them. Also the large numbers of client sites cause sustained high server loads which leads to server crash thus hampering stability.
Another factor, which is not so important, is Location of the server. It is not considered important as it depends upon a user’s ISP/country’s connection to the data center where the server is located. Pings to the server normally tells the network latency to expect when people can access to one’s site. Lower ping rates leads to loading of site faster.
Last but not least one should take time to identify and contact a web host to check their service. This helps in providing an idea of the kind of support that one might receive and helps in deciding the reliability of the provider.