How to Start a Home Based Web Design Business » Web Hosting

Web Hosting: Finding the Hidden Gems

William MacMahon — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:43:24 +0000

Making a catalog of your entire web hosting requirements is the first thing you should do before looking for a trustworthy web-hosting corporation. Check details like the necessary area needed, the total mails received, the space set aside for relocations, if you will need a database or shopping basket. Think about including chat aspects, make a forum or take a commercial account. All this is necessary, as, for a web host to be trustworthy, your requirements have to top the priority list. The following list is about the characteristics that a web host needs to have:

Dependability and Uptime

More Uptime amounts to more user-friendliness. So see the amount of Uptime that the web host promises for the website. Some may give you an Uptime of around 99.5%! Check details of the hardware, protections and connectivity. These reduce the downtime

Pricing-Cost

The web host must demand an affordable cost and give you easy methods of payments. Check for all extra prices, setting up costs. Now, setting-up charges are asked by many corporations to meet up the expenses of good technological systems.

Bandwidth

An essential factor that can either advance or curb the growth of your business is bandwidth. You may have to pay extra to a few web hosts offering you small bandwidth if you cross the data transfer or download limit. However, in approximately the same price range others offer greater bandwidth. Select carefully and cautiously. There is no such thing as the tempting ‘Unlimited Bandwidth’. Don’t fall into it. When your site becomes a hit, then having a minimum of 1 GB of data transfer set for your website allows for greater traffic.

Disk Storage Space

Space is another crucial factor as far as growth is concerned. You will find web hosts offering you 20 to 50 MB space while others offering 100 MB space, at again roughly a similar price. Go for the ones offering 100 MB and greater, for otherwise you will end up paying $5 to $10 more for every 10 MB additional space.

Speed of the Server

Before zeroing on your web host, check the server speed. Use a free tool like Net Mechanic to gauge the access speed for all facets of access like connect time, download time, DNS lookup, network speed and absence of timeouts. The download time figures will tell you how fast or reliable the server is. Run a speed check on all the prospective web hosts that you decide, both in peak hours and non-peak hours.

The Basic Features

Select a host that will give a range of characteristics right from the start. Certain hosts can give more characteristics at higher prices that they come up with each month.

Multiple Domain Names

Find out if your web hosting account will allow and charge extra for more than one domain name, if by chance you use multiple domain name. A few of the web hosts do not charge anything extra for several domain names.

Email Autoresponders and Accounts for Mail Forwarding

Ensure that you are able to forward emails from your web hosting account. If you have several websites, it becomes very easy and efficient if all your email is forwarded to your ISP service. You can then read all the mail at once, without having to log into each of your accounts. Another device that saves time and acts as a great marketing tool is Autoresponder, a program that sends any pre-written message that you want to anyone who mails you. This reduces your own workload a lot but still helps you stay connected with people and increase your publicity.

Mailing List

Check whether the web hosting company allows for mailing lists to be prepared. A mailing list or an online, e-mail based discussion group can come in handy when distributing your ezine and for other promotional events and marketing gigs.

File Transfer Protocol or FTP

File Transfer Protocol or FTP service comes with almost every web hosting company, as it is a basic service. It allows quick and efficient file transfer from your Website to others and vice versa.

Setting up Anonymous FTP accounts-Making Nameless FTP accounts

Having this facility helps you set up a FTP site which allows other people to access that and download files that they need. Setting such anonymous FTP accounts are profitable if you want people to make large downloads of software or free e-books etc. The best thing about FTP accounts is that while file transference or download, if your internet facility disconnects or the phone company cuts you off, you can always continue the download from where you left, after you reconnect.

Using a SSL Server or a Secured Server-Availing of Secured or SSL Servers

It is absolutely necessary that you use a secure server if your business involves monetary transactions through your website. You can scare away potential customers without this facility, though you may often have to pay extra web hosting charges for this. A secure server is needed for taking online orders and transference of sensitive and important information like credit card numbers. Also a SSL server permits such information typed into an encrypted form before sending it from the web browser of the user to the server.

CGI Scripts

For obtaining information from any form, CGI scripts are usually used. Subsequently, this information is conveniently sent to your email account. People can use the library of CGI scripts for hosting their sites, available through respectable web hosting companies. You will also be allowed to add and use your own desired CGI scripts by the best web hosting accounts. Though you may think that you presently don’t need CGI scripts, you may need them later. So, choose web hosts which allow you this provision.

Advanced Features-Developed Characteristics

If your website needs advanced features and applications like Java Applets, RealAudio/Video, Password Protection, Database Access and PHP check with the web hosting company whether they are equipped with such advanced features.

Backup

Almost every web hosting service will make sure to backup your web directory every day. Not providing this basic service is almost unthinkable these days. In fact certain web hosts provide you with unnecessary and unimportant backups just to make sure that your website is not lost in the melee.

Security and Assurance

Since there are many web hosts present it can be problematic choosing and believing in the right one. Services that give plans like a money back strategy can be helpful if you are displeased with the functioning. Hosts giving out such plans are also more competent and trustworthy.

Flexibility of the Host

A stagnant web hosting service can be the worst bane for your website and your business. It too needs to grow along with your website and business. So if you desire to include newer features like ecommerce, it should be able to upgrade and provide you with facilities like shopping cart, storefront or a merchant account. The web host should have constant upgrades an should be ready to provide you services like more web space, or your own dedicated server or even a forum.

About the author: William MacMahon is a professional blogger and server admin in the web hosting industry. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to join him on his search for the top hosting companies each month.

Benefits of Web Hosting Scripts

William MacMahon — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:42:57 +0000

Web hosting scripts have ability to increase the function of your website, just like a php script. Scripts such as Word Press are given away free by web hosts to their clients. The key function of the scripts is to enable website owner to improve the functions that are featured on their website for a minimal time and charge.

A selection of the available web hosting scripts is detailed next:

Fantastico is mainly used for commercial reasons and is a script library which assists the automation of web application installation. The website administrator, using control panel, can execute these scripts. Fantastico has revealed claims that their service has been installed on over 10,000 servers and they have in excess of a million users across planet Earth. This is an extremely large amount and would see them as market leaders for this type of product.

These scripts run upon a new application being added to an existing website or when a new website is made. Installing this software can assist a user in configuring their web server file better or assist them in making tables with regards to databases. Fantastico is generally seen as software that is gained in an open source manner but some scripts can be purchased. After installation, every domain on a server can use the script. This means that a server host could place SohoLaunch’s website builder or PerlDesks customer support software to be used by every client, enabling them better interaction with other internet users.

Over 50 applications are linked with Fantastico scripts, with the most popular ones being:

software to enable shopping carts to operate

software to enable easy creating of blogs

software to enable picture sharing

the enabling of a reliable web content management system

* Wikis

It can be tricky for many users to choose between the LINUX and Windows web hosts. It is vital that a user is aware of the language that their website uses before making a choice of what operating system they use or what server they use. LINUX is best for websites which have HTML content, perhaps have e-commerce facilities or possibly run features for a programming database like php or MySQL. This is contrasted by the fact that ASP or ASP.NET sites need a server compatible with Windows.

In order to get the best for your site, we shall discuss some issues about PHP, MySQL and ASP.NET.

PHP is a short form for Hypertext Preprocessor. It’s basically a normally used server side scripting language [which is mostly used for developing and creating interactive and dynamic websites] or a programming language. It is easy to plant it into an HTML code. Normally, PHP is used alongside APACHE on most operating systems, mainly on LINUX. Generally, the purpose of PHP is to act as a filter, which takes inputs from a content-containing file and other PHP instructions, and it displays a unique stream of data. In most of the operating systems, platforms and servers, the deployment of PHP is done without any cost.

MySQL has a number of uses and its primary use is for finding and controlling data. It is a computer language for numerous users and has many threads and is handy for users who need to get hands on with their data and need to change it about. It is a management system for SQL databases that has a huge number of uses. MySQL is most frequently found on web applications, used as an open source tool for tracking bugs and to act as a database component on MAMP, LAMP and WAMP. There is no doubt that there are similarities between MySQL and PHP as well as “Ruby on Rails.” The vast majority of sites that are similar to Word Press will only work on a mixture of MySQL and PHP.

Active Server Page or ASP.NET is the platform division provided by Microsoft and it benefits from the hugely successful marketing that Microsoft offers. ASP.NET can be viewed as succeeding ASP technology and if you need to build websites, applications and XML web services, ASP.NET is for you. It manages to make constructing of web applications a far simpler task by reducing the amount of codes a user needs. There is a higher level of flexibility offered by ASP.NET, particularly with regards to selecting languages as it can be used with a large number of .NET languages. As HTML and source codes can be combined and used as a partnership, it becomes easier to maintain and write with regards to hosting a web site with ASP.NET. A further benefit comes from the fact that as the information for configuration is pre-loaded, there is not a separate requirement to register the individual components that are used. Lastly, this is an extremely fast application and is able to host a large amount of users with no noticeable impact on performance.

Now you are armed with knowledge about these technical descriptions, you can make a more informed decision regarding the server. Although there may be some problems in trying to use CGI scripts to automate the website, there is no doubt that repeated use will make it a far easier task over time.

Starting with a simpler script is the way to begin. You can visit cgi-resources.com for some CGI scripts. You will find some free and paid scripts for mails, website management, banner rotation, classified ads, protection of password, polls, mailing lists, having a search engine for your site, shopping carts and a host of other activities. Though a fee is charged for some of the scripts, you can save money by using a less expensive script and instead of calling on an expert from the company to set it up, you can do so yourself. Remember that costliest is not always the best since some of them may have more features than what you may require.

Some webmasters believe that a user needs a strong level of computer science to use scripts but this is not the case. After accessing your server, it is possible to find some providers who will enable free uploading of CGI scripts. This will enable the user to test a few CGI scripts before deciding what is best for them.

CGI scripts are extremely simple when the script contains a config file or a setup file. After placing the files onto the server, the user will have their config and setup files and these will automatically update after content is entered onto them. A different way of enabling things is to have a variable file. These files have the majority of the information that is required to enable the script to run and the majority of general scripts, which are known to contain various files, have a requirement to be set up for their working.

Most scripts are provided with a read-me or setup file which can be read in HTML text. The instructions are contained within after opening the file up. There are clear and concise instructions to be found on many scripts but some writers will make an assumption that the user does not any directions. If this is the case, it may be possible to examine similar scripts to gain an understanding of how it works.

A major reason for choosing CGI scripts is that it will make your site a lot easier to maintain and increase the level of interaction that is available on the site.

About the author: Matt Ewing is a staff writer for WebHostingMadness.com and web hosting industry analyst. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to join him on his search for the top web hosting companies each month.

Authentic And Tested Methods To Enhance Your “Likes” On Facebook

Marc Marseille — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:37:06 +0000

Facebook is definitely an incredible trend in the world of social media and marketing. There are more than half a billion users signed up with accounts and about one half of them participate on the site on a daily basis. Those are truly enormous numbers that have attracted the attention of most businesses both large and small. There are huge options available at Facebook, yet that does not necessarily suggest it is overnight or even easy. It is important to carry out your campaigns properly and that they consist of standard advertising and marketing approaches. In this article we will talk about some of the methods that have actually worked for those within the Facebook system.

Needless to say the competition at Facebook is quite intense, but that is offset by the traffic figures a little bit. After you put together your Facebook page be sure that it isn’t vanilla or dreary. You also do not want the people who take a look at your page to get scared away. Obviously, however, you need to make sure that you differentiate yourself and that you prove yourself unique (within the confines of your niche). Don’t utilize anything people find average when you design your site. Truth be told that there is a nice little specialized niche that has popped up for style and design. What this means is that it is worth your money and time to have something customized for you.

One important thing that Facebook does really well is to help you show different pages to different people. This makes it, generally for the first time, easy to locate people who are already interested in you. All you’ve got to do is change your options to shuttle different people to various pages. Give your first-time visitors a chance to fan your page, and then you will see something different the very next time. You need to understand the different tools you’ll be able to use. Once you do this, you will discover so much more versatility and power in the different ads you run.

Lots of people forget that the main idea behind Facebook is without a doubt that it is a interpersonal network. For marketers who are trying to do a lot of different things every single day, this is especially easy. That can be a terrible idea when working with any sort of social media website. So do all you possibly can to show people that you are honest and there on a steady basis. Not only that, but more importantly demonstrate to them that you would like to be social with them. It means that you regularly need to interact and communicate and have some genuine give and take. The true reason that you have those fans is because they adore you and/or your content.

Do your very best to be as genuine online as you may be offline. It means acknowledge them and demonstrate your thanks and thankfulness when appropriate. You’ll be astonished at how many people desire to be appreciated and recognized. It is incredibly true that people will do business with those whom they like. You want to persuade your audience that you are genuine and not a program (such bots are not the objective of Facebook).

Facebook promotion and search engine placement go are two of a kind, for a genuine custom advertising plan which consist of social media, you can pay a visit to search engine advertising .. Free reprint available from: Authentic And Tested Methods To Enhance Your “Likes” On Facebook.

Fatcow Coupon For Great Webhosting

Dawn Macalie — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:35:15 +0000

There are a lot of companies that offer reliable webhosting on the internet. Fatcow is one of those that have maintained a high standard for several years. They provide a full hosting plan that comes at a very affordable price. This is even cheaper when one gets a fatcow coupon which be easily gotten on the internet.

This hosting coupon varies in type. The most ideal is the fifty percent type that cuts the price in half. Using it results in a lot of saved money over several months. The reduction in price does not mean less quality service will be given. The quality is not reduced only the cost is.

This company is known for having a higher than average up-time. They have a lot of backup equipment that ensures that their client’s websites are always available on the internet. This is very important to any webmaster. A fatcow coupon gives the opportunity to enjoy this level of reliability at a much reduced price.

The company offers two options that suit the needs of different people. These are the Full package and the MiniMoo. These come with unlimited disk space, bandwidth and domains. They also have unlimited SQL databases and mailboxes. A domain name is given for free and there is access to the website builder and other vital software.

All that is necessary to operate a site on the internet is available in these packages. The interface is designed for great ease of use. Wordpress blogs and other blogs can be easily built with the software that is free to use. This will be greatly appreciated by people that have websites.

This company has another notable aspect which is their environmental friendliness. They do this by ensuring that all their servers are wind energy powered. Anyone that signs up with them will also help with the effort to preserve the environment.

FatCow is an amazing web host that I would recommend. With unlimited bandwidth, unlimited drive space and hosting for unlimited websites, their features are hard to beat. With the use of fatcow coupon code, it will make hosting even cheaper. Check out the site now for the latest fatcow coupon for more hosting rebates.

A Hostgator Coupon Can Save You Money

Dawn Macalie — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:47:03 +0000

Once a website is created and ready to go live (on the Internet), what do you do next? In order to be uploaded on the world-wide-web you must have a hosting service. What should a person know before choosing one of the many that are available? Before you sign up you may want to check to see if there is a hostgator coupon available that can save you money.

Make a list of what you want a hosting service to do for you. You may want some kind of support system or you may be satisfied with online information. You may want to be sure that your website is available for others to see online most of the time.

The time when your website is not available for people to download and read is called downtime. This can be due to a busy time of day or the host server is being repaired. There will always be occassional random downtimes beyond their control. Some hosts pay a refund for downtime that exceeds what they ageed to in the SLA.

Uptime is when your website is available to be seen online. Downtime is when it cannot be seen. A web hosting service will have some agreed upon amount of downtime each month. The downtime for repair or unexpected problems may or may not be included in the allowable downtime. It will be clearly stated in the SLA (service level agreement. You may be entitled to a partial refund if you do not receive your guaranteed uptime each month.

The SLA or service-level agreement can be whatever the host wants it to be. It should be written in the SLA how much downtime is allowable. For example, if you choose to use a free hosting service, they will impose some requirements on you. You have no guarantee of how much uptime (time the website is available online)or what advertising they display on your personal website.

The freedom of a paid web service is well worth it. You can often get extras such as a percentage off the price if you sign up for a contract. Another free incentive to look for is a free domain name. You will be likely to find a hostgator coupon online that will add even more to your savings. It pays to check before buying.

If you’re searching for affordable web hosting, I would recommend Hostagtor unlimited bandwidth, unlimited drive space hosting plans. You can use the Hostgator discount code 2011 to get hosting for just 1 cent. Visit the site for latest Hostgator coupon code for more hosting discounts.