Web Hosting - Where Do I Go As a Small Business?

By Tem Balanco

You come up with a terrific concept which you'd like to implement online. You make the initial move, employing the skills of a capable web designer who builds a site according to your requirements. Now you're ready to post your material, but first there's one more major consideration. You have to locate a superior web hosting service.

The Internet is really an enormous community. For example, your search engine for the words web hosting will turn up many thousands of options to view. It is difficult to know which result will be the most helpful to you. With time being so precious, most people don't have the time to search through the vast number of search results. The question is, how do you quickly and efficiently narrows the choices to find the web-hosting site for your needs?

There are many things to consider when you are looking for an array of services to assist you in your web hosting. One example of this, is if you are looking for a server for your own needs or a normal hosting in which you are server with other customers. However, a small business does not need their own server since it is really for larger corporations who have tons of data that needs to saved in a certain file. Normal web hosting is better for small business as you will save money for items that are needed.

You will need to learn the phrases associated with websites, such as up time and bandwidth use. If your server goes down then your website will go down and your customers will look somewhere else. You need to understand the value of what you have. There are many websites available that will give you all of the options available along with side-by-side comparisons of the ones most suited to you.

Obviously, you'll want to find out the opinions of other business and site owners about your prospective hosting company. This is where the Internet can help you out. There are dozens of websites that review web hosting companies, and you'll be sure to find tons of information on consumer forums. You'll also be able to check into the prices and service records of various hosting firms, so that you can select the company with the best track record and the happiest clientele.

Making the decision is start a business is difficult enough, adding the stress of finding where to put your website, or who is going to take care of what is most precious to you can definitely be lessened when you find the right company to take care of your business.

You make a move to employ the skills of a capable web designer who builds a site according to your requirements. First locate a superior web hosting service; then decide if you want normal hosting, or a server dedicated only to you. Choose dedicated hosting only if you have a web page that is the same as large corporations or if you specialize in large amounts of secure data. If you don't, 'plain Jane' hosting is most likely the ideal way to tailor your website. Become familiar with the terms: up time and bandwidth use. Check with businesses and web owners about various hosting companies.

Affordable Website Hosting Plan - 3 Tips When Choosing a Cheap Web Host

By Clark Thompson

We all try to get an affordable website hosting plan when we have just registered a new domain name. But finding a cheap web host is not always easy. There are many things that can go wrong when you choose a cheap host over some more expensive web-hosting.

To help you a little bit along the way when you are choosing an affordable website hosting plan, here are a few things you need to keep in mind:

• Type of server your domain is hosted on
  
• Type of tracking software installed on the server
  
• The amount of space and bandwidth allowed

Depending on how advanced you are, you might want to choose a server type for your hosting that will fit your needs in the long run. Foremost this is about what type of programs and script you will be able to install and run on your server in the future.

When you spend both time and money on your website and strategy, much of that will go to waste if you can't track your visitors properly. By studying your home page and site map etc. you can learn much from your visitor's behavior. The knowledge you gain here can be used to create a more profitable web site. But of course you need tracking software on your server that can do this for you.

As your website grows both in size and in traffic, you have to make sure that your cheap hosting plan can support that. Changing spacehosting later on is something that you definitely want to avoid.

For more tips on choosing an affordable website hosting plan, visit http://johnnyknows.com/. Here you will get detailed instructions on how to choose a cheap web host. Choosing a website hosting plan is the one step you don't want to do wrong.

The Small Business Guide to Selecting a Web Host

By Bradley E

Having an informative, call-to-action website is becoming essential for every small business. With a well-established site, you can connect with your existing customer base as well as reaching out to a whole new set of potential customers. No matter what industry you are in, a competitive web strategy begins with selecting a reliable web host that can meet the needs of your business as you grow and evolve. This guidance provides an overview of the factors to consider when selecting hosting.

Reliable Support

It is essential that any web host you chose provide 24/7 support to help you solve any issues that may arise with your site. The best hosting companies offer phone, email and chat support options for their customers around the clock. Even under ideal circumstances, continuous support provides an insurance policy that is needed as you investing in your website as an effective sales channel.

Control Panels

Since many small businesses manage their site without the support of an IT department, it is essential to look for a web host that offers easy management through cPanel or Plesk control panels. Both cPanel and Plesk offer a navigable interface to manage everything from email to backups.

Fantastico Software

Many web hosts offer Fantastico which provides 1-click installation of common software packages such as osCommerce shopping cart for online stores, Wordpress for blogs, Joomla for content management and more. By choosing a host that offers one click installs, as well as automated upgrades, you can focus on building your business rather than any complications that can arise from software installations.

Affordable Features

As server technology has improved, you can find reliable hosting with virtually unlimited data transfer, email addresses and data storage at a low price. Also, make sure you have a flexible monthly pricing plan that allows you company to scale and grow, rather than locking you into a long-term contract. As you invest in your site, you want to keep open the possibility of expanding to your own server or upgrading your hosting in the future.

Bradley E. is technology editor at iReviewer, a leading reviews site that provides the latest reviews and news. Find more hosting reviews at iRW.com

VMware Virtualized Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting

By Amy Nutt

With so many hosting options available, it can be rather confusing what to go with. This isn't referring to the many hosting plans that are on the market. This is referring to whether you should use VMware hosting, dedicated hosting, or shared hosting. In this case, we're talking about VMware virtualized hosting and dedicated hosting since you want your website to exist on its own server and not have to share with others. The point is, it is a large decision to make.

VMware Virtualized Hosting

VMware virtualized hosting is different from any other hosting that you may research. You'll find that it exists on a virtual server that operates independent of any operating system instead of it existing on a physical server that operates an operating system such as Windows. Servers usually have to have an operating system to rely on, but VMware virtualized hosting does not. It is an effective IT solution for your business when you want to manage your server in-house and want to do so in an effective manner.

VMware virtualized hosting also allows you to get multiple servers running in a matter of minutes without having to purchase any new hardware. If you have your own servers in which you require hardware, you can actually combine your VMware virtualized hosting and your hardware servers to make it all more manageable. Basically, you're creating several virtual machines that are operating in one centralized area. This can save you both manpower and a lot of time. If something happens to your server hardware, you can quickly create more virtual servers to back yourself up. You technically have your own data center at your disposal that can do anything you need it to do with your hosting.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is hosting in which the business leases a server that is not used by anyone else. It is not like shared hosting where several customers share the same server. This is a server in which you, the customer, can have complete control over it or you can go for managed hosting that allows the hosting company to take care of your server for you. If you have any problems, you simply have your hosting company take care of it. If you choose to do things in-house, you consult with your own IT department. It is what you find to be more cost-effective for you that determines how your server is managed. If you can afford an IT staff, you can do that. However, if you find that paying for managed hosting is the better solution, you can go that route as well.

The main difference between VMware virtualized hosting and dedicated hosting is the fact that you have to have the actual hardware with dedicated hosting. You can choose your hardware, your operating system, and other elements, but it can be costly. VMware does not require hardware, is not reliable on an operating system, and is vey cost-effective. As stated before, you have the ability to manage multiple servers in one centralized location. You do manage it on your own, but it takes very little manpower to make sure everything is up and running and to operate multiple servers.

Which is better?

Of course it is up to you as to what route you want to take when choosing a server for your website. You may choose that you want the hardware and other options that comes with dedicated servers. Then again, you may choose that you want to take the low cost route of VMware hosting and having a small staff manage it. Each has their own set of benefits, but only one is the solution for you.

Having a managed hosting services is crucial for any web application development demanding high-availability and performance.

Dedicated Hosting - Must For Ever-Growing Or Big Organizations!

By Alpana A

Every company has taken to the internet as web presence helps in earning more popularity and clients from all over the world. You can showcase your products and services to the whole world. As more and more people people's preferences are changing, people want to find all their requirements on the internet instead of wasting their holidays or off on shopping or any thing that is time consuming. And why should somebody take all the trouble when everything is available at the click of a button, after all? Companies have understood the outlook of people and have launched their company websites to gain all those potential customers. There are a number of hosting services on offer these days and dedicated hosting happens to be the most preferred choice for big brand companies.

Dedicated hosting in itself means hosting your website on a server which is totally dedicated to one company or organization. There is no sharing of any sort in this hosting type. This is mainly an option for companies looking for more dedication from the web hosting company, where they have a complete loyal technical support that takes care of the visibility of the site on the internet.

Dedicated hosting is more expensive compared to other hosting services. But, if you are getting a secure and well protected server which will guard your website from internet thieves and hackers (especially when you have an ecommerce or any type of businesses where transactions are made on a daily basis) then there is no harm in shunning out a little extra money. Plus, you get the benefit of getting an independent server which is not shared with any other website, where the whole focus shall be on your business. You can be guaranteed to gain more and will not be facing any sort of losses in any field.

Due to growing competition in the market, within dedicated web hosting also there are various packages and many web hosting companies are offering a variety of it. So, how do you choose the right company and hosting service? It is actually quite simple, in other words, it is like a policy that should be followed in any thing - whether you are choosing a product or a service, you should do a thorough research on the company as well as read reviews on the company's services from clients. It will give a wider and clear picture on the reliability and stability of the company which is providing the service. It will help you narrow down your search and fetch you the best deal!

The author is associated with IDS Logic, a professional Web Hosting Company providing fully managed Web Hosting and Web Hosting India solutions.

5 Benefits of Server Monitoring

By Georg Goehner

This short article shows you how server monitoring can help you succeed online.

1. You know your site is down before your customers do

Nothing is more embarrassing than a customer calling you asking why your website doesn't work - if they call at all. A website monitoring service alerts you as soon as it detects an error so that you can react immediately - for example by calling your host - before your customers notice the error.

2. Server monitoring saves you money

Some web monitoring firms charge for their service - but consider it an investment: It could cost you a lot of money if your site goes down without you noticing. On the web most customers have a short attention span: If they try to reach your site and it can't be opened most of them don't come back later - they simply try another site.

3. You get informed about link errors

Nobody has time to constantly check their website: A good network monitoring service will not only check if your site is up but it will also let you know if there are any problems with your internal links - for example if there are dead links or database errors.

4. It can help you make a decision about your webhosting provider

If your site goes down several times a day you might have to talk with your webhosting provider - or consider changing providers. You might not notice these errors without an uptime monitoring service.

5. Some server monitoring services are even free

OK, I admit it - here comes a shameless plug for my own monitoring service. But I guess it's not too bad - because it's completely free - there is no paid option. And it even checks your internal links for errors.

So if you're interested check it out at http://www.business-marketing.net/webmonitor Georg Goehner helps online businesses by offering a service that monitors their websites for free. The service can be found at http://www.business-marketing.net/webmonitor Permission is granted to publish this article if it is published in its entirety - including this resource box.

How to Find the Cheapest Website Hosting For Internet Marketing Websites

By Gabriel Killian

In the world of Internet Marketing, there are literally thousands of website hosting companies to choose from. Each hosting package offers something a little different than the other. Depending on your needs, finding the perfect hosting package for you can be hard at times. Below are tips for finding the cheapest hosting and still maintaining a great level of quality.

1. Determine how much website hosting you will need - Do you need hosting for 1, 5, 10, or hundreds of mini-sites? Of those websites, how large are they going to be? These are really important questions to ask yourself when you decide to purchase website hosting. On one hand, purchasing shared hosting for just 1-2 websites may serve your website injustice as shared hosting can sometimes be on the not-so-good side. On the other hand, if you have 10+ websites, paying $5 a month for each may get very expensive, especially as your number of websites grow! Be sure to only purchase what is right for you.

2. A wise Internet Marketer never puts all his or her eggs in one basket. Diversify your hosting, even if it between two hosting companies. Putting all your websites through one hosting plan isn't going to help you decide if it is right for you. Split-test, and if one of the hosting companies should fail you, then you have immediate back-up. NEVER put all your eggs in one basket. This is also an "age-old" SEO method for inter-linking of your own websites.

3. Cheaper is not always better... and More expensive doesn't always mean "high quality". Keep this in mind and read reviews online. Carefully decide how much you want to spend in comparison to the quality of hosting you want. You don't need hundreds of gigs of server space for a little "content website".

4. Bundle! Sometimes you can find Internet Marketing communities that, as part of their subscription, offer FREE website hosting! This is a great way to bundle and save. This way you can get free software, articles, tools, e-books and more... then to top it off with Free website hosting makes the deal about as sweet as it can get. This is probably the best method to go for Internet Marketers who need tons of hosting space and a little something extra.

5. Look for cheap web hosting reviews online. Find out what others think about a certain hosting package. Believe it that people are not shy when it comes to bad service. If a hosting company has ever displeased someone, you'll definitely hear about it online.

6. Have a question? Contact their support! By doing this, it shows the responsiveness of their customer support. If they take two days to get back to you, then you probably don't want to use their service. If they rapidly and clearly handle all of your website hosting question, then you know what you can expect from the rest of their service. This is a great method to test the quality of their service.

7. Judge the ease-of-use of their own website. Is it easy to navigate? Does the website have testimonials from other clients? Can you find any cheap website hosting reviews on the particular company you are looking in to? Do some thorough investigation of clues that may indicate their commitment to quality.

These general rules can help you get the most perfect and cheapest website hosting available. Do your homework, do your research and you really can't go wrong. When it comes down to it, it's all a matter of your specific needs as an Internet Marketer or Business website owner.

For some of the highest quality and Cheapest Website Hosting Reviews and hosting bundle packages visit: http://www.Inferno-Marketing.com - Also visit our site for FREE Internet Marketing e-books and resources!

What is Web Hosting Equipment Colocation?

By Aric Watson

"Colocation" is the practice of locating your own equipment in someone else's data center. There are many reasons why a company may want to do this - perhaps they simply do not have a data center of their own to use, or they may need to spread their resources around geographically for performance, security and/or reliability reasons.

When equipment is colocated to a data center, the company that owns the equipment is essentially renting space in the data center for that equipment - plus the necessary power and data connections, IP addresses, etc. The equipment then benefits from the redundant power and cooling, security and other features of that data center - and the company that owns the equipment doesn't have to worry about these issues.

Colocation service plans vary in terms of the power, space and bandwidth provided to the colocated equipment. It is important to be sure that the colocation plan you choose will meet the needs of your equipment in these areas. Space can vary between a single rack unit for a single server up to multiple square feet of floor space enclosed with security caging.

It is also important to make sure that the data center where your equipment will be housed is good. Most reputable companies will have lots of information on their website about the features of their data center. You can also generally email them with any specific questions you may have. You'll want to make sure that their facility is staffed around the clock, has good security measures, and has the necessary redundant power, cooling, and network connections. You may also want to find out if they actually own their data center - they could simply be renting colocation space in someone else's data center also!

EliteRAX provides affordable colocation services and dedicated hosting in our fully-owned, modern data center.

Common Web Hosting Terminology Defined

By Aric Watson

Apache

Free and open source web server software - and probably the most commonly used web server software. The web server software is what allows the web server to accept and respond to requests for web pages from users.

Backups

A backup system automatically makes copies of the files that make up a website as well as other important files, with the goal of allowing a quick recovery in case of a loss of data whether through a security problem or some sort of hardware/software failure. There's a lot of variance in what sort of backups that web hosts offer - from none at all to nightly or even more regular backups. Generally there's a cycle that allows for a range of files from different dates to be available.

Bandwidth

"Bandwidth" is typically used to refer to the amount of data transfer allowed in one month under a web hosting plan. This is usually measured in gigabytes. Whenever a visitor accesses your website, at least one (and usually lots more) files will be transferred from the web server to the visitor's computer. Generally the web host has a limit on the total allowed size of the files transferred - and excess usage is charged at some predefined rate.

Control Panel

A "control panel" is a web-based system that allows a user to more easily control their web hosting account, allowing things such as setting up email accounts, adding databases, changing apache settings, etc. There's a wide variety of control panel software, and often the functionality will vary based on what the web host allows their customers to do with their site.

Colocation

Colocation or "equipment colocation" allows a company or organization to place their equipment in a web hosts data center, essentially renting space, power, bandwidth etc - but not renting an actual server. This allows the company to use their own custom equipment, but take advantage of the benefits of the web host's data center (reliability, security, 24/7 staffing, etc).

Dedicated Hosting

When a single client has their own web server dedicated to their sole use, it is dedicated hosting.

Dedicated Server

A web server that is dedicated to the use of a single customer.

Disk Space

This is the amount of space allocated to the customer's use under a web hosting plan. Typically measured in megabytes or gigabytes (one gigabyte is about one thousand megabytes).

DNS

"Domain Name Service" - this is the network of servers that allow the user's browser to translate a domain name into an IP address which it can use to contact the web server that hosts the site at that domain. Some hosts allow users control over their own DNS servers, which allows for a greater level of control over their domains and subdomains.

Domain Name

A domain name is actually an alias to an IP address. Every web server will have at least one IP address that visitors use to visit the website(s) hosted on that machine. The domain name acts as a more easily remembered "name" for that IP address, and the translation from domain name to IP address is handled behind the scenes.

FTP

Stands for "File Transfer Protocol" - a common way to exchange files between two computers over the Internet. It is probably the most commonly used method to upload or download files from a web server.

IMAP

IMAP is an email protocol that allows users to receive using an IMAP email client. The biggest difference between POP and IMAP is that with IMAP all email, folders, etc are stored on the server, rather than on the client's local computer.

IP Address

A numeric address on the Internet. Every web server will have at least one IP address. In some ways they're analogous to a phone number - to call another phone, you need it's phone number.

LAMP

Stands for commonly used set of web software: Linux (operating system), Apache (web server software), MySQL (database software), PHP (scripting language). Variants include MAMP (Macintosh operating system) and WAMP (Windows operating system).

MySQL

MySQL is a popular free and open source database application, commonly used on linux-based web servers. It allows web applications to store and manipulate data, and is used by a very wide range of free web-based applications such as WordPress and Joomla.

PHP

PHP is a very commonly used programming language used to build websites. It is arguable the most popular such language used today, and has a huge amount of free software available for it.

POP

POP is an email protocol that allows users to receive email using a POP mail client such as Outlook.

Reseller

A reseller is someone who purchases a hosting plan with the intention of "splitting" it into smaller web hosting plans and reselling them. Web hosts often create special plans for these kinds of customers, giving the plans tools to help manage multiple sub-accounts, more disk space, etc.

Shared Hosting

"Shared Hosting" is one of the more common forms of web hosting, in which many customers "share" the resources of a single server - and also sharing the cost of the server, making it more affordable than other kinds of web hosting. Generally if a web host doesn't specify what kind of hosting they're offering, it's probably shared hosting.

SSH

Stands for "Secure Shell" - a network protocol that allows a secure console-based connection to a remote machine. SSH allows a user to login to a machine and use the command-line to execute commands. It is typically used for web development and server administration.

SSL

"Secure Socket Layer" - a protocol that allows end-to-end encryption of traffic between a user's browser and a web server. Critical if a website plans to do anything that involves information that should be kept private, such as ecommerce.

VPS (Virtual Private Server)

Special software can be used to allow a single server to host multiple "virtual" servers. Each virtual server is totally independent of the others, and is essentially a dedicated server. This provides more reliability, isolation, and flexibility than a standard shared hosting account, but is still usually cheaper than a "real" dedicated server.

Web Server

A web server is a computer that is set up to accept and respond to request for web pages that remote users make using their web browsers.

NEXCESS.NET provides a wide range of affordable web hosting services, including specialized services such as Michigan Colocation and Magento web hosting.

Why You Should Consider Yahoo Small Business

By Alex Johnson

Yahoo Small Business offers a number of benefits to webmasters and owners of online businesses. If you are a beginner in this field, and want to become successful on the Internet or simply want to create a website to sell your physical or digital products, Yahoo Small Business offers everything you need.

For small business owners, Yahoo offers domain registration to help you lay the foundation for your online presence. Yahoo also provides a complete hosting solution, including powerful features such as a state-of-the-art shopping cart and attractive websites layouts and templates. And rather than pay thousands of dollars to a developer, you can easily build a powerful e-commerce site by using Yahoo Small Business. It offers many benefits and support throughout the procedure.

When using the services offered by Yahoo Small Business, you can also become part of their pay-per-click advertising program. This means that Yahoo will automatically display your ads on other related websites to promote your business. And because you will only have to pay for the actual number of clicks to your site, this type of advertising can be cost effective and rewarding.

Many business owners are utilizing pay-per-click advertising to grow and expand their business' visibility, without having to contact sponsors and website owners to request banners and text ads.

While Yahoo Small Business is affordable, it doesn't skimp on features. By paying a small monthly fee, business owners and webmasters can enjoy some of the same tools and ease of use as companies who invest thousands of dollars into their web presence.

To learn more about popular web hosting solutions, the author recommends Cheap Hosting 101, a web hosting resource featuring reviews, promotional codes, and resources. Visit today to quickly compare web hosting providers or learn more about Yahoo Small Business.

Top USA Web Hosting Providers - Making Your Hosting Choice Easy

By Adam Jan

What is web hosting? Every time you visit a website, what you see on your web browser is basically just a web page that is downloaded from the web server onto your web browser. Usually, a web site is made up of numerous web pages; along with a web page is in effect made of texts & images. All these web pages need to be stored on the web servers as a result online users can visit & see your website.

So, if you plan to own a new website, you will have to host your website on a web server. Once your website goes live on the World Wide Web, online users can then browse your website on the Internet and see your content from all over the world. Company that provides the web servers to host your website is called web hosting providers.

What is Domain Name

The unique name that identifies an Internet site, simply stated domain names allow people to find your web site by business name.

Often a hosting company will offer a free domain name registration at the time you sign up for a hosting plan. We recommend that you go ahead and register your domain name as soon as possible; especially if you think it will take some time to develop the site itself.

"Operating system" Should I choose shared hosting or dedicated?

Shared Hosting

With shared hosting, numerous Web sites are shared on one serve Shared hosting is much cheaper than dedicated hosting because the cost of operating the server is split between many different customers.

Dedicated Hosting

In contrast to shared hosting, dedicated hosting assigned a specific web server to be used only by one customer. With a dedicated server all the resources are yours to use as you please. Therefore, dedicated hosting commands a higher premium and typically starts at $50 per month and can range up to $200 - $500 per month.

"To Summarize"

Ok. Now I identify the requirements of my Web Site and how do I identify which Web Hosting provider is better?

There are two things that you should focus on. First, compare web hosting providers; make sure if the web host offers all the things your Web Site needs. Second sign up for the plans all our top web hosts offering Money-back guarantees. This way you can always cancel the account if you do not feel comfortable with the hosting service.

Now compare Top Hosting Providers Redeem Web Hosting Coupons and get free domains, Free PPC Ads in Google and Yahoo, Plus more Bonuses. Adam Jan, the author of this article making your web hosting choice easy.

Tips For Choosing Cheap Web Hosting Solutions

By Alan L Smith

Dedicated web hosting services refers to the allotment of the entire server to a single website. This service is used primarily by large companies with widespread websites as well as sister sites. Due to their complexity, it cannot be coined as a cheap web hosting service. However, shared web hosting solutions can be obtained at lower rates. Here, the same server is shared amongst many websites of different companies. But this form has its own drawbacks, like a slower speed and the fact that web information is more vulnerable to interference.

When physical space for a server is available, a collocation website service can be used. However, this hosting form is not used widely. The role of this kind of service provider is to give access to the Internet at the required bandwidth.

It is important to do extensive research in order to find the best hosting solution at affordable prices that offer good quality for your money. Be sure to check out the kind and volume of website traffic they can provide you. Also compare the rates with your budget.

1) Be aware of your web hosting needs: Be clear on what your professional needs and expectations from the service provider. This would make the selection of a web service provider an easier task. Take note that many types of forms are available, and are compatible with different operating systems like Linux and Windows.

2) Price comparison: There are hundreds of web hosting service providers who provide similar types of services but charge differently for the same service. Take ample time to compare the rates and services of these companies so that you get the best services at cheap prices.

3) Go through other customers' reviews: A good and reliable website hosting service provider will also have a section dedicated in showcasing their customers' reviews. Until you make use of their services, it is hard to gauge what the results will be. But considering and reviewing the experiences of their other clients may help you in making the right decision.

When you've considered all these points, you can be confident that your choice of a web hosting service will be a good one.

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