Using Direct Marketing Techniques in Web Hosting

By Bob Willis

In an industry where web-hosting companies are clambering to get more exposure, reach a wider range of prospects and gain more clients; the competition seems to be only getting fiercer. That said; there seems to be no abatement in the emergence of new web-hosting companies in the industry. Now most of the hosting providers employ the regular marketing techniques in order to advertise their web hosting services. These could include hosting directory listings, banner and/or pop up ads, PPC (Pay-per-click search engine placements), link exchanges and a host of other techniques. While these strategies have proven to be considerably effective in driving traffic, it has not yet delivered optimum results in terms of the expected growth or ROI.

Amore effective approach therefore needs to be considered given the intense competition that the industry is currently subjected to. These marketing techniques could include either print advertising or/and direct marketing. This approach towards adopting a broader marketing strategy will also result in an increase of the market share. There are many online companies out there who are offering direct marketing services for you to achieve your business targets.

Direct marketing could involve contacting a targeted audience. This would comprise of potential customers who interested in buying your web hosting services or perhaps need to keep themselves abreast with the latest news and information on the web hosting industry.

The technique of sending out direct emails to a targeted audience will help you reach a potential customer base. The success of this campaign would however be dependent on two major factors:

How targeted your potential customer list is, and how attractive your offer is to recipients.

The web host needs to understand the exact needs of his customer and offer cost-effective hosting solutions coupled with value-added features.

With direct marketing campaigns, finding a suitable list of potential customers could be catchy. With over 10,000 business-to-business lists, the relevant demographics are missing from these lists and so the web-hosting firms are not equipped with enough information of their potential customer's websites.

Fortunately, recent technology can extract and develop e-business profiles from Web sites and provide hosts with important information that allows them to better promote targeted packages to the right customer base.

Fortunately, recent technology can extract and develop e-business profiles from Web sites and provide web hosts with important and relevant information that allows them to improve upon their targeted packages and reach the right customer base. This will help the web host to create a customized business list that corresponds to their technical target market criteria.

Web hosts should also be careful in considering the source of their data while establishing a direct marketing campaign. Most hosting companies rely on the WHOIS data, which is not only inaccurate but also illegal to use.

With the latest data extraction technology (for example, Netvention technology) crawls and extracts key business information (such as company name, address, phone, fax and contact names) directly from corporate Web sites.

Once the web host is equipped with accurate data, they can employ the direct marketing campaigns in order to accelerate business growth.

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How to Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth

By Bob Willis

At times exceeding your monthly bandwidth would mean higher monthly hosting bills and that could have long-term implications on your hosting budget. Some hosting companies may charge an additional fee for exceeding the monthly bandwidth allowance also referred to as "bandwidth overage". For the novice Webmaster it is important to understand what exactly is bandwidth usage, how much bandwidth is required by his/her website and most importantly how can he reduce his website hosting bandwidth.

Bandwidth refers to the total amount of information that has been served to your web site visitors each month. So every time, the visitor requests information or downloads files from your website, your bandwidth would go up by a specific amount. The size of the file is directly proportional to the bandwidth usage. Also, more the traffic your website receives, more would be the bandwidth consumption. Bandwidth or the data transfer rate is the speed with which data can be transmitted from one device to another. Data rates are often measured in megabits (million bits) or megabytes (million bytes) per second.

It is important to determine the amount of bandwidth that your website would require in order to balance your hosting budget. You can determine your bandwidth requirement by estimating the file size for each web page and then multiplying that figure by the number of pages on your website. Let us explain this with an example. If a web page comprises of two 15Kb images and 3Kb of html, then the web page would have a total data of 33kb. Now multiply this by the number of page views you expect to have per month (e.g. 100,000 per month). This would mean that 3.3Gb of data needs to be transferred per month for that page.

Now by calculating the final figure for each page you would get a rough estimate of the amount of bandwidth required for your website.

If the user requires a reduction in the monthly bandwidth consumption, then a few points and tips can help him achieve this.

The user can reduce the size of the files on their website like the images and graphics. So for a large image size of (e.g. 200KB), by reducing the file size to 20KB the web owner can dramatically minimize their bandwidth usage as well as speed up their website performance.

Websites that feature MP3 downloads, movies, music, large images or other multimedia enabled features, then the website bandwidth requirement would increase substantially.

On the other hand, a simple text based website or a website featuring html pages or small images would require a lower bandwidth.

It is vital to determine beforehand the amount of bandwidth that your website would in order to avoid loss in revenue or traffic. Once you have a specific figure, you will be ready to receive more traffic and subsequent sales. You can also avoid paying a higher bandwidth fee for additional bandwidth usage.

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Does Your Website Need a "Website Monitoring Service?"

By Bob Willis

So you have managed to achieve higher search engine rankings and are really working hard towards effectively marketing your website. Well, these efforts would definitely yield profits in the long run, all this would be of little value if your website and servers are not fully operational or consistently operational.

With website hosting various issues including hardware failures, database hacking, software lockups, viruses, worms, security issues, service patches and Internet connectivity come into play and need to be addressed from time to time in order to ensure your online success.

In order to resolve, abate or avoid the above problems, web masters can register with server, email and website monitoring services.

So what exactly are these monitoring services? Web site monitoring refers to monitoring the operational status and performance of a web site that uses HTTP and/or HTTPS. Email monitoring on the other hand refers to the monitoring, operational status and performance of SMTP servers in a bid to ensure that email flow is smooth and timely. Server monitoring refers to monitoring the operational status and performance of other server services such as FTP.

When a webmaster has set up an account with a web hosting company it is important to keep track of their website performance, any downtime period experienced and other security concerns. This process can further be fortified by utilizing the services mentioned above.

Different monitoring services use different techniques in order to determine and verify the operational status of the websites. Some simply use ping to determine the server response and record this response time interval. Other services may use more complex or advanced techniques such as checking web page code, database connectivity, keyword verification, and email round robin. It is important to note here that while a ping request may verify the power of the server it cannot guarantee whether a web site or the server service is operational.

The customer gets access to detailed statistics and this helps them verify their SLA and QOS agreements. Most of the monitoring services would require executables to be installed on your servers. In some cases, the monitoring services will require a firewall rule to be implemented if the server or website is behind a firewall.

Monitoring Intervals: Monitoring "interval" is simply the frequency in which a site or server is checked. Most monitoring packages range between 2 to 60 minutes. For a mission critical website or server, the 2 minute monitoring intervals are required in order to obviate probable revenue loss.

In the event of any problem, the monitoring firm would in most cases contact you by email. An email enabled cellular phone is highly advisable in order to ensure delivery of constant updates. It is important here to read the fine print as certain monitoring firms may charge additional fee for pager messages if you happen to exceed the specific number of monthly notifications.

So no matter which website hosting services you choose, monitoring services can play a vital role and enhance your online success.

HostingCoupons.org lists web hosting coupons, deals, discounts, savings and exclusive promotions from the top web hosts. You will find the best of web hosting companies listed there including the most recommended web hosts and domain registrars - godaddy, bluehost and hostgator. It covers blog discussions and topics like web hosting discussions and hosting reviews

Real Horror Stories Web Hosts Don't Want You to Know

By Michael Collins

Go to any web site hosting provider's home page and all you'll see are claims about how wonderful they are. There will plenty of testimonials from satisfied customers raving about the low prices and outstanding service. But before you sign on the dotted line, remember that the purpose of that page is to convince you to sign up with them. You've got to take their claims with a grain of salt because its in their best interest to show you nothing but positive customer feedback.

What you have to keep in mind is that almost all web hosts have customers who could tell real horror stories about poor service, shoddy treatment, over-billing, and major web site downtime. You won't find these complaints anywhere on the web hosting service's web sites, but its important that you seek them out.

If a web host has a bad reputation and an army of angry and unsatisfied customers with gripes, wouldn't you want to hear what they have to say before you handed over any of your hard earned cash?

Now don't get me wrong. All web hosts (and all businesses for that matter) are bound to have a handful of unhappy customers. After all, you can't make everyone happy all of the time. One or two complaints is understandable. But if there's a clear pattern of customer dissatisfaction you should be very suspicious of them.

Take a little time to do some research before choosing a web host. Use Google to search for complaints and negative reviews. You'll often find unhappy customers complaining on blogs or forums.

You should also check out http://webhosting.youcompareit.com where you can read actual customer comments, complaints, and ratings of dozens of popular web hosts. Read what real people have to say and you can be sure you're choosing the best host.

Explaining Virtual Private Servers

By James Betchley

Virtual Private Servers offer the same features as a dedicated server by using software to split a singe server in to several virtual servers, this means that the cost of renting the actual server is greatly reduced as it is split between several customers without compromising the security or administrative control that is associated with dedicated server hosting.

In contrast with shared hosting each VPS customer receives root access to their Virtual Server meaning they can customise their services to suit their individual business needs. Each VPS client has their own disk space, bandwidth, memory and allotment of system resources which will not be affected by the traffic or usage of the customers which co-habit the rest of their physical server, this is known as performance isolation. In-addition to performance isolation a VPS is isolated from errors, viruses and other problems which may be present in another VPS within the same bit of hard ware, this functional isolation also provides greater security for businesses engaged in E-commerce and allows users to install their own software packages relevant to their business area allowing the use of customized shopping cart software.

Due to the great secure functionality offered by VPS hosting it is often the next step from a medium to large shared hosting plan for those who wish to have greater control of their web space and enhanced security for conducting online transactions. Many web hosting providers are now offering this intermediate, and due to the obvious benefits it has seen a surge in popularity of late.

Reviewed on 4 Sept 2008 by James Betchley, Administrator of Which Domain Host a great resource for web hosting guidance.

How to Find Affordable Web Hosting Companies

By Gabriel Killian

Are you looking for cheap website hosting? Are you an Internet Marketer or Online business that is on a tight budget? Learn about awesome ways to save at the server.

When it comes down to it, in any online business, great web hosting is a must have. Below are steps to help you figure out what hosting is right for you and find tips for getting the cheapest hosting available and still reserve some room for quality.

1. A variety of websites? Use a variety of hosting companies if you plan to link them together! As far as search engines are concerned, it will give you no seo value if two of the websites you link together are on the same shared server. It is suggested that if you have 2 or more websites you want to link together, get two hosting packages. This will allow you to have a little more long-term SEO benefits from your websites.

2. The longer the commitment, the better deal you will get. If you know that you plan to have a website for any given amount of time, purchasing longer hosting terms. This will help you save money and you won't have to worry about it auto-deducting every month. Think long-term!

3. There are hundreds and hundreds of web hosting companies available, choose the one that fits your specific needs first. Whether its server space or bells or whistles, every hosting company offers a little something different. Figure out your needs first then go forth.

4. Have a bunch of websites you need to publish? Some hosting companies offer unlimited domains. Or you can purchase "reseller" accounts to get unlimited hosting accounts. Watch your server space though. Sometimes hosting companies can charge extra if you go over your limit.

5. Read hosting reviews and testimonials - These are great indicators of how good a hosting company really is and how much pride they take in their services. Find out what others are saying about a particular affordable hosting company.

6. Have questions? Ask first! A hosting companies ability to respond to your needs in a timely manner is quite possibly one of the best indicators to how responsive and reliable your cheap hosting company really is. When times are tough, will they be there to support you? How good is there customer service really? Ask and find out.

7. If all else fails, demand a refund and search somewhere else. Hosting services should respect your take on their business and should refund you if you are not satisfied (check their return policy to make sure). They may give you a pro-rated amount back, but something is better than nothing. Then continue the search.

These are simple ways to protect yourself and get higher quality and affordable hosting without being had. Below you will find a list of recommended resources and hosting reviews to help you get the best hosting at the best prices.

For a Huge list of Cheap Web Hosting Companies and Internet Marketing tools visit http://www.Inferno-Marketing.com Get my Free Article Marketing Guide at ProfitFromArticles.com!

Data Center Security

By Saleh Tousi

Data security is a major concern for people using colocation. After all, your precious data is located in a remote facility that you have no control over. Fortunately, data centers understand your concerns and have built in security features to ensure your data is safe and sound. Depending on the provider there will be different security features. But you can expect to see some or all of these features at your colocation facility depending on size and client needs:

Security Guard. Many facilities have onsite security guards monitoring the site 24-hours a day. The security guard is responsible for verifying user's identities and making sure they are authorized to enter the facility. They also make sure the site is secure throughout the day and night and provide an immediate response to any potential problems.

Uninterruptable Power Supply. In the event of a power-outage, this power supply will act as a back-up to your servers. With this feature you won't lose your data or service because of power-outages.

Climate Control. This element of security is crucial to your servers. If the room is too hot, your servers could over-heat. If it's too cold, they won't work properly. If the room is too damp, it could cause condensation on the machines and if it's too dry, it could cause problems with static. All of these factors need to be taken into account. Colocation facilities have climate controlled rooms that are set to industry specified standards for temperature and humidity to keep your machines safe and running properly.

Central Back-up Recovery System. In the event that something does go wrong with the server, this feature provides an extra copy of your data. It's not stored in only one place. Having multiple copies of your data will help protect it and ensure that it doesn't get lost or erased. Additionally many facilities have back-up systems at another location, providing additional security for your data.

Security Cameras. These on-site cameras monitor each row of servers as well as the exits and entrances. If there's a break-in or damage to one of the servers, the facility will be able to identify who is responsible. Cameras are also useful in fire detection as you can see where the fire is coming from in order to better prevent it from spreading.

Fire Control. Data centers are equipped with many redundancies when it comes to fire protection. Early detection smoke alarms are installed in many facilities as well as heat detectors. Walls and floors are made from fire-resistant materials and fire doors prevent the spread of fires to other parts of the facility.

For more information on colocation services, visit Vancouver Colocation, one of the leading colocation providers for small to medium sized businesses in Western Canada.

Colocation Outside of Downtown

By Saleh Tousi

Most of the colocation facilities in the Vancouver area are located in downtown Vancouver. This seems like the obvious place to locate a facility since it's a central location where most people can have easy access to their servers whenever they need to. However, collocating downtown comes with its share of problems as well. With so many options available, you might want to consider collocating outside of downtown.



One of the advantages of collocating outside of downtown is the access to the facility. While you may think it's more convenient to collocate downtown, in actuality, you might have better access to your server if it's not directly downtown. Downtown traffic can be atrocious, especially at peak times. And problems don't wait to occur when the streets are empty late on a Tuesday night. Imagine how long it will take you to access your server when you're stuck in the grid-locked traffic of downtown Vancouver. No one wants to do that. And while you're sitting in traffic cursing at the person who just cut in front of you for the third time, you're losing precious time that you could be using to get your server up and running so you can resume business.



If, on the other hand, you collocate outside of downtown, and the same problem occurs, you have the advantage of cruising down the highway, away from the city and on the less-traveled side streets. SmarttNet is one colocation provider that provides service just outside of Downtown. It's only about a 10 minute drive from Vancouver. And in this case 10 minutes means 10 minutes… not 10 minutes plus 20 minutes of sitting in traffic.



Another advantage of collocating outside of downtown in that it's on a different power grid. Should the power go down in all of Vancouver, the surrounding areas aren't affected, so your server will be safe from harm. While all your business associates who decided to collocate in Vancouver are scrambling to get their sites back up, you'll be calming sitting at your desk, marveling at how beautifully your site is running.



There's something to be said for the personalized attention that comes from working with a smaller company outside of the city. Too many businesses these days feel cold and unwelcoming when you enter. With so many customers it's impossible for them to give you individualized and personal attention. That's what you'll find when you go downtown. Away from the city, it's a different ball-game. You'll feel welcome when you come to update your server. And if you're a regular, you'll get to know the staff and see the same smiling faces every time you come in.



Aside from the exceptional service you'd expect to get from any colocation provider, there are many advantages to collocating outside of the city. If you're considering collocation services for your business needs, you might want to consider collocating outside of the city.

For more information on colocation services, visit Vancouver Colocation, one of the leading colocation providers for small to medium sized businesses in Western Canada.

3 Quick Tips For Finding the Best Website Hosting

By Craig Wilson

1. The first and most obvious step is to have some idea of what your basic needs are before going 'shopping'. Often times you will come across a web host that is offering some great deal or promotion that may look like the answer to your prayers but in truth may be totally unsuitable for your needs. For instance there is no point in signing up for latest and greatest e-commerce site hosting when all you want is a simple blog - no matter how cheap it seems at the time. More often than not once the promotional period is over the price will revert back to their normal charges and you will be paying for something that you do not need or will ever use.

2. A subject that comes up time and time again in the web hosting forums is customer support. This can be the difference between a great host and an absolute nightmare! Even if you have been given a recommendation from someone take the time to do a simple 'Google' of their company name and read what people are saying about them. They might have the cheapest hosting plan around with the most features but if you can't get any help when things turn pear-shaped life can be very hard. Look for a hosting company that offers 24/7 customer support with either email or a toll free phone number.

3. Unlimited this, unlimited that. A lot of the 'cheaper' web hosts offer plans which allow unlimited bandwidth or unlimited addon domains etc etc. Although these plans may be suitable for the majority of webmasters what they are in fact doing is over-selling the amount of space on their servers. What this can mean is that if you are pulling in great amounts of traffic or have a whole boat load of sites to host you may run in to some problems with server response and site down time as the server that they have you on is literally overloaded. For the majority of us this very rarely becomes an issue but it is something that should be kept in mind.

Although looking around for the best web hosting may seem a tad daunting if you take the time to educate yourself on exactly what it is that you need great savings can be made!

If you found these tips helpful there is plenty more information available on selecting a good reliable web host at Web Hosting Bargains. Read full features lists and independent customer feedback for a number of top web hosts at http://web-hosting-bargains.com

What is Server Load?

By Bob Willis

Server Load is expressed in a number format (usually the x.xx format) and this number refers to the number of processes that are waiting in queue to access the processor or processors. This is calculated for a certain time period. It is important to note here that a higher number would mean a decrease in the level of server performance and therefore a smaller number is always preferable.

The web hosting account comes equipped with a control panel. The user can find out about the server load value from their control panel under the "Server Status" tab. Here the user can access the server load value in real time. It is very important for the user to keep himself updated about their server load value. The user must know how to interpret this server load value. While the server load issue could be debatable, always take into account that a server load value of 0.xx is considered a safe value. In fact, a server load that is under 1.00 value should not cause any problems with the speed of your website. The uncertainties could however arise if the value goes above 1.00. By default, most web hosting companies apply the following rule: if the server has a single CPU (central processing unit), a server load higher than 1.00 is not good; if the server has two CPUs, a server load over 2.00 is not good and so on.

These are average server loads and given the advanced expertise and technology adopted in the hosting industry, even a single processor server is powerful enough to handle a server load of 2.00.

When a low-level priority process appears, it is usually put in queue while the newer server request (like a page request) is handled almost instantly.

Also, here we are viewing server load as just an isolated aspect of web hosting. Other related aspects including memory usage, CPU usage, size of swap file etc also influence this server load. So, in case the server is running on insufficient internal memory, then it will use a swap file. This will put the hard-drive in over-drive and in turn increase CPU usage. This will lead to a higher server load and a slower server response.

The solution here therefore lies in increasing the internal memory or RAM. This would result in a lower swap file, lower CPU usage, lower server load and faster response speed.

So the user must constantly keep track of the average server load of his hosting account. If the server load is 4.00 most of the time, then you have reason to suspect that the web host may be overselling or overloading. In that case, the user must ask his host to resolve these issues or perhaps move their website to a server with a low server load.

It is just important to play safe or else chances are that your hosting experience would not be as enriching as expected. So, make a well informed decision and happy hosting!

HostingCoupons.org lists web hosting coupons, deals, discounts, savings and exclusive promotions from the top web hosts. You will find the best of web hosting companies listed there including the most recommended web hosts and domain registrars - godaddy, bluehost and hostgator. It covers blog discussions and topics like web hosting discussions and hosting reviews

The Business of Web Hosting

By Bob Willis

With a widespread emergence of web hosting company, it can be said that in today's market, the emergence of web hosting companies is directly proportional to the expansion of the Internet. In fact, the market today is quite conducive to the fresh emergence of web hosts since there is an ever-growing Internet awareness and subsequent emergence of websites. This makes the web hosting services indispensable to the Webmaster. That said, web hosting has proven to be quite lucrative and if implemented wisely, can generate supreme source of monthly or annual revenue.

Many biggies in the industry have joined the hosting race including Yahoo!, BigDaddy and other big corporations.

By keeping in mind and adopting some time-tested and proven strategies, a web hosting company can reign supreme in this fiercely competitive industry.

Superior Services:

A web hosting company should be able to offer all the advanced features, tools and functions that are required for hosting even the most complex websites. The customer should preferably be given affordable pricing structures to choose from in a two-tiered pricing schedule. The automation facility not only facilitates ease of use, control and monitoring, enhance the client's self-sufficiency, but can also minimize expenses and time consumption for both the user and company. High quality services and features offered by a superior web hosting company should be able to automate the following processes:

Order Forms

An order form should be able to fulfill 4 key essential aspects including legalization of the data entered, facilitate credit card processing, create an invoice and the successful registration of customer's information into the billing database for future use.

Administration System

The administration system forms an important component for the successful management of ordered accounts. The user might require manually adding or eliminating several new domains, change passwords, etc.

End-User Control Panel:

A control panel is indispensable to control and manage various aspects of a web hosting account. With a control panel, the end-user is able to view Website statistics and can manage files and control and access various other account features.

Billing System

An integrated automated billing system is essential in order to perform various functions including creation of e-mail invoices, charging credit cards, suspend overdue accounts etc. The billing system should also be able to issue credits or discounts as per the settings and requirements.

Support and Technical Interface

An effective and user-friendly tech-support interface should be able to generate an all-inclusive FAQ interface before the user is able to submit trouble tickets. These interfaces can minimize technical support requests by a factor of 10.

Retain and enhance customer base

A web hosting company should be able to offer services and features that are far superior. A company that values and respects its association with its customers will be able to enhance their credibility quotient in this competitive market. By retaining its customer base will result in mouth-to-mouth publicity and this in turn will generate additional monthly revenue. Remember, quality cannot be compromised upon in order to succeed in the web hosting industry.

HostingCoupons.org lists web hosting coupons, deals, discounts, savings and exclusive promotions from the top web hosts. You will find the best of web hosting companies listed there including the most recommended web hosts and domain registrars - godaddy, bluehost and hostgator. It covers blog discussions and topics like web hosting discussions and hosting reviews

How to Get Cheap and Reliable Web Hosting Services

By Bob Willis

The Internet is teeming with web hosting providers who are offering hosting services at dearth cheap costs. Given the mammoth quantity of service providers to choose from, the customer usually fins himself perplexed over the kind of quality that the web-hosting provider would offer. Most of the time it so happens that the user is compelled to believe that cheap hosting does not equate to dependability. This could either be due to past user experience or a basic conception held of the hosting industry. While there is no rule of thumb that can ascertain the quality of a cheap web-hosting provider, lapping up on information and doing your research well may help you find a cheap yet reliable hosting provider.

The user first needs to go through the features and tools offered by the cheap web hosting provider and ascertain before hand if those tools would completely befit the requirements of his/her website. Secondly, reading the service agreement and terms and conditions in its entirety is imperative to avoid getting into the cheap price trap. At times, cheap web hosting packages could have certain hidden costs involved and the user needs to be aware of these intricacies before hand. There are websites who also offer a free trial period of one month and these in most cases prove to be reliable. Or else, you always the chance of trying the cheap web hosting provider for a month before you can commit for a larger billing tier. A month of services would give you an idea about the quality of services offered and if it really delivers your money's worth. Most important aspects to betaken into consideration are the features offered. These include the type of supporting programming language, bandwidth and disk space allowance, accumulating number of email accounts, and the frequency or percentage of uptime provided.

The user should have access to ample disk space and bandwidth and is required to select a package that would best suit the requirements of his website.

Dependability is one aspect that needs prime consideration when planning to register with a cheap web-hosting provider. It is important to read the fine print and ascertain in advance the quality of technical support offered by the company. Do a thorough research about the given hosting company by reading unbiased user reviews, exploring search engines, web hosting directories, their rating etc. Also find out if the company offers free set up service. The set up fee for most hosting providers are quite high and your cheap hosting provider should be at least able to offer affordable if not free website set up. Also, avoid signing any long-term contracts with the hosting company at least initially as it may so happen that the company is offering a cheap pricing structure for a long-term contract period with them.

It is important to take note of the fact that cheap web-hosting providers in most cases do not have complete control over the server and usually work in coorporation with other hosting companies in order to cut back on expenses. So do your research well before you zero down on a cheap and reliable web-hosting provider.

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How Does Multiple Server Hosting Affect Your Website's Uptime?

By Bob Willis

Hosting of websites has become an increasingly popular business and it has become difficult to tell between a quality and inferior company, just from the looks of it. The pricing structures, core features and plans are almost the same with most hosting companies. In fact, opting a cheap hosting company is not a cost-effective method, especially in terms of long-term results. Reliability is one aspect hat comes into play here or else it could cost your website loss of sales as a result of downtime. The process of selecting a quality web hosting company therefore is like sifting for a needle from a haystack. One prominent aspect that cannot be overlooked however is the reliability of the hosting provider. In the web hosting industry, this reliability equates to redundancy. This ensures that if a problem exists at one point, there will be an alternative, which ensures continuity as seamlessly and transparently as possible. In order to address issues, most of the hosting providers employ redundant network connections. These comprise of high-speed pipes that route data from the server to your web browser. However, these redundant multiple web servers come at a very hefty price and are usually utilized for mission critical applications of Fortune 500 companies.

The DNS or Domain Name Server feature also referred to as "round robin" allows the selection and provision of a particular IP address from multiple addresses when a DNS request arrives. In terms of server reliability, the DNS database maps a host name to their IP address. So instead of using a hard to remember series of numbers (IP address) we just type in your web browser www.yourdomain.com, in order to access your website.

It usually takes a few days to propagate the DNS information through the World Wide Web. So in case of domain registration or transfer, it takes a while before the user can access your website. This delay in the process could raise security issues if the website is hosted on multiple servers. So if something goes wrong with one server, this would imply that your website too would go down.

However, the round robin DNS strategy solves this issue by mapping your domain name to more than one IP address. A quality hosting company would always employ the DNS round robin technique as a conjunct to "failover monitoring".

The user should therefore look for a web host who employs an elegant solution to multi server hosting. This could constitute very expensive hardware based failover-monitoring systems that point a virtual IP address to other ISP's, while behind the scenes are handling a number of unique IP addresses on different servers.

With the advent and employment of latest technology, various issues can now be resolved with fair amount of ease. The user must however do his research well and select a company that offers maximum uptime. The technology to achieve this readily available and while it could cost the company a bit more, it would definitely reflect its reliability and credibility in the hosting industry.

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How Can Traffic Affect Your Web Hosting?

By Bob Willis

Web hosting essentially involves a myriad aspects including the quality of customer and technical support, pricing, reliability, programming, add-on features, installation of PHP among other marketing scripts, programming tools and much more.

One of the most important aspects among these is "website traffic" that cannot be overlooked as it can reflect the quality of web hosting that you are receiving. Traffic here in simple terms refers to the amount of bandwidth that your website is entitled to receive.

Bandwidth can be defined as the measurement of data, and the speed at which it flows through the phone lines, cable or DSL lines to transfer information to and from a web site via your computer. What in simple terms is referred to as website traffic is essentially the measurement of this flow of data transfer and in relation to your web site hosting, it is precisely the bandwidth that equates to this measurement.

In terms of website traffic, let us try to try to understand bandwidth and how it can affect your website hosting. If you own a simple text based website, then your website would be able to receive much more traffic even with a low bandwidth allowance as compared to a "graphic intensive" website. This is because the latter would feature large file sizes and therefore a higher amount of bandwidth allowance would be required to transfer from the user's website to the visitor's website.

This can impact and determine the type of hosting package you are required to select. Most hosting packages offer specific amounts of bandwidth and every hosting package is available for a fixed monthly fee. The user therefore needs to ascertain the amount of bandwidth required for his website before he/she selects a hosting package. As mentioned above, a plain text based website would smoothly function even on a small bandwidth allowance whereas a graphic intensive website would require a higher bandwidth allowance.

It is important to take note of the fact that there is an overage charge for additional bandwidth required which does not prove to be a cost-effective strategy when it comes to web hosting. In most cases, the hosting company charges $3 per additional GB.

If you are novice client and are not sure about the amount of bandwidth you require, then is advisable to sign up for the basic hosting package or speak to the support team who would be able to advise on the type of hosting package that best suits your requirements.

New websites usually take some time to grow and gain popularity. This takes active website promotion. Therefore bandwidth should not become an issue at least initially. Ensure that your web host offers convenient upgrades in case your website starts to receive large amounts of traffic. A web host should be able to provide in-depth statistics reports, and monitor your web site activity regularly. Set yourself a budget and exercise good judgment and look for a result-oriented hosting company.

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CGI Web Hosting

By Bob Willis

It is essentially the "behind the scenes" features and functionalities of the website that determine its success and popularity on the World Wide Web. The automated tools and features are instrumental in generating online sales as well as make it easy to use and secure. This type of automation can be created in various ways, but all the processes engage either client side or server side scripting. The user is subjected to a wide variety of programming languages to choose from and these programming languages are used to write scripts. Java is considered one of the best programming languages and customer side scripts are usually written in Java. In order to accomplish certain functions through the scripting on server side, programming languages like PERL, PHP and CGI are used.

While PHP and PERL are rather fresh in the industry, CGI is considered as the mother of all scripting languages and comes equipped with a wide variety of features.

Shopping Carts:

An online business website requires a functional shopping cart and the most advanced shopping carts utilize the functionality of the CGI scripts. CGI web hosting is ideal for shopping cart scripts because of its better interaction with majority of databases, which includes popular MYSQL and MS Access databases. Furthermore, these can applied to a wide range of servers including Windows, UNIX, Linux as well as MACOS and can easily be configured for shipping cost calculations as well as sales tax.

Password Protection:

Most of the online business websites require that the user log in through their registered username and password. With the application of CGI scripts, the entire registration process and the issue of password and username is automated, thereby making CGI indispensable to the smooth functioning of such websites.

Form Managers:

Many websites feature online forms that need to be filled up by the user. Now, most of these online forms are generated and handled by CGI web hosting. When a user fills in that form and hits the "submit" button, a CGI script takes over and transmits the data via email or writes it to a database where the site's administrator is able to access it later.

The aforesaid aspects are just some of the aspects that can be handled with the use of CGI scripts. Since web hosting is advancing to greater heights in terms of demand and technology, a quality and superior web hosting company should be able to offer CGI web hosting. It has actually become an essential prerequisite for smooth functioning of an e-commerce enabled business website. Even though PERL and PHP are gradually gaining popularity, CGI web hosting will continue to rule the hosting industry as it comes equipped with versatile functionalities and all-inclusive features.

Various web hosts also offer all three: PHP, PERL and CGI and the user has an option of choosing whichever best suits his/her requirement. It is only wise to opt for a web hosting company that is able to offer CGI web hosting along with other features, functionalities and tools that are required for the website to function smoothly.

HostingCoupons.org lists web hosting coupons, deals, discounts, savings and exclusive promotions from the top web hosts. You will find the best of web hosting companies listed there including the most recommended web hosts and domain registrars - godaddy, bluehost and hostgator. It covers blog discussions and topics like web hosting discussions and hosting reviews

ASP (Active Server Pages) Web Hosting

By Bob Willis

Active Server Pages web hosting refers to hosting companies that offer ASP support for websites. Active Server Pages are HTML pages with embedded ASP scripts that are processed on the server before the page is sent to the user. ASP allows the user to create dynamic database driven pages. The user can access data in a database, and interact with page objects such as Active X or Java components.

ASP support is ideal for websites that require a dynamic, data-driven website. In such cases, ASP code is required to be embedded into the website's HTML pages. ASP code allows the users to link their web pages to a database, wherein users can then interact with the web pages and by using their personal settings, they can log in and place orders on the website.

How does ASP (Active Server Pages) Work?

When users types the URL in the address box or clicks on a specific web page, a request is sent to the web server to send the file to their computer. In case of a standard HTML file, your web browser will receive the file and it will appear exactly as it did on the web server. However if an ASP file is sent to your computer from the web server, then the server will run the HTML code; and run the ASP code (the ASP code could be the current date, or time; and other such information).

A user who requires ASP support from their web-hosting provider must ensure that the feature is included within the given hosting package. The web hosting provider will then in all probability be hosting your website on a Windows 2000 server. This is primarily because it is safer to host the ASP pages on a Windows 2000 server as they are more stable and most ASP components work with IIS (Internet Information Services), specific to Windows. The user must also ensure if their website utilizes a database like SQL, Access etc. and then ask their web hosting provider if they offer support for the type of database that is utilized by their website.

Most quality web-hosting providers do offer ASP support and the feature is usually included within the hosting package and does not come with an additional fee. However, it is advisable to check with your hosting provider if ASP support is included with the hosting package. Usually, web hosting may offer these features as additional or add-on features, which could turn out to be more expensive. It is only wise to consider a cost-effective hosting package that can offer support for various website requirements.

Therefore, do your research well and make a well-informed decision when it comes to choosing a web-hosting provider. Take into account all aspects of web hosting requirements for your website and set yourself a budget. Consider signing up for companies who have garnered certain repute in the industry and has preferable set unprecedented standards in the hosting industry.

HostingCoupons.org lists web hosting coupons, deals, discounts, savings and exclusive promotions from the top web hosts. You will find the best of web hosting companies listed there including the most recommended web hosts and domain registrars - godaddy, bluehost and hostgator. It covers blog discussions and topics like web hosting discussions and hosting reviews

KISS Web Hosting

By Bill Kirkpatrick

"K.I.S.S. Web Hosting" is my way of explaining the "Keep It Simple Stupid" principles of web hosting and how anyone can use them to help get their business or website noticed and how to do this as inexpensively as possible. When you keep things simple you in turn learn how to save time, money, and frustration.

Many people I talk to make web hosting out to be something more complicated than it really needs to be. As with most things in life it's just not. I mean we are not talking about Rocket Science here are we? Definitely not!

There are many web hosting companies out there. Most are very reputable and offer many convenient features packaged in a manner to help you keep things simple.

Some of the more common features that seem to help most of us include: providing a domain name, site building tools, email accounts, blog and forum tools, up time, the money-back guarantee, and quality customer service and support.

If you are new to this arena you may be wondering if you should go with one of those companies that are offering you "the world" of web hosting for FREE. Well, my advice to you would be you get what you pay for (or in this case what you don't pay for). Companies that offer unlimited space, unlimited domains, 100% up time, etc. - all for FREE will probably be very hard (if not impossible) to contact when you do have a problem or an issue with your site and need their service.

Today many of the best most reputable web hosts provide you with everything you will need for just pennies a day. So to not go with one is probably in the end just going to give you more headaches than its worth. You're probably not in the business of spending countless hours trying to find the "perfect" web hosting company. We as consumers when shopping for a web host need to decide what is really more important for us. Usually the most important factor ends up being customer service.

As with most businesses if you cannot find someone to help you when there is a problem it will just leave you feeling helpless, upset, and frustrated. Since most of these reputable hosting companies provide similar features and do so at a cost of less than $10 per month, some less than $5, ensuring that you get a host who is there for you when an issue arises allows you to concentrate on the more important things for your particular business.

Keep things simple and choose the web host company that fits your needs.

Bill Kirkpatrick assists people with finding the best web host, offering software solutions, and helping with advertising. He always strives to keep things simple. Check out what he can do for you: http://www.advertiseyourbiznow.com

How to Find a Cheap Host With All the Features You Need

By Allan Burns

As a webmaster you are always looking to keep your hosting costs as low as possible. You want to find a cheap host but you also want to find a host that is reliable and that offer the service and functionality that you need for your sites.

Different types of sites require different functionality. These varying requirements can sometimes mean the features you need can end up being expensive. Certain types of sites such as web proxy sites, image hosts and streaming video sites can use a lot of bandwidth and some require a lot of processing power. Other types of sites such as those made up of a few flat HTML files will not need such a powerful server.

You first need to consider the types of sites you are looking to host. Are there going to be any special requirements for your sites such as databases, streaming video or server side programming languages such as PHP.

There are lot of hosts that provide many features as standard such as a control panel, MySQL databases, PHP, email addresses, add on domains and various single click install scripts. Other features usually vary with cost such as disk space and bandwidth.

If you want to find a cheaper host then you need to optimise your site requirements with what different web hosting companies provide. For example if you have a site with half a dozen pages containing some text and a few pictures then you are not going to have a very demanding site. You could get a basic hosting package with none of the bells and whistles to keep your cost down.

Usually webmasters have more than one site that needs to be hosted. With certain hosting packages you can host multiple websites which means you can save money on multiple hosting accounts and keep all your sites in one place. You can do this by using a reseller hosting account that allows you to host multiple separate sites on a single hosting account. These are usually hosting accounts that come with management software such as Web Hosting Manager. WHM usually makes a hosting account more expensive so if you do not need to keep each site completely separate you can instead get a hosting package that allows multiple add on domains. This will save you even more money as you will not need to have WHM, which the host has to pay for a license to use.

Find out how you can get a cheap hosting account at http://www.cheaphosting.co.uk