What are the key elements in a good web host package? The answer to that question depends mainly on the service you expect from the web host provider. To decide what you need, you'll need to have at least a brief understanding of the typical services and features offered by web hosting companies.
The number of e-mail accounts available might be one of the key elements in a good web host package. If your ability to send and receive e-mail is important, you'll want to carefully consider whether a particular web host package includes enough e-mail accounts to accommodate that need. Some companies tout unlimited e-mail accounts and depending on your specific needs, this might be a very favorable element of a potential host company. If you are a businessperson, remember that it's possible your company will grow in the future. While you might need to only establish one or two e-mail accounts now, consider what your future needs could be. It would probably be difficult to change hosts later if you find that you need additional (even unlimited?) e-mail accounts.
Which brings up another of the key elements in a good web host package. If you are establishing a connection with a web host provider for business purposes, consider your provider's ability to grow with your business. The last thing you want to do is start with a company that will be unable to keep up as your business grows. Changing companies later is always an option, but that transition is not likely to be without problems.
The amount of disk space that will be allotted to your web site is another of the key elements in a good web host package. While it might seem that 30 megabytes is plenty of room, the potential for growth of your company means that you could easily need more space later. If you choose a web hosting provider that simply can't offer more space, you might find that your growth will be severely limited.
Other issues that can be key elements in a good web host package include the bandwidth, security and speed. Finding a company that provides the best of all these features is likely to be a daunting task, but it is possible.
Price is naturally a key element in a good web host package as well. Prices generally vary only by a few dollars per month and the difference between paying $6.95 per month and $9.95 per month is not likely to play a significant role in the final choice. If the less expensive service provider doesn't fulfill your needs, you'll certainly face significant expense and trouble rectifying the situation later.
In the end, deciding which are the key elements in a good web host package will be up to you. If you need large storage space, that becomes an important element. If your needs include larger-than-normal space requirements, that becomes one of the most important elements in a good web host package. The true test of a good web host package is answered with one easy question: "Will this provider adequately meet my needs at a competitive price?"
Friday, September 28, 2007
Do It Yourself Website
If you are just starting out in your new business and you decide that a website could be a valuable addition to this business how do you go about getting one up and running? You have two basic options really. Do it yourself or employ an individual or company to do it for you. Which option you take depends upon your own confidence in acquiring the skills necessary and the amount of funds you can divert to hiring in a company. If you have sufficient funds then hire in a company as this will enable you to devout all your time to developing your core business. If you don’t then you will have to do it yourself. So how do you go about it?
You will require no or little knowledge of HTML as you can purchase a whole package from a web hosting company which should include some form of website developing software and your domain name plus the hosting of your website. Give some thought to your domain name. It should be easy for people to type in and remember. Not too long, succinct and preferably no hyphens. So you have chosen your domain name and your hosting service now you must develop your site. Again give some thought to this. How many pages you are likely to produce, how many links you will need. What sort of information is going on each page. If you are completely new to this then I would suggest that using your site editor software you produce a first draft and publish it. You can always modify everything later as you go along. This will give you your first website which you can then submit to the search engines albeit not exactly what you want or one that is going to attract visitors.
Now you need to do quite a lot of research on the internet as to how to make your site visitor friendly and search engine friendly. Here you will discover the importance of good content, changing content, appropriate keywords, backward links, article writing and good copy on the website. Taking this information on board will enable you to restructure and rewrite your site over a period of time, probably many times. However all the time this learning process is going on your site is actually published on the Web so is likely to start being trawled by search engines and getting indexed even if it doesn’t sky rocket through the rankings. The most important thing to do from the outset is to write good content that will be of interest to your visitors. If it holds the attention of your visitors and gets them to contact you then it will likely be of equal interest to the search engines. Do not produce a site that is written with the search engines in mind. It is your visitors who are important and by following a few simple rules that are published all over the Web your site can become very attractive to visitors and to search engines also. Keep the site textually based, there is no point in having very flashy graphics as these are not noticed by the search engines and often annoy visitors who want to get at the information they are after as quickly as possible and not have to wait for some animated introduction to finish before they can enter the actual site.
Having put into practice all the advice that is out there you should have put together a pleasing and appealing website that visitors and search engines like. Each day or week you add more content and develop more links and you will gradually climb up the rankings. The last piece of advice I would give is start writing and submitting articles. One or two a week would be excellent over a year or two. Once your articles start being published you will see an immediate leap in the number of links back to your site and a subsequent rise in the rankings if your content is also good. Aim to produce over time several hundred articles if possible. The more you write the more links back to your site you will develop and the more visitors you will get as well as boost your rankings in the search engines
You will require no or little knowledge of HTML as you can purchase a whole package from a web hosting company which should include some form of website developing software and your domain name plus the hosting of your website. Give some thought to your domain name. It should be easy for people to type in and remember. Not too long, succinct and preferably no hyphens. So you have chosen your domain name and your hosting service now you must develop your site. Again give some thought to this. How many pages you are likely to produce, how many links you will need. What sort of information is going on each page. If you are completely new to this then I would suggest that using your site editor software you produce a first draft and publish it. You can always modify everything later as you go along. This will give you your first website which you can then submit to the search engines albeit not exactly what you want or one that is going to attract visitors.
Now you need to do quite a lot of research on the internet as to how to make your site visitor friendly and search engine friendly. Here you will discover the importance of good content, changing content, appropriate keywords, backward links, article writing and good copy on the website. Taking this information on board will enable you to restructure and rewrite your site over a period of time, probably many times. However all the time this learning process is going on your site is actually published on the Web so is likely to start being trawled by search engines and getting indexed even if it doesn’t sky rocket through the rankings. The most important thing to do from the outset is to write good content that will be of interest to your visitors. If it holds the attention of your visitors and gets them to contact you then it will likely be of equal interest to the search engines. Do not produce a site that is written with the search engines in mind. It is your visitors who are important and by following a few simple rules that are published all over the Web your site can become very attractive to visitors and to search engines also. Keep the site textually based, there is no point in having very flashy graphics as these are not noticed by the search engines and often annoy visitors who want to get at the information they are after as quickly as possible and not have to wait for some animated introduction to finish before they can enter the actual site.
Having put into practice all the advice that is out there you should have put together a pleasing and appealing website that visitors and search engines like. Each day or week you add more content and develop more links and you will gradually climb up the rankings. The last piece of advice I would give is start writing and submitting articles. One or two a week would be excellent over a year or two. Once your articles start being published you will see an immediate leap in the number of links back to your site and a subsequent rise in the rankings if your content is also good. Aim to produce over time several hundred articles if possible. The more you write the more links back to your site you will develop and the more visitors you will get as well as boost your rankings in the search engines
Elements of Web Hosting
When you first start out trying to get a site on the Internet everything seems so confusing. Obtuse acronyms flow freely through the 'Beginner Friendly' information sites and definitions can be hard to come across. The main reason for this is that the Internet and the process of getting a website online is really very simple, and once people get past the first stumbling steps they rarely remember the difficulty they once had, which leads to them being unable to understand the next wave of dot com newbies.
So let's begin with defining some of the basic terms that are commonly thrown around when looking for a web host. You'll quickly realize that computer geeks like using big words for simple concepts. What do you expect from a group of people that decided to call half a Byte a Nibble?
Web Host: These are the people that supply your website with somewhere to sit and be accessed from. They're often a wealth of information, so when you're trying to find your feet it will often be worthwhile to contact their tech support and get your questions answered. Because of this, it's important to contact them BEFORE you sign up for any packages to ensure that you'll receive a timely response. Just fire an email their way and see what happens.
Disk Space: This is the same as the space on your own PC's hard drive. Web Hosts will allocate a certain amount of space to your website, usually in Megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). This determines how much you can store on your site.
Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be retrieved from your site within the bandwidth period. The bandwidth period is the length of time before your bandwidth gets reset once again, usually about a month. Bandwidth is measured in MB and GB, like disk space. Always find out the consequences of exceeding your allocated bandwidth before you purchase a hosting package.
Domain Name: The domain name is your personal identifier on the Internet. This is what gets typed into a web browser's address bar to reach your site. Some hosting companies will offer a domain for free, while others will have the facilities to provide one for a minimal cost.
SQL (MySQL, SQL Server etc.): Structured Query Language. This is the language used to interact with databases. Chances are that if you don't know about it when you start looking for web hosting, you're not going to need to know about it for at least a little while longer.
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Basically, how the Internet works. It is the protocol governing the transfer of web pages from one place to another.
HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language. This is (usually) what you'll be using to make your website, whether directly or indirectly. Don't be scared by the name, the 'language' is very easy to learn.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol. This is a method for sending pages and files from your home PC to a server. It is quite simple to use and your host will provide login information if this is the method that they use for file access. Typing "FTP://[server details]" into My Computer on a windows box allows you to use FTP as if your server were a regular windows folder.
POP3: This is a common email 'post box' system. It is use to store emails for retrieval.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A common protocol used to send emails.
The beginner will not really need to know too much about the above two email technologies. If they're listed, good. It means you have email accounts with your website (i.e. the email name@yourdomain.com will reach you, somehow)
There are many 'languages' used to enhance websites, such as Java, Perl, ASP, .NET, PHP, etc. If you're just starting out you should try to learn simple HTML first before you worry too much about these more advanced languages. In general they're not too difficult to learn, but you'll want a solid grounding before you tackle them.
The Internet is a wonderful source of knowledge, so whenever you want information just fire up your favourite search engine and type in your problem. The Internet is full of sites about the Internet, so the information you want shouldn't be too hard to find.
Building professional websites takes a lot of time and skill, so many companies hire people to do it for them. If this is the situation that you're in, talk to the designer you're hiring about hosting, as they may have struck a deal with a webhost to provide clients with cheaper hosting packages. Also, the professional designer will know what features you're going to need in a hosting plan.
The world of web hosting is not as complicated as people would like to make out. Just make sure you do a little bit of research before diving in and you'll be less likely to get burned by a shifty 'here today, gone tomorrow' company. Check out the host's rankings on a few Web Hosting Directories, do a search for reviews of the company, contact the support staff before signing up and enjoy the world opened by having your own online presence.
So let's begin with defining some of the basic terms that are commonly thrown around when looking for a web host. You'll quickly realize that computer geeks like using big words for simple concepts. What do you expect from a group of people that decided to call half a Byte a Nibble?
Web Host: These are the people that supply your website with somewhere to sit and be accessed from. They're often a wealth of information, so when you're trying to find your feet it will often be worthwhile to contact their tech support and get your questions answered. Because of this, it's important to contact them BEFORE you sign up for any packages to ensure that you'll receive a timely response. Just fire an email their way and see what happens.
Disk Space: This is the same as the space on your own PC's hard drive. Web Hosts will allocate a certain amount of space to your website, usually in Megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). This determines how much you can store on your site.
Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be retrieved from your site within the bandwidth period. The bandwidth period is the length of time before your bandwidth gets reset once again, usually about a month. Bandwidth is measured in MB and GB, like disk space. Always find out the consequences of exceeding your allocated bandwidth before you purchase a hosting package.
Domain Name: The domain name is your personal identifier on the Internet. This is what gets typed into a web browser's address bar to reach your site. Some hosting companies will offer a domain for free, while others will have the facilities to provide one for a minimal cost.
SQL (MySQL, SQL Server etc.): Structured Query Language. This is the language used to interact with databases. Chances are that if you don't know about it when you start looking for web hosting, you're not going to need to know about it for at least a little while longer.
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Basically, how the Internet works. It is the protocol governing the transfer of web pages from one place to another.
HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language. This is (usually) what you'll be using to make your website, whether directly or indirectly. Don't be scared by the name, the 'language' is very easy to learn.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol. This is a method for sending pages and files from your home PC to a server. It is quite simple to use and your host will provide login information if this is the method that they use for file access. Typing "FTP://[server details]" into My Computer on a windows box allows you to use FTP as if your server were a regular windows folder.
POP3: This is a common email 'post box' system. It is use to store emails for retrieval.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A common protocol used to send emails.
The beginner will not really need to know too much about the above two email technologies. If they're listed, good. It means you have email accounts with your website (i.e. the email name@yourdomain.com will reach you, somehow)
There are many 'languages' used to enhance websites, such as Java, Perl, ASP, .NET, PHP, etc. If you're just starting out you should try to learn simple HTML first before you worry too much about these more advanced languages. In general they're not too difficult to learn, but you'll want a solid grounding before you tackle them.
The Internet is a wonderful source of knowledge, so whenever you want information just fire up your favourite search engine and type in your problem. The Internet is full of sites about the Internet, so the information you want shouldn't be too hard to find.
Building professional websites takes a lot of time and skill, so many companies hire people to do it for them. If this is the situation that you're in, talk to the designer you're hiring about hosting, as they may have struck a deal with a webhost to provide clients with cheaper hosting packages. Also, the professional designer will know what features you're going to need in a hosting plan.
The world of web hosting is not as complicated as people would like to make out. Just make sure you do a little bit of research before diving in and you'll be less likely to get burned by a shifty 'here today, gone tomorrow' company. Check out the host's rankings on a few Web Hosting Directories, do a search for reviews of the company, contact the support staff before signing up and enjoy the world opened by having your own online presence.
What Makes The Best Website Hosting Company
When choosing the best website hosting company, it is important
to consider several things before making your choice. As they
say " You never get a second chance at a first impression." This
is true when we are talking about your website!
Web hosting is a service that allows users to post Web pages to
the Internet. A Web host, or hosting service provider (HSP), is
a business that provides the technologies and services needed
for Web sites to be viewed on the Web.
When you choose hosting for your website consider the following
things.
Price: Don’t simply look for the lowest price. Your website is
your lively hood and you need reliablity that you may not get
with cheap hosting.
Technical Support: Is it available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week? If you have a question you need an answer.
Features: Various internet hosting companies offer a variety of
services. Make a list of what you know you want your website to
do. Here are a few services you will want to consider. Set up
fees, transfer fees, email aliases, site stats, contol panel,
site creation tool, front page extensions, submit to search
engines, sub domains, multiple domain discounts.
Disk Space: The amount of disk space that will be allotted to
your web site is another of the key elements in a good web host
package. While it might seem that 30 megabytes is plenty of
room, the potential for growth of your company means that you
could easily need more space later. If you choose a web hosting
provider that simply can't offer more space, you might find that
your growth will be severely limited.
E-mail accounts How many e-mail accounts do you need? You'll
probably need one for each employee and one for each department
(sales, accounts, support). Make sure you purchase a hosting
plan that has enough e-mail accounts. Also, do you want full
POPS access, Web-based e- mail, or both?
E-commerce Will you be selling goods or services through your
site? If not, there's no need to sign up for an e-commerce web
hosting service. If you are, e-commerce web hosting services
such as shopping cart software, SSL support and a merchant
account will be vital.
Speed: You need to know how fast your internet hosting provider
can provide access to your visitors.
Uptime: This may be the most important thing when choosing the
best web hosting company. You can not make money if your web
site is down.
It is reasonsable to expect to spend $20-$30 a month for a good
hosting company. I personally use Host4Profit for my hosting
needs. I have found them to be reliable, fast, offer top
customer service, and reasonably priced. They have a web hosting
affiliate program that allows you to make $10 a month for every
person you refer to them. Refer 3 and yours is free.
Below you will find more top websites for hosting, web hosting,
cheap hosting, free web hosting and more. When considering where
to host your website you will want to consider, Webpage Space,
Bandwidth, Customer Support, Reliability, Speed, Company
Stability and of course price.
to consider several things before making your choice. As they
say " You never get a second chance at a first impression." This
is true when we are talking about your website!
Web hosting is a service that allows users to post Web pages to
the Internet. A Web host, or hosting service provider (HSP), is
a business that provides the technologies and services needed
for Web sites to be viewed on the Web.
When you choose hosting for your website consider the following
things.
Price: Don’t simply look for the lowest price. Your website is
your lively hood and you need reliablity that you may not get
with cheap hosting.
Technical Support: Is it available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week? If you have a question you need an answer.
Features: Various internet hosting companies offer a variety of
services. Make a list of what you know you want your website to
do. Here are a few services you will want to consider. Set up
fees, transfer fees, email aliases, site stats, contol panel,
site creation tool, front page extensions, submit to search
engines, sub domains, multiple domain discounts.
Disk Space: The amount of disk space that will be allotted to
your web site is another of the key elements in a good web host
package. While it might seem that 30 megabytes is plenty of
room, the potential for growth of your company means that you
could easily need more space later. If you choose a web hosting
provider that simply can't offer more space, you might find that
your growth will be severely limited.
E-mail accounts How many e-mail accounts do you need? You'll
probably need one for each employee and one for each department
(sales, accounts, support). Make sure you purchase a hosting
plan that has enough e-mail accounts. Also, do you want full
POPS access, Web-based e- mail, or both?
E-commerce Will you be selling goods or services through your
site? If not, there's no need to sign up for an e-commerce web
hosting service. If you are, e-commerce web hosting services
such as shopping cart software, SSL support and a merchant
account will be vital.
Speed: You need to know how fast your internet hosting provider
can provide access to your visitors.
Uptime: This may be the most important thing when choosing the
best web hosting company. You can not make money if your web
site is down.
It is reasonsable to expect to spend $20-$30 a month for a good
hosting company. I personally use Host4Profit for my hosting
needs. I have found them to be reliable, fast, offer top
customer service, and reasonably priced. They have a web hosting
affiliate program that allows you to make $10 a month for every
person you refer to them. Refer 3 and yours is free.
Below you will find more top websites for hosting, web hosting,
cheap hosting, free web hosting and more. When considering where
to host your website you will want to consider, Webpage Space,
Bandwidth, Customer Support, Reliability, Speed, Company
Stability and of course price.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Cheap Webhosting - Is It For You?
There's an old adage which states that "You get what you pay for".
In most areas of life, and business, this holds true. Not necessarily so, however, in the webhosting industry. Often, you pay too much, and don't get what you pay for.
Several weeks ago I got a call from a web designer friend of mine.
"John," He said "You won't believe this".
He went on to tell me about a Plastic Surgeon he was redesigning a website for. This client was paying $600.00 per month for his webhosting account.
"The incredible thing is" He related, "I can't get the current host to return my phone calls or emails".
After looking at this clients needs, I was shocked to find that there was nothing special about his site that justified his being on anything other than a basic shared webhosting plan. We quoted him a monthly rate of under five dollars.
In this case, the client was being raped by an unscrupulous host who was not only overcharging him, but not even providing the basic support he needed.
This is an extreme example, no doubt, but it all to often characterizes the poor deal which most website owners fall into.
Several years ago, there was no such thing as a webhosting industry. Nearly all websites were hosted by local ISP's. The average monthly cost for hosting a website was $20.00 per month. Often, if you called the ISP with a technical question, they would tell you to buy a book or take a class.
Around 1996, we saw the emergence of a few "webhosting" companies. These were companies which were strictly committed to hosting websites. Using the economy of scale, they were able to offer incredibly useful webhosting packages for around $10.00 per month. What's more, some of these companies provided useful tech support which was geared towards meeting a website owners needs.
Fast forward to 2005 and we now see the emergence of a new type of web host - the cheap webhosting provider. These are companies which offer hosting for less than $5.00 per month.
Generally, cheap webhosting providers are newer companies. There's a reason for this. It's extremely difficult for the older companies to lower their prices when they already have a large customer base which pays higher prices. They'd be slashing their gross, and most companies just can't afford that.
So how do cheap webhosting providers offer such a low price to begin with?
Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Cheap webhosting providers capitalize on this.
Another part is that cheap hosting providers use a different business model than the older providers. Webhosting is a very competitive business. Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that not everyone needs everything. Most web hosts provide free backup services to all of their clients. Backups are costly, and not everyone needs or wants them, but everyone pays for them because they're built into the cost of the package.
A cheap webhosting provider, on the other hand, might give you the basic features that everyone uses, but offer weekly backups as an available add on feature, putting the cost of backing up websites on only those customers who want that service.
This all sounds great, I know, but what about service? Will I get competent and fast customer support from a company which charges me $4.00 per month?
The answer, surprisingly, is usually yes.
Obviously, not all cheap webhosting providers will give you great service. But not all expensive webhosting providers will give good service either. Our Plastic Surgeon friend couldn't get his $600.00 host to return his emails.
But, with a cheaper provider, the key for the providers success is customer retention. A savvy web host will endeavor to please his existing clients by providing the best support possible.
In most areas of life, and business, this holds true. Not necessarily so, however, in the webhosting industry. Often, you pay too much, and don't get what you pay for.
Several weeks ago I got a call from a web designer friend of mine.
"John," He said "You won't believe this".
He went on to tell me about a Plastic Surgeon he was redesigning a website for. This client was paying $600.00 per month for his webhosting account.
"The incredible thing is" He related, "I can't get the current host to return my phone calls or emails".
After looking at this clients needs, I was shocked to find that there was nothing special about his site that justified his being on anything other than a basic shared webhosting plan. We quoted him a monthly rate of under five dollars.
In this case, the client was being raped by an unscrupulous host who was not only overcharging him, but not even providing the basic support he needed.
This is an extreme example, no doubt, but it all to often characterizes the poor deal which most website owners fall into.
Several years ago, there was no such thing as a webhosting industry. Nearly all websites were hosted by local ISP's. The average monthly cost for hosting a website was $20.00 per month. Often, if you called the ISP with a technical question, they would tell you to buy a book or take a class.
Around 1996, we saw the emergence of a few "webhosting" companies. These were companies which were strictly committed to hosting websites. Using the economy of scale, they were able to offer incredibly useful webhosting packages for around $10.00 per month. What's more, some of these companies provided useful tech support which was geared towards meeting a website owners needs.
Fast forward to 2005 and we now see the emergence of a new type of web host - the cheap webhosting provider. These are companies which offer hosting for less than $5.00 per month.
Generally, cheap webhosting providers are newer companies. There's a reason for this. It's extremely difficult for the older companies to lower their prices when they already have a large customer base which pays higher prices. They'd be slashing their gross, and most companies just can't afford that.
So how do cheap webhosting providers offer such a low price to begin with?
Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Cheap webhosting providers capitalize on this.
Another part is that cheap hosting providers use a different business model than the older providers. Webhosting is a very competitive business. Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that not everyone needs everything. Most web hosts provide free backup services to all of their clients. Backups are costly, and not everyone needs or wants them, but everyone pays for them because they're built into the cost of the package.
A cheap webhosting provider, on the other hand, might give you the basic features that everyone uses, but offer weekly backups as an available add on feature, putting the cost of backing up websites on only those customers who want that service.
This all sounds great, I know, but what about service? Will I get competent and fast customer support from a company which charges me $4.00 per month?
The answer, surprisingly, is usually yes.
Obviously, not all cheap webhosting providers will give you great service. But not all expensive webhosting providers will give good service either. Our Plastic Surgeon friend couldn't get his $600.00 host to return his emails.
But, with a cheaper provider, the key for the providers success is customer retention. A savvy web host will endeavor to please his existing clients by providing the best support possible.
Web Hosting & Web Development: Unravel the Technobabble and Create a Great Site
If you’ve ever browsed the World Wide Web and wondered how you could stake your claim on the Internet, like the millions of others that have done so already, then web hosting can provide you with the services to do just that. The Internet is a great way of sharing information and it is possible for you to take a portion of the web and make it your own. This article introduces the term “web hosting” and provides some useful tips for web development once you’ve obtained some web space.
What is the World Wide Web?
The “World Wide Web” is the network of computers from all over the world that communicate with each other using the HTTP protocol, a language that allows the transmission of web documents. Be careful as this term is not synonymous with the “Internet” because it is defined as a network of networks, where the computers communicate with protocols other than HTTP. The web is what you see on your Internet browser, the web pages complete with graphics, sound and other information. All this has got to come from somewhere, and this is where web hosting comes in.
Web Hosting
The information that you see from your web browser is contained in web pages. These web pages are kept on computers called web servers. Web hosting is about the storage of the web pages so that people can access them. It is possible to host your own websites yourself but the reasons stopping most people doing this is that there are issues to consider with having the right hardware and software to successfully host your web pages. Your web pages will take a certain amount of space, users will need to download each page to view them and your Internet connection needs to be fast to offer good performance to your viewers. Using specialised companies that offer web hosting capabilities on their web servers will take most of these worries away from you but you will need to choose wisely and weigh up the costs and your needs. In addition to having access to a web server, you will also need to register a domain name (for a cost) that uniquely identifies your website.
What Web Hosting Can Do For You
The most basic service that web hosting offers is that it exposes your web pages for others to see. The other services are: email capabilities that allow for email to be received and sent from your server; database capabilities that allow for large amounts of information to be updated and accessed on the web; and dynamic content which allows for users to interact with the web pages you’ve made.
Website Development
Poorly designed websites will most likely turn away users and harm the credibility of the information it contains. Thought should be put in on the way it looks and the way you intend your users to interact with the content. It is also recommended for more complex websites, a structured development process should be followed. Here is a guide to the logical steps of web development:
· Requirements Analysis: What is the purpose of the website? What content should it contain?
· Design: How should the pages be linked? What structure should they take? How should the pages interact with the user?
· Implementation: This step is the actual coding of the websites in accordance to the previous websites.
· Testing: Does the website do what it should?
· Maintenance: Is the information on the website up-to-date?
Some useful hints for web development below are taken from software quality aspects but they apply to the development of websites as well. They are described in terms of web development:
Reliability: Is the website reliable? Do faults allow for the system to continue running?
Robustness: How does the website respond to incorrect input?
Performance: How fast does the web page respond to user’s actions? Is it efficient in processing requests and inputs?
Usability: Is the website easy to navigate and understand?
Maintainability: Is the website easy to change? Can new functionality be added?
Portability: What software requirements does the website require? Will this limit the amount of potential users?
Understandability: How well do you understand the website you’ve developed?
When designing your website, keep these quality aspects in mind as they will help you develop pages worth visiting. How to choose the way to host your website is half of the problem, the other half is to create a website that people would want to visit and come back to. Knowledge of producing a good design can help you get the most out of your creations.
What is the World Wide Web?
The “World Wide Web” is the network of computers from all over the world that communicate with each other using the HTTP protocol, a language that allows the transmission of web documents. Be careful as this term is not synonymous with the “Internet” because it is defined as a network of networks, where the computers communicate with protocols other than HTTP. The web is what you see on your Internet browser, the web pages complete with graphics, sound and other information. All this has got to come from somewhere, and this is where web hosting comes in.
Web Hosting
The information that you see from your web browser is contained in web pages. These web pages are kept on computers called web servers. Web hosting is about the storage of the web pages so that people can access them. It is possible to host your own websites yourself but the reasons stopping most people doing this is that there are issues to consider with having the right hardware and software to successfully host your web pages. Your web pages will take a certain amount of space, users will need to download each page to view them and your Internet connection needs to be fast to offer good performance to your viewers. Using specialised companies that offer web hosting capabilities on their web servers will take most of these worries away from you but you will need to choose wisely and weigh up the costs and your needs. In addition to having access to a web server, you will also need to register a domain name (for a cost) that uniquely identifies your website.
What Web Hosting Can Do For You
The most basic service that web hosting offers is that it exposes your web pages for others to see. The other services are: email capabilities that allow for email to be received and sent from your server; database capabilities that allow for large amounts of information to be updated and accessed on the web; and dynamic content which allows for users to interact with the web pages you’ve made.
Website Development
Poorly designed websites will most likely turn away users and harm the credibility of the information it contains. Thought should be put in on the way it looks and the way you intend your users to interact with the content. It is also recommended for more complex websites, a structured development process should be followed. Here is a guide to the logical steps of web development:
· Requirements Analysis: What is the purpose of the website? What content should it contain?
· Design: How should the pages be linked? What structure should they take? How should the pages interact with the user?
· Implementation: This step is the actual coding of the websites in accordance to the previous websites.
· Testing: Does the website do what it should?
· Maintenance: Is the information on the website up-to-date?
Some useful hints for web development below are taken from software quality aspects but they apply to the development of websites as well. They are described in terms of web development:
Reliability: Is the website reliable? Do faults allow for the system to continue running?
Robustness: How does the website respond to incorrect input?
Performance: How fast does the web page respond to user’s actions? Is it efficient in processing requests and inputs?
Usability: Is the website easy to navigate and understand?
Maintainability: Is the website easy to change? Can new functionality be added?
Portability: What software requirements does the website require? Will this limit the amount of potential users?
Understandability: How well do you understand the website you’ve developed?
When designing your website, keep these quality aspects in mind as they will help you develop pages worth visiting. How to choose the way to host your website is half of the problem, the other half is to create a website that people would want to visit and come back to. Knowledge of producing a good design can help you get the most out of your creations.
How to Choose a Right Web Hosting Service?
Indeed, choosing a right web hosting service for your website is not an easy task especially when there are thousands of web hosting providers all offering almost identical web hosting packages. Therefore, it is important to know few major considerations even before you start your web hosting search. Below are three major criteria for web host seeker:
Web hosting features requirement
This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a host for your site. You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including:
a) Server platform and hardware requirements
If you plan to set up a website that uses programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, in this case, you will need to find a web hosting service that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers.
Likewise, if you plan to use programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform should be sufficient to meet your hosting requirements. Once you have these server platform and hardware requirements in mind, you can decide the best web hosting plans for your need. For more information, you can read "How to select a web server and server platform?"
b) Disk space & Bandwidth requirement
Here is another technical requirement that you need to consider before selecting a web hosting plan, i.e. disk space and bandwidth. If you intend to publish a website that does not have a lot of contents (meaning, web pages), then the disk space requirement may not be a big concern to you. In general, a disk space with 200MB to 500MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement. In contrast, if you plan to host a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files, then you should consider a web hosting plan that provide huge disk space, for example, 500 MB to 1,000 MB.
Similarly, the bandwidth requirement will depend on your site traffic estimation. Obviously, a website that expect to attract high traffic will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast. If so, you will need to find one web hosting service that offer huge bandwidth with 40 GB to 100 GB per month. Depending upon your website requirement, choosing a web hosting service that provide sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.
c) Other hosting features
While the above requirements are utmost important, there are other hosting features that you have to consider too. Can web hosting provider support video clips on your website, if you have? Is the web hosting service compatible with Dreamweaver or FrontPage web authoring tool? Do you plan to set up a virtual store online? Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra cost to your monthly payments? On top of that, you may also want to find out the number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software (analyze your web traffic), type of control panel supported (manage your web hosting account), database and scripting languages supported and etc.
Reliability and scalability
A first-class web hosting provider offers reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection. You should only choose a web hosting service that guarantee at least 99% server uptime with high-speed Internet backbones using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second) or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A reliable web hosting provider usually invests heavily on their data center infrastructure with high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in place to ensure they meet the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service.
Similarly, you should choose a web hosting service with hardware facilities that designed for scalability, so that they can grow with your business. For example, if you need to increase more disk space, bandwidth or number of mySQL databases, you should be able to upgrade as needed without any problems.
Customer service and support
The last major consideration in choosing a web hosting service is to find a web hosting providers that offers excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer support if they take more than one day to response.
In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledgebase, Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.
Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service. In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the number of customers that they currently have are also a good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the stability of the company. Even though cost of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration. Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition, as a result, the price of most of the web hosting services offering quality hosting features has been converging to less than US$10 per month. If you can't afford less than $10 per month, you probably isn't in the online business for the long haul. Therefore, price should not be a major deciding factor.
On the other hand, it is more important to ensure the web hosting service that you choose is able to meet your website hosting requirements, guarantee your website is always accessible with satisfying speed, provide scalability to grow and expand your website as well as offer excellent customer supports. Good luck to your search.
Web hosting features requirement
This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a host for your site. You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including:
a) Server platform and hardware requirements
If you plan to set up a website that uses programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, in this case, you will need to find a web hosting service that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers.
Likewise, if you plan to use programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform should be sufficient to meet your hosting requirements. Once you have these server platform and hardware requirements in mind, you can decide the best web hosting plans for your need. For more information, you can read "How to select a web server and server platform?"
b) Disk space & Bandwidth requirement
Here is another technical requirement that you need to consider before selecting a web hosting plan, i.e. disk space and bandwidth. If you intend to publish a website that does not have a lot of contents (meaning, web pages), then the disk space requirement may not be a big concern to you. In general, a disk space with 200MB to 500MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement. In contrast, if you plan to host a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files, then you should consider a web hosting plan that provide huge disk space, for example, 500 MB to 1,000 MB.
Similarly, the bandwidth requirement will depend on your site traffic estimation. Obviously, a website that expect to attract high traffic will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast. If so, you will need to find one web hosting service that offer huge bandwidth with 40 GB to 100 GB per month. Depending upon your website requirement, choosing a web hosting service that provide sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.
c) Other hosting features
While the above requirements are utmost important, there are other hosting features that you have to consider too. Can web hosting provider support video clips on your website, if you have? Is the web hosting service compatible with Dreamweaver or FrontPage web authoring tool? Do you plan to set up a virtual store online? Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra cost to your monthly payments? On top of that, you may also want to find out the number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software (analyze your web traffic), type of control panel supported (manage your web hosting account), database and scripting languages supported and etc.
Reliability and scalability
A first-class web hosting provider offers reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection. You should only choose a web hosting service that guarantee at least 99% server uptime with high-speed Internet backbones using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second) or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A reliable web hosting provider usually invests heavily on their data center infrastructure with high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in place to ensure they meet the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service.
Similarly, you should choose a web hosting service with hardware facilities that designed for scalability, so that they can grow with your business. For example, if you need to increase more disk space, bandwidth or number of mySQL databases, you should be able to upgrade as needed without any problems.
Customer service and support
The last major consideration in choosing a web hosting service is to find a web hosting providers that offers excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer support if they take more than one day to response.
In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledgebase, Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.
Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service. In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the number of customers that they currently have are also a good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the stability of the company. Even though cost of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration. Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition, as a result, the price of most of the web hosting services offering quality hosting features has been converging to less than US$10 per month. If you can't afford less than $10 per month, you probably isn't in the online business for the long haul. Therefore, price should not be a major deciding factor.
On the other hand, it is more important to ensure the web hosting service that you choose is able to meet your website hosting requirements, guarantee your website is always accessible with satisfying speed, provide scalability to grow and expand your website as well as offer excellent customer supports. Good luck to your search.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
more resources
# FreeHostingNow.com
A free hosting service that gives you a generous 10 gigs of disk space, as well as 10 gigs of bandwidth. Here, you can get a free subdomain (such as YourSite.freehostingnow.com). FreeHostingNow.com offers PHP, MySQL, FTP access, and other handy features, and places no ads on your site.
# 250Free.com
A fast-growing free Web hosting service that offers a generous 250 megs of space, as well as top-notch tech support. 250Free.com features an easy-to-use Web-based account manager, as well as FTP access. This service is MSN TV-friendly.
# 1SweetHost.com
Here's a free, banner-supported Web hosting service that offers you 100 megs of space, along with FTP support, site promotion, and speedy servers.
# 5GBFree
A free Web hosting service that offers a whopping 5 gigs of space, with no ads, and an easy registration process. 5GBFree gives you lots of handy extras, including 10 MySQL databases and PHP and Perl scripting. You may either use your own domain (if you have one), or get a free subdomain.
# WebNG.com
This free hosting service offers 350 megs of space and places no ads on your pages. Features here include FTP access, ASP 3.0, SSI, and Microsoft Access database support, along with image, audio and video hosting support.
# ProHosting
This free Web space provider offers a generous package. Here, you get 50 megs of Web space, an FTP account and CGI access. ProHosting also offers an online site creation utility and customer support via E-mail.
# FSPHost.com
At this site, you can sign up for a free Web hosting account that offers 250 megs of space. Here, no ads are placed on your pages and you can access your account either via FTP or your browser. Accounts are available instantly with no registration required.
# Orgfree.com
Here's a versatile free Web hoster that features domain and subdomain hosting. This service offers "unlimited" Web space and bandwidth and high-traffic sites are eligible for a free domain. Here, you get free FTP access, PHP/MySQL support and more.
# 275mb.com
This is a free Web hosting service that offers you 5 gigs of bandwidth, and a free subdomain. Features here include FTP and cPanel access and PHP/CGI support. Accounts include a message board and guestbook.
# Free-Webhosts.com
Are you looking for free Web space? This regularly-updated directory lists over 800 free hosting services on the Web. Free-Webhosts.com offers reviews, ratings and a searchable database.
# Absolutely-Free-Hosting.com
Here's a good resource if you're looking for free Web hosting. This site offers a searchable database with reviews of over 200 free hosting services on the Web. The categories here round up hosters by the specific services they offer, including ASP, PHP, domain hosting and more.
A free hosting service that gives you a generous 10 gigs of disk space, as well as 10 gigs of bandwidth. Here, you can get a free subdomain (such as YourSite.freehostingnow.com). FreeHostingNow.com offers PHP, MySQL, FTP access, and other handy features, and places no ads on your site.
# 250Free.com
A fast-growing free Web hosting service that offers a generous 250 megs of space, as well as top-notch tech support. 250Free.com features an easy-to-use Web-based account manager, as well as FTP access. This service is MSN TV-friendly.
# 1SweetHost.com
Here's a free, banner-supported Web hosting service that offers you 100 megs of space, along with FTP support, site promotion, and speedy servers.
# 5GBFree
A free Web hosting service that offers a whopping 5 gigs of space, with no ads, and an easy registration process. 5GBFree gives you lots of handy extras, including 10 MySQL databases and PHP and Perl scripting. You may either use your own domain (if you have one), or get a free subdomain.
# WebNG.com
This free hosting service offers 350 megs of space and places no ads on your pages. Features here include FTP access, ASP 3.0, SSI, and Microsoft Access database support, along with image, audio and video hosting support.
# ProHosting
This free Web space provider offers a generous package. Here, you get 50 megs of Web space, an FTP account and CGI access. ProHosting also offers an online site creation utility and customer support via E-mail.
# FSPHost.com
At this site, you can sign up for a free Web hosting account that offers 250 megs of space. Here, no ads are placed on your pages and you can access your account either via FTP or your browser. Accounts are available instantly with no registration required.
# Orgfree.com
Here's a versatile free Web hoster that features domain and subdomain hosting. This service offers "unlimited" Web space and bandwidth and high-traffic sites are eligible for a free domain. Here, you get free FTP access, PHP/MySQL support and more.
# 275mb.com
This is a free Web hosting service that offers you 5 gigs of bandwidth, and a free subdomain. Features here include FTP and cPanel access and PHP/CGI support. Accounts include a message board and guestbook.
# Free-Webhosts.com
Are you looking for free Web space? This regularly-updated directory lists over 800 free hosting services on the Web. Free-Webhosts.com offers reviews, ratings and a searchable database.
# Absolutely-Free-Hosting.com
Here's a good resource if you're looking for free Web hosting. This site offers a searchable database with reviews of over 200 free hosting services on the Web. The categories here round up hosters by the specific services they offer, including ASP, PHP, domain hosting and more.
free online webhosting resources
free online webhosting
Free Web Site Hosting Services
If you've been on the Web very long, you may be wondering what is involved in starting your own Web site. Well, you've come to the right place. Below, we list services that will give you free hosting for your Web site. In many cases, these services will help you publish a Web site even if you have no experience in writing HTML (the easy-to-learn coding language that is used to create Web pages).
With many of these services, the only work on your part is coming up with content ideas for your Web site. The list of possibilities is endless: you can publish your resume on-line, publish a page devoted to your favorite hobby or cause, create a page devoted to your interests, or have a site that displays your family's photos, etc. If you have a business, you can set up a site for it (but note: a few free hosting services do not allow such pages).
Note: free hosting services are fine for many types of sites. But if you're looking for a solid commercial hosting service that offers lots of features at good rates, we recommend BlueHost.com.
ZeroCatch
One of the best free Web hosters that we've seen yet, ZeroCatch offers you 100 megs of space. This banner-ad supported hoster has speedy, reliable servers. Features here include FTP support, site promotion and more. If you're looking for an added draw for your site, check out their "partnership" program, which lets you become a free Web space provider yourself.
TopCities.com
A solid free Web space provider, TopCities.com offers you 150 megabytes of space, unlimited bandwidth, and free subdomains. Here, you upload your files using FTP, or via their online EasyUpload utility. TopCities.com also offers a number of free enhancements for your site, such as a guestbook and a message board.
2ip.com
This free Web hosting service offers you 100 megs of space, a choice of domains, and unlimited traffic. This service offers several free enhancements for your site, including a guestbook, detailed site stats, a message board and online forms, full FTP access, and a big selection of subdomains to choose from.
FreeWebPage.org
This is a solid, free Web hosting service that includes a lot of helpful features. An ad-supported service, FreeWebPage.org gives you 150 megs of space and your own subdomain. Other features include direct FTP access, a guestbook, a message board, form mail and lots more.
Free Web Site Hosting Services
If you've been on the Web very long, you may be wondering what is involved in starting your own Web site. Well, you've come to the right place. Below, we list services that will give you free hosting for your Web site. In many cases, these services will help you publish a Web site even if you have no experience in writing HTML (the easy-to-learn coding language that is used to create Web pages).
With many of these services, the only work on your part is coming up with content ideas for your Web site. The list of possibilities is endless: you can publish your resume on-line, publish a page devoted to your favorite hobby or cause, create a page devoted to your interests, or have a site that displays your family's photos, etc. If you have a business, you can set up a site for it (but note: a few free hosting services do not allow such pages).
Note: free hosting services are fine for many types of sites. But if you're looking for a solid commercial hosting service that offers lots of features at good rates, we recommend BlueHost.com.
ZeroCatchOne of the best free Web hosters that we've seen yet, ZeroCatch offers you 100 megs of space. This banner-ad supported hoster has speedy, reliable servers. Features here include FTP support, site promotion and more. If you're looking for an added draw for your site, check out their "partnership" program, which lets you become a free Web space provider yourself.
TopCities.comA solid free Web space provider, TopCities.com offers you 150 megabytes of space, unlimited bandwidth, and free subdomains. Here, you upload your files using FTP, or via their online EasyUpload utility. TopCities.com also offers a number of free enhancements for your site, such as a guestbook and a message board.
2ip.comThis free Web hosting service offers you 100 megs of space, a choice of domains, and unlimited traffic. This service offers several free enhancements for your site, including a guestbook, detailed site stats, a message board and online forms, full FTP access, and a big selection of subdomains to choose from.
- 2ip.com offers advanced site creation software with its free hosting accounts, which you can use to create professional-looking pages, Flash enabled sites, etc.
- Here, you can get a free "catch all" E-mail service (which means you can choose a variety of wild card E-mail addresses such as anything@your.domain, that all go to one mailbox).
FreeWebPage.orgThis is a solid, free Web hosting service that includes a lot of helpful features. An ad-supported service, FreeWebPage.org gives you 150 megs of space and your own subdomain. Other features include direct FTP access, a guestbook, a message board, form mail and lots more.
Free web hosting resources
Perfect Free Web Hosting
PerfectFreeWebhosting.com - Free Web Hosting
* 50 Mb storage
* 1 Gb bandwidth per month
* 1 Subdomain : username.pfwh.net
***Forced Ads -> Banners: Top
Your Ads -> Allowed
* cPanel X 10
* PHP 4
* Perl/CGI enabled scripting
* Perl/CGI enabled scripting
* 1 MYSQL database
* 1 FTP account
* Webmail
* POP & SMTP access
* Free online WYSIWYG editor
* Free forum
* Autoresponders
PerfectFreeWebhosting.com - Free Web Hosting
* 50 Mb storage
* 1 Gb bandwidth per month
* 1 Subdomain : username.pfwh.net
***Forced Ads -> Banners: Top
Your Ads -> Allowed
* cPanel X 10
* PHP 4
* Perl/CGI enabled scripting
* Perl/CGI enabled scripting
* 1 MYSQL database
* 1 FTP account
* Webmail
* POP & SMTP access
* Free online WYSIWYG editor
* Free forum
* Autoresponders
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