The Right Web Hosting Package For Your Business Website

If you plan to have a business website to offer goods and services online, you will need a good web hosting provider for the same to work. Nowadays, there are countless options available in the market. While searching for website hosting services, you will come across three options:

1) Dedicated server
2) shared web hosting
3) co-location

Once you start looking for business website hosting, you will see a number of ads and links that claim to be the best. These may vary from free web hosting and cheap web hosting to expensive packages. It’s best to focus on what you really need for your business requirements and ignore the hype.

Dedicated server hosting is that which allows you to rent the entire web server for hosting your website. This is a good solution for webmasters who lack the startup capital to buy their own server. You get control over the disk space and file transfer capacity available for your website. Dedicated servers also provide faster internet connections. The disadvantages to using this top quality web hosting service is the high cost involved and lesser control available as compared to co-location web hosting.

Shared web hosting is a type of hosting where you rent disk space on a large server along with many other sites. It is the most affordable form of web hosting and has many features and options for all kinds of business websites. However, it lacks the quality found in dedicated or co-location web hosting. You may lose sales when the server goes down and your site may not be very secure.

Co-location web hosting is that wherein your server equipment is located in a secure state of the art facility in the web host’s location. A big advantage of this type of web hosting is that it provides you with total control over the reliability and data transfer speed of your web site. It can be tough to beat the quality of service available in co-location web hosting but it can prove to be very expensive for start-up ventures.

Preparing For Budget Web Hosting Plans

A lot of people would opt for a budget web hosting plan when they start their online business. Still, one must be prepared to handle its own consequences. There is a small risk attached to budget web hosting which every customer should be aware of. Many budget web hosting companies have secret ways of doing business. It is very essential for a customer to find out the different types of facilities and benefits involved with the web hosting package which he intends to buy.

Before signing up with any web hosting provider, you must know what your web host is about and how it operates. Given below are a few of such pointers:

1. Focus on the experience of the budget web hosting company. Many of them may not have been in the market for too long. Such companies may have little or no experience at all. You don’t want to end up purchasing a web hosting service that is brand new and inexperienced. In fact, the best option will be to go for a web host with many years of experience and satisfied customers.

2. Look for a budget web hosting package that is affordable and at the same time provides all the benefits that an expensive web host would provide. One such advantage will be 24/7 support system. Also, there are some budget web hosting providers who don’t offer any information about the level of support they offer. Hence, you must check and test the support system yourself before signing any service agreements. On the basis of your experience and their skills, you must take a decision of whether you should sign up with the web hosting provider or keep searching for a better one.

3. Talking about the service agreement, you must go through the service level agreement provided by the budget web hosting provider. If they do not support a SLA then you must not go for their services. The agreement should be strong and contain all terms about what will happen and the type of service you will receive. Make sure that you sign up with a budget web hosting firm that has a clear SLA to help you tackle issues that may arise after you have purchased the web hosting plan. You will also know exactly how to move on while running your website.

4. The majority of web hosting companies claim to be web hosting companies but in reality they offer a variety of other business where web hosting is one of the products that they are dealing with. Preferably, you should opt for a company that focuses on web hosting alone. Don’t hesitate to ask about this and confirm it before you sign any agreements with them.

Are You Looking For Free Web Hosting Service Provider?

Anyone looking for quality web hosting faces a big decision in form of choosing a web hosting provider. You can either go for a free web hosting company or a paid hosting plan. This decision will depend on a number of factors.

For someone with a restricted budget, free web hosting is a good option whereas critical websites require state-of-the-art web hosting services.

Some of the advantages of the free web hosting plans include:

1. A lot of people want to spend as little money on their online business as possible. This is the most attractive feature of free web hosting.

2. A college degree is not required to utilize the web hosting plan, whether you are a novice or experienced website owner. No need to learn HTML coding or any other languages. Many attractive features can be found in such packages such as design templates, applications and other features.

3. Most of the features are very simple to use. You can familiarize yourself with the straightforward stuff before moving on to more complex things.

4. Browse through web hosting providers and see that most features suit the needs of your website. Don’t go for features that are of no use to you. Your money will only be wasted in such packages.

On the other hand, there are several disadvantages to free web hosting, including:

1. Free hosts rely on advertising so that their websites usually include pop ups, banners or text links. Don’t get fooled by web hosting providers that offer ad-free sites. Another strategy is to offer a scaled down set of features which the user can take and also upgrade to a paid plan.

2. Free web hosting companies are often unreliable. Don’t get shocked if you check your website on a certain day and find it down or missing. Moreover, a lot of websites want free web hosting and this puts tremendous pressure on the host’s servers and can cause significant downtime.

3. Technical support is little or nil in case of free web hosting. Many web hosting companies will not offer support for any of the free services as they are unwilling to spare the resources for which they will not get paid.

4. You may be happy with just the basic features of a web hosting package. For something more advanced, you will probably have to put in more efforts, technical knowledge and resources.

Web Hosting Technology: PHP Scripts

Most of the internet business owners have heard of PHP but only a few understand the meaning and importance of a PHP website. While starting a website, you must ensure that you are aware about the critical elements involved in creating and running it successfully. Otherwise, it will be difficult to choose the right service provider for your online business.

Today, any good web hosting package will feature the terms FTP, Perl CGI BIN, PHP, SSI, Telnet, etc. All these are instruments to create an impressive website. Either you can get it designed and upgraded yourself or hire a professional web host that can handle the various tasks on your behalf.

A reliable web hosting company will provide all these facilities to keep their reputation as a quality web host. They count on the PHP scripts as an important feature of their packages. Basically, this is a server side scripting language that can fulfill all your website requirements if backed by database like MySQL. Moreover, it meets the standards of W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative and is compatible with XHTML 1.0.

The main features of the PHP websites are listed below:

#1: Universal suitability
As a content management system, this is the best solution for both amateur websites as well as sophisticated ecommerce websites. It has customizable features and the ability to provide effective framework for the addition of new applications and functionalities through modules. If you want high quality, dynamic content for your website, using a PHP system is a good idea.

#2: Advantages for E-commerce sites
The requirements of an ecommerce website differ from that of a personal interests or informative website. a PHP website has applications like shopping cart, login, checkout and secure transaction systems. All these features make it highly suitable for making and operating ecommerce websites.

#3: Compatibility
Many web hosting companies prefer PHP web systems due to its compatibility with various operating systems, database interfaces and other modules. It can be loaded into Roxen, IIS, Apache, AOL server and can even be run as a CGI module. You can get support for a variety of database interfaces like Oracle, MySQL and MS SQL too.

#4: Easy
The main attraction of PHP is that it is a sophisticated and professional scripting system that is easy to use and effective in performance. It includes high level programming language commands like C++, high level database connectivity and simple functionality.

According to web hosting experts and industry giants like Google, RedHat and NASA, PHP is a first rate scripting language. So, it is considered a crucial part of web hosting packages by most web hosts. Whatever the purpose of your website, you must ensure the use of PHP scripts while creating and operating it. Definitely, PHP websites are more effective in insuring a rewarding online experience.

Cheap Web Hosting For Small Businesses

The Internet is not the turf of the large organizations alone. Even smaller firms and businesses can cater to a wider audience and earn more by establishing an online presence. The trick is not to go online but to do so in the most effective manner. Your time and money should be invested wisely so that it pays off in a suitable way after a certain period of time.

Making a website is not a difficult task any more. With so many web designers offering their services at very cheap prices, you can get your website designed in a very small budget. However, the website’s success is not determined by its design. Rather, it is the web hosting service which enables a website to fail or succeed in meeting user needs.

As the prices of web hosting packages fall, small businesses will be able to construct sophisticated websites as well as enjoy quality hosting support. It is essential to choose a superior quality web hosting company on whose server your website will be housed.

To begin with, you can opt for a shared web hosting plan that allows you to share server space along with hundreds of other websites. There may be restrictions on the flexibility of your website in terms of bandwidth and data transfer and even the security may not be upto mark. The cost of a shared web hosting package will be usually range from $10-$50 per month.

A better alternative will be to go for a dedicated web hosting server. However, this may be quite expensive for small companies as the monthly cost will be about $100-$200. If you want higher bandwidth and data transfer limits, email accounts, additional applications and sound security systems, this option will be a good choice. Even the response time is better for websites supported with dedicated web hosting.

However, you may face the challenge of managing a dedicated server as most web hosts are not adequately trained for it. A dedicated server allows you to add the required tools and applications according to your website requirements. Handling a dedicated server is a complicated task which may discourage many small businesses from using this type of web hosting for their website.

As the prices of dedicated web hosting declines, small businesses will be able to afford such packages and gain access to high-end tools like Microsoft Exchange, Lotus notes, group email, calendaring, etc. larger enterprises have such features within the organizations that are managed by the internal IT staff.

If you feel that your website has scope for exponential growth and business expansion over a period of time, it will be better to purchase a dedicated and affordable web hosting plan. This will allow you to have flexibility in operations as well as avoid the nuisance of shifting from a shared web host later on.

Web hosting IQ: Understanding POP3

Web hosting packages often contain many features which may not be understood, yet used, by website owners. There are many people who are unaware of the importance of different factors for the success of their online business. In this article, we will discuss one such feature called POP3.

POP3 is the short form of Post Office Protocol (version 3). It consists of mailboxes for email systems to help a user to reclaim email from the storage files on a central location i.e. the web server. A POP3 account allows you to have mailbox on a disk server provided by the web hosting company with your domain name.

This in turn enables you to receive and send email at yourname@yourdomain.com. With POP3, you can get an easy, standardized way to gain access to mailboxes and download important email messages to their own computer. If this feature is not provided by a web hosting plan, it is not worth spending your money on. You can find a good package at affordable price that includes this feature as well.

Commonly, you will find that most of the email applications use the POP protocol while some may also use the upgraded protocol IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). To setup a POP3 email account, make sure that your domain name is hosted by a web hosting company that has name servers.

The most important thing is that POP3 allows clients to retrieve email from the server through a temporary connection. It is best suited for computers without a permanent network connection and no stationary location this includes home or mobile computers that require a POP server to store the email messages until they can reclaim it.

The main features/characteristics of POP3 include the following:

• Mail retrieval is only possible. For sending email, you will need to use SMTP protocol.
• It provides support for identification of messages during disconnected usage.
• Mail delivery is handled by a web hosting mail server that is usually shared.
• Implementations are freely available with POP3 accounts.
• Email can be reclaimed from different types of client platforms.
• Client implementations are available for Macs, PCs and UNIX.
• Availability of Commercial implementations
• There is full support for the offline access model.
• There is no need for mail gateways as POP3 is a native Internet protocol.

Web Hosting Features: Pros And Cons Of POP3

A POP3 email account is an essential part of a good web hosting package. You can communicate with your clients through email for marketing, feedback and important information about their orders. This makes it imperative to be able to retrieve email messages from any network or client platform easily.
An email reader is required to send and receive email through a POP3 email account. Usually, the following applications serve as email readers.

•    Outlook Express
•    Netscape Messenger
•    Eudora
•    Juno
•    Outlook
•    AOL email
•    Pegasys

There are various advantages and shortcomings of POP3 as listed below
Pros

a) It is very easy to create new messages without being logged on the Internet. Editing of messages can be done while it is still in the “hold folder” and you also have an option for modifying the message priority and time and date of sending it.
b) Emails can be read even when you are offline. This is due to the fact that your email I stored on your computer and not in the mailbox alone.
c) You can avoid the annoying advertising and promotions while reading your emails in a POP3 account.
d) There is no need to wait for a long time while your attachments open. It is much faster due to the presence of email on your PC.
e) Usually, there is no size limit on the sent or received mail. Your hard drive determines the size of your mailbox as the emails are stored on your computer.
Cons
a) You may be targeted by email containing virus if you have JavaScript enabled in your email reader. This may allow rogue JavaScript to be embedded in the emails.
b) As all email messages are stored on the computer, there may be less hard disk space left for other important information.
c) Sometimes, email folders may become corrupted and it may be very difficult to recover valuable information.
d) There are privacy issues attached with POP3 accounts. Sometimes, your email messages can be read using other applications even if you have not disclosed your password.

Web Hosting And Credit Card Transactions

Credit cards are the most common way of making online payments. Almost every business accepts credit cards and if yours does not, it may be a potential problem. To get this facility for your website, you will need to open a credit card merchant account. Read on to know how and what is to be done for this.

A customer using a credit card usually buys more than any other payment forms. If you are a small online enterprise, you may not have realized the importance of credit cards facility but your business will need it as it grows.

Basically, a credit card transaction involves 3 steps:

#1: The customer sees the desired product, checks details regarding features and price and then clicks to go to the webpage containing the order form. There is need for an order processing software for collecting details about the client and billing. This information should be accepted by a payment gateway. So, store it accordingly.

#2: Also called the virtual terminal, the payment gateway transfers the order information to the merchant account provider. This is done in real time when the customer enters his credit card number in the computer. You will receive an email to confirm the sale as soon as the transaction is completed. This should not take more than 10 seconds per transaction.

#3: When the transaction is completed, the merchant account will receive a transmission from the payment gateway. It includes the billing information received from the customers.
When you choose a web hosting merchant account, make sure that you know about all the fees to be paid and there are no hidden costs. There may be various fees charged by the provider, such as:

• Application fees (ranging from free to $10-$25)
• Setup fees based on the services or products sold by your website (ranging from free upto $200)
• Virtual terminal fees (ranging from free to $10-$20 per month)
• Statement fees that are fixed charges to be paid every month (upto $10)
• Discount rate which is the commission earned by the merchant account provider on each sale (2-4%)

If you read the service agreement carefully, you may find a termination fee as well. This occurs in case of cancellation of merchant account within a certain time period. This period may vary from 1-2 years.

All these may seem like a lot of money to pay for enabling credit card transactions. However, the benefits of this account are diverse. You can offer secure payment options to customers, get excellent customer support, shopping carts and web payment forms. Once you have located a good web hosting merchant account provider, there will be no time to waste. Get started with your online business and maximize sales and profitability within no time!

Web Hosting Tips For Getting Your Website Online

If you want to start your website, you will need to get it designed in a suitable manner. Once you have done this, get your domain name registered independently. The next step in the establishment of an online presence is looking for a web hosting provider to get your site up and running.

Your web host will provide various features in the web hosting package along with details regarding path to directories for uploading of information, password for logging into your website account and domain name server addresses.

Each web server has a separate IP address which is linked with the domain name through a DNS server. In dedicated server hosting, your website will have a unique IP address. However, most of the websites are housed on shared servers and each website on a single server has the same IP address.

If you register the domain name independently, it will point towards the DNS servers of the chosen registrar. You will be able to get your website opened on your browser until you have an account set up with a web hosting service. There should be no time gap between the domain registration and buying of web hosting plan.

To make your website active, follow these steps….
#1: Change the DNS servers on file with your domain registrar to the ones provided by the web hosting company. This information is included in the hosting account. Otherwise, you will have to ask our web host to supply the necessary details.

#2: Once this information has been obtained, you should change the file settings to new domain addresses from the ones with your registrar. The web hosting company may do such updating automatically if the domain name is included in your web hosting package. Your website becomes accessible on the Internet within 48 hours of registration of DNS servers.

#3: The next step is uploading of content in your website. This can be done through the FTP software that allows you to transfer data files from one computer to another. The files are uploaded to a folder in the root directory of your website, from where your website files become accessible to the users on the Internet.

There are two ways of transferring files with FTP. These are:
• ASCII mode
• Binary mode
The content of your files will determine the method to be used for transfer of files. You may have to mention it manually or it may be automatically selected by your FTP software. While HTML, PHP, ASP, TXT files should be sent as ASCII, graphics and media files should be sent in binary form.

#4: You can give any name to most of the web pages in your website. However, the main page or home page should be named index.html. This will notify the web server that this file has to be displayed by default.

#5: Other than FTP, there are other ways of uploading your web pages. For example, Microsoft FrontPage is a web page creation program that can be used to upload your site too without separate FTP software.

#6: Some web hosting packages include online site builders that allow you to design your website within your web browser. These pages are automatically saved to the suitable location on the web server. Usually, these design tools are available in your control panel.
A good web hosting plan will help you in getting your website online with the minimum possible effort and shortest time. Hopefully, the above mentioned tips will make it simpler to establish an effective online presence.

How To Select A Web Hosting Provider?

Choosing the right web hosting plan for your website is not easy. There are thousands of web hosting companies offering identical or very similar packages at competitive prices. It is important to consider a few factors before you start looking for a web hosting search. There are three main considerations which should be given due emphasis:

Features
this is an important factor to be considered while selecting a web host. This includes the programming languages such as Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, Active Server Pages (ASP), etc. you must look for a web hosting service that supports Windows or , if you plan to use programming languages such as SSI, PHP, Perl, CGI, or MySQL database, UNIX/Linux operating system.

You must also consider the disk space and bandwidth requirements of your website while choosing a web hosting plan. Usually, a server space of 200-500 MB is suitable for your website. However, highly dynamic websites will require much more disk space to function properly, 500-1000 MB. If your website expects high level of web traffic, the bandwidth requirement will also be higher. You will need to find a web hosting plan that offers about 40-100 GB per month bandwidth.

Other web hosting features include email accounts, domain names, design templates, FTP accounts, web statistics software, control panel, databases, etc.

Reliability
reliability is measured by the amount of uptime offered by the web hosting provider. Choose a web hosting service that guarantees at least 99% server uptime and has sound backup infrastructure.

Technical Support
find a web hosting plan that offers excellent technical and customer support. This should have 24X7 availability and specialized staff ready to solve your problems in the shortest possible time. Before selecting a web host, test their customer support system to verify the quality of their service.

Above are the most important factors that should be analyzed for deciding the best web hosting package for your website. The experience of the web host and the reviews of current customers are also good indicators of the quality of web hosting companies. The price of a good web hosting package will start at about $10 per month. Keep your business requirements and objectives in mind while choosing a web host. Also, your website should offer high speed, easy access to customers and expand your website as per customer demands. Rather than opting for cheap or free web hosting plans, you must buy a reliable, reasonably priced package for making your online experience successful.