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10 Things to Look for in a Web Host

By Terri Seymour in Featured

A web hosting service allows you to make your website accessible to the world wide web. You generally upload your site files via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to your host and they go “live” and become a part of the internet. There are free web hosting services for personal sites but if you have a business site, you will want to pay for a better hosting service. There are countless hosting services on the web but there are things you need to look for when shopping for a good host. Below are ten things you might want to check before choosing your host.

1. Support System – One of the most important things to look for in a host is a good customer support system. When you are having problems you don’t want to wait days for answers. Test the support system of the host before you purchase. See how friendly, helpful and fast they are. Do they have an email, support forums, phone number? They might even have a live chat option available.

2. Disk Space – You want to make sure the host offers a good amount of disk space but you want to also make sure they do not offer too much just to charge a higher price. An average business site might use about 50 MBs of space but if you offer images, ebooks or other downloadable files, you will probably need much more than that. You will need to consider what you will be offering on your site to determine how much disk space you will need.

3. Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data transfers that occur on your site. This would include visitors downloading your web pages to their computer, you uploading files to your site and any other data transfers. Again, if you offer downloadable items on your site you will need more bandwidth than the average site. As your site gains in popularity, you will be using more bandwidth. The average business site will probably not have to worry about bandwidth, but it is best to check it out thoroughly including what the penalty will be for going over the allotted bandwidth.

4. Programming Services – Websites can be built just using HTML and CSS but most sites will require additional programming languages and database capabilities such as PHP, CGI, MySQL and SSI. Be sure to check to see if your potential host is compatible with these programming languages and services.

5. FTP Access – FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an easy way to upload files faster and more efficiently then through your control panel. The easiest way to access your ftp is by using your domain as your FTP. Not all hosts have this easier FTP access.

6. User-Friendly Control Panel - Control panels can be very intimidating and frightening. Your potential host should be able to provide a demo of the control panel they provide. Check to see that it is easy to use, navigate and understand.

7. Site Builder – Web creation tools can be a big help for people building new websites or additional sites. Most hosts will provide these website building tools but always check to be sure.

8. Web Statistics Tools – You will surely want your host to have web analytics because you need to know how many visitors you are getting, when you are getting them, to where they are going, how long they are staying and more to produce a successful, efficient website. These tools are invaluable in helping you to find out how to improve your website so it can grow!

9. Email Accounts and Mailing List Feature - A good web host should offer you numerous email accounts. You might also want to check for a mailing list feature to help you build an email marketing mailing list.

10. Uptime – Another very important service a good host should provide is reliable uptime. One thing you do not need is for your site to be down more than it is up. Most sites will claim 99.9% uptime but do some research and find out if it is actually true.

Web hosting services are a dime a dozen online and sifting through them all to find a good one that provides you with everything you need can be a daunting task. See if you can get someone you know and/or trust to recommend a good host. Do a search for web host reviews and read some real experiences of people who have used the host. Find out everything you can before choosing a host because that can be one of the most important choices you make in building your website!

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Don’t be one of the 95% of people who fail at their online business. Terri Seymour can help you make money online. Find out how to increase your traffic and sales with her popular “How to Build Your Online Business” ebook for FREE at: ==> http://www.SeymourProducts.com

7 Different Levels of Web Hosting for Your Site

By Patricia Strasser in Featured

The different levels of web hosting are shared hosting, reseller hosting, cloud hosting, Virtual private server hosting, dedicated server, co-location, and self service.

As an online merchandiser, it is always vital to keep track of the growth of your online business. When your business meets higher demands, then your web hosting should be upgraded to accommodate all of it. Here’s a comparison of the different levels of web hosting you can use.

Shared hosting

With shared hosting, your site is set up on a server that is shared with other websites. This type of hosting is handy for those who are just starting or have a limited budget. Fees can be as low as $5-$-10 a month, because of the shared cost. One drawback, though, is that the cost also depends on the other shared websites. A site that has more traffic can affect your own performance.

Reseller hosting

Generally similar to shared hosting, reseller hosting has extra tools and options which assist you in reselling hosting space. Usually included in a reseller hosting package are free website templates, white label technical support, and servers under private names. This option is more costly than the shared hosting at $15-$50 per month, depending on the features.

Cloud hosting

Cloud or grid hosting is a more advanced hosting feature that allows many servers to seemingly fuse making it look like a giant single server. While the number of sites continues to grow, a new hardware can easily be added to accommodate them. The price you pay is parallel to the degree of service you are receiving. Fees for extra bandwidth and memory usage may be charged.

Virtual private server

A virtual private server, or VPS, acts like separate servers but actually shares only one server. They each have a specific program of the computing resources, though it is just sharing hardware resources. It spares your website from getting down from your hosting neighbors while at the same time evading higher costs. Prices usually range from $50-$200.

Dedicated server

You are entitled to one rental physical server from a hosting service when you have a dedicated server. This gives you full control of it. These options are much more expensive and may cost a least $100 per month.

Co-location

In this set-up, you rent a space in a date service provider. You have your own server hardware, while they provide power, internet uplink and other necessities. You are in-charge of your own software and data and are responsible for any drawbacks from your hardware.

Self-service

This is do-it-yourself set-up and is considered the best option of all. You purchase the servers and do all the configurations by yourself. Things you might need are extra bandwidth, server hardware, systems administrator, data back-up and more.

Web hosting is important. Customers always go for the website which is accessible and convenient. If your site is slow due to heavy traffic or it needs a better web server, try getting a new one, or you may lose some potential customers.

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To check for VPS hosting comparison, view this page:
http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=5440 .

Viral Marketing: The Proof is in the Pudding.

By Forrest Yingling in Featured

Many folks today do not realize just how powerful viral marketing is and how much potential it has.  Viral marketing revolves around creating an intense buzz on the Internet. It is a truly powerful concept that causes viral campaigns to spread pandemically around the Internet with a rapid intensity.  If used properly, it can be a very successful marketing technique for your business.

One thing that we can all be sure of is that viral marketing works and it works very well.  In this age of high-speed communications – when a message or video can travel around the world multiple times in a matter of minutes or even seconds – advertisers have to learn to use that to their advantage.  Viral marketing is not just for the big fish either.  A viral marketing campaign does not have to be expensive or expansive and can be utilized by businesses of any size.  The campaign need only be creative, catch the attention of its audience and spread around the Internet like wildfire thanks to people referring others to the campaign.

This referral process has become even easier nowadays with services like RSS Feeds, social bookmarking, AddThis or ShareThis, Twitter’s “retweet” function and Facebook’s “like” and “share” buttons.  You no longer even have to forward an email or send a message, a user of a social network like Facebook or Twitter can simply click on a “Share” link and send the viral marketing material to all of their friends, fans or followers.

The first component of the viral marketing process is the actual creative material itself.  Will you use a picture, article, video or text?  Something as simple as the headline of a news article can be viral on the Internet.  If you can think of a creative way to promote your products or services that will strike a chord with people and make them laugh, cry, feel inspired or any other emotion then they will want to share what they have seen, read or heard with their friends, family, co-workers, neighbors or any others in their social circle.  Then the web of content sharing has begun and it’s “gone viral.”  It is truly amazing how fast something can go viral online and spread throughout the world in a matter of minutes.

After you create the viral campaign then you must “seed” it by planting it at strategic places on the Internet.  There must be a distribution network to get your campaign to the masses so you need to figure out what online mediums will work best for spreading your marketing to the masses.  Perhaps you start with making a video, uploading it to YouTube and sharing it with your Facebook friends, your newsletter mailing list and any other contacts you might have.  Then you can use social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. for a further reach.

If you strategically and intelligently use viral marketing techniques in your e-commerce business then you should find them an effective promotional tool.  Viral marketing is a tremendous way to build a ton of links in a little amount of time.  This is great SEO practice for your business and can help you climb up the SERP (search engine results page) in o time!

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Forrest Yingling is the Marketing Director for WebNet Hosting, a Premier Partner Miva Merchant Web Host since 2004.  WebNet Hosting provides reliable, fully PCI Compliant Hosting and e-commerce solutions at the industry’s most affordable prices.

The cPanel Automated Control Panel Makes Website Management Easy

By Forrest Yingling in Featured

An abundance of webmasters and web hosts utilize cPanel to control their websites. In fact, cPanel has become recognized as the leading hosting platform control panels. Some of the features of cPanel include the generation and display of important statistics and analytics, file and database management as well as email functions.

A principle selling point for cPanel is how it turns an abundance of previously complex processes into simple point and click processes thus making life less complicated for its users. The cPanel interface is extremely user-friendly and intuitive to even novice users.

The cPanel Automated Control Panel puts the power back into the client’s hands. Clients can now perform tasks that used to only be able to be completed by the web host providing the client with a more hands-on approach in the management and maintenance of their websites.

Website owners should have no fears that cPanel will be over their heads. If any questions or problems arise there are numerous tutorials and help files available 24/7.

Some formerly tiresome tasks that cPanel simplifies include:

· Uploading and managing web pages

· Creating email accounts

· Backing up data

· Viewing detailed visitor statistics

· Creating logs to aid diagnose problems

· Installing common web applications (ie: blogs & forums)

cPanel includes top-notch security defense systems like virus protection and rootkit detection. Thanks to its monitoring and update system, users will be alerted instantaneously of any failed services or potential threats.

cPanel has established itself as the top hosting platform control panel. CPanel is recognized as the most powerful automated control panel on the market and can help take your website to the next level.

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Forrest Yingling is the Marketing Director for WebNet Hosting, Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004.  WebNet Hosting provides fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% up-time as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

Small Business: Picking The Right Web Host

By Steve Quatrani in Featured

You created an ecommerce website on your computer and you’re ready for the world to see it. There are tons of options for you to choose between. You could use a computer in your home that is dedicated to your website, but to be frank doing this can be very technical and it will definitely be time consuming and expensive.

How to Choose Reliable Hosting

By Paul Smithson in Featured

There are thousands of hosting companies to choose from so choosing the one that’s right for you can be a frustrating and time consuming task. Many webmasters go through several hosting companies before they find one that’s reliable and affordable and meets their particular needs.

Moving your sites to another hosting company can be extremely complex and time-consuming, so it’s important to try to find a good hosting company right from the start.

Top 10 Things to Look For in a Web Host

By Amy Armitage in Featured

Although this is a “top 10” list, most of the following things could easily be listed as the #1 most important consideration, so take them all seriously. It doesn’t matter if you are a large company, a small one, or just a hobbyist who wants to display photos of hand-painted electric trains. Everyone needs to consider the same things, just to different degrees.

Now, remembering that there is really no firm order to these, let us consider the top 10 things to look for in a web host:

1. Reliability (“uptime”) – Your host should be reliable, stable and fast, and should guarantee its uptime, the minimum figure for which should be 99%. A straight 99% is actually considered low these days, as 99.5% or higher is rapidly becoming the new standard. Check to see if the host provides a prorated refund if uptime falls below the stated benchmark. With how much business a company can lose any time their website is down this crucial aspect of web hosting probably does deserve to be in the #1 spot, but read on for other important info.
2. Data transfer (traffic or “bandwidth”)?– Data transfer mean the number of bytes delivered from your site to its visitors as they browse. If a web host advertises “unlimited bandwidth,” find out how much traffic the particular deal you’re considering really allows. Most new sites that are not archives, storage or “drop-send” sites normally use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. If you expect your traffic requirements to increase over time, check the host’s policy for “overages.” If there is a charge (usually per additional GB) over the allowed bandwidth, you need to determine if it’s cheaper to pay it once in a while (if it will not be ongoing) or to upgrade your service level.
3. Disk space?– Be on guard against the “unlimited disk space” deals, too, and view them with the same skepticism as you just observed being applied to data transfer. The vast majority of sites need no more than 10-20MB of web space, so don’t fall prey to enticements like 500MB, or “unlimited space.” To get an idea of relative size, a site with about 200 pages and the usual assortment of text, pictures and motion graphics will use only about 10-15 MB for all of the pages and supporting files.
4. Technical support?– Is the tech support 24/7/365? You should probably avoid a host that has no staff working weekends or holidays since things have a habit of breaking down at the worst possible times. A claim of “24/7 support” is not always true, so test the sales pitch by e-mailing or calling on a Friday night or holiday. Measure how long it takes for you to connect with a human being on the other end. In addition response time, ensure that the support personnel are technically proficient. Believe it or not, some tech support personnel are converted sales people “learning on the job,” which is not the kind of help you need in an emergency that threatens your business.
5. Technical features (FTP, PHP, CGI-BIN access, SSI, etc.) –?What once were luxuries are now necessities. Fact is, you simply must have all of these. There are many commercial hosts that require getting their approval to install PHP or CGI scripts, which means that you cannot implement a feature on your site when you so desire. You need these functions if you want to customize error pages, maintain databases, set up additional security measures and so forth. Make sure you have full access to these tools, and find out about any restrictions on their use.
6. Server type?– The operating system and server can be very important, and there are good, practical reasons for choosing one server over another. If you intend to take advantage of ASP, for example, it is available only on a Windows NT/2000/XP server. However, it is often cheaper to go with a Unix system running the Apache server software, which is stable and dependable. Another advantage of Unix-based hosts –using Linux, FreeBSD, etc. – is that an Apache web server lets you create and manage error pages, block IP addresses, stop email harvesters and more, without needing your host to install or approve a thing. Finally, if you plan to do some e-commerce on your site, find out if you get SSL (Secure Socket Layer), MySQL and a shopping cart. At the very least, you will need SSL if you plan to get credit card information from your customers over the Internet.
7. Email services – You have your own domain now, so you probably want e-mail addresses with the domain name. Although the vast majority of plans include e-mail services, find out about the quality and level of auto-responders, mail forwarding? and list management. Ensure that you also have web access to your mail (“webmail”) and investigate the spam tools that are provided.
8. Control panel?– It may be called this, it may be called your “Net Tool Kit,” but all hosts give you a set of utilities to manage the particulars of your web account, and a web page from which to do it, too. You need to be able to manage your e-mail, change passwords, block spammers and so on. These are all standard maintenance chores for webmasters and if you have to wait on your host’s tech support to take care of things, you will lose important control over your business.
9. Price and payment plans –?Naturally, price is always a consideration, but remember that the most expensive hosts are not necessarily the best. Factor in price, and be wary of great price differentials on similar plans. Most web hosts offer annual or even quarterly payment plans that discount the monthly rate, but if you are using a new or less-well-known host, you should consider paying monthly until you establish their reliability. When you are satisfied with the host, you can change your payment plan and grab that discount.
10. Reviews – What do others say about the hosts? Use Google to track down both complaints and congratulations, and consider the source of each comment.

There’s a lot to do, but with your business possibly at stake – or at least the fate of those model train photos – you can’t be too careful. Get the information you need to make an informed decision, and weigh things carefully. You will save yourself a good deal of frustration if you do.

About The Author:
Amy Armitage of Lunarpages Web Hosting (http://www.lunarpages.com/) is a leader in affordable web hosting and dedicated server solutions.  With their great pricing, excellent web hosting affiliate program (http://www.lunarpages.com/affiliate/) and top-notch support, they are the obvious choice for your website and your online business identity.

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