An Indepth Look Into Web Hosting

If you are planning to host your own website, there will be many decisions that you will have to take. One of the most crucial decisions will be to select a web hosting solution for your website. This is a very important decision as it can influence the way your website performs. All the hard work that you put on the design of the site can go to waste if you do not choose the right web hosting solution to host your website.

With so many web hosts available in the market, it is not an easy job to select the web hosting that will best work for you. A few pointers that will help you make the right decision are listed below. Look into them and use them to find a web hosting solution that will be the best for your website.

Identify your requirements

It is important to know what the requirements of your website are. Only if you have an idea of what you need, you can look for them in the web hosting solutions. The requirements of the website will depend on the type of website and the features that the website will have. Find below a list of features that you need to look for while selecting a web hosting solution.

Site builder option
If you have availed the services of a web designing company for creating your website, you can get the list of requirements from them. If you plan to create the website after you have decided on the web hosting, it will be a good idea to opt for hosting solutions that have a site builder system in them. Site builder tools will simplify the process of creating a website and will help you in hosting the site through a few simple steps.

Control panel
Check if the web host provides you access to a control panel that will help you in managing the web space you have bought. If the web hosting solution has a control panel, you can create blogs and websites a lot easier than having to upload files using FTP.

Upload options
Identify the various upload options that are available with the web host. If the hosting solution provides you a variety of upload options it will be a good option, as it will give you flexibility while maintaining and uploading your site.

Security features
Identify the various security features the web-hosting package has to offer. If you are planning for a e-commerce website, a lot of importance has to be given to security features.

Customer service
It is always ideal to select a web-hosting company that has good customer support. The support extended by the web host is not limited only to email or phone support. FAQs and that help members in managing their web space has to be present.

Scripts and databases
Websites require various types of web components, scripts and databases to work. Select a web hosting company that will give you all scripts, web components and database support that is required by your website.

Windows or Linux server
Websites are designed to be hosted in either windows server or a Linux server. Always opt for the server type that is required by the website to make sure that all functions and features of the website perform as designed.

Types of web hosting options available

Shared Hosting Services

Shared Hosting Services or Virtual Web Hosting Services is a type of hosting service, where many people share the space on a server. The number of websites that are hosted in a physical server depends on the configuration of the server. Some physical servers cater to more than thousand websites. This however raises the question on performance. Such shared hosting services are highly equipped to handle reasonable loads, but when overloaded, the performance of the server is an issue. Reputed Web Hosting companies will constantly review the load and performance of the server and act accordingly by adding more servers if necessary. Shared hosting services are cheaper, but the server response time will be on the slower side.

Dedicated Hosting Services

Dedicated Hosting Companies are the opposite of shared hosting companies. They assign a dedicated web server for just one customer. This ensures better performance when compared to shared hosting service. A customer will rent out the web server for a specific period and will have a variety of options of the web server. In a dedicated web server, the customer has the option of hosting more than one website. The customer will have greater control over the web server. Bandwidth and space provided will be much higher in dedicated hosting plans. This gives you the option of hosting a high traffic website. Websites that contain extremely confidential data will generally opt for a dedicated hosting service.

Co-location Hosting Service

Unlike dedicated hosting service, in co-hosting service the customer owns the web server. This gives the customer even more control over the web server. The web server will be housed in any of the secure data centers of Web Hosting Companies. This hosting service ensures that the customer will have full control over his web server. The web hosting company will provide 24×7 monitoring of the server to ensure 99.9% uptime. The secure data centre will provide the customer with prompt maintenance. This will ensure maximum uptime of websites hosted in the server. Co-location hosting services are the most expensive of the hosting solutions that are available, but are considered the best option for highly secure websites.

Reseller Hosting Services

Reseller Hosting services are considered to be the cheapest of the Hosting Services and is becoming a hot favorite for small and personal websites. The web hosting company will offer its web storage space to a reseller at a lower price, who in turn then resells the storage space to his customers. Website designers, website consultants and system integration companies are usually the resellers. Price of such hosting services is quite low and with that comes the issue of service. Since a lot more people are involved in the hosting, it takes time to resolve any issues and hence reseller-hosting services are best suited for personal websites or blogs. Reseller Hosting Services is not an option for business websites that need prompt backend service. Cheapest of all hosting services, it is a good option for someone trying to find a personal space online.

How to Choose a Web Host – Web Hosting Guide

Choosing the right Web Host matters

Whether you’re putting up a personal website or a commercial one, you should choose your web hosting provider wisely. The reason is that you will most definitely want your website to be seen by the largest number of people. To do that it is essential to take a little time to go over certain basic but very important factors that will ensure more visibility for your site.

Points to consider when choosing web hosting

There are so many web hosting providers and packages on offer today. Each one of them have their own unique advantages and weaknesses. So how would one decide which one to choose?

Even after you zone in on a particular provider, you still need to choose the hosting package that will suit you. Every web hosting site offer many different types of packages to choose from. The most popular type is the ‘Unlimited Bandwidth’ package.

The following points should make your task of choosing web hosting simpler for you.

1. Server Uptime & Customer Support:

The most basic thing for a website to be found on the internet depends on whether the server where the files are stored is online i.e. up and running at any given time. This is called Server Uptime.You will find that most of the web hosting providers will claim a 99.99% server uptime. Some even claimed 100%.

If you have time, search for comments by users of the provider on internet forums or elsewhere online. Or go for the larger more established hosting companies who have built a trusted reputation. Most good hosting companies have multiple server data and power backups. A few also promised 100% and they do that by guaranteeing refund of fees in the eventuality that any downtime might happen.

Another very important feature of a good web hosting is Customer Support. They should provide customers with 24/7 phone and internet support. They should have a good collection of tutorials and FAQs readily on their site in case you might need help. Make no mistake, you will contact your hosting support more often than you think, especially if you are serious about your website.

2. Pricing & included features

The range of pricing and features included in web hosting packages are pretty wide. You will want a fair balance of features and quality that will suit your needs. As with any other product, cheap usually gets less quality. On the other hand some pricing can be exorbitant without any special value.

The prices of hosting packages are usually dependent on the set of features included. These includes data storage and bandwidth limits, number of allowed addon domains and subdomains, number of email and ftp accounts hosted, shared or virtual or dedicated server plans, programming languages and databases, site tools, shopping cart etc, and the list goes on. One can be easily confused with these numerous choices more so if you are not familiar with them. Don’t worry, we will cover the essential ones in the next paras.

Pricing for a fair value shared hosting packages usually starts around 6-8 US$ per month. Virtual Private/Dedicated Server around US$ 30-50 pm and Dedicated Servers at US$ 60-80 pm.

Pricing tip: If you have not acquired a domain name or want to add another, then some packages include free domain with hosting. They can be a good bargain.

3. Data Storage and Bandwidth limits

If you are new to putting up websites, you might have very little idea about how much data storage space and bandwidth your site will need. First off, don’t worry too much about this. Even the most professional people will tell you that themselves. Because your needs will grow as the number of visitors to your website increases, you will know all about it as you go along.

Data Storage Space: Unless you intend to host lots of video/movie clips or a gigantic amount of big resolution pictures, most hosting packages will do. Normal websites rarely occupy beyond 40-50 MB (megabytes of storage space). The basic shared hosting package for the top registrar costing $4.99 pm includes 10 GB(1000 MB) of storage space.

Bandwidth Limits: Bandwidth limit is the amount of data transfers your hosting permits per month. This depends on how much visitors your site has and the type of files you serve i.e. basic web pages, pictures or video clips etc. Here too, not that much to worry about for normal websites. Most hosting providers will offer “Unlimited Bandwidth” even on their value shared hosting packages.

One word of caution though for those intending to host video/movie clips or high resolution pictures. Do not be fooled by Unlimited Bandwidth Shared Hosting packages. If you go through the “Terms of Use” and “Common Usage Policy” for most shared hosting packages, they will undoubtedly have a section where it says that you are not permitted or will be charged extra for “abnormally high data bandwidth usage”. Advice is you will probably be better off choosing VPS or dedicated server or Cloud hosting or high bandwidth packages.

4. Shared Hosting vs Virtual Private Server vs Dedicated Server vs Cloud Hosting

How to choose between these types of hosting? Putting it simply, you should choose by how busy or popular you think your site will be viz Shared – VPS – Dedicated – Cloud, in that order.

Shared Hosting: Majority of websites on the internet are on Shared hosting. It is good for personal and small websites. They are the most economical of hosting packages. In shared hosting, a number of hosting accounts usually 10-100 are hosted on a single physical server. They share the same server storage and broadband connection.

Shared hosting is particularly recommended for starters and small to medium personal and commercial websites that do not host picture/movie/video downloads.They can cost between $5-$15 per month.

Virtual Private Servers: This type of hosting is usually used by medium websites with medium storage and bandwidth requirements. Virtual Private Servers are hosted on unique ip addresses (eg. 192.170.1.8) and are virtually like a dedicated physical stand-alone server, but with less cost than a physical dedicated server. The way it works is that multiple accounts say 3-10 are hosted on a single physical server, each accounts having it’s own unique host id or ip address, data storage and bandwidth separated from each other by software.

VPS hosting can cost between $30 to $150 per month depending on the features for a 1 year contract. Note: All hosting packages price decrease as you increase the number of years of contract.

Dedicated Server: They are usually used by the medium to big websites who need storage and bandwidth scalable to their requirements. They are hosted on separate physical servers. In other words they have a server rented out to them. They have full control over the server with its own unique address, hard disk, ram and bandwidth.

The price of renting a dedicated server depends on the physical components of the server, the hard disk capacity, the processor version, the amount of ram and the broadband connection. Prices can vary between $65 to $200 and beyond per month.

Cloud Hosting: A relatively new thing in the world of web hosting, Cloud hosting is the next generation type of hosting. Instead of having one physical server, cloud hosting uses several servers located in different locations connected to each other.

The main advantages of cloud hosting is the scalability factor and cost efficiency. For big websites there is big benefits. As a website grows larger than its current capability, all they need to do is add another server to join the networked group of servers.

Top 10 Web Hosting Trends

If you’re just starting out in the world of the Internet and the world-wide-web, welcome to the fastest growing, most competitive and most exciting marketplace in the history of buying and selling. By definition, web hosting is a type of service that gives individuals and organizations the opportunity to make their own web site accessible via the world wide web. So, if you want to setup a web site on the Internet, you will need a web host. But after a quick search in Google, you will see that making the choice as to which type of web hosting you will need for your web site is no easy task.

Spend a little time searching the web and you’ll find a gazillion web hosting providers, review sites, data centers, collocation facilities, and even a company that offers domain name registration by a hunter of African elephants. They make it sound easy to build a profitable web business, but wake-up-call time: building a profitable, web-based business takes hard work, long hours and, most importantly, careful planning and selection of the right vendors. Sure, your neighbor brags about the dough she’s raking in on her maintenance-free web site, or your brother-in-law just bought a fancy car on his PPC earnings. People do earn money on the web, but it isn’t luck or good karma. It’s planning for success and if you’re just starting to think about taking the digital dive in to the world of the Internet, consider these questions and, oh yeah, develop the answers before you spend a penny on your vision.

Top 10 Web Hosting Trends:

Green web hosting – Green or Eco-friendly web site hosting is a contemporary addition to the field that involves a given provider attempting to prove that they do not have negative impacts on the environment. Many webmasters are moving their web sites to a green web hosting provider not only to reduce their carbon footprint, but also to prove to their visitors that their company values the environment and is respectful to it.

Cloud hosting – Cloud computing provides on-demand resources via a computer network and offers computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. Parallels to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to provide the service.

VPS hosting – VPS hosting or Virtual Private Server hosting refers to a virtual machine for use exclusively by an individual customer of the service. A virtual machine is a completely independent and isolated operating system installation within a normal operating system. VPS hosting allows customers who need a dedicated machine and root access but are not yet ready to pay the large investment required for a dedicated machine.

Carbon neutral hosting – Carbon neutral hosting refers to a service that has a net zero carbon footprint and allows webmasters the opportunity to achieve net zero carbon emissions resulting from the hosting of their online pages.

Wind powered hosting – Wind powered web hosting refers to web hosting services that use wind energy from wind turbines, for example, converted into electricity.

Solar powered web hosting – Solar powered refers to web hosting that is powered by radiant light and heat from the sun as opposed to traditional electricity.

Joomla hosting – Joomla is an increasingly popular open-source content management system for publishing content on the world wide web. Joomla easily integrates with themes and extensions that are available from third-party sources that make designing and developing a sophisticated yet aesthetically pleasing web site simple. There are numerous commercial extensions available from the official Joomla! Extension Directory and quite a bit more available from other sources. Many providers offer the installation of Joomla on their accounts for no additional charge, but be fore-warned that not many provider have adequate experience needed in order to provide support to clients who are developing their site with Joomla.

WordPress hosting – WordPress is an open-source blogging tool that is used by nearly thirteen percent of all web sites on the Internet. It is an easy to learn and use tool that makes setting up a web site simple due to its plug-in architecture and template system.

Drupal hosting – Drupal is an open-source content management system that provides web developers the tools needed to customize Drupal’s behavior and appearance. Drupal offers a futuristic programming interface for developers, and no programming skills are required for basic web site installation and administration, but it is more complex than Joomla and WordPress. Drupal powers nearly two percent of all web sites on the Internet. Drupal offers modules, themes, and associated configuration settings that prepare Drupal for custom operation for sophisticated web developers.

Reseller hosting – Reseller hosting refers to a provider that has purchased services with the intention of reselling them. Because of the multitude of resellers in the web hosting industry, it has become more difficult to differentiate a reseller from a web hosting provider that has their own dedicated servers. Reseller hosting has become increasingly popular as a means to generate income for web design firms.
Choosing a new web host for a redesign project

Many companies are re-designing their web site to remain competitive, to simplify the navigation and provide visitors with a more user-friendly experience. By redesigning a web site, companies have the opportunity to remain more competitive and stay current with new technology. And by offering a better web site – voila – simpler navigation, simpler search for a specific item may lead to increased sales or leads. Yep, even the most successful sites are constantly revising their look, the organization and the ease-of-use for site visitors.

Web site redesign tips

Your web site navigation should be simple, straightforward and 100% functional. Labels should be clearly understood by any site visitor. Assume no knowledge on the part of the people who visit your on-line business site. They may not have any knowledge of your business and you have only a few seconds to engage a visitor and create interest in your brand before the visitor can hit the back button and exit your site.

When designing your site, place yourself in the position of the first-time visitor and configure your site for that prospect. Hey, if it worked for Jeff Bezos (Amazon’s founder)…it should work for you.

Choosing a web hosting provider

When making this important decision, ask a lot of questions of your web host or prospective provider. Do you employ Energy Star equipment? Do you use power from carbon-neutral sources? How is the office powered? How are the servers cooled? How is old, outdated equipment disposed of? If you don’t like the answers you get, you won’t like working with that web host.

Further, a truly contemporary hosting service wants YOUR site visitors to recognize your commitment to a cleaner planet today and in the future so most offer an emblem you can display on your web site – an emblem that proudly proclaims that your site is hosted by a green corporate culture…a corporate culture that becomes YOUR corporate culture.

Choosing Cheap Web Hosting That Meets Your Needs

There are several different web hosts on the market that range in price from expensive to cheap. You may assume that a cheap host is inferior to an expensive host, but there are actually several less expensive web hosts available that are top quality. You just have to do a little research to select the right one. So, here are a few things you should consider when selecting a cheap hosting that meets your needs.

* Time in Business- While this isn’t the biggest factor that determines the quality of a cheaper host, it can help you choose the right one. If a hosting company has been in business for several years, there’s a better chance that it is a quality company. Of course, there are new companies that are just as good, so this should not be your only consideration when selecting a hosting provider.

* Reputation- This is a very important consideration when selecting a cheap hosting company. One way to find out if a specific web hosting company has a bad reputation is to read online reviews and comments from people that have used the service you’re interested in. If there are several complaints, you should look for a company with a better reputation.

* Customer Service- The quality of customer service and technical support is another very important consideration when selecting cheap hosting sercices. You need to make sure that whatever company you choose has 24/7 support through phone and email. Many companies also offer a live chat option that’s very convenient.

* Features- Most hosting services whether cheap or expensive offer the same general features. Some of the features you should look for when selecting web hosting is unlimited bandwidth, disk space and domains. You might also want a web host that uses control panel to make setting up and managing your hosting account quick and easy.

* Guarantees- When selecting a cheaper hosting service, you should check to see if they offer any type of guarantee. Many will offer a general money back guarantee in case you’re not satisfied with their service. They also have an up-time guarantee. Most hosting services guarantee a 99.9% up-time, so your website will never be offline more than 0.1% of the time.

When searching for the best deal that will meet your site hosting needs, the features above are just a few of the things you should consider. Just make sure that you take your time when selecting the hosting package and don’t just sign up with the first company you find, since there are quite a few low quality web hosts.

Web Hosting Comparison- Why Free Isn’t Always Better……

When you look at a web hosting comparison of all of the different companies, you will see that there are some services that charge a fee for hosting services and others that are completely free. While free hosting may sound like the ideal situation, it may not be the best choice. Below, you can read a website hosting comparison of free versus paid web hosting companies, so you can decide which one is right for you.

For our hosting comparison, we’ll look at free hosting services first. With a free service, you can usually do whatever you would like to your website. However, you will not usually have your own domain. Instead, your website will be an extension of the web hosting service’s site. This can cause you to have a lot more limitations with your website rather than if you were to use a paid service.

Also with free hosting services, you will not have a guarantee of up-time. So, your site could be down a lot, and there’s not much you can do except switch services. Another problem is that most free hosting services will put banner advertisements on your site, which you can’t remove. Some people don’t mind this, but others want to have more control over anything that is posted on their website.

While these issues may not be a problem for you if you plan to have a personal website that talks about your hobbies or keeps your family updated on major life events, they can be a problem if you are trying to run a professional looking website. So, you definitely need to think about the concerns with a free service and decide if they are worth saving the monthly fee or not.

Of course, our web hosting comparison wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t look at paid web hosting services. With a paid service, you will be charged a monthly fee that can range from $4-$20, depending on the company and plan you choose. There are a wide range of companies that offer web hosting, so you’ll definitely want to do some research to find the best ones.

Unlike free web hosting, you will be able to buy your own domain name for your website when you use a paid hosting service. You will also have complete control over your website, without having to worry about advertisements being posted without your consent. Another great benefit of using a reputable paid web hosting service is that they usually guarantee their up-time, so your website will be live on the internet almost 100% of the time.

As you can see from this web hosting comparison, there are some definite risks of using free web hosting. However, if you’re only interested in a personal website and aren’t concerned about it being online all of the time, then a free service might be just fine for you. Otherwise, it’s almost always better to use a hosting company that charges a small fee for their service.

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