Cheap Web Hosting Choose The Right Company

You have carried out the hard part and thats creating the web site. The next step is to get it hosted as to allow the public find your site. So why do so many first time web host seekers fall into the trap of a bad web host company? Well there are a number of factors to consider and none bigger than the price. We all want cheap web hosting but unfortunately price is not always what you should go for.

You have to be more aware of the web hosting company that you choose. If you have a budget stick to it, if you see hosting for little or nothing and find yourself thinking how do they make money stay well away, the chances are your web site will be hosted with very little bandwidth resulting in a very slow accessible and unprofessional web site. You may also find that the customer service is little or none.

You need to clearly outline your own requirements to the web hosting company, if you do not do so you are at fault and not in any position to point the finger at others. If you make a list of requirements such as particular files you need etc you can send your requirements to multiple hosting companies and see who comes back with the greater service.

If you have more than one web site to host such as affiliate marketers it is not a good idea to put all your sites with the one web host company server to start with, you need to be 100% confident with the service, so start with one web site first as a test. Remember if you do host all your websites with one host company, all it takes is one problem to bring all your sites down and could result in lose of revenue for you. At least if you have some web sites hosted by another company they will still be online.

Some web host companies offer testimonials on their own web site from valued customers recommending them. Seeing is not believing, call these customers and get a face value recommendation for yourself.

What if I have problems?

Lets be honest, problems can occur and they maybe your fault and sometimes the web host company is to blame. Problems with technology can occur any time but its how the hosting company react to the fault that will determine if you stay with them or not. If you find your web site dropping off line or downloading slowly at a regular basis simply change to another web host company. On going problems not fixed is a very bad sign and it shows arrogance towards their customers. Support is vital from a web host company and it should be 24 hour if its a large organisation.

Virus Problems and Hackers

It is up to the web host company to ensure that your files are protected from virus and hackers at all times. There has been plenty of companies who have had their web sites hacked only then to find out that the web host company had not got the latest patches and security software applied. First timers to web hosting should always ask how often updates and what software is used to protect web sites.

Tips:

In business your web site can be a large source of revenue or sometimes your only source. Always do your own backup of the web site. If the web host company experience problems and for whatever reason has no backups available your whole business could be on hold. Backups are vital so do it as regular as possible or face the consequences. Some companies have testimonials on their web site from customers, do not be afraid to call these guys for an up to date reference.

If you where taking on an employee you would check all references, this is similar. Always get the full contact details of the web hosting company, many people simple go online and have an email address only as the contact. If their email goes down and you need to contact them you should have their full details at hand. Always shop around for the different web hosting plans and compare, you will find large differences, after you settle with a budget ask the necessary questions before you sign up.

About The Author

Declan Tobin is a successful freelance writer providing advice to consumers on purchasing a variety of Affordable Web Hosting and Cheap web hosting, and more! His numerous articles provide a wonderfully researched resource of interesting and relevant information. http://www.no1-in-web-hosting.com .

Learn How To Chose The Right Hosting Service

The web hosting service that is right for you

Whether you are starting a web site for your business or just for a hobby. Maybe it’s just temporary as you are planning an event such as a wedding you’ll need a web hosting service.

There is a lot of hosting services available so it’s not always easy to know which one to choose. Depending on what your web site is for some of the following factors could help you chose.

If you are setting up a web site to start a large business you want to consider some things before you chose the right hosting service. You’ll want to find a hosting service that provides lots of web space. Check to see the amount of disk space is offered. Also you would want a hosting service that provides you with multiple email accounts especially if your web site is not a one-man operation. You want to find a hosting service with these options available at a competitive price. If your web site is just for a hobby or event then pay per click option might be right for you. Especially if you are not expecting a lot heavy traffic. This could save you money. That could be very important in the beginning especially when you are investing your own time and money.

Another thing you might want to know about a hosting service is how easy that it is for you to build your own web site. If you don’t know or understand HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) you might want to find a hosting service that offers easier ways to create your web site.

A web site can be a very profitable way to run your business. However if you are just starting out and not sure how business is going to go you might want to find a very low price service to start with. After you are sure your business is running smoothly you can upgrade later if you chose a web hosting service what that option. As your website grows so will your need for space. Another important thing when choosing the right hosting service is how much it can help promote your site. Promotion is very important when you are trying to create heavy traffic to your web site and keep it that way.

Type in web hosting or hosting in your search bar to check out the different hosting services to choose from. Remember it’s your money you are investing to starting your website. So find out all you can about the different services available before you choose which hosting service is ideal for you. It’s also best to try and find a hosting service that offers 24-hour support. Especially if your website depends on every hour that it is running smoothly.

About the Author:

Robert Michael is a writer for BDN Hosting which is an excellent place to find hosting links, resources and articles. For more information go to: http://http://bdnhosting.com

How To Choose A Reliable Web Hosting Company : A Tip For Newbies

Beware of sacrificing quality to obtain a low price. There is a danger you might get just what you paid for.

Reliable web hosting is vital for anyone attempting to earn money with a business website.

Choosing a host for your website is not easy when you are an Internet newbie and don’t really know bandwidth from Band-Aid. What selection criteria do you use? If you are a total newbie, about the only thing you will know how to compare is price but if you do a search for web hosting you will have ads coming at you for all prices from $10 per year to $25 per month. Should you go for the most expensive on the basis that you get what you pay for or should you go for the cheapest because saving money is a priority while you are getting your business running?The first thing to rule out is free web hosting. There are many great free resources to be found on the Internet including excellent anti-virus and anti-spy ware software. Free hosting is fine if you have a hobby website but, if you are running a business online and wish to achieve credibility with visitors and search engines, free web hosting won’t do the job.

I discovered the hard way that cheap web hosting is not necessarily the bargain it might seem. When I started looking for hosting for a new website, I already had top class hosting that had come with my first website. There was an option to add on further domains for an extra $5 per month. That was cheap enough but I thought it would be a good idea to have my new website hosted completely separately (you know, the old eggs in one basket caution).

When I started checking around, there seemed to be millions of web hosts all offering what (to my untrained eye) seemed to be the same thing but at wildly varying prices, so I settled on a cheap hosting package. The cost was ?1 per month (which was about $1.70 in those days) and I certainly got what I paid for!At first everything was fine: I paid up, they hosted my website. The trouble is, you don’t realise you have bought rubbish hosting until things start to go wrong.

The first sign that all was not well came a few months later when I was unable to locate my website. I raised a support ticket and waited. Four days later came the reply “everything seems ok now”. Four days of downtime without a sensible word from support made me feel more than a little uneasy.

Things seemed fine for a while after that but then another problem arose: when I tried to log into my control panel all I got was a message telling me the licence fee had not been paid. This time the reply to my support ticket was quicker, it only took two days. Unfortunately, however, it was completely unhelpful. The reply was “It seems to be a site-wide issue”. Was I supposed to feel better because the whole site was messed up and not just my bit? They must have got round to paying the licence fee because after a few more days, login was available again.

After that, I wanted to move to a new host but I had never moved a website before and assumed it would be really difficult and technically challenging (actually it is extremely simple). As a result of this fear my website remained where it was.

The crunch came when my domain name came up for renewal. In response to an email from the hosting company, I visited their website to make the required payment. Their PayPal link and credit card options did not work and there were several error messages showing on the pages I visited.

Emails to their support and billing departments went unanswered. My only means of arranging payment was via their website, so I kept trying. Each time I visited, there were more error messages, nothing worked and it began to look as if the site was actually melting bit by bit. It seemed the company had just packed up and left their website to self destruct.

Enquiries revealed that the only way I could renew my domain name ownership was through the hosting company because they had registered it on my behalf and they retained control of it. As they could not be contacted, there were only two options available. The first was to pay an agent a pretty hefty (and non-refundable) fee to try to contact the hosting company and negotiate the purchase the domain name from them. The second option was to lose the domain.

When you have to choose web hosting, the first thing to look for is quality of support. To keep prices low, the easiest way for the company to economise is to provide sub-standard support. Forget the offers of unlimited bandwidth, hundreds of email accounts, spam filters and other freebies. If support is non-existent , give the company a miss no matter how good their other terms might seem.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You will find ideas about how to earn money working from home and useful home business resources at Elaine Currie’s Work At Home Directory For more articles about online writing visit Writing Tips

Choosing A Web Hosting Provider

This article has been written with reference to Shared Web Hosting. Shared Web Hosting is suitable for anyone looking for an economical Web Hosting solution with total Web Space Requirement not exceeding 2 GB.

Decide your Requirements before You Choose Anything

Before choosing which hosting plan you want, decide what software you want to use first. It should not be that you buy a hosting account with a web hosting company, and then start looking around for software that does what you desire. When you eventually find what looks like the perfect software, it turns out that the software is not compatible with the web hosting account. Most often, in a Shared Hosting environment, any kind of customization is not possible.

To cut a long story short, decide upon your requirements before you actually start zeroing in on a Web Hosting Provider.

What you Need

If you are just starting out with your online Web Presence, you do not need to start off with a fancy Hosting Account. You can start off with a Basic Hosting account and upgrade as and when your requirements increase.

Implementing an E-Commerce site requires web-hosting services, which are somewhat different from the plain vanilla hosting services. Issues like SSL set up and Payment Gateway Integration need to be resolved. Your web-hosting company can usually take care of these 2 matters. However what needs to be taken care of is compatibility between what the Web Hosting Company is offering and what are your requirements. Take the example of Payment Gateway Integration. You might have decided to buy Payment Gateway services from one service provider whereas the Web Hosting provider would be in a position to provide Payment Gateway Integration for another service provider.

The Bare Minimums

A few of the givens with any good web hosting company are Unlimited FTP Access, 24*7 Web Support, and Uptime guarantee, Money Back Guarantee in case of non-satisfaction. Some of the other expected features are No Set Up Fee, Web mail with email, Web Based Site Admin, Email Forwarding, Unlimited Email Aliases, Email Auto Responders, server anti Virus Protection, etc.

Deciding Criteria

In terms of short listing a web hosting provider, look at the past record of the web hosting provider, number of years in web hosting business for the service provider, type of clients they have, their SLA, location of Data center and technical specifications of the hosting servers that are being offered for your shared hosting.

If the service to be signed up for includes some advanced features like Tomcat support, look for compatibility between your applications and the hosting features offered by the Hosting provider. Look at the Control Panel offered by the Web Hosting Provider and what exactly is offered in that Control Panel.

While deciding upon which Web Hosting Provider to go for, pay the utmost attention to your requirements and Compatibility between your requirements and what the web hosting service provider offers.

About the Author: The author works with http://www.winwinhosting.com , a site dealing with Shared Hosting Services and Solutions, Anti Spam Solutions and Email Hosting Services. Win Win Hosting offers Affordable and Reliable Shared Web Hosting Services and Web Hosting Solutions.

Website Hosting Tips - Ten Factors To Consider When Choosing A Website Host

In order to become successful online you really need your own website, but how do you choose which hosting plan is right for you? There are many factors that you need to be aware of before you decide which company you want to use.

Firstly, you may want to use a free hosting service for your first website but there are some major disadvantages such as disk space and data transfer restrictions, banner or pop up adverts which you have no control over, and a lack of personal support if you require any help.

With website hosting accounts now available for as little as $3 per month for 5 gigabytes disk space and 50 gigabytes data transfer there really is no need to use a free service anymore.

Here are some of the factors you need to consider before choosing a website host:

1. The amount of disk space you require. If you plan on creating a large website with hundreds or thousands of content pages and various scripts you will need a hosting plan that offers unlimited disk space so that you never have to worry about how large your websites gets. Some hosting plans offer a set amount of disk space with no ability to upgrade to get more so if you reach the limit you will need to find a new host and transfer your entire website which can be very stressful and time consuming.

2. The amount of data transfer you require. If you plan on sending a large amount of visitors to your website every month you will need a hosting plan that offers a large amount of data transfer (also known as bandwidth) so that you never have to worry about how much traffic you send to your website. If you reach the limit of your allocated monthly data transfer your website will become unavailable for the rest of the month which can result in a massive loss of profits.

3. The number of domain names you require. If you plan on creating many different websites you will need a hosting plan that offers the ability to host multiple separate domains on one account so that you don’t have to create a new account for each domain name.

4. Support for the latest versions of PHP, Perl, JavaScript, and CGI. This is essential if you intend to install various scripts on your website such as blogs, forums, article directories, etc…

5. Access to MySQL, SSL, and shopping cart. If you plan on using scripts on your website you will need to be able to create MySQL databases and if you want to collect credit card information you will need SSL for encrypted security.

6. Support for both DreamWeaver and FrontPage. Whether you use DreamWeaver or FrontPage you will need a hosting plan that offers compatibility with both in case you decide to switch and use one over the other.

7. Personalized email accounts. Its important to be able to create personalized email addresses for your domain name including mail forwarding addresses, catch all addresses, auto responder addresses, and the ability to retrieve mail with your email software.

8. Shared or dedicated server. The problem with a shared server (also known as a virtual server) is that only a small amount of disk space and data transfer is available and that many other websites will be hosted on the same server which can reduce the loading speed and availability of your website. Its far better and safer to use a dedicated server because your website will be the only one using it and you will have far more disk space and data transfer.

9. Windows or Linux server. In the past there where some major differences between Windows and Linux based servers but recent improvements have meant that these differences have now diminished to the point where you can make your choice of hosting company based on the features they offer rather than the operating system.

10. Live support. This is one of the most important factors when choosing a website host because if you ever have any problems you need to be able to instantly communicate with a professional to solve the issue. It can be very frustrating if you have to wait a few days for your help desk ticket to be answered.

This is a brief overview of what you should look out for before you decide to purchase a hosting plan. Its a good idea to plan for the long term and buy as much disk space and data transfer as you can afford to ensure that you don’t run into any problems in the future.

For affordable website hosting plans and excellent support you should consider using a company such as Host Excellence which provides all the essential features for very low prices and if you decide you want more disk space or data transfer you can always upgrade your account to a higher level: http://www.marketingoasis.com/direct/hostexcellence/

About the Author

This article was written by Simon Akers who is the editor of the Marketing Oasis newsletter, a free internet marketing ezine packed with tips to help you succeed and increase your profits: http://www.MarketingOasis.com

4 Factors In Choosing A Hosting Company Web Hosting

When poll a lacework hosting company skillful are a whole-hog covey of contrastive factors that should pursuit regard your verdict making process. One of the biggest factors should be:1) Phone support. Email sustain is nice, but email occasionally deluge in between the virtual cracks. Getting someone on the phone when your venue goes left can share a congregation of question out of the unabbreviated process. A cartel of the preferable web hosting companies offer toll free support and weekend hours to boot. Phone support is a great benefit for any web hosting client.

2) Another aspect to perk in deciding whether to gravy train a fixed lacework hosting corporation is their history. How decided has this matter been in business? Web hosting companies that have been in patience for less than a year knack not be the best choice. A hosting company with a proven track record and a ton of happy clients is certainly a good sign and might work well for you.

3) How about the company’s software? This varies widely between lacework hosting companies. I am quite familiar of Cpanel merely due to I am used to it, presume where the buttons are and what the drift do. It’s indeed easier to baton with exceptional you feel certain than switching to a new User Interface. Some web hosts offer Frontpage features and others don’t. Another specific area you might want to research are the statistics programs. What sort of web statistics software is included with your web hosting account? Is Awstats included? This is one area you definitely want to heavily research before signing up.

4) Fees. I’d reasonably finances a smooth supplementary to execute all the make-up than altercation it out with a sub par lacework hosting establishment who I can’t get if my site goes down. I’ve found decent web hosting for as cheap as $4 per month but generally pay around $15 per month if I want all the bells and whistles that I’ll need to host a larger site. A lot of people worry about hosting fees, but I’ve had the experience that I generally get what I pay for. Finally, I’d look carefully at the web hosting company’s refund policy. Most offer a full refund if you aren’t happy with your service. If you are paying for a full year of web hosting up front, you might want to examine the company’s refund policy in detail.

You may mimic this recital on your website. We would be grateful a clasp siphon to our joint which has Vioxx articles and unique injury resources. This saga may not be contrasting and links should be kept live. Thanks.

About the Author:

The author writes about a number of different topics. For more information on web hosting visit http://www.discounthostreview.info and also visit the article pages: http://www.discounthostreview.info/Articles Directory.html By NeoOne

How To Choose The Web Hosting Provider?

1. Does the company offer telephone support or 24/7 email support?

24/7 Email support is always nice to have available, they can reply you within 1-2 hours. And you can talking your problem with customers service in telephone support.

2. What sort of history does the company have? How long has this company been in business?

Please read their company profile from their web page. How long has this company been in business? How many user of this company? A lot of the larger hosting businesses will post customer testimonials on their site to reinforce the message.

3. What software does the company offer?

Control Panel - Including statistics, webmail, adding email account, file manager, Database management,etc.

Free Scripts Provided - Some web hosting provides free scripts to users. User can install the scripts through control panel.

Major Free Scripts - Oscommerce, Phpnuke, Phpbb, Moodle, Phpwebsite, Xoops,etc.

4. Fees.

Please check their service plan carefully before signing up. I think that you can find more than one web hosting to compare their packages.

I suggest that you need read their “terms and conditions” and redund conditions.

5. Marketing Service

Some web hosting provides search engine submission to their customers. And they can provide paid per click service to their customer.

Article By Top 5 Web hosting Review - http://pickto.net

Copyright Paula - http://www.pickto.net

Buyer Beware: Web Hosting, Registration, and Site Building “All in One” Package Nightmares

Starting out in any type of online marketing or Internet business can be confusing and overwhelming. There are so many different aspects of a start-up: domain name registration and purchase, Web site host purchasing, and of course, the “building” of the Web site itself. This leaves many consumers looking for an easier way to purchase everything in one place, both to save money and to save time.

This has led to the rise of “total packages” by many hosting and Internet development companies, where everything is included: domain-name registration, software for design of a site or an online method of building a site, professional design of the site, and of course, the hosting. This is quite popular as it whittles down the process of getting a site up and running for many new to the Internet and online marketing.

However, with the convenience of Web-hosting packages of this sort, there also can be inconveniences. No road is paved “with gold” and this type of registration, hosting and design package deal is no exception. There can be problems that surface later on when purchasing a Web design and hosting package that also includes registration. These problems usually present themselves in the following forms:

1. Once a Web site becomes popular, the hosting charges may rise exorbitantly, as the “special” that was presented initially can become inapplicable once a certain amount of traffic or the size of the site changes. This is more of a problem for larger business sites than for smaller business sites or “personal” or “theme” sites.

2. Some “specials” only exist for a limited amount of time, and the charges can rise steadily after that period.

3. A Web site owner may have different needs as time goes on, and the “package” no longer suits the needs of the owner. This can include the inability to change the pages on one’s own, or the inability to effectively track traffic, as some come with traffic statistics packages.

4. Downtime (when a site is down and can’t be viewed) can be significant enough to warrant a change of hosts or domain name registrars.

5. A Web site, registration, and web hosting package company may go out of business, leaving a client with no way to contact them, and three services to quickly replace. This also leaves a site open to loss of the registered domain name, as well as loss of revenues while the site is “down”.

6. A contract may exist which states that the “special” prices are only offered contingent on remaining with a certain company for a specified amount of time (which may be years).

7. The actual “name” of your site may not even be registered to “you” the perceived “owner”, but to the hosting and registrar company that initiated the purchase through the package deal. This how the Web site hosting, design and registrar packages “save” money many times for consumers, as they “buy in bulk”, registering hundreds of sites per month.

All the above seem simple enough to rectify. Simply “switch” the Web site, hosting, and domain name registrar to that of other companies.

This is the point, however, in which “trouble” can rear its ugly head. Some hosting and domain name registrars seem reluctant to “hand over” a site to any other company, as it does mean the loss of a customer and therefore, revenue, for themselves. The current hosting company and registrar may likewise delay a transfer, or refuse to provide sufficient information to a new host or registrar to effectively conclude a transfer. It becomes even more tangled, if the name of a site has been registered to them.

This is where it is possible for a “nightmare” of subterfuge regarding a site to begin. Sometimes, after numerous contacts, with no reply, a Web site owner will realize that the switching of the site has become a real battle.

Here’s an actual real life example of a friend of mine, Katheryn:

After much downtime had occurred, Katheryn wrote to the initial hosting company, and domain name registrar, stating her disappointment in the service. A rather nasty letter was received in reply, telling her that she could either “like it or lump it” and that there was not anything they could do, as a contract was in place that could not be “broken” by any means. The language of the e-mail correspondence was rude and uncalled for, and a phone number was not provided anywhere for more personal contact, neither was the name of the support person that wrote the e-mail.

The site remained down consistently, as well, over the next few weeks, forcing Katheryn to sign up for a different hosting plan with a different host, and also re-register the domain with another registrar. Luckily for Katheryn, the registration of the site was in her name, and a new name did not need to be purchased. At the time of import, however, the previous “problem” host refused to initiate a transfer, claiming that the contract remained intact, and therefore the site could not be transferred. The new hosting company had to “maneuver” the site onto it’s own servers without the cooperation of the previous company, costing the client more time and money than was necessary.

For months afterward, Katheryn was billed repeatedly by the previous hosting company for monthly hosting, even though a site no longer existed on their servers, and they were in essence hosting “air” at this point. Copies of all correspondence had to be sent to the billing service to “dismiss” this recurrent billing, which was the only option left to Katheryn at this point.

I’m sure there are many people like Katheryn who at one time or the other have gone through such ordeal.

Some possible methods of avoiding the “trap” of packages such as this:

1. Read all paperwork and contracts thoroughly. The fine print is indeed, very “fine” sometimes, for a reason, and reading everything thoroughly will save frustration and misunderstandings later.

Above all, make sure that the registration will be done in “your name”, as the loss of a popular name, with a large amount of traffic, is a HUGE loss. Or better still, register your domain name yourself. With so many online domain registrars, it’s very simple to register a domain name online. The only thing you need to do once you have bought a hosting package is change the “name servers” through the control panel provided by your domain registrar.

If at all you are not satisfied with your hosting company and would like to shift to a different company, simply change the name servers to point to the new company. That’s it!

2. Make sure there is a contact phone number and physical address for correspondence with the companies if the need should arise. As in the case of Example #1, the lack of a phone number and physical address was detrimental to effective correspondence and resolution.

3. Take the time to research different plans and different companies. If at all possible, ask to speak to some of their other clients to ensure that they are indeed sensitive to the needs of their own customers and are flexible enough to adapt to changes in a site over time.

4. Take the time to correctly ascertain your own needs and the needs of any site you’ll be building. The package needs to “fit your needs” explicitly.

5. If at all possible, use different providers for each stage of a Web site: hosting, domain-name registrar, site building. It does take longer to get a site up and running with this method, but the overall control that you will have over the site is well worth the extra effort, usually. If one provider proves to be a disappointment, it is easier to replace one service, rather than try to replace everything at once.

As you can easily see, sometimes “time saving” strategies are not really that, and can lead to heartbreak and headaches. As with everything else, “slow but steady” wins the race, and it does pay to take the time to initiate each stage of a Web site individually.

This has led to the rise of “total packages” by many hosting and Internet development companies, where everything is included: domain-name registration, software for design of a site or an online method of building a site, professional design of the site, and of course, the hosting. This is quite popular as it whittles down the process of getting a site up and running for many new to the Internet and online marketing.

However, with the convenience of Web-hosting packages of this sort, there also can be inconveniences. No road is paved “with gold” and this type of registration, hosting and design package deal is no exception. There can be problems that surface later on when purchasing a Web design and hosting package that also includes registration. These problems usually present themselves in the following forms:

1. Once a Web site becomes popular, the hosting charges may rise exorbitantly, as the “special” that was presented initially can become inapplicable once a certain amount of traffic or the size of the site changes. This is more of a problem for larger business sites than for smaller business sites or “personal” or “theme” sites.

2. Some “specials” only exist for a limited amount of time, and the charges can rise steadily after that period.

3. A Web site owner may have different needs as time goes on, and the “package” no longer suits the needs of the owner. This can include the inability to change the pages on one’s own, or the inability to effectively track traffic, as some come with traffic statistics packages.

4. Downtime (when a site is down and can’t be viewed) can be significant enough to warrant a change of hosts or domain name registrars.

5. A Web site, registration, and web hosting package company may go out of business, leaving a client with no way to contact them, and three services to quickly replace. This also leaves a site open to loss of the registered domain name, as well as loss of revenues while the site is “down”.

6. A contract may exist which states that the “special” prices are only offered contingent on remaining with a certain company for a specified amount of time (which may be years).

7. The actual “name” of your site may not even be registered to “you” the perceived “owner”, but to the hosting and registrar company that initiated the purchase through the package deal. This how the Web site hosting, design and registrar packages “save” money many times for consumers, as they “buy in bulk”, registering hundreds of sites per month.

All the above seem simple enough to rectify. Simply “switch” the Web site, hosting, and domain name registrar to that of other companies.

This is the point, however, in which “trouble” can rear its ugly head. Some hosting and domain name registrars seem reluctant to “hand over” a site to any other company, as it does mean the loss of a customer and therefore, revenue, for themselves. The current hosting company and registrar may likewise delay a transfer, or refuse to provide sufficient information to a new host or registrar to effectively conclude a transfer. It becomes even more tangled, if the name of a site has been registered to them.

This is where it is possible for a “nightmare” of subterfuge regarding a site to begin. Sometimes, after numerous contacts, with no reply, a Web site owner will realize that the switching of the site has become a real battle.

Here’s an actual real life example of a friend of mine, Katheryn:

After much downtime had occurred, Katheryn wrote to the initial hosting company, and domain name registrar, stating her disappointment in the service. A rather nasty letter was received in reply, telling her that she could either “like it or lump it” and that there was not anything they could do, as a contract was in place that could not be “broken” by any means. The language of the e-mail correspondence was rude and uncalled for, and a phone number was not provided anywhere for more personal contact, neither was the name of the support person that wrote the e-mail.

The site remained down consistently, as well, over the next few weeks, forcing Katheryn to sign up for a different hosting plan with a different host, and also re-register the domain with another registrar. Luckily for Katheryn, the registration of the site was in her name, and a new name did not need to be purchased. At the time of import, however, the previous “problem” host refused to initiate a transfer, claiming that the contract remained intact, and therefore the site could not be transferred. The new hosting company had to “maneuver” the site onto it’s own servers without the cooperation of the previous company, costing the client more time and money than was necessary.

For months afterward, Katheryn was billed repeatedly by the previous hosting company for monthly hosting, even though a site no longer existed on their servers, and they were in essence hosting “air” at this point. Copies of all correspondence had to be sent to the billing service to “dismiss” this recurrent billing, which was the only option left to Katheryn at this point.

I’m sure there are many people like Katheryn who at one time or the other have gone through such ordeal.

Some possible methods of avoiding the “trap” of packages such as this:

1. Read all paperwork and contracts thoroughly. The fine print is indeed, very “fine” sometimes, for a reason, and reading everything thoroughly will save frustration and misunderstandings later.

Above all, make sure that the registration will be done in “your name”, as the loss of a popular name, with a large amount of traffic, is a HUGE loss. Or better still, register your domain name yourself. With so many online domain registrars, it’s very simple to register a domain name online. The only thing you need to do once you have bought a hosting package is change the “name servers” through the control panel provided by your domain registrar.

If at all you are not satisfied with your hosting company and would like to shift to a different company, simply change the name servers to point to the new company. That’s it!

2. Make sure there is a contact phone number and physical address for correspondence with the companies if the need should arise. As in the case of Example #1, the lack of a phone number and physical address was detrimental to effective correspondence and resolution.

3. Take the time to research different plans and different companies. If at all possible, ask to speak to some of their other clients to ensure that they are indeed sensitive to the needs of their own customers and are flexible enough to adapt to changes in a site over time.

4. Take the time to correctly ascertain your own needs and the needs of any site you’ll be building. The package needs to “fit your needs” explicitly.

5. If at all possible, use different providers for each stage of a Web site: hosting, domain-name registrar, site building. It does take longer to get a site up and running with this method, but the overall control that you will have over the site is well worth the extra effort, usually. If one provider proves to be a disappointment, it is easier to replace one service, rather than try to replace everything at once.

As you can easily see, sometimes “time saving” strategies are not really that, and can lead to heartbreak and headaches. As with everything else, “slow but steady” wins the race, and it does pay to take the time to initiate each stage of a Web site individually.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vishal P. Rao is the editor of http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com - A website dedicated to opportunities, ideas and resources for starting a home based business. He is also the owner of the http://www.work-at-home-forum.com - an online community of folks who work at home.

How to Find Good Web Hosting

How to Find Good Web Hosting

by: Mitch Keeler

You have decided it is about time you jumped on the web hosting bandwagon. You have a website in mind you would like to create. You have a domain name ready to go. The one and only thing that you are missing is the actual web hosting space. Now there are hundreds of different web hosting companies that will promise you hundreds of different guarantees. How do you know which one is legit and which one is bogus?

Thankfully there are several online resources at your disposal which allow you to sort through the technical jargon and endless promises and allow you to get to the real “meat and potatoes” that the web hosting is really ready, willing and able to give to you. Host Compare, The Web Host Industry Review and Find My Hosting are three of the biggest resources to help you find the web host that best suits your needs.

Host Compare, www.hostcompare.net

Along with providing you a directory of web hosting companies defined by different needs, Host Compare also gives you a plethora of web hosting related articles to help you learn more about the industry of web hosting. They have a wide selection of details listed about each company as well. They give you the company’s name, description, and contact details just in case you need more information about their services.

The Web Host Industry Review, www.thewhir.com

The Web Host Industry Review says that they provide, “comprehensive online resources for web hosting, VPN, domain name and e-commerce industry participants and consumers.” They have just about every aspect of the web hosting world covered from top to bottom. Along with providing you a directory of web hosting companies they also give you many other resources to learn from. Their in-depth user guide tells you in plain English what and how to look, as it relates to the web hosting business. They have a great supply of articles that are aimed at everyone from novice web developers to Internet professionals.

Find My Hosting, www.findmyhosting.com

One of the most trusted web hosting directories online today is Find My Hosting. They provide customers with comprehensive directory listings of web hosts and an almost endless amount of web hosting articles to learn from. What sets them apart from the rest of the crowd is that they allow current customers of the web hosting companies listed to review the services their web host provides. This is great for the times you find a web host who’s hype you do not believe. You can look them up on Find My Hosting and see what their actual customers have had to say about them along with viewing various charts and graphs detailing with their performance. Find My Hosting has also teamed up with Alertra to provide basic uptime statistics on every web hosting company listed.

The search in finding the perfect web hosting company is far from an easy task. Thankfully though, with the help of these directories and other online services you can have a better chance in finding the company the suits your needs.

About The Author

Mitch Keeler

http://www.hostlibrary.com/

Website Hosting 101 - Choosing The Right Website Hosting Provider

As a beginner trying to find the right web host for your website is often daunting. The jargon used by most web hosts often goes way over your head. In this article, I provide 4 lessons for anyone who wishes to learn the basics of finding a web host As a beginner trying to find the right web host for your website is often daunting. The jargon used by most web hosts often goes way over your head. In this article, I provide 4 lessons for anyone who wishes to learn the basics of finding a web host.

Lesson One: What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the essentially the placement of your website onto the Internet through a server. Once your site is on a server, anyone with Internet access can look at your website - from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.

In order to have your site hosted on the web, you need to have the following three things:

A Website - a page or set of pages that is located under the same domain name. A web page is a computer document written in a publishing language called HTML. When an Internet user types in your web address, your web server sends the content of your web page to that user.

A Domain Name - a unique text-based address used to locate a specific set of web pages. A domain name is made up of words and/or numbers plus a TLD (top level domain). The TLD for most businesses is “.com”, such as http://www.brandblast.com/; non-profit organizations use “.org”; universities and educational sites use “.edu”; and sites involved with the U.S. government use “.gov”. More TLDs are available, such as .biz, .pro, .name, .info, etc.

An Account With A Web Hosting Company - or a server of your own to host your website. A server is a computer that stores information that can be accessed through the network. Servers can also be used to store website information that can be accessed by any computer with a connection to the Internet - and a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, the two most popular web browsers.

Web hosting is, in many ways, similar to renting property. There are plenty of companies that will rent you space on their web servers. The wide range of services start from free hosting on up to buying a server for your own personal use. It’s possible to spend thousands of dollars a year on web hosting alone, though the average person or small business typically pays $10 - $50 a month, depending on how many features, web space, and data transfer they need.

Lesson Two: Do I Need a Web Host?

If you are planning to establish an internet presence, whether it be in the form of a personal homepage or a full-service e-commerce catalogue, and do not own your own personal server, you will definitely need a web host.

Finding a good web host, however, can be a rather difficult endeavor. BrandBlast’s website hosting services are a great place to start your search, our hosting plans are designed to acccomodate any website requirement and can be upgraded at any time, our plans grow with you.

Choosing a host for your website should not be taken lightly. Once committed, it becomes a real headache to move elsewhere - not to mention the damage that can be done to your business if you make the wrong choice.

This makes it very important to “get it right the first time.” Find out as much as you can about your prospective host before making any decisions, and have a clear idea of the scope of your site, and the functions you wish to have prior to searching for your host.

Doing the proper planning will help you a great deal in your selection of a host, and will save you the headache of trying to change hosts later.

Lesson Three: What type of web hosting package is suitable for me - free or shared?

FREE - Free is for fun. If you want to experiment with a site or put up a small, personal site for the fun of it.

If you fall into this category, you probably need just a small amount of web space and little bandwidth: 1 to 2 MB should be plenty for your needs; and a personal, unique domain name may not even be necessary. In fact, you can get web space FREE.

A popular provider of free space is Geocities (http://www.geocities.com/). However, because it’s free, you may find out later that there are many limitations - it all depends how far you want to go…

SHARED - Go “shared” if you are serious about doing some business or have a professional website that is much better off “standing on its own.” Or if you simply prefer your own domain name and space.

Setting up your own web server is not the best approach for an individual or a small/medium business. You can rent space for your web site from a web hosting provider at a far lower cost.

If your web site is text-based, you won’t need much web space - text takes almost no space at all! Select a provider that supports CGI and other advanced features that you think you might use in the future. Better safe than sorry! And in this category, BrandBlast offers our Bronze package for only $9.95 / month!

If you’re developing a web site for a small/medium business or organization, you should carefully evaluate the possibility of further expansion in the future. It will be a bit of a hassle if you discover later that you need a database for your web site, but your provider doesn’t offer it.

If you’re planning to sell a product (or products) online, look for a provider who can provide you with a commercial web solution such as a Merchant Account, Shopping Cart Software and a secure online payment system certificate that is compatible with their hosting platform. Choosing a large web space with a high bandwidth allowance is a good idea in this case.

Data Transfer allowance really depends on how many visitors you’re expecting and how well you promote your web site. For most sites, 3 to 5 GB should suffice, and are provided by our Platinum and Diamond plans.

With all hosting plans, there will be some features that you need and some offered that you don’t need. Be sure to focus on the essentials that are required to launch your website.

You may want all the nice extras but will you use them? It’s a good idea to choose a host that will allow you to expand and upgrade your plan as and when your website grows. If you want to start selling online, for example, an additional e-commerce option for an extra fee will be easier and quicker to implement than looking for and transferring to a new host.

BrandBlast’s plans differ only in their web space and data transfer allowance, features such as shopping carts, website builders, technical support, and much more are available as standard options on all of our hosting plans, you can upgrade or downgrade plans at any time, and manage multiple domains from one control panel. View a demo of our control panel.

Lesson Four: Evaluate their support service?

Customer support is very important - often critical. To cover yourself from the start, take some time to look around at several providers’ web sites to see what their support policies are.

Email them with a few sample questions to check the speed and quality of their responses. Nothing guarantees that they will respond at the same speed and manner if you do become a customer, but this approach is quite accurate and telling about 90% of the time.

Look at a number of providers’ web sites to see how they handle support. Many providers provide lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and support documents on their web sites.

Closing Thoughts

Selecting a provider with many years of experience is a good decision. Look at the provider’s web page for a list of its customers and check out some of their pages. Take a minute to view some of BrandBlast’s current hosting and webdesign clients.

Nowadays, the web hosting market is full of resellers. Even well-known providers can be resellers of a large web hosting provider or wholesaler services. Sometimes, they are resellers of resellers. Choosing a reseller provider is not always a bad idea. The reseller may provide you with faster technical support service. They usually offer other services too, such as web design or web maintenance.

To investigate the reliability of providers, we recommend you check the contents of their web sites. Experienced providers should have a large web site containing several pages of services and support documents, plus their phone and fax numbers, as well as their physical address.

You have gained valuable knowledge in this quick lesson, we at BrandBlast wish you the best in your search for a website hosting provider, and hope that you will choose to to try BrandBlast’s Website Hosting Services for 30 Days Free!

About the Author

Alessandro DeBarros is a web marketing specialist for BrandBlast, a CT based firm whose cutting edge hosting services is quickly being recognized around the world as a leader in its field. At a current base of 5,000 clients, BrandBlast specializes in small to medium business hosting, providing small businesses with the services and support they need at affordable prices.

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