How To Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth

How To Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth Copyright 2002 by Herman Drost

You just received a higher than normal monthly bill on your credit card for web hosting. Your hosting company explains that you exceeded your monthly minimum for bandwidth usage and suggests reducing the size of your web site files.

What is bandwidth usage? What does bandwidth mean? How much bandwidth do you need? How can you reduce bandwidth usage?

Lets discuss each of these topics in more depth.

What is bandwidth usage? This refers to the total amount of information that has been served to your web site visitors each month. Every file on your Web Site has a specific size (e.g. 22K). Every time a visitor downloads that file, your bandwidth usage goes up by that amount.

The larger the file, the higher the bandwidth usage when it is downloaded. The more traffic to your site, the more bandwidth you will use.

What does bandwidth mean? Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. The data transfer rate is the speed with which data can be transmitted from one device to another. Data rates are often measured in megabits (million bits) or megabytes (million bytes) per second. These are usually abbreviated as Mbps and Mbps, respectively.

Bits and Bytes

8 bits = 1 byte.

1,024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (Kb). 1,024 kilobytes (Kb) = 1 megabyte (mb or meg) 1,024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (gb or gig)

How much bandwidth do I need? To determine how much bandwidth you need, estimate the file size of each web page, and then multiply it by the number of pages on your web site.

Multiply this figure by the number of the number of page views you expect per month from your site.

For example, if your web page consists of two 15Kb images and 3Kb of html, you would have 33Kb of data for that page. Now multiply this by the number of page views you expect to have per month (e.g. 100,000 per month). This would mean 3.3Gb of data needs to be transferred per month for that page.

Now recalculate this number for each page, and youll know approximately how much bandwidth your entire site requires.

How can you reduce bandwidth usage? The easy way is to reduce the size of the files on your site, particularly images and other graphics. For example, you have a large image (i.e. 200KB) on your web page that is downloaded by each visitor every time the page is requested. If you reduce this image to 20KB or remove it altogether, it will dramatically cut your bandwidth usage. It will also speed up your sites performance.

For more information on optimizing images for the Web, read my article, Preparing Images for Your Web Site, (www.isitebuild.com/imageoptimization2).

Web Sites that have MP3s to download, movies, music playing in the background and large images, will obviously have a higher bandwidth. Large web sites or sites that expect a lot of traffic, will also use a lot.

If your site has mainly html pages and small images, your bandwidth will not be that high.

Bandwidth Tools

Monitoring bandwidth

http://www.utoronto.ca/ucres/netup.htm

Web Page Checker

http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/page_size.cgi

Tuning up your Web Site http://websitegarage.netscape.com/

Bandwidth Tips

If you make changes to your site by adding more files and/or web pages, recalculate your web site file size.

Estimate how many visitors will be accessing your web pages over the next few months.

Recalculate the bandwidth usage for your site. You may need more web space and bandwidth for your site to function effectively.

Check with your web hosting company to upgrade your hosting plan.

Conclusion

Now you can avoid the shock of exceeding your monthly bandwidth usage and paying higher hosting fees. You are now ready to receive more traffic to your site and therefore make more sales. ===========================================================

Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of iSiteBuild.com Site Design and Low Cost Hosting from $30/year. (http://www.isitebuild.com)

Subscribe to the Marketing Tips newsletter for more original articles. mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. Insert Subscribe Me in the subject line.

First Web Hosting Experience

First Web Hosting Experience

by: Igor Romanoff

Well you’ve purchased a domain name created a pretty design filled it with content what now?

HOSTING.

I suppose that you know what a web hosting is, and we don’t need to repeat in once again.

Actually if you don’t know what it is, and you don’t even want to learn about it, you have a great way out:

Just type web hosting’ in Google, click I’m filling lucky’ and then simply click the big BUY’ button on a website that appears

But if you really need to find a proper web hosting company that will suit your needs use our advices below and take the one that will charge you not more than you expect.

Let’s assume that you’re ready to pay a bit for hosting services, we won’t take free hosting into consideration (it’s absolutely another story).

So here’s the small list of what you need to learn before choosing a web hosting company.

Disc Space

Everything here depends on the size of your website.

In fact the easiest way to calculate the volume of the disc space do you need is to check your website’s weight at your computer folder. But note that you’ll need some extra space, just in case.

For example, if your web site needs 100 MB of disk space, look for the plan which offers at least 150 MB of web space; this will prevent a large unexpected bill at the end of the month when high priced costs, charged by most web hosts for extra disk space usage, are added on to your bill.

Bandwidth

Try to estimate how much bandwidth (data transfer) your web site may use. And of course make sure that you get more bandwidth than your site uses.

For example, if your website uses 5GB bandwidth per month, then choose a plan, which offers at least 8 GB bandwidth per month. This again will prevent from paying more money for extra bandwidth in the end of the month.

Website Speed

This is a very important factor while considering a hosting service.

This will decide how fast your website loads when some one visits your site. You need to know that your future visitors and customers are very busy, so you need a fast server. Otherwise they won’t be sitting and waiting for the load of all your texts and graphics.

Feel free to ask your hosting provider to provide you with a list of their client’s websites to check their speed.

Mail Server

Make sure that you get enough email addresses with your own domain name. There is no need to pay an extra fee for use of a mail server as many hosts offer this service now for free, within the hosting plan.

…

Now what? That’s all for now my friend. If it’s your first hosting experience this information will be sufficient for you I suppose. Of course there’re many many other features that you’ll find out later. But as for now let’s won’t overload you with them all.

If you need to get more information about choosing web hosting or even running a web hosting company go to www.webhostingoverview.com believe me, there you’ll find everything you need.

About The Author

Igor Romanoff (Web Hosting Overview)

Email: info@webhostingoverview.com

Web Hosting Overview is a resource for everyone looking to find a website hosting company.

This article may be reprinted or published without the authors consent as long as the About and weblinks are kept intact.

The Most Important Web Hosting Tips And Tricks

The investments in a website might often involve large amounts of money, often reaching 5 figures. However, regardless if you have a highly complex website or a personal web site, there are a few things that you want to know for sure. The hosting provider should guarantee a server up-time of over 99% and you should also have a backup server in case the main server has problems - these are essential requirements for any web hosting services company. FTP and email access should also be discussed and there are a few other details that you want to be certain of before you make a commitment.

A little shopping around can pay off for you in cheap web hosting and design services, especially if you’re building a business web site. There are several web hosting services that offer all-in-one design and hosting services starting at $9.95 a month for a one page business card site to $50 a month for a 9-10 page full service catalog. Some require a commitment of 12-24 months, though they’ll only bill you the monthly fee up front, and all require that if you leave their web hosting service, the site design belongs to them. If the web hosting company is otherwise dependable, reliable and offers all the bells and whistles that you need, an all-in-one package can be a great way to get a professional design at cheap rates. You can get more tips and tricks concerning services and rates here: Business web site hosting company

As a novice who doesn’t understand all the web hosting jargon this can pose a problem. Are you an individual, small business, blog, or a big time corporation? What do you need and how do you get it. You know you are a customer and a person, not just a number on a sales receipt. I believe the hosting companies are the same. A smaller hosting company will probably treat its users with more honest integrity as well as having more flexibility in dealing with your individual situation. They can often tailor web site packages to accommodate exactly what you are looking for as well as the ability to update them quickly when your needs change. My advice is to contact a few of the smaller companies. Look for ones with good reputations or just arbitrarily email them and compare results from different places. Which one do you feel most comfortable with? Go for it; ask as many questions as you can, see how the different hosts differ in their answers. Try one; if it doesn’t work out try another, it’s really easy to move around. Don’t be afraid, you’ve got nothing to lose except the fear itself!

Find out more about web hosting here: Expert Web Hosting Advice

About the Author

None

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.

9 Steps to Successfully Switching to a New Web Hosting Company

Switching to a new web hosting company can be a difficult task, but we have provided you a list of things to do that can make your transition much smoother.

Switching to a new web hosting company can be a difficult task, but we have provided you a list of things to do that can make your transition much smoother.

1. Before you sign up for your new web hosting services, make sure that your new plan offers all of the same features that your web site is currently using. Do you have enough disk space? Does your new plan offer enough bandwidth? Is it using the same operating system (Windows or Unix)? Also make sure that your new plan supports any programming languages that you are currently using.

2. Once you have researched the company and verified that the new web hosting company will support your website, go ahead and sign up for your new web hosting plan.

3. Set up your existing e-mail accounts on your new server. Make note of the new POP3 and SMTP that you will soon need to start using.

4. Upload your website files to your new server. Since your domain name currently points to your old hosting account, you will have to use your new IP address to do this.

5. Test to make sure that your site looks good and functions properly on your new server. Most web hosting companies can provide a link to preview your site before the domain name has been transferred over.

6. Once you are satisfied that your site looks and functions OK, you can go to your registrar and change the DNS settings to point the domain to the new web hosts nameservers. You should be provided this information after signing up for your account.

7. You will see your site on the new server 24-48 hours after you modify the DNS settings. Your e-mail will also start going to your new account at this time.

8. Modify your e-mail client with your new POP3 and SMTP e-mail settings.

9. Verify that your new website is working OK. Make sure that all of the files were loaded properly and that all scripts are running fine.

You have now successfully switched to a new cheap web hosting company!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Hedden is the owner of http://www.cheap-web-hosting-central.com - Cheap Web Hosting Central is dedicated to helping you find the best web hosting services for less! Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as no changes are made and the resource box is included with a link to http://www.cheap-web-hosting-central.com .

Web Hosting Basics - Extended Validation SSL Certificates

In 2005, a group of leading certification authorities (CAs) and Internet browsers came together to establish a more rigorous and harmonized approach to online SSL security.

Known as the CA/Browser Forum, the group decided a standardized Secure Socket Layer (SSL) method was needed, to prove a website’s authenticity across all browsers, for all CAs and for all Web users. In January 2007, new Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates were at last released worldwide, and are expected to greatly enhance eCommerce and boost the confidence of online shoppers everywhere.

Wayne Thayer, Vice President of Development for GoDaddy ? a world leading SSL Web hosting provider, domain registrar and major member of the CA/Browser Forum ? told TopHosts that the aim of EV SSL is to provide a much needed, unvarying way of ensuring legitimacy online.

?There were a number of major players that felt we needed to create some sort of standard we could bring to the marketplace,? Thayer said. ?A certificate that meant the same thing no matter where you bought it from.?

Up until the launch of EV SSL, Thayer explained many differing levels of SSL certificates could be obtained, but none really going beyond WebTrust ? a seal awarded to sites that adhere to certain business standards. Many different types of SSLs, like GoDaddy’s Turbo SSL and High-Assurance SSL, for example, provide great protection and online assurance, but may not abide by the same rules and regulations of other CAs and Web hosting providers. There is simply no uniformity among them, and they don’t address growing concerns regarding phishing, a form of Internet fraud that aims to steal valuable information such as credit cards, SSNs, IDs and passwords, through fake websites.

With EV SSLs, all CAs must adhere to the same security standards when processing certificate requests, while visitors to EV SSL-secured sites can trust that the online organization has undergone the same universal authentication process.

?The EV vetting process creates a very strong tie between the organization that is named in the certificate and the actual real world organization,? Thayer said. ?? EV SSL has a number of additional steps that make it much more difficult for fraudsters to perform phishing and pretend they’re something they’re not.?

The CA/Browser forum outlines a new EV SSL vetting process, which validates elements such as, the legal existence of the site, the legal name of the entity, a registration number, right to use the domain name, along with other legal indications. To apply for an EV SSL, the business must present a letter from an attorney or an accountant. The process verifies the organization’s identity, the validity of the request and the overall legitimacy of the business.

Unlike the standard padlock icon method used for all other SSL certificates, browsers with EV support will display a green address bar and a special label, which names the website owner and the CA that issued their certificate. This visual tool is especially useful for domains considered to be a high-risk target of phishing and other fraud schemes. Banking sites, auction sites, retailers and other financial services can better communicate their legitimacy to users, allowing visitors to confirm that any online information they volunteer is safe and protected by EV.

Currently, only Internet Explorer 7 and Opera 8 browsers are EV-ready and support the new visual indicators. Mozilla and Safari are known to be committed to supporting the concept of EV, with Firefox expected to implement it in their version-3 release.

So far, Thayer says adoption of EV SSL has been slow, but exactly what was expected. Larger eCommerce sites are taking to it more quickly, as they recognize its potential for combating phishing. But it might take longer for it to take off within the smaller business community.

Currently, the standard requires companies to be incorporated to qualify for EV, which severely limits adoption by smaller entities wanting the universal assurance EV SSLs offer. Thayer explained the difficulty behind implementation of EV SSL with smaller businesses, as they don’t maintain the same official documentation corporations do.

Instead, smaller businesses identify themselves through mainly state-level and local files, making it harder to apply them to the universal EV SSL approach. But Thayer says GoDaddy and the CA/Browser forum are working to establish EV SSL security for the smaller business community, in the near future.

Yet, as IE 7 becomes more widespread and as more SSL certificates begin to expire, companies will likely consider the advantages of EV and take on the new certificates.

I think as you see Internet Explorer 7 gain more traction and as more begin to see and recognize the green address bar, we’ll see more adoption of these certificates,? Thayer said. ?It’s too early to tell right now, it’s only been a couple of months, so if most SSLs expire within a couple of years of issuance? we’ll see a majority of sites rolling over to EV by January 2009.?

George Di Falco is a Contributing Editor forhttp://www.TopHosts.Com He monitors the Web hosting industry and reports on a variety of technology related news.

How to Set Up Your Hosting in 5 Minutes Flat

Once you’ve chosen your web hosting, you’ll often find that you’re given a set of passwords and technical details, before being left to more-or-less figure it out on your own. If you haven’t started a website before, that can be a daunting experience.

Point Your Domain at Your Host

The email you received should have contained the addresses of some nameservers. Nameservers look like this: ns1.yourhost.com. If you can’t find it, take a look at the help section of your host’s website.

Once you know your host’s nameserver, go and log in at your domain name registrar’s website. They all work differently, but somewhere you should see options to configure your domain. Replace the registrar’s default nameservers with your host’s nameservers.

Try going to your domain by typing www.yourdomain.com into your web browser. If it’s working, you should see a page telling you that your configuration was successful. If it doesn’t, then you should take a break for a day or two - nameserver changes can still take a while to spread across the whole Internet.

Test Your FTP Account

The next step is to try uploading a page to your website by FTP. Before you can do that, though, you need an FTP program and a test page.

The easiest way to make a test page is to open Notepad and write “this is a test”. Save it as index.html. When it comes to the FTP program, you have a lot of choice. There’s something for everyone: some good free ones to consider are Cute FTP (cuteftp.com), Smart FTP (smartftp.com) and Bulletproof FTP (bpftp.com).

Once you’ve done that, open the FTP program and ask it to connect to your host’s FTP server. This is usually ftp.yourhost.com, although you might also now be able to access it through your own website by using ftp.yourdomain.com. Once you’re connected, you should browse through the folders looking for any existing index.html file - it’ll usually be in a folder called something like ‘public’ or ‘public_html’. Upload your own index.html over this one, and say ‘yes’ when you’re asked if you want to overwrite it.

Now, go to your website in a web browser. If everything’s worked the way it should, then you’ll see what you wrote in that file right there on your website! You can get started straightaway writing real content to replace that little bit of text - it’s always exciting when you realise that your site is out there and ready on the web right now. If you don’t see the text, on the other hand, then you might want to refer to your host’s support pages.

Set Up an Email Address

Almost all web hosts allow you to configure your account using a program called cPanel. The host your email sent you should tell you how to access it: it’ll usually be something likehttp://www.yourdomain.com:2082/cpanel . If you know the address but you can’t get to the page, you might need to disable any firewall software you have running on your computer.

If you’ve got the cPanel address right, you’ll be asked for your username and password, and then you’ll be presented with a screen full of icons. Which icons you have will depend on which features you got with your web hosting. Look for the icon called ‘email’, and then create any accounts you want there.

To check your email, you need to add an account in your email program. This shouldn’t be too much trouble: look for an option called ‘Accounts’ in your email program’s ‘Tools’ menu, and then tell it you want to add an email account. You’ll be asked for POP3 and SMTP servers (your host can provide these), as well as the email address and password you just configured in cPanel. Try sending an email to your new address from one of your other accounts, to see if it works.

Other Things to Do with cPanel

It varies from website to website exactly what you might need to do with cPanel. It makes it easy, though, to do whatever you might need to do, whether it’s adding new FTP accounts or creating databases. Don’t worry: cPanel is designed to stop you from messing anything up, so it’s fine to experiment with it a little.

About the Author

Original Source:Eclipse-Articles.com - Serving over 25,000 Articles.

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher ofEclipse Domain Services

Domain Names, Hosting, Traffic and Email Solutions.

How to Transfer Cheap Hosting Providers

There are several measures you’ll want to take in preparation for switching from one cheap hosting provider to another. To start with, do not under any circumstances cancel your service with your current cheap hosting provider until you’ve completed the switch to your new one and made sure that your site is live on the new cheap hosting company’s servers. If — heaven forbid — any problems arise in the transfer and you’ve already cancelled your current cheap hosting service, visitors to your site will find it “temporarily” down — and that is a humongous webmastering no-no.

Here’s another don’t to start off the transferring process for you: Don’t do anything until you’ve backed up your entire website. This is probably the most important step in the process and one that is all too often embarrassingly overlooked. Backup every last page, every graphic, every hotlink. If you’ve never performed a backup of your site before, it’s easy to do — just use your favorite FTP program (any will do) and download all the files from your current cheap hosting company.

Once you’ve got this critical step taken care of, it’s time to start hunting around for the cheap hosting provider you’ll switch to. Maybe you’ve already got one in mind. If not, there are numerous cheap hosting portals and review sites that exist solely to help you navigate the densely populated landscape of cheap hosting providers.

Decide ahead of time why you wish to switch cheap hosting providers — is it cost? Bandwidth? System compatibility? Customer support? Features? Plugins? Scripts? — once you’ve identified the exact areas where your current cheap hosting provider is lacking, you’ll have a much easier time examining the breadth of cheap hosting offers out there for the one that will serve you best.

Don’t rush into any decisions here. The last thing you want to do is hop from cheap hosting company to cheap hosting company — if you did, then transferring will be about the only administrative duty occupying your time. Take the time now instead to find the best possible deal — competition is fierce in this industry and you should have no trouble finding all the services and features you need at a heavily discounted price. Don’t settle either — same reason. If one cheap hosting company doesn’t have absolutely everything you’re looking for, keep looking — surely at least one does.

Once you’ve decided on a new cheap hosting provider for your site, you’ll need to take down a few pieces of information, namely:

— Your domain name (such as “the-best-website-ever.com”) — The company name where your domain is registered — If applicable, the username and password for your domain name registration — The name server info of your soon-to-be new cheap hosting provider (this will more than likely be emailed to you when you sign up with them — if not, or if you lost it, you can find it in the Help documents on the new cheap hosting provider’s site).

Now that you’ve got all this done, you are finally fully prepared to transfer from your old cheap hosting company to the new one. To do so:

— Login to the website where you currently have your domain name registered; — Locate a link for Domain Name Servers or DNS Information; — Change the information in these fields to reflect that of your new cheap hosting company; — Submit your changes.

And voila! You’ve done it! Easy, wasn’t it? Once you’ve completed the above listed steps, it’s time to get your website live online. Simply upload the files you backed up at the beginning of this process to your new cheap hosting provider. Then take a visit to your site (preferably from several different browsers) just to ensure your website still appears as you want it to now that it’s hosting on your new cheap hosting provider’s servers. If you notice a problem in how your site appears, it’s time to delve back into the HTML code and find out what’s causing the discrepancy. It could very well be that a portion of the code simply didn’t transfer properly. If this is the case, all you need to do is reenter it as it should be, and that should take care of the problem.

Lastly, once you are certain that your website is live and looks like it should regardless of browser, it’s finally time to cancel your previous cheap hosting service.

About the Author

Hosting-Review.com is the premier resource on cheap hosting providers. Visit http://www.hosting-review.com for comprehensive reviews and rankings of over 50 web hosts, as well as informative hosting articles.

Simple Web Hosting

Simple Host

A Web Hosting Review

Simple Host

A Web Hosting Review

Our History:

SimpleHost, (formerly wyattweb.com) has been providing reliable hosting services since 1996, and have grown to become an industry leader hosting over 10,000 clients world-wide. SimpleHost.com was launched to make web hosting simple for the novice and expert alike. We offer powerful web hosting solutions in one simple package for small to medium size businesses. We make it simple enough so that the novice user as well as advanced user can take advantage of all the Internet has to offer. Since our initial release we have been striving to raise Internet standards.

Our Commitment:

SimpleHost is committed to providing quality reliable hosting solutions for your business. As our name implies, we strive to make the hosting experience as simple and straightforward as possible. The simplicity of our service allows beginers to get online with ease while our technical superiority provides excellent service for the more advanced. Whatever your level of expertise, our support staff will be there to assist you as needed. Our top priority is to provide high-quality reliable services and top-notch customer service to all customers.

Our Network:

We may focus on making web hosting simple for our clients, but the technology behind the scenes is definately not simple. Our network is maintained by redundant OC-3/OC12 backbones and state of the art equipment. Our servers run the Unix/Linux operating system for unsurpassed performance and reliability. All of our equipment is kept in our data network facility and monitored by our advanced alert system. We are notified of problems within seconds and are able to respond immediately to take corrective actions. As a result, we are able to provide a 99.9% uptime.

Learn more aboutSimple Host .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J. Ratliff is an avid technology writer and author of theWeb Hosting Reviews .

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