Domain & Web Host Tips

Now having a website is considered as an important feature not just for companies and foundations, but also for personal use and blogging. People want to have their own space on the World Wide Web and this can be done if you have a working website that attracts visitors. Of course, it is not as simple as just imagining what you want your site to look like. You would have to do more than just conceptualize your website.

Now, one essential requirement of creating a website is to have a website host. Having a host on the World Wide Web allows you to have the necessary web space to place your ideas, your products, your expressions and basically everything that comprises the content of your projected site. Of course, each person, group or company aims to have the best web host. But how and where do you exactly find the best website host?

Before you start your search for the best website host, you would first need to define what the best web hosting is. For some people, it can mean affordability; for some it can be huge memory space; for some, it can be fast access speed and for many others, the best hosting is all about excellent customer service and up time.

Needless to say, there are many website hosts out there. They offer different kinds of packages and you can even get customized hosting packages. You can get a hosting package for as cheap as a few dollars a month. With the many offers, choosing the best website host for your needs can be as confusing as hell that is why gathering as much information as you can is crucial before you sign up for any kind of hosting service.

When looking for the best website host, the best place to go is not directly to a webhost service website. You would do that if you are ready to sign up and get committed. A wise website owner would first go to a website host review site to be able to objectively evaluate a number of sites before he chooses a single one. Yes, that is the wise thing to do… gather as much information as you can, evaluate your needs, read reviews and then sign up only after you have studied your list of hosting choices.

While you can easily sign up for a new website hosting service or package in as fast as five minutes, doing that immediately can lead you to a possibly unwise decision. You might be easily attracted to an offer because it says you only have to pay $5 for hosting or you might be drawn in to sign up because a hosting service claims to offer high reliability. But you have to know that not everything is real and can be depended on especially on the internet. You would have to exert more effort to find out which web host offers are really worth your money and your name.

Finding the best website host can be made easy; thanks to the existence of webhost review sites. You can spend a few minutes getting real information from user and expert reviews. The review site can give you a clear view of what’s really being offered by web hosting companies. Finally, you can very easily take your right decision on which plan fits your website idea. After all, you don't want your site to be down for hours, or to be noticeable slow on loading, you want a decent web hosting with a cheap money as you can, so just do your best to find out which one is the right one.

If you have finally intended to start your own website, then your first step without a doubt will be getting a suitable web hosting plan. Since the company will be responsible for keeping your website up and running, you will definitely want to choose the right host.

There are several things you will need to look for. Here, you will find five tips for finding the right company for your needs.

First, you will need to find out what platform the web host uses. This can be vital if you will be designing your own website. If you will be using programs from the Microsoft brands to design your web site, then you will need to make sure the host offers Windows based platforms.

However, if you will be using other brands of web design tools, you may be able to work with a Linux based platform. Make sure you check to see what program you will be using for web design and then confirm that your web host of choice offers the right platform.

Second, you will need to determine if the company offers enough bandwidth and space for your website. Depending on the content you plan to include, you will need a certain amount of space. Websites heavy with pictures or videos will definitely need more bandwidth and space, so make sure you check the numbers.

A third tip to consider is to check customer service quality. When you are dealing with a web hosting company, customer service and support is vital. Look into the support options provided by the company, and try to see if you can find customer feedback to determine the quality of the customer service.

You will need to find out the web host's guaranteed uptime. Remember that no server is always up. They have to go down occasionally to handle reboots and issues, however, quality web hosts offer a high percentage of uptime. Preferably, look for a web host that guarantees uptime at least 99 percent of the time.

Finally, the fifth thing to consider is cost. Since you will be representing your company online, you will have to be ready to invest some money into your web host. However, different hosts offer varying costs and plans. Make sure to comparison shop.

Choosing web hosting for your site is the first and most important step in developing a successful website. Make sure to follow these five guidelines listed above and you will have the best possible web hosting for your site.

There are a lot of web hosting companies with a lot of web hosting plans which make it very hard task to choose and select the one plan which is really the hosting plan that fits your site. The best way to approach this is to look for web site hosts with an established customer base and a good reputation for reliability and service. When choosing the best place to host a website it is important to be sure about you hosting needs. Aspects like the following should also be considered when you are searching for the best web site hosts:

Support and customer service
Any decent hosting company should provide you with 24 hour support. No website owner can afford down time. If you have a problem you want it solved as soon as possible! User feedback always provides a good indication of support and customer service. You can be sure the users will tell you the good and the bad about a company.

The price of the hosting packages
Beware of hidden costs! Checking the terms and conditions carefully to ensure you know exactly what you will get and what you are paying for. For example beware of companies charging extra for basic customer support.

Reliability and server performance
any web site owner needs a reliable and fast server. Have a look at the server performance. Aspects like the time it takes to connect, DNS lookup times, frequency of timeouts, network speeds and speed of downloads are of importance.

Traffic limits
There should be now traffic limits. Most good web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth with most of their hosting packages.

Limits on space allocated
Go for a company that offers unlimited disk space. Why settle for less?

Features
Features like cPanel are important as this makes the management and configuration of a web site easy. It also enables you to be in control of most aspects of your web site and best of all, you don't have to be a technical or programming expert to use it. If you need any special services you should email or call the company and ask if they can provide it.

Guarantee
Make sure that they offer a guarantee. A company that is confident about their service will always see to it that the service is backed by a full guarantee.

Endorsements received and a awards won
Awards won and endorsements received are a good indication of the level of service. Most companies will make sure you see their awards by displaying it on a prominent place on their website.

Being sure about what your site really needs in a web hosting could make the task very easier. By following these tips you could select a decent web host which your site really need.

When you start your online career by creating a blog, you just unlocked a very decent possibility to have a good income from the internet, you might be wondering how you should choose amongst all the hosting companies out there. You've made a great decision when you chose to host your own blog in the first place because it's pivotal to being able to actually earn money blogging, so let's take a look at a few tips that will help you choose the best host for your blog.

Choosing the right host is critically important because it will be the backbone of your visitors' ability to access your blog. If you choose a web host that does not keep its servers up at least 99% of the time, remember that whenever the server is down, no one will be able to see your blog. They will just get an error message - not good for business!

If you choose a host that does not have good tech support, you will have a hard time getting help should you ever run into problems and need assistance.

Many people who are just getting started feel overwhelmed by the choices out there. Just know that I have started many successful blogs and can vouch for the fact that is is possible to get extremely high quality web hosting at a super affordable price.

You should look for a host provider who gives a faster hosting. That way you will never have any worries about site loading or down times. That is vital for running a successful business online.

The cost of domain name and web hosting registration have missed to the level that it's possible to have many websites without going broke. If you design to control multiple websites, below is some information on the various alternatives available to you.

The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.

If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.

They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.

On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.

Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.

Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.

If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.

Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.

The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.

A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.

Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.

The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.

Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.

There are some little various kinds of online events one can host and it will rely on the online event host’s aim for hosting the issue. Here are 3 of the more average kinds of online events.

1. Online Event showcasing exhibitors - This kind on online event is where exhibitors showcase products that they are offering. They can offer discounts during the online event. The online event host has exhibitor booths available during this event. The FOCUS of this kind of events is EXHIBITORS.

2. Online Event showcasing guest speakers and exhibitors – In this type of online event, all participants benefit from learning some information from guest speakers. Exhibitors are also there to offer products and specials. There is a schedule of events as far as seminars/workshops being offered and there are exhibitor booths available during the event. The FOCUS on this kind of events is providing information via GUEST SPEAKERS and EXHIBITORS.

3. Online Event showcasing the host’s expertise. – For this type of online event, the host can look for sponsors for the event to help cover the costs of holding the event. There is a schedule of events for the workshops being offered by the host but there are NO exhibitor booths available during the event. Exposure is offered to sponsors of the event via text link on the online event site. The online event host is giving sponsors exposure to the audience that she is marketing the online event to.

Before you decide to host an online event, decide on what type of online event you would like to have. Once you figure that out, you will have an easier time planning out your event. You will know what your online event focuses on and you will have an idea on how much to charge your sponsors or exhibitors.

So, you want to have a web site or so run through your ongoing web host that you are desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can research further. Seek friends or associates that have a web site and ask for their advice. Visit one of the many forums about web hosting, ask the members for advice or search threads from those that have asked before you. Once you’ve located a few hosts to research, the ten questions below will take you a long way towards making an informed decision. You may be able to find many of the answers to these questions on the hosts’ web sites, but always feel free to call the host and quiz them about their operations. The quality of the answers and degree of professionalism you get from a potential host often transfers to the type of support you’ll receive once you become a customer. Without further ado, the ten question to ask your web host:

1. When was the start of the web host in business?
2. Does the web host own its data center?
3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 phone and email support?
6. What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture provide?
7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?

1. When was the start of the web host in business?
The length of time that a host has been in business can be related to their ability to provide a quality, reliable product. If your host can satisfy its customers, then those customers are likely to stick with the host’s service. Therefore, stay in business. There are, of course, situations where this is not applicable or becomes a bit hazy. Be sure to also inquire about whether a host has recently been involved in a merger, acquired what was once a well-known brand name, or launched a new brand. If any of these apply, then delve deeper into the story behind what has happened and determine whether quality resources are still with the company.
• Complete a domain name “whois” lookup on the web host: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Type in the web host’s domain name and determine what year the domain was registered. If only registered in the recent past, ask the host about it. If the domain name was recently registered this is not necessarily a red flag. Simply inquire with the host about it. They may have recently launched an affinity-based brand to cater to your market.
• Type the host’s name into a search engine and check out the results that you get, other than those from the host itself. You may run across reviews, interviews, or industry articles about the host.

2. Does the web host own its data center?
A data center is the foundation from which all products and services are built upon. If your host owns its own data center, then they are likely quite entrenched in the hosting business. They also have an experienced staff and knowledge base from which to draw from when supporting your web site and building new products. In other words, if a host owns its own facility, then it controls more of the variables that can make or break your web presence.

3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
Your web site performance is not just a measure of your web server's speed. The ability of your web host to route traffic through the cleanest Internet connections is also of great importance. It is crucial that your provider have multiple connections to the Internet. Accidental fiber cuts in construction or telecom work and data center equipment failure can cause your site to go offline for an extended amount of time. This can be avoided if your web host has other connections to the Internet that will reroute traffic that would have normally been carried on the failed circuit. Yes, this means your host must also have extra capacity on hand to handle normal traffic levels when one connection is lost; which is another area where a host can attempt to cut cost. This is much like when driving your car, there are several streets that you can take to get to your desired destination. Sometimes you will encounter construction or an accident that will require you to take an alternative street. Well, the Internet works the same way. There are several routes that traffic can take to a destination. Your host should be able to choose the cleanest, or most efficient, route to your web site visitor. In fact, your host should be able to continually tune these routes to find the best path to your visitors. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the number of different networks traffic will pass through before reaching its destination. It is extremely important for your host to have direct connections to networks that have lots of eyeballs. In other words, your web site will be served better if your web host is using connections with networks that facilitate Internet access to large volumes of subscribers.

4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
There are a couple of factors that can influence the answer to this question. Does the host own its own data center? If not, then they are physically removed from their servers and likely paying a co-location company to provide monitoring for them. When another company controls the environmental systems that provide the home for the host, one can argue that you’ve created another potential point of failure; that being the communication of an issue from the data center to the web host. That point of failure can increase the latency between an issue and its resolution, resulting in increased downtime for your web site. Second, if your web host has an issue with its own infrastructure, then there may be travel time associated with their engineers getting to the data center to resolve it or, once again, increased latency by trying to remotely resolve an issue.

5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 toll free phone and email support?
You might be surprised at how many web hosts don’t provide 24/7/365 support. The industry’s hosts run the gamut from only email support to providing phone and email support 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. The best way to eliminate not having support when you need it, is to choose a host that can assist you whenever you need it. When an idea wakes you from a slumber at 3 A.M., it’s nice to have your host on the other end of the phone to discuss it. When your site malfunctions due to a programming glitch the night before your store is to open, it’s wonderful to have your web host on the phone to decipher the issue with you. When your cat accidentally deletes some important files, know that your host is there to help recover them. Also make sure that your host is providing support over the major holidays. Many web hosts will close their support center, decrease their support to only email, or send their support team home with a pager to be called in case of emergency. All of these decreases can create latency if your web site goes offline. And, holidays are often days which persons will spend time on the Internet after they’ve completed all of their social plans. Matter of fact, word-of-mouth business is one of the most effective means to customer acquisition. When people get together, they exchange ideas.

6. What levels of redundancy does the web host provide?
Failures that cause your site to lose connection can happen. Therefore, it's crucial to find a provider whose hosting architecture provides the least-risk of failure. Redundancy is necessary. Single points of failure are very bad, but many hosts attempt to cut costs by risking single points of failure. Ask your web host about their redundancy in server architecture (web, email, and DNS servers), load-balancing, and file storage.
A web server is the hardware and software combination that serves requested web pages, files, or other information. Servers answer requests from web browsers to provide information from web sites, email, and databases. They then send that information to the requesting browser. Load balancing divides the amount of work that a server has to do between multiple servers, which also adds redundancy, so that more work gets done in the same amount of time and, in general, all web sites requests within the network get served faster. The load balancers stay in constant contact with the servers to determine how busy they are and/or if one of them has failed. It may sound like a no-brainer, but having your site connected to the Internet is the whole reason for having a web site and a load-balanced, redundant network is vital to that endeavor.

Has your email server ever been down? Redundancy is also vital for email and DNS servers. A Domain Name System (DNS) server translates requests to locate a web site. As you can imagine, keeping email and DNS servers online is a mission-critical task for a web host. For file storage, seek a host that uses a reliable storage solution with multiple auto-fail over and hot-swappable drives to ensure continuous delivery of your web site.

7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
Backing up web sites should be a routine part of your web host’s operation. Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or any other catastrophe.

8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
Look for a web host that provides a money-back guarantee. This will allow you to try out the host’s service. Should you find that the service is sub-par in site performance, reliability, or lacking the features that you seek, the ability to request your money back, within the parameters of the guarantee, is priceless and liable to save you from later trouble. It is always a good to idea to inquire about the web host’s cancellation procedures. There are many out there who require you to send them an email or make a phone call to cancel, which can extend the time frame to cancellation. A host who is confident in their service will have a cancellation form or online avenue within their control panel. Now, they will likely also have a retention program, so don’t be surprised when they call or email you to ask why you are leaving. After all, your feedback helps them to evaluate their service.

9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
Sometimes people choose a host because it has the exact feature set that they need, but later find that feature set means nothing when access to those features is unreliable. Make sure that a host has your desired features and is also reliable. To make sure that the host you are evaluating has everything you need, use the following list:
• A domain name, but be sure to look for hidden registration fees or renewal fees
• An ample amount of versatile email accounts including web-based, POP3, and IMAP
• Email spam filtering and virus protection are a must these days, unless you are providing this on your own
• Enough disk space to meet your site’s needs
• Monthly bandwidth allotments that will cover your traffic and the ability to increase that allotment based on your site’s success
• Site building tools such as extensions for FrontPage or other online/downloadable site building programs
• Ease of upload to your site via FTP or other means
• Access to a robust traffic analysis program or the raw logs for you to process yourself
• Programming languages, including CGI, PHP, MIVA (if needed)
• Ecommerce shopping cart alternatives
• Database capability, dependant upon your application preference

10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?
You might be surprised how many sites that once started for fun or as a hobby have grown into some of the most popular sites on the Internet. Hence, you never know when you’ll outgrow your current product or service and need to move up the ladder to the next rung. Make sure that your web host can meet your anticipated growth, not only within the product range of shared hosting, but should you ever need a dedicated server or co-location solution, your host is there to discuss and provide the best solution.

Do your homework by using the above questions as a template and you will likely save yourself some major headaches down the road. If you’ve gathered information about multiple hosts, you can now compare apples to apples and decide on the best host for your needs. Hopefully, the work that you’ve done will avoid forcing you to use your gut, but rather make an informed decision based on the facts. Perhaps, the best piece advice that you will find in any article or forum about choosing a host is, if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.