Every webmaster cringes at the thought of moving hosts. Like moving your home it can be messy and sometimes problems arise. But if you follow these simple steps, your move will be less painful.
Backup Backup Backup
If you’ve been diligent with your backups, you’ve got a lot of insurance to fall back on yet always make the latest backup. If you haven’t, before you do anything else, do a backup now. Backup anything and everything you can and don’t forget your database if your site relies on it. Save at least 2 copies and store them separately. One for you to work with, and the other as an archive. Do not underestimate how easy it is to copy over these files as you make changes or simply mess it up.
If you’re moving to a host who has as different control panel, make a manual backup by downloading all your files because different control panels may not be able to restore the backups made by your old host. They also have different directory structures so your file trees will be in a mess. If you need to, make a small note file with notepad with memos for you to remember the old server configurations. This will help you as you make changes on your new host server and save the confusion moving back and forth between hosts. Remember to make the correct transfer type (ASCII or Binary) as you download. If your download is not right chances are you’ll have a tough time getting your site to work on the new host server.
If server logs are especially important, remember to backup those too. There is no good way of moving logs yet because different hosts may log statistics differently. So the best thing to do is to download it and use a log analyzer on your computer to make references to later on.
Gather Odds & Ends
1. A Good FTP program which you should have by now
2. Get your new host server’s DNS
3. It’s also helpful to have a script that tells you the server environments installed on your new host server for quick references.
4. Get the temporary URL on your new host so you can check your site before you make a DNS change.
5. If you have your host control the domain inform them not to change your DNS until you tell them to.
6. If you run scripts:
- Get a copy of the original installation guide and the script. Sometimes after moving the scripts just do not work right so you might need to install the script from scratch.
- Get a list of all the server paths such as Perl, Sendmail and home directory on your new server.
- If your script needs special server modules or programs ensure they are installed and where. Even though these might be covered before you ordered the account with the host but sometimes your host has removed it or haven’t installed it yet.
Inform Your Visitors
It is common and good practice to inform your visitors and customers of the server move. If you run a e-store, this helps assure your customers you have not fled with their money if there is any downtime. Also give an alternate email so you won’t lose emails in the transfer. You might also want to give periodic updates prior, during (if there is downtime) and after. If your site is large, doing this is helpful because your visitors can alert you whenever there is a part of the site not working.
Moving Day
Try to schedule the move at a time where there’s least traffic. Backup again just before you do the move so you’ll have the latest data. Start by first copying or creating your custom error pages onto the new host server. Put a small note in there about the move. You can always remove it later. Then upload the most visible parts of the site first i.e the main pages then move on to the less critical parts of the site. If you have a large site with many divisions you might want to split them across different days and instead move the least critical first. Just ensure you always do a backup before you do any moving. Use the temporary URL to check your site, visiting as many pages as you can.
Changing DNS
Once you’re satisfied, change your DNS over. This typically takes about 24-48 hours so you have time to make some minor changes if need be. You might want to also take this time to modify your old site’s error pages to inform your visitors of the move and give a new URL if there are URL changes. To help you determine if the DNS has resolved, make a small change on the new pages to differentiate between the old and the new.
Monitor
After you’ve moved and the DNS resolved, do not release the old account yet. Keep it as long as two weeks running concurrently. Go back and check the old servers for activity. Check your old email account and if you have a web based contact method on the old server check to see if any communication is left there. Once you’re comfortable all email and traffic is correctly directed to the new host server, you can cancel that account.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Changing Web Hosts? Step-By-Step Guide
Is your web site hosting cost effective?
Choosing the right web hosting company is an important aspect in cutting your web hosting costs down. The web hosting industry, boosting several thousand web hosts, is still young and growing at a remarkable pace; hence finding the right host is not only difficult, but very time consuming; fortunately though it is worth the time and effort. There are a few things to keep in mind when exploring; when deciding to form a partnership with the host. Below are just a few things to consider, which directly attribute to final cost.
Bandwidth — Figure out approximately how much bandwidth (data transfer) your web site requires. As above, ensure you get more bandwidth than your site uses. For example, if your website uses 8GB bandwidth per month, then choose a plan, which offers at least 8 or 10GB bandwidth per month. This again will prevent 'spikes' of over usage, leading to higher extra costs. As a reference, an average web site should pay no more than $3 per GB for bandwidth usage.
Disk Space — Knowing how much web space your web site needs and compensating for a bit extra, for growth. For example, if your web site needs 200 MB of disk space, look for the plan which offers at least 250 to 300 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. As a rule of thumb, an average web site should cost you no more than $1 per 10 MB
Add On — Ask the web host if they have "Add-ons" facilities for purchasing projected extra disk space or bandwidth. But, be careful, if your web site needs only 2 GB extra bandwidth, you may have to buy an extra package in blocks of 5GB bandwidth; in this case, look for the host which will allow you to purchase extra disk space and bandwidth allowance as per your needs, this is crucial to cost savings
Caution: Ensure that you know the over-usage allowance rules; you need to know what happens if your web site uses more disk space or bandwidth than you have been allocated. The web host who informs you of possible over-usage well in advance, allowing you to take measures to reduce or budget for extra usage, is 'worth their weight in gold'.
No. of Web Sites — If you have more than one web site, sign up an account with a web host who provides multiple domains hosted on one account; this will work out a lot cheaper than an account per website.
A good tip would be to ask your friends and colleagues if they want to host their websites with you on one account. For example at M6.net a person or persons with 4 websites can save roughly $20 per month by signing up an M6-2, multiple hosting account.
Databases and Scripting Support — Ensure that all the applications your web site uses (FrontPage, ASP pages, databases, cgi, PHP, etc.), are supported within the chosen account type. Find out if there are any extra fees for particular applications or associated database support. For example allot of hosts charge extra set-up fees to install FrontPage, which may be avoided by choosing another host offering the same features with no extra costs.
Mail Server — Emails are the lifeblood of your online business. Ensure that you get a sufficient number of email addresses with your own domain name (preferably unlimited); these are necessary for other email features like forwarders, and auto responders, etc. 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.
Avoid Long Term Contracts — Many web hosts offer huge discounts on yearly or half yearly payments in advance, this may appear a good way to go, but note how long you are locked in. If possible avoid long-term contracts until you are sure about the services and reliability offered by that particular host. Paying on a monthly basis obviously has its benefits. If there are concerns with your service encouraging you to seek a new host elsewhere, you may lose out on many months of hosting fees when breaking a yearly or half-yearly contract; but, if the necessity arises, a loss of only a few days to close a troublesome account, is preferable.
Thinking ahead with reference to an established plan of action will help you avoid most surprises, and definitely help towards cutting costs, short term or long-term. Work out your growth rate and project future expansions. Keep a good record of past and present bandwidth and web space usage; this will help to project future needs.
Savings are mostly a matter of common sense, but in this industry of high technology most people forget this rule and try to look for the best, most efficient and most expensive technical programs and software to save them a buck or two. As in most businesses good cost effective groundwork is the best start to cutting costs.
Free Web Hosting Tips
Here are some tips to keep in mind as you look for a free web hosting account online.
1. Content Ownership – You might not own the space, but it is your content. That means that you should expect some sort of notice if the service is going offline so that you can make alternative arrangements or save your information to your computer.
2. Tools – Surprisingly many free web hosting accounts come with lots of tools that you can use to enhance your site. The larger the hosting provider or hosting community, the more tools you will have in your control panel.
3. Free domain names – Usually you are getting a subdomain or even a subfolder for your files. Typically free domain names only come with a paid hosting account. The reasons is that bandwidth is very expensive and no one wants to build up a free web hosting service unless they have access to cheap resources.
It is not surprising then that the free web hosting market is dominated by companies like Yahoo, Google, and Bravenet. They are large organizations who have figured out ways to balance paid services and free services without going broke.
4. Search engine optimization – Some free hosting communities are so large and so fluid that it takes some time get new pages into the major search engines. People abandon their pages at such a high rate that is hard to keep up with the live sites versus abandoned real estate.
Also, any page rank you get goes to the hosting provider and not to you that is one of the perks of having your own domain name.
5. Tracking – It always helps to know who is coming to your website and how they got there. You might have to search around for some type of free tracking service. This is very important if you plan to make money off your free web hosting account.
My picks
Bravenet, Yahoo Geocities and Blogger. I have used all three and I haven’t had the time lately to investigate other services. I will add to the list in the near future.
Why Free Hosting Isn't Really Free
I want to yell at someone or give 'em a good poke in the nose for this! How could they do this to me? What gives them the right to blow off my best customers, to rob me of potential business and make my clients angry at me? How dare they do this!! I'm just fuming and ready to explode! Don't get too close to me right now!
Why I oughtta . . . what? Complain because a free service isn't available? Threaten to sue them for having troubles of their own? Why don't they have backup servers? Well, I guess it's possible that *I* could at least provide a secondary free service to cover my assets. Those clients that planned to spend an hour of their valuable time to chat with me in the first place. Maybe I should have prepared for the worst so I don't have to go apologize to everyone when the free chat services suddenly became unavailable.
OK, so maybe I ought to upgrade that chat room to the premium version, the one that costs a few bucks a month, the one without the advertising banners, the one with the customer service and support. The one that WORKS when I've invited over 3,000 people to come to a Grassroots Internet Marketing Forum and chat!
Maybe this will teach me that you can't rely on free services. What does it cost me to fail to deliver on my promises?
The web has got us all relying on free services to run businesses and expecting those freebies to be trouble free and convenient at all times. I upgraded from the free internet access when I tired of their glaring ads across my web pages. I upgraded from the free autoresponders when they stopped working during a major promotion launched via press releases and direct mail campaigns. *That* cost the good-will of my clients that didn't get responses from me as promised.
I will now upgrade to the paid version of the chat room with all the additional benefits of a paying customer, including the right to complain and lay blame and threaten the provider because they cost me potential new business and lost me those existing clients.
Take a look at the free services you use online and analyze them to see how a failure to perform would affect your bottom line.
How important are those free services you rely on? Are they risks to your business future? Note that 'Terms of Service' on the vast majority of free services online tell you outright that providers have no obligation to serve your needs if there are problems and that you have no recourse should your business fail because the FREE service has it's costs after all.
We all have a budget to work within to operate a site profitably but would it cost you more if that free web host went down than it would cost to pay for your web hosting? If your email doesn't get delivered because your free email account suffers from a system failure, would it hurt your sales or customer relations? If that online fax service stopped working when you were waiting for a big contract from a new client, would you be better off upgrading to the paid version of the service with more benefits?
We'll reschedule that chat, now that we've paid for it -- DOUBLE! Whatcha want fer free? GRRRRRRRR!!
Choosing a Free Web Host for Your Business
What's On Offer - An Overview
You are running a business. Perhaps you want to test the waters before shelling out large sums of money to set up your commercial web-site. Or perhaps you simply want to save as much money as possible. Whatever the reason, you have probably at some stage seriously considered using a free web host. If so, then you this overview may go at least some of the way in helping you make your choice.*
All of the hosts surveyed below offer virtual domain hosting, email, and (approx) 20-40mb storage space, along with some version of online forms processing ability (eg through Frontpage extensions or cgi-scripts). Most require banner advertising be placed on users' web-sites, though they do also allow users to upgrade to banner-free hosting for a fee.
These, then, are the commonalties. Now to the differences. What sets these hosts apart, and why would you choose one over the other?
It really depends on your priorities….
If you are seeking support and the opportunity to network with others, your first choices would probably be hypermart.net or bizland.com
Hypermart.net is an "all rounder" [www.hypermart.net], which offers a very full range of site hosting features., including cgi and Frontpage support. It also has a wide range of free support facilities and web-tools.
Bizland.com [www.bizland.com], like hypermart.net, bills itself as a community as well as a web-host. Bizland also provides a free shopping cart.
If you hold a foreign (non-US) domain, then Netfirms (www.netfirms.com) should probably be your first point of call. Netfirms can host any country specific domain name.
If your priority is to set up an online shopping cart and merchant account, then look closely at freemerchant.com [www.freemerchant.com] , which specialises in providing shopping carts for small business merchants. Freemerchant.com also allows users to attach free shopping cart functionality to their existing web-sites. It does not require banner ads -- a big plus. On the other hand, the reliance on templates for developing sites can limit the ability to customise the design of one's site
All of the hosts we have mentioned so far are Unix-based. If you, on the other hand, prefer working in a Windows environment, then atfreeweb.com [www.atfreeweb.com] is seriously worth considering. Notable features include support of Active Server Pages and Frontpage extensions.
Free Hosting - What to Watch Out For
We have looked at some of the benefits of using a free host, and listed some of the important players in the free hosting market. In this part we will list of some of the major drawbacks of using a free host for your business.
1. Limited Support
Your free host's primary source of income will be their advertisers, and this is where their primary loyalty will lie -- not with the user. In addition to this, many free hosts have lots of users - after all, they need a big user base to support their advertising! So, whatever support services they do offer will probably be thinly spread. These two factors - primary focus on advertising revenue along with a large user base -- mean that you will probably get less support from them than you will get from a host for whom users are the primary revenue source.
2. Unreliability of Software and Servers
Servers may be slower due to the numbers of users hosted, or simply because top quality servers are not a high priority. Email may be unreliable. In such cases, you the user will often will have no rights or recourse.
3. "Fishooks" in the Terms
Many free hosts will limit your use of their servers in ways that could present problems, and in some cases will even terminate your account if it is not used. As an example, hypermart.net's terms state that:
"HyperMart-hosted Web sites are subject to removal if there is no activity (hits or edits) on the site for fifteen (15) days. HyperMart reserves the right to delete any site it deems unacceptable for any reason without prior notice. "
So if no-one visits your site, and you do not edit it, in a 15-day period, tough luck, your account will be removed! This will not do your business any good! And, of course, you have very few rights here - again, the primary loyalty of these free service providers will be the advertiser rather than you, the user.
So, study the host's terms of service closely!
4. Limitations on Use of Web-Space
Most free hosts require that a banner ad be placed at the top of each page on your web-site, and you will have little control over what type of ad is placed. The content of the banner ad may clash with the image your web-site is presenting; and, of course, if obtaining advertising funds of your own is a planned source of revenue, then obviously this banner be a problem for you!
Free hosts will often rule out certain types of trading altogether. For instance, if you plan to resell web-space, or host a banner exchange, you will not be able to use hypermart.net, as its terms of service rule out these uses of its servers. Similarly, if you plan on gaining a large part of your revenue from affiliate programs, or commissions gained from selling other merchants' products, then freemerchant.com is not for you, as it explicitly rules out creating links to affiliates.
In conclusion, if you are running a mission-critical site, free hosts are not the best places to go. (But, then, you probably knew that already!) However, if you are simply testing the waters or experimenting with a site to see whether your business idea works before fully committing to it, then by all means, try a free host - but keep your eyes open!
* Note: Because there is such a huge selection of hosts to choose from, I have been somewhat selective: reviewing only the better-known hosts, or those who can offer something unique which 'sets them apart from the crowd'.
An Introduction to Domain Names
Simply put, a domain name is a "front" - they are word sequences users enter in their browser’s location bar to visit your site, but are not a Web site's true address.
Domain names are attached to DNS (Domain Naming System) servers, which are used to translate numeric addresses (known as IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses) into words. Each site you visit on the net has a numeric IP address behind its name, which represents the site's true address on the Internet.
Domain names are typically categorized by their extension, which is their identifying code. The three most popular types of Top Level Domains (TLDs), which are domains that are not
associated with a country, are:
.COM: Short for .commercial. Domain names with the .com extension are by far the most popular, and can be purchased by any individual or business. .
.NET: Short for .network, this domain extension was originally designed to be used by technical Web sites. However, domains using this extension can be registered by anyone.
.ORG: Short for .organization. Originally designated for non-profit firms and any other organizations that did not fit under the .com or .net extension, any individual or business may now register a .org domain name.
Country Level Domains
Domain names can also be assigned using country extensions. Each country has its own domain extension; Canada, for example, is .ca, while Japan has been assigned .jp. Most countries have specific rules surrounding exactly who can register domains using their extension and for what purpose; it’s therefore important to look before you leap.
Alternative Domain Names
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization responsible for the administration of TLDs worldwide, recently approved several new extensions that are not specific to any country. These are:
* .areo
* .biz
* .coop
* .info
* .museum
* .name
* .pro
Each has been designed for a specific use, and is accompanied by certain restrictions. You can find more information about these TLDs here: http://www.icann.org/tlds/
Other Domain Extensions
In searching for your domain name, you may encounter Web sites offering extensions like .xxx, .free and .mp3. These are not true extensions endorsed by ICANN; rather, they rely on software solutions to guarantee their accessibility to users. Because ICANN has not approved any of these extensions, however, users that do not have the correct software cannot access sites using these names; therefore, they should be used for supplemental purposes only.
Although .com, .net and .org are typically the most visible and talked-about extensions, they are not the only ones available for use. From a functional perspective, country-level domains work just as well as any TLDs, and alternative extensions work just as well. Therefore, don’t necessarily settle for a mediocre TLD when you can get a better one using a different extension.
The Quick and Easy Guide to Choosing a Web Host
With thousands of website hosts out there, it can often be hard to choose the one that will work best for you. With a little bit of work, however, you can pick out the perfect host.
Focus on Your Needs
What is your website going to do? Do you need a lot of storage space and bandwidth? Or can you get by with just a little? Do you need email addresses @yourdomain.com? Or are you going to use a Yahoo! Mail account (or similar)? What about databases, and spam filters, and website builders?
Develop a list of all the features your site will use - this list will be your key to finding a website host that fits you. On this list, you also might want to include those things that you think your site will need in the not-too-distant future. While it's not as hard as it used to be, switching web hosts can still be pretty complicated.
What Kind of User Are You?
Next, you'll want to determine what kind of user you are. Are you new to the Internet? If so, 24/7 phone support may be best for you. If you're a power user, however, you can probably do just fine with a host that offers only email or ticket support. The more you know, the less you'll have to be in touch with your hosting company. Just make sure that there is indeed a way to get in touch with your hosting company if you need to. If you can't find any contact information on the host's site, this is a red flag and you should probably stay away.
You'll also want to make sure that you will receive a response from your host in a timely fashion - having to wait two or three days just to get an email back is ridiculous. Make sure that your host offers a response-time guarantee somewhere on its site, before you sign up with them. If you can't find it listed on their site, contact them and see how long it takes for them to respond. The ideal response time is a few hours - the absolute maximum amount of time it should take is a day.
Your Budget
How much can you afford to spend for your hosting account? As it is with buying anything else, you get what you pay for. That $1.95-a-month host may offer a really great value, but will they be there for you when you need them? Many of the ultra-low-priced website hosts are not turning a profit, and have not been in business very long - and probably won't be for much longer. To check and see how long your host has been around, enter their domain name here: www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml. The Registration Date field shows when the domain name was registered, so you can tell how long they've been around.
That's not to say that every low-priced host lacks. HostGator and Site5 both have many happy clients and offer prices around the $6.95-a-month price point. And you can find good website hosts that offer service for $3.95-a-month or $4.95-a-month. But I don't recommend going any lower than that. Judging by posts on online communities such as WebHostingTalk, going with a cheap host just does not pay.
Reliability
Another important thing to find out is the uptime of any of the hosts you're looking at. Many hosts have an uptime guarantee that is usually around 99.9%. One thing you need to be aware of, however, is that this uptime guarantee does not apply to attacks such as Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks, or to acts of God. What these uptime guarantees do cover are things like hardware failure and server operating system crashes. If you can't find specific uptime information on a host's website, call them or email them and see if they'll share this information with you - if they do not, move on to someone else.
Where to Look for a Host
Now that we've covered the basic points of what to look for in a web host, it's time to talk about where you go to find the perfect host for you. There are many sites available for this, such as WebHostDir.com, TheHostingNews.com , etc. You can also conduct a Google search for 'website host' or 'website host directory'. In addition, visit a forum such as WebHostingTalk to see what other folks are saying about different website hosts. Many users come to WebHostingTalk to post both positive and negative reviews of their hosts.
Conclusion
The main thing is to pick a web host that you are comfortable with and that works well for you. You'll know when you've found the one that's right for you - it will meet your website requirements, you'll feel comfortable with its support, you'll know you can afford it, you will have confirmed its reliability, and you'll know that its other clients are satisfied as well.
Small Business Web Hosting Sites Review
Small business web hosting plan starts from $4.95/month.
It provides both Linux and windows hosting .
Free web design software, Photo gallery, blogs, personal e-mail accounts service available.
BBB Approved site.
Lunar Pages
Basic hosting plan starts at $4.95/month, includes
E-commerce features
Free domain
Free bonus worth $775
3 blogs
Website templates
Unlimited storage, bandwidth, sub domains, e-mail accounts and more features.
One of the cheapest and reliable small hosting service. More value for your cost.
Powweb.com- Low cost hosting
You get free domain when you subscribe their hosting service.
Small business web hosting Plan starts at $5.77/Month.
Provides unlimited data transfer, storage , unlimited hosting domains.
Ecommerce included .
Easy web site builder.
30 days money back guarantee.
$100 Yahoo and google ads credits.
Concentric.com
Web hosting plan starts from $9.95/month for UNIX hosting.
Windows hosting starting from $10.95/month.
It provides web design, web maintenance, Ecommerce setup and search engine optimization services.
Yahoo small business
Web hosting starts at $9/month.
E commerce web hosting starts at $40/month. Setup fee $50.
Unlimited data transfer, Unlimited disk space.
30 days satisfaction guarantee for new registration.
Cheap Small Business web hosting
This service is a best option for beginners and smaller web sites.
Plan starts from $6/month.
Provides web based e-mail account, free site builder and Ecommerce .
http://www.nexx.com
Multiple websites
Host unlimited domains.
Free domain name forever.
No hidden fees.
Both Linux and windows hosting
Small Business Web Site Hosting Lists
Small Business Web Site Hosting Lists
Small Business Web site Hosting : Dot5Hosting
Small business web site hosting plan starts at $5/Month. More value for your money. Some of the special features included in the plan are,
Unlimited domain hosting.
Free domain name.
E-mail auto responders.
Free web templates and site builder.
Wordpress blog.
Multimedia and E-commerce support.
$50 google adwords credit and $25 yahoo search credit.
Small Business Web site Hosting : Ipower Web
Small business web site hosting plan starts at $4/Month
Free domain name.
1500 GBs of web space .
E-commerce software.
Site building tool.
Yahoo search and Google adwords credit.
Unlimited domain hosting.
Blogs , forums and galleries.
Powweb-Small Business Web Hosting
Small Business Web hosting plan starts at $3.88/Month.
Get free domain name.
Unlimited disk space, domain hosting, data transfer.
Free yahoo and google credit.
E-commerce features included.
Unlimited Web Hosting For small business
Do you want to start a website for your small business?. Do you want to host your small business websites at cheap and affordable rates? you can find hundreds of web hosting companies on the net. Here I listed some of the reliable unlimited web hosting service prividers, Which provides good online and phone support to the customers. You can get a good hosting service with e commerce facility at just from $5/Month to $8/Month. Most of them provide free domain name. It is better to subscribe 2 year plan instead of 6 months or one year. Because you can get cheaper rate for 2 year plan.
Unlimited web Hosting -omnis.com
Get Free domain name, unlimited disk storage, unlimited data transfer, unlimited Email accounts, unlimited Hosted domains, sub domains and Mysql database for Just $5.95/month.
Other benefits : Free site builder, SEO website promotion tool, Google and Yahoo advertisement credit worth $50.
Unlimited Web Hosting - jumplaunch.com
Get Unlimited disk space , E-mail addresses, Web-traffic transfer, free domain for Just $5.95/month.
Other Benefits:
Ecommerce enabled, paypal shopping cart integration, Free google and yahoo advertisement credit worth $80, Wordpress and image galleriesan and free web site builders
An Overview of the Five Small Business Web Hosting Services
If you need small business web hosting for your website, you should always go for the best you can afford. Hosting of your site is an important investment and should be chosen carefully.
But with so many web hosting companies out there, which one should you go for? Below are five of the best small business web hosting companies today.
Bluehost.com.
BlueHost has top-of-the-line features that you can expect from any web hosting company worth its salt. It has multiple database support, a control panel, provision for 1,000 FTP and 2,500 email addresses, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. The pricing scheme is also competitive, starting at $9.95 for three months. As for tech support, their techs are quick to respond to queries and it seems that they really know what they are talking about.
The only thing fishy about BlueHost is that their Terms of Service contains a rather suspicious clause about activity monitoring. Accounts are recorded and maybe perused at will by the authorities, especially when deemed inappropriate.
Award Winning Hosting! FREE Setup + FREE Web Design software & tools for small to mid-size businesses. Call 1-800-385-0450.
IX Web Hosting is one of the biggest small business web hosting companies in the United States today. It maintains nearly half a million domains and owns 1% of the market shares in small business web hosting. Its pricing is very affordable at $4.95 monthly. It claims to offer unlimited space and bandwidth.
The one thing that makes IX Web Hosting imperfect is its tech support. Its outsourced tech support people are not well-versed with IX’s business.
StartLogic
StartLogic offers shared small business web hosting, and it is one of the biggest small business web hosting companies in the United States in this category. However, there are reports that they are overselling, so it is possible that StartLogic clients may be able to utilize their allocations fully unless they are using a dedicated server.
Nonetheless, StartLogic has all the standard features to be expected from small business web hosting. It has two winning aspects. One is that downtime is rare with StartLogic and the other is that it has a pretty pricing package that begins with $3.95 monthly. Bandwidth and disk space allocation, however, is limited.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is known for being among the cheapest web hosting services in the market today. One can get 5GB disk space and 250GB bandwidth for a starter small business web hosting account costing $3.59 monthly. Its uptime is excellent, and is reported to offer better uptime than small business web hosting industry standards.
But then again, its uptime is also due to the fact that they ask high-traffic websites to transfer to dedicated servers. Customer support is also below par for this small business web hosting service.
Dot5 Web Hosting
Dot5 is owned and managed by the same company that runs StartLogic. If you are in the midst of choosing between the two, there is no contest because these two small business web hosting services offer exactly the same features and pricing.
They also share the same flaw: It is reported that they oversell far too much. This would not be good for websites that have high traffic because it is highly likely that such websites would not be able to make use of the allocations they pay for at optimum levels
Choosing Small Business Web Hosting Company
Seeking the services of a small business web hosting company is something that you should do if you seriously want your business to grow.That is because a website would provide your company a means of communicating and building trust with your customers.However, the purpose of your website will not be fulfilled if you choose the wrong kind of web hosting.The right kind of small business web hosting for your needs would have the criteria described below.
Disk Space and Bandwidth.
Disk space and bandwidth allocation are two major factors that you should weigh in when selecting a small business web hosting company. The disk space dictates how big your website is going to be and the bandwidth controls how much traffic your website can accommodate.A typical website would not need more than 10MB of disk space.
Some web hosting services will try to lure you with huge amounts of hard disk space amounting to over 500MB. While big space can be attractive, you are not likely to utilize it. As for bandwidth, make sure that the small business web hosting company you will choose is clear on its bandwidth limits and how much will it charge for exceeding allocations.Do not let yourself be captivated by offers of unlimited bandwidth from small business web hosting services because it does not exist.
Infrastructure.
You should also check the infrastructure of your small business web hosting.Your chosen small business web hosting service should give you autonomy when it comes to working with your website.Thus, the small business web hosting service should have a control panel to make managing your website easier.If your website is going to serve as your store, your chosen small business web hosting should provide SSL, MySQL and shopping cart features.These features in small business web hosting will make conducting e-commerce smoother for you and assure your customers that their personal information is safe with you.Email addresses coupled with autoresponders and mail forwarding is also an important feature that all small business web hosting companies should offer.
Reliability
The most important aspect of small business web hosting that you should look at seriously is the host’s reliability.The small business web hosting company should guarantee that its servers will be online 99.5% of the time, and would make refunds for any downtime.Also, the small business web hosting company should provide speedy technical support, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Why Small Business Web Hosting
Why do start ups and small businesses need small business web hosting facilities? If this question has been bothering you, this article will help you find the answer.
For any small or start up online business, having a safe, scalable and live website is of outmost importance. All business owners will appreciate the value behind this. And this is where small business web hosting services come in. The world market is a rapidly developing space and outsourcing is most common. Outsourcing not only cuts overheads drastically, it ensures quality as well as flexibility.
When a small business owner outsources his/her web hosting services, he/she is actually gaining in a big way. Not only is he/she saving money due to the lower cost of small business web hosting, but he/she is also doing away with the need to have an in-house hosting. Having an internal small business web hosting service is a far larger investment that availing the services of a reliable hosting company, who offers the same services at almost ¼ the cost.
With the recession gloom looming large globally, it makes a lot of business sense to get small business web hosting from outside. But decreasing capital consumptions, a small organisation can stay afloat for longer. Moreover, by taking advantage of small business web hosting services, a small-sized organization can actually save 25% to 80% of capital over having their own in-house hosting solution.
However, small business web hosting services help organizations in more than just helping them save on overheads. These hosting services also allow for speedy connectivity, efficiency, dependability, 24X7 customer support, responsibility, and full accountability to get a website that functions continuously without any downtime at all.
Fortunately for small business owners, small business web hosting plans come with a wide range of choices. You can host your website for as cheap as $20 per annum to $50 and more depending on your requirements.
By outsourcing small business web hosting for your company, you are able to capitalize on all-round efficiency as well as leverage the power of the Internet to develop your business without any hurdles or interruptions
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Profitting from free webhosting
The majority of the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of a few ways:
- Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.
- Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.
- Resell Hosting - This is where someone starts up a hosting company, attracts lots of visitors, then sells the hosting company to someone else once it can no longer support itself. Once sold, this individual uses the money to start up multiple hosting ventures and sells each in turn.
Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix these tactics.