6 Important Rules in Website Design and Hosting
6 Important Rules in Website Design and Hosting
When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls would work fine.
6) The most important – Host only with a Reliable Hosting Provider.
Before Chosing a Web Hosting provider, read its reviews and always check the top 10 hosting providers. A good resource to research hosting providers is at Top10DedicatedHosting.com
Choosing Internet Hosting Features
Choosing Internet Hosting Features
When choosing Internet hosting features many businesses focus first on cost and then on what they get for their money. What these brick and mortar businesses do not understand is that they are creating a whole new presence for their company, in an virtual environment called the Internet. Anything can be found with low prices on the Internet, but finding quality anything’s is a whole different ball game entirely.
When choosing Internet hosting features, you should have a good idea of what your own business website will need to function as an online business. Some companies think that just establishing a simple web page with their custom log and a short list of services and a telephone number will suffice on the Internet. In some instances, this will work quite nicely.
If your business has a lot of products to sell, then when choosing Internet hosting features, you are going to need not only the home page for your internet business, but you will need to create custom web pages for each department that your products are marketed in. A boating store might feature yachts, rowboats and racers, and the associated equipment for all of those watercraft.
If your company is choosing Internet hosting features, then the hosting site should offer a web page creation tool, that will support the uploading of all of your files, including photographs. These files should be maintained on a private service for the use of your company alone. The description of your products might be stored on a totally different server.
The server space that your company is allotted to use on the Internet hosting servers should be well defined before you sign your contract. This space should be upgradeable if your business flourishes, and your inventories increase.
If not, you will need to find an alternative way to store your photographs on a private server, that might be in a totally different location. Making updates and changes to these files can become very difficult over time. When choosing Internet hosting features, it might be a good idea to get a visual picture of all of the equipment that this company has to offer you. One server with a good T-1 connection would not be a good choice for your company.
Other areas to consider when choosing Internet hosting features is the purchase of your domain name. Some Internet hosting features only offer you a basic name, but the Internet hosting services office owns that domain name because they purchased a block of web addresses from the WWW organization. After the period of one year, your web name may come up for renewal and you might not be given the opportunity to purchase that name to use another year. It’s at the discretion of the web hosting service, and if they want to, they can require that you pay a very large fee to have your domain name for another year.
Some people when choosing Internet hosting features look for email storage servers, scripts and forms capabilities that are compatible with the operating system that their current website was created in, and whether such features as real audio, Java, and mail list management is included in the price of the website package you are considering to purchase.
Web Hosting Concerns For Ecommerce Businesses
Web Hosting Concerns For Ecommerce Businesses
Ecommerce businesses have needs that many websites do not. Whether the site is a content management system (CMS) that has thousands of pages with advertising on them, or a shopping cart, or a member only site, the site will one day reach a level of success that forces the company to reconsider their platform.
Platform
A platform is the system the ecommerce business is built on. it could be something simple like a MS FrontPage generated ‘static’ website. Or, It could be a Drupal content management system, with all the bells and whistles, including shopping cart, chat rooms, newsletters, and a podcast.
Many ecommerce businesses start with ‘wizard’ or template generated sites. This type of short sited thinking can be extremely costly in the long run.
Every business should assume they will need a bigger platform. A small business may not have the time to manage a Drupal site, or the resources to hire a programmer who is familiar with Drupal. They need to start with something smaller, and build a bigger platform later.
Programmers
One of the biggest mistakes ecommerce businesses make is believing that all programmers who code in PHP and MySql can handle all CMS platforms. This is not true. Grace Publishing Media, a medium sized social networking business paid 00 for a platform that never worked, they had to trash it. They hired programmers who were familiar with the software platform, and had a new site within two months, for less than 0.00.
Types of Web Hosting
There are four types of web hosting, community shared, shared, virtual, and dedicated.
Community hosting is free, and is on a site where everyone shares a similar domain name. This type of site is impossible to promote. It may be free, but it will never rank high enough on the search engine sites to generate enough sales to keep the business solvent.
Shared hosting is the most common. It costs about – a month. Each website has their own private space, and their own management panel. The most common admin panels are CPanel and Plesk. The bandwidth, CPU burden, and other web resources are shared.
The second type of hosting is good for a small start up business. The important thing to confirm is that they use up to date databases and they have excellent customer service. However, as the business grows it will cause more burden on the CPU as more people use the site at the same time. This can cause problems that will not only crash the ecommerce site’s website, but it may also cause problems with the adjoining sites.
The third and fourth types of hosting, virtual and dedicated, is more private. A virtual server is one that has been broken into sections. Each ecommerce business has their own section, databases, bandwidth, and admin centre, but the CPU is shared. The ‘burden’ on the system of each website is still controlled tightly. This can cost – 0 a month.
The dedicated server is the same as owning your own server. Everything is private. The business is allowed to max out all their resources without worrying about being limited or suspended by the hosting company. This service regularly costs – 0 a month.
Managed
The most important aspect of hosting for the ecommerce business is finding ‘managed’ hosting. Never opt for unmanaged. It can result in dramatic down times, corruptions, and even having a lost system.
Back Up
No ecommerce business should sign for any hosting service that doesn’t offer backup. However, take a ‘lesson learned’ from companies who preceded yours – also learn how to back up the company on a hard drive in your computer, or a zip file.
Hosting companies, even the big ones, go out of business regularly, losing everything on their servers.
Your Own Online Training Site…
Your Own Online Training Site…
It isn’t really as hard as it sounds. Let’s get rid of all those things that are hard to do. If you don’t know how to design and construct a website from scratch, you can use desktop publishing software that makes it easier to construct a website. Another option is to have your website designed by a professional. Professional website designers have a more mature outlook in designing websites. Furthermore, you are given guarantees that the website they constructed for you will not suddenly collapse or malfunction.
Now, the first thing to do is to determine what kind of instruction you will give in your website. Pattern your website after your topic of instruction so that you have a themed look to your website. If you are a mechanic, try having some pictures of tools or maybe a tire included on the site as part of the background wallpaper or in the video instruction section of the website. Next, you will need those instructional videos for your viewing public. Begin by writing a script for your instructional spiel. Divide your script with respect to the stages or levels of your instruction topic. Determine the price you will charge for your educational video service. Once you are done, you can embed the video into your website and see the final product.
If you are satisfied with what you’ve done so far, you can look for a website hosting service provider. Mind you, some website hosting providers will design the site for you for a fee if you so wish it. Aside from website hosting fees, you will have to pay for domain name fees as well as other charges that the website hosting company deems fair to charge you. Also, you need to be specific about the bandwidth that your hosting provider will give you. This is to ensure that your video streams will not slow down due to heavy user traffic.
Now that you are ready to start selling, you need to have a place where you can deposit your online cash. You will have to open a merchant account in a bank and have the bank and the hosting provider configure your website so that the payments you receive are forwarded to your merchant account.
Don’t be nervous. This will probably be a little heavy on the pocket but it will not cost as much as investments in stocks and bonds. Moreover, if your business does not earn you anything, you can stop and cut your losses or research and apply some advertising strategies.
Finally, don’t think of this venture as a pioneering enterprise. Internet video streaming for purposes of formal education and instruction has been in use for a number of years now. Even so, most instructional websites that have gardening tutorials, computer troubleshooting tutorials and a whole score of other tutorials do not have video streaming instruction in their web pages. Video streaming as a method for education and instruction is less than 10 years old.
The advantage of using video streaming is that it gives you the ability to convey your instruction without difficulty since people see you doing the action as you speak the words to demonstrate it. It certainly is better than reading or composing a manual. If you go for the write a manual method, you will need a pretty good writer who can translate technical details into more human terms. The writer will also need to be able to aptly describe necessary movements and motions for the student to understand the instruction.
It certainly is better to listen and watch somebody fixing a wall fan while watching him than holding a book in one hand and a screwdriver on the other. If you put yourself in place of the student, you will be able to imagine how easy it will be to learn from watching a person perform a lesson instead of reading about it.
Web Hosting and What It Means to You
Web Hosting and What It Means to You
Denver hosting
Hosting Denver
Web Hosting and What It Means to You
When you first establish a presence online, you need to start with the right tools at your disposal to be successful. Throwing up any old domain name and using a free hosting service is not a great way to impress potential clients. Internet users are savvier today than they ever have been. If you are going to have an effective web presence, you need to reflect an awareness of what is current in the world of websites. Even if you are not a technology company, you still want to show your potential clients that you have what it takes to keep up with the modern advances in your field. Keeping up with the advances in internet technology will help you to do this.
Web hosting is simply a process by which you place your website with a company who can use their server to maintain the site and its components. You can also host your own site, but this is for larger companies with data centers that need to be managed on site. For smaller companies in Denver, hosting on a paid internet site is a good option.
What will hosting do for your company? The first answer is simple. Paid hosting offers you a place to run your website online. You pay anywhere from two dollars to two hundred dollars per month to a company who can store your domain on its server. This type of paid service is ideal for the website owner who is running a business but does not want to maintain the server. If you do not have experience with computers or do not have anyone on staff who is technology trained, then a paid hosting is for you.
Hosting in Denver is a big job, and not one to be taken lightly. There are a number of options available online. So many, in fact, that it can be quite intimidating to the new user. So to help you find the right hosting company for you, start by looking at your needs. First of all, how large of a site are you intending to run? If it is a big operation with lots of inventory and graphics, then you need plenty of storage space. Various hosting packages come with different levels of storage. If you intend to have a large number of visitors to your site, you also want to pay attention to the limit that some sites place on this, as some hosting companies offer different alternatives for smaller sites.
If you want to add on the extras, like a visitor counter or other program, you need a hosting company that is CGI compatible. Common Gateway Interface is a way of linking programming applications, such as your counter, with HTML pages. You can also customize your site with Active Server Pages, so check with your web designer and Denver hosting account to see if they are capable of handling ASP.
If you run your store online and sell products or services, you will need hosting that allows you to operate ecommerce. This will include a shopping cart that customers use to check out merchandise or information products at your site without your constant attention. Some hosting services offer partnerships with large ecommerce providers, so look around for one that is well known and reliable. Another thing to look for in inventory sites is database support and extra space.
If you want your site to run at high speed and deliver what your clients want at a fast pace, you need a hosting company that offers you extra bandwidth. Also look for SSL, or Secure Socket Layer, which is essential for any ecommerce site to protect your customers and your database from hackers. Overall, look for a paid site that has all the benefits you want at a price that seems fair.
Queries On Web Hosting
Queries On Web Hosting
After having built the web pages the next step is to display it in your website. The important factor is to select a hosting service which could offer a better reliable service for your business. The following query and explanation section throws light on what a web hosting service does and how to make a best choice among the millions of hosting concern available today in market.
Query : What web host do for us? Kindly provide brief answer.
Explanation : They are Providers or concern who provides different types of services that are essential in maintaining your website. For any website it needs a storage area for storing it which is provided by web host.
Query: What is the average cost involved when going for a web host?
Explanation : This varies depending upon requirement of the concern but on a average the costs runs between – per month.
Query: Does free hosting service maintain Integrity and are they trustworthy?
Explanation : If it is a business web site then it is a must to go for a affordable paid web hosting for the site. The free hosting service would be suitable only for fun site where banners only get displayed. This is because free web hosting service providers give only small bandwidth and the space provided is also little and to add to it they will have advertisements posted on your site which will affect your traffic ,in some cases the site will go down for a certain period which will affect your business.
Query: How to choose the right web host for my site?
Explanation : Given below are the key points to consider while choosing a web host:
Requirements Study – The web hosting service that suits for one may not suit for other because the requirement for each varies. So before choosing it is always wise to make a study of what is needed for you namely things like Database support(MYSQL) etc..
Uptime – The uptime of the server should be at least more than 99.5%
Data Transfer – For this you need to work out your requirement which will help in determining the bandwidth needed by you. Also in this context make sure that the hosting servers do not share bandwidth which will reduce the speed of your site.
Storage – The web hosting service must offer you the storage area more than what is required by your current website. Also make a study of whether the web hosting service put you penalties if in case you exceed the allocation. In this it is also needed to find out how the web hosting concern decide your storage capacity, that is whether they take into account the web files or do they take into account the emails, log files,.. also. A detailed study of this is needed for which you should be able to view your log files. So Storage and traffic are critical points to be studied when choosing a web hosting service
Technical Support – Always it is good to choose host that give throughout the year, all days technical support
Security – It is wise to ensure that host services uses updated security software. Also the hosting service must offer SSL named as Secure Socket Layer for performing secured transactions.
Email – The hosting service must provide good number of emails, aliases and mail forwards because it is key for business.
Shopping Cart – The cart used by you must match with that provided by hosting plan chosen by you or the hosting service must have a appropriate shopping cart replacement.
Customer Support – The type of customer support varies such as through email, phone. In whatever way the support is provided it is better to find out the response time they take to get back to you. As conveyed earlier it is best to choose host that give throughout the year, all days technical support.
CGI-Bin Access – Whatever be the site you own you have to run some CGI script. For the sake of security host services have their own scripts installed but it is better to make a room for allowing to install your own scripts as per your needs. That is you have to additionally look whether it supports the language such as PHP, Perl etc.. in which you may write your scripts.
Feedback – Before choosing a web hosting service it is always better to make a study of the concern to know about the negative feedbacks if any.
FrontPage Extensions – If you have FrontPage in your site just make a check whether the hosting service also support FrontPage with the same version as yours.
Communication Media – The hosting service chosen has to be good otherwise we may have problem with the communication services linked with domain like email, File Transfer Protocol(FTP) which are key for any business.
Scalability – You can use any tool like HTML for your site but important factor to consider is whether the web hosting service is scalable that is as you built more complex features in your site the host service must be upgradeable to handle all this.
Domain Name and IP Number – It is good to have your own domain name and IP number for which the web hosting service must help you.
Backup – Ensure whether the hosting service provide important service like backup which will help you to prevent against data loss.
Due to the birth of many web hosting companies, the above factors if considered would help you make a correct decision for choosing a good web hosting concern for your business.
Starting A Home Based Business-Part 2
Starting A Home Based Business-Part 2
In this section we are going to be talking about web hosting and I am going to share with you the web hosting company I feel like is the easiest to use especially if you are a beginner trying to start a home based business. When I first started off I must have went to hundreds of different websites searching for hosting services for my home based business but I remembered when I use to be a office manager for a company I worked for years ago they were using Yahoo Web Hosting for their business and they never had any problems plus Yahoo’s customer support was awesome (I know cause I was the one calling them). You were able to call them about any kind of technical issues you had and they would solve them free of charge. I am not promoting Yahoo here people and believe me when I say some would frown on Yahoo’s service but from my experiences they are A+ in my book.
There is something I want to mention to you that most people do not even know about when starting off with a new website. When we discussed domain names in Starting a Home Based Business-Part 1 I forgot to share one thing to you that it is very important, at least to me it is. The company you choose for your domain name should also be the web hosting service provider. The reason why I say this is because if you purchase your domain name from one company and get your hosting service from another you will have to call them and tell the company to change your registrars or it will not work. I did this at the beginning and it was a pain to get it to work all together. What I ended up doing was going with Yahoo for both my domain name and web hosting service. They had me up and running in a little as five minutes once they received my payment. They offer your domain registration for 9.95 a year and the hosting service will cost you 11.95 month. That is what I am currently spending for my home based business website which is not bad if you are on a tight budget.
What you will need to do is go to Yahoo’s website or their home page and on the bottom or close to the bottom left hand side of the website you will see a link that will say, “Small Business”. Just below that there will be two links one of the links will say “Get a Web Site” and the other will be “Domain Names”. You want to click on domain names and begin your search for your home based business name. Remember in Part 1 I mentioned using Google’s keyword selector tool to help you find a name that would get plenty of searches across the web. Once your have found the domain name you plan on using for your business Yahoo will have you proceed to the hosting plans (just follow their easy to set up click through system). I would pick the 11.95 month plan because it comes with everything you need to get your home based business website up and running. There is no need for you to spend more than that and later on as your home based business grows you can always upgrade if needed.
This is Part 2 of many articles to come in regards to Starting a Home Based Business so please be looking for future articles when I will be writing about Web Site Design. That is the next step that needs to be taken after you get a web hosting account for your home based business.
To Your Success,
Aaron Jones
SSL Certificates, essential for web service providers – web designing – web hosting and IT companies etc.
SSL Certificates, essential for web service providers / web designing / web hosting and IT companies etc.
Any customer before buying web hosting would definitely verify the details about the company, so let your potential customers feel safe on your website with SSL certificates.
Why would a website with IT services need SSL?
Websites providing IT services should offer a secure interface to transfer the information if they are collecting sensitive information from their visitors, such as personal information or credit card details. Especially SSL plays a very important role in the websites with Member Areas or Control panels of the Domain and hosting customers, as they ask for the sensitive information like passwords and their personal details. For instance any website designing company, asking customers to fill in the form and give their personal data and requirements of the project, customer will check for SSL before sharing his sensitive information like e-mail ids, phone no. etc. to be protected from hackers and Spam.
• An SSL certificate proves the legitimacy of your business with complete verification of your company credentials.
• SSL makes sure the security of credit card information of your customers.
• Make your Web site a safe place for your visitors and customers.
• Increase customer confidence on your website.
• Secured Socket Layer Boost your Website’s credibility and get you more customers for your services like hosting, web designing etc.
• SSL Certificates on your website shows your concern towards your customers’ safety, which builds a positive image and goodwill.
Consequences of not deploying an SSL Certificate on IT Service providers-
Before a customer logs into his control panel and before providing his personal details and passwords, users check the security information of the Website, which can be proved through
The padlock symbol at the bottom line of your browser
URL address shown at the top will begin with an https://
Checking the File and then Properties of your website that will confirm that your browser and the website share the same security attributes.
Protecting your valuable customers’ credit card and personal information is the most essential for any company be it be web designing, domain registration, hosting or an IT company, If you will not value your customer’s security it may result into –
• You will loose a potential customer.
• If the visitors will not find the trust indicators (SSL Certificates), they may loose the whole confidence in your brand, products and services, and this may degrade your goodwill.
• It may decrease your visitor conversion rates and may effect your over all profitability
• You Competitors with SSL on their Website may capture the market.
So all the websites should secure their visitors and customers online access, passwords, communications, Valuable and highly sensitive information (Credit card details) and maintain their Privacy standards with a high assurance web server certificate.
Efficient Web Hosting For The Private Or Small Business Website
Efficient Web Hosting For The Private Or Small Business Website
In the increasingly competitive world of virtual territory, keeping a website up and running efficiently is an important task. Welcome the web host: your website’s new home and source of constant, high speed internet connection. With this important role, when seeking the right web host you’ll no doubt want to locate a company that does quality, cheap web hosting. In addition, for small business owners and personal website owners, it is important to understand the concept of shared hosting, along with its benefits. Ideally and realistically, the web host should provide a constant and rapid connection, while keeping the prices low.
The word cheap hosting is as attractive to the consumer as the flame is to a moth. Thus, it is important to confirm that the web host’s service is as competitive as its prices. Clearly, a small business or personal site owner will seek out a competitive price, which is important. In this highly competitive industry, prices should be moderate, especially for the small business owner. A web host should offer packages specific to the business’ needs. There is no reason to pay for an extensive package, most of which will be money thrown out the window.
While sharing always was one of the toughest lessons to be learned in youth, shared hosting is a welcome lesson. It implies having a website on a server that serves multiple sites. It is beneficial because sharing a server is not like sharing your favorite candy bar – it is more like sharing an office building. Renting only the space needed is wiser and more practical than renting the entire office building. Thus, putting a website on a shared server will result in great savings with an efficient web host.
Beyond price, of course, is the service provided. Check the web host for their willingness to assist with any sort of problems that may arise with the website. The era of websites is still in its youth, and many computer users are still in the learning stages of their creation. Thus, someone who is learning about website construction should not feel abashed to approach their web host with questions and problems. The web host is responsible not only for the site to run smoothly, but also for the site owner to feel smooth about its operation. Response time to problems is vital, as a web host that is quick to help will be one that ensures the efficiency of the site itself, and thus fewer problems for visitors to the site.
Web hosts are responsible for keeping websites running efficiently on the web, especially when visitor traffic is high. A good web host will offer its services inexpensively. The consumer will be wise to consider shared hosting. Both economical and practical, with a good host, it is a very efficient way to run a site. Lastly, as are all good hosts, a web host should be available for his clients and should have good response time to clients’ needs and concerns. This type of package, without loads of extra features and price tags, is the best package for a website owner to look for in seeking out an appropriate web host.
What Is The Real Meaning Of Low Cost Web Hosting Service?
What Is The Real Meaning Of Low Cost Web Hosting Service?
Are you looking for a cheap hosting service to host your website? There are thousands of companies in the internet that advertise their services very cheap. But are all of their claims true? Let us take a look into it a bit closer. Careful evaluation of the hosting company will save you from wasting money and having problems in the future.
– Hosting Providers with Super Low Price
You may have come into contact with many companies claiming to be number 1 and offering just cheap rates. However, such offers need careful investigation. Ask some questions to yourself like: “Do their features suit my requirements?”, “Are there any hidden costs?” If you do not make a diligent research, perhaps at the end of the month you will receive a message saying that your site is unavailable as it has exceeded its bandwidth usage for the month, and to make it available you have to make an extra payment. Unexpectedly your payment for the company that claimed to provide low cost web hosting service is higher than you should normally pay.
– Hosting Service with Unlimited Bandwidth and Web Space
Many offers look so great claiming that the user can use infinite bandwidth and web space. But our common sense will tell that even the biggest hosting companies in the world can not afford it. Why? Because bandwidth and web space are not free. Be careful if some day your site will be suspended if it gets a lot of visitors.
– Web Hosting Service with All Bell and Whistle
These kind of offers may have come up many times when you were searching. The hosting companies offer everything that is not usually provided by other companies. They offer some additional programs or services like unlimited autoresponders or website builders. If the features offered are listed, the price looks very cheap. But wait, every time you meet such an offer, ask yourself questions like this: “Do I really need the additional features being offered?” or “Will it be cheaper and safer if I use similar programs from other companies?”.
When selecting a hosting provider, you should not only consider your present needs, but also your needs in the future. For instance, you may only want to build one website at this moment, so you only need a hosting service that allows you to host only one domain. But what if in the next few months you will want to host additional domains? It would be better, of course, if you use a service that will not require you to pay an extra cost for additional hosting account from the beginning. In addition, moving a site to another web host, especially if your site uses CMS or any other scripts, is not an easy task.
In brief, a good low cost hosting provider should be the one that offers affordable and reasonable prices, and it meets your current as well as future requirements with no any extra or hidden cost you have to pay. Both the user and the hosting company should mutually gain benefits from their relationship in order to stay alive prosporously for a long time. Win-Win solution is always the best solution.