Website Hosting – Domain Names

Website Hosting – Domain Names

When you go to obtain website hosting, you will need to choose a domain name for your website. This can be done through your host, which is likely to offer you a discount on the domain, such as a percentage off of the price or even a free domain when you choose them for your website hosting needs. The most ideal domain would be your business name. However, for many reasons that might not be a possibility.

Your domain name is your website’s calling card. It is the first thing seen when a person visits your site, it can even be a deciding factor as to rather or not the person will even visit. That is right; a person will decide rather to visit your website or not, based on the website address (domain name).

When you are looking for website hosting, you often consider domain names last. Your website domain name is perhaps on of the most important aspects of your entire website. You could have the flashiest, most professional design on the entire internet, however, without the right domain name all of that will be pointless.

One reason might be that the domain is already taken, you might choices with different extensions such as .net, .us, .org, or other such extensions, but you need to remember that people usually remember .com, so you should strive for that. Another reason might be the length of your business name, such as Joe’s Bar, Grill, and Dance club. Now, you can have a lengthy domain if you really want it like joesbargrilldanceclubdotcom, but look at that, would you remember it?

The key point in a domain is to make it easy to remember and catchy. Think about your business, consider the business name and what you offer. You want the name of your website to stay in their thoughts and easy to remember. With the Joe’s Bar, Grill, and Dance Club, you might consider joesdotcom, jbgddotcom, or something to that effect.

When you do choose a few names, look at each one and determine rather you, yourself, would be able to remember it. Would that name stick in your mind? Would it tell you exactly what the business has to offer?

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Hosting At Home: The Pros And Cons

Hosting At Home: The Pros And Cons

Is Web Hosting At Home Right For Me?

Many people today have considered web hosting at home. However, before you make that final decision, you should make sure you have all the facts.

You will definitely want to weigh the pros versus the cons of hosting within your own home and deciding if it is right for you.

To do that, you must have the most accurate and helpful information available, this is where this article can help you.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is where some form of website is given space upon a server.

The type of website hosted varies from one host to the next. There are several types such as strictly HTML, a combination of different allowable languages, shopping carts, and databases, just to name a few.

Of course, when it comes to websites, you have more than just the code that need hosted, you have a variety of images as well, that will vary from one person or business to the next as well.

Web hosting in general is allowing a person to take up space on a server for a nominal fee.

The amount of space that you allow another person to have is up to you, your equipment, and how much you have to offer.

Every website you see online has a web host; it is what makes up the World Wide Web as a whole.

What Infrastructure Do I Need?

There are several things combined that will help make you get started in offering web hosting at home.

Some of the equipment you will need may include:

High Speed Internet. Preferably Cable, but DSL is acceptable as well. Dialup is never acceptable for a web hosting provider.

Static IP. This address should be local and for your own network at home.

Router. This router should have the ability to forward different connections to that of your server. The HTTP port suitable for web hosting is port 80.

Apache. This program is both free and of the highest quality. This program allows you to host several websites simultaneously.

Perl

PHP

MySQL

Reliable Computers. Plural because most web hosting companies run their own dedicated servers and uses multiple computers to do so.

Is it Really Possible to Turn My PC into a Server?

Yes it is, provided that you have the above items implemented. You want to be sure that you have tight security on your systems and servers as well.

This will help keep hackers at bay. You want to make sure that you have the ability to provide your customers with outstanding service, reliability, and uptime.

Web Hosting At Home Pro’s

1. A great business venture

2. You can use your own PC.

3. You have the opportunity to offer a higher standard in customer service and web hosting.

4. You no longer have to worry about which web hosting company is taking advantage or charging too much.

Web Hosting At Home Con’s

1. It can be fairly difficult to implement
2. The investment can be quite large

3. It takes a lot of time and dedication

4. You have to constantly stay on top of maintenance to ensure that you are offering high quality and the latest in platforms.

Web hosting at home is your decision that only you can make.

With the right information, you now have the opportunity to make an informed and calculated decision.

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A Web Hosting Package Can Be Tailor Made To Suit Your Enitre Needs.

A Web Hosting Package Can Be Tailor Made To Suit Your Enitre Needs.

The foremost problem for many business / personal users who look for web hosting packages is to selecting the right plan. Many companies provide you many choices which can confuse your selection. Choosing the wrong web hosting package can cause you problems for your business.

a) Decide Your Requirements:
The requirement a web hosting package will differ from personal to business users. So be sure to choose the package which is most suitable for your requirement. Decide how much space is needed to host your site and whether you require database access and also the type of server. The server may be UNIX or an NT server.

b) Data Transfer Requirement
If you are planning to host your business website, you will require more data transfer than a personal website. So decide on your data transfer requirements carefully. Only you can decide on how much data transfer and space you need.

c) POP Mail Access
Many web hosting packages come with POP3 access mail accounts free with the plan. So decide how many mail accounts you require and choose the package accordingly.

d) Web Hosting Cost And Setup Cost:
The next consideration you have to take into account is the hosting charges for the plan and setup costs. The cost considerations will differ according to your requirement and the plan you choose.

e)Support From The Hosting Company:
If you are hosting a business site, be careful about the credentials of the hosting company. Frequent disruptions can cost you dearly. You lose business and sales. So you require good and reliable support from the hosting company. The support also will depend upon the plan you choose

f) FTP Access And Transfer Limit
Be sure about FTP access and FTP transfer limits. Without FTP Access, you will be transferring files one by one. This will cost you you valuable time. The limit for FTP is also important.

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How To Select The Perfect Web Host

How To Select The Perfect Web Host

How To Select The Perfect Web Host

Although choosing a Web Hosting Company for your organization may seem like a simple task, it is vital to take some time off and look out for the best one available in the market. Here are some top features that you must look into while selecting a good web host:
• Reliability – While selecting a web hosting company for your web site, you must look for its reliability. You should determine the experience level of the web host. Don’t forget to read public reviews about the web host that you are considering to hire. The best way to find a good web host company is by asking people who have used or currently use its services. Fortunately, there are news groups and forums dedicated to web hosts and their services that’ll help you out in this regard.
• Customer Support Panel – Every website faces one problem or the other at different times. So, in such circumstances, when you need the assistance of professionals, you should find out whether the customer support panel will be available to help you or not. The hosting company that you are hiring should be able to quickly repair any problem in your website. This means that you must be able to reach someone from the hosting company 24×7.
• CGI Access – For novices in the Internet industry, we must tell you that CGI is an access facility that gives the users an ability to run their own program on their website. Initially, this may not seem a big deal, but with time, as the company grows, you will want to gain as much control as possible. You must make sure that the web hosting company provides you CGI access that allows you to write, read and execute anything on the server.
• POP Account – Safety comes first on the Internet. A larger number of Internet experts and hackers are on the look out to steal your hard earned money and your valuable company information. So, in order to provide safety to your web site, you must make sure that the web host will provide you with a POP account, which will give you a password protected access to the e-mails sent through your e-mail address on the web site.
• Domain Name – The domain name of your web site acts solely as your identity on the Internet. So, you must make sure that the domain name provided to you by the web host should include the name of your business or the targeted keywords that you want in your domain name. It is advisable to approach a web host that allows the users to select their own domain name.
• Storage Space and Bandwidth – The web hosting company that you are looking forward to should provide you with enough bandwidth and storage space, which is required for efficient working of your website. Storage space is simply the amount of files that can be stored on your account. Bandwidth is the transfer of data from the server to the user and vice versa.
Beware! There are lots of inferior web hosts in the market, but an experienced and reputed web host is the only one who will provide you with the ultimate web hosting solutions.
The other things that you must focus on while choosing a web hosting company include, a user-friendly site builder program, shopping carts, Blogs, forums and other scripts. In some cases, you may want .NET service, while in others, you may look for PHP. You may also require a particular CMS that is available only with some of the hosts.
One kind of web hosting is shared hosting, in which, various websites are positioned in a single server component linked to the Internet. Each website is given its own space, partition and section on the server, thus, separating it form the other websites. This method of hosting is extremely cost-effective, as many people get to share the total cost of maintaining the web server. Shared hosting can be done in two ways – Name based and IP based. In name based method, there are various host names on a single individual machine, while in the IP based method, each individual host has its own IP address and one of the main benefits of using this method is that it can employ its own SSL certificate.
If your website has started receiving a lot of traffic as well as SQL requests, then you can hog your shared server and can dissatisfy other customers. In such a scenario, you can opt to move towards a dedicated server or a Virtual Private Server (VPS). A VPS will provide you a root-level access to your server simply like that in a shared hosting account. In comparison to dedicated hosting, VPS is quite cost-effective, but dedicated ones have better configurations of the hardware. With a VPS plan, the users will still share the physical resources but will be able to enjoy a private server, but with a dedicated plan, you have the entire web server all by yourself.
For a detailed comparison of the top 5 hosting companies and more information about starting a web based business please follow the link below.

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A Comprehensive Mini-Guide To Web Hosting

A Comprehensive Mini-Guide To Web Hosting

What is web hosting: In the simplest words, web hosting is putting up your website or domain on the World Wide Web (www) Network. ‘Putting up’ is termed as hosting. Web hosting is done in order to give access to the world to your site (your page or the contents). Web hosting is done with the help of a server, which is connected to the internet.

In order to have your page/site connected to the web, you will have first to name it. The page/site name is called domain name. There are free domains where you need not pay for hosting, but here you have very restricted services. Hence, it is good if you have a low cost domain hosting if you have a low budget, but paid is preferable to the free services. Domain names usually end with .com. However, there are other suffixes like .org, .edu, .info, .in, .net and so on, which are as popular. Some suffixes indicate the business they are in like .edu will definitely be educational; .au is from Australia, .ro from Romania, and so on. When you choose a domain name, you must keep in mind that it will represent you on the web. So, choose a simple and concise name, preferably one that reflects or is your brand name. Simplicity is as important as accuracy as people will need to remember it to get back to you. It should not be too difficult to remember.

Once you decide on the domain name, you will have to turn your attention to the other factors required for a good web hosting decision, i.e. capacity of storage for your domain, traffic transfer capacity, customer support services, and reliability of the servers.

For storage capacity, you will need a minimum of 500 MB, which will be up gradable by your web host when you feel you need it. This usually involves a hike in the web-hosting price as well. With regard to traffic transfer or bandwidth, most web hosts offer about 100 GB traffic transfer per month which is okay for a small to medium website. Please take care that this is included as without the traffic to your website, your site will be dead. Some web hosts who charge very less for hosting will have additional prices for traffic transfer. Be sure you know about it and agree to it. Once you are with a web host, changing is cumbersome.

The most critical factor is service support. In order to have a good traffic and build good rapport your website should be always functional. In case there are some problem in accessing, opening of pages, or downloading, the web host should be able to settle the problem as fast as possible as time will cost you money and business rapport. Ideally, they should provide you with round the clock, seven-days-a-week service for paid services.

Last but not the least; their server’s reliability is synonymous with the reliability of your site in the eyes of your customers. If your site throws up ‘server not available’ all the time, your customers will shift their business elsewhere. Hence, you have to ensure that your web hosting is done by reliable and up-to-date servers, which can and will provide round the clock service with adequate back up in case of any interruption. They have to assure you to deliver 99.5% uptime, and their backup plans.

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Affiliate Tip – Build A Website

Affiliate Tip – Build A Website

One of the first things you should do as an affiliate marketer is to build you own website. Yes, you can market affiliate programs without it by adding links to your email or signature file on message boards, but you will be very limited in how much you can earn this way. Building a website allows you to expose the products you are promoting to a much larger audience with less effort.

Decide on a Topic

Your first step is to decide what you would like your website to be about. Find a topic you like, something you are passionate about. You will be spending a lot of time creating content for your site, so it may as well be something you enjoy reading and writing about. Your enthusiasm for the subject will shine through as well, and will get your visitors interested. Once you have your topic, make sure there are affiliate products available that compliment the site and that there are people interested in buying it.

Pick a Domain Name

Use a site like register.com, or your web host’s site to research available domain names. It helps to have one of your major keywords in your domain name. So if you decided your website will be about growing roses, try to work “rose” in the domain name. You want your domain name to be easy to remember and easy to type. Try to avoid using dashes in the name and find something that’s available as a dot com address.

Hosting

The next step is to set up a web hosting account. You should be able to get by with a basic personal website package to begin with. Get some recommendations from others when it comes to choosing the actual hosting company. You want a service that is reliable and has good customer service. After all, you won’t be making any money when you site is down. I have been using Dayana hosting for years and highly recommend them.

Site Builder or Software

Let’s talk about how you can build your website. Your options are using a site builder, like internetbasedfamilies.com or software like Microsoft FrontPage, or my favorite x-site pro. A site builder is usually easier to use in the beginning and hosting is included. You will pay a monthly fee for the software and hosting combined. If you build your site using software like x-site pro or FrontPage, you have the added initial expense of buying the software, but your monthly hosting costs are usually lower. Of course a third option is to have someone else design the site for you. You should still get familiar with the site builder or software, so you can make changes to the site.

Getting Traffic To The Site

Your last step will be getting traffic to your site. Optimize your pages for search engines to get free traffic. You can also write articles and submit them to article directories. Pay per click advertising and buying ads on other related sites or newsletters are also great ways to drive traffic to your site.

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Mambo (CMS) for Web Hosting

Mambo (CMS) for Web Hosting

Mambo is a Content Management System (CMS) that can be use for any type of website. Some Cheap Web Hosting companies have Mambo included in Fantastico. Fantastico allows you to auto install scripts or programs like Mambo, Blogs, Forums, FAQS and much more.

If you are not a programmer you don’t have to worry anymore since Mambo pretty much do the coding or programming for you and it’s really simple to use. With this kind of CMS you can have your website up and running in just couple minutes.

These are some of the features that Mambo (CMS) have:

*Advertising Management
*Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL’s.
*Polls
*Forums
*Templates
*Events Calendar
*Blogs
*Directories

and much more.

For all of us that are programmers but we don’t want to code something that is already done this is a good solution. You can find a lot of modules, components and more like Polls, Events Calendar, and Photo album for Mambo. A lot of Cheap Web Hosting companies support Mambo or let you use mambo in their Web Hosting.

My experience with Mambo in the past was great. Mambo lets you code yourself if you need to and also it lets you add new modules or components and I also recommend you to use Mambo for Web Hosting even if you are planning to do a big website.

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Cheap Domain Name Registrar

Cheap Domain Name Registrar

If you’re interested in starting a website for your company or even just for your own personal use, there are a few things you’ll have to do first. One of the first steps you’ll have to take is to register a domain name. Domain names, also referred to as Internet or web addresses, are the lines you type into your browser to let it know where to go. These usually start with www, and end in .com, .org, .uk, or any number of other extensions. When you’re starting a new website, you’ll have to make sure the web address you want is not already taken by another website. First check on your own – type in the address you’d like to have, and see if anything comes up. Keep doing this until you find one that’s not taken. When you have an address that works, it’s time to go to a domain provider.

Different domain providers offer varying levels of service. Some offer only the bare service of registering the domain name, and require you to perform all requisite design and hosting operations on your own. Many offer web storage as well, allowing you to use their servers to store your website. Unless you have the kind of 24 / 7 Internet access and server technology it takes to host a website yourself, you’re going to have to use a web hosting company to keep your website online. Some web hosting companies even offer web design services for an extra fee, allowing you to focus on nothing but the actual content of your site, while others may register you for access by popular web search engines.

When you’re looking for a web hosting service, it’s a good idea to find one that offers telephone support. If something goes wrong with your website, you don’t want to spend hours trying to figure it out online yourself – instead, you want to be able to call the service directly and talk with a real person who can help you solve your problems.

You may also want to consider using a local UK based service rather than overseas companies such as those found in the US or India. Local web hosting services are more likely to understand your specific needs and the unique aspects of web hosting in the UK. ICANN accreditation is especially good to look for, as are local TLD accreditations such as that held by the massive UK Company Nominet. Nominet is responsible for the .uk web suffix, and is the fourth largest registration company in the world.

Prices vary widely depending on how much and how good the service is that you expect to get. For a simple registration – keep in mind that this requires you to have your own server and design technology – companies like Nominet may charge as little as two or three pounds a year. If you’re looking for the more standard options, though, including web hosting and search engine registration, expect to pay around ten pounds a year. Considering cable and broadband bills these days, ten pounds is pocket change. So register your website today and place your company on the cutting edge of the modern marketplace.

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