Web hosting

How To Make The Most When Web Hosting

It’s likely that you’ve heard of web hosting, but you do not know what the term means. All it is really is a company that can provide a server so that other people can create their own unique websites. The following article will answer many other questions you may have about web hosting, and how it can work best for you. Considering using a dedicated server in order to improve your web hosting service. Dedicated servers give more bandwidth, additional security and extra storage space for your growing site. Your customers will have the best experience when visiting your website. Keep in mind that a happy customer is one that will probably come back.
Think about paying extra to get secure server certificates for site safety purposes. You can add an icon to your website which informs users that your site is secure, and this can make them more trusting of the transaction security on your site.
Prior to making the final decision on your hosting company, check their safety and security features. You need to ensure that they have a strict policy that will protect your site (and your information) from hackers or other online dangers. A good hosting site will be constantly backing up their servers.
For the typical website, the variety of add-ons offered by web hosting companies can be largely useless. Unlimited storage can sound like an awesome deal, but a modest business or other site does not necessarily need that feature. When it comes to the needs of most site owners, the extras really benefit the web host’s bottom line more than the end user.
One important aspect of modern hosting you need to consider is the control panel used to automate certain routine web hosting tasks. Ideally, a provider should include options for troubleshooting, customer support and tutorials. If the navigation panel appears too technical or complex, you may wish to pursue a more user-friendly option.
The ideal web hosting service empowers you to create, maintain and share your website with others through use of a server. Now that you’ve read these tips, you should know more about web hosting and what resources are at your disposal.

What Everyone Needs To Know About Web Hosting

What would need to happen if you’re trying to put up a site to show off some items you made and then wished to sell them? First, you would require a shopping cart on the site. Some hosts will offer this ability, but the costs will be different from company to company, while others won’t have it available. Review the piece that follows in order to better understand how to shop for a web hosting service.
Make sure that there are various ways of contacting your web host if some kind of a problem should arise. A company with good customer service will be able to be contacted 24 hours a day, either through phone, email or chat support. This will cause you less headaches, if something unexpected happens.
Have a list of several possible hosts that you like before you pick a single web hosting service. Only relying on two means that lots of errors could exist in your decision because their experience levels could be different from yours, or they could have an affiliation with the particular business that is providing the hosting services.
Don’t select a web hosting service that has enough space for you right now; select one that gives you room to grow. One page of HTML doesn’t require much space, but as you make your site more complex by adding images and video, your space requirement will grow rapidly. Try to have access to at least 100 MB of space to ensure you have enough space for your site to develop.
Find out whether you can transfer your domain name to a different host before deciding whether to change web hosting services. You will find some that do and others that do not. It is unfortunate, but it can create a lull in your business as clients need to be acclimated to your new site.
You need to know that your web hosting firm offers the features you find most valuable. Look for basics such as FrontPage support, Email service, SSL certificates and any other feature related to your activity.
By comparing the tips in this article with the services offered by your web host, you can determine if the host is a good fit for your website. Only pay for features that you truly need.

6 gotchas about web hosting quality and reliability

If you’re not used to thinking in terms of website availability and reliability, we hope that the insights below may help you to a greater understanding of the factors you should keep in mind when selecting a quality hosting company.
Considering that we specialize in website and server monitoring, we tend to think about these issues all day long, all year long. Several people here at Pingdom also have plenty of experience from having worked in the web hosting industry. This means that we have both the insider’s and outsider’s perspective on web hosting, so we figured we were in a good position to share some insights about web hosting that many people aren’t aware of.

No web hosting company will have 100% uptime in the long run. It simply doesn’t happen. They may have zero downtime (100% uptime) for a few months, but sooner or later something will happen. There are simply too many factors involved (networks, power, equipment failure, software issues, human errors, etc), and not all of them are under the control of the hosting company.
Maintenance isn’t included in uptime numbers. When hosting companies calculate uptime, they usually don’t include downtime caused by planned maintenance. This means that if a web hosting company says it guarantees a 99.9% uptime, it means 99.9% uptime minus the maintenance.
99.8% uptime means DOUBLE the downtime of 99.9%. They look close, but a 99.9% uptime means 8 hours and 45 minutes of downtime in a year, while 99.8% means 17 hours and 30 minutes. A 99.8% uptime is acceptable, but a 99.9% uptime (or better) is preferred if your site is important to you.
Your site’s downtime = hosting downtime PLUS your downtime. It may seem strict to demand a 99.9% uptime or higher from a host, but keep the following in mind: Your own site problems and maintenance will add downtime ON TOP of that of the hosting company. This means that your best case scenario will be limited by the hosting company. In other words, your downtime is your downtime combined with that of your host.
There is no such thing as unlimited. You see it advertised a lot, with web hosts offering unlimited resources to customers. What it really means is “enough for most users”. However, if you use enough resources to disturb the performance of the other sites on the web server, your account will sooner or later be suspended. Truly unlimited options simply don’t exist. (This only applies to shared hosting, of course.) Another reason unlimited doesn’t exist is pure performance. You can only transfer a limited amount of data, use a limited amount of CPU, and only have a limited amount of active connections to your site.
On a shared hosting account, your site shares a server with potentially hundreds of other sites. Just as your site’s use of shared hosting resources can affect other sites on that server, those other sites can affect yours. Keep an eye out for sudden or gradual changes in performance. Shared hosting is a good and affordable entry point into web hosting, but you should be aware that it (in general) has a number of potential performance pitfalls, something we have written about in the past.

There are of course plenty of other factors that you will want to keep in mind. For example the quality of their support, what their track record is, etc. Asking around on forums such as Web Hosting Talk and doing your own research via Google can be helpful here.
Are there other “gotchas” that belong in this list? Let us know in the comments.

What Do I Need to Know About Web Hosting?

Simple layouts are easy to use and easy for visitors to read.

While having your own Web space and domain name can give you a soapbox on the Internet, it comes with some costs and responsibility. When you're looking into picking up Web hosting, consider the company itself, the plans available and how they fit your needs, your level of dedication to handling the website, and your ability to create an intelligent, readable content.

Hosting Companies

The biggest hurdle is in choosing a Web hosting company that encompasses your website's needs -- this includes not only the right kind of plan and features, but a solid record of server up-time and customer support. If possible, find a hosting company that offers telephone support. Also, some hosting companies are considered "green" hosting -- if this is an issue important to you, consider using one of these hosting services. Choose a service that has an affordable billing procedure that can be upgraded or adjusted.

Updates and Downtime

A website needs to be updated as quickly and efficiently as possible -- and it needs to be available whenever a potential visitor might stumble across it. Make sure that the hosting company you're considering doesn't have a history of downtime, and that their servers update immediately when you upload to your website.

Space and Bandwidth

Choose a plan that offers the right amount of Web space -- the physical space available to store the files for your website -- and bandwidth -- the total amount of data that can be transferred to visitors. Smaller websites with less media content and more text will require less space and bandwidth than websites that feature a lot of media streaming or available files for download. As your website gets bigger and attracts more visitors, it will use more bandwidth.

Accessibility and Services

Choose a hosting service that allows you to upload your website files via FTP. This makes it easy for you to copy files to your Web space without having to log in via the host's website, and allows any designers or employees to log on with their own user name and password. Additionally, if you need to use MySQL databases, PHP, or CGI, make sure that your host offers access to these services with your desired plan, and be aware of any limitations to your use of these services.

Web Design

Less a function of the hosting service and more a concern for the webmaster, a functional, aesthetically pleasing design can make a website -- and a juvenile or jarring one can break it. If you don't have the graphic know-how to create an impressive website layout, you can download a pre-made template, use a blog-management service such as WordPress, or hire a graphic designer to create your layout. Also, some hosting plans offer access to website design and editor tools.

References

Resources

About the Author

Ashley Poland has been freelancing since 2009. She has worked with local online businesses for their print and Web content, and pursues an active interest in the computer, technology and gaming industries. In addition to freelancing, Poland is also a fiction writer. She studied creative writing at Kansas State University.