If you're just starting out in the world of the Internet and the world-wide-web, welcome to the fastest growing, most competitive and most exciting marketplace in the history of buying and selling. By definition, web hosting is a type of service that gives individuals and organizations the opportunity to make their own web site accessible via the world wide web. So, if you want to setup a web site on the Internet, you will need a web host. But after a quick search in Google, you will see that making the choice as to which type of web hosting you will need for your web site is no easy task.
Spend a little time searching the web and you'll find a gazillion web hosting providers, review sites, data centers, collocation facilities, and even a company that offers domain name registration by a hunter of African elephants. They make it sound easy to build a profitable web business, but wake-up-call time: building a profitable, web-based business takes hard work, long hours and, most importantly, careful planning and selection of the right vendors. Sure, your neighbor brags about the dough she's raking in on her maintenance-free web site, or your brother-in-law just bought a fancy car on his PPC earnings. People do earn money on the web, but it isn't luck or good karma. It's planning for success and if you're just starting to think about taking the digital dive in to the world of the Internet, consider these questions and, oh yeah, develop the answers before you spend a penny on your vision.
Top 10 Web Hosting Trends:
Green web hosting - Green or Eco-friendly web site hosting is a contemporary addition to the field that involves a given provider attempting to prove that they do not have negative impacts on the environment. Many webmasters are moving their web sites to a green web hosting provider not only to reduce their carbon footprint, but also to prove to their visitors that their company values the environment and is respectful to it.
Cloud hosting - Cloud computing provides on-demand resources via a computer network and offers computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. Parallels to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to provide the service.
VPS hosting - VPS hosting or Virtual Private Server hosting refers to a virtual machine for use exclusively by an individual customer of the service. A virtual machine is a completely independent and isolated operating system installation within a normal operating system. VPS hosting allows customers who need a dedicated machine and root access but are not yet ready to pay the large investment required for a dedicated machine.
Carbon neutral hosting - Carbon neutral hosting refers to a service that has a net zero carbon footprint and allows webmasters the opportunity to achieve net zero carbon emissions resulting from the hosting of their online pages.
Wind powered hosting - Wind powered web hosting refers to web hosting services that use wind energy from wind turbines, for example, converted into electricity.
Solar powered web hosting - Solar powered refers to web hosting that is powered by radiant light and heat from the sun as opposed to traditional electricity.
Joomla hosting - Joomla is an increasingly popular open-source content management system for publishing content on the world wide web. Joomla easily integrates with themes and extensions that are available from third-party sources that make designing and developing a sophisticated yet aesthetically pleasing web site simple. There are numerous commercial extensions available from the official Joomla! Extension Directory and quite a bit more available from other sources. Many providers offer the installation of Joomla on their accounts for no additional charge, but be fore-warned that not many provider have adequate experience needed in order to provide support to clients who are developing their site with Joomla.
WordPress hosting - WordPress is an open-source blogging tool that is used by nearly thirteen percent of all web sites on the Internet. It is an easy to learn and use tool that makes setting up a web site simple due to its plug-in architecture and template system.
Drupal hosting - Drupal is an open-source content management system that provides web developers the tools needed to customize Drupal's behavior and appearance. Drupal offers a futuristic programming interface for developers, and no programming skills are required for basic web site installation and administration, but it is more complex than Joomla and WordPress. Drupal powers nearly two percent of all web sites on the Internet. Drupal offers modules, themes, and associated configuration settings that prepare Drupal for custom operation for sophisticated web developers.
Reseller hosting - Reseller hosting refers to a provider that has purchased services with the intention of reselling them. Because of the multitude of resellers in the web hosting industry, it has become more difficult to differentiate a reseller from a web hosting provider that has their own dedicated servers. Reseller hosting has become increasingly popular as a means to generate income for web design firms.
Choosing a new web host for a redesign project
Many companies are re-designing their web site to remain competitive, to simplify the navigation and provide visitors with a more user-friendly experience. By redesigning a web site, companies have the opportunity to remain more competitive and stay current with new technology. And by offering a better web site - voila - simpler navigation, simpler search for a specific item may lead to increased sales or leads. Yep, even the most successful sites are constantly revising their look, the organization and the ease-of-use for site visitors.
Web site redesign tips
Your web site navigation should be simple, straightforward and 100% functional. Labels should be clearly understood by any site visitor. Assume no knowledge on the part of the people who visit your on-line business site. They may not have any knowledge of your business and you have only a few seconds to engage a visitor and create interest in your brand before the visitor can hit the back button and exit your site.
When designing your site, place yourself in the position of the first-time visitor and configure your site for that prospect. Hey, if it worked for Jeff Bezos (Amazon's founder)...it should work for you.
Choosing a web hosting provider
When making this important decision, ask a lot of questions of your web host or prospective provider. Do you employ Energy Star equipment? Do you use power from carbon-neutral sources? How is the office powered? How are the servers cooled? How is old, outdated equipment disposed of? If you don't like the answers you get, you won't like working with that web host.
Further, a truly contemporary hosting service wants YOUR site visitors to recognize your commitment to a cleaner planet today and in the future so most offer an emblem you can display on your web site - an emblem that proudly proclaims that your site is hosted by a green corporate culture...a corporate culture that becomes YOUR corporate culture.
So go green and tell prospects all about yourself. It's the future of web hosting today. It's the future of our planet. Today.
==
==
==
==
==
What Your Web Host Should Provide For You - Part 4 Of the How To Build Your Web Site Series
In my previous articles in this series (Parts 1-3) on How To Build A Web Site both available here at EzineArticles.com) I began to outline just what is needed for the "real" web-site to succeed. In this article we are going to discuss what your web host (commonly known as a "server-farm") should be offering you in the base package. There are quite a few excellent web hosting companies out there and you should be able to find one to suit your needs.
First let us make a few things clear.
1. You do not need to be physically close to your hosting company. They do not need to be in the same state nor in the same country for that matter. However, they should be able to provide their customers with uninterrupted, fast access to the internet backbone. The last thing you need is some bottleneck caused because you are paying someone to serve your site out on a web server that is connected with the same type of line you are!
2. All that being said, take into account that from time to time you will need to talk or email your hosting company. If you need to talk to them, and you are not in the same time zone that will cause some sleepless nights on your part. For instance. I live in Israel, and if I use a web hosting company in California, which is usually 10 hours behind us, then I must take that into account if I need to speak to a techie there.
3. Yes you should look for the best bang for your buck - but beware of the too-good-to-be-true deals. The Hosting company is in business to make money - not to do you a favor. So if it sounds too too too cheap or too too too good it probably is just the opposite, and you should stay away.
Okay now down to some particulars and some technical information which you will need to understand to correctly pick what you need from a hosting company.
Amount of disk space - This is the amount of disk space your site will take up on the server. Packages usually begin at 100 mgs. and go up to 1 gig and beyond. Remember this is the physical allocation of how much your files will take up on the server.
Bandwidth - This is crucial. Hosting companies create packages based on Bandwidth + Disk space. If your bandwidth is not unlimited be careful here. Every single person who hits your site, even if they stay for one second, uses your bandwidth. YOU USE IT TOO! When you upload and download files as well. This bandwidth gets monitored. And you are allowed X during one month. Go over, and you usually will pay through the nose. So be realistic. New web sites, unless they are built by Bill Gates, usually do not need a lot of bandwidth. Wait on the big MOMMA package until you REALLY need it. BUT do not underestimate it either. Ask the Host Provider what they think if you are in doubt.
FTP access - A real MUST. If you do not know what FTP is and you are planning on building a web site....well we will deal with it in a future article. For now on your list of MUST HAVE is FTP access.
Okay now what should your Web Host be providing IN the package:
At least ONE FREE domain name registration. This is the name of your site. http://www.yoursite.com or whatever. You already own a domain name? Does not make a difference. You may want another one and since it is part of the package then make sure they allow you to keep you the ability to register as long as you remain a client.
FTP Access - Depending on the package you will get from one to XXX number of FTP accounts. Personally I have no idea why anyone would need more than say 5 FTP user names and passwords, but hey, who am I to argue when they throw in 100 FTP accounts!
Disk size & Bandwidth - Make sure YOU ARE CLEAR ON THIS.
Linux or Window Servers - see my previous article on these
Are you going to use FrontPage? Then check to see if they have Frontpage Extensions installed. Most do, but it is important to check.
PHP - Do they have it installed? If you are getting into web site building, then make sure you get PHP support. And here is a caveat. Find out just how much memory they have allocated for PHP use as well. 8 megs of memory is usually okay but 16 megs is much much better.
ASP - Windows Servers If you are going to use ASP technology (MS answer to PHP) then make sure you have a Windows Server.
Email Accounts - How many do they give you? Oy Vey you say. What do you need more than a couple of email accounts? Hah. Try this on for size...
webmaster@yoursite.com
support@yoursite.com
sales@yoursite.com
info@yoursite.com
james@yoursite.com
ellen@yoursite.com
newletter@yoursite.com
salesperson1@yoursite.com
salesperson2@yoursite.com
salesperson3@yoursite.com
salesperson4@yoursite.com
salesperson5@yoursite.com
salesperson6@yoursite.com
You never have enough email accounts! (And btw you can always gmail to create accounts as well. It is a great alternative though it does not have your domain name.) With your email you should be given web-based access with the ability to create accounts within your parameters and it should have auto responders as well.
Tech Support - 24 X 7X 365 and I mean that. You have NO idea how many times on a Sunday night you will have to be in touch with some technical support cause you got the message "Server Unavailable" on your screen when you went to check your web site, and then swallowed a few hundred valium to calm down.
MySql support - Do they have MySql? Do you "create" the tables or do they? Are you limited in the amount of tables? Do they allow PHPMyadmin access to the MYSQL tables?
There are a lot of other parameters as well. But these are the basics. Do research. Google and Yahoo and MSN search for Web Providers, Host Providers etc. You will find directories of all and user comments as well.
One final point. BEFORE you sign and pull out the Credit Card, and in less than 24 hours have your web site all set up - ASK YOUR PROVIDER FOR A FEW COMPANIES THEY HOST. Then on your own line access them with the URL. See how fast they appear on your screen. See what the access time is compared to what you are used to. If all of them are slow, then go to another provider. Don't waste your time! (I didn't say one - I said ALL!)
HTML pages will pop up usually. PHP pages take a bit more processing time. ASP pops up usually. So just use it as one of your measuring sticks, not to make the final assessment.
Spend a little time searching the web and you'll find a gazillion web hosting providers, review sites, data centers, collocation facilities, and even a company that offers domain name registration by a hunter of African elephants. They make it sound easy to build a profitable web business, but wake-up-call time: building a profitable, web-based business takes hard work, long hours and, most importantly, careful planning and selection of the right vendors. Sure, your neighbor brags about the dough she's raking in on her maintenance-free web site, or your brother-in-law just bought a fancy car on his PPC earnings. People do earn money on the web, but it isn't luck or good karma. It's planning for success and if you're just starting to think about taking the digital dive in to the world of the Internet, consider these questions and, oh yeah, develop the answers before you spend a penny on your vision.
Top 10 Web Hosting Trends:
Green web hosting - Green or Eco-friendly web site hosting is a contemporary addition to the field that involves a given provider attempting to prove that they do not have negative impacts on the environment. Many webmasters are moving their web sites to a green web hosting provider not only to reduce their carbon footprint, but also to prove to their visitors that their company values the environment and is respectful to it.
Cloud hosting - Cloud computing provides on-demand resources via a computer network and offers computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. Parallels to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to provide the service.
VPS hosting - VPS hosting or Virtual Private Server hosting refers to a virtual machine for use exclusively by an individual customer of the service. A virtual machine is a completely independent and isolated operating system installation within a normal operating system. VPS hosting allows customers who need a dedicated machine and root access but are not yet ready to pay the large investment required for a dedicated machine.
Carbon neutral hosting - Carbon neutral hosting refers to a service that has a net zero carbon footprint and allows webmasters the opportunity to achieve net zero carbon emissions resulting from the hosting of their online pages.
Wind powered hosting - Wind powered web hosting refers to web hosting services that use wind energy from wind turbines, for example, converted into electricity.
Solar powered web hosting - Solar powered refers to web hosting that is powered by radiant light and heat from the sun as opposed to traditional electricity.
Joomla hosting - Joomla is an increasingly popular open-source content management system for publishing content on the world wide web. Joomla easily integrates with themes and extensions that are available from third-party sources that make designing and developing a sophisticated yet aesthetically pleasing web site simple. There are numerous commercial extensions available from the official Joomla! Extension Directory and quite a bit more available from other sources. Many providers offer the installation of Joomla on their accounts for no additional charge, but be fore-warned that not many provider have adequate experience needed in order to provide support to clients who are developing their site with Joomla.
WordPress hosting - WordPress is an open-source blogging tool that is used by nearly thirteen percent of all web sites on the Internet. It is an easy to learn and use tool that makes setting up a web site simple due to its plug-in architecture and template system.
Drupal hosting - Drupal is an open-source content management system that provides web developers the tools needed to customize Drupal's behavior and appearance. Drupal offers a futuristic programming interface for developers, and no programming skills are required for basic web site installation and administration, but it is more complex than Joomla and WordPress. Drupal powers nearly two percent of all web sites on the Internet. Drupal offers modules, themes, and associated configuration settings that prepare Drupal for custom operation for sophisticated web developers.
Reseller hosting - Reseller hosting refers to a provider that has purchased services with the intention of reselling them. Because of the multitude of resellers in the web hosting industry, it has become more difficult to differentiate a reseller from a web hosting provider that has their own dedicated servers. Reseller hosting has become increasingly popular as a means to generate income for web design firms.
Choosing a new web host for a redesign project
Many companies are re-designing their web site to remain competitive, to simplify the navigation and provide visitors with a more user-friendly experience. By redesigning a web site, companies have the opportunity to remain more competitive and stay current with new technology. And by offering a better web site - voila - simpler navigation, simpler search for a specific item may lead to increased sales or leads. Yep, even the most successful sites are constantly revising their look, the organization and the ease-of-use for site visitors.
Web site redesign tips
Your web site navigation should be simple, straightforward and 100% functional. Labels should be clearly understood by any site visitor. Assume no knowledge on the part of the people who visit your on-line business site. They may not have any knowledge of your business and you have only a few seconds to engage a visitor and create interest in your brand before the visitor can hit the back button and exit your site.
When designing your site, place yourself in the position of the first-time visitor and configure your site for that prospect. Hey, if it worked for Jeff Bezos (Amazon's founder)...it should work for you.
Choosing a web hosting provider
When making this important decision, ask a lot of questions of your web host or prospective provider. Do you employ Energy Star equipment? Do you use power from carbon-neutral sources? How is the office powered? How are the servers cooled? How is old, outdated equipment disposed of? If you don't like the answers you get, you won't like working with that web host.
Further, a truly contemporary hosting service wants YOUR site visitors to recognize your commitment to a cleaner planet today and in the future so most offer an emblem you can display on your web site - an emblem that proudly proclaims that your site is hosted by a green corporate culture...a corporate culture that becomes YOUR corporate culture.
So go green and tell prospects all about yourself. It's the future of web hosting today. It's the future of our planet. Today.
==
==
==
==
==
What Your Web Host Should Provide For You - Part 4 Of the How To Build Your Web Site Series
In my previous articles in this series (Parts 1-3) on How To Build A Web Site both available here at EzineArticles.com) I began to outline just what is needed for the "real" web-site to succeed. In this article we are going to discuss what your web host (commonly known as a "server-farm") should be offering you in the base package. There are quite a few excellent web hosting companies out there and you should be able to find one to suit your needs.
First let us make a few things clear.
1. You do not need to be physically close to your hosting company. They do not need to be in the same state nor in the same country for that matter. However, they should be able to provide their customers with uninterrupted, fast access to the internet backbone. The last thing you need is some bottleneck caused because you are paying someone to serve your site out on a web server that is connected with the same type of line you are!
2. All that being said, take into account that from time to time you will need to talk or email your hosting company. If you need to talk to them, and you are not in the same time zone that will cause some sleepless nights on your part. For instance. I live in Israel, and if I use a web hosting company in California, which is usually 10 hours behind us, then I must take that into account if I need to speak to a techie there.
3. Yes you should look for the best bang for your buck - but beware of the too-good-to-be-true deals. The Hosting company is in business to make money - not to do you a favor. So if it sounds too too too cheap or too too too good it probably is just the opposite, and you should stay away.
Okay now down to some particulars and some technical information which you will need to understand to correctly pick what you need from a hosting company.
Amount of disk space - This is the amount of disk space your site will take up on the server. Packages usually begin at 100 mgs. and go up to 1 gig and beyond. Remember this is the physical allocation of how much your files will take up on the server.
Bandwidth - This is crucial. Hosting companies create packages based on Bandwidth + Disk space. If your bandwidth is not unlimited be careful here. Every single person who hits your site, even if they stay for one second, uses your bandwidth. YOU USE IT TOO! When you upload and download files as well. This bandwidth gets monitored. And you are allowed X during one month. Go over, and you usually will pay through the nose. So be realistic. New web sites, unless they are built by Bill Gates, usually do not need a lot of bandwidth. Wait on the big MOMMA package until you REALLY need it. BUT do not underestimate it either. Ask the Host Provider what they think if you are in doubt.
FTP access - A real MUST. If you do not know what FTP is and you are planning on building a web site....well we will deal with it in a future article. For now on your list of MUST HAVE is FTP access.
Okay now what should your Web Host be providing IN the package:
At least ONE FREE domain name registration. This is the name of your site. http://www.yoursite.com or whatever. You already own a domain name? Does not make a difference. You may want another one and since it is part of the package then make sure they allow you to keep you the ability to register as long as you remain a client.
FTP Access - Depending on the package you will get from one to XXX number of FTP accounts. Personally I have no idea why anyone would need more than say 5 FTP user names and passwords, but hey, who am I to argue when they throw in 100 FTP accounts!
Disk size & Bandwidth - Make sure YOU ARE CLEAR ON THIS.
Linux or Window Servers - see my previous article on these
Are you going to use FrontPage? Then check to see if they have Frontpage Extensions installed. Most do, but it is important to check.
PHP - Do they have it installed? If you are getting into web site building, then make sure you get PHP support. And here is a caveat. Find out just how much memory they have allocated for PHP use as well. 8 megs of memory is usually okay but 16 megs is much much better.
ASP - Windows Servers If you are going to use ASP technology (MS answer to PHP) then make sure you have a Windows Server.
Email Accounts - How many do they give you? Oy Vey you say. What do you need more than a couple of email accounts? Hah. Try this on for size...
webmaster@yoursite.com
support@yoursite.com
sales@yoursite.com
info@yoursite.com
james@yoursite.com
ellen@yoursite.com
newletter@yoursite.com
salesperson1@yoursite.com
salesperson2@yoursite.com
salesperson3@yoursite.com
salesperson4@yoursite.com
salesperson5@yoursite.com
salesperson6@yoursite.com
You never have enough email accounts! (And btw you can always gmail to create accounts as well. It is a great alternative though it does not have your domain name.) With your email you should be given web-based access with the ability to create accounts within your parameters and it should have auto responders as well.
Tech Support - 24 X 7X 365 and I mean that. You have NO idea how many times on a Sunday night you will have to be in touch with some technical support cause you got the message "Server Unavailable" on your screen when you went to check your web site, and then swallowed a few hundred valium to calm down.
MySql support - Do they have MySql? Do you "create" the tables or do they? Are you limited in the amount of tables? Do they allow PHPMyadmin access to the MYSQL tables?
There are a lot of other parameters as well. But these are the basics. Do research. Google and Yahoo and MSN search for Web Providers, Host Providers etc. You will find directories of all and user comments as well.
One final point. BEFORE you sign and pull out the Credit Card, and in less than 24 hours have your web site all set up - ASK YOUR PROVIDER FOR A FEW COMPANIES THEY HOST. Then on your own line access them with the URL. See how fast they appear on your screen. See what the access time is compared to what you are used to. If all of them are slow, then go to another provider. Don't waste your time! (I didn't say one - I said ALL!)
HTML pages will pop up usually. PHP pages take a bit more processing time. ASP pops up usually. So just use it as one of your measuring sticks, not to make the final assessment.
No comments:
Post a Comment