Choose a Web Hosting Provider That You Can Trust

In the world of branding, trust is the most perishable of assets. Polling in recent months shows that increasing numbers of consumers distrust not just the obvious suspects-the banks-but business as a whole. So, it begs the question, how do you choose a web hosting provider that you can trust? Your web hosting provider is your online partner. You rely on your web host to provider quality web hosting for your pages and uptime that doesn't leave you holding the bag. The company you choose to store your web site and provide access to the world wide web SHOULD be your friend - your business partner. In fact, your web host SHOULD put your interests first. After all, if your web business soars to success, your provider shares in that success with a stable client base.

Trust in the industry

Not long ago, trust and reputation were the domain of the PR department. That approach doesn't work so well now-and not just because recession, job insecurity, and hammered home values have made consumers disinclined to part with their coin. The days of consumers passively absorbing a TV commercial-or, for that matter, a banner ad-are over. So how does a web hosting provider build trust among its clients? To begin with, look for a long history of web-based success. Look for a company that's been delivering hosting services for more than 10 years and has management in place to handle an expanding client base efficiently. A web host that looks after its clients sticks around and a company management with years of experience knows how to treat clients. They even know how to help clients achieve web success - something good for the client and good for the host - a win-win.

The importance of trust

Even before the economic meltdown, companies with trust issues began realizing they couldn't keep talking past the problem with slick banner ads. Trust and transparency are more important to us than ever. Gone are the warm, fuzzy, and inspirational ads celebrating the American dream and hard work. Webmasters are looking for more depth-they are looking for a web host that they can trust. Some web hosting providers have a pretty good story to tell and marketing executives are trying to persuade web hosts to be more transparent and open.

Consumers are telling companies in a thousand ways that if you aren't open with me, then I won't trust you.

Does your provider require you to sign a long term contract?

That tells you something right there. Does your provider offer the option to choose month-to-month billing? Some companies require you to sign up for long-term in order to get started. These companies want to lock you in for three months, six months, a year, knowing that you might not hit that home run. Even so, you will be paying those hosting fees for the full term of the contract. If your provider is your friend - a partner that delivers value - there's no need for a long term contract. No need for any contract at all. Buy your server space and your features a month at a time. As you grow, you can add more space. Or, if you move on to something else, a client centric host is not going to FORCE you to keep paying for services you no longer need.

Real people in the industry

If you're just starting out in the web world and launching your first e-venture, wouldn't it be nice to have someone you could call with questions? Someone with endless patience? Someone who recognizes that your web success is the basis of the web host's success? And you want access to that friend, or a friendly, helpful sub, 24/7. You want someone to explain how to install a blog or to walk you through installing a secure checkout - one-step-at-a-time, even if it takes all night. (it won't.)

A provider that wants to be friends offers that level of service for as little as seven bucks a month! Providers that are less "friendly" limit access to certain hours, they make you pay for the call and some don't even have telephone customer or tech support. If you have a question or problem, you have to drop the web hosting company an e-mail and they will get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, your web site is not getting built and your waiting for a long-distance email response from tech support - and guaranteed, 50% of the time the email answer does not solve the problem. Does your provider have an "about us" section on their web site with contact information, the story of the CEO, an uptime guarantee and money-back guarantee? If not, then it is possible that your web host doesn't want you to know their story. Ask yourself, why?

Is your provider your friend? Well, not if they nickel-and-dime you to death. Not if they sell your email address to every "blue pill" pharmacy west of Beijing. Not if they lock you into a contract for a year. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

A good friend will give you what you need to achieve your objectives.

Some web hosts rent you some disk space and leave the rest up to you. Other, friendlier web hosts, provide a tool box that's filled with free apps and services:

    web site building software
    1000s of customizable site templates so (1) you don't have to know a lot about programming and (2) because these templates are customizable, they don't look like cookie cutter web sites
    free shopping cart and checkout
    free payment gateways
    free blog modules, forum modules and bulletin boards so you create the exact web site to suit the needs of your visitors and your needs.
    security and a ton of it-A friendly web host wants to protect your sensitive client data as much as you do.
    99.9% up time because when your server is down your business is down. Not very friendly.

Top 10 Web Hosting Trends

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.

Web Hosting and Affiliate Marketing

Over the years as Internet growth has accelerated, this demand has also pushed the online business platform of web hosting to grow larger and even more larger trying to keep up with all the new web sites that are being created on a daily basis. It is hard to get an exact number but recent studies show that there is over one hundred million websites currently on the internet with thousands more going live every day. With more companies realizing that they must have an online presence just to compete nowadays and finding the many benefits this medium can provide, the demand for web hosting has never been higher and does not look like ever slowing down. So if you are in to studying trends from the point of an affiliate marketer, then this is definitely one that should be of great interest to you.

Also another major contributing factor when considering web hosting as an affiliate promotion is of course, the most important point of income. As has been proven time and again, back end products are a critical part of any successful internet marketing campaign. In other words, up-selling an already proven loyal customer base over and over by offering new or associated products in the field they have already proven to be interested in. So what could be even better than back end product sales and selling the same client maybe two or three or five times?

Recurring income my friend!

This is the best form of an income producing medium available online at any given moment, at any given time and beats everything else hands down. Not only do you as an affiliate marketer receive commission from that original sale, but you receive ongoing commission every month for the life of the continuing sale. Not only does this give you some great income opportunities but it also stabilizes your online business when it comes to income projections and just all round general stability. You no longer have to worry about how much you will make next month from your affiliate marketing ventures due to fluctuating performances or external influences. Once you have that loyal base of subscribers paying their hosting fees every month you can relax knowing you are guaranteed a certain amount of income to cover your expenses both off and online and you can build up on that base revenue from there.

That is an online marketers dream, to have a stable online presence bringing in guaranteed profits every month without fail. You could take that to the bank. Those 25+ billion web pages (2009 stats) will have to be hosted somewhere, so as an Internet marketer why not get a little bit of that recurring action.

So what to look for in a web host? If you Google web hosting there are 614 million results. Even with quotation marks which cuts it down heaps there are still over 85 million results! That is a heck of a lot of hosting providers to choose from considering you will be recommending and promoting which ever company you choose to go with and putting your hard fought name and reputation behind it.

Now the possibility of a quality web hosting company separating itself from the rest of the pack is not as uncommon as one might think. Three major points quickly come to mind when looking around for a quality web hosting company.

1. Up-time guarantee
2. Technical Support
3. Control Panel

You will notice that money, bandwidth and disk space do not really come into the scope of what makes a great web host as these points are very comparable nowadays from one host to the next. But the three previous points well they can make or break an internet website and so are extremely important.

Up-time simply means the time your website is up and available compared to down and not available. Now 99.9% is a very good up-time ratio and I would not settle for less with any of my sites. Why the down time? Simple the servers that contain all the websites are still mechanical objects that need upgrading, parts replacing and are also prone to breakdowns. There are also software upgrades that have to be carried out from time to time to keep the whole system running smoothly. Now if a hosting company is not properly prepared any one of these upgrades can cause down times where the websites situated on those servers might not be available to anyone on the internet. So do not settle for less in this area as you do not want disgruntled affiliates that you have introduced to this host sending nasty emails directed towards you.

Technical support may not affect the more experienced webmasters but a good free 24/7 tech support can be a godsend to the beginner trying to get their first website up and running properly. Especially the live chat support that some of the big boys in the industry offer. No sending and waiting for tech emails to return that your client may find hard to understand anyway due to all the geek talk. Then trying to blindly follow the directions emailed and getting lost and frustrated. When I need help with one of my websites I simply jump on live chat where I usually end up chatting to someone within 3 minutes who makes any changes that I am not able to do or talks me through the processes i need to carry out live. You cannot beat that for service.

The control panel. Well it might not sound like much but it can definitely make a great deal of difference to an up and coming webmaster. How easy is it to use? What kind of features does it have? C panel is one of the best control panels and you will find a lot of software developers ask their clients "do you have C panel"? As it tends to simplify the whole website process by leaps and bounds. You have features like Fantastico which can automatically install many pieces of software for you including WordPress the most used blogging platform on the web. Many other features are simplified in the C panel such as database creation, email setup and forwarding, domain additions, security, log files (stats on traffic) file management and much much more.

Selecting an Outstanding Web Host to Aid Your SEO Efforts - What to Consider?

The online business is increasing day by day. Every webmaster like you will certainly expect to make your website a cut above the rest and bring high sales volume. Well, this is not an impossible dream; however, it requires a lot of work to be done to fulfill your dream. There are many aspects you need to change or add in your website, such as, great design and informative content. Personally, I think the first most important thing you should make is to find a web server that is smart, realizable and conducive to search engine.

A web server is the backbone of every online web site and it can influence the success of your website or blog. For one thing, all of the great design and quality content you are going to post on your website need the networking connecting service so that they would be accessible to users from all around the world. For another thing, as e-commerce is a cut throat business nowadays, many ecommerce website pay great efforts on Search Engine Optimization, which is one of the most prominent marketing techniques that everyone uses on the internet today, if you are able to select an outstanding web hosting provider and package that would aid your SEO efforts, you can be rest assured that your usage will totally sprout up and the popularity of the blog will rise. Conversely, if you choose the wrong hosting company, you will not able to get a large audience base.

A top ranking can bring thousands of visitors to your website, to find an eminent hosting provider to keep step of SEO effort, you must keep in minds of a number of factors. Reading through this article will help you find the right SEO web host to empower your website.

Location of your target audience
Actually, getting traffic to your website is not so hard. Instead, getting the right traffic that would increase your business possibility and help you generate money will be not so easy. To expect a higher the click through rate, you need to make sure that your website is physically located in a place where your target audience are. Imagine that you are running a business in US and focus on delivering product or service within your own geographic region, it is necessary that your website is located in that area. If you choose a cheap hosting on a server that located in Asia, which will be harmful for you to attain top search engine ranking in your target places, then you will shot yourself in the foot. You should choose the right hosting company with its servers located in the right region.

For my own point of view, the majority of website owners and bloggers target their audience to Americans and fortunately, most online web providers have their servers in the United States, therefore, as far as geography is concerned, it will be very easy for you to find an ideal one. If most of your readers are from other countries, such as, Spain, Germany, you should never forget to choose a web server that is located there. When picking a web server for the benefit of search engine optimization, this is the main thing you need to aware of.

IP Addresses
Another factor that you need to take into account when choosing a hosting company for SEO benefit is the IP address that provided by the company. A lot of people are wondering whether IP addresses play role for SEO result. The answer is definitely "yes". Firstly, you need to consider about the history of the IP address. Assuming that you are using an IP address that was used to ant other website and keep close relationship with any illegal online activity such as, spam, phishing or anything else, then it is very likely that the search engines will lower its ranking on search results, or even worse, it will not index your website. Secondly, if you are going to run more than one site with different IP, then it is essential that the IP addresses of your website should not reside in the same C class group. It will be hard for you make a network in the future for the search engines might consider it as artificial linking which will do harm to your search engine optimization.

Company Reputation
The web host provider should have a good reputation in web hosting industry. A hosting company that has the best reputation should have a record of dealing with infractions quickly and strictly. If you mistakenly choose a company that pretends to withhold those spammers, hackers, and then you website will be affected as well. You should at least pay a visit to their website to see their customer feedback. It is necessary to type the company name in the search engines to see what their customers are talking about them. If you are luckily enough to find out that most of their customer feedback are positive, it is a good sign that the company could offer satisfying service. Without doubt, the biggest things to look for are dependability and reliable customer service.

Your Future Neighborhoods
Since your website is hosted on a shared server with numbers of other website, the neighborhood of your site will also plays a role to the Search Engine Optimization. Even though some people may think that this might be obsolete in the near future, however, currently you are suggested to take it into account as long as you hope to get your website ranked higher. Imagine that when you are choosing a house for your family, you should ensure that the environment around it is secure enough so that your family can be protected and free from crime and indecent activities. So does finding a home for your website. Although you have no choice to choose who to be your neighbors, if you check out with the hosting provider that they promise to be strict when dealing with spammers and any other indecent websites, then I can say that you have made a good choice. Of course, the best practice is often to buy a dedicated IP address for your own website and to keep your website in safe.

With the increasing important role of SEO, finding a SEO web host that helping you to reach the best result is terribly important for every webmasters. Hostease.com now is serving for a large number of websites from all around the world. Get hosted with Hostease.com, your websites will reach top ranks on all major search engines.

Hostease is a leading web hosting company, who offers REAL 24/7 support via email, live-chat and phone for client's satisfaction. We never overload our server. All of our plans include the latest industry features available on the market. We cater for the personal blog as well as the multiple websites for large business group. Our packages are equipped with the features needed to meet all of your requirements.

Choosing the Right Domain Name and Web Host Service

Initially, domains and websites were bought either to create an online presence for a business already established offline, or to provide various sectors of the online community with a place to find a variety of information or online activities.

If you are an established business going online for the first time, you will probably outsource your website building and maintenance as you will already know who your market is and what you have to offer. Your domain name is likely to reflect your offline business name and your hosting service will most likely be affiliated to your webmaster (the builder of your site).

As mentioned in the previous article, if your website is to contribute to your marketing initiatives, you will need to choose your webmaster with this in mind. Content and the ability to change that content quickly is all important.

As well as commercial websites serving existing businesses, more recently a new kind of website has emerged where individuals wanting to create a personal online income have built their own eBiz sites around a wide range of interests and opportunities. This kind of site is often referred to as a niche marketing site, meaning a website that focuses on creating, sourcing and selling products, services and information directly related to specific interest groups.

Examples of niche marketing sites range from needlecraft and fly fishing to financial trading and astrology. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any hobby or activity that someone somewhere is not making money from on the internet - and more often than not that someone is just one individual with a computer, an internet connection and their own personal website.

That said, the process leading to that website becoming financially profitable does not happen overnight, despite what much of the hype surrounding niche marketing would have you believe. The successful niche marketer would have first carried out extensive research into the niche they opted to trade in and then gone to considerable lengths to create a site that not only attracted the right visitors, but gave them good reason to make a purchase.

Once you have a clear idea of the niche area that you want to enter, you can easily identify the kind of domain name, which would be appropriate for your business. Before you set up an internet based niche business, you need to have a clear idea of the kind of business area you want to trade in. Generally, it is far easier and more enjoyable to focus on something, in which you have a keen interest and, preferably, some specialist knowledge.

Many people setting up a niche marketing website do so by first choosing an area that appears to be financially very fruitful. Examples of this are sites devoted to golf equipment, financial services, time saving software, health products and any number of how to books and courses about ways to make money on and off line.

All these niche markets are potentially very lucrative, but with so many businesses already selling online in these areas, you really need an experienced seller's knowledge, or a buyer's understanding of the products and services to profitably compete with them.

What you need at the outset is a little brainstorming. Based on past experience and present interests, list up to six internet niche marketing areas where you would feel at home. For the sake of simplicity, print out this article and add your list right here;

Niche Options:

1 >

2 >

3 >

4 >

5 >

6 >

The options you have listed are a good guide to the kind of niche marketing areas that could be successful to you.

Now you need to find out which among them have enough commercial potential to be worth pursuing. If the websites you have listed here look like the kind of places where people go to buy something, you could be on the right track.

To find out the commercial potential of any internet niche marketing area, you need to see who else is already trading there. Go to Google, Yahoo or MSN and type the word or phrases listed in your Niche Options into the search panel and click search. Take a look at the sites that come up, including those that appear on the right of the screen. Some sites will be purely information based. You need to find some websites that are actively trading and make a note of them. This provides you with invaluable market research.

The sites on the left of the search screen have generally gained that position over time by having an established following, though the top two are often there by virtue of having paid for that position. The sites on the right of the screen will tend to be more sales oriented as they always have to pay advertising money to be in this position.

The longer you spend with this process, the clearer your picture of the relative commercial merits of each niche market will become. Once you have gone through all of your six niche options, you're ready to make a decision.

Whatever the list you have drawn up contains, you'll eventually need to hone it down to one specific area. This will give you a starting point for choosing your domain name.

This is where narrow your list down to a single niche area. This process gives you a gut sense of where you really want to go. What you need here is a single word or short phrase that describes your chosen niche. Once you have this, write it down here;

Domain name prompt; ---------------------------------------------------------

Your domain name is your internet business name and establishes your position in the online marketplace. In niche marketing, a general business name like Brown's Books will not work as well as something more specific like Military Books. The whole essence of niche marketing is to specialize in your chosen area. Someone searching for information about your products and services would need to type into the search panel the word or phrase written here and find that information.

The name you have chosen should be seen as the working title of your eventual domain name. Depending on its availability, it could even become your domain name, but with so many domain names already registered, your ideal name may have already been taken. The important issue here is to have an idea of what your online business could be called.

You should now have a good idea for the area of internet niche marketing you want to research, the kind of domain name that would give you an appropriate identity within that market and the potential profitability of trading there.

Owning a good domain name is only part of the process, you also need a website to house it. Think of the domain as your business name and the website as your business premises and you start to get the picture. Before your website can be built; you need something to build it on. This is called a web hosting service. If you can picture your website as a virtual building, your web host provides the internet equivalent of the plot of land, on which it is built.

Although you could hire someone to build your website for you, as many businesses do, this can be costly if you're just starting out. You would also need to know in advance exactly what you wanted from the website and to have already identified a domain name you are happy with. Unless you are in this position and can afford the fees involved in having it constantly updated, doing it yourself is a more viable option.

Mike Haye publishes a course on eBiz, which can be freely accessed at [http://www.ebizcode.com] This course has been designed and structured specifically for people new to doing business online. The eBizCode Course takes you step by step through each stage of setting up an eBiz site from initial planning and research to growing your site and maximizing its potential profitability.

Choosing a Web Hosting Provider from 40 Million Other Web Hosts - Pt1

Discover how to go about choosing a web hosting provider in ways that 99.5% of the advice on the Internet never mention.

If you struggle with finding good web hosting then using the process I describe could be the answer to one of the biggest problems you can face as a webmaster.

But first I'd like to give you an idea on the scale of the problem in choosing a good web hosting provider. A search on Google for the exact phrase " web hosting " returns over 32 Million results and " web hosting provider " or " web hosting company " produces around 800,000 results.

An IP survey by http://www.netcraft.com in 2003 found over 40 million web hosts.

Whether you want to believe Google's 32 Million web hosts or Netcraft's 40 Million, it gives some indication of just how many web hosting provider 's there are to choose from.

Google has over 7,800 sites offering advice on " How to choose a web host. "

But to be frank a lot of advice on the Internet is from sites promoting web hosting provider 's and resellers, which means it's not without bias.

If you think " web hosting review sites " are a good source of advice, try choosing one from over 6,000 listed by Google. Consider also that many are affiliated to the web hosts they recommend. This can mean not only do they get a sign-up commission, but a regular monthly fee for as long as a customer remains with the web host.

Much of the advice about choosing a web hosting provider talks about how much disk space or bandwidth you need, what type of server to use, or the features you should look for.

It's important stuff but it doesn't help in choosing a good web hosting provider.

I say this because disk space and bandwidth are today largely a non-issue, since most web hosting provider's are competing to offer so much of it, you'd need to have a website the size of CNN's to use it all.

As for the features offered by web hosts, there's often little to choose between them, they all generally offer enough of the basics for most websites. If you're looking for enhanced features like a website builder, adding a shopping cart, taking secure payments or promoting your website then these additional features might influence your choice.

But as a web hosting provider, you still don't know if they're any good.

At this point some of you may be thinking you'd read the other customers testimonials, or go to some of the website forums to see what other people have experienced with this host, or post a question to ask for advice.

Well again a word of caution, many forums are also the hangouts for people selling web hosting, so they frequently post replies or offer advice acting like the ordinary Joe. This means the advice can be biased toward or against a particular web hosting provider. One forum you could try that's dedicated to issues with web hosting is Web Hosting Talk

Oh! Let's not forget " Testimonials. " When was the last time you saw a customer testimonial on the sellers web site that said anything bad about the service or product they provide ?
I have only ever seen it once in the past 5 years and then not for a web hosting provider.

I've had web sites hosted with dozens of web hosting provider 's and made 100's of inquiries to other web hosting companies that I never even got close to the point of signing up with. I've moved some websites two or three times in less than two weeks because a web hosting provider is unable or unwilling to solve problems, or whose server configuration is unable to support the scripts my site needed.

It was after many years of suffering bad web hosts, I finally decided to work out a process that gave me a better chance of finding a good web hosting provider.

It's a bit like taking out insurance, you don't know what the insurance company is like until you need to make a claim. As a matter of interest I did an exact search for insurance against bad web hosting and there were no results.

Obviously no one is providing insurance against bad web hosting, which must mean it's too much of a risk.

I don't even consider my sites to require anything special or more than any other typical business website. Yet despite all my experience, finding a good web hosting provider is still one of the most difficult website challenges.

You'll find the exact step by step process in the 2nd part of this article at : http://www.webpageaddons.com
Choosing a Web Hosting Provider from 40 Million Other Web Hosts - Pt2

Of course no process is full-proof and it does not mean that the web hosting you find through the search engine filtering and techniques I suggest are the only web hosts capable of providing the services you're looking for.

You should also not assume because your Google Advanced Search was for web hosting provider 's with selected features that the sites you are reviewing are guaranteed to have those features.

Check every site on your short list, since search engine's are far from perfect.

What it does mean is that by using my suggested techniques you are selecting those web hosts who considered things like support, sufficiently important to want to be found for them on Google. Other web hosts may have good support, but the difference is that in your search you did not find them listed for this term.

It could mean support's not that important to them, even though they provide it.

It's also worth mentioning that the price of web hosting is not an indicator of the quality of the service. Some lower cost web hosting provider 's can give a far better service than some medium cost ones.

Conclusions

Using a six stage process I was able to choose from 40 million web hosting provider 's, a short list of 15 web hosts that met my selection criteria. With a further six stage process I was able to reduce the number of possible web hosting provider 's down to a choice of 2.

In the final stage the web hosting provider 's were both asked a number of general and technical questions that resulted in the final choice. Whilst the process is not full-proof I am yet to find a better devised way of choosing a good web hosting provider.

What Every Marketer Needs To Know About Web Hosting

Choosing your web hosting provider is the next logical step after you have registered your domain name. However, it is not easy to find the right web hosting deal. There are many companies that offer web hosting services. If you make a search on Google for the keyword web hosting you will get more than 100 million results!

If you want to have a successful online presence you need to have reliable web hosting. Your web site has to be always online and accessible. Otherwise, you will loose clients and prospects. Let's compare this with a traditional business. If you have a shop in "offline" business name of the shop is your domain name and business space and infrastructure is your web hosting. Imagine a cafe that don't have electricity once a day for one hour or a fast food service where there is only one employee instead of four!

WEB HOSTING TYPES

You have to choose your web hosting deal depending on type of your site. You won't choose the same web hosting deal if you have a personal web site, web site for email newsletter subscription and archives, e-commerce site or web forum. There are 4 main web hosting: virtual (shared) hosting, dedicated server, collocation server and reseller hosting. The two most used are virtual (shared) hosting and dedicated server.

Virtual (shared) hosting is the situation where many web sites reside on one web server. This is the cheapest web hosting because many users split the cost for web server. You can find quality virtual hosting from $100 per year.

Dedicated server represents a hosting where company lease the whole web server from web hosting company. That web server is located in the web hosting company. Dedicated server is the right choice for company that doesn't want to share there server with other users. Dedicated server can be managed and un-managed. In the first case web hosting company will take care about setting up and constant updates and upgrades of your web server while you will have to do that in the second case. Advantage of this type of web hosting is that you can completely accommodate your web hosting to your needs. Also, dedicated server is the only logical choice for web sites with lots of visitors. Because of costs for a dedicated server that start from $100 per month, usually this hosting is chosen only by companies which take their Internet business very seriously.

Collocation server is similar to dedicated server. Difference is that company doesn't lease a web server. They place their own web server in the web hosting company. Also, company has physical access to their web server while it is not the case in using a dedicated server.

Reseller hosting is targeted to companies that want to start their own web hosting business.

Useful web site where you can find a web hosting that will fit your needs is http://www.webhost.thelist.com

FACTORS YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER

You have to take several factors in consideration in order to be satisfied with your web hosting.

Web space

Web space is determined by the type of your site. Certainly, if you want to have a web site with basic information about yourself and your work without using web applications that 50 MB of web space will be enough. On the other hand, if you want to have complex e-commerce site with several thousand products in your database or web site with members, you don't have to take anything less than 1 GB.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth represents data that has been transferred from your web site and that include graphic details, images, banners, files for download etc. Content is very important for planning your bandwidth. For most sites, 10 GB monthly bandwidth is more than enough while for some other sites like desktop wallpapers sites bandwidth can be often even several hundred GB per month.

Up-time or visibility

Up-time or visibility represents time expressed in percents that show how much is one site online. Don't be fooled because someone guarantees for example 98% up-time because it is not enough. You don't have to take anything les than 99.7%. Believe us, that difference is very big. Useful site checking your up-time is http://www.netmechanic.com

Email accounts

It is important to know what you will get in your web hosting package regarding email accounts. Will you get only a so called catch -all forwarding which means that all emails sent to anything@yourdomain.com will arrive to your email address or you can set-up email accounts for several users? For how many? Is it for 5, 10, 100 or unlimited email accounts? Also, it doesn't hurt to check do you get a so called POP3 email address ("real" email address), web mail or both? Having a POP3 email address you will be able to check your emails using your favourite email client and web mail enables you to check your emails at any place that has computer and Internet connection.

Server type, tools and control panel

The two most often used hosting are on Unix-based or Windows platform. That fact has for the result program languages, databases and scripts that you will be able to use. On Unix-based platform, usual choice is PHP language in combination with MySQL while on Windows platform ASP or ASP.NET language in combination with SQL Server. You have to check do you get a database in your package and how many. Today, modern web site has to be database-driven.

Also, it is recommended to be informed about tools that you get in your web hosting package, no matter if they are applications for web statistics, file manager and things like that. Best solution is if you get a cPanel along with Fantastico. Using Fantastico, marketers without technical knowledge can install most popular web applications within 2-3 clicks.

Technical support

Technical support is one of the most important things in choosing your web hosting, especially if you are a marketer without technical knowledge. You have to be sure that your technical support will answer your emails within 24 hours. This is not only important for choosing your web hosting company, it is important to literally any company that sells products and services, for example software company.

Some companies are so well organized that you will receive response from them within 1 hour! You can get an image about your future technical support about the way they can be contacted. Is it only via email or they have a support phone, too? Do they have a toll-free number? Do they have trouble-ticket system? Also, very important thing is their working hours. Do they provide technical support only during their working hours from 9 to 17 or they offer 24x7 technical support? The best way to see how professional they are is to make a list of questions, contact them and - wait to get the answer.

Testimonials

It is a common practice that web hosting and software companies have Testimonials section where you can read recommendations from their happy customers. Don't rely only on that section. Many web hosting companies offer you to see their portfolio of web sites that they host. Contact several webmasters and ask them about what they think about their web hosting provider. Very useful thing in finding best web hosting deals and recommendations is to visit popular web forums like http://www.webhostingtalk.com and http://www.sitepointforums.com

You see that there are several factors that influence in choosing your web hosting package. You have to be aware that like with everything else, when we come to web hosting you usually get what you pay for.

Dedicated Web Hosting : The Executive Summary

What is Dedicated Web Hosting?

Dedicated web hosting can alleviate the need to share hardware or software with any other sites or web pages. Webmasters are given the autonomy to decide on applications that are installed on the server to create specific configurations for their web needs, and have the ability to provide a secure environment for their site. As compared to a shared-server environment, dedicated web hosting offers a peace of mind that a site will be delivered in a reliable and secure manner.

There are major benefits of dedicated web hosting, as discussed below. However, the major disadvantage, cost, is quickly being overcome. Because of continual growth in the dedicated web hosting industry, the rates for dedicated server plans are rapidly declining. A competitive environment drives up the level of service and decreases cost. This reduction is powered by an increase in small and medium-sized businesses gaining an online presence and the rapid proliferation of web hosting providers.

Advantages of Dedicated Web Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is favorable because of 2 major assets: control and reliability.

Since a dedicated web administrator has more control over a dedicated server, it tends to be more secure, compared to a shared web server. By knowing what exactly is installed on a dedicated server through full root access, a system administrator is able to confidently make decisions on the software and application updates necessary to maintain the dedicated web server and keep it running in its most optimal configuration.

Increased reliability is another major asset of dedicated server web hosting, as a server administrator has the self-sufficiency to optimize page loads by tweaking variables such as page load speed and general server resource allocation. This server reliability translates to customer satisfaction and an increase in the bottom line goals of a web site's presence.

DisAdvantages of Dedicated Web Hosting

While the benefits of dedicated web server hosting is apparent, the bottom line consideration, especially for business purposes is cost. Dedicated web hosting is significantly more expensive compared to shared or virtual web hosting, and until recently, could most commonly be quoted at several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month. Although cost may still be exorbitant, most businesses are able to justify the use of dedicated servers through a true web analysis to weigh the resources necessary to run applications and code.

Another drawback is the need to be able to monitor, install, upgrade and configure programs, add sites, deal with potential hacks, and troubleshoot systems. Therefore, the necessary system administration skills, if one does not possess them, may definitely inhibit the successful implementation of a web site hosted on a dedicated web server.

Benefits:

The direct benefits of a dedicated web hosting plan surround the ability to totally administer a web server. The advantage to be able to effectively maintain a dedicated server lies in one's ability to control the variables associated with reliability and stability. In a dedicated environment, server overload, malicious scripts from other users, and too many installed applications are variables which can be controlled, as compared to this loss of management in shared server hosting.

Furthermore, a dedicated server allows one to only install applications or software that applies to the major hosting goal at hand. Conversely, shared web hosting has installed software that may or may not be related to the web hosting goals.

Reliance on the web host repair services and time delays of platform repairs can be minimized, as one may intervene and provide solutions to existing problems with dedicated web hosting. Having the option to add patches, upgrade software, or tweak performance is invaluable and allows the dedicated server administrator to work with 24 hour access to perform adjustments, corrections, or updates.

Lastly, speed of downloads can be determined through the amount of bandwidth that is dedicated to just your website. Statistically, visitors will quickly leave a site if the load time was long. Dedicated servers allow quick delivery of web pages, which increases the probability of keeping web site visitors on a site that may convert them to paying customers. Furthermore, quick loading pages enhance the company's image and may encourage existing customers to refer your web-based services to others.

What is the best application of a dedicated web hosting service provider?

Utility of a dedicated server environment is best suited to those with a working knowledge of server operating systems and those who don't mind troubleshooting problems which may arise.

Server administrators must be able to apply kernel upgrades, service packs, and software patches, as well as provide ample security, monitor traffic, update server applications, balance server loads, and configure email, FTP, and DNS services.

* In exchange for competency in the above functions, the best uses for a dedicated web server environment would be: mission-critical sites requiring custom server management and software implementation.

* dedicated hosting resellers, web developers and designers who need greater flexibility, reliability and security for their clients

* backbones of corporate intranets

* robust and dependable servers for streaming media, online gaming, and e-mail or chat applications

* complex application sites with high traffic and secure information such as ecommerce, database, and multimedia sites.

* enterprise-level web sites
* Web sites which may have content restrictions if hosted elsewhere (e.g. adult targeted sites.)

How to decide:

Overall, the cost, security of data and equipment, bandwidth availability, the knowledge and integrity of the web-hosting provider, uptime, hardware maintenance, and any technical support offered by the dedicated web host are important deciding factors. Although your specific dedicated web hosting needs may be unique in a few ways, generally, one can make a decision on a dedicated web server provider by considering the following things:

Data Transfer Rates:

Data transfer will need to be determined based on the amount of information that will be downloaded, as well as the type of content a site will be sharing (general text vs. high resolution graphics and multimedia). A dedicated web host will generally have various packages that will allow one to choose the data transfer level, normally measured in "gigabytes per month". Higher levels of data transfer rates normally mean more cost, so utilization of the first few months to correlate data transfer rates and traffic patterns is key.

Platforms:

The two most common systems available are Windows based servers versus some flavor of UNIX (Linux and Solaris). Windows is historically more expensive, but is generally regarded as more user-friendly, especially with the ubiquitous presence of Windows-based pc's and administrators. Linux, on the other hand, is less expensive to install, but harder to maintain, as a steeper learning curve exists for those unfamiliar with it. Therefore, the operating system installed on a dedicated web server should depend on a couple of factors.

First, the platform should be conducive to the coding in which the website and necessary applications are developed. Next, since administration of the dedicated server will be done by the subscriber, the necessary skill base to support the platform must be in place. Commands and administration techniques are definitely platform-specific.

Monitoring:

Dedicated server monitoring works to prevent service interruptions. The web host will provide a service that can, at a pre-set frequency, check a website to see downtime.

Automation:

Although dedicated web servers may require a greater degree of skill, certain dedicated web hosting companies may offer software that will automate common procedures, thus lessening the high level knowledge necessary to maintain servers and implement new services.

Data Backup:

Some dedicated web hosting providers assist the web hosting subscriber with data backups. Finding a dedicated server provider who will assist in this process could alleviate the hassle of doing it yourself and can allow one to devote time to other things.

Scalability:

Dedicated web hosting providers should be able to account for major growth. Progressive expansion can be accounted for by asking a web host if modules of extra space, bandwidth, or better yet, larger packages can be purchased to allow easy transition to better hardware and software.

Service Level Agreements:

More dedicated web hosts are publishing their SLA's, which thoroughly documents what they will do in exchange for what the customer is responsible for. For instance, some dedicated server hosts are offering features such as: 100% uptime guarantees, unlimited live answer technical phone-based support, free upgrades of patches, hot-fixes, personal Dedicated Sales account managers, maintenance staff with spare parts for all server configurations, and more. A full understanding of the commitment that a dedicated web host is offering will help in a decision to utilize that service.

How to Choose a Web Host - Web Hosting Guide

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Pros and Cons of Cloud Web Hosting

As usual, there are pros and cons to everything on the web and that includes cloud hosting for business. We will go through some pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages that may help you decide whether cloud web hosting is right for your firm.

The "cloud" is an IT term for the Internet, and cloud computing, or cloud hosting, means storing and having access to your computer data and software on the Internet - on demand - rather than running it on your personal computer or office server. In fact, if you use programs such as Gmail or Google docs, you may not realize it, but you are already participating in cloud computing. Part of the confusion in the business decision process of IT is that the terminology is rather difficult in that it changes so often, particularly for non-tech-savvy types, including many small business owners. And it does represent a major shift in how businesses and individuals use and store digital information.

Advantages for business

There are many obvious advantages to cloud web hosting that are talked about on news mediums and on many business web sites. With cloud hosting, you have your web data and business computing programs running online, rather than separately on your office computers, and this means that you and your IT staff have access to them anytime, anywhere there is an Internet connection available. Another advantage is the fixed-cost draw to cloud computing. We call this the dreaded cost- and hassle-saving factor. With cloud web hosting, the software that is provided online is upgraded and maintained by the provider, so the small business owner does not have to purchase the latest version of a software application or download upgrades and patches. Not having to buy a program outright but entering into a monthly or annual contract is very motivating, as is the appeal that many applications are offered for free. The fixed cost allows business owners to plan for the future, rather than be surprised when a costly software or hardware upgrade is needed. And for businesses that have updates to their web site(s) made hourly, even by-the-minute changes to their web site, cloud web hosting can offer a big advantage over self-hosting.

Not all web sites require hourly news updates. JanesCustomDrapes.com probably doesn't need up-to-the minute reporting from the world of sewing. I mean, how much changes from one day to the next in the sewing world? But that doesn't mean that Jane should hire a copy writer for her site text, set her sales pitch and hope for the best. If she's a savvy business women (let's assume she is) providing articles on types of yarn, on-line lessons for beginners, information on other handiwork, visitors will be encouraged to continue to visit JanesCustomDrapes.com for the information and, at some point, make a purchase. That is the goal of all for-profit enterprises...right?

What is cloud hosting?

Cloud computing or cloud hosting is often the term employed to describe the "as a service" model over the Internet. You will see the terms "infrastructure as a service", "platform as a service", or "software as a service" used as you conduct your research of the leading cloud hosting providers such as Rackspace Hosting, Amazon and SoftLayer.

Pros of Cloud Hosting

The cost savings in cloud hosting, compared to co-location, can run as high as fifty-three percent, a large number in the startup dynamics of business. It only makes a good business case to use cloud hosting and any arguments against it on the cost front are with little merit. In a highly competitive business economy, cost savings are a big plus.

Cons of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a very profitable business for service providers. As such, it can lead to expensive monthly fees if the code of your web site is not well written. And the way to save money, as a customer, is to optimize your code. For projects hosted in the cloud, you can actually get a monthly statement that can illustrate your performance optimization efforts. If you and your programming team edit your code so that it accesses the database less, you can save a few hundred dollars per month. The cloud can give you a direct line from your code to your dollars. Interesting stuff!

Carbon neutral web hosting

Another con of cloud web hosting is that the majority of cloud hosting providers are not environmentally-friendly or carbon neutral, meaning that they do not use renewable energy to power their data centers. The cloud is growing at a point in time when climate change and reducing emissions from energy use is a growing concern for consumers. And because it is of concern to consumers, many of those consumers purchase goods and services from companies that are making environmentally friendly choices - such as the type of web hosting provider they choose. Although many small and medium sized businesses are moving their web sites to green web hosting providers, the emissions produced by the IT industry continues to grow. With the growth of the cloud, however, comes an increasing demand for energy. For all of the web content to be delivered to Internet users in real time, virtual mountains of video, pictures and other data must be stored somewhere and be available for almost immediate access. That "somewhere" is data centers and in most instances, data centers emit a large amount of carbon. This begs the question of whether a webmaster should choose environmentally friendly green web hosting instead of cloud hosting. The decision should be made, however, only after a very thorough investigation into the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages of each type of web hosting.

Environmentally friendly web hosting

The air is getting dirtier. The seas are turning black. Clean drinking water is scarce in many places in the world and we all have a responsibility to use less energy. It's the ethical thing to do. So, to start, look for a web hosting company that shows concern for the environment today and in the future - a web host that employs green technology to deliver services to you.

What to look for in a web hosting provider?

more renewable energy sources like wind turbines and cold water cooling for web host servers
Energy Star rated, highly efficient servers, which are nothing more than huge hard drives on which your web site resides on the server side
responsible disposal of outdated equipment to prevent heavy, toxic metals from seeping into our water supplies
an ethical, corporate value to employ the least amount of energy while delivering the highest quality of service
Green hosting services are the future of the web hosting industry. Only a few web hosts employ green technology end-to-end. Choose one of these vanguard companies. That commitment to a cleaner future makes an ethical statement about what's important to the web hosting company's management team.

Still not getting it?

Because you provide reasons for site visitors to revisit your site - and maybe even award you with a bookmark, which should send shivers of delight down your spine. These are prospects who may not become buyers for weeks, months or years, but as long as they keep coming back...you increase the likelihood of converting a visitor into a buyer.

So create some adhesive to keep visitors stuck on you. In time, these repeat visitors will help pay your rent and build your business.

Wind Power and Web Hosting

The United States of America is a progressive country, and while we are not leading the way in green building and other environmentally friendly initiatives, we are making improvements.

Improvements in Wind Energy within the United States
The Senate Finance Committee recently passed a tax extenders bill called "The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012", which includes an extension of both the renewable energy production tax credit for utility-scale wind power and investment tax credit for community and offshore wind power.

These extensions will drive the growth of American wind industry manufacturing jobs and billions of dollars in private investment in homegrown energy.

Clearly, wind power cannot immediately replace the energy we must generate from the oil and gas produced on the outer continental shelf. And it is apparent that America's previous unwillingness to clear the way for permitting a proven, commercially scalable, clean source of energy is a major black eye for a nation that wants to be a leader in technological development. The "Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012" is geared towards improving our position as a renewable energy leader and increase our placement in the race towards energy independence.

Texas is a Leader in Wind Power
Texas holds the distinction of being home to the two largest wind farms in the word. And the capital of the great state of Texas is Austin - the greenest city in the entire world. The largest wind farm in the world is located in Roscoe Texas, followed by the second largest wind farm located in Nolan County, Texas. Texans are proud of the fact that our great state is leading the way in wind power generation as a renewable energy source.

Offshore Wind Farms Hold Great Potential for Power
Although the United States is a leader in land-based wind farms, we are falling behind in off-shore wind power. In a interesting twist of irony, at the same time of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf, there were over 1,000 wind turbines generating clean, renewable electricity off the coastlines of northwestern Europe. But not a single windmill yet turns in the strong, abundant winds that overflow the shores of the United States.

The Internet, Web Hosting and Wind Power
The world wide web (W3) is a vast frontier for those within whom the web-preneurial spirit burns brightly. For obvious reasons, the Internet is dependent on electricity. The world wide web runs on electricity, though we don't usually think about it. But the fact is, without electricity you wouldn't be reading this. Fortunately, however, the Internet and the web hosting industry are moving toward a more sustainable existence due to the data center industry facing growing pressure to integrate renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, into data center projects. Any initiative to drive increased resources to build offshore wind farms will require tolerance and acceptance from stakeholders and growing pressure from businesses as well as groups with enormous political weight.

Web Hosting and Energy
Hosting is a commodity on the web. You or I can buy space from a web host and open up our own hosting company. The mother host provides all the tools and support you need to build your own hosting company in the basement office. (The one that floods occasionally. Ooops.) A web host can be a kid down the street or it can be a huge, physical plant with chip heads tending to racks of servers, customer support taking calls from subscribers and office people tending to routine business matters - like paying the electric company.

Quality Web Hosting
There are free web hosts, low-ball web hosts and quality web hosts that deliver a satchel of freebies for less than $10 a month - the cost of a couple of fast food lunches.

Now, you could go with a freebie but, as in all things, you get what you pay for. Free web hosting companies place their ads on your site, and you have no control over what's going to appear. In fact, the host may actually place ads for competitors on YOUR free web site. So NOT cool.

The bottom line is your bottom line. Web hosting is a highly competitive market segment. There are thousands of hosts from which to choose. But a quality hosting company is based on a client-centric corporate culture, recognizing that the success of its clients will, in the end, determine the success of the web host. It's just, plain smart business.

The Growth of the Internet = More Demand for Electricity
There are close to 130 million web sites on line at the moment and every day, 6,000 new web sites launch, creating entrepreneurs by the thousands. The world wide web is a great way to take control of your professional life (you're the boss) or to add a few bucks to your household income each month while you keep your day job.

Traditional hosts add to the demand for more energy by cooling servers with cold air. The server room in a hosting company is kept cool - so cool you could probably store sides of beef in there if the racks of servers didn't take up so much space. That cooling requires energy and plenty of it.

Green Hosting = Your Competitive Advantage
More and more people use the web to make purchases, comparison shop, find directions to a local business or even buy their groceries on the web, the fastest growing marketplace ever. Given the number of options web users have, as a business owner or webmaster, you are actually asking site visitors to do you a favor - to visit your web site and purchase your products or opt-in to your newsletter. And web visitors are more likely to perform a favor for you if you establish trust on your web site by demonstrating your responsibility.

Wind Power
Companies that implement the use of nature-friendly renewable resources are reducing environmental deterioration, and this can be a badge of honor. Customers recognize the impact that the use of nature-friendly renewable resources have on the environment and are taking notice. When it comes to environment, businesses recognize that to be a part of the solution is not only good for the environment but also good for their bottom line. From large corporate hotel chains to small or medium sized businesses such as a local diving outlet, many companies are now advertising their green credentials.

Wind power is plentiful, renewable and relatively affordable. Wind power does not produce emissions. By choosing to utilize renewable energy whenever possible, corporations are building goodwill while at the same time helping the environment.

Choose a web hosting provider that is powered by wind.

Choosing a Web Hosting

Choosing a web hosting is an important step in creating a website. The whole functioning of your web resource depends on this choice.

All hosting providers are divided into two big groups: free web hosts and shared ones.
In the first place let me say that many of the free web hosting providers are not exactly free, i.e. in exchange for their services they may locate their advertisements on your website.

If your website is a home page containing your personal information or a small web resource where you share information on a certain topic, free web hosting will most probably be enough for you. In case your website is an information portal, service or a site of your company, you should definitely use services of shared web hosting.

Difference between shared and free web hosting

As mentioned above, very often free web hosts insert their ads in the form of banners or pop-ups. Visitors of your website won't be happy with it as it is widely known that advertisements are irritating, especially the pop-up ones. Therefore, if your goal is to attract the audience who are willing to visit your website regularly, coming back again and again in a day, a week, a month and not just shutting your resource in 5 seconds after getting to your first page, then choose hosting without advertisements.

What is more, with free web hosts you can only expect such domain as your_site.host.com. Such domain will hardly affect the reputation of your website in a positive way; it will sooner harm its image, especially if it's a company's website.

"Why aren't the pictures loading up?" -SUPPORT SERVICE will provide you with answers for such questions. It is absolutely necessary to have one because good service support really speeds up the problem-solving process. 90% of shared web hosting providers have adequate service support and only 10% of free web hosting providers have one.

Not every free hosting can boast such services as their own CGI-BIN directory, or the support of Perl, PHP, MYSQL, Cron, SSH, Telnet and many others. And even if right now your web resource needs none of these, such a necessity may appear in the nearest future with the growth of your website. With time you will also need more and more disc space. Free web hosts usually give you 1-100 Mb while shared web hosts provide 1-5000 Mb for your website.

So, the bottom line is as follows.

If you have just a home page or a small website about your interests, go for a free web hosting without doubts. But before choosing a particular hosting you should:

determine the disc space volume you are going to need, taking into consideration further growth of your resource;
decide whether you need the support of scripts, whether it's necessary to have a file manager or you will do just fine using ftp-access, whether you need a site-generator
think over the domain name. It should be short and easy to remember.
define your attitude as to host's ads: whether you are against it or not
When you are done with all these things, eliminate all the hosts that do not meet your requirements. I would advise you to check out the loading speed of websites located at hosting providers that suit your needs. And then you just choose the host with the least crowded channels.

I personally recommend freehostia.com. They provide:
250 MB Disk Space
6 GB Bandwidth
5 Domains Hosted
+ 1 MySQL Database
+ 1-click App Installs

FTP access. Support of PHP, Perl, Python, SSI and much more. There is also a catalogue of ready-made scripts with a possibility to adapt the design to your website - the optimal choice for a beginning webmaster.

Shared Hosting
Some may say that shared hosting is expensive, but it's just a myth. Its prices vary from 1 to 50 dollars a month depending on the set of services and resources provided. Naturally shared hosting doesn't have the disadvantages of the free one.

Nevertheless, shared web hosting providers differ according to the range and quality of services. Here are some criteria that will guide you in your choice of the shared web host:

A host should not put tough restrictions on traffic. At least there should be a possibility to pay if you exceed the limit, but the pay should not be too high.

If you need ASP, FrontPage Server, MSSQL, then you should be looking for a web hosting on NT-server and the host itself should provide these services. Otherwise, you'd better choose UNIX-hosting.

It is desirable that a host should provide Perl, SSI, PHP, MYSQL...

Apart from disc space a host should provide mail. Make sure it covers the services of ingoing and outgoing mail. Sometimes it happens so that a host provides you with e-mail addresses and not with e-mail boxes. In this case all your mail will be redirected to the e-mail box you've indicated, which will hamper your job.

A hosting provider should have its support service - working 24/7 through e-mail as well as through telephone (fax). Ask them some questions - a good hosting provider will answer you within 24 hours. If they keep ignoring you, or if there is no support service at all, keep away from such hosts.

Check out what rights you are going to exercise as to managing the server. As a minimum, you should have FTP-access to your catalogue - it will allow you to carry out necessary actions when forwarding, editing or deleting files. It would be advisable that a host had web interface to work with your server and your account.

If you are an experienced user, then it is desirable that a host provided telnet-access - you will be able to work with the provider's computer almost on the same level as with your own one.

Everyday archiving (making reserve copies) of your website is a huge advantage as well.

Good hosting is speedy web hosting. The less crowded the provider's servers and channels are - the better. Minimal bandwidth should be no less than Pentium III-800 Mhz with 512 Ðœb RAM

It is good practice for a web hosting provider to have their physical address and some other data

Before finally submitting the payment, get acquainted with Internet reviews of other users about this host
Surely, it's by far not a complete list of all the criteria according to which one should choose a web hosting provider. But if a host meets all the requirements mentioned above, you can start working with them.

20-Point Checklist on Web Hosting

When we begin our journey in the ecommerce world, it is easy to fall into traps by simply overlooking most important checklists in our decision making in regards to web hosting. It is easy just to consider the disk space provided when selecting hosting company and other less important features which we do not need in the beginning. All plans look impressive but do we really need those features on offer? It is best to consider the following factors when deciding on your web hosting packages:

1. Established Host

You would not want to get involve with someone not long enough in the business to host your ecommerce or simple personal website. What is more if you are running a full fledge ecommerce with lots of data to back up your operation. Time is of the essence in selecting your host. The longer a host has been around, the more likely the better it would be. You would not want to go down along with the host that also goes down. To sort things out will get real messy.

2. Reliability

This is an important checklist you ought to consider. Reliability is one the most important checklist as one would not want to engage a fly-by-night hosting company. Check the length of time on their response to your email enquiry. It is important to enjoy both after sales and technical services. Some big names with substantial customer base and length of operation may get complacent and not able to provide reliable services while small new companies will try their best to impress. You need to make your own judgment.

3. Space

You need to decide on your disk space requirement. However, a better planning for future expansion is also important so that you need not come back to the hosting company and being charge unreasonably. There is a saying, once hooked, forever hooked even if you do not like it.

4. After-Sales and Technical Supports

You never know what you need after the sales or even after the web is up and running. You like to feel comfortable that after sales and technical support are there, when needed. Time take in responding to email enquiry is a simple indication of the level of services the hosting companies are providing.

5. Up-Time

Most hosting companies offer a 99% uptime. You should select the one offers nothing lees than 99% uptime.

6. Recovery Time

Determine how fast the hosting company recovers from a downtime. Do they have back up procedures? What kind of UPS they use? Where are they located? Are they near any disaster prone area? These are the questions you need answers.

7. Bandwidth

Do not overlook bandwidth limit. Excess bandwidth uses accompanied by excess bill. Do not go over the allocated bandwidth; plan what you want to put in your site. Higher pixel images definitely utilize higher bandwidth.

8. CGI Bin

CGI is used to install scripts and programs; CGI comes standard with any hosting packages.

9. Perl

You must have Perl to run Perl Programs. Paid or free scripts are mostly written in Perl. Make sure you get the latest version or get to upgrade from time to time.

10. SSL

This is the most important criteria to consider especially when you are planning for a ecommerce. Make sure the SSL is included in your hosting packages. You may use third party credit card processor but the provider may not operate in some countries. It is also limited to electronic products only, not physical products.

11. SSI

Server Side Includes is used to minimize time in updating your site. You can edit you page or link section you want to amend without amending all the pages.

12. MySQL

Some scripts and programs require a MySQL database to run. Make sure the charges are not exorbitant and it normally comes with the hosting packages.

13. PHP

Many new scripts and programs require PHP support, and this feature is almost standard for all hosting packages.

14. Domain

You should be able to point your own domain name to the site. Other feature is to make sure you can control you domain because you may not stick with the same hosting companies but your domain remains yours.

15. FTP

Definitely you need a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer file or make change to your web pages and uploading. You must be given unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site.

16. Control Panel

Main feature of hosting is availability of control panel. The level of use ranges from friendly to difficult. Choose the one that suit your technical capability and budget.

17. Statistics

For adjustments on your marketing programs you need a good statistic program. Excellent statistical program enables you to monitor visitors, collect email, and so on so forth to fine tune your marketing programs. Get advanced statistical program from third party if the hosting is not able to provide one, provided the program can be installed.

18. Site Development Software

If you are not a webmaster, or a programmer it is best you consider package with software offered to build you site. Some hosting companies provided this free while other charge a fee.

19. Slow down and take time

Some hosting packages may look excellent but if one feature that is required according to your needs is not offered, then the package may not meet your requirements. Take your time to compare all the features that are on offer. What is good for someone may not be acceptable for you. The important thing is what is your criteria and can the hosting company meets your needs?

20. Last big Step

The following table lists some of the criteria that are normally offered by web hosting company. Do not be alarmed by the long list. As it was mentioned, some features may not be required when you start and it is good to know that those features are offered. You are always ready when the time is up for expansion. At the end of the day, what is important is the hosting that meets your budget and your expectations.