Web Business Resource

Earlier this month, I made a post about choosing a web host. A commenter made a great point by advising others to not go with hosts that promise unlimited bandwidth.

Many hosts oversell their shared hosting services. They load a too many websites onto a single server, which is what causes the websites to load slowly and other hosting errors. It can cause the server to become overloaded and crash frequently.

Many hosts offer shared plans with massive amounts of bandwidth and disk space. They do this because they know that most users look at those numbers to see how good of a deal it is. However, the hosts are offering more bandwidth and disk space then they have because they are counting on the fact that most users will only use a tiny amount of the disk space and bandwidth included in their plan.

Firstly, consider what it says about a company when the company makes promises it knows it cannot keep! Generally speaking, I recommend you do not work with companies that make promises they know that they cannot keep because that is a sign of dishonesty. More importantly, going onto these overloaded servers will make your website’s hosting slow and unreliable.

Don’t measure the value of a shared hosting plan by how much bandwidth and disk space it offers. If anything, promising high amounts in the plans is probably a sign of a company that is overselling and will provide even less than companies not promising so much.

I recommend looking at companies that guarantee a lot of uptime, such as 99%, and offer a refund of some sort if they do not provide it. However, if a company promises 100% uptime, that is almost certainly a lie. There is no way a company can guarantee 100% uptime. No matter how good the host is, sometimes servers will crash or have to be taken down for maintenance or a reboot. Additionally, I recommend only going with a host that has some sort of satisfaction guarantee or free trial in which you can get a full refund if you are not satisfied with the hosting after a certain amount of time.

Most importantly, research the host before buying hosting. Check for unbiased reviews from previous customers. Doing a simple search using a search engine such as Google can help you find out whether or not a certain company is offering a worthy product.

If you plan to start an internet business, you will most likely need a web host. A web host is a company with powerful computer servers that remain connected to the internet as much as possible. Your website files are stored on one of their computers. When someone enters your domain name into a web browser, the IP address of the domain name calls up your website on the server computer. That’s how your website is delivered.

You usually pay a monthly fee for web hosting, but there are free hosts out there. I recommend not using a free host. They will have low quality service and will likely put ads on your website.

Shared hosts are the most affordable option. On a shared host, your website is kept on a server with others. However, that means there are more limits in place because the computer’s resources are shared. When your website gets more popular, you will need to move up to a private server. On a private server, your website will be the only one on the computer. That will allow you to use much more computer resources and to have more configuration control over the computer’s settings.

Whatever you do, do not just sign up with any old host. Choosing a bad host will mean your website loads slowly and will be offline a lot. You want a reliable, good host. Look for one that offers an up-time guarantee. Before ordering from any host, search online for information about the host from third-parties. Look for customer reviews. You will get to find out the real pros and cons before signing up.

What do you think?

Momentum offers a lot of internet outsourcing services. Most of all, I like their web hosting colocation service. Using colocation to host your website will help ensure your uptime.

You may take careful precautions to make your server computer reliable, and you may have on-site backups. But natural disasters and other location-specific problems could take your website offline. To avoid that type of downtime, you can keep services in two different places. If one goes down, then your website will be delivered through the other.

According to their website, Momentum has a five million-dollar hosting facility. That seems incredible to me.

The IT specialists at Momentum offer other services to meet the internet outsourcing needs of your business. For example, they offer online data backup, network monitoring, and application development. And that’s just to name a few.

Their website has a ton of information about their various services. But they also have a live chat feature in case you have any questions. That makes me assume they have great customer service. They also have the phone numbers and mailing addresses of their offices published on their website alongside a web-based contact form. That is a feature indicative of a reputable company.

I also notice that they won a “Partner of the Year” award from Microsoft as well as a few other rewards. So I find that very respectable.

If you want to have a website, you will need a web host to host your site. If you are in the market for a new website, you can use web hosting choice to help you find a good host.

One thing I like about Web Hosting Choice is that it isn’t covered in ads. Their website has a search feature, so you can find a host and a hosting plan that suits you. There is no one perfect hosting plan because every website has different needs. Some sites are small; some are big. Some sites require lots of bandwidth and not so much disk space, while another site might require the opposite.

It appears that Web Hosting Choice has been in business since 2002. For some reason, I usually find a company more reputable if they have been in business longer.

When you go to Web Hosting Choice, they will just help you find some hosts that might work for you. But since you are under no obligation to buy, I don’t see how it can hurt to use Web Hosting Choice.

If you need to start a website for your small business, you will need some kind of hosting, and you will probably want to start with shared hosting. Shared hosting is an especially affordable form of hosting in which multiple websites are hosted on a server computer.

Concentric Business Solutions (Concentric.com) is a leading provider of shared web hosting for small businesses. They have multiple shared hosting options available, starting from a simple email plan to a basic start-up hosting plan. They also have more extensive plans, but a new website would probably start with one of the starter plans.

They also offer domain registration services, which is especially helpful if you are looking for a one-stop shop so to speak. They also offer free virus protection and spam filters, which will obviously come in handy.

I think the best part of Concentric is the way they tailor to a growing business. They have all the starter plans for a new business, but then they have many more plans available for a growing business. That is very helpful so that one doesn’t get stuck with the problem of having a site that is too busy for a small plan but too small to afford too large of a plan.

Starting an Online Business? 6 Must Have Features That Your Hosting Company Should Provide for Free
by Lynn VanDyke

In a recent study, 72% of Americans expressed interest in starting their own online business. Are you one of those folks? If so, I have some valuable secrets to share with you.

One of the first issues you will address as an online business owner is selecting your hosting company. A hosting company charges you a monthly or yearly fee in exchange for allowing the world to “see” your site online. You cannot create your online business without a hosting company. Choosing a hosting company can be extremely tricky and challenging to beginners and experts alike.

During your search for a hosting company be sure each feature listed below is included. These features are crucial to running a successful online business. With growing technology you need a smart, efficient, low cost hosting program that delivers results. Do not pay extra for these features!

Here are 6 must-have features that your hosting company should provide to you- for free!

1) Complete Traffic Analysis- You need to know how your visitors are finding you. Many hosting companies provide a below par traffic analyzer. You should know what keywords yielded visitors, what search engines referred visitors, what websites referred visitors, how many unique visitors you receive each day/month, what country your visitors are from, what page your visitor entered/exited your site, how many times each page on your site was viewed and more.

All of these traffic analysis features should come included in the cost of hosting.

2) Search Engine Optimization- Each webpage of your online business should be optimized for search engines. You have a few choices for optimizing your pages: learn how to do it yourself, pay a professional or use your hosting company’s free optimizer tool.

Learning how to optimize web pages is a long and boring process. If you are a serious online business owner, then you will not have time to learn the SEO (search engine submission) process.

Paying a professional is expensive. There’s not much more to say about it!

I’d save your time and money by allowing your hosting company’s tool to optimize pages for you. This feature is crucial to ranking well at search engines. This tool should be included in the final monthly or yearly hosting fee.

3) Search Engine Submission- Your online business must be seen! There are 3 major search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN. There are several smaller engines that are also worth mentioning. Every single page of your website should be submitted to all search engines.

The problem here is time. Who has time to read through search engine submission guidelines? Again you have the option to pay a professional, do the process yourself, or have your hosting company do it for free.

Your hosting company should automatically submit each and every webpage to all major search engines. It should submit each page upon its creation and upon making any changes. Your hosting company’s submission program should submit your site and pages within each search engine’s submission policies.

This feature should be free and included in the monthly or yearly hosting fee!

4) Newsletter- This one is often overlooked. There are many third party newsletter providers, but why pay the additional fee when your hosting company can provide the tool for no cost at all?

Be sure the hosting company follows anti-SPAM guidelines, and be sure that you have the ability to create, edit and send emails to your list at your convenience. Lastly, you need to know the statistics of your mailings. You need to know how many people opened the email, how many emails were rejected, how may people, if any, reported you for Spamming, etc.

5) RSS and Blogging Capability- This feature is blossoming as you read this article. The future of online businesses may very well rest in the hands of RSS and blogging. This tool allows people to keep in touch with your online business. Many people do not want to sign up for newsletters for fear of Spam. This is their answer.

Many people know have RSS readers. Your site visitors should be able to sign up for your RSS feed or blog to keep in touch with updates, news, specials and more. This feature should be free from your hosting provider!

6) Friendly, Business-Oriented Help Forums- There is a difference between a remote help desk and forums. These days forums are infested with cranky folks chasing the next black hat trick or trying to sell you a tool you do not need.

Your hosting company should have free and friendly help forums where other online business owners can meet, network and discuss online business issues. This may seem like a feature you can overlook, but I urge you not to.

Successful online business owners know the impact of fast, reliable help. There’s nothing worse than feeling alone and confused about online businesses. A forum filled with success-minded folks is a true gem.

These 6 must-have tools and features should all be free. Each and every one has proved invaluable to my online business success. Should you have any questions or need assistance in selecting the proper hosting company for your online business, please feel free to contact me.

Your success depends on you, your tools, and your budget! Nuture all three to the fullest and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Best of luck!

Copyright 2006 Lynn VanDyke

About The Author: Lynn VanDyke provides several options for business owners including a “Jump Start Your Online Business” CD-ROM. Visit http://www.LynnVanDyke.com to learn more about her and her services. Lynn’s content website is ranked in all 3 major search engines and is in the top 1% of all websites worldwide according to Alexa. She recommends this hosting company for your online business: http://my.sitesell.com/buildit

by Elizabeth Morgan

Internet hosts provide you an opportunity to register your presence on the World Wide Web through a web site. A large number of Internet hosts continue to compete with each other to grab market share.

There are certain things that should not be ignored while choosing an Internet host. First, one has to decide how much webspace would be required for the site that needs to be hosted. An average web site does not need more than 100 MB of space. This is easily affordable for the average individual.

One has to be sure about the bandwidth requirements and capability of the Internet host in this regard. If your website has lots of audio and video files then it is preferable to go for a higher bandwidth. Remember that bandwidth determines the speed at which data is transferred to the user’s computer from the web site. The higher the bandwidth, the greater the speed of data transfer.

It is better to check the performance of the servers used by various Internet hosts. If there is a problem with the server, the website will not open. So, if you want to choose a particular Internet host, visit a few web sites hosted by the firm regularly for a few days. If these web sites do not open frequently due to server problems, it is better to go for another one.

A number of Internet hosts also provide support in terms of helping you to develop your web site and providing free software for doing so. Many of them claim to do so but once you pay the money, they may not provide enough support. So think twice before entering into a long-term contract with a new Internet host. It may be that a short-term contract is the best answer.

by Gregg Hall

One of the factors that many people forget about when they are looking for a web host is email. The types of accounts offered along with sizes and limitations are as varied as the web hosting companies are themselves.

Every web host should provide you with the ability to have several email accounts, most will offer up to 10 with a basic low end account. Another feature to look for is a company that offers an account that will accept and hold any email sent to your domain that does not match an email address. This is due to the fact that many people misspell names and such and therefore emails get lost.

You basically have three different email services available to you. The first is probably the one that most are familiar with, the POP or post office protocol works like a normal inbox such as your Outlook Express. You will be given a certain amount of storage space you are allowed but generally can only access from one computer.

The second choice called IMAP or internet message access protocol will allow you to use your email account on many different computers so that you can access it at work and home.

The third choice you have is a web based email which is of course the most flexible, allowing you to access your email from anywhere on the planet with a computer and an internet connection though a web browser. I like having all the options.

The next consideration that you have is on the size limit of storage you have. Nearly every web hosting company will have some sort of restriction on the size of account you can have as well as on the size of messages that can be sent. This is especially crucial if you are using your email to send pictures or documents. One key thing you want to do if you are using outlook or outlook express is to select the notify option for when your email is opened so that you know it was received. Many times if a file is too large you will have no other way of knowing. If you don’t get the notification then you know they didn’t receive your message.

Now, back to actual storage space, you should pick a web host company that offers a reasonable balance between the bandwidth limits and the size of the mailbox storage. For example if you have an account that offers 500MB of bandwidth but only a 3 MB data storage for email accounts.

Another important issue to look for is outgoing email limits. If you are using your account for business you may need to send emails out to a large number of people several times a day, if the system automatically flags that as spam you will not be able to send them. Check the limitations on outgoing mail and be sure it suits your needs.

by Gregg Hall

If you have an online business or maybe even several like I do, web hosting can be a significant expense not to mention the fact that reliable web hosting is absolutely crucial to the success of your business. All it takes is a server going down during a big marketing promotion and your reputation suffers. In this article we will explore some of the things to look for in a quality web hosting company for a fair price.

First off let’s get some basics out of the way for those who may not fully understand what web hosting is. Web hosting is simply the place that your website’s files and documents are located which allows your site to be pulled up on the internet. This is why it is crucial that the web host be reliable, if there server isn’t working neither are you.

When you are looking for web hosting online there are so many to choose from that it can be an overwhelming task to try to hone it down to a handful to consider. You need to keep a few things in mind before you get started however, and the first is don’t just go with the cheapest because of that reason. They are the cheapest web host because they aren’t giving certain features so you need to identify basic features that you need before you start shopping.

Some of the basic features that you will want from your web hosting company will be a choice of programming languages, databases, email addresses, bandwidth allowance, disk space and how many domains you are allowed to host. You will also want to know what kind of server and administration or control panel is offered, basically your choices will be Linux or Windows based servers. I prefer Linux servers with Cpanel installed because I am familiar with it and it makes my job a whole lot easier. Linux systems are usually less expensive than comparable Windows web hosting services plus they will offer the MYSQL and PHP programs that you will need for your online business. Most Linux based programming and databases are free, which is another reason why servers offering Linux are less expensive.

It is nearly impossible to find inexpensive web hosting with a Windows based server due to the fact that it cost the hosting company so much to get it in the first place and like anything else in life, that expense is passed on to the end user. To get a Windows based system at the same price as a Linux one you will probably have to give up many features so bear that in mind as well.

When assessing the reliability of a web hosting company do a little research on them, don’t just take their claims of 99% up time on their sales page as gospel. There are many web hosting companies out there that allow spammers to operate on their servers and they end up causing problems for everyone on that server, especially if you are on a shared server that is also sharing a block of IP addresses. You could end up having your site delisted and banned and have your emails blocked because of something someone else is doing.

One way that I like to check out hosting companies support is to either email them or if they have it enabled, have a live chat with them and ask them all my questions. If you email a web hosting company and it takes them awhile to get back to you when you are a prospective client what kind of service do you think they will give you once they have your money?