Choosing Your First Hosting Provider

By David J. Smith

Ok, you have finished your great new web site. You've spent hours upon hours working on the design until you have made it perfect, you have chosen an excellent domain name to use for the site, and a great deal of content. Of course, your next question is "What step do I take next?". Choosing the best web hosting provider for your needs can be the difference between a successful web site, or a failure.

An excellent site running on a poor host is a recipe for disaster, if your provider cannot keep your site online 24 hours, 7 days a week you could be missing out on visitors and if your site is for your business, this could mean lost sales as well. It is very important to consider several elements when choosing your first web host, too many people are dissatisfied with their current web hosting provider. First and foremost, the best web hosting provider is the one that suits your needs.

Disk Space

The first thing to take into consideration is disk space. The amount of disk space your will require depends on the size of the web site, and of course how much money you can afford to spend. Ideally you should always go with a plan that has room to grow, if your site currently is around 200mb you must ask yourself, how large will the site be in 12 months, or even 2 years. If you plan to serve media files from your site such as videos, flash animations, or any other type of content that tends to be large in size, you will need to allow for this as well.

Bandwidth

The second thing to consider is bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data you will be serving to your visitors, if you have plans of having a high traffic site in the future, you should consider a plan that allows for a high amount of bandwidth. As with disk space, it is also wise to consider more bandwidth than what your site will require initially, not less.

Serving Speed

The speed that pages are served from the host is often overlooked when it comes to choosing a hosting provider, you should always track down other sites hosted at the web host you are considering. If pages are not served in a timely fashion, your visitors may not wait around to view your content.

Final Words

Each of the above elements need to be taken into consideration when you are choosing a web hosting provider, for all the hosts out there this can take considerable time and effort, take the time to research each hosting provider as well as you can and you will be rewarded for your efforts, rushing into a hosting choice is more often than not a bad decision.

David J. Smith writes about Dreamhost and other top web hosting providers at http://www.Webhost-Advisor.com.

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What's Wrong With Web Hosting?

By Larry Dozier

It's no secret that the webhosting industry has an incredibly high percentage of dissatisfied customers.

Having been a webmaster for 10 years, and the owner of a webhosting company for 8 years, I've come to realize that the problem can usually be traced to one thing - communication.

There seems to be a real gap between web hosting customers and their providers, which inhibits free communication.

One of the reasons we encounter this is that most webhosting companies are owned and operated by computer geeks. As a genaeral rule, geeks relate much better to computers than they do to people. As a result, we have an industry full of providers who are fairly adept at technology, but woefully lacking in people skills. Let's face it - if someone spends 16 hours a day interacting with computer and networking components, they will probably have no understanding of the little niceties which grease the skids of human interaction.

Another problem is false expectations raised by the web hosts own marketing material.

Most webhosting providers have a site which portrays them as being a large corporate entity, when, in reality, most hosting companies are run by sole proprietors. The website might have a picture of high tech glass and beam office building, but the reality is often an overworked fella sitting at home in his pajamas. When the customer starts to encounter the limitations of this arrangement, frustration and resentment set in, souring the relationship.

Ironically, this same same client might be absolutely thrilled with this same web host, despite the limitations, if they had only known about the limitations going into the arrangement.

Finally, communications can be strained to the breaking point by a web host that views customers as an annoying part of the job, rather than seeing them as real people with real needs who are interested in an ongoing business relationship.

Happily, this problem may be avoided entirely, if the hosting client uses some wisdom and discrimination while shopping for a provider.

The good news is that there are some wonderful webhosting companies out there. It's just a matter of finding one which fits your needs.

When shopping for a web host, try to speak directly to the owner of the company. Failing that, speak with the customer support people on several occasions before purchasing. Are they friendly? Do they use common courtesy and politeness while speaking to you? Are they honest and open in their marketing approach? Do they address you by name while speaking to you? Do they return your phone calls and emails?

With a little leg work, you should be able to seperate the wheat from the chaffe, and find an excellent hosting company.

Copyright 2006 Larry Dozier

Larry Dozier is half owner of A1 Web Server Web Hosting - http://a1webserver.com - Visit A1 Web Server for the RESPECT you deserve.

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Web Hosting for Small Business or Home Business Websites

You have a small business company, or a shop, or a home business. You want to have a website but you do not want to pay for resources you don’t need and you won’t use. You need to search for a hosting company that has plans that match your needs.

The first step is to define which your needs are. I will provide a set of questions that may help you make the decision:

1 – Will your site be programmed in a language other than HTML and JavaScript? If so, you need to find a hosting plan that supports this language. Examples of programming languages are Php, ASP.NET and ColdFusion.

2 – Will your site need much disk space? Most sites don’t. It depends on the number of pages your site will have, the number of images, and if it will have downloadable documents or not. PDF documents take up some space, especially if you will have several of those. Just try to come up with a figure of the total of space you will need.

3 – Will you use a database? More than one database? None? If you will use a particular database, like Access or MySQL, you need to find a hosting package that includes that database engine. If you do not need a database, you may consider looking for a hosting package that does not include a database, they are generally cheaper alternatives.

4 – Do you expect lots of traffic? Most sites do not need a huge bandwidth, so paying for a hosting package with extra bandwidth is not worth in that case.

5 – Will you install a script you bought or downloaded ? Then you need to read the script requirements to be sure that the hosting package you choose will meet these requirements.

6 – How many email addresses will you need? We’re talking about mailbox@yourdomain.com email addresses here.

The questions above will help you get an idea of what you need in a hosting package. Then, there are other aspects to consider, like good customer support, reliability and whether the hosting package includes a control panel or not. You also need to pay attention to those before making up your mind and choosing a hosting company.

There are different kind of hosting services. If you are a small business or home business, then you don’t need a dedicated server. You need a virtual server hosting package, where you share the server with other companies. It does not affect you at all. You just have all control over your domain, but share the expenses with other accounts. Dedicated servers are much more expensive.

You will also find that there is Linux based hosting, and Windows hosting. Which one you pick depends on your personal preference. Some people prefer Linux, some people prefer Windows. If your site is programmed in ASP.NET or uses an Access database, you will need to get Windows hosting. If it is programmed in Php, you can get either Linux or Windows hosting, provided they support Php. These are just examples.

You see there are several aspects to take into consideration. Just think about all these and you will most likely find the right web hosting package for your website.

Sergio Roth offers web hosting services at Ayreshost.com You can contact him for advice on getting the right web hosting package for your website, and also about domain registration and custom programming. Sergio is a professional Php / MySQL programmer, with more than 15 years of programming experience, 6 of them using Php.

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Domain Name Registration - What NOT to Choose as a Domain Name for Your Business

Choosing a domain name for your business can be one of the most important decisions you make. You want something that relates to your business, is catchy and is easy to remember. Just keep in mind what you don't want.

Top 3 Types of Domain Names to Avoid:

Names that don't apply to your business or industry: Sounds obvious, I know, but with the millions of domain names that are taken, choosing an obscure name can be a tempting trap to fall into. However, the likelihood of customers finding you gets that much more difficult with a vague name. Also, prominent display on major search engines is harder to acquire.
Names that are very long: The longer the name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether or remember it incorrectly. So keep it as short and simple as possible. However, if your business name is long and you're well established in your industry, your best bet may just be sticking with your current name.
Names that are owned by someone else: It's not possible to secure the exact same domain name as someone else but it is possible to be infringing upon another's trademark or common-law rights with a confusingly similar name. Mistakenly, many times a new company will assume its trade name is legally clear merely because it was able to purchase a dot com or other domain extended name. Prior to securing your domain name, be sure to have comprehensive research conducted on the domain name.
Be creative in choosing your domain name – just remember what to avoid!


Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at http://www.tmexpress.com or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.

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