Benefits of Using CPanel for Your Business Web Hosting
For new webmasters, especially those with minimal computer experience, the idea of being responsible for maintaining your own website can seem overwhelming. However, this might be an obstacle you'll have to overcome if you really want to have your website online. And as we all know, very few businesses can afford to not be online. But if you have a limited budget and can't hire a full-time "web person" what are your options?
Well, one of the best things you can do to shorten your learning curve is choose a web host that uses cpanel. cpanel is one of several popular control panels used by web hosts and allows the website owner to manage all sorts of tasks related to maintaining a web site. Now when we talk about maintaining the site, we're not talking about creating web pages necessarily. Instead, we mean things like setting up databases, additional email addresses, FTP accounts, or checking web statistics.
The beauty of cpanel is that it allows you to do all of these otherwise "technical" tasks from a user-friendly control panel. The result is a generally short learning curve on the part of the inexperienced user and less need to rely on tech support (though your web host should also provide excellent tech support, but that's a topic for another article).
In addition to administrative tasks, many web hosts offering cpanel also include a feature called Fantastico. This allows you to install a variety of programs and scripts within just a few clicks. Some of the more popular programs found within the Fantastico suite include Wordpress (for blogging) or Simple Machines Forum or phpBB (for hosting an online forum). There are usually 30-40 or so programs included with this feature, depending on what your web host decides to offer, though some are admittedly not that useful. However, the fact that Wordpress and forum software is included makes it well worth it so this might be a feature you'll want to keep an eye out for.
When you sign up with your web hosting company, they will give you all the details on how to access your cpanel. Usually, it's as simple as typing your web address into your browser, followed by /cpanel...so it would look like www.yourwebsitename.com/cpanel. Of course, since having access to cpanel is essentially having access to your entire site, you should guard this access carefully and ensure you have a very strong password.
There are other control panels offered by a wide variety of web hosts that are comparable to cpanel. However, you will likely find that cpanel is one of the most common features found throughout the web hosting world. That can also be to your benefit when it comes time to get help with something within cpanel since there is a large base of people online also familiar with its functions.
By choosing a web host offering cpanel, you can spend more time focusing on your business and getting traffic to your site rather than learning the intricacies and technical details that are the backbone of your web hosting environment.
You don't have to spend a fortune to find quality, secure CPanel-based web hosting. Research top solutions for affordable business website hosting that would be great for your small- to medium-sized business. Find out more by visiting us today at: http://www.OnlineWebHostGuide.com
Copyright 2007 - Kevin Nelson. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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