Greg Cesar
The question as to why anyone needs to host his/her website with a web hosting company that has Internet Marketing expertise might appear a bit out of sync, especially when you can hire an Internet Marketing company to help push up your hits and thereby, sales. To understand this, we need to understand how both these entities work independently.
Internet Marketing Companies
Internet Marketing companies work at marketing a website by first identifying the right keywords and content and delivering this material using "Search Engine Friendly" methods. There are two steps involved in this.
1. Several factors such as search engine optimization using Meta tags, strategic placement of keywords, etc are employed effectively in an effort to match the search engine algorithms. When everything goes right, search engines list your site at the top of the search results list (commonly known as the SERPs - Search Engine Results Pages). Normally surfers don't go beyond 30 top results (first 3 pages) in their search using any search engine. So, higher your site is listed, the better your site traffic will be.
2. PPC (pay per click) and CTR (click through rate - a tracking statistic) marketing are the latest industry buzzwords. These techniques give you the freedom of always topping the list as a click through line advertisement. For a small fee that is only paid when surfers click these links you get a guaranteed top placement. However, you pay the fee whenever a person clicks on your ad, regardless of whether or not a purchase was made. Your ads get triggered when certain keywords (called as Adwords on Google) are entered into search boxes or when a page contains a matching keyword/s, guided by certain factors.
Web Hosting Company
A web hosting company maintains many different servers that have a huge amount of space available and run on high speed multi processors in addition to providing a large amount of bandwidth, making processing speeds either faster or slower. The servers of a web hosting company run non-stop (most claim up to 99.9% up time) supported by back up generators and other power sources in addition to a host of software features suitable for any online business, web traffic, email accounts etc. Other important features of a web hosting company should include 24/7 support.
It is clear that both the web hosting companies and Internet Marketing companies have clearly different functions; yet, these functions are rarely thought to work hand in hand when in actuality, this is the case. When a web hosting company has Internet marketing expertise, they will have the knowledge necessary to help you improve your online business and the answers/advice for some of your unique Internet business questions. You as an online business owner will benefit by having all your needed web hosting services and your advisor in one place. Most importantly, web hosting companies that have Internet Marketing expertise have a vested interest in keeping you happy as a customer and seeing your business grow and expand.
About the Author :
Greg Cesar is a successful Internet marketer, web designer and web hosting provider with over 10 years' experience. He specializes in providing innovative web hosting and internet marketing services that help business owners make more money online. To improve your online business immediately and work with someone who understands what it takes to make real money online, visit: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
How to find some of the best web hosting companies
by Koh Tze Yong
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting (webhosting) is a service provided by companies that will help you host your web pages so that other internet users can find them on the internet. Webhosting companies will usually provide some ways for us to upload our files to their hosting sites.
How do other internet users find my site? The importance of Domain Name.
On top of uploading your files to a webhosting companies, You can register for a domain name. Other internet users will find your site based on domain name that you have. If you are not particular about having individualized and meaningful domain names, you can find lots of webhosting companies that provide you with free subdomains.
An example of free subdomain is easyaffiliatemarketingguide.wordpress.com the main domain is actually wordpress.com and easyaffiliatemarketingguide is what i registered with wordpress. Wordpress is a place where you can get a website started in a very short period of time, within a couple of minutes, it is one of the most popular site which support Web 2.0. The only draw back that i can see is that there are some restrictions on advertising and more advance functionalities if you website is hosted with them. Read more about how to use wordpress to support your internet affiliate marketing efforts in my other articles.
If you would like to have your own domain name like www.tzeyong.com you can register for a domain name at any of the domain registrar available. Most top webhosting companies will provide you with free domain names. So make sure you check out and decide which company you want to go with for your webhosting before registering a domain name.
What to look out for in webhosting companies? Six main criteria of choosing the right webhosting company.
1. How much disk space is available?
This would really depends on what you want to have a website for. Is it for a company? Or is it your personal site? Are you going to upload lots of multimedia files and photos? Or are you mainly using it for text based pages? This would ranges from 10 Gigabytes for personal text based pages to 300 Gigabyte for businesses.
2. How much bandwidth is provided?
For all the different webhosting plans that a company offer. You will have to decide on the bandwidth that you requires. This closely relate to your disk space usage. If you are planning to have lots of multimedia on your website. It would be better to get a plan with higher bandwidth allowance. Typlical bandwidth limits starts from 300 GB for a basic webhosting plan up to 3,000 GB for a business webhosting plan.
3. What kind of support will be provided?
Because you would need to remotely administer your website. It is important to consider the kind of support that your webhosting company has. Is the support 24 hours, 7 days a week? What are the forms of support? Toll free phone? Email support is a norm nowadays.
4. Reliability of the webhosting service?
What is the uptime promise? With todays advancement in server technologies, uptime of 99.9% are often provided by some of the web best webhosting firms.
5. Pricing of webhosting plans?
With the number of webhosting companies increasing, webhosting plans now are very competitive. Most basic plan offerred by webhosting companies ranges from $5 to $10 per month. Anything more than that would be kind of a rip off.
A very important point about price plan for your consideration is that it is a recurring fee that you need to pay per month (or annually). Some webhosting companies would give you very good discount initially, however, if the monthly fees are higher that the rest, in the long run you are actually at the losing end.
6. What are the freebies that the webhosting company is going to provide?
This is actually a very important point. No matter what is the purpose of your website, the bottomline is that you would like to draw traffic to your website. There is no easier way than using pay per click advertising through search networks. Some top webhosting firm will actually give you free credits vouchers to be used in the search network.
Another consideration is if the webhosting firm supports the latest web technology. In recent years, Web 2.0 has slowly became the de facto standard which good webhosting firm will support.
Above stated are the main criteria that is good to review and think about before one engages a webhosting company. Find More Information on WebHosting and Recommendations Here
About the Author
Tze Yong believes that sharing is a major part of the learning process. He has dedicated a few site to his cause.
http://www.tzeyong.com http://baselearning.blogspot.com
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting (webhosting) is a service provided by companies that will help you host your web pages so that other internet users can find them on the internet. Webhosting companies will usually provide some ways for us to upload our files to their hosting sites.
How do other internet users find my site? The importance of Domain Name.
On top of uploading your files to a webhosting companies, You can register for a domain name. Other internet users will find your site based on domain name that you have. If you are not particular about having individualized and meaningful domain names, you can find lots of webhosting companies that provide you with free subdomains.
An example of free subdomain is easyaffiliatemarketingguide.wordpress.com the main domain is actually wordpress.com and easyaffiliatemarketingguide is what i registered with wordpress. Wordpress is a place where you can get a website started in a very short period of time, within a couple of minutes, it is one of the most popular site which support Web 2.0. The only draw back that i can see is that there are some restrictions on advertising and more advance functionalities if you website is hosted with them. Read more about how to use wordpress to support your internet affiliate marketing efforts in my other articles.
If you would like to have your own domain name like www.tzeyong.com you can register for a domain name at any of the domain registrar available. Most top webhosting companies will provide you with free domain names. So make sure you check out and decide which company you want to go with for your webhosting before registering a domain name.
What to look out for in webhosting companies? Six main criteria of choosing the right webhosting company.
1. How much disk space is available?
This would really depends on what you want to have a website for. Is it for a company? Or is it your personal site? Are you going to upload lots of multimedia files and photos? Or are you mainly using it for text based pages? This would ranges from 10 Gigabytes for personal text based pages to 300 Gigabyte for businesses.
2. How much bandwidth is provided?
For all the different webhosting plans that a company offer. You will have to decide on the bandwidth that you requires. This closely relate to your disk space usage. If you are planning to have lots of multimedia on your website. It would be better to get a plan with higher bandwidth allowance. Typlical bandwidth limits starts from 300 GB for a basic webhosting plan up to 3,000 GB for a business webhosting plan.
3. What kind of support will be provided?
Because you would need to remotely administer your website. It is important to consider the kind of support that your webhosting company has. Is the support 24 hours, 7 days a week? What are the forms of support? Toll free phone? Email support is a norm nowadays.
4. Reliability of the webhosting service?
What is the uptime promise? With todays advancement in server technologies, uptime of 99.9% are often provided by some of the web best webhosting firms.
5. Pricing of webhosting plans?
With the number of webhosting companies increasing, webhosting plans now are very competitive. Most basic plan offerred by webhosting companies ranges from $5 to $10 per month. Anything more than that would be kind of a rip off.
A very important point about price plan for your consideration is that it is a recurring fee that you need to pay per month (or annually). Some webhosting companies would give you very good discount initially, however, if the monthly fees are higher that the rest, in the long run you are actually at the losing end.
6. What are the freebies that the webhosting company is going to provide?
This is actually a very important point. No matter what is the purpose of your website, the bottomline is that you would like to draw traffic to your website. There is no easier way than using pay per click advertising through search networks. Some top webhosting firm will actually give you free credits vouchers to be used in the search network.
Another consideration is if the webhosting firm supports the latest web technology. In recent years, Web 2.0 has slowly became the de facto standard which good webhosting firm will support.
Above stated are the main criteria that is good to review and think about before one engages a webhosting company. Find More Information on WebHosting and Recommendations Here
About the Author
Tze Yong believes that sharing is a major part of the learning process. He has dedicated a few site to his cause.
http://www.tzeyong.com http://baselearning.blogspot.com
Thursday, September 20, 2007
How to Get Your Site in the Search Engines
by Josh Hoffman
The reason why you put in a lot of time and effort to build your website is that you want it to be noticed by the maximum number of people. You have to look for a professional designer to design it and a perfect hosting company to host it. You do all this because you want to attract visitors to your site. They are important because if they see your site, they might give you business and you will make money.
As a business man you would want to do all that it takes to get your site recognized and known by the search engines. It is vital for any Internet marketing plan otherwise how will people know of your existence? That is why you need to find the best ways to get your site listed in the top positions.
If people are not even aware of your existence, how do you expect them to do business with you? You have to boldly advertise the product or service that you have put up for sale online. For that purpose you need to have a definite internet marketing strategy.
But, that is easier said than done. Internet marketing is a complicated phenomenon. And, if you think you can learn all about it online, you will be surprised to see so much information that instead of clearing your thoughts it will add to the confusion. If you are new to online business, you will not be able to make head or tail of it. However, even if you have some experience in the online world, you will find it very difficult to navigate the multitude of information that is floating around online.
All you have to do is to type a related search word or term into a search engine and you will be flooded with a sea of information on web marketing alone. It will leave you more confused than before.
Link building is very important to get recognized by the search engines and grow your popularity online. Your aim should be to move up the search engine list so that your website becomes more popular and eventually you make more money.
Of course, this is the goal of every webmaster. You want your business online to thrive and be successful. The best way to do this is to get recognized by the search engines. One company that helps webmasters get recognized by the search engines is Aviva. Visit them at the following link: http://www.avivadirectoryreviews.com. Here you can find out more information about the services they provide customers.
Aviva is an experienced company and has been helping webmasters get their websites into the search engines for quite some time now. It charges a reasonable fee and even offers coupons. You can get coupons at http://www.avivadirectoryreviews.com/coupons.php. It is your best bet to get in the search engines, which is the first essential step for the success of your online business.
About the Author
Author Josh Hoffman is a SEO expert who now offers Aviva Directory Coupons. Click here to check out his free Aviva Directory Reviews site.
The reason why you put in a lot of time and effort to build your website is that you want it to be noticed by the maximum number of people. You have to look for a professional designer to design it and a perfect hosting company to host it. You do all this because you want to attract visitors to your site. They are important because if they see your site, they might give you business and you will make money.
As a business man you would want to do all that it takes to get your site recognized and known by the search engines. It is vital for any Internet marketing plan otherwise how will people know of your existence? That is why you need to find the best ways to get your site listed in the top positions.
If people are not even aware of your existence, how do you expect them to do business with you? You have to boldly advertise the product or service that you have put up for sale online. For that purpose you need to have a definite internet marketing strategy.
But, that is easier said than done. Internet marketing is a complicated phenomenon. And, if you think you can learn all about it online, you will be surprised to see so much information that instead of clearing your thoughts it will add to the confusion. If you are new to online business, you will not be able to make head or tail of it. However, even if you have some experience in the online world, you will find it very difficult to navigate the multitude of information that is floating around online.
All you have to do is to type a related search word or term into a search engine and you will be flooded with a sea of information on web marketing alone. It will leave you more confused than before.
Link building is very important to get recognized by the search engines and grow your popularity online. Your aim should be to move up the search engine list so that your website becomes more popular and eventually you make more money.
Of course, this is the goal of every webmaster. You want your business online to thrive and be successful. The best way to do this is to get recognized by the search engines. One company that helps webmasters get recognized by the search engines is Aviva. Visit them at the following link: http://www.avivadirectoryreviews.com. Here you can find out more information about the services they provide customers.
Aviva is an experienced company and has been helping webmasters get their websites into the search engines for quite some time now. It charges a reasonable fee and even offers coupons. You can get coupons at http://www.avivadirectoryreviews.com/coupons.php. It is your best bet to get in the search engines, which is the first essential step for the success of your online business.
About the Author
Author Josh Hoffman is a SEO expert who now offers Aviva Directory Coupons. Click here to check out his free Aviva Directory Reviews site.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
How Your Hosting Affects Your User Traffic
by zeshan
There are a number of ways that your web host and the package you choose can affect your user traffic. Many site owners overlook one of the most obvious ways, however. This article tells you what that is, why you shouldn't overlook it, and your best options for making sure it doesn't adversely affect your visitors. Picking a Host You are considering which web host to use for your web site. You consider whether it supports your scripting languages -- is it Linux or Windows based? If you do JavaScript, you want to know whether that is supported as well. You consider how much space you need. You also check the email options, the additional scripts, security options, speed, testimonials -- you may even (rarely) fiddle with another user's control panel, before walking up to the sales representative and declaring the specifications you want. Whoops! Missed a spot, or did I? It seems everybody misses this particular spot; I have listed everything that most people consider. But as a web designer who does search engine optimization (so that you know where this article is coming from), I discovered that bandwidth is one of the most important design considerations you have to look at before picking a web host. I first ran into bandwidth when I was hanging out with an Internet service provider who metered bandwidth to its clients. This caused sluggish service, severe customer complaints and general heartache all around. The bandwidth that a web site needs is in download bandwidth. This is how much bandwidth the site has available on a monthly basis for users. If this bandwidth ends before the month runs out, your website is inaccessible to anybody that wants to surf it. A little design consideration I have actually never seen a designer (during the design stage) mention bandwidth and how it could affect the performance of the site; all they worry about is the size of the site. When your bandwidth ends, your site users will be unable to access your site's page at all! This ought to be sufficiently disturbing to any web site owner. The majority of web sites never run into problems with their bandwidth, but those that do get to do all sorts of interesting things like buy extra bandwidth for their sites. Most webmasters never consider how important bandwidth is until they start running out of it. Some then paste notices all over their site begging users not to save every page. Consider that it is the same bandwidth that is consumed by the user when viewing pages, that is consumed when the user saves it. Methinks the web master does not want every page on his site to be read for the sake of bandwidth; however I am sure that when the site was being uploaded the web master did not believe that he or she would have to spend extra money every month on bandwidth (and perhaps the money is not there; we will talk briefly about monetizing so that you can at least pay for bandwidth). We will talk about what you have to do as far as anticipating traffic and bandwidth. We will also discuss the best kind of hosting that will, over time, afford you protection against an upward surge in traffic.
There are a number of ways that your web host and the package you choose can affect your user traffic. Many site owners overlook one of the most obvious ways, however. This article tells you what that is, why you shouldn't overlook it, and your best options for making sure it doesn't adversely affect your visitors. Picking a Host You are considering which web host to use for your web site. You consider whether it supports your scripting languages -- is it Linux or Windows based? If you do JavaScript, you want to know whether that is supported as well. You consider how much space you need. You also check the email options, the additional scripts, security options, speed, testimonials -- you may even (rarely) fiddle with another user's control panel, before walking up to the sales representative and declaring the specifications you want. Whoops! Missed a spot, or did I? It seems everybody misses this particular spot; I have listed everything that most people consider. But as a web designer who does search engine optimization (so that you know where this article is coming from), I discovered that bandwidth is one of the most important design considerations you have to look at before picking a web host. I first ran into bandwidth when I was hanging out with an Internet service provider who metered bandwidth to its clients. This caused sluggish service, severe customer complaints and general heartache all around. The bandwidth that a web site needs is in download bandwidth. This is how much bandwidth the site has available on a monthly basis for users. If this bandwidth ends before the month runs out, your website is inaccessible to anybody that wants to surf it. A little design consideration I have actually never seen a designer (during the design stage) mention bandwidth and how it could affect the performance of the site; all they worry about is the size of the site. When your bandwidth ends, your site users will be unable to access your site's page at all! This ought to be sufficiently disturbing to any web site owner. The majority of web sites never run into problems with their bandwidth, but those that do get to do all sorts of interesting things like buy extra bandwidth for their sites. Most webmasters never consider how important bandwidth is until they start running out of it. Some then paste notices all over their site begging users not to save every page. Consider that it is the same bandwidth that is consumed by the user when viewing pages, that is consumed when the user saves it. Methinks the web master does not want every page on his site to be read for the sake of bandwidth; however I am sure that when the site was being uploaded the web master did not believe that he or she would have to spend extra money every month on bandwidth (and perhaps the money is not there; we will talk briefly about monetizing so that you can at least pay for bandwidth). We will talk about what you have to do as far as anticipating traffic and bandwidth. We will also discuss the best kind of hosting that will, over time, afford you protection against an upward surge in traffic.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Your Web Hosting Company - Are You Just a Number?
Greg Cesar
By now I'm sure you know how important your choice of web hosting company is to your business. But just in case you don't, let's review. At first glance, cheap web hosting may seem like a pretty good deal. Who doesn't want to save money? However, there are some areas in which you, as an online business owner, just can't afford to cut corners. Would you put water in the gas tank of your car just to save money? Choose a cheap web hosting company and you are doing exactly that. While you can cut corners in other areas of your business, your web hosting company is not where you want to do this, if only for one simple reason: with free or cheap web hosting companies, you are little more than a number, just another website.
Let's take a look at how cheap or free web hosting companies make their money and how they do business. First, how can they offer such cheap prices? Or even free web hosting? There is only one answer: volume. They host thousands of websites, some smaller, some larger than yours. Do you think that in hosting thousands of websites, they can give you the personalized service that you deserve? Let me answer that one for you: they simply cannot. Why? Because the number of sites hosted, coupled with the low pricing simply makes it an infeasible business practice. Practically speaking, from a business standpoint, they cannot do this. It would not make sense to their bottom line. Second, large web hosting companies generally run lean and mean. That is, in business 101, they do more with less. They are not going to provide more people to service more customers when they can do the same job with less. Granted, customer service will suffer. But to them, this is a tradeoff that they make up for with volume.
Now let's look at things from your point of view (an online business owner). You already know that time is money. You have probably already figured out that, sadly, time is not on your side. Thus, every time your site is down you are losing money. Even 5 minutes is too long for your site to be inaccessible to visitors (potential customers). Online business runs 24/7. Does your web hosting company understand that? More importantly, when you have a problem, is your business "just another website" to them? Or will they take personal ownership of the problem and solve it as soon as possible? What about follow up? Are you just another website in the heap? Or will they follow up with you to make sure that you are a satisfied customer and your site is running smoothly? Better yet, will they follow up personally, via phone call? Or will they just send an email - an automated one at that?
Many Internet business owners make the mistake of choosing a cheap web hosting company, thinking that it will help save them money. Often, it costs them more in the long run in the form of downtime, time spent waiting for answers from the hosting company and lost customers. Below are 6 tips that should tell you if you are "just another website" to your web hosting company:
* Time - Does your web hosting company have an "open door policy"? If you have a question, Will they have the answer or will they refer you to their Help Page URL? As an online business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than calling the web hosting company for help and then being told to go to a URL for help. If your web hosting company does this to you, then you are just a number to them.
* Accessibility - Is your web hosting company answering the phone promptly? When they do, who is it? Sales? This is a big tip-off. A web hosting company that really knows you and cares about your business won't automatically try to sell you something and they won't hide behind an answering machine or salesperson. A cheap web hosting company definitely won't know you by name; they will know you by the domain that you have with them.
* Business Knowledge - Does your web hosting company know what your needs are as a website owner? Do they care? Are they hiring teenagers from the local high school to answer the phones (who can't really help you)? Does your web hosting company have Internet Marketing experience? If you are with a cheap web hosting company, the answer is no, because they do their business by volume and can't be focused on those kinds of issues. Kind of ironic, don't you think, given the fact that you have a website in the first place due to the Internet?
* Advertising/Sales Tactics - As your business grows, how many services is your web hosting company trying to sell you? How many emails do they send you trying to get you to upgrade, pay upfront, etc, etc.? Better yet, how do they make their sales? I'll tell you how: aggressive advertising and sales tactics. For a cheap web hosting company, it's the only way, because it is all about the numbers. And you are one of them.
* Relationship-Driven - Does your web hosting company want a relationship with you or with your money? I bet by now you can guess the answer. The fact is, cheap web hosting companies make profits by increasing sales. If one customer leaves, so be it, because they have the volume to make that up. They really don't have the time, resources or the inclination to really make sure they have a satisfied, long-term client in you.
* Patience - Lots of Internet business owners don't know the ins and outs of web hosting. That's understandable. When you talk to the sales department of your web hosting company do they use Plain English or "technospeak" that you don't understand? Do they have the patience to explain everything to you? Or do they automatically assume that you should know and become more impatient the more questions you ask? To put is bluntly, do they make you feel stupid or dumb? If you are trying to give the web hosting company your business and they are making you feel stupid for asking questions, they may as well be saying "Next!" Why would they do this? Because your business is just another website to them.
Generally, a business web hosting company that gives you personalized service, has answers to your questions (or ways of getting those answers) will serve your online business better. Having tons of options is fine, but even better is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that to your web hosting company, your business and its success is priority one.
About The Author
Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg's web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting this link: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com
By now I'm sure you know how important your choice of web hosting company is to your business. But just in case you don't, let's review. At first glance, cheap web hosting may seem like a pretty good deal. Who doesn't want to save money? However, there are some areas in which you, as an online business owner, just can't afford to cut corners. Would you put water in the gas tank of your car just to save money? Choose a cheap web hosting company and you are doing exactly that. While you can cut corners in other areas of your business, your web hosting company is not where you want to do this, if only for one simple reason: with free or cheap web hosting companies, you are little more than a number, just another website.
Let's take a look at how cheap or free web hosting companies make their money and how they do business. First, how can they offer such cheap prices? Or even free web hosting? There is only one answer: volume. They host thousands of websites, some smaller, some larger than yours. Do you think that in hosting thousands of websites, they can give you the personalized service that you deserve? Let me answer that one for you: they simply cannot. Why? Because the number of sites hosted, coupled with the low pricing simply makes it an infeasible business practice. Practically speaking, from a business standpoint, they cannot do this. It would not make sense to their bottom line. Second, large web hosting companies generally run lean and mean. That is, in business 101, they do more with less. They are not going to provide more people to service more customers when they can do the same job with less. Granted, customer service will suffer. But to them, this is a tradeoff that they make up for with volume.
Now let's look at things from your point of view (an online business owner). You already know that time is money. You have probably already figured out that, sadly, time is not on your side. Thus, every time your site is down you are losing money. Even 5 minutes is too long for your site to be inaccessible to visitors (potential customers). Online business runs 24/7. Does your web hosting company understand that? More importantly, when you have a problem, is your business "just another website" to them? Or will they take personal ownership of the problem and solve it as soon as possible? What about follow up? Are you just another website in the heap? Or will they follow up with you to make sure that you are a satisfied customer and your site is running smoothly? Better yet, will they follow up personally, via phone call? Or will they just send an email - an automated one at that?
Many Internet business owners make the mistake of choosing a cheap web hosting company, thinking that it will help save them money. Often, it costs them more in the long run in the form of downtime, time spent waiting for answers from the hosting company and lost customers. Below are 6 tips that should tell you if you are "just another website" to your web hosting company:
* Time - Does your web hosting company have an "open door policy"? If you have a question, Will they have the answer or will they refer you to their Help Page URL? As an online business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than calling the web hosting company for help and then being told to go to a URL for help. If your web hosting company does this to you, then you are just a number to them.
* Accessibility - Is your web hosting company answering the phone promptly? When they do, who is it? Sales? This is a big tip-off. A web hosting company that really knows you and cares about your business won't automatically try to sell you something and they won't hide behind an answering machine or salesperson. A cheap web hosting company definitely won't know you by name; they will know you by the domain that you have with them.
* Business Knowledge - Does your web hosting company know what your needs are as a website owner? Do they care? Are they hiring teenagers from the local high school to answer the phones (who can't really help you)? Does your web hosting company have Internet Marketing experience? If you are with a cheap web hosting company, the answer is no, because they do their business by volume and can't be focused on those kinds of issues. Kind of ironic, don't you think, given the fact that you have a website in the first place due to the Internet?
* Advertising/Sales Tactics - As your business grows, how many services is your web hosting company trying to sell you? How many emails do they send you trying to get you to upgrade, pay upfront, etc, etc.? Better yet, how do they make their sales? I'll tell you how: aggressive advertising and sales tactics. For a cheap web hosting company, it's the only way, because it is all about the numbers. And you are one of them.
* Relationship-Driven - Does your web hosting company want a relationship with you or with your money? I bet by now you can guess the answer. The fact is, cheap web hosting companies make profits by increasing sales. If one customer leaves, so be it, because they have the volume to make that up. They really don't have the time, resources or the inclination to really make sure they have a satisfied, long-term client in you.
* Patience - Lots of Internet business owners don't know the ins and outs of web hosting. That's understandable. When you talk to the sales department of your web hosting company do they use Plain English or "technospeak" that you don't understand? Do they have the patience to explain everything to you? Or do they automatically assume that you should know and become more impatient the more questions you ask? To put is bluntly, do they make you feel stupid or dumb? If you are trying to give the web hosting company your business and they are making you feel stupid for asking questions, they may as well be saying "Next!" Why would they do this? Because your business is just another website to them.
Generally, a business web hosting company that gives you personalized service, has answers to your questions (or ways of getting those answers) will serve your online business better. Having tons of options is fine, but even better is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that to your web hosting company, your business and its success is priority one.
About The Author
Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg's web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting this link: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com
Friday, September 14, 2007
3 Options For Hosting Multiple Websites
John Lenaghan
The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it's possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.
The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.
If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.
They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.
On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.
Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.
Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.
If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.
Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.
The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.
A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.
Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.
The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.
Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.
John Lenaghan writes about web hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more information, visit http://www.hostingreport.org.
The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it's possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.
The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.
If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.
They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.
On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.
Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.
Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.
If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.
Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.
The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.
A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.
Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.
The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.
Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.
John Lenaghan writes about web hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more information, visit http://www.hostingreport.org.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
3 Deadly traffic killers courtesy of web hosting services
3 Deadly traffic killers courtesy of web hosting services
By Luis Perez
Web hosts, who are supposed to be your close business partners, and whom you expect to be prepared to do virtually anything to help lift your business to success, can also be the biggest stumbling block and the worst enemy in your search for high traffic and web site success. Here’s how.
a)The old game of now your site is available and now it is not, greatly affects traffic to your web site. This unreliability can be caused by many factors. It can be the web host using sub standard low quality servers. It could even be the web host overselling their services and signing up many more accounts than their available resources can support.
b)Some sites are pretty basic and should load quickly and yet they still take ages. Most browsers (and your potential clients) will not wait but will close the slow window and move on somewhere else. These slow speeds may in some cases be caused by the same reasons as I’ve listed in ‘b’ above.
c)Lack of proper support services means that web sites can often go through long downtime periods where a lot of traffic can be lost, literally forever. Some web hosts are nothing more than a part-time basement setup with no proper customer service arrangements. It is not uncommon to call your web host and get an answering machine. Some web hosting services have even outsourced the technical and customer service functions. One entrepreneur even complained recently that when they called the technical support department of a certain host company, the phone was answered alright – but by a non-English speaking technician.
Do look out for these 3 deadly traffic killers, courtesy of your host.
About the Author
Luis Perez is the president and CEO for MDS-Host, a web hosting company. He can be reached at info at mds-host.com. Send for your free report on the checklist you should use when selecting a hosting service.
By Luis Perez
Web hosts, who are supposed to be your close business partners, and whom you expect to be prepared to do virtually anything to help lift your business to success, can also be the biggest stumbling block and the worst enemy in your search for high traffic and web site success. Here’s how.
a)The old game of now your site is available and now it is not, greatly affects traffic to your web site. This unreliability can be caused by many factors. It can be the web host using sub standard low quality servers. It could even be the web host overselling their services and signing up many more accounts than their available resources can support.
b)Some sites are pretty basic and should load quickly and yet they still take ages. Most browsers (and your potential clients) will not wait but will close the slow window and move on somewhere else. These slow speeds may in some cases be caused by the same reasons as I’ve listed in ‘b’ above.
c)Lack of proper support services means that web sites can often go through long downtime periods where a lot of traffic can be lost, literally forever. Some web hosts are nothing more than a part-time basement setup with no proper customer service arrangements. It is not uncommon to call your web host and get an answering machine. Some web hosting services have even outsourced the technical and customer service functions. One entrepreneur even complained recently that when they called the technical support department of a certain host company, the phone was answered alright – but by a non-English speaking technician.
Do look out for these 3 deadly traffic killers, courtesy of your host.
About the Author
Luis Perez is the president and CEO for MDS-Host, a web hosting company. He can be reached at info at mds-host.com. Send for your free report on the checklist you should use when selecting a hosting service.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
10 Steps to Starting a Web Hosting Company
It may be a great time to start a web hosting company of your own. Starting your own web hosting company can prove to be a very good business decision. Go through the following steps if you wish to start one.
Step 1.
Choosing the platform Unix is an open source program that makes it less expensive than Windows and is more stable environment. Most programs run on both operating systems like perl/cgi, PHP, and Flash. But only Windows can support ASP, .NET, MS SQL etc. UNIX or even Linux.
Step 2.
Choose your web hosting provider. This could very well be the most important decision you can make in starting your web hosting company. Make sure your hosting provider qualifies with the following criteria:
- Customer Support:
Do they have live 24/7 phone support? Or do they have email support with no way of getting a direct one-on-one contact person? This will give you some indication of how well the company can respond to time sensitive issues.
- The platform and control panel:
Does the web hosting provider offer powerful and simple control panel features?
- The company's reputation:
See if the company has a customer forum and signup so you may ask other clients what their experience has been like with the company.
- Years of experience in providing hosting:
The longer the better in this case. Incompetent web hosting companies will fail within the first year; many come and go in even less time.
Step 3.
Set up your web hosting plans and decide on monthly pricing. You will want to offer a range of plans from simple smaller plans, to medium plans, and high end web hosting plans. You can offer between three and four different plans.
Step 4.
Choose the control panel you want to use. Control panels vary from very simple and user friendly to complex systems. Chose one that is simple to use but at the same time is rich in features.
Step 5.
Develop a business website If you want people to buy web hosting from you, in the first place your site should be of top quality. Spend a lot of time on this. Make it simple, easy to navigate but filled with all necessary information. If you are not comfortable in designing your own site, hire a professional. It's worth spending some money here. Avoid using a template. Have a unique design.
Step 6.
Make your site e-commerce ready to be able to accept payments for web hosting accounts; you'll want to set up the following: An SSL certificate, a merchant account, and a payment gateway.
Step 7.
Set up a support helpdesk. This is simply a way for your clients to communicate with you about the support they need. Preferably find a control panel or platform that has this feature built in. Also, A FAQ section on your web site or knowledgebase will be useful. You can also consider allowing your customers to call you for live phone support.
Step 8.
Set up your client billing. You will need to select some kind of billing software and/or Merchant Gateway, preferably one that is integrated into your control panel system.
Step 9.
Create a business plan. Before you start marketing your web hosting site, prepare a proper business plan and write email messages, welcome letters etc...
Step 10.
Market your website. While time consuming and sometimes costly, effectively marketing your website is an invaluable tool that will keep visitors coming to your site and improving your chance of sales. You may consider the following ideas: Current business contacts, friends and family. Search engine optimization. Paid advertising. Affiliate programs. Newsletters, etc...
These are the initial 10 steps to start a web hosting company.
Russell Blanc is an expert in the web hosting field and manages http://www.iWebHostingPlans.com the ultimate resource for learning about web hosting.
Step 1.
Choosing the platform Unix is an open source program that makes it less expensive than Windows and is more stable environment. Most programs run on both operating systems like perl/cgi, PHP, and Flash. But only Windows can support ASP, .NET, MS SQL etc. UNIX or even Linux.
Step 2.
Choose your web hosting provider. This could very well be the most important decision you can make in starting your web hosting company. Make sure your hosting provider qualifies with the following criteria:
- Customer Support:
Do they have live 24/7 phone support? Or do they have email support with no way of getting a direct one-on-one contact person? This will give you some indication of how well the company can respond to time sensitive issues.
- The platform and control panel:
Does the web hosting provider offer powerful and simple control panel features?
- The company's reputation:
See if the company has a customer forum and signup so you may ask other clients what their experience has been like with the company.
- Years of experience in providing hosting:
The longer the better in this case. Incompetent web hosting companies will fail within the first year; many come and go in even less time.
Step 3.
Set up your web hosting plans and decide on monthly pricing. You will want to offer a range of plans from simple smaller plans, to medium plans, and high end web hosting plans. You can offer between three and four different plans.
Step 4.
Choose the control panel you want to use. Control panels vary from very simple and user friendly to complex systems. Chose one that is simple to use but at the same time is rich in features.
Step 5.
Develop a business website If you want people to buy web hosting from you, in the first place your site should be of top quality. Spend a lot of time on this. Make it simple, easy to navigate but filled with all necessary information. If you are not comfortable in designing your own site, hire a professional. It's worth spending some money here. Avoid using a template. Have a unique design.
Step 6.
Make your site e-commerce ready to be able to accept payments for web hosting accounts; you'll want to set up the following: An SSL certificate, a merchant account, and a payment gateway.
Step 7.
Set up a support helpdesk. This is simply a way for your clients to communicate with you about the support they need. Preferably find a control panel or platform that has this feature built in. Also, A FAQ section on your web site or knowledgebase will be useful. You can also consider allowing your customers to call you for live phone support.
Step 8.
Set up your client billing. You will need to select some kind of billing software and/or Merchant Gateway, preferably one that is integrated into your control panel system.
Step 9.
Create a business plan. Before you start marketing your web hosting site, prepare a proper business plan and write email messages, welcome letters etc...
Step 10.
Market your website. While time consuming and sometimes costly, effectively marketing your website is an invaluable tool that will keep visitors coming to your site and improving your chance of sales. You may consider the following ideas: Current business contacts, friends and family. Search engine optimization. Paid advertising. Affiliate programs. Newsletters, etc...
These are the initial 10 steps to start a web hosting company.
Russell Blanc is an expert in the web hosting field and manages http://www.iWebHostingPlans.com the ultimate resource for learning about web hosting.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Why Your Website Needs Managed Linux Hosting
Managed hosting is a type of outsourcing to ensure that your business websites function correctly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Outsourced hosting is a necessity for many commercial organisations, as IT knowledge is usually minimal and the costs are significantly higher to host in-house and therefore outsourcing is essential to guarantee that server uptime is almost one hundred percent.
There is a large number of hosting companies offering managed hosting to various clients from all over the world. Many hosting companies provide their services through dedicated servers and the server uptime is almost one hundred percent. Leased servers are also available from some of the hosting companies exclusively for many businesses that require dedicated applications or database applications. Hosting service providers also manage hardware maintenance and network security, bandwidth and site monitoring.
Websites generally require managed hosting for smooth functioning of the website and any application or email traffic that is necessary.
There are generally two types of hosting - one is Windows hosting and other Linux hosting. There are several advantages of managed hosting and depending on the requirements, suitable hosting can be selected for a specific website. Generally a team of professionals looks after the managed hosting and it is good for you to find a reputable and honest company that offers their outsourcing services at the most cost effective rates. Many new companies are coming up in this high growth sector area and you have to ensure that you balance price with professionalism and server infrastructure.
A commercial, managed hosting company provides detailed IP addresses of website visitors during the entire month as well as also providing visiting trends, anti virus, spam control and daily backups. Website statistics or analytics are very useful, especially for commercial websites. Many Windows and Linux hosting providers offer full database support and this is vital to the stability of your websites applications.
Linux hosting provides many features and many people prefer it to Windows hosting. All commercial service providers generally have twenty four hour customer support through phone or email and provide a personal control panel for easy and efficient administration.
Service providers have support in almost all areas such as Perl, PHP, MySQL, CGI bin, SSH access and Python. Some additional features such as POP, SMTP, Webmail, Anonymous FTP connections and FrontPage extensions may also be provided to the customers.
Service providers have dedicated IP addresses and excellent database support and therefore in our opinion Linux hosting provides many additional features. So, it is necessary for large commercial organizations and business houses to go for managed hosting as it provides not only hosting in a dedicated server, but all types of customer support that is required for smooth running of the website. Although Windows and Linux hosting are available, in our opinion Linux hosting is a better option.
Lee Smith writes about Linux Managed Hosting in London UK Managed Hosting
There is a large number of hosting companies offering managed hosting to various clients from all over the world. Many hosting companies provide their services through dedicated servers and the server uptime is almost one hundred percent. Leased servers are also available from some of the hosting companies exclusively for many businesses that require dedicated applications or database applications. Hosting service providers also manage hardware maintenance and network security, bandwidth and site monitoring.
Websites generally require managed hosting for smooth functioning of the website and any application or email traffic that is necessary.
There are generally two types of hosting - one is Windows hosting and other Linux hosting. There are several advantages of managed hosting and depending on the requirements, suitable hosting can be selected for a specific website. Generally a team of professionals looks after the managed hosting and it is good for you to find a reputable and honest company that offers their outsourcing services at the most cost effective rates. Many new companies are coming up in this high growth sector area and you have to ensure that you balance price with professionalism and server infrastructure.
A commercial, managed hosting company provides detailed IP addresses of website visitors during the entire month as well as also providing visiting trends, anti virus, spam control and daily backups. Website statistics or analytics are very useful, especially for commercial websites. Many Windows and Linux hosting providers offer full database support and this is vital to the stability of your websites applications.
Linux hosting provides many features and many people prefer it to Windows hosting. All commercial service providers generally have twenty four hour customer support through phone or email and provide a personal control panel for easy and efficient administration.
Service providers have support in almost all areas such as Perl, PHP, MySQL, CGI bin, SSH access and Python. Some additional features such as POP, SMTP, Webmail, Anonymous FTP connections and FrontPage extensions may also be provided to the customers.
Service providers have dedicated IP addresses and excellent database support and therefore in our opinion Linux hosting provides many additional features. So, it is necessary for large commercial organizations and business houses to go for managed hosting as it provides not only hosting in a dedicated server, but all types of customer support that is required for smooth running of the website. Although Windows and Linux hosting are available, in our opinion Linux hosting is a better option.
Lee Smith writes about Linux Managed Hosting in London UK Managed Hosting
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