Selecting a Web Host For Your Business

Web hosting for your business is arguably more important than a physical location or even a telephone number. Prospects often seek businesses within online search engines or directories. Without a quick and reliable web hosting provider your business can be left behind other firms competing for the same audience. With an overwhelming number of choices however, how does a business owner find the right provider for their needs?

Since web hosting has become pretty much a commodity, price alone can no longer be used as the basis for comparison. Most providers offer pretty much the same price and feature set because their customers have come to expect these services as part of the base pricing. So what else can you use to compare the multitudes of providers against each other? That would be the often stated yet rarely executed term of customer service.

Although creating a web site has been simplified to a point where a novice can come up with a decent web presence, the hosting and maintenance of a site still requires some knowledge and technical assistance when things go wrong. Many providers offer support that leaves a user lacking the personal touch and can often lead to frustration or even worse a web site that doesn't work. As most business owners know, a site that is down translates to dollars being lost by customers who may never return to visit the site again. A good provider will answer questions quickly and deal with any issues with minimal site downtime.

Security is the next important topic but we're not only talking about online security but also the site where the servers themselves are stored. Customers want to be certain that their data is safe and not being accessed by unauthorized users. A competent provider will make sure that their servers are housed in a secure and safe environment and that their online security methods are up to date and proactive. A hacked site can be very damaging to a business especially if the site is high visibility. The damage created by such an intrusion could resonate for years after the actual event takes place.

The last differentiator we'll talk about are the other intangibles that make a difference in the world of today. A provider that practices business ethics and supports local or national initiatives can make a business feel good about who they are partnering with. It can also lead to positive publicity for your business as you'd be associated with a company that is making waves in the industry.

Use these tips and you'll be that much further ahead from your competitors when seeking a web hosting provider.

To read an overview of the best web hosting providers proceed to the Save A Lot Guy web site!

Web Host Rebates - What to Look For in a Site

Web host rebates are a great way to save money. There are people that miss out on saving some big time money simply because they don't think that they can trust these rebate sites, but if you know what to look for and how to tell a professional site from another webhosting rebates can be one of the best ways to save money on your hosting needs. Let's go through what you should look for in a hosting rebate site so that you can be one of the educated people who save money:

Professional Site:
Take a look at the site. Is it nicely set up? Is the navigation scheme easy to follow? Does it look like the site is updated or just left alone? The main thing you must decide is does the owner of the site truly care about the site enough to keep it updated with the fast moving web hosting industry.

The Webhosts:
Take a look at which hosts the site supports. Are they reputable hosts? Do they have a variety of host's that support different types and features of web hosting? Is the site truly trying to help you select a web host or are they taking the hosts that they get the most money from.

Support:
Is the person or company that owns the site easy to contact? Are they willing to give you support and are they there to answer the questions you have?

Once you get how it works and what to look for web host rebates can be a great way to save money. It's very easy and a great way to save money, but you must be careful about the sites you use. Using the combinations of rebates and coupons can make hosting one of the cheapest parts of starting a website. You can end up paying pennies on the dollar for hosting.

About the Author- Steve Quatrani is an expert in the hosting industry and operates http://www.RebateRabbit.com a site which helps people select the best web host. If you are looking for hosting and enjoyed this article you can check out more articles at http://www.RebateRabbit.com/resources.html Don't pay as much as everyone else use the Rebates and Save!

The Business of Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is the business of providing web hosting services owned by another web hosting company to end customers. Reseller hosts provide website design and management services as well as hosting services to users. Generally, a reseller will buy a product or service from another company, repackage it by adding something extra and resell it to other companies under its brand name. This means that the reseller acts as a middle-man, creates brand-image, finds customers and hosts their sites on the servers owned by the original hosting company. Naturally, this also means larger sales and profits for the original web host.

Entrepreneurs can make a decent living through reseller hosting, as it is a great business opportunity for people who want to create a stand-alone business venture. It also opens up allied opportunities for those with parallel businesses who can combine web hosting with their other services. Let's take a closer look at the advantages.

Branding Opportunity: The best part of the reseller hosting business is that one is able to create one's own brand even though it is another company that provides the web hosting service. For example, as per the reseller hosting program of the reseller company need not get involved in the technical aspects, but can certainly market the service under its name at prices of its choosing.

Competitive Edge: The reseller has the opportunity to offer other services which can be used in conjunction with web hosting accounts. These include merchant accounts, SSL Certificates, search engine optimization and domain name registration. That's almost money for nothing.

Cost Optimization: Reseller hosting does away with the need to maintain expensive in-house hardware such as different types of servers, backup generators and other network equipment and connections required to host Internet web sites.

Market Expansion: A reseller can cash in on the ever increasing numbers of businesses and individuals who are migrating to the web. That's almost unlimited scope.

Now that you know the benefits, we're sure you wanna pick up this lucrative business option! But the business of reseller hosting is not without its red flags.

~ You need a large site and the ability to market through
various channels to justify the initial costs associated with reseller
packages.
~ You need to be cost competitive as compared to other resellers
with similar services.
~ Ensure that you have adequate bandwidth for the number and type of sites you need to support. Check out to understand the different levels of storage and bandwidth offered.
~ Make sure you secure Service Level Agreements for technical
support and hardware repair from the web hosting provider.

Although you don't need to maintain very sophisticated hardware, you will still need some. Take care when you make that purchase.

~ Check for the brand name of the hardware. Does it enjoy a reputation for reliability and after sales technical support?
~ Check for the speed of the CPUs in the servers as this will directly correlate with the load speeds of customer websites.
~ Ensure the hardware can offer backup options, such as drive mirroring. This will help keep a synchronized copy of all data for easy backups.

Bearing these points in mind will certainly improve your chances of success at reseller hosting.

Hi, I'm Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. If you like to work smart, check out http://www.SmartEntrepreneur.net It's full of articles and resources to help you start and grow your business successfully. Please visit us & download our special "Freebie of The Month" at http://www.smartentrepreneur.net/freebie-of-the-month.html

But This Host is So Cheap!

One of the things that confuses a lot of businesses is what type of hosting package to buy. If you are new to the Internet business world and your have never had a website - a host is a foreign word to you, even if you do have a website you may not know what you need in a hosting provider.

I hope this article will help clear up some of that confusion. Some of the most brilliant business people get confused by Internet terminology so let's look at the difference between an ISP and an Internet hosting provider...

ISP - Internet Service Provider

This is the company that actually provides you with a way to access the Internet - if you have a dial-up then it would be something like PC People or Earth Link. If you have cable modem it would be Comcast, Quest - etc.

This is the connection that goes from your computer to the Internet.

Internet Hosting Provider

Which is where you place your website - if you were/are a business owner that had a brick and mortar business you would rent a store and place your goods in that store. The same holds true with an Internet host they hold all the pages of your website, graphics, scripts and everything else.

This is a simplified explanation, but you get the picture.

Now that we have that out of the way lets talk about hosting packages and what to look for.

As a web developer/designer I have worked with the best and worst of hosts.

I have found hosting companies that look inexpensive but nickel and dime the customer to death by the time they are done. They look great in the beginning and even sound like a fantastic deal but are really not a great bargain.

I have found hosting companies I have loved in the beginning but later have gotten so big or changed hands and the customer service was so bad I had to go else where.

I want to warn you of the one stop shop hosting companies that do everything - they will register your domain name - build your website (usually template websites) and host them. Saving you money and touting the convenience of all they do...

Ultimately you feel like you are hostage to them - they own your domain and website.

I know as a business owner you want to save money where you can - which is just good business sense, there are a lot of choices - do your research - make sure that host will meet your needs.

I want you to chose carefully - be wise about the host you pick this is so important because all hosts are not created equal.
Factors to look at when selecting a hosting company

Live Tech Support

This is one of the most important aspects of a host I want to be able to talk to a live breathing person - through chat on the Internet or phone. I do not want to rely on an email period. Which is my position - if my store (website) is down or my email is out of order my business is going down the drain. This is #1...

Do they use a C-Panel

What is a c-panel you say? A C-panel allows you or your web developer/designer to be able to control different elements of your website. You can add emails, change passwords, even point domain names and many other important tasks. It gives you control over many aspects of your website.

What is the up Time

If the the server is down and your website is not up on the Internet 24/7 then what happens when your website visitors go to your store? You lose business ! I look for a 99% up time guarantee . There are ways to monitor your up time their are sites that give you monitors for free. Just google site up time and you will be able to see some free services.

Disk Space

Depending on how large you website is will depend on the disk space needed. If you have a logo and a lot of text you will need very little disk space.

Bandwidth

If you are running a site with lots of images or downloads you will need a lot higher bandwidth than a small site with mainly text. If you go over your allotted bandwidth you will usually pay a lot of extra money or visitors may not be able to download files you need them to download.

CGI Bin

It is very rare you will see a host without a CGI bin. It is important that you have one. If you do not have you own CGI bin you cannot install scripts and programs.

MySQL Database

Some programs require a data-base. If you are going to have a shopping cart, a customer log in or a number of different functions for your website in the future you may want to store the information. Some hosts will want to charge you extra for MySQL included in a hosting package - but you will fine most good hosts will include it.

Even if you don't think you will ever need it, I would find a host who has it in a hosting package even one which is an upgrade from the one you are purchasing. I find most websites grow as the business grows, and eventually you may need a database for something.

PHP

Many dynamic scripts and programs require PHP support. Again, this feature can be extra with some hosts but most good hosts will offer this free. With this you will find free blogging scripts (WordPress) shopping cart scripts (Zen Cart) and many other things. As a matter of fact in the host that I use and would recommend these things are right in the C-Panel and can be applied with a click of a mouse!

Perl

If you do not have Perl, you cannot run Perl programs. Many good scripts that you can get for free or buy are written in Perl.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)

If you intend to accept credit card orders directly from you website, you will need Secure Socket Layer included in your plan. This is an easily overlooked feature. To use this feature you need a merchant account - there is no essential need to make this a priority if you have no merchant account - or if you use a 3 party processor such as PayPal.

FTP Access

Unlimited and unrestricted ability to transfer files to your site is essential. You will need an FTP program to transfer files.

Statistics Program

I use to say have a great statistics program and it still is an essential tool to have. Most good hosts provide this as well.

My preference is Google Analytics it is an impressive tool and you would not believe how much information you can gain from having that on your website. It goes way above and beyond anything I have seen a hosting package provide. Google provides the code for free you just need your web professional to place it on the pages of your website. You will be able to fine tune your marketing it is outstanding.

Artista design specializes in all types of visual mediums. Being in the business for over a decade Pamela Jacob is an artista from the get go and can "Create the image you need to attract the customers you want!"

For Great Articles & Information go to my blogs at:

http://www.promotionaldesigner.blogspot.com

http://www.artistadesign.com/creatingwealth

Sharepoint - Setting Up Alerts

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is the latest in the family of Microsoft's SP Technologies, software designed for team discussion, collaboration and communication. Complete with a whole host of new features, SP Services 3.0 has more options to stay organized and keep communicating with a team that may be separated by office walls or by continents.

While SP is great software to keep teams organized and reduce dependency on email, it can complicate things, especially when you are trying to remain current when documents may be perpetually undergoing changes.

So as a feature to keep you posted with changes made to the documents, calendars or lists on your hosted SharePoint site even when you are not logged in, you have the ability to set up email alerts to notify you of changes. With relative ease, and flexibility, alerts can be set up on specific content with which you wish to remain notified of changes.

The following instructions are specific to creating alert based on a custom list within a SP site. The alert set-up instructions are consistent across the software, and can be applied to other elements within your site.

So, to get started with setting up alerts on a custom list, do the following:

Access the list where the alerts will be applied. If set up with access to the Quick Launch (left hand menu) simply click on the List name.

Click on Actions, then Alert Me

In the "New Alert" menu, fill in the relevant information for yourself, such as the Alert Title, who you wish it to be sent to (this can be a single person, or multiple people).

Note: the alerts automatically get sent to the email address associated with the SharePoint site's user.

Additional options that you can select are what kind of changes you wish to be alerted about, the criteria of the change, as well as when to send it (immediately after each change, or via a single email once a day)

Click Ok.

Now your alert is ready!

You can set up your own Sharepoint Hosting account by visiting Sharepoint Hosting, visit http://www.Alentus.com

Is Your Web Hosting Company a Pretender?

When is a web hosting company not a web hosting company? When it's a VAR.

There's nothing inherently wrong with being a VAR (value added reseller) - I've been one many times in the past, and will likely be again.

It's just that people typically don't understand what a web hosting company is - or does - and when it comes to their online business they make some questionable decisions because of it.

For instance...

Recently I was consulting with a client and they asked my opinion of a hosting package their web design firm had offered them. *STOP RIGHT THERE* There's your first BIG CLUE...

Your web design firm is in the business of designing web sites. Making your web site look a certain way. Sometimes the web design firm may have coders on staff who can program the site to behave a certain way (and coding a webpage is not the same as coding a database application,) and sometimes the web design firm has writers on staff who can make the site read a certain way (and writing your company profile is not the same as writing your primary sales and landing pages...) And don't even get me started about SEO, Internet marketing and general strategic online business development advice!

But I seriously doubt they have a multi-million dollar environmentally controlled, fire suppression enabled, multi-point redundancy, 24-hour monitored, data center in their back room.

Now THAT'S a hosting center.

Most pretenders err.. most hosting companies are really VARs, and here's the rub, these pretenders often charge 100 times the actual cost of hosting and deliver 1% of the service package.

Now before I get loads of angry letters from quality hosting VARs I should say that they are not all like this. I do however bring up this huge discrepancy and tell you this tale to illuminate a point that drives me nuts.

Just because someone can code up a web page doesn't mean you should entrust them with your online business presence and hosting. It certainly doesn't mean you should trust them with your online marketing, and it especially means you shouldn't automatically trust them with your online brand reputation either.

These are all important points that require special skills - some companies have the mix, some do not. Do you know which questions to ask and how to tell a Pretender?

I know the web is still a brave new world (as of writing, it's just over 14 years old!) and you'd be forgiven if you still don't quite 'get it' - that's why you need to take care and ask more questions and work with a proper web strategist/consultant who's been around the block a few times.

Remember before focusing my efforts as a corporate web strategist and online marketing expert I was a VP of IT and Consulting and managed multi-million dollar software development projects across most major continents for banks, governments and major manufacturers. Managing upwards of 50 people, I've personally built and sold software solutions for over 30 years now, and even pioneered online systems that pre-date the Internet (try creating a TV based hyper linked TeleText system in the mid 80's... now that's creative)

Anyhoo... I'm a little off-topic.

The conclusion of my tale was this. I recommended a direct hosting source (one of the major players in this field) and provided their price. The client declined telling me that it was "too cheap" and that they would stay with the web design firm *sigh* So I pointed out the firm was a VAR and in this instance was charging them nearly 100 times over cost for 1% of the service...

Call me crazy, but spending 100 times more than I need seems unnecessary. But that's just me...

JAMES BURCHILL Shows individuals and companies how to profit from the innovative use of Internet technologies, strategic content and social media marketing. James' innovative and creative solutions are the select choice for those seeking an advantage, and Jim's valuable money making, marketing, technology and business advice is published regularly on his website. You can find out more at http://www.JamesBurchill.com/about

A Dedicated IP Web Host - Do You Need One?

Many large web hosting services are now offering dedicated IP hosting. This is a new feature, and dedicated IP web host companies obviously see a market and a demand for this. But why would you want to use a dedicated IP web host?

You probably have your web sites hosted on a shared hosting system at the moment, as this is the most common setup. It allows a web host to put many sites on a single server. This server will have an IP address, and this address covers all the sites hosted there. In other words, in a shared hosting setup, your site is 'grouped' with the sites of many other customers under the same IP address. This is also known as name-based hosting.

Why might this be a problem? There were rumors some time ago that the search engines would take note of the IP address of spammers' sites, and ban that IP, or else downgrade the sites covered by that IP address. This is a process also known as blacklisting. It appears now that this is unfounded, and search engines are clever enough to take action against individual domain names, though the rumors still pop up from time to time when search engines change their rankings and webmasters lose their traffic, and they look around for reasons.

Again, you may not want your site or sites to be on the same IP address as gambling or pornography sites. Though the association is not apparent to a person looking at your site, some webmasters believe they may be 'tainted' by what other web site owners have on the IP address they are sharing with them, even if they are not spamming sites.

Some search engine optimization professionals now also recommend that webmasters get their own IP address from a dedicated IP web host for other reasons. If you have more than one site, and they are all on the same hosting service, they will all be on the same IP address. There are now reverse IP search tools, which will show all the domains which appear on the same IP address. If you run several e-commerce sites, your competitors will be able to get a list of them all. You can see why this might be bad for your business - most webmasters want the full list of sites they own or run to remain confidential.

Another reason SEO professionals give as a benefit of unique IP addresses is that if you have a network of sites, you can link between them without any risk of the search engines seeing the linking as suspicious, as it might if all sites are on the same IP address. As with most SEO-motivated attempts to understand search engine algorithms, this may or may not be true.

A dedicated IP web host is definitely worth considering, since in many cases, it costs the same as normal shared web hosting and is offered as a free feature. Anything which can benefit your web sites, especially if it has no extra cost, is worth looking at. To see which host I recommend, see my dedicated IP web host page.

Don Break writes about web hosting and how to make it work for you.