Monday, January 5, 2009

The Web Hosting Bubble

Web hosting is a new industry. Due to the invention of the internet, and subsequently domain names, thousands of businesses have sprung up to provide services to support what we now know as the internet.

The web hosting industry has been very profitable for those who succeed, yet also subject to fierce competition and a highly partisan consumer base. In this industry, reputation and word-of-mouth truly exceed the gains of the more expensive, traditional methods of advertising.

Often, all it takes is one upset customer to a create a "this web host sucks" website, that can scare away thousands of potential customers. Other times, a bad experience with customer service can lead to the irate customer creating a "thread" in a popular online forum to complain of the service. While one such occurrence may not be a game-breaker, if the trend is allowed to occur it can cause the downfall of a web hosting company. Yet, in such an industry, a few giants have emerged to grab large profits and succeed quite well.

Most of the medium to large sized web hosting companies report a staggering growth rate as well, due in part to the boom of the internet in various parts of the world, and the international nature of the internet. So while US demand may slide, the gain in demand in other countries, can easily exceed what is lost from the American consumer base.

There could be what some are calling a "plateau" within American web hosting. Once some of the premier web hosting companies establish solid reputations, with consistently excellent customer service, most customers tend to stay with the same web host.

So in the future, to avoid losing their currently rapid rate of growth, the larger web hosts will have to begin offerings in some of the larger foreign markets to stay competitive. Some companies have already done this. For example, Hostgator launched "Hostgator Brazil" with a new .com.br domain in August 2007, as they noticed a large growth in customers from South America, particularly Brazil, to help cater to that target demographic. Hostgator has seen an explosion of international customers in the past year, as they now comprise over a third of the american company's customers. Hostgator plans to market more aggressively in Brazil in the future, and is dedicating more resources to the South American region. Expect other web hosting companies to follow suit, to expand into foreign regions. If other web hosting companies don't make the move into foreign markets, they may lose their competitive edge on some of their more savvy counterparts.

So, in conclusion, while the American consumer demand may reach a "plateau" once they find a comfortable web hosting service, expect the thriving web hosts to have moved into foreign markets.

Jonathan Baldwin runs a Web Hosting Reviews website, where you can find this article, The Web Hosting Bubble, and reviews of Cheap Web Hosting.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Why Multiple Domain Hosting is Recommended?

In the web hosting industry today, getting a website is very easy because the prices of domain names are getting cheaper. Once you choose a particular web provider, they will provide you almost everything making you ready to launch your website in a short time. However, there are companies out there that only allow you to register a single domain. For those who only want to create one website, this won't affect them but for those who aim to have more than one, that company will not be their choice. If you want to have another website, you will have to get multiple hosting accounts and this will definitely cost a lot.

However, in the industry today, solutions to that problem have arisen. Companies now provide you the power to manage everything under one account. With the ability to have multiple domains, you can decide what site you want to create. In other word, you can have one website for your blog, one for your online shop and so on. The best thing is you can relate those sites with your chosen domain names.

With your multiple domain accounts, you also get email addresses, FTP accounts, database, sub-directories attach to each domain. Most companies will provide this and even provide you with control panel application that enables you to set up your domain with ease. All you have to do is access the add-on and fill out the application like filling out a form. With providers like GoDaddy, you are able to purchase multiple domain accounts at an affordable price and then register it with your web host.

How much do you have to pay for it? In today's web hosting market, you can easily get one for less that $10 per month. The question actually lies in what sort of business you are doing and the scale of your business. With that price, you can get enough features to support you in creating your ideal website. However, you must still find a hosting company (personally I recommend Bluehost) that provides reliability in its service.

In conclusion, having multiple domain names is a very good way to expand you business. It also increases your chances to make profit in your business with more exposure that you get by having more than one website. You get to save money and increase your profit at the same time. That is killing two birds with one stone.

Do you need guides in chosing the right web hosting? Check out WebHostingSecretRevealed.com - a place where the webmaster (Jerry) examine various hosting services by hosting websites on the web hosts first hand.

Article written by Justin Knights, freelance writer.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Web Hosting Services For Less

For people who are just starting up a business and wanting to put up their web site, an affordable web hosting services maybe very important. Since the business is just starting to take off online, then the budget must be put into consideration. Just take one step at a time especially in spending your money. Nowadays, it won't be a too difficult to find a cheap web hosting package that will suit your budget. There are many web hosting companies that will be able to offer you the features you will need at reasonable prices. Be that as it may, getting a quality web hosting company should not be neglected.

Though cheap, you must still be particular with the quality service they can give you. There are deceitful web host companies that may only take advantage of you. You have to determine the requirements of your webpage especially on how much space you will need. This is to match the space availability the web host can extend to you. Remember that the larger your web site is, the more expensive the web hosting services will cost you. Thus, expect a much bigger budget allocation if you want to have a larger web site. Furthermore, you have to outline the features of your web site so that you can align this to the extent of services a web host can offer you.

If you intend to have plenty of downloads, then you have to ensure that the web host company will be able to comply with this requirement. Look for a company that can offer you professional web hosting at a rate that is suitable for your type of business. There are many that you can choose from the internet but the best way to find out which is the best is to ask people who can fairly recommend a good web host company. There are also reviews on top web hosts that you can read in order for you to get good idea about the industry.

When you have started your research, you may trim down your list to a few companies and start comparing them based on features and prices. Above all these, choose a company that has good reputation even if you have to pay a little more. What is a few cents of savings for sleepless nights due to poor technical services? It will not be worth sacrificing your business in exchange of a poor web hosting plan. Having a good web host is not really much of a luxury these days especially that there is much competition going on. Competition has truly resulted to easy web hosting bringing more convenience to web site owners.

Quality web hosting services are very essential to the success or failure of your online business. Thus, you need to consider your options carefully. Keep in mind the features you want for your site and the goals you aim to achieve with it. So, in finally picking out a web host service, go for quality service, flexibility of features, and affordability of rates.

The author of this article Menno Spijkstra is an Internet Marketing specialist who has been successful with several affiliate programs for many years. Menno finally decided to share his knowledge and experience through his website http://www.AffiliateDistrict.com You can sign up for his free newsletter and join his coaching program.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Web Hosting Guides For Beginners

To have a presence in the internet to display your products and services, you will need to have web pages visible to the internet audience or consumers. To achieve that, you will need a location to par or place you web pages, this location can be obtained from a web hosting company. The company will give you a space in the World Wide Web for you to display whatever content you have regarding your business. It is like buying you virtual shop or office in the internet.

Therefore, by knowing that you need a space in the internet, you definitely have to buy it. This is where the web hosting company comes in. You can pay them a certain amount of money each month and you will get your web hosting service from them. This service will provide you with a domain name, service, support, and a certain amount of bandwidth each month and so on.

However, for someone new, this entire feature will just cause him a headache for not knowing where to begin. For most of them, they might just want to have a space in the internet to put some photos and text to share with the internet community. Unfortunately, to have a website, one still has to go through the pain of selecting his own web hosting company.

The best way to find a good web provider is to do a research on the companies that you are interested in. read reviews or ask any of your peers who might have past experience with the companies. This is a good source when you consider you choices. In the end of the day, better be slow than charging yourself into a wall when you find out later that the hosting company fails to deliver.

Justin is a webmaster and writer. His Lunarpages hosting website reviews the hosting leader. For a quality hosting, Justin recommend Lunarpages for both their quality and experiences.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

How Much Bandwidth Do You Really Need?

Bandwidth is the measure of data volume that is transmitted over an internet connection. Bandwidth is measured on a lot of things, and there are different ways to assess how much bandwidth you use. In order to choose the correct hosting plan, you need to know your bandwidth requirements. Web hosting companies will offer different prices tailored to your bandwidth needs. Once you have an idea of what kind of bandwidth package you need, you can search around and make comparisons in prices.

It is good to err on the side of caution when happening upon service providers that offer "Unlimited Bandwidth." This is impossible, and any company offering this just wants to trap you. There are no broadband companies that offer unlimited bandwidth connection to their clients, so how is it possible that the web hosting companies that use them would be able to provide unlimited bandwidth?

When you come across a hosting company that offers "Unlimited Bandwidth" as one of its services, be sure to take a good look at its "Terms of Service" menu item or the "Acceptable Use Policy" section. Read the fine print about this so-called "unlimited" disclaimer. Some sites will just use that term to pique your interest, whilst others discuss your site "qualifying" for unlimited bandwidth. For example: your bandwidth may be "free" but if you go over 5 GB per month they will charge you. Some may even offer unlimited bandwidth but with a torrent of terms and conditions such as no image galleries, HTML or graphics! You may also not even be allowed to link other sites back to your own. Your website will basically be non-functional, and all because you have fallen into the "Unlimited Bandwidth" trap!

It is good to do proper research and to find a web hosting service provider that has a range of different services and specified bandwidth packages. It is also wise to find the web hosting companies that will allow an upgrade should the bandwidth you had chosen prove not to be enough after a while.

Before you decide on your bandwidth requirements, take the following factors into consideration:

Roughly how many users will be accessing your website?

How many pages does your website consist of? You have to realize that it is not the quantity but the quality of the text. You may have a few pages, but they could be filled with bandwidth chewing graphics. The HTML in your content will also use up a lot of data volume. You should even take links to other websites off your site into consideration too.

Large audio and video files will require a lot more space. You also need to think about whether you will be adding more in the future. Computer programs and file downloads will also require more bandwidth.

Virtual Reality and full-length three-dimensional audio and video presentations will require the most bandwidth of all.

It is good to watch your usage carefully over the first few months to check whether you have chosen the right bandwidth requirements for your website. Naturally, it will take you some time to determine whether the bandwidth you have chosen is right for your site, because you will need to see the amount of traffic you are receiving.

Christine Anderssen is the owner of Tailormade4you and offers all your web hosting

and web design

requirements for small business owners in South Africa.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Web Hosting Marketing - How to Get Your First Client

If you just started new web hosting company your main task will be to get your first client. In this article you will find some solutions which can help you to get in this very competitive business.

Your business plan should cover both short term and long term strategy. We will talk more about short term strategy because you need to get your first clients as quickly as possible. In the beginning you have to pay monthly fees for the server or reseller hosting plan and it is very important to avoid losses caused by paying for unused web space. Anyway, when you are implementing short term strategy you should always try to do it in the way which will help you in the long run too.

First solution is advertising in web hosting forums. Just google for phrases like web hosting forum or web hosting board to find some of them. Join 3 - 5 forums which allow members to advertise their services for free. Also make sure that you can set up the signature which will be displayed under each post you make. The signature should be visible no matter if you are logged in or not and should be do-follow. This way you will not only get targeted traffic but also improve pagerank of your website. Before you create your first advertising thread read the forum rules. Some forums require about 10 - 15 posts before you can post to the advertising area. Make quality posts -- try to answer questions of your potential customers. You should choose carefully where to post. If you will answering questions like How much web space do I need for my photo gallery you will probably get more targeted traffic through your signature link then if you will answer questions of other web hosts like Which payment processor do you prefer.

Another way how to get small instant traffic together with SEO effect is submission to the web hosting directories. People who look for new web host usually want to compare a few companies before they sign up for any. This is the reason why web hosting directories are so popular and why you should submit your company to most of them. 99% of them allow free submission and link directly to your site so you will get some links to your site too.

The first two ways was good for those who have limited budget and can not pay for advertising. If you have some money to spend try to invest them in advertising. You can use PPC systems like google adwords. Put the tracking code on the page which is displayed when the order form is submitted and payment received. This will give you control over the costs. For example if your profit from single sale is $20 and your conversion ratio 10% you can spend up to $2 for every click. There are many advertising solutions on cost per click bases. You can try a few networks which pay the commission to their publishers who display ads on their websites. The advantage of such networks is the possibility to buy advertising space across the whole network. You can target your ad to webmaster related sites without contacting the site owners.

Very popular way how to increase the sales is running affiliate program. It is very cost effective solution because you pay only commission for the sales. This way you can never lose. It is possible to buy php script or join some of the affiliate networks. The first solution is cheaper, the second one more comfortable. If you join affiliate network you will have to pay about 10 - 30% extra but you will not need to send payments personally to every affiliate. If you join the network with a lot of affiliates it will be easier to attract them for your offer then surfing around and contacting every site owner.

Marble Host offers quality web hosting with preinstalled WordPress with website builder.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Do You Need Dedicated Web Hosting

There are many types of web hosting that you can choose from these days so why choose a dedicated web host solution. Having your own server means that you are the only one that is allowed to host websites on that server. You get all of the computers processing power and storage space. Plus you get to run your own programs or services on that machine.

Not having to share a server with a dozen or maybe hundreds of other webmasters means that there is much less of a chance for things to go wrong. If you thing of a hundred people trying to do something on a computer as opposed to one person you can imagine what I mean. It only takes on person to install a script incorrectly or get a sudden traffic surge and not only their site goes down but every other site on that server.

With shared hosting you are very limited to what you can do. With your own dedicated server you get SSH or shell access which means you can control everything that goes on with that server.

A dedicated server is a specialist machine that is designed to do one job and one job only and that is to serve your website up to visitors. It has been optimized so that all of its functions are geared towards web hosting.

There are of course more than just one type of dedicated server. Most hosting companies offer several different hosting packages for servers. Your first decision is whether you want to use a Windows based dedicated server or one that is running Linux. This choice will depend on several factors some of which include the type of site you are running. If you have a PHP and MySQL database that needs hosting then your going to need a Linux server. If you have windows based back ends or have certain integration requirement for Microsoft software then you will need a Windows based server.

The next set of considerations are that of the specifications of your server. Do you need a server that is going to be as fast and as powerful as possible or can you get by with a lower cost server that is less powerful. You should consider the storage and bandwidth requirements. The larger the site and the more information you are going to need to store then the bigger the disk space you are going to need. There is no point in under planning and running out of storage space six months down the line.

Find out how you can get reliable dedicated web hosting at http://www.dedicatedwebhostingsearch.co.uk