Choosing The Right Website Hosting Provider
As a beginner trying to find the right web host for your website is often daunting. The jargon used by most web hosts often goes way over your head. In this article, I provide 4 lessons for anyone who wishes to learn the basics of finding a web host As a beginner trying to find the right web host for your website is often daunting. The jargon used by most web hosts often goes way over your head. In this article, I provide 4 lessons for anyone who wishes to learn the basics of finding a web host.
Lesson One: What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the essentially the placement of your website onto the Internet through a server. Once your site is on a server, anyone with Internet access can look at your website - from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.
In order to have your site hosted on the web, you need to have the following three things:
A Website - a page or set of pages that is located under the same domain name. A web page is a computer document written in a publishing language called HTML. When an Internet user types in your web address, your web server sends the content of your web page to that user.
A Domain Name - a unique text-based address used to locate a specific set of web pages. A domain name is made up of words and/or numbers plus a TLD (top level domain). The TLD for most businesses is ".com", such as (http://www.brandblast.com/); non-profit organizations use ".org"; universities and educational sites use ".edu"; and sites involved with the U.S. government use ".gov". More TLDs are available, such as .biz, .pro, .name, .info, etc.
An Account With A Web Hosting Company - or a server of your own to host your website. A server is a computer that stores information that can be accessed through the network. Servers can also be used to store website information that can be accessed by any computer with a connection to the Internet - and a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, the two most popular web browsers.
Web hosting is, in many ways, similar to renting property. There are plenty of companies that will rent you space on their web servers. The wide range of services start from free hosting on up to buying a server for your own personal use. It's possible to spend thousands of dollars a year on web hosting alone, though the average person or small business typically pays $10 - $50 a month, depending on how many features, web space, and data transfer they need.
Lesson Two: Do I Need a Web Host?
If you are planning to establish an internet presence, whether it be in the form of a personal homepage or a full-service e-commerce catalogue, and do not own your own personal server, you will definitely need a web host.
Finding a good web host, however, can be a rather difficult endeavor. BrandBlast's website hosting services are a great place to start your search, our hosting plans are designed to acccomodate any website requirement and can be upgraded at any time, our plans grow with you.
Choosing a host for your website should not be taken lightly. Once committed, it becomes a real headache to move elsewhere - not to mention the damage that can be done to your business if you make the wrong choice.
This makes it very important to "get it right the first time." Find out as much as you can about your prospective host before making any decisions, and have a clear idea of the scope of your site, and the functions you wish to have prior to searching for your host.
Doing the proper planning will help you a great deal in your selection of a host, and will save you the headache of trying to change hosts later.
Lesson Three: What type of web hosting package is suitable for me - free or shared?
FREE - Free is for fun. If you want to experiment with a site or put up a small, personal site for the fun of it.
If you fall into this category, you probably need just a small amount of web space and little bandwidth: 1 to 2 MB should be plenty for your needs; and a personal, unique domain name may not even be necessary. In fact, you can get web space FREE.
A popular provider of free space is Geocities (http://www.geocities.com/). However, because it's free, you may find out later that there are many limitations - it all depends how far you want to go...
SHARED - Go "shared" if you are serious about doing some business or have a professional website that is much better off "standing on its own." Or if you simply prefer your own domain name and space.
Setting up your own web server is not the best approach for an individual or a small/medium business. You can rent space for your web site from a web hosting provider at a far lower cost.
If your web site is text-based, you won't need much web space - text takes almost no space at all! Select a provider that supports CGI and other advanced features that you think you might use in the future. Better safe than sorry! And in this category, BrandBlast offers our Bronze package for only $9.95 / month!
If you're developing a web site for a small/medium business or organization, you should carefully evaluate the possibility of further expansion in the future. It will be a bit of a hassle if you discover later that you need a database for your web site, but your provider doesn't offer it.
If you're planning to sell a product (or products) online, look for a provider who can provide you with a commercial web solution such as a Merchant Account, Shopping Cart Software and a secure online payment system certificate that is compatible with their hosting platform. Choosing a large web space with a high bandwidth allowance is a good idea in this case.
Data Transfer allowance really depends on how many visitors you're expecting and how well you promote your web site. For most sites, 3 to 5 GB should suffice, and are provided by our Platinum and Diamond plans.
With all hosting plans, there will be some features that you need and some offered that you don't need. Be sure to focus on the essentials that are required to launch your website.
You may want all the nice extras but will you use them? It's a good idea to choose a host that will allow you to expand and upgrade your plan as and when your website grows. If you want to start selling online, for example, an additional e-commerce option for an extra fee will be easier and quicker to implement than looking for and transferring to a new host.
BrandBlast's plans differ only in their web space and data transfer allowance, features such as shopping carts, website builders, technical support, and much more are available as standard options on all of our hosting plans, you can upgrade or downgrade plans at any time, and manage multiple domains from one control panel. View a demo of our control panel.
Lesson Four: Evaluate their support service?
Customer support is very important - often critical. To cover yourself from the start, take some time to look around at several providers' web sites to see what their support policies are.
Email them with a few sample questions to check the speed and quality of their responses. Nothing guarantees that they will respond at the same speed and manner if you do become a customer, but this approach is quite accurate and telling about 90% of the time.
Look at a number of providers' web sites to see how they handle support. Many providers provide lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and support documents on their web sites.
Closing Thoughts
Selecting a provider with many years of experience is a good decision. Look at the provider's web page for a list of its customers and check out some of their pages. Take a minute to view some of BrandBlast's current hosting and webdesign clients.
Nowadays, the web hosting market is full of resellers. Even well-known providers can be resellers of a large web hosting provider or wholesaler services. Sometimes, they are resellers of resellers. Choosing a reseller provider is not always a bad idea. The reseller may provide you with faster technical support service. They usually offer other services too, such as web design or web maintenance.
To investigate the reliability of providers, we recommend you check the contents of their web sites. Experienced providers should have a large web site containing several pages of services and support documents, plus their phone and fax numbers, as well as their physical address.
You have gained valuable knowledge in this quick lesson, we at BrandBlast wish you the best in your search for a website hosting provider, and hope that you will choose to to try BrandBlast's Website Hosting Services for 30 Days Free!
Choosing The Wrong Server Will Literally Make Or Break Your Business Choosing the right web server will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make with your online business. Why? Because the web server you choose will literally make or break your online business.
Today I am going to talk about two types of servers, one is Virtual Web Hosting and the other is Virtual Private Servers.
Over the last couple of years Virtual Web Hosting has been the only way to go when choosing a web server. One of the reasons that Virtual Web Hosting became so popular was because they supported the necessary files and allowed you to have more freedom than other conventional web hosts. But now you can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. Moreover, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, because they are completely different.
Before I go any further I must explain what the difference is between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server, so that you can fully understand. In this article I will also go over the advantages and disadvantages of both types of servers, to help you decide which is right for you and your business. Let's get started with Virtual Hosting.
Virtual Hosting
Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared Web Hosting, where you are sharing the physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting has been extremely popular in the past for it's fast deployment, strong resources, and most importantly for having a very reasonable price. Another advantage to Virtual Hosting is that you have a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server without having to have advanced technical skills, making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a beginner webmaster.
The disadvantage of Virtual Hosting is that you are sharing the server with other users, which are configured and controlled by an administrator, not you. So basically you have your hands tied behind your back, because you have to contact the administrator everytime you have to adjust or change your configuration settings. Even if you managed to get a hold of the administrator, they may not fulfill your request. It's up to them, they are the administrator. If you were the administrator you wouldn't have these limitations and would have full control.
Virtual Private Servers
Virtual Private Servers are a hot topic these days and for a good reason. Before I get into the advantages of a Virtual Private Server, let explain what it is first. A Virtual Private Server is a single server that is partitioned at the root into multiple dedicated servers. This allows you to share the cost of the network connectivity, hardware, and system maintenance with other hosting customers, while maintaining your flexibility and freedom.
The real advantage of Virtual Private Servers is that they allow you to have complete control and they have the security advantages of a dedicated server at the fraction of the cost. You have access to the virtual root, Telnet, web configuration files, and full CGI-BIN access. I can't forget to mention that you also have access to your password, aliases file, and sendmail configuaration file. For many reasons you can see that a Virtual Private Server is an excellent solution for small to medium size businesses that have an increasingly complex needs.
Moreover, there is one disadvantage with Virtual Private Servers, you need to have some program knowledge to control and configure the settings. Sounds overwhelming, most businesses that offer Virtual Private Servers have very detailed manuals making them easier to configure and control no matter what your program level is.
Which one is right for you? Well, that all depends on you and the size of your network.
If you have or plan on having just one web site and have absolutely no programing knowledge, then Virtual Hosting is the recommended and economical way for you to go. A Virtual Host can cost anywhere from $20 - $50 a month for an account, rather than a $100 or more for a Virtual Private Server.
On the other hand, if you have a larger network that requires multiple web sites, like ours, and you have some programing knowledge, then a Virtual Private Server is ideal for you. You can host up to 50 web sites on a Virtual Private Server account, instead of having multiple Virtual Hosting accounts, which is not as economical.
When it comes time to get a web server, make sure that the server fits your needs and that it supports the essential software for a prosperous online business.
Rich Hamilton
Author of: "Inside Internet Marketing" (www.InsideNetMarketing.com)
HostingChecker.com - help for all your web hosting needs.
Web Site Hosting Plan - Key Elements
By Brian Thorn
What are the key elements in a good web host package? The answer to that question depends mainly on the service you expect from the web host provider. To decide what you need, you'll need to have at least a brief understanding of the typical services and features offered by web hosting companies.
The number of e-mail accounts available might be one of the key elements in a good web host package. If your ability to send and receive e-mail is important, you'll want to carefully consider whether a particular web host package includes enough e-mail accounts to accommodate that need. Some companies tout unlimited e-mail accounts and depending on your specific needs, this might be a very favorable element of a potential host company. If you are a businessperson, remember that it's possible your company will grow in the future. While you might need to only establish one or two e-mail accounts now, consider what your future needs could be. It would probably be difficult to change hosts later if you find that you need additional (even unlimited?) e-mail accounts.
Which brings up another of the key elements in a good web host package. If you are establishing a connection with a web host provider for business purposes, consider your provider's ability to grow with your business. The last thing you want to do is start with a company that will be unable to keep up as your business grows. Changing companies later is always an option, but that transition is not likely to be without problems.
The amount of disk space that will be allotted to your web site is another of the key elements in a good web host package. While it might seem that 30 megabytes is plenty of room, the potential for growth of your company means that you could easily need more space later. If you choose a web hosting provider that simply can't offer more space, you might find that your growth will be severely limited.
Other issues that can be key elements in a good web host package include the bandwidth, security and speed. Finding a company that provides the best of all these features is likely to be a daunting task, but it is possible.
Price is naturally a key element in a good web host package as well. Prices generally vary only by a few dollars per month and the difference between paying $6.95 per month and $9.95 per month is not likely to play a significant role in the final choice. If the less expensive service provider doesn't fulfill your needs, you'll certainly face significant expense and trouble rectifying the situation later.
In the end, deciding which are the key elements in a good web host package will be up to you. If you need large storage space, that becomes an important element. If your needs include larger-than-normal space requirements, that becomes one of the most important elements in a good web host package. The true test of a good web host package is answered with one easy question: "Will this provider adequately meet my needs at a competitive price?"
About the Author
Brian Thorn is an avid internet enthusiast who writes easy-to-understand articles about web hosting. Also check out: cheap web hosting package , internet service provider hosting and email domain hosting.
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