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Home Business IT - Best Web Hosting

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CHOOSE THE BEST WEB HOSTING

Sharing a web host is like renting a house. You dump your bags in the front door and part with some cash so that they’re not kicked back on to the street. With web hosts, you pay a third party company to host your web content on the principle that;

1. They’ll keep the files safe and provide good security.

2. You won’t abuse their services.

Yes, pay close attention to amendment B. If you break the rules of a web host, you could find yourself kicked out on to the cyber street. And there’s no guarantee that they’ll be so nice to return those sweat stained files of month’s graft.

So what variations of web host do we have? And what actually is it?

Most web hosts will have a large data centre with rows and rows of machines linked to separate servers. In theory, these machines aren’t that different to the ones that you and I go about our standard computing needs. Except web servers are geared towards the World Wide Web.

When you load a URL on the Internet, a request is sent to the server which hosts the page. The server will then return the content to your browser through gateways and all kinds of other lovely routers which we won’t get bogged down in. A few thousand miles of electronic communication has taken place in a matter of seconds, and providing the server is performing, we’ll be presented with what we wanted to see.

That is, of course, to presume that the website is running on a good web host. Turn things around and now it’s you with the responsibility of finding a good host. Pick a bodged company and you’ll spend no end of time explaining to your customers why “we’re waiting for our superiors to fix technical problems”.

This can spell disaster if you’re running a large scale organization. Can you imagine if eBay crashed for an hour? Think of the outrage from aggrieved sellers across the land! Thankfully for eBay, that particular website is run straight off a secure web server at specs the rest of us could only dream of.

Most web hosting packages will come with a cleverly worded sales pitch to make it seem like more than it really is. As such, choosing a good host can be a business in itself. We’ve spent many months trawling through providers and separating the good from the bad, but there are several key factors to look out for. So here they are.

• Bandwidth and Disk Space

• Server Speed

• File Access (FTP or Web based)

• Supported Technologies

We will take a detailed look at the many advanced technologies in the later section of this chapter, but let’s look at the other points.

Bandwidth and disk space are the most heavily promoted items of most web packages. But they’re rarely the most revealing.

Bandwidth is the expression for the traffic going in and out of your website. If you have a large bandwidth cap (in the hundreds of gigabytes region), you can afford the luxury of having lots of activity on your site. This is somewhat misleading without the knowledge of server speeds though.

Disk space is as you’d expect. It’s the amount of space allocated to your account. Providing you’re not hosting a whole bunch of media files, disk space shouldn’t be an issue.

As we mentioned, server speeds are critical for the reliability of your host. What good is excessive bandwidth if multiple requests grind your server in to the ground?

Have you ever used a machine which lags and stutters and does everything in its capability to frustrate the living daylights out of you? Yes, we have too. It’s not an enjoyable experience and it’s even less enthralling for your customers as they navigate the website.

Next up, we have file access. We will touch on this in greater detail, but for now, you only need to worry about the practicalities of updating your website and maintaining it remotely.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SWITCH TO A DEDICATED SERVER?

A dedicated server is usually necessary once a business reaches a stage where shared web hosting is draining resources and performance is faltering.

On the surface, a dedicate server can look somewhat below the cut as far as specs go. Why would anybody want to pay multiple times the monthly fee for potentially less bandwidth and disk space?

Put it this way. You can attach expansive hard drives to many computers and you’ll end up with more space. But while space is of no real use on its own, you’re likely to pay kidneys and livers to upgrade your CPU and motherboard.

The main advantage of a dedicated server is staring at you in the title. It’s dedicated to you! You won’t be sharing resources with other web users and you won’t be battling for attention with millions of other requests.

As a result, careful consideration should be leant to an upgrade – particularly if performance outweighs the advantage of additional bandwidth.

Many websites will automatically require an upgrade if they grow to a particularly size. Can you really imagine Amazon parked on a $150 a month shared web host? Say a prayer for the poor webmasters it’d be sharing with! No, Amazon, like most large web businesses, has made the investment in dedicated servers which are dedicated to its cause.

Don’t make the plunge straight away. You can expect to pay hefty prices to rent a server, and it’s not required during the infancy of your business.

But if you ever reach the point where a dedicated provider is needed, congratulations! You’ve definitely made it!

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

After a little schmoozing around the market of web hosting, you’ll undoubtedly notice a wide array of technical terms. To fully comprehend the technologies, we could cover a whole separate book.

Obviously, away from those depths, let’s look at a few of the key terms you may stumble across.

• SQL Databases – These are used to store structured data in a structured format. They are very useful and come in many varieties. You’ll find mySQL, MS Access and Postgres to name a few. mySQL is generally seen as the leading standard, given its large fan base on the open source scene. MS Access databases are typically for use with Windows servers.

• PHP – This is a programming language favoured by the open source community. It’s relatively easy to learn and can support many advanced scripts. You can distinguish a PHP website by its (.php) extension in the URL bar.

• ASP – Another advanced programming language commonly used on Windows platforms. It links closely with ASP.Net and supports database connecting well.

• ColdFusion (CFM) – ColdFusion is a popular programming language which simplifies many scripts in to easily maintainable HTML-styled tags. The language supports Mail, visual generation, database interaction and even PDF output.

• Media Streaming – If you plan on streaming videos or audio directly through the user agent, you will need a host which has this option enabled. It’s increasingly common, but still worth checking up on.

• SSI – Standing for Server Side Includes, this will affect what the server is willing to process.

• SSL – A recognised security standard and very useful if you plan on implementing E-Commerce features. You will need some kind of Shared SSL or Private SSL to host a shopping cart.

 Wild West Domain Reseller Income  Opportunity

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REGISTERING A DOMAIN

Why would you want to consider purchasing a domain?

It’s true that many hosting packages come with their own domains, and to the untrained eye, they can look fairly impressive. But on the professional market, an appended URL is unlikely to produce much in the way of a wow factor.

Which sounds more serious?

mywebbusiness.freehosts.com - OR - mywebbusiness.com

Unless you buy your own domain, you’re likely to end up with one of these appended URLs where your host shares part of the address.

So, it goes without saying that a dip in to the wallet is in order.

There are many, MANY domains on the market, and there are just as many companies willing to provide them. The best offers will typically come in at around $8 for an annual registration. If you’re paying more than this, keep looking, you can find better.

Once you’ve decided on a domain, process the relevant details and you should receive email confirmation of the purchase. You’ll be able to log in to your account and adjust several settings.

It’s important to adjust the NAMESERVER information so that it points to your current host. This is vital. If you fail to enter the correct nameserver details, the domain won’t point to your website.

It’s a good idea to contact your host beforehand. They’ll be able to provide the relevant information and within 24 to 48 hours, your domain should be up and running.

It might not say much for your business, but it’s a nice new shop window!

To find cheap domain names and great service go to www.GoDaddy.com