Web Hosting Service I

I. Look for 1 Hour Support Guarantee While Choosing Your Web Hosting Company By Sattik Ghosh

There are many of us who choose web hosting services for their website based on a number of factors like price, web space provided, server uptime etc. Honestly any web hosting package which provides about 5 GB of web space under US $20 per month is fine to me. And of course most web hosting companies will tell you that they provide 99.9% uptime which honestly is not lived up to by 90% of the companies out there. Any technical person can tell you that there are large numbers of issues that creep up while running a web hosting service which makes it very difficult to actually provide 99% uptime.

For me, the single most important aspect of a web hosting service is its support and what kind of guarantee they give on their technical and customer support. Things can go wrong in any service, but how fast you rectify it is the most important thing. And not just that, website owners have different technical levels. Some might need help for the most basic features while some would require more complex support for the databases, scripts etc.

A good web hosting company would always provide 1 hour support guarantee to you for your queries. Even if a query is complex and the support staff needs to consult their administrators, programmers etc, it is always nice for a customer to be updated of what is going on and whether they can solve it immediately or after consultation with various people working in the web hosting company.

It can be very irritating for you if have opened a support ticket and next thing you know its been hours or even days before anyone has bothered to respond to you and all you have got is an automated response. Obviously once you open a support ticket, you do get an automated response saying your query has been received but I always look out for in how much time do I receive the second automated response telling me a member of the support staff has checked your query and replied to it. That shows the competence level of the web hosting company and how much they actually care about their customers.

In conclusion, whether you are looking for a web hosting service for your new website or are looking to transfer web hosts, make sure you check whether the service offers a 1 hour support guarantee on their website. Don’t be fooled with offers of web space, email accounts or even uptime guarantees. It’s the support that will make the big difference in your web hosting experience.

Sattik is a web services consultant. For more information on web hosting services please visit Exhale Hosting - http://www.exhalehosting.com
Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sattik_Ghosh


II. How to Choose a Right Web Hosting Service? By Andrew Webb

Indeed, choosing a right web hosting service for your website is not an easy task especially when there are thousands of web hosting providers all offering almost identical web hosting packages. Therefore, it is important to know few major considerations even before you start your web hosting search. Below are three major criteria for web host seeker:

Web hosting features requirement

This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a host for your site. You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including:

a) Server platform and hardware requirementsIf you plan to set up a website that uses programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, in this case, you will need to find a web hosting service that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers.

Likewise, if you plan to use programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform should be sufficient to meet your hosting requirements. Once you have these server platform and hardware requirements in mind, you can decide the best web hosting plans for your need. For more information, you can read "How to select a web server and server platform?"

b) Disk space & Bandwidth requirementHere is another technical requirement that you need to consider before selecting a web hosting plan, i.e. disk space and bandwidth. If you intend to publish a website that does not have a lot of contents (meaning, web pages), then the disk space requirement may not be a big concern to you. In general, a disk space with 200MB to 500MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement. In contrast, if you plan to host a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files, then you should consider a web hosting plan that provide huge disk space, for example, 500 MB to 1,000 MB.

Similarly, the bandwidth requirement will depend on your site traffic estimation. Obviously, a website that expect to attract high traffic will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast. If so, you will need to find one web hosting service that offer huge bandwidth with 40 GB to 100 GB per month. Depending upon your website requirement, choosing a web hosting service that provide sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.

c) Other hosting featuresWhile the above requirements are utmost important, there are other hosting features that you have to consider too. Can web hosting provider support video clips on your website, if you have? Is the web hosting service compatible with Dreamweaver or FrontPage web authoring tool? Do you plan to set up a virtual store online? Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra cost to your monthly payments? On top of that, you may also want to find out the number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software (analyze your web traffic), type of control panel supported (manage your web hosting account), database and scripting languages supported and etc.

Reliability and scalability

A first-class web hosting provider offers reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection. You should only choose a web hosting service that guarantee at least 99% server uptime with high-speed Internet backbones using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second) or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A reliable web hosting provider usually invests heavily on their data center infrastructure with high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in place to ensure they meet the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service.

Similarly, you should choose a web hosting service with hardware facilities that designed for scalability, so that they can grow with your business. For example, if you need to increase more disk space, bandwidth or number of mySQL databases, you should be able to upgrade as needed without any problems.

Customer service and support

The last major consideration in choosing a web hosting service is to find a web hosting providers that offers excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer support if they take more than one day to response.

In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledgebase, Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.

Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service. In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the number of customers that they currently have are also a good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the stability of the company. Even though cost of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration. Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition, as a result, the price of most of the web hosting services offering quality hosting features has been converging to less than US$10 per month. If you can't afford less than $10 per month, you probably isn't in the online business for the long haul. Therefore, price should not be a major deciding factor.

On the other hand, it is more important to ensure the web hosting service that you choose is able to meet your website hosting requirements, guarantee your website is always accessible with satisfying speed, provide scalability to grow and expand your website as well as offer excellent customer supports. Depending on your web hosting requirement, you can take advantage of our site, Cheap Web Hosting Review to find the recommended web hosting services that can match the three major criteria above. Good luck to your search.

Andrew is the owner of Web Hosting Services, a website that provides complete and detail reviews on web hosting services. You can visit his website at:http://www.lowest-price-web-hosting.com/
Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Webb


III. How to Choose a Web Hosting Service: 9 Criteria by Baron Leigh

In reality there are no "perfect" web hosting companies. However you can most definitely find one that is suited to your needs. Below I will outline 9 sets of criteria that can help you decide how to choose a web hosting service.

1: Reliability

Your web host should be reliable and fast. Look for a service that guarantees an uptime of 99% or higher, 99.5% is preferable.

2: Disk Space

You will usually need less than 5MB of web space, so avoid offers that claim "unlimited space". This is usually retracted in the fine print, and you end up paying more when you could have gotten by with less.

3: Technical Support

When you are decided how to choose a web hosting service technical and customer support should be at the top of your list. Only choose a provider that offers 24 hours a day 365 days a year technical support and customer service. This is important as things can go wrong at the most inconvenient times (holidays, weekends, etc.).

4: Data Transfer

You should stay away from companies that advertise "unlimited" data transfer. This is usually not the case, and you end up paying for it unexpectedly. Always looks for details on how much traffic the package allows.

5: Provides Emails & Autoresponders

Get a host that provides email addresses with the package. It's more professional, if you have your own site, to have email addresses at your own domain. You should also be able to set an email address to reply automatically to the sender with a predetermined message.

6: Provides SSL & MySQL

If you are decided on how to choose a web hosting service then you should know if you plan on doing any sort of business through your website, you should look out to see if the host provides these services. These usually require a higher priced package, but are worth the extra money. You will definitely need SSL (secure server) if you plan to collect credit card information from people on your site.

7: Provides Web Hosting & Domain Registration

It is more convenient if you find a web hosting service that also provides domain registration.

8: Offers Multiple Payment Plans

It is convenient to have a web hosting service that allows you to pay month by month or yearly. Even though the yearly payment plans are often at a discounted rate, it is wise to pay monthly until you are absolutely satisfied with the services provided. This way you can avoid wasting money if you decide that particular web hosting service isn't for you.

9: It is recommended by your peers

Ask your friends or business partner which services they use and which to stay away from. People usually like to give advice or tell you about a company that has wronged them. This has saved me from several web hosting disasters in the past.

When you are deciding how to choose a web hosting service determine whether the web hosting service fulfills the above criteria. If it does then you are on your way to finding a host that will fulfill your needs

Article Source:http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=355249

About the Author

Baron Leigh is a business owner, and has extensively researched various web hosting services.Take a look at an innovative web hosting company that meets the above ten suggestions and was the first major hosting company to implement clustering technology across all hosting accounts, and has remained the only major hosting company to continue to provide thi

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Web hosting Tip II

I. Free Web Hosting Guide By Craig Rowe

There are many great free web-hosting solutions out there, but it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. You may want the ability to have sub domains or you might want uptime guarantees, so it is important to consider all of your free options before you settle on just one. It’s also important to remember that free web hosting services are not for everyone; sometimes you need to spend money to make money. However, free web hosting solutions are worth checking out before you decide to spend money on web hosting at all!

One of the most popular free web hosting options right now is AeroHostale, which is offered to those that need web space for personal or business use. You will be given 200 megabytes of space and you are free to upload, you’ll be given FTP, browser, CGI, PHP, FrontPage Extensions, Perl, and a domain or sub domain. This is a great choice and works for a good deal of people that don’t need a lot of bandwidth or storage space.

Another popular free web hosting solution is XetaSpace, though this is for those that do not need a lot of space. XetaSpace hosts personal and business websites and offers 15-50 megabytes. There are no forced ads, and you will be given upload, browser, PHP, and SSI functions.

If you don’t mind banners, 275mb is a great free web host. 275mb hosts personal and business websites and offers, of course, 275mb. You’ll have a banner on the top and you’ll be given upload, FTP, browser, CGI, PHP, Perl, and a domain or sub domain with your account.

You may also want to consider the free web host known as Gig4Free, which hosts personal and business websites free. When you set up an account with Gig4Free you will be given 100MB to 1000MB with banners on the top of your web page. You will be able to upload as well as access to FTP, Browser, CGI, PHP, SSI, FrontPage, Perl, and Python.

As you can see there are varieties of free web hosting solutions available on the Internet. If you do just a bit of research you will find that there are truly an unlimited number of free web hosting solutions just waiting for you to take advantage of them. You need to read the fine print carefully to see what you will have to do in order to get your “free” hosting service. If you don’t mind banners and text links you will likely find that you have many solutions to choose from.

Findahost.com has been the premier web hosting directory since 1998. Find a web hosting
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Article Source http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Rowe



II. Web Hosting: The Very Basics By Gabriel J. Adams


Web hosting is what allows people and businesses to make a website that can be accessed by millions of people all over the world. Web hosts companies allow these businesses to place their website on their server, which means that the website can then be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.

The web host you choose for your website will depend on the size of your site and how much you are willing to pay for such services. Many small web hosts don’t have the ability to manage large sites, but are perfect for providing individual attention to small individual websites.

In addition, it is important to choose a web host that have an excellent uptime. Most internet surfers have very little patience when it comes to waiting for a site to upload. They often move on to another site if the link isn’t instant. Therefore, look for a web host with at least a 99% uptime to keep people coming to your site. 99.9% uptime or greater is ideal.

There are several types of web hosting. Free web hosting services often are connected with some type of advertising. This type of service is not very common. It is likely that any web hosting you receive is going to cost you money. Shared web hosting is cheaper because your website will be available on a server with hundreds of other websites. They will all be connected to the same CPU.

Reseller web hosting is common. This practice allows customers to purchase hosting services, and then resell portions of it to make money. This process can be complicated if you don’t deal with it on a regular basis. Virtual server hosting gives the illusion that consumers are on their own server. In reality they are sharing, but with a smaller group of websites than with shared web hosting. Virtual server hosting splits the server up into equal portions for each consumer it is sold to. That time and space is reserved for that particular website whether it is accessed or not. Virtual server hosting is the most expensive.
Get php web hosting at http://www.maiahost.com/
Article Source http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabriel_J._Adams



III. Getting the Right Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration Company By Andrew Daigle


There are many companies that offer web site hosting and domain name registration services these days. But the question remains. Who should you choose?

I used to think that all web hosting and domain name registration companies were all the same and price was all that separated them. Boy did I learn the hard way. There's a big difference between most domain name registration and website hosting companies and price is what they use to attract customers.

When I first started out with my online businesses, I would purchase the standard one year web hosting domain name registration package. I didn't want to commit to anything longer just in case the online business I was targeting didn't work out and I think this is a good practice today.

I also went down the free domain registration and cheap web hosting routes and found they were more trouble than they were worth. I would start getting huge amounts of spam email from some web hosting services and others would be down more than they were up. When you're spending money promoting your online business and websites and your customers can't get to your websites because they're down, that's no way to run a business. So if you're looking at a cheap web hosting service because you can save $4 a month, you need to step back and ask yourself if the success of your online business is worth $4 per month. If it is, then you should seriously consider trying another business venture.

Another thing to consider is how many websites you think you'll need. If your goal is to have multiple websites and you want the most affordable web hosting service, you should consider a virtual server web hosting package. Virtual server web hosting services allow you to have multiple domains, and subdomains, with one administration console to manage all of your websites. This makes things so much easier when it comes to managing your web hosting, domain names, email accounts, SQL databases and applications.

Today you can purchase domain name registration and web site hosting for less than $10. You can also have your websites hosted for less than $5 per month. You can't get more affordable web hosting and domain registration than that. Prices have come down so much for domain name registrations and web site hosting that anyone can afford to have their own online website and business.

Another very important thing to look for when choosing a domain name web hosting company is to make sure they have a phone number with 24/7 Support. If the web hosting company only has email support or support tickets and no phone number, stay away from those web hosting companies. You will never get the support you need when you need it. I learned that the hard way too.

So if you're looking for the best way to register your domain name and get the most affordable web hosting packages, it's as easy as searching the web. Don't fall for the $2 per month hosting services because in this business, you really do get what you pay for.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com
Andrew Daigle is the owner, creator and author of many successful websites including WebHosting-Scoop, and a ForexBoost, a Free Forex Training Resource.

Web Hosting Service And Hosting Service

I. Web Hosting Service! By Dead-Yahoo


Web Hosting Service:

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that provides individuals, organizations and users with online systems for storing information, images, video, or other content accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.

Types of hosting:

1. A free web hosting service is a web hosting service that is free, usually advertisement-supported and of limited functionality. Free web hosts will either provide a subdomain (yourname.example.com) (e.g. 50megs, Byethost, Netfirms) or a directory (www.example.com/~yourname) (e.g. GeoCities). In contrast, paid web hosts will usually provide a Second-level domain along with the hosting (www.yourname.com). Some free hosts do allow use of separately-purchased domains. Rarely, a free host may also operate as a domain name registrar, but their registry services are usually more expensive than others.

A few free web hosts have a basic package for free (e.g. Freewebs), and enhanced packages (with more features) for a cost. This allows users to try the service for an initial trial (see how it performs compared to other hosts), and then upgrade when (and if) needed.

2. A shared web hosting service or virtual hosting service is a form of web hosting service where more than one instance of the same web service is hosted on a single physical server. This is generally the most economical option for hosting as many people share the overall cost of server maintenance.

3. Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner may split up their alloted hard drive space and bandwidth and resell web hosting. Typically, resellers are web consultants including web designers, web developers, or system integration company who resell the web hosting as an add-on service to complement their other range of services. Commonly, resellers can receive 50 percent or more discount on the price of a reseller hosting account from the web hosting provider. Resellers are also allowed to decide their own pricing structure and even establish their own branding. In other words, a reseller can set up its web hosting company on the Internet and start selling web hosting plans under its own brand name.

Reseller hosting generally requires little knowledge of web hosting services in order to get started. Reseller hosts are generally not responsible for maintaining web server services or other maintenance related tasks. To the reseller's customers, the reseller is the "web hosting provider." In cases when technical problems such as server down and access problem arise, this job is held by the owner of the dedicated server in which the reseller host is hosted.

4. Virtual private servers or Virtual dedicated servers are a form of virtualization that split a single physical server into multiple virtual servers. The practice of partitioning a single server so that it appears as multiple servers has long been common practice in mainframe computers, but has seen a resurgence lately with the development of software and technologies such as VMware, Xen, FreeBSD Jail, User-mode Linux, Linux-VServer, FreeVPS, OpenVZ, and Virtuozzo.

5. A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, a dedicated hosting service provides system administration and owns the server itself.

6. A colocation centre ("colo") or carrier hotel is a type of data center where [a] multiple telecommunications or network service providers locate their connections adjacent at the physical layer to each other's networks (points of presence) and [b] users of these services locate network, server and storage gear and interconnect to network service provider(s) with a minimum of cost and complexity.

Increasingly organizations are recognizing the benefits of colocating their mission-critical equipment within a data centre. Colocation is becoming popular because of the time and cost savings a company can realize as result of using shared data centre infrastructure. Significant benefits of scale (large power and mechanical systems) result in large colocation facilities, typically 50,000 to 100,000 feet. With IT and communications facilities in safe, secure hands, telecommunications, internet, ASP and content providers, as well as enterprises, enjoy less latency and the freedom to focus on their core business.

Additionally, customers reduce their traffic back-haul costs and free up their internal networks for other uses. Moreover, by outsourcing network traffic to a colocation service provider with greater bandwidth capacity, web site access speeds should improve considerably.

7. Clustered hosting technology is designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures. This technology provides customers with a “clustered” handling of security, load balancing, and necessary website resources.

A clustered hosting platform is data-driven, which means that no human interaction is needed to provision a new account to the platform.

Clustered hosting "virtualizes" the resources beyond the limits of one physical server, and as a result, a website is not limited to one server. They share the processing power of many servers and their applications are distributed in real-time. This means that they can purchase as much computing power as they want from a virtually inexhaustible source, since even the largest customer never consumes more than a fraction of a percent of the total server pool. Customer account changes (to add new resources or change settings) are propagated immediately to every server in the cluster. This is different from typical shared hosting architectures that usually require changes to a configuration file that becomes live after the server is rebooted during off hours, or are pushed on a cyclic basis every few hours.

Multiple tiers of security are integrated into the clustered hosting platform. In a typical hosting environment, the security layer is usually not integrated in the platform. The stock solutions used for shared hosting do not solve core issues around integrating security between the application and the operating system. At best, most typical hosts will implement a firewall solution, and weaknesses inherent with the operating system will remain exploitable to those that penetrate the firewall.

Clustered hosting network layer protections employ intelligent routing, redundant switching fabric and built in firewall and proxy technology. Clustered hosting provides considerable advantages over traditional hosting architectures in mitigating denial-of-service attacks and other network attacks because such attacks can be dispersed over a large pool of servers, and if individual hardware components are impacted by such attacks, they automatically fall out of traffic handling during the attack.

Ankit Talwar - Web Designer

Article Source:http://www.superfeature.com

Ankit Talwar is the owner of www.Dead-Yahoo.com. He is a Web Designer.


II. Web Hosting Geeks : How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service?By Roberto Bell


One of the most crucial decisions that most online businesses have to make is choosing the best web hosting service. With a popular or well known and reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP) you won’t face many problems, however with a poor web hosting service provider it can be a nightmare.

Choosing the right kind of web hosting service can be a very daunting task at times as there are some very important features that you need to make sure of. Here you can find below what exactly to look for when choosing the best web hosting service.

Amount of web space: A web hosting service provider would usually assign you a certain amount of space on their server. You need to ensure that does it have the right amount of space for your website and your business requirements. You might want to expand your online business tomorrow and would require much more space. So it’s imperative for you that the web hosting company should be able to provide you with ample of space especially if your website is rich in graphics or has video clips.

FTP access: FTP access is very crucial since it provides the ability to upload new pages. Some web hosting service providers allow you to just design your web pages with their own personal web builder. This may be useful for beginners however you need to ensure if they provide you the facility to expand later when you enhance your online business capabilities.

Degree of reliability, security and speed of access: Speed, security and reliability are extremely important for the success of any online business. While choosing a reliable web hosting service you need to ensure that this is taken care of. A site that is not available, not updated on time or is down, will lose many online visitors. If an online visitor finds your site listed on a search engine, and he tries to access it but finds it down, he is sure to move on to the next link and you lose an important customer or visitor. Even slow working websites are very frustrating. So how do you know if a hosting company is reliable or not? By word of mouth or feedback from others! If that’s not possible then you can yourself try accessing your site during peak hours and non-peak hours too. Your site has to be secure of intruders at the same time, especially if it’s an ecommerce website.

Dependence and support: Does the web hosting service provide 24x7 supports? Do they respond rapidly to your issue? Can you depend on them? If you need 24-hour technical support that larger companies need then expect to pay substantially more. In fact, people are much more expensive than machines.

Pricing plans: Price is also one factor that you should look out for when choosing the best web hosting service. It’s not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. Simply compare prices and services before you finalize one.

Data transfer (Bandwidth): You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. After all it’s your website and you need to ensure that you are getting the best services for the money you invest.

Article Source:http://www.superfeature.com

This original article belongs to Web Hosting Geeks (webhostinggeeks.com).Web Hosting Geeks provides independent web hosting reviews, web host rating and monthly best web hosting awards. Visit our site for more information about web hosting related services.



III. Web Hosting Geeks : Finding the Best Hosting Service By Roberto Bell


Finding the best hosting service for your website can be complicated. There are almost endless options all clamoring to be the top hosts or the least expensive service, and this can make it almost impossible for webmasters to sort fact from fiction. The best way to select a quality web host is to take the selection process one step at a time:

Assess Your NeedsThe very first item to address in selecting the best hosting service for your needs is to actually identify what those needs are. What sort of website are looking to host? Small personal homepages will have very different hosting criteria from large company websites. To find the best hosting service for you, it is important to determine exactly what you plan to host now, and ideally take into consideration anything you are planning to host in the immediate future.

Rate
Different hosting companies offer a large variety of rates. Companies offering dedicated servers will be substantially higher than others offering budget hosting with limited bandwidth. Competition from overseas is priced temptingly low for many, but there are many factors to consider. Don’t stop at price, and if you plan on using your website in a professional capacity, it is important to move beyond free web hosting. Free hosts are great for small family or fun sites, but are not suited to the needs of internet marketers – even those just starting out. Rate should not be a top determining factor until you have narrowed a list based on other criteria such as:

Reliability and Speed
The best hosting services will offer uptime of over 99%. This should be a guarantee to motivate the company to keep all servers up all the time. Of course, visitors should also be able to access your site quickly.

Data Transfer and Disk Space
Bandwidth requirements grow with your site. Web hosting companies pay for bandwidth, so you, the one using that bandwidth will be billed accordingly. It is far better to pay for the required amount of data transfer upfront rather than get a surprise bill in the mail for having gone considerably over your allotted amount. By the same token, be sure you have an appropriate amount of disk space reserved. Most websites require less than 3GB.

Technical Support
It is very important to be able to reach the hosting company if your website begins experiencing problems. The best hosting support one can hope for is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Most companies know this, so take their stated hours with a grain of salt. Always spot check the companies with email at random times to see if they really have someone available to help 24/7.

Scripts and Special Features
Different websites have different needs, and the best hosting service for you should accommodate those needs. Email addresses should be standard as well as the capacity for a variety of scripts. Be sure to see if other features like shopping carts and secure servers are available or standard.

Control Pane
lHow much control does the hosting company offer webmasters? It is inconvenient to work through customer service every time to modify a password or to change email addresses. Be sure hosting companies offer some form of a control panel accompanying hosting.

Article Source:http://www.superfeature.com

This original article belongs to Web Hosting Geeks (webhostinggeeks.com).Web Hosting Geeks provides independent web hosting reviews, web host rating and monthly best web hosting awards. Visit our site for more information about web hosting related services.

Introduction Web Hosting Tip I

I. Web Hosting Geeks : Web Hosting Guide

Looking for and buying a reliable web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Whether you are doing online business, providing important information or sharing views online on a common interest, you need a reliable web hosting service that will allow online visitors to browse through your site effortlessly. It is only powerful web hosting that allows your website to be downloaded, browsed and updated in minimal time.

Trying to identify a web host can be a very daunting task especially when there are so many available nowadays and all of them promise one thing or another. Hence, it is crucial that before you jump in, you do your own homework or research for selecting the most appropriate web hosting company for your website.

With the changing trend of technology, web hosts are also changing. Most of them provide various services in addition to their basic ones. Say if you are running an e-commerce website, then of course you need high end security and a medium through which you can manage your web content efficiently. There are many tools that facilitate this, however if your web hosting service is not reliable then you can miss out on serious revenues and prospective clients.

Once you have determined and identified what web hosting services you require for your online business, it is then time to enlist certain web hosting features and options you must consider. You can find below some of the most important aspects of web hosting:

Disk space and bandwidthYou should know how much space your website would need and approximate data it will generate. When we talk about disk space, well, it’s actually the amount of storage assigned to you by the web hosting provider. The bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. In case your website has a lot of graphics then you would require higher storage area and greater bandwidth.

Programming tools and the OSYou need to be sure that your website is uploaded through secure servers using the latest Operating System. Most web hosts run on a UNIX based operating system, usually Linux or BSD. For the running of various web applications you would require ASP, .NET, MS SQL, SBS and for these you need a Window based host.

Pricing AspectYou need to compare pricing before you finalize a web hosting service. Some may provide you better services but at low pricing. It’s not always true that the best hosting services are always the most expensive. Do your research and then finalize.

Support, Security, Guaranteed uptime and BackupsSecurity and backups are two very important aspects that you need to consider. You should always choose a web hosting service with reliable telephone support. Some also offer 24/7 support through local or toll-free numbers. In case you are running an ecommerce website then security is one aspect that you just cannot discard. Your web hosting service provider should be such that they can monitor things round the clock and ensure no unwanted intruder can hack your site. After all it’s your website and it is really worth looking into this aspect of web hosting.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com

This original article belongs to Web Hosting Geeks (webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent web hosting reviews, web host rating and monthly best web hosting awards. Visit our site for more information about web hosting related services.

II. Trust in a Website Hosting Review? Trust to luck?By Markus Steiner

Copyright 2006 Markus Steiner

The Web hosting service market continues to grow every day, while the services offered become more complex to meet the needs of all businesses. In this volatile environment, it is important to be able to quickly research your options and read a variety of Web hosting reviews before you spend your hard-earned money on the wrong provider.

There are thousands of Web hosts in existence, and many have similar packages available, so it can be tricky for a user to determine which ones are truly the best – which ones have the most accessible technical support, or the strongest security measures, and which ones are simply in the business of taking your money.

There are hundreds of so called web hosting review sites but many of them belong to hosting providers, offering biased information whereas a lot of other hosting reviews are simply advertising in disguise.

So what are the signs whereby you will recognize a good Website Hosting Directory?

A valuable Website Hosting directory was created in order to offer truly independent Website hosting reviews to help the visitors navigate through the tangled “hosting jungle” that exists today. It has to be backed by real people with real, solid technical experience and market-specific knowledge of all facets of the hosting industry.

The Website hosting reviews have to be objective and unbiased. From establishing test accounts to reading through commentary submitted by the visitors, a good directory does intense research so that any visitor can quickly and easily perform a Website hosting comparison on the site.

All of the content, including Website hosting reviews, has to be updated on a regular basis, so everybody can be sure he is getting the most up-to-date information every time. Professional directories constantly research the market for the latest trends and changes, while tracking the emergence of new providers, and users are allowed to post their own reviews and experiences to the site.

Preferable, a good Web hosting directory features a top 10 list which is hand-picked from the best hosting service companies in the market today. In addition you can also choose to view more specific lists, such as the top 10 largest Web hosts, the top ten fastest growing Web hosts, the top 10 adult hosts, the top 10 business hosts, the top 10 Windows hosts, the top 10 cheap Web hosts, and more.

Now then, Web Hosting Reviews will definitely help you decide what is the right Web Hosting company for you. But only professional and independent ones.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com

Markus Steiner is partner and CEO of www.guideX.biz - Independent Reviews for Independent People - 10 years of market-specific knowledge of all facets of the hosting industry.

III. Insiders Guide to Web Hosting By Geoff Morris

Copyright 2006 Geoff Morris

A good friend of mine just could not get her head around the concept of web hosting. She likened it as to some ethereal computer somewhere up in the clouds, with an intimately massive hard disc. Well, in many respects, her concept was partially right.

Web hosting is a business that provides servers or computers for your website to actually reside in. It allows users all over the world to be able to access your website. There are a number of ways you can use web hosting.

One of the methods is to do web hosting on your own. This method allows you to have total control over your website and be able to have control of all hosting services you require.

The biggest drawback for this hosting method is it is very expensive and can be very difficult. It requires a lot of technical skills to do web hosting. Unless you have the money and technical skills required, it is highly recommended that you turn to one of the many hosting services provided by reputable hosting providers rather than doing it on your own.

But if you are determined, you can host your websites on a desktop computer. The disadvantage in doing this though is that all files and accounts on your personal computer can be exposed to security risks, such as hackers.

In order to prevent this you need to install costly software called a firewall and this in itself can prove very time consuming as well - these firewalls sometimes block the very things you want on your computer!

Aside from that, the amount of time you need for web hosting leaves you little time to attend to other business - not a good idea.

Another web hosting option is free hosting. Free hosting can be good if your website is a personal one. Also, if the web hosting features are secondary considerations for you.

There are some disadvantages in using free web hosting though

1. fact that you cannot use customer service,
2. the number of selling banners on your site,
3. uptime is not guaranteed and others...

If you are running a business, it is a huge disadvantage to have no uptime guarantee considering the fact that you are relying on the business site to generate sales or provide necessary info about your products.

Paid web hosting is another viable option. But you need to consider the web hosting costs before you sign the dotted line. You also need to know beforehand what features are you exactly looking for to prevent paying for costs of features that you do not really need.

When choosing a web hosting service, there are a number of things you should look out for:

1. Does the service offer an easy to use control panel. i.e. is it easy to upload your files and so forth.
2. Has it got a stats counter, so you can see what activity is going on on your web sites.
3. Does it support your actual applications. Some sites may only offer Linux, which may not run some applications.
4. Does it offer good levels of technical support
5. Does it run an Affiliate Program ( so if you are happy, you will recommend it, and make a few bob)
6. Does it offer a high percentage of 'Up Time'. i.e do they have a good reputation. You don't want your sites down rally for any time at all. Time is money.
7. Does it offer a fixed number of domain names, or sub domain names, or is it pen ended?
8. What volume of bandwidth can they offer you, or do you have to pay more over certain volumes of downloads per month.
9. Based on personal experience, if you go for a 'branded' web hosting site ( i.e. an affiliate of a large organization (like GoDaddy for instance) make sure that the affiliate is not going to go belly up, or walk away with your money. Check that you are covered at least in some extent from the main web server organization, I once lost all my hosting on such a service provider during 2005, which cost me dear in lost business and relocating dozens of my web sites to another host.
10. Make sure the service is within your budget.

This is not by any means an exhaustive list. There is a Blog on my main site I see the Author Bio Box) if you would like to add any other comments.

Web hosting services could cost you for as low as $10 to as high as $5,000 a month. The cost will depend on the disk space, data transfer, features you add and whether or not you require a dedicated server.

Dedicated server refers to web hosting a single company's web site only. Dedicated servers cater for large companies with complex features in their websites. That would justify their huge monthly charges of $5,000. Chances are you are not looking to something quite that big - not yet anyways!

Payment schemes for paid web hosting are monthly, semi-annually, annually or once every 2 years.

Small companies can use shared server services so as to minimize the costs. $5,000 a month web hosting fee is definitely way too much for individuals or small to medium-sized companies. Shared servers serve the same purpose and are much more affordable.

Most paid web hosting service has money back no questions asked guarantee. They also assure you of 99% uptime. In cases where they were not able to maintain a 99% uptime, some reputable web hosting service will reimburse you an amount equal to the number of downtime minutes.

Web hosting can be a simple or complicated process depending on the kind of features your website requires. Whether you opt for a free or paid web hosting service, the decision would boil down to personal preference and necessity.

Getting on the web can be a profitable and enjoyable experience, I hope this article has helped clear up any issues you had with web hosting information.

Article Source:http://www.superfeature.com

Geoff Morris has been in Internet Marketing for some years, and has been coached by some of the top gurus. Visit his On Line Web Hosting Research web site for ideas on Web Hosting facilities at www.hostingonlineguide.info