Internet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merging you will need another word. Traffic. Every article you will find about making your site or company successful would always include the importance of generating traffic.
So, we all know that in the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company’s internal organization well taken core of, it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, generating traffic.
If you already have a site and you want think that you're not getting the traffic that you're supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider. If you are contending in these very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.
Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with generating traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.
To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.
1) Invest in good advertising with search engines
Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase your traffic.
You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo’s advertising.
2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites
With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.
3) Use Viral Marketing
Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.
4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content
Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.
5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site
Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.
6) Join forums and form online communities
Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.
7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.
If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.
The Importance of a Sitemap
A sitemap is often considered redundant in the process of building a website, and that is indeed the fact if you made a sitemap for the sake of having one. By highlighting the importance of having a well constructed sitemap, you will be able to tailor your own sitemap to suit your own needs.
1) Navigation purposes
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. If your visitors browses your site and gets lost between the thousands of pages on your site, they can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease.
2) Conveying your site's theme
When your visitors load up your sitemap, they will get the gist of your site within a very short amount of time. There is no need to get the "big picture" of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors' time.
3) Site optimization purposes
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page -- they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
4) Organization and relevance
A sitemap enables you to have a complete bird's eye view of your site structure, and whenever you need to add new content or new sections, you will be able to take the existing hierarchy into consideration just by glancing at the sitemap. As a result, you will have a perfectly organized site with everything sorted according to their relevance.
From the above reasons, it is most important to implement a sitemap for website projects with a considerable size. Through this way, you will be able to keep your website easily accesible and neatly organized for everyone.
1) Navigation purposes
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. If your visitors browses your site and gets lost between the thousands of pages on your site, they can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease.
2) Conveying your site's theme
When your visitors load up your sitemap, they will get the gist of your site within a very short amount of time. There is no need to get the "big picture" of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors' time.
3) Site optimization purposes
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page -- they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
4) Organization and relevance
A sitemap enables you to have a complete bird's eye view of your site structure, and whenever you need to add new content or new sections, you will be able to take the existing hierarchy into consideration just by glancing at the sitemap. As a result, you will have a perfectly organized site with everything sorted according to their relevance.
From the above reasons, it is most important to implement a sitemap for website projects with a considerable size. Through this way, you will be able to keep your website easily accesible and neatly organized for everyone.
How To Have Websites Built For You The Cheap Way
Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide:
First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.
Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.
However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.
Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.
First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.
Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.
However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.
Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.
Good Design Practices
Your website is where your business resides -- it's like the headquarter of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practise good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.
Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.
Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.
Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.
Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.
Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.
Use CSS to style your page content because they save alot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.
Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.
Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.
Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.
Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.
Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.
Use CSS to style your page content because they save alot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.
Generating Revenue With Good Planning
For anything to work well, care must be taken to make firm, workable plans to execute it and the same goes for website designs. With a well thought out website design, you will be able to create a site that generates multiple streams of revenue for you. In fact, may websites turn into online wasteland because they are not well planned and do not get a single visitor. Gradually, the webmaster will not be motivated to update it anymore and it turns into wasted cyberspace.
The crucial point of planning your site is optimizing it for revenue if you want to gain any income from the site. Divide your site into major blocks, ordered by themes, and start building new pages and subsections in those blocks. For example, you might have a "food" section, an "accomodation" section and an "entertainment" section for a tourism site. You can then write and publish relevant articles in the respective sections to attract a stream of traffic that comes looking for further information.
When you have a broader, better-defined scope of themes for your website, you can sell space on your pages to people interested in advertising on your page. You can also earn from programs like Google's Adsense and Yahoo! Search Marketing if people surf to those themed pages and click on the ads. For this very reason, the advertisement blocks on your pages need to be relevant to the content, so a themed page fits that criteria perfectly.
As Internet becomes more widespread, advertising on the Internet will bear more results than on magazines or offline media. Hence, start tapping in on this lucrative stream of profit right away!
The crucial point of planning your site is optimizing it for revenue if you want to gain any income from the site. Divide your site into major blocks, ordered by themes, and start building new pages and subsections in those blocks. For example, you might have a "food" section, an "accomodation" section and an "entertainment" section for a tourism site. You can then write and publish relevant articles in the respective sections to attract a stream of traffic that comes looking for further information.
When you have a broader, better-defined scope of themes for your website, you can sell space on your pages to people interested in advertising on your page. You can also earn from programs like Google's Adsense and Yahoo! Search Marketing if people surf to those themed pages and click on the ads. For this very reason, the advertisement blocks on your pages need to be relevant to the content, so a themed page fits that criteria perfectly.
As Internet becomes more widespread, advertising on the Internet will bear more results than on magazines or offline media. Hence, start tapping in on this lucrative stream of profit right away!
Analyzing Website Traffic
Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluabletool for a number of different reasons. But before you canmake full use of this tool, you need to understand how tointerpret the data.
Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic webtraffic information that you then have to interpret andmake pertinent use of. However, the data you receive fromyour host company can be overwhelming if you don'tunderstand how to apply it to your particular business andwebsite. Let's start by examining the most basic data - theaverage visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, andmonthly basis.
These figures are the most accurate measure of yourwebsite's activity. It would appear on the surface that themore traffic you see recorded, the better you can assumeyour website is doing, but this is an inaccurateperception. You must also look at the behavior of yourvisitors once they come to your website to accurately gaugethe effectiveness of your site.
There is often a great misconception about what is commonlyknown as "hits" and what is really effective, qualitytraffic to your site. Hits simply means the number ofinformation requests received by the server. If you thinkabout the fact that a hit can simply equate to the numberof graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblownthe concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepagehas 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits,when in reality we are talking about a single visitorchecking out a single page on your site. As you can see,hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
The more visitors that come to your website, the moreaccurate your interpretation will become. The greater thetraffic is to your website, the more precise your analysiswill be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smallerthe number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitorscan distort the analysis.
The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure outhow well or how poorly your site is working for yourvisitors. One way to determine this is to find out how longon average your visitors spend on your site. If the timespent is relatively brief, it usually indicates anunderlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure outwhat that problem is.
It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong typeof visitors to your website, or that your graphics areconfusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exitrapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors arespending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, andafter you fix those problems, continue to use time spent asa gauge of how effective your fix has been.
Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determineeffective and ineffective areas of your website. If youhave a page that you believe is important, but visitors areexiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could,for example, consider improving the link to this page bymaking the link more noticeable and enticing, or you couldimprove the look of the page or the ease that your visitorscan access the necessary information on that page.
If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors arespending a lot of time on pages that you think are lessimportant, you might consider moving some of your salescopy and marketing focus to that particular page.
As you can see, these statistics will reveal vitalinformation about the effectiveness of individual pages,and visitor habits and motivation. This is essentialinformation to any successful Internet marketing campaign.
Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a finalorder or contact form. This is a page you can expect yourvisitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to yoursite is going to find exactly what he or she is lookingfor, so statistics may show you a number of different exitpages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on aparticular page that is not intended as an exit page. Inthe case that a significant percentage of visitors areexiting your website on a page not designed for thatpurpose, you must closely examine that particular page todiscern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potentialweaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content orgraphic may have a significant impact on the keepingvisitors moving through your site instead of exiting at thewrong page.
After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's timeto turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particularkeywords are directing a specific type of visitor to yoursite. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that theyfind what they are looking for on your site, and evenbetter, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - themore valuable that keyword is.
However, if you find a large number of visitors are beingdirected - or should I say misdirected - to your site by aparticular keyword or phrase, that keyword demandsadjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitorsto your site who are ready to do business with you. Closeanalysis of the keywords your visitors are using to findyour site will give you a vital understanding of yourvisitor's needs and motivations.
Finally, if you notice that users are finding your websiteby typing in your company name, break open the champagne!It means you have achieved a significant level of brandrecognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.
Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic webtraffic information that you then have to interpret andmake pertinent use of. However, the data you receive fromyour host company can be overwhelming if you don'tunderstand how to apply it to your particular business andwebsite. Let's start by examining the most basic data - theaverage visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, andmonthly basis.
These figures are the most accurate measure of yourwebsite's activity. It would appear on the surface that themore traffic you see recorded, the better you can assumeyour website is doing, but this is an inaccurateperception. You must also look at the behavior of yourvisitors once they come to your website to accurately gaugethe effectiveness of your site.
There is often a great misconception about what is commonlyknown as "hits" and what is really effective, qualitytraffic to your site. Hits simply means the number ofinformation requests received by the server. If you thinkabout the fact that a hit can simply equate to the numberof graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblownthe concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepagehas 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits,when in reality we are talking about a single visitorchecking out a single page on your site. As you can see,hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
The more visitors that come to your website, the moreaccurate your interpretation will become. The greater thetraffic is to your website, the more precise your analysiswill be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smallerthe number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitorscan distort the analysis.
The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure outhow well or how poorly your site is working for yourvisitors. One way to determine this is to find out how longon average your visitors spend on your site. If the timespent is relatively brief, it usually indicates anunderlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure outwhat that problem is.
It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong typeof visitors to your website, or that your graphics areconfusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exitrapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors arespending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, andafter you fix those problems, continue to use time spent asa gauge of how effective your fix has been.
Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determineeffective and ineffective areas of your website. If youhave a page that you believe is important, but visitors areexiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could,for example, consider improving the link to this page bymaking the link more noticeable and enticing, or you couldimprove the look of the page or the ease that your visitorscan access the necessary information on that page.
If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors arespending a lot of time on pages that you think are lessimportant, you might consider moving some of your salescopy and marketing focus to that particular page.
As you can see, these statistics will reveal vitalinformation about the effectiveness of individual pages,and visitor habits and motivation. This is essentialinformation to any successful Internet marketing campaign.
Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a finalorder or contact form. This is a page you can expect yourvisitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to yoursite is going to find exactly what he or she is lookingfor, so statistics may show you a number of different exitpages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on aparticular page that is not intended as an exit page. Inthe case that a significant percentage of visitors areexiting your website on a page not designed for thatpurpose, you must closely examine that particular page todiscern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potentialweaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content orgraphic may have a significant impact on the keepingvisitors moving through your site instead of exiting at thewrong page.
After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's timeto turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particularkeywords are directing a specific type of visitor to yoursite. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that theyfind what they are looking for on your site, and evenbetter, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - themore valuable that keyword is.
However, if you find a large number of visitors are beingdirected - or should I say misdirected - to your site by aparticular keyword or phrase, that keyword demandsadjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitorsto your site who are ready to do business with you. Closeanalysis of the keywords your visitors are using to findyour site will give you a vital understanding of yourvisitor's needs and motivations.
Finally, if you notice that users are finding your websiteby typing in your company name, break open the champagne!It means you have achieved a significant level of brandrecognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.
Changing Web Hosting Companies
There sometimes comes a time when individuals or companies find that they are no longer satisfied with the services that their current web hosting company provides. Perhaps it’s a matter of not enough storage space or bandwidth, or it may be a simple matter of customer service that makes the individual want to change to a new company. Changing to a new company may sound like the ideal solution but many people shy away from this due to the complexity of switching companies. But it doesn’t have to be that complex and if one isn’t satisfied with their web hosting company, they should definitely make the switch. There are just a few things to keep in mind.
The first thing to keep in mind is to keep the account with the existing company open. This will ensure that the website will always be running while the individual is trying to find someone else. One then needs to create their new account. While doing this, it’s important to make sure that the new web hosting company will be able to provide the things that the old company could not. It’s usually wise to opt for a web hosting service that is well known. This will help enhance your site.
Once the new web host has been selected the individual just needs to move on to finalize what package they want that is offered by the company and to set up their new account. The next step is to download the old account files and then have them uploaded to the new account. This is a fairly easy task and can be accomplished simply by first connecting to the old provider’s FTP and then to the FTP of the new host. It’s still important not to cancel the old account at this time. To ensure that one is still receiving every email, it’s also important to keep the same email addresses.
Next one needs to check the website to make sure that all the files have been properly updated and that any web links are fully operational. The domain name servers can then be changed once the website is showing satisfactory results. The domain name server is usually obtained once the individual is registered with the web host. They can also be provided by domain registrars and if that’s the case, the domain provider should be contacted so they can replace the previous name servers with the new one.
The new domain servers will generally take anywhere between twenty-four and forty-eight hours to be up and running and therefore, the old web host is responsible for the website in the meantime. This is why cancelling the old service should be the very last thing you do. Once the new account has been activated, the old account can be cancelled.
Author: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
The first thing to keep in mind is to keep the account with the existing company open. This will ensure that the website will always be running while the individual is trying to find someone else. One then needs to create their new account. While doing this, it’s important to make sure that the new web hosting company will be able to provide the things that the old company could not. It’s usually wise to opt for a web hosting service that is well known. This will help enhance your site.
Once the new web host has been selected the individual just needs to move on to finalize what package they want that is offered by the company and to set up their new account. The next step is to download the old account files and then have them uploaded to the new account. This is a fairly easy task and can be accomplished simply by first connecting to the old provider’s FTP and then to the FTP of the new host. It’s still important not to cancel the old account at this time. To ensure that one is still receiving every email, it’s also important to keep the same email addresses.
Next one needs to check the website to make sure that all the files have been properly updated and that any web links are fully operational. The domain name servers can then be changed once the website is showing satisfactory results. The domain name server is usually obtained once the individual is registered with the web host. They can also be provided by domain registrars and if that’s the case, the domain provider should be contacted so they can replace the previous name servers with the new one.
The new domain servers will generally take anywhere between twenty-four and forty-eight hours to be up and running and therefore, the old web host is responsible for the website in the meantime. This is why cancelling the old service should be the very last thing you do. Once the new account has been activated, the old account can be cancelled.
Author: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
Beginner’s Guide to Web Hosting
Web hosting is basically an Internet service that allows companies and individuals to create their own space on the Internet. Web hosting companies have servers that act as data centres. Customers will give files to their web hosting companies and those files will be stored in the data centres. They can then be found by anybody who wants to visit that person’s or company’s website.
There are many web hosting services available, mainly these are divided between free web hosting and paid web hosting. Free web hosting is just that – free and the customer doesn’t pay a thing. This is more suitable towards people who are just beginning to have a website on the Internet. A paid web hosting company will charge for their services and offer more features to their customers. This is ideal for small companies that are going to be expanding or for large companies. Free web hosting will only allow for limited space and subdomains for the person’s site.
There are many different paid web hosting companies that can be found online. The prices will depend on what type of services they offer. One can choose from a dedicated server, where one server will be dedicated to only that person’s file, or from a shared server. This is when many people are using the same server. It’s best to start with a shared server to see if the web hosting company offers what is needed. If the individual is satisfied with the service, it is then an appropriate time to move to a dedicated server.
There are many benefits that can be derived from web hosting. The first is that the person or company will get their own web space. This provides the person with enough storage to keep all of their files and data to be published online. These files include web pages, images, audio, and videos. These are just a few of the files that may be kept by web hosting. The average amount of space that is provided by web hosting is 200MB. The more expensive packages can reach anywhere up to 500MB.
Free email is another advantage that customers can enjoy from web hosting. This is much different than the public email addresses provided by Hotmail or Yahoo. This email address will be exclusive to the individual’s website. For example, if the website is called “Music.com”, the email can then be downloads@music.com. These types of email addresses are more than just handy to remember, they are important for serious businesses. It shows customers that they are dealing with a reputable company who is interested in spending money to make their business grow.
Another advantage to web hosting is bandwidth. This is simply the amount of information that is transferred over the Internet. When a web hosting company provides appropriate bandwidth, it is easier for users to view the web page. This is especially true when there are many images, audio, or videos on one page. Users like to have a website that is easy to use so bandwidth is extremely important.
Author: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
There are many web hosting services available, mainly these are divided between free web hosting and paid web hosting. Free web hosting is just that – free and the customer doesn’t pay a thing. This is more suitable towards people who are just beginning to have a website on the Internet. A paid web hosting company will charge for their services and offer more features to their customers. This is ideal for small companies that are going to be expanding or for large companies. Free web hosting will only allow for limited space and subdomains for the person’s site.
There are many different paid web hosting companies that can be found online. The prices will depend on what type of services they offer. One can choose from a dedicated server, where one server will be dedicated to only that person’s file, or from a shared server. This is when many people are using the same server. It’s best to start with a shared server to see if the web hosting company offers what is needed. If the individual is satisfied with the service, it is then an appropriate time to move to a dedicated server.
There are many benefits that can be derived from web hosting. The first is that the person or company will get their own web space. This provides the person with enough storage to keep all of their files and data to be published online. These files include web pages, images, audio, and videos. These are just a few of the files that may be kept by web hosting. The average amount of space that is provided by web hosting is 200MB. The more expensive packages can reach anywhere up to 500MB.
Free email is another advantage that customers can enjoy from web hosting. This is much different than the public email addresses provided by Hotmail or Yahoo. This email address will be exclusive to the individual’s website. For example, if the website is called “Music.com”, the email can then be downloads@music.com. These types of email addresses are more than just handy to remember, they are important for serious businesses. It shows customers that they are dealing with a reputable company who is interested in spending money to make their business grow.
Another advantage to web hosting is bandwidth. This is simply the amount of information that is transferred over the Internet. When a web hosting company provides appropriate bandwidth, it is easier for users to view the web page. This is especially true when there are many images, audio, or videos on one page. Users like to have a website that is easy to use so bandwidth is extremely important.
Author: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more
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A Sundry of Options for Web Hosting
Since the birth of the internet, millions upon millions of websites have been created. They may contain different information and designs, but they all have one thing in common. Web hosting, one of the most important functions in the website process, allows website owners to put up their creative masterpieces. Regardless of what they do decide to display, this type of program gives them the independence to say whatever they'd like.
One of the biggest misconceptions of web hosting is that every package is the same. We all assume that one size fits all, and that there are no in betweens. Surprisingly, this is just the opposite. Depending upon the type of website you are making, and its popularity, you may need something much more professional and expensive. Nonetheless, there are affordable packages, no matter how tiny or large your budget is.
If you are just starting out and want no string attached, there are plenty of alternatives. Free hosting allows you to not only create a website, but it helps beginners, no matter how much experience they have. Although there are popup downsides and other annoyances, free web hosting will give you everything that you need. If you are not sure if you even want to extensively design one, Geocities or AngelFire is great to experiment with.
Are you looking for something a bit more customized? For many webmasters, shared hosting is a favorite. This means that an abundance of websites are actually on one server. While this only costs a few dollars a month, there are still issues that come along with it. For instance, if a fellow webmaster were to have done something illegal, chances are your website would be shut down as well. This is because you share an IP, which of course can be quite dangerous. For this reason, you must be careful when choosing people to share a host with.
While these are great alternatives, many professional companies enjoy dedicated hosting . Fortunately, the website is the only one on the server, which results in a lot less complications. With freedom comes a plethora of features, which include extra bandwidth, visitor trackers, and your own I.P. As a result, you do not have to worry about illegal situations occurring within your server. Everything is based around your needs.
Reseller hosting is another admired amenity. If you are a webmaster and are looking to make some extra cash, this is a great opportunity. In simple terms, you purchase a web hosting package from a company and divide the space into several sections. These sections can easily be purchased by fellow webmasters, who are in need of space. With this business in place, you will effortless make a few dollars.
Regardless of what you are looking to make, web hosting is necessary. From free companies to dedicated servers with only one website, there are endless opportunities. Although people assume that there is only one type of package, this article clearly shows how wrong the myth can be. The only requirement is that you are ready to work hard, be innovative, and stand out among the crowd. With these factors in mind, you could be to the top in no time.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
One of the biggest misconceptions of web hosting is that every package is the same. We all assume that one size fits all, and that there are no in betweens. Surprisingly, this is just the opposite. Depending upon the type of website you are making, and its popularity, you may need something much more professional and expensive. Nonetheless, there are affordable packages, no matter how tiny or large your budget is.
If you are just starting out and want no string attached, there are plenty of alternatives. Free hosting allows you to not only create a website, but it helps beginners, no matter how much experience they have. Although there are popup downsides and other annoyances, free web hosting will give you everything that you need. If you are not sure if you even want to extensively design one, Geocities or AngelFire is great to experiment with.
Are you looking for something a bit more customized? For many webmasters, shared hosting is a favorite. This means that an abundance of websites are actually on one server. While this only costs a few dollars a month, there are still issues that come along with it. For instance, if a fellow webmaster were to have done something illegal, chances are your website would be shut down as well. This is because you share an IP, which of course can be quite dangerous. For this reason, you must be careful when choosing people to share a host with.
While these are great alternatives, many professional companies enjoy dedicated hosting . Fortunately, the website is the only one on the server, which results in a lot less complications. With freedom comes a plethora of features, which include extra bandwidth, visitor trackers, and your own I.P. As a result, you do not have to worry about illegal situations occurring within your server. Everything is based around your needs.
Reseller hosting is another admired amenity. If you are a webmaster and are looking to make some extra cash, this is a great opportunity. In simple terms, you purchase a web hosting package from a company and divide the space into several sections. These sections can easily be purchased by fellow webmasters, who are in need of space. With this business in place, you will effortless make a few dollars.
Regardless of what you are looking to make, web hosting is necessary. From free companies to dedicated servers with only one website, there are endless opportunities. Although people assume that there is only one type of package, this article clearly shows how wrong the myth can be. The only requirement is that you are ready to work hard, be innovative, and stand out among the crowd. With these factors in mind, you could be to the top in no time.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
5 Ways to Keep Visitors Coming Back
A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic. Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away. Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:
1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox
When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.
2) Start a web log (blog)
Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.
3) Carry out polls or surveys
Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.
4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games
Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.
5) Update frequently with fresh content
Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!
Important Rules in Website Design
When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service
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.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
Hosting Overseas – Is It Worth It?
No matter where you are located, businesses seem to clamor to host your website. The top hosting positions among these companies are not only hard to award, but hard to define as well. There are simply too many needs to be met for too many different websites to conclusively have ideal criteria for a hosting website. All top hosting contenders do meet standard requirements for standard hosting services, and overseas companies often will meet these needs for a lower price than US or Europe based competitors, but should hosting be outsourced overseas?
Why the Difference in Price
Foreign web hosting offers the same packages as top hosting companies for considerably less cost in most cases. While some overseas companies may simply be offering low rates as a sales ploy, other offer rates that adequately reflect the cost of living in that country. Overhead costs can be tremendously lower in countries such as India or Pakistan , which means the web hosting services can be offered for less.
This makes it difficult to determine the best route for selecting top hosting companies based solely on price. Low prices can be tempting, but there is always the question of quality. Do the budget services offer the same level of service? Like all things, that answer simply depends on the company. Overall, webmasters should not write off or immediately sign up for foreign hosting companies simply based on rates. There are many other determining factors to consider.
Location, Location, Location
Much like real estate, location matters. The closer your server is to your clients, the faster those clients will be able to access your website. Even in a virtual existence, the physical distance between servers and end users can make a difference. Most internet marketers target United States and European citizens, so by hosting halfway around the globe, website response time for target demographics may be adversely affected.
Customer Service
Many foreign companies are highly trained in customer service and are highly respectful of customers and other individuals. Customer, in this case meaning webmasters, care is a top priority for most of these companies as they realize they must work a bit harder than top hosting companies in the United States to garner the same level of respect and reputation.
Having stated that, hosting in countries with different customs as well as time zones can also be frustrating for webmasters. The same problems that complicate any sort of outsourcing affect web hosting as well. Communication gaps, misunderstandings, and difficulty finding a common time to work together, despite the claims of 24/7 service, can all plague individuals outsourcing hosting. These problems, of course, are not a guaranteed byproduct of overseas hosting, but rather should be determined on an individual basis.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce
If you are currently engaged in any facet of ecommerce, even service sectors, a website makes up a great deal of your business. Therefore, it is a safe assumption that you pay for hosting your website in some fashion. If you do not already have a dedicated server, perhaps you should revisit the decision for the best hosting options for your business.
What is a Dedicated Server?
Most web hosting companies set up accounts or on a shared server. You essentially share the total hard drive and bandwidth allowance with many others. This may not be the best hosting option and can present many problems such as security and traffic bottlenecks. On a dedicated server, the server is completely yours, and there are not other websites utilizing the same machine. The server is dedicated completely to you and your business.
Advantages of a Dedicated Server
Several advantages can make a dedicated server the best hosting choice for you. These include:
Server Security –Dedicated servers increase the security of your website tremendously. There are no other webmasters using the same workspace, and simple mistakes or user error that might occur due to shared machines simply no longer existent.
Storage Space – As the entire server is dedicated to a single customer, there is tremendously more storage space available for website pages, images, and features.
Data Transfer – As with storage space, there is a great deal more bandwidth available for data transfer. Traffic to your site no longer competes with traffic for other websites reducing bottlenecks and slow server response time.
Control Panel – Having your own server offers additional opportunities for control. Sharing a server indicates that you have only limited control of server features and functions, but with a dedicated server, webmasters have greater control and access to the day-to-day functions of the host.
Software Options – Dedicated servers also allow more software and script options. The server has greater storage capacity for this information, and there is no need to align coding or features with other users of the same machine.
Disadvantages of a Dedicated Server
The sole disadvantage of a dedicated server is the cost. It is only logical that obtaining an entire server versus a piece of a shared server would be more expensive, but the rate often makes webmasters baulk. It is important to consider the fee as related to the total cost of shared server space when determining if a dedicated server is the best hosting option for you business, despite cost. A single credit card safety incident or an exorbitant bill for bandwidth overage should level the playing field almost immediately.
Am I ready for a Dedicated Server?
Websites grow at different rates, but as the success of a business grows, so does the need for additional hosting capacity. If you are approaching the limits of your current hosting company or have concerns about safety, such as storing credit card information on the same server as others or simply if your current company is the best hosting company for your needs, it is definitely time for a dedicated server.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce
If you are currently engaged in any facet of ecommerce, even service sectors, a website makes up a great deal of your business. Therefore, it is a safe assumption that you pay for hosting your website in some fashion. If you do not already have a dedicated server, perhaps you should revisit the decision for the best hosting options for your business.
What is a Dedicated Server?
Most web hosting companies set up accounts or on a shared server. You essentially share the total hard drive and bandwidth allowance with many others. This may not be the best hosting option and can present many problems such as security and traffic bottlenecks. On a dedicated server, the server is completely yours, and there are not other websites utilizing the same machine. The server is dedicated completely to you and your business.
Advantages of a Dedicated Server
Several advantages can make a dedicated server the best hosting choice for you. These include:
Server Security –Dedicated servers increase the security of your website tremendously. There are no other webmasters using the same workspace, and simple mistakes or user error that might occur due to shared machines simply no longer existent.
Storage Space – As the entire server is dedicated to a single customer, there is tremendously more storage space available for website pages, images, and features.
Data Transfer – As with storage space, there is a great deal more bandwidth available for data transfer. Traffic to your site no longer competes with traffic for other websites reducing bottlenecks and slow server response time.
Control Panel – Having your own server offers additional opportunities for control. Sharing a server indicates that you have only limited control of server features and functions, but with a dedicated server, webmasters have greater control and access to the day-to-day functions of the host.
Software Options – Dedicated servers also allow more software and script options. The server has greater storage capacity for this information, and there is no need to align coding or features with other users of the same machine.
Disadvantages of a Dedicated Server
The sole disadvantage of a dedicated server is the cost. It is only logical that obtaining an entire server versus a piece of a shared server would be more expensive, but the rate often makes webmasters baulk. It is important to consider the fee as related to the total cost of shared server space when determining if a dedicated server is the best hosting option for you business, despite cost. A single credit card safety incident or an exorbitant bill for bandwidth overage should level the playing field almost immediately.
Am I ready for a Dedicated Server?
Websites grow at different rates, but as the success of a business grows, so does the need for additional hosting capacity. If you are approaching the limits of your current hosting company or have concerns about safety, such as storing credit card information on the same server as others or simply if your current company is the best hosting company for your needs, it is definitely time for a dedicated server.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
Finding the Best Web Hosting Service
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 Needs
The 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 Panel
How 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.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Assess Your Needs
The 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 Panel
How 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.
Copyright notice: This original article is the property of Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com). Web Hosting Geeks provides independent customer and webmaster reviews of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
Note: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!
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