Domain Hosting News and Questions

Anand Maheshwari asked:




Affordable web hosting does not mean poor hosting services as there are so many service providers available in the market which can provide services at very affordable price. The best way to select an appropriate service is by comparing prices with other services. Internet has changed the lives of people and there are several resources available from which one can get extreme benefits even at low prices. Research plays crucial role in finding a reliable service provider. There are several companies available which boast of providing best services but one should not turn to them immediately as it is important to understand their services and abilities to provide results.

If someone is planning to launch a new website, blog or a web page, it is always better to opt for affordable web hosting to get results at cheap prices. The main advantage of affordable hosting is that one can get the visibility of website over internet. Having a visibility is not enough as one should confirm the services and features of the service provider in order to avoid any type of further inconvenience. There are some important things to remember while selecting a potential and affordable web hosting service provider.

One should never sign up with any web hosting company in hurry or by considering cheap prices. It can affect the website in long term and can prove to be dangerous in several terms. There are several hosting services available out there but one should finalize the decision by doing complete research on the subject. One should confirm all the features according to one’s need and requirements. One should check whether they are offering features which are essential for the website. It is always better to opt for the web hosting which is offering unlimited bandwidth and disk space for the website. Unlimited bandwidth plays a crucial role in long term as every website needs good bandwidth for the 24 x 7 availability and better function of website.

The customer support service should be responsive, it will be better to test the support services by calling them at odd hours. The technical assistance is also very important as one could need technical assistance at any time. One should always weigh quality over quantity in order to get maximum results. When it comes to large business website, one should always opt for quality service which has good reputation but for a new business, blog or web page one can go with affordable web hosting. One should also notice the server on which the website is going to run. The servers should be compatible to run the website for its continuous availability. Maximum uptime is another thing to consider while finding affordable hosting. So, one can consider the above things in order to get maximum results from affordable hosting provider.

Web Hosting FAQs

Glenn Heitkoetter asked:




Here are some web hosting options to consider. There are advantages to each option.

There is free web hosting but you will need an easy to remember domain name which free hosts usually don’t offer and you want FTP uploading of your files which may be hard to find for free. There are other ways to upload your files but FTP is easy and powerful.

These types of hosting, the free or the ones for a few dollars a month are called shared hosting. This type of hosting is affordable but the drawback is other sites are sharing the same computer in the web host’s warehouse as yours. If any of the other sites have a coding problem they can take down the computer along with your site until it gets fixed by the hosting service, until then your closed down.

If you go with the purchase of a shared hosting plan make sure they have a money back period especially if you sign a one year contract or longer. If your site is down a lot or it loads too slow because too many sites are jammed on one computer or some other reason you can get a refund and get out of the contract.

During the refund period or until you are confident they are good don’t open any software they send you, this may bind you to the contract if you break the software seal(s). Use some other software until you feel comfortable with the service or the refund period expires.

You will also need to research bandwidth. When a visitor comes to your site, clicks or downloads anything it takes bandwidth. If you go over the allotted bandwidth the web host gives you, they may shut down the site until you can pay more or the next billing month comes up or they may automatically bill you, depending on their policy. Bandwidth amount given is usually massive or even unlimited depending on the package and web host but it is something you must know about.

It is worth putting in a search for ‘free web hosting’ in your favorite search engine to see what is available because the market is always changing. You will need to find out why it is free, they may want to put some type of ad on your site but that may be okay for what you are interested in doing depending on what the ad is. There may also be very limited bandwidth or the ways to build your site only can be done with templates that may not fit your project.

Another possibility is being your own host if you have access to a static and not dynamic IP address with high speed internet and a decent computer you can dedicate only to your site(s). Sometimes this is only available to a commercial location but this depends on your available high speed internet carriers.

Dial up will probably be too slow for this, it really must be high speed for a fast loading web page with traffic. Dial up may be okay to learn on and if the traffic to your site is light or is a hobby for fun.

You can register your domain name address yourself at the registering banner above and point it to your own server. For instructions how to set it up search “host my own domain” there are some good tutorials.

The benefit is if there is a problem with your site from the host end you fix it yourself because your website is located on your computer at the static IP address in your office or home and also you can upgrade your own hardware. You do not have to rely on the technical department of a web host to fix any problem.

Web host companies can have good customer service or bad depending on who works there at any given time. Hosts have been known to be good but employee or management changes may happen and now they won’t help you fix your site like you need it.

Another benefit of hosting yourself is you will learn highly sought after webmaster skills and the hosting software to run it is free, running a search for ‘free hosting software’ will bring up options. The drawbacks are you must know a lot, it will take extra time, must bulletproof the site from hackers, and a static IP address usually costs more.

Another option is dedicated hosting which can be managed or non-managed. Dedicated hosting means a hosting service gives you a computer just for your site(s) and nobody else’s sites will be on it. Managed means they will help you setup and deal with problems but this is the most expensive of all the options.

Non-managed is less expensive but you must load and do all software manipulation and fix any coding problems, hacker, script or other problems. If you get stuck on a problem they usually have an hourly rate charge for a pro to help you. This is very similar to doing your own hosting above with the benefit of learning a highly sought after skill but with the hosting service dealing with all hardware problems, upgrading, and keeping up the network.

Webmaster Articles

Lai Yii Shyang asked:




Getting a good web hosting provider is vital for a successful internet business no matter you are having a blog or a website. The web host plays a crucial role in the overall user experience in your site and if the hosting provider is not up to par, you will end up having various of troubles in handling your site. Understand clearly the criteria for a good web hosting company:
Reliability-This would be one of the main criteria. A site that is frequently down tends to lose a lot of visitors. Worse, visitors will go to your competitor sites when your site is down. Having slow access will also make a bad user experience. Therefore, you should always get a website with at least 99% uptime. The web hosting company should also offer a refund if the site is unable to reach at least 99% uptime. Disk Space and Bandwidth-As most websites require only around 10MB, there is no need to get excited for web hosting companies that offer an enormous amount of disk space as you are unlikely to use up that much space. For bandwidth, it’s important to get a package with higher bandwidth as it may take a lot of it if your site is well-known. Technical Support-Get a hosting company that offers 24/7 technical support. It’s not acceptable to have no staff during holidays or worse, weekends. Check how fast do they response and see whether they are technically competent. SSL-If you are planning to do a business which will requires a credit card transaction, make sure that your hosting company provides this service. Resellers-Check whether your hosting company is a reseller or they own their own web server. Get to know the resellers and see which hosting companies that they are using so you can know how established it really is. Multiple Domain And Sub-Domain Hosting-Know whether your web hosting company offers multiple domain hosting and also sub-domains. If they don’t, check out the charges for add-on. Don’t Be Cheap-If you are serious about having an online business, don’t save on a hosting plan. You only get what you have paid for. Don’t have to start with a dedicated server but do keep upgrading your plan as your site grows. Starting with a good hosting provider will only cost you around $10 monthly.

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