Learning how to choose a reliable web host for your web hosting needs is an important and difficult decision. Make sure that you prepare a detailed list of your web hosting requirements before you start searching to find the most suitable web host. Here are few ‘verification’ points to make sure that your web host is reliable.

- Past performance: Go through the web site of the host to find out details like how long the host has been around, up time commitment (I will come to this later), any awards that the web host has won, any well known sites that are being hosted by this provider (normally a list of clients can be found on the host’s site or you may find testimonials). These should provide you with a sufficient amount of confidence in the first place to deal with this specific web host.

- Up time: This is a very important feature. Web sites hosted on the servers of a particular web hosting provider are subject to technical problems and things can happen and servers crash. This means that during this period if a web surfer comes to see your site, they will be unable to view it. Normally represented as a percentage, this value gives you the idea of the time the sites hosted by the particular host are up and working fine. A value above 98% is good. Nowadays many web hosts guarantee a certain percentage of up-time like 99.8%. This is exceptional.

- Flexibility: A flexible web hosting plan is useful because you can start with a minimum plan and later upgrade to another hosting plan when your needs grows. Web Hosts who provide only one kind of plan are always not useful for everyone.

- Cost and features: Compare the features and costs of a few web hosting providers. See if the features match your need. Also make sure that all basic requirements are covered and also check out the availability of latest technologies on the hosting feature list. Even if you don’t need them, this can show the reliability of the provider.

- Payment plans: Check out very carefully the payment plans of the web hosting provider. A monthly payment plan is always good even if it costs you a few dollars more. You always have the choice to change providers at any time you want. Most web hosts now provide a 30 day money back guarantee period.

- Support: This is something you will need the most. What kind of support the web hosting company provides the clients such as telephone support, email, FAQ sections, etc… Maybe a dedicated discussion board or forum will help as well. Also check on the delay in responses especially for the email support service. A web hosting provider who supports clients 24-7 is an excellent feature.

- Backup: Last but not least. Recently we have been hearing a lot about sites with tons and tons of pages disappearing. Why, because of some technical problems on the servers and no backups. No one likes to see their years of hard work disappear within a few seconds. Now, many reliable web hosting service providers have a daily automatic backup feature.

Learning how to choose a reliable web host for your web hosting needs is really about what is important to you and your needs!

About the Author

Russell Blanc is an expert in the web hosting industry manages an information-rich web site at http://www.iWebHostingPlans.com about Web Hosting and writes on the features, benefits and reviews of web hosting providers.

Before coming directly to characteristics of good and cheap web host first it’s better to have review of the fundamentals.

Defining Web Host. A web host is a service provider that places websites of its customers on a server, which is connected to Internet.

For proving this facility a web hosting provider is generally having high-speed Internet connection as they have to host thousand of web sites on many servers depending upon requirement. Essentially the host providers rent out space where a user can get his website made available to whole world through www i.e. World Wide Web.

The best part of web hosting facility is that now its easy to manage the website even for a layman as all the technical aspects like maintenance of complicated server technology, technical maintenance etc us now the work of these providers. Now one can easily focus on his own Internet business for rest there is host provider.

Now coming to the point following are the features offered. Features The followings are the features available in most web hosting plans: ? Control Panel A control panel is an interface by which access of website on web server is made possible, it helps in setting up and constantly updating as well as customizing the website. Some host providers customize their own control panel so as to enable them to upgrade and expand it when and where required.

? Disk space Most of the sites that have less data or graphics or video clips or big downloadable files can use 50MB of disk space easily. This helps in further growth for reseller as he can use that space of host providers for other purpose.

? Bandwidth It is the amount of data sends or received through a unit of time. When a visitor downloads files from website on his own computer then that time it is the bandwidth which is making that possible.

? Email Account With the use of POP3 email accounts one can check email from Outlook, Netscape Mail, Eudora or any other Email software.

? Scripting language As now the latest technology is based on Unix and Linux platform only host that support latest versions languages like php, perl and CGI must be selected as that can only provide the optimum utilization of money one is paying.

? Database For displaying big amount of data like user accounts, stock prices, maps, Interactive news, message boards and forum etc that should be accessible also there is a need for an account that offers a database. For this MySQL, most popular and powerful built on Linux operating system is used. Besides language, many other features are also there like ability to handle millions of entries all at once, flexibility and speed allowing storage of logs and big pictures, ability to scale well under heavy traffic conditions that all together makes MySQL ideal for database-intensive or e-commerce-enabled Web sites.

Customer Support Customer support is also an important criterion while selecting a good web host service and it is equally important both for an expert as well as a layman.

Following are the essentials for a good support system: ? size of the database. Size of the database is an important feature as it helps in providing quick search for any answer and thus helps in getting solution of any problem without even bothering customer support staff. If the database is large its easy to search for information from it. Some web host providers even provide video tutorial guide, which helps in step-by-step setting up of account even for a layman.

? efficient customer staff In order to get fast and good response quick customer support is a must. The following are few forms of customer support: a. Email support b. Phone support: Generally for sales and technique aspect it is used. A well-equipped and knowledgeable staff knows and problems and provide with immediate and relevant remedy without wastage of time.

Clove Chat support: Some web host companies like Lunar pages and Globat even have live chat support for their customers, but irrespective of how many support channels a company is offering its more important that the available staff is responsive to the need.

Price calculation on basis of ratio of Disk space to Bandwidth ratio What is the amount that one must pay depends upon the disk space and bandwidth that is available with the host plan. Thus price must be ascertained keeping in mind the above two factors.

Popularity Besides all of the above features it’s all in vain if web host is not offering an effective marketing plan. It is so because if a web host provider is not having good customers or members as well as steady growth of them, then it’s not possible for them to survive in this competitive world.

The popularity of a particular web-hosting provider can be judged by the number of awards won as well as the reviews of other websites and also from the ranking in Alexa traffic.

All the hosting providers listed on our Top 10 Cheap Web Hosting Directory are among the top 40,000 most visited websites in the world.

Trustworthiness, Speed and Uptime Guarantee For any company if its website is not available or accessible, then it tends to not only loosing of customer but also it hampers credibility therefore its important to check if web host provider is guaranteeing at least 99% uptime. However to ensure maximum uptime, installation of redundant back-up systems is quite important “Redundant means having an alternative Internet connection on the verge of interruption of main Internet connection. It tends to minimize downtime and is a part of host provider’s management system For a matter of speed, how fast a site is depends upon the types of network connections. Other matters like routing, web server set up and local area networks also play an important part but still they are after the factor of Internet connection.

Many hosting providers still connect to the Internet through T1, or T3 connections. However the best one would be one using OC (Optical Carrier) lines.

A T1 line offers data transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second), while a T3 line supplies data transfer rates of 43Mbps. OC-1 refers to a circuit that transmits 51.85Mbps. Higher levels are multiples of that speed. Ultra-High Speed OC3 and OC12 lines offer 155Mbps and 622Mbps respectively. Some hosting providers have connections to major Internet backbones at the speed of OC48 (2488Mbps) and OC96 (4976Mbps).

About the Author

Web hosting coupons blog provides web hosting reviews, guides and discount coupons for leading web hosts. Discover how to get hosting for cheap or almost free web hosting hosting from hostgator webhosting or your webhost by using coupons

Start for Web Hosting by Baba Hoster

Even for a layman , its important to know the concept of web hosting. Visiting any website shows a web page that is downloaded from the web server onto the user’s web browser. Generally, web site is made up of many web pages and web page is made up of texts and graphic images. Now these pages are then stored and made available for the visitors on web servers.

So for a layman if his intention is to have is own web site, then the first step would be owing a host provider so as to host the website on web server. As soon as the website is online on the server, online users can browse that website through Internet. All this job of providing host facility is with the providers called web-hosting providers.

Any established web hosting provider can host even thousands of websites example, iPowerWeb is a popular web hosting company that hosts websites in amounts of lakhs i.e. 3 lakhs. Due to this reason only these hosting companies needs large number of web servers for storing the website. Thereafter all these web servers are connected to Internet and are kept in a physical center ‘data center’. As these web servers needs to be fully operational all the time so data centers are made fully secure having 24/7 environment and given protection from fire, HVAC temperature control, virus detections, computer data backup, redundant power backup and complete disaster recovery capabilities.

Now after knowing what is web hosting it is also important to know the different types of web host which are summarized below:

Shared Hosting As the name suggests, in shared hosting several websites share space on the common physical web servers. A physical web server can host thousands of websites at one time depending upon the web host. With so much pressure on web servers it tends to make one think that due to over burden perhaps the performance of web server gets affected. But that thinking is totally wrong as for this reason only web servers are equipped with high-end powerful computer so as to support large number of websites to some extent without any problem. However but it is even possible at time of over burden on web servers that the response is badly effected.

In order to get rid of this problem reputed and experienced host providers constantly keep on monitoring the performance of web servers and keeps on adding new web servers when and where required. As many websites share a same physical web server the cost is generally low with start from mere $5-$20 per month and they also have to accept slower server response time.

Dedicated Hosting As against shared hosting, in dedicated hosting a specific web server is allotted to one customer only. Due to one server the customer is having option to host his single/multiple web sites, can modify the configuration of software, can handle greater site traffic and can even scale the bandwidth when it is taken as necessary. It is because of this facility that dedicated hosting charges good amount which starts from $50 and can range even upto$200 to $500 monthly. So dedicated hosting is regularly used by extremely important web sites having high traffic.

Co-location hosting The only difference between dedicated hosting and co-location hosting is that here in this case customers can own the web server hardware whereas in case of dedicated hosting customers can just rent the web server during the hosting period. So Co-location hosting provides more flexibility to its customers in respect of control and maintainence. Here in this case 24/7 server monitoring is also possible which can evade the problem of slow response. Because of all above benefits co-location hosting charges good amount depending upon monthly bandwidth and rack space required which is as high as $500 – $1000 monthly.

Reseller hosting The third type of hosting is reseller hosting where the provider offers web server storage space to third party at a discounted price, who again resell it to his own customer. Normally resellers include web consultants like web designers, developers or system Integration Company who after charging commission which is even upto 50%(taken as discount) can resell the web hosting. Resellers can set up their own hosting company and can decide for their own pricing structure with establishing their own branding.

In case of reseller hosting for reseller’s customers, the reseller is the web host provider. When some technical problem arises like down server or any access problem then in that case the resellers have to settle all with actual web host provider. However this is not the effective way as it leads to unnecessary waste of time due to various channels involved in the communication process like first customer contacts reseller and then reseller contacts actual web host provider and same is with the response it also comes back from the same process, so the problems pertains for a long time. Thus reseller hosting is not considered a good option unless user is having his own personal website or he is having an alternative for poor support from reseller.

Now with growing competition market is having abundant of resellers who are selling their services at a very low price. Due to this and other factors like even some web-hosting providers provide their own toll free numbers to their resellers for co-branded technical support, this makes the decision more difficult to choose which is the right choice.

Thus it is more important to act wisely and to not get attracted with marketing techniques employed by resellers like professional outlook of their website and other strategies like proving technical support in their own name which is actually provided by the provider and not by them but they tend to present it in such a way that they are providing that support.

The general distinguishing feature between resellers and hosting company is firstly the hosting price and secondly the company’s information including their balance sheet example iPowerWeb.com get their company’s information published where they mention their financial strength, their offices and highly equipped data centers. As against this resellers lack these assets and for price what they quote is generally below $5 per month whereas providers charge between $7 and $10.

Thus considering all these facts it can be concluded easily that due to a minute difference of several dollars one must not get struck in the web of resellers and must go for best facilities instead of getting harassment afterwards.

About the Author

Web hosting coupons blog provides web hosting reviews, guides and discount coupons for leading web hosts. Discover how to get hosting for cheap or almost free web hosting hosting from hostgator webhosting or your webhost by using coupons. Visit

The motto of the user is to choose web-hosting company, which in within his boundary of budget but to select one from several available it is both overwhelming and challenging. Merely typing the word “web hosting” in any search engine like google will return with millions of documents and millions of host providers. Now the biggest problem is to get one out of those several hosters.

What is Budget web hosting? Budget web hosting in the simple sense is that which offers its services with charge of minimum $10 per month. But the important consideration is not that price but also the duration that they are offering. While comparing the quotes of different companies one most take care for both the annual as well as monthly charge quoted by companies as some companies quotes annually where it needs to divide that amount by 12 months to get them converted into monthly amount so as to compare them with other monthly given charges. But important must be to note if they are charging any setup fee as it can be terms as hidden cost which needs to be taken care of while selecting for budget web hosting. Forming general impression for the company.

After considering the above parameter of money next would be to get a general impression of the company, which can easily be formed after looking on the company’s front page. The points to be taken care of includes if the company is depicting professional outlook? If they have given in their contact address just email address and phone number only or do they have shown their physical address also? As if the physical address is not given then on the verge of any problem with the website then due to lack of proper contact information one can get into big trouble.

If proper customer support services are available. Another thing to take care of is the support services. It is important to check if the company is having any toll free number to contact them and where are they based? As if location of company is far away then it will be much costly to use phone to contact them for a far away distance say in other city or country. Another best feature of company’s having toll free number is that it shows that the company is keen to deal with their customers openly and with honesty. Is there any guarantee or just warranty?

Another thing to note does the company, often companies, give the guarantee tends to give just mere warranty or they hide satisfaction guarantee. For selection one must choose only that company, which is, offer money back facility against dissatisfaction else one must look for other company. Is there any uptime guarantee of site given?

There must be uptime guarantee of site given. Uptime guarantee of site refers to the amount of time the server is live and serving the home pages. Uptime guarantee of 99% means the host is guaranteeing that their servers tend to be up and in operation 99% of the time. During the tenure of one year 99% uptime refers a downtime of one percent i.e. 87 hours in a year or 7 hours per month server wont be available. Thus that is an important consideration.

About the Author

Web hosting coupons blog provides web hosting reviews, guides and discount coupons for leading web hosts. Discover how to get hosting for cheap or almost free web hosting hosting from hostgator webhosting or your webhost by using coupons

Cheap hosting solutions are popular commodity today, because with the increasing amount of people using the Internet, this also brings about the amount people who want to get their websites be hosted. Of course, website hosting is not something that most people get excited about; therefore, most people want a cheap hosting company in order to get their website hosted quickly and easily.

The majority of people don’t consider the ramifications of this down the road; basically they want to get their website up and running as soon as possible. Of course, you don’t need to pay a lot of money to get good hosting, but oftentimes cheap hosting is not the best option for you, depending on who you go with.

You often times get what you pay for. Unfortunately, cheap hosting solutions companies have developed a reputation of having shoddy customer service and usually unsecured Web servers.

Therefore, your website will always be a risk of being hacked. However, if you are determined to go with a cheap hosting company, here’s some important tips and information to keep in mind.

Remember, before you go with any cheap hosting solutions, it is crucial to know exactly what you need in a hosting company. This include things such as your website features, Internet program programming language you will need, database connectivity features, e-mail addresses, domain name, how much traffic you expect yet, etc.

Of course, the only way to know how good the hosting companies’ customer service is before going with them is either to contact them yourself or read customer reviews on them. Reading customer reviews is probably the best option because when you call somebody yourself, you sometimes get a much different experience than what it will be down the road.

For instance, you might call the company and have a good experience your first call, when they are trying to make the sale; however, there might be the last time you ever hear from them. You need to have a good bodywork in order to know whether or not a cheap hosting solutions company is really is as reliable as they claim.

Reading customer reviews is a great way to do this, because you’ll tap in and knowledge of people who are either current or past customers of the particular company you are looking into, and can find out how reliable they are. There are many sites that are designed specifically to review hosting companies, and it really doesn’t take a whole lot of work to find these; just a quick Google search will usually suffice.

One more quick tip: know what kind of hosting you need, whether it be a virtual private server or shared hosting. While I don’t have time to go into the specifics here, keep in mind that a virtual private server (VPS) gives you much more space on your hosting providers’ server, is more secure, but also costs more money.

If you are a full time internet marketer, and plan on doing a lot of business online, this is definitely something you want to consider investing in. The bottom line truth is that not all hosting companies are created equal. It does take some research to find the best one.

Obviously, unless you are a super techy, hosting probably doesn’t excite you; it’s just a necessary thing you have to do to get your site online. Use these tips to find the best cheap hosting solutions as quickly as possible.

About the Author

For tips on finding free web page hosting, visit websitehostingsuccess.com. Learn about DSL web hosting and more.

When creating an affordable Web site for your small business, there are certain things to keep in mind from a design perspective that can make or break your site. Even if you do not plan to spend a fortune on your site, paying attention to each of these items you will ensure that the final product is something of which you can be proud.

Here are 5 tips for designing your small business Web site, even on a budget:

Tip #1: Make sure your Web site loads in 5 seconds or less: Have you ever tried to view a Web site only to find that it takes 10 or 20 seconds to come up on your screen? Unless it has been recommended by a friend or you have some other burning desire to visit the site, you probably likely gave up and moved on. The first 5 seconds is very important in terms of the attention span of your visitor. During that period, you need your site to load and for the visitor to be able to “get” what your site is about. If it takes longer than this, your visitors will run out of patience and leave. Tip: if you want to show off a long flash presentation, try featuring it on a page other than the home page.

Tip #2: Limit the menu bar to 5 options: Your Web site needs to be singular in purpose and focused in appearance. If your site is trying to be all things to all people, it will end up being of value to almost nobody. The simplicity and focus of your site design is reflected in your navigation and symbolized on your home page by your menu options. If you believe your site requires more than five menu options, make some of them sub-menus that are available only after the user selects one of the five main options.

Tip #3: Make clearly visible a call to action: Ever shopped at an IKEA? Their stores have a non-traditional layout that allows you to look around freely and yet literally leads you from one section to another, right on through to the multiple cash registers and food goodies waiting for you at the end of your path. Let this serve as a model for how to set up your Web site: on every page, you need to make it abundantly clear to your site visitors just exactly what it is you want them to do. Do you want them to contact you? Order your product or service? Add a comment to your Web site? Whatever it is, make this call to action very easy to spot both textually and graphically from anywhere on the site.

Tip #4: Provide free and clear access to additional help options: You do not want to lose sales (or visits, or whatever your goal for your visitors maybe be) just because you failed to give someone the chance to ask a question. Just as with your call to action, make it clear to visitors that no matter where they are on your site they can easily locate help via phone, e-mail, live chat, call back, user forum, or knowledge database. Hint: present the various options in a prioritized manner depending upon anticipated user needs.

Tip #5: Show consistency among other design elements: The look-and-feel of your site as a whole is really just a combination of all of its individual components. Pay close attention to every detailed component of your new site. Use appropriate colors and graphics, pay attention to font size, make sure your messaging is readable and makes sense, and make sure images look crisp and appealing. Items that you think are minor might form the basis for whether someone chooses to stay on your site or find that of a competitor.

Whether you are designing your own site or hiring a professional designer, pay attention to these items and you will have a winning site for your small business, even on a budget.

About the Author

Andy Doan of iConvex has been saving small businesses from Web site grief for over 6 years. Get your free, no-hassle quote at www.iConvex.com (First time customers: mention coupon code AT0045 to get a 10% discount).