In Search Of The Best Shopping Cart

If you do any online shopping, and many of us do, when you are ready to pay you will see a little shopping cart symbol that tells you it is time to start the payment process. But although the symbol makes it easy for us to know what's happening, the shopping cart icon hides a sophisticated process that you will need to understand if you are going to put online shopping facilities on your website. Here's what you need to know about shopping carts and a round up of some of the major players.

What Is A Shopping Cart And How Does It Work?

The shopping cart that you see is really a piece of software that runs a series of scripts to allow people to pay for goods and services. The shopping cart is only the start of the process, allowing people to add items and get a total, but when they are ready to buy, the shopping cart will pass them on to a secure payment gateway, which is where the money is actually collected.

In a speedy online process, the payment gateway takes the card details that you have entered, communicates with your card issuer or bank to verify that it's ok to take the funds, processes the payment and then returns you to the point specified by the retailer. So your shopping cart is both a front end and a back end for the payment process. This seamless experience is what you need to recreate for visitors to your site, but it's not as easy as it seems. There are hundreds of shopping cart packages out there and it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you.

Shopping Cart Compatibility

Shopping cart software comes in free and paid versions. Some shopping cart software has to be hosted on your own domain, while other programs are hosted by the providers. If you host the software on your own domain you have total control, but having the software hosted by a provider can help you test the waters if you're creating your first online store. However, you will have to pay a monthly fee which can be upwards of $80 and you may have to pay a set up fee as well.. Be warned, though, shopping cart providers can go out of business so be sure to make regular backups of all your customer and sales data. And there may be less opportunity to customize your shop than if you host it yourself.

Most web hosts offer a couple of free shopping cart programs, and you can be sure that those will be compatible with your hosting package. However, if you plan to purchase shopping cart software, then you need to be more careful. Shopping cart scripting can be in Perl, ASP, CGI, PHP, Javascript and other scripting languages so make sure the program you plan to buy is compatible with your web host. (PHP open source; ASP Microsoft integration)

How To Start Your Own Web Hosting Company

Everyone knows somebody who has a website (or has his own) these days and they all need to be hosted. That's the reason that so many people think providing web hosting is a sound business idea. It may be, but you will need to know what you're doing before jumping in. After all, there are a lot of people doing exactly the same thing. Here is how you can start your own web hosting company. The only requirement is that you have your own domain name and website.

Before you even think about web hosting options, think about your new web hosting company as a business. Like any new business you will need a business plan. Even if you intend to fund the business yourself a business plan will help you develop your business in the right way and will help to keep you on track. It will help you to think about all the areas that are important for your web hosting business and will provide a road map for the development of your web hosting company.

Research Your Target Market

You will need to start with some market research. As part of your market research find out what products and services other web hosting companies are offering and how they are marketing themselves. Discover what market segment you should target and what your costs are likely to be. This will give you some ideas for how you can make your company different. Sign up for web hosting forums and seeing what people are most concerned about and what other web hosts are discussing. This will give you advance warning of future opportunities and may help you to decide where to position your web hosting business.

In thinking about starting your own web hosting company, there is one major decision that you have to make. Are you going to do it yourself or become a web hosting reseller? There are advantages and disadvantages to each option.

Do It Yourself Web Hosting

The DIY approach has the highest initial outlay, but all the profit is your own. If you are going to run all aspects of the hosting company yourself you will need a server on which to host others' websites. Your options for getting a server are to buy one or to lease one. Buying a server may seem like a good idea, especially since computers are no longer that expensive, but a good, reliable server is not cheap and don't forget you will need the latest technology and software for Windows or Linux hosting.

You will need to be realistic about how many websites you can actually host on your server. Overestimate this and you could be heading for a tech support nightmare - which you may have to handle all by yourself. You will also need to think about bandwidth, which means you need to get a company to provide that to you so that you can resell it to your customers.

An alternative to buying your own server is to lease a server (from a company such as Dell or Gateway) or dedicated server (from a company such as Rackspace.com or Cyberworldservers.com) and then resell the bandwidth to your customers. This saves you the up front cost of buying your own server, but it means you are not in control if there is a crash. When choosing a company to provide a server, look for one that has good customer support and as little downtime as possible. Servers do crash sometimes and you will need to be back up quickly so you don't lose customers.

Other costs that you will have to take into account are the costs of getting a control panel for managing the websites and the cost of technical support. All of these can add up if you are running a one person operation - and you will be working all day and all night, too, because most people expect 24 hour support from their web hosting company. So this is an important decision to make.

If you don't think you can be available all day every day you may need to consider taking on an employee or employees. This will make it easier for you to manage your own time but will make the cost of doing business add up. The employee will have to be paid even if you have had a slow month. However, it may be worth it so you don't have to do all the technical support yourself. Unless you employ a couple of people, you will still be working long days.

There are a couple more options for providing technical support. One is to include help desk software to manage support tickets or to set up a forum where your customers can help each other. A forum requires a low outlay and may run itself after awhile. You could also offer live chat to support your customers, though that may take time. Finally, you could outsource your technical support to a company which specializes in this area. It will add to your monthly costs, but could save you a fortune if your customers are kept happy.

Reseller Web Hosting

Another option for starting your own web hosting company is to act as a reseller for another host. This has several advantages, most of them to do with the time you save. Acting as a reseller requires a relatively low investment, with only the monthly reseller fee to pay. If you already have a couple of sites yourself, switching them to your reseller package could be cost effective. You do not have to worry about technical support, server size or bandwidth. All you have to do is promote and sell the web hosting package. Of course, this has its own challenges.

Some reseller accounts are anonymous, which means that you can brand your web hosting business as you like. Others require you to use the branding of the main host. With some reseller accounts everything is taken care of, which means that billing and any follow up are all the responsibility of the main web host. However, other resellers may require you to do your own billing so if you choose one of these you will need to think about how to handle that. This is the backend of your web hosting company and it is just as important as the front end.

Billing For Your Hosting Company

Most web hosting companies offer a choice of monthly or annual billing, and may offer a discount or incentive for the annual package. You need to think about options for taking money. Your choices are an online payments processor such as Paypal or setting up a merchant account so you can accept credit card payments directly. You may also accept money through the mail but this could be unnecessarily complicated, so it may be best to avoid this. An online payments processor is flexible and allows you to accept a variety of payment forms. In addition, it can handle automatic billing. If you are accepting payments online you will also need an SSL certificate so that your customers' sensitive information can be encrypted during online transactions.

Speed Up Your Web Pages

There could be a few reasons why your web pages load up slowly. When it happens look for some of these signs and look for ways to fix them quickly and easily.

One major reason that a web page loads slowly is the design. In most countries, users are still using the 56k modem for their internet use. Go easy on the graphics, ads, pop-ups, music, and video. All of these slow down loading. If you are using graphics use either GIF or JPG. These load much faster than any other type of graphic. Try not to use animation or other gimmicky effects unless you absolutely need to.

Do not use frames as each frame is considered a page. Proper HTML coding can speed things up. Also, avoid using excessive use of tables, applets, special effects, and overuse of java script. In addition, remove any unnecessary coding and empty spaces as these also slow down loading a web page.

Layout your site using CSS. CSS loads faster because tables need to be read twice before loading. Once to determine layout and the second time to determine content. Also, tables appear in one go - users will not see the table until it is fully loaded on to the screen. In addition, tables need spacer images for positioning. CSS requires less code than tables, which can be cumbersome. CSS coding can be set into a separate document which is called up only once and cached on the users computer while a table must be loaded up each time the web page is accessed. With CSS, you control what is downloaded first, so you can have the content loaded first and the slower images and graphics loaded after. This will make for happier clients and customers.

Unfortunately, your host's speed can also affect how fast your web pages load. Check their speed prior to hosting to avoid this possibility. If your web page is still loading slow and you have it so that it is supposed to load fast, you can always change host providers.

The speed of your local internet connection is a major factor. As mentioned before, some people are still using 56k modems. Are you? If you are, it might be time to upgrade to a high speed modem. Your computer itself might be the culprit. If your computer is loading slowly, there are several things you can do to speed it up. Once you speed up your computer, you will speed up the loading of not only your web pages, but others as well. Defrag your computer, scan for viruses and spyware, check the registry of your software, remove any unnecessary programs, delete your cookies, dump your cache, and anything else that will speed up your computer should be completed. Spyware is also a huge problem when it comes to slowing down web pages. Scan your computer often for these annoying things and remove them.

There could be a small glitch in your script that you need to find and repair. Often times, that could be the problem when you are testing or adding components to your site. A broken URL can even be caused by a simple error. A broken URL can cause hang ups and frustrate users.

Do not use graphics or images to display text. There is generally no need for it. Simple CSS coding can make a button appear pushed down when a mouse scrolls over it. CSS coding can even make a decorative image appear faster. Any user who has CSS disabled will not see any CSS imbedded images. Using contextual selectors will also speed up the loading of your web pages.

Use shorthand CSS scripting. Minimize the white space, comment tags, and line returns. Every single letter or space takes up a byte. May not seem like much at first, but the smaller the number of bytes to download, the faster the page loads. By eliminating these things, you can shave off up to 10% of loading time.

Use relative call ups whenever necessary. Absolute call ups take more time to load. Remove any META tags and content. They are unnecessary and achieve little. The most important tags are the keywords for SEO and description tags. If you do need to use META tags, try to keep it to under 200 characters as anything more will increase the size of your web pages. Lengthy META tags are not good as they dilute your SEO keyword phrases.

Basic Website Statistics

Basic website statistics are something you need to pay attention to. These are broken down into six easy categories that can make your website owning experience confusing and frustrating. Web stats refer to the use of the data collected to determine which pages are generating the most traffic and sales.

Hits

What are hits? A hit is a person visiting your website. Hits are counted using a hit counter that you can have either visible or invisible on your site. These counters come in all shapes, sizes, colours, fonts, and designs.There are drawbacks to hit counters - they tell you how many people have visited your site up to that point. A single web page has many discrete files and each one is considered a hit while the page downloads for the viewer. The number of hits is really an arbitrary number that is grossly misleading and exaggerated. While you could do a little bit of math and determine an average per day and per week of how many hits you get, an accurate count is sometimes a great thing. The total number of visitors or page views is a more accurate count of hits.

Page Views

This is a better tracking unit than the hit counter. Every time a page is viewed by a user, it leaves an impression. This impression is what a page view counter tracks. If a returning user views that page again, it leaves another impression. A banner or other advertisement is also considered an impression.Again, there are drawbacks. It is not an accurate count of how many visitors there are to your site as a person can go back and review another page here and there while still on your site. Each time this leaves an impression on the page, and it is counted. So if your visitor is looking for something in particular, each page they visit more than once receives more than one impression, and those impressions are counted.

Visits

This is the best tracking system. This tells you how many visits to your site you have had in one day. Generally, a visit is considered one person, and it is assumed that the one person will visit more than one page, and thus creating more impressions or page views is expected. It is broken down into thirty minute intervals as well as how many page requests they made. This is a great way to determine how many visitors you get, how long they stay, and how often they return. This is a great tool to determine how wide your audience is.

Unique Visitors

Unique visitors are determined by IP address, domain name, or cookie. Many say that this is the number that counts. A unique visitor may visit more than once, but because it is that same person, it is only counted once. The mandatory metric for ABCe audits is solely the unique visitor.

Referrals

These are the number of people who are referred by another website or search engine. This number can tell you what advertising you have out is working and what is not. Referrals can be repeat visitors or new visitors. Often times, they are both.Keep in mind that often a referral can also be someone who goes directly to your site from the start. They may have heard about your site from a television ad, friend, newspaper ad, or other reference.

Search Strings

Pay attention to search strings. This is the phrase that visitors use to find your site in a search engine. You can use these to focus your ads and other marketing methods to generate hits to your site. They are also useful in what does not appear there. If the keywords you have been targeting do not show up in your statistics, that should raise a red flag and cause an investigation to determine the reason.

Search strings, or keywords as they are also known, are important. They are the words that rate your site in search engines. The higher your site sits in the rankings of search engines, the higher the chances that someone will click on your site and visit it. This is because the majority of people do not scroll down to see the sites that are lower in the list because they are not as relevant in their search as the ones higher up.

Often times people complain about a website leaving cookies on their computer. There is a privacy concern with cookies that leave many users cold. A cookie is many things. It identifies users who have been to a website before. Cookies are supposed to help load the page faster and identify unique visitors. When people delete their stash of cookies, it throws off the statistics. However, due to the privacy concerns, people have been blocking or deleting cookies, first or third party.

Power Considerations for Your Server Hardware

One of the most important decisions you will have to make in regard to colocation is the server hardware you want to move. This could either be an easy of difficult task depending on a number of variables. You will need to consider various features including processing power, RAM, hard drive capacity and hard drive redundancy among others. While all are essential, perhaps the most vital feature you must consider for your server is the power requirements. To help ensure a smooth transition, this article will provide tips on some factors you want to keep in mind.

Energy-Efficient Hardware

Before purchasing any hardware, you should know that not all servers are created equal. For example, some are equipped with standardized components designed to be compatible with virtually any type of motherboard. Power supply can be very cheap in this instance and cost as little as $10. Purchasing one with a voltage that specifically matches the motherboard in your server will cost a little more, but will be far more energy efficient and help you save hundreds of dollars on power consumption. This is one of the most important considerations for choosing a server because the hardware you collocate should be as energy efficient as possible. Power consumption tends to vary greatly as most hardware is not designed to be conserve power. However, this is change rapidly as top tier manufacturers such as Dell and IBM have recently introduced more energy efficient hardware to the market.

Power at the Facility Costs

The average person believes that when investing in colocation, all they have to pay for is rack space and internet connectivity with the power being free with the service. Unfortunately, it is these type of assumptions that leads some people to make an attempt to cram all of their servers in one small area and save money on their monthly fees. What most do not realize is that the premium power and AC cooling needed to keep the hardware thriving generally costs considerably more than rack space. It is very easy for many to conclude that space comes for a fee while power is free, causing them to think if they can stuff 20 servers in a small space, they would then be able to save money on buying a full cabinet. These faulty assumptions result in companies shelling out thousands of dollars on blade servers only to learn that their power requirements call for substantially more than typical sized servers would have cost to store.

The misconception that power is free is on the colocation market is merely that, a misconception. The truth is that the tremendous amount of power a server requires can often cost a price that is equivalent to leasing three full racks of space in the facility. Simply knowing this can be vital when it comes to purchasing server hardware and planning to collocate your network. You can save yourself a lot of grief and money by knowing your exact requirements before entering an agreement with a service provider.

Why Reliable Web Hosting?

In today's competitive world reliable web hosting is very critical especially for the success of online businesses. Your message or information won't be conveyed on time unless you send it over high-speed network connections backed up by reliable web servers. You need to seek a web hosting company that can provide you with these components and much more.

People usually wonder “why reliable web hosting?” Critical components as listed below are some of the reasons why:

- Server monitoring and 24x7 security to safeguard your site
- Spam filtering
- Firewall protection to protect the site from unwanted trespass
- Daily site backups
- 99.9% uptime guarantee

Reliable web servers with multiple fast connections are critical in ensuring that your web site runs smoothly. Only behind the hosting company's firewall and additional security on their web servers can you seek to keep your website safe from unwelcome intruders. Spam and virus filtering is another essential feature which should be taken into account with all email facilities. This is again possible with only reliable web hosting.

Apart from the above, there are many other useful reasons. Certain components responsible for reliable web hosting not only decrease your stress but also increase productivity. Reliable web hosting is known to provide dependable uptime so that you can make changes on your website and upload it for customers to view in minimal time.

Reliable web hosting is vital for serious business clients who need their web sites to be fully-functional and their domains accessible at all times. These businesses could be any online industry, be it bank, financial institutes, railway and flight online booking sites or even ecommerce sites. Only with help of reliable web hosting can you maintain the highest level of security for discreet user transaction on any website. All ecommerce websites are integrated with payment gateways and if your web hosting is not secure or reliable then anyone can hack your site and you can lose essential online cash flows.

If your site is integrated with a dependable Content Management System (CMS) through which you seek to update your site on daily basis then reliable web hosting becomes all the same critical. To stay ahead in today's online competition you need a secure and flexible website and this is only possible with help of reliable web 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.Requirement: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!

Technical Support

Why do we need technical support for our websites? If something goes wrong, and you do not know what the problem is, technical support can help you find what is wrong and help you fix it.

Technical support staff is people who have worked on websites and networks, have gone to school to become certified in this type of work. They know their hardware, software, wires, connections, and coding. If you can explain the problem clearly, answer all their questions to the best of your ability, they can pinpoint your problem and tell you, in terms you will understand, how to fix it.

Good technical support is not hard to find. Assess what you already know. If you already know how to build a website and make it look more than just presentable, but just do not know how to put that audio on to it, tech support can help you. Choose a hosting company that offers technical support at any time, not just business hours, because catching and fixing an error sooner rather than later can mean a sale or a client.

Another consideration would be whether your hosting company's technical support responds to service requests quickly or puts you in a queue to get to when they can. Your website is your business… and it is theirs. You pay them to be there when you need them, and if you need technical support now, that support should be there right when you need it. This comes right back to having the support at any time and not just during business hours.

Your host company should also offer proactive notification of maintenance. They should let you know when they will be doing maintenance on the server so that should have a chat room or other interactive item, you can let your users know that you will be down for a period of time for site maintenance. Most people are understanding and appreciative of being told that the site will be unavailable between certain times so that you can enhance your site for their benefit.

Providing documentation on new features of their hosting and their technical support is a nice feature your hosting company should have. Whether you use it or not is entirely up to you, but if you are technology challenged, it is a nice thing to have so that you can reference it at any time. The documentation should also be very easy to find on the website. The information is important to you, and locating it is essential to your business. Knowing how to use a feature you have never used before is an asset to your website - even if you never do use it.

If you ask your hosting company for training, your request should be answered promptly. The host company should be happy to provide you with any training you want or need to maintain your site. If you want to put an audio feature on your website, they should be the ones to train you how to put it on, how to maintain it, how to change it, and anything else that pertains to the audio features.

You should be able to access technical support any way you choose. Email, live chat, or telephone should be available. Live chat or telephone is generally the best way to access the help you require. Using the telephone or live chat, you can locate the items they tell you to find, make the small changes, and answer your questions as you go along. They will be patient with you as you search, fix, and edit your website.

Tech support is a great way to learn how to do things yourself. After you have been helped once, you know how to do it should your problem arise again. However, if you forget, they will be happy to assist you again. They will log your assistance and when they see that they have helped you with the same problem before, they will be happy to refresh your memory by going through it all over again with you. After all, that is what tech support is there for.

Which Web Hosting is Best For You?

With thousands of beginners trying their hand at websites, it is certain that the market is becoming quite crowded. From music blogs to gossip communities and technological havens – these online avenues can be a wonderful hobby for people who just want an audience. After all, who wouldn't want to be heard among thousands of visitors every day? For this reason alone, websites are one of the most popular forms of entertainment. While making a website is essential, the majority of beginners do not realize that web hosting is even more important.

In simpler terms, web hosting provides you with the space to create your masterpiece. When you design your layout, post thousands of pictures, and even set up a chat room, you absolutely need a place to do so. For instance, if you were to do something like this outside of the virtual world, and build a theatre, wouldn't you need your own space? Luckily, web hosting is extremely affordable and can be easy for even the beginners to use.

After you purchase a domain name, the next step is to find a company that will host your website. There are many different paths you can take to do this, but it depends on your main goals. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself why you want to create a website. Is it for personal use – simply to post your pictures from college? Or perhaps your dream is to create the most popular music website on the internet. Regardless of your priorities, companies have built specific web hosting packages based around your needs.

If you are looking to just post pictures or create something for fun, a free web hosting company is the way to go. There are many of these around the web, including Geocities and AngelFire. These two companies are dedicated to helping beginners. As a result, new webmasters do not need to know extensive HTML or CSS. In this day and age, it is quite easy to build a masterpiece. While these hosts give you a large amount of space and freedom, there are downsides. The majority of companies will stick pop up advertisements on your space, in order for them to market their company. Unfortunately, this is an annoyance for most, and can cause visitors to leave immediately. Luckily, Geocities lets you close the box when you enter the website. Nevertheless, if you are looking for an easy website and do not care about visitors, you simply should try it out.

On the other hand, if you are looking for something a bit more professional, you should be emptying your wallet. Providentially, 3ix.org and GoDaddy are two companies that offer extremely cheap website hosting. This means that you can easily pay $12/year just for an abundance of space. Still looking for more features? These companies will let you add on everything from FrontPage Maker to extra bandwidth. If you are serious about your venture, these are places to check out.

Web hosting may sound like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be difficult. With so many beginners flooding the internet, companies have put it upon themselves to make these programs much easier to use. As long as you can type in your name, have overflowing creativity and an e-mail address, the opportunities are endless.

How to Make Money with Web Hosting

We all know that web hosting is the basis of all web sites. It helps us attract visitors, it displays what we are desperately trying to get across, and it allows us to survive in the cut throat internet world. While these are all important qualities that come with web hosting, there are many other opportunities. Dying to make extra cash? Surprisingly, web hosting can actually help with your bills. In a few simple steps, you will be on your way to a richer lifestyle.

Fortunately, there is a new trend in the web industry. Reseller Hosting, which consists of purchasing a web hosting package and reselling it for a larger price, has been making webmasters just a few cents richer. Although this sounds like a daunting task, it actually only requires a large amount of space. Once the webmaster acquires such a large server and bandwidth, he/she is able to divide it up among other people. As long as they are willing to pay a monthly fee, you will never get screwed over.

Regardless of how much money you want to make, purchasing this re-seller hosting does not cost much. For an average of $30/month, you can purchase enough space to make a profit. While all of these websites will be on a shared server, the majority of webmasters do not mind this downside. After all, not everyone can shell out thousands a month just to acquire their own dedicated server. Once you have found a few loyal customers who will not create any illegal material, you will be generating a profit every single month out of the year. Fortunately, until you stop your hosting, you will never be out of a job.

In order to sell this type of hosting, you absolutely need to network. Regrettably, there are many webmasters trying to follow the trend. For this reason alone, you should look in unpopulated areas. Try and find a website or forum that has not yet been tackled by other masses of website owners. For instance, find websites similar to your own. If you do not have one, look on webmaster-related forums such as Digital Point or Webmaster-Talk. These areas are populated with thousands of interested clients, who will be more than happy to jump on the bandwagon, if you do have a great deal.

Still desperately trying to find other ways to market? Many website owners advertise through blogs and buy text link ads. As a result, people will be more apt to find what you are offering. If this doesn't work, you could even start marketing in a local newspaper or a newsletter that goes out to professional companies who are always looking for alternatives. Nevertheless, there are plenty of consumers out there. You just need to be creative and put in the effort, in order to get anywhere.

For years web hosting has been flooding the market. However, it has just recently become a form of revenue for webmasters who just don't own their own web hosting company. It is a wonderful alternative to an additional part time job, especially if this is what you love to do. Networking with others, controlling a server, while working on your website certainly sounds like the perfect occupation.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.Requirement: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!

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.

Website Monitoring Services

If your website is up, your website search rankings are important. However, what about when your website is down and having problems? Obviously, they are not as important. Having a website monitoring service will help keep your website functional and operating so that the search rankings continue to mean something. Nevertheless, things like hardware failures, software lockups, viruses; hackers, databases, and Internet connectivity are important in your online success. Website monitoring serves one main purpose: to notify you when things go wrong.

Website monitoring services checks the site at intervals, and if it cannot log in for some reason or encounters a problem and alerts the administrator immediately. The administrator can then log into the website administration panel and fix the problem. Some services use a ping to check the site, and if the packet is returned undeliverable, then it will try again. If it is still returned undeliverable, the administrator is contacted. However, with a ping, all it does is verify that the site has power, not that it is functioning properly. Many website monitoring services provide a detailed report. This report is helpful in determining whether the site is still functional. The intervals depend on the package the user has purchased and can range anywhere from every two minutes to every sixty minutes. This service is generally used by e-commerce sites and is quite expensive, ranging from $30 to $99 per month.

When a website monitoring service checks a site, it can return a report that will tell you exactly what needs repair. Additional software may be required. They check connections and provide web server response codes and messages. If the server fails to connect, the service sends a message to the administrator. A firewall rule will need to be created if your monitoring service needs to access a site that is protected behind a firewall.

Monitoring your website is great for customer relations. Keeping existing customers is ideal, while gaining new ones is always great. Some monitoring services can help you keep existing customers by ensuring that your website is functioning. It can also help you gain new ones the same way. Rather than having your customer alert your ISP that the website is down, they may not even notice that it is down if you were to use an external monitoring service. The service can alert to you any problems so that they may be fixed, hopefully before the customer even notices that there is a problem.

Internet access customers usually enter into a service level agreement (SLA) with corporate hosting clients as the customers usually expect a certain level of service. Unfortunately, SLA's impose fines on clients that do not meet requirements. A website monitoring service can deter disputes by measuring and recording the levels of usage. The client and the host can review the reports and terms can be based on the levels recorded in the reports.

There are a few "rules" to website monitoring. Firstly, never monitor someone else's domain. It is the biggest problem among website monitoring companies. Any down time will get charged to your domain. Monitor only your own sites.

Secondly, never ignore alerts. They were sent to you for a reason. There is a problem and you need to fix it. Whether it is fixing a link or repairing something more important, there is something in need of repair. Your entire site might be down. The alerts tell you what is wrong so that you can fix it. If your website is down, you are losing sales. Every ten minutes your site is down takes off a percentage of your uptime. Being up 99.9% or 100% of the time is the ideal and is attainable.

Thirdly, use the "check all" feature. Once you have repaired your site, your next task is to inform your website monitoring service that your site is back up. This is so that they can resume monitoring it. If you do not, your downtime keeps going up (and your percentage keeps going down!) If there is an outage, you can use the check all feature. This makes sure that everything is repaired correctly and tests the server.

Fourthly, make your DNS changes carefully because of the TTLs of DNS entries. When you set up a DNS entry, you also set up a TTL. This permits internet browsers and other services to cache the mapping between the IP and your domain so that it does not have to ask for it each time the user visits your site. This speeds up the users experience and drops the load on your domain servers. So make your DNS changes carefully to prevent outages.

E-Commerce: Everybody's darling full of opportunities

Blogs, RSS, Twitter, Cloud Computing, Social Networks... Today's online business is moving faster than ever. How can small and medium enterprises keep in step with ever changing technologies and marketing opportunities in order to increase turnover at minimum cost - especially in these financially troubled times?

Two IT trends have proven to bear great opportunities for companies of all sizes: Cloud Computing and Social Commerce. While Cloud Computing stands for flexible resource utilization and a highly technological concept, Social Commerce tools enable customers to experience much more transparent and effective information about products or services.

Cloud Computing: Flexibility and scalability at its best

Cloud Computing is more than just Software as a Service - and it has much more to it than a server that is not any longer in one's own basement: It is the combination of on-demand infrastructure and on-demand software. This concept does not only offer enormous flexibility but has also cost-saving potential.

Local resources like for example hardware are not needed any longer as companies may now store their data externally on virtual servers and use their software via web access. Generally, all essential features for a professional e-business such as CRM solutions, ERP systems and e-commerce software are available. In times of higher traffic, for instance before Christmas or Easter, additional server capacity can be ordered temporarily.

Companies pay only for their individual set of services - and hosting providers will take care of updates and bug fixes. There will be no more worrying whether the last update for example by eBay has been missed.

More than just e-business

It is essential for all online and offline businesses to inform their customers about products, opening hours or news from the company. Recent studies confirm that almost all customers have informed themselves online before actually buying a product. Would it not make sense to offer customers an appointment right away while they are on the website? An active community recommending and commenting your products is not only a much more reliable source than any marketing material but also offers valid feedback about your products.

A professional website can thus play a decisive role in being ahead of competitors. With ePages 6, both the website and the online shop can be combined on one platform, with the same design. Without special programming knowledge, installing and updating an online store and business website is done much easier than before. All that is needed is a computer with Internet access.

Extended by an appointment management and booking function ePages 6 widens the scope of e-commerce beyond the more traditional sales model.

Recycling for Future Data Centers - DC Powering & Dell

More efficient and low-powered data centers are to set the future of an industry burdened by a past of little to no recycling and environment awareness. Led by a new technology referred to as DC powering, developed and tested by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a market leading computer manufacturer Dell, the concept of a more environmental and financially friendly data center is taking form. How? - by optimizing rather than expanding.

In March 2008 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released their final report concerning DC Power for Data Center Efficiency. In the report the project was documented as successful in reducing power costs, increase/maintain data center efficiency and more consciously preserving power supplies. Thus indicating the potential future role of DC (direct current) powering as a greener and environment protective alternative to standard AC (alternating current) power solutions.

And though recommended by many environment organizations and agencies such as EPA (U.S Environmental Protection Agency) it is not the proper recycling of computers and electronics that are to make this industry more climate conscious. Why build a new data center when the limit is reached if the size actually can be optimized?

Computer manufacturer and IT giant Dell experienced this conundrum in 2006 when their two data centers in Austin Texas reached capacity limits. But instead of throwing out the old and expanding to a bigger data center, Dell chose a different approach. By optimizing existing instruments and technology in data storage and power supply Dell managed to reduce costs by more than $29 million on power and efficiency.

"When we optimised our own data centers, we learnt a lot of lessons," states Rick Becker, VP of Dell's Software and Solutions Enterprise Product Group, in an interview with TechWorld. "And now we want to share these lessons with our customers"

With the launch of "Green IT" data center solutions for their customers Dell is spreading the message of a more energy-efficient, high performing data center on its website. Promising to slash energy consumption with up to 45 % and increase data center performance with up 97 % Dell seems to have created their own definition of an environmental protective data center.

LBNL's DC powering technology and Dell's own data center recycle solution is perhaps to be considered two prime instances of an industry in change. Optimizing data center power systems indicates not only a reduction in energy-costs for companies like Dell but also candidates as a greener and more environmental friendly powering solution. A seemingly optimal two-in-one solution for the data center industry.

Six Easy Steps DIY: Move Your Wordpress.com Blog

Wordpress.com currently hosts millions of blogs (and counting), most of them content with WordPress as the hosting provider. But every year thousands of bloggers still make the journey to the other side - the world of web hosting. To make this voyage shorter, sweeter and easier for the traveler we have written a step-by-step guide including all the steps you need to take in order to successfully move your blog from Wordpress.com.

If you are asking yourself, "What on earth? There is a Wordpress.COM and a Wordpress.ORG?!" Here is a description of each:

Wordpress.COM

- Everything is taken care of: from setup, to upgrades, backups, and security, etc
- Downtime is unlikely because the blog is located on several servers

- Posts are backed up automatically
- Easy to find like-minded bloggers through tag and friend surfer
- Your login is secure (SSL)
- No custom themes or tweaking of existing theme (unless you pay 'credits')
- Cannot change the PHP code
- The domain is actually a sub-domain of WordPress.com, therefore you cannot create a custom URL structure

Wordpress.ORG

- Own your domain name; especially useful if you are creating a brand or company
- Have the ability to upload themes and plug-ins
- Complete control to change code (if you are so inclined)
- A good web host is needed. This runs about $4-10 per month (on a shared plan)
- You are responsible for killing spam; using the API key plugin is one way
- Backups of the database are dependent on the user

Because migrating your blog away from a great hosting program such as Wordpress is not something to be considered lightly, we suggest you ask yourself the following questions first:

Do you want to advertise on the blog?

When you sign up for a Wordpress.com blog account, you basically agree to not advertise on it. The Wordpress.com codex clearly says: "Adsense, Yahoo, Chitika, TextLinkAds and other ads are not permitted to be added by users." If you want to start making money on your blog with ads, migration is required.

Have you found a theme and realized you cannot use it?

Having your blog on its own host means that you can upload any theme you want and tweak the CSS and PHP as you please.

Do you love your theme, but want to tweak the CSS?

If yes, you could buy 'credits' and activate the 'Edit CSS' in the WP.com control panel. You will be able to change the CSS but are limited by not being able to install an entire new theme.
These questions were designed to give you an idea of why moving a wp.com blog can be a good idea. But as you can see, there are still many things you can do with a wp.com blog. Bottom line is that if you want full control of your blog, changing to your own hosting provider is an idea worth considering.
So, now that you have fully thought out the pluses and minuses of migrating your blog and wish to proceed, here are the steps you need to take. For this tutorial we are migrating the blog noddledout.wordpress.com to the domain noodledout.com. This to give you an live example.

Web Hosting Instructions

Web domains. Hosting. Content. These are the three top priorities for any webmaster, regardless of how experienced they are. Unfortunately, these three essentials often leave people in the dark, as there are dozens of companies offering the “same” packages for different prices. With an overflow of routes you could take, it can get mind boggling to figure out the appropriate steps. For this reason, instructions are essential if you are looking for a smooth path.

The first thing you should do is make a list of what your current goals are. If you are making a professional site, you'll need a secure and reliable host. For instance, if you know that your website will reach thousands of people within a few months, perhaps you should find a web hosting package that includes extra bandwidth. You need additional space, especially if visitors are constantly going to be accessing your website. On the other hand, if you are just experimenting, you should stick to the free hosting packages. Geocities or Angel Fire certainly provides a basic package, which will leave you satisfied. After all, you do not need bells and whistles if you aren't serious about the website in the long run. If you do end up changing your mind, you can always switch services and transfer your website.

Once you have made your decision, you need to find a reputable service. While searching for hosting companies on Google may seem appropriate, it often stems bad results. It is important to remember that just because it is listed on a search engine, doesn't mean it is 100% safe and legit. Therefore, if you do find a potential company, you should get a second opinion. It is usually smart to join a webmaster related forum like SitePoint to discuss such matters. This way you can hear about other people's experiences and what companies to avoid. Additional references from friends or family would also be ideal.

After picking a host, you will need to provide your credit card information. For many users, 3ix.org is a favorite, as it rarely charges you much. Surprisingly, there are discount coupon codes you can acquire through the internet, to also help you with your initial fee. Due to the fact that you have to include your private information, it is absolutely crucial to make sure you find a legit business. The last thing you want is to lose any money. Therefore, you should google their name and check out the reviews from fellow users. This will most definitely make all of the difference, especially if you find out that they are a fraud.

For website beginners, web hosting doesn't have to be difficult or even too time consuming. As long as you find reputable sources, second opinions, and a great easy to use package, you are well on your way to website success. With these instructions in mind, there should be no frustrations or year long debates on what company to use. It is quite simple, once you get in the webmaster's frame of mind. 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.Requirement: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!

Domain Names and Registrars

When starting up a website there are some basics that one cannot avoid, such as choosing domain name and getting in contact with a domain name registrar. We know that there is a lot to think about and it is only natural to feel a bit confused at times. Not only will you have to find a top domain name - you will also have to consider things such as regulations, rights and strange abbreviations. To help you we thought that it might be a good idea to explain it all to you and make sure that you are not wasting any time on figuring it all out.

Domain Names

One of the most important things you will have to do when starting a website is to pick a domain name. It for sure is not the easiest thing to do, as most good ones already are taken, and it is at the same time something that can make or break your business. A domain name is a unique name that usually offers a public service as the World Wide Web or e-mail. Originally it is a numeric IP Address, but the DNS (Domain Name System) translated into IP addresses into alphabetical letters. Having an alphabetical address instead of a numerical makes the site easier to find for visitors.

So, how does one know what domain names are up for grabs? You can use a domain searcher such as our very own domain search - simply type in the name that you want. You will immediately find out if the domain name is taken or not. If the domain you want is already taken, you will get a list of names that could be of interest to you. GoDaddy and similar domain registrars work in a similar way. One difference is that if you go directly to a registrar and the domain name already is taken you could possibly obtain it anyway with the help of a "Domain Buy Agent." These agents will look up and contact the owner of the domain and make them an offer to sell it.

More about DNS

The Domain Name System was created in 1983 and it translates numbers into letters and meaningful domain names for us humans. One can say that the DNS is the phonebook of the Internet. Ít also makes sure that the readable names are translated into the abstruse IP addresses, which the computers need to communicate with each other.

Apart from allowing you to easily surf the Internet will the Domain Name System also make sure that all of your e-mails find its way to the inbox. In other words, a stabile DNS is necessary for companies wanting to work effectively and that wants everything to run smoothly.

Just Host Blogging Software

WordPress is a personal publishing tool with focus on aesthetics and featuring cross-blog tool, password protected posts, importing, typographical niceties, multiple authors, bookmarklets.

b2evolution - a blog script featuring multiple blogs, categories/sub-categories, skins, search function, multiple languages, search engines friendly URLs.

Web Hosting Guide

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

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

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

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

Disk space and bandwidth

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

Programming tools and the OS

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

Pricing Aspect

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

Support, Security, Guaranteed uptime and Backups

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

Best Forum Web Hosting (2009)

Best Forum Hosting - Just Host

Just Host has been recognized as Best Forum Host thanks to the advanced software and top-notch support that they provide for the forumers. The forum software available with all Just Host accounts includes phpBB2 and SMF which are both really well known applications that offer the user tons of features.

Just Host, Ltd meets all BBBOnLine Reliability participation and Better Business Bureau membership standards and is authorized to display the BBBOnLine Reliability seal.

Just Host Web Hosting Overview

GB of Storage (Web space) Unlimited
GBs of Data Transfer (Bandwidth) Unlimited
Multiple Domain HostingUnlimited
International Domain NamesYes
SSH (Secure Shell), SSL, FTP, StatsYes
CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQLYes
Fantastico LibraryYes
Streaming Video/AudioYes
Drag and Drop Site Builder Yes
Money Back Guarantee Anytime!
24/7 Toll Free Support Yes
24/7/365 Server Monitoring Yes

Best Budget Web Hosting (2009)

Webhostingpad.com continues to push forward the standard for excellence in Web Hosting. As a worldwide leader in hosting industry, WHP have been accredited with a number of awards and recognition for the continued efforts to provide top quality service to the customers.

WebHostingPad, Inc meets all BBBOnLine Reliability participation and Better Business Bureau membership standards and is authorized to display the BBBOnLine Reliability seal.

WebHostingPad Overview

GB of Storage (Web space) Unlimited
GBs of Data Transfer (Bandwidth) Unlimited
Multiple Domain HostingUnlimited
International Domain NamesYes
FREE Marketing Bonus$100
Domain NameFREE FOR LIFE
Fantastico LibraryYes
30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee Yes
24/7 Toll Free Support Yes
24/7/365 Server Monitoring Yes

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.Requirement: You must also post the above author information if you would like to republish this article!

Basic advantages

When you are going to hire a hosting service to build your website for your small business then you need to know the basic things of web hosting. You are the best person to judge that what required features are and what about your budget

Need web hosting ?

As a result of this, more and more websites are coming up each day. As a matter of fact, it does not seem to be a distant reality, that some day, every person would be having a separate website of his or her own. In order to cater to this growing demand for websites, web hosting services have come up as an effective tool. In recent times, a number of portals have come up, which offer web hosting services. These websites offer various web hosting plans that you can choose from, depending upon your requirements. However, one of the most important aspects in this regard, is to select the appropriate web hosting service. It gets typically difficult, to select an appropriate service which can help you achieve your objective.

Web Hosting Geeks can be of great help in this regard, in case you are facing such a dilemma. This particular site, offers you reviews of the various sites, which offer web hosting services, dedicated server hosting and other products. This would help you in analyzing the various plans that are being offered to you and eventually in the selection of the appropriate plan, which suits your requirements. This site provides you with unbiased and independent reviews of web hosting providers, which provide the best in terms of price and value. It provides a view of economical web hosting services with a fee structure of $10 a month. Also, all the web hosting plans offer at least one free domain name registration, as well as thirty days money back guarantee. So, now, you can have a review of the web hosts.