Web Hosting: Defining the Office Space

The web hosting solution for a home-based business will likely be radically different from the needs of a large ecommerce site. The use of a web host is essentially the cyber-office lease for your Internet business. The web hosting solution houses the files you will need to upload and can store you online company data.

There are three primary web-hosting solutions and each one is designed to accommodate a specific need. This article will take a look at these three solutions and what type of business may require each solution.

Co-Located Server Hosting

We will start with the most comprehensive solution first. This type of web hosting is in-house and will typically cost the most. You will need to purchase one or more server specifically for your company use. This server will need to be monitored and will likely require an in-house Internet Technician (IT).

This solution works for larger companies with either lots of data to store or who want to be able to work on any solution regarding their web hosting immediately.

Dedicated Hosting

This plays a similar role to the co-located server hosting option in that you have your own server taking care of your online data. In this case, however, the server is located off-site and is maintained by a third party. Middle to large sized firms would likely use this option to maintain the highest possibility of uptime without the need for an in-house IT.

Shared Hosting

This is the most cost effective method of hosting and takes care of the majority of personal and small businesses sites. Most Shared Hosting options are less than $100 per month (often much less). Many of these same services are adaptable to allow for ecommerce solutions.

There are other options in web hosting solutions, but they typically fall into these three categories. Obviously the Co-Located Server Hosting option will be the most costly and labor-intensive solution, but it will be the best solution for the large business managing hundreds and thousands of transactions online.

The Dedicated Hosting option may be a good fit when a growing company needs a high ceiling for data as well as the comfort of knowing their fate isnt tied to a server with multiple accounts.

The Shared Hosting solution is perfect for a business startup because it provides a cost effective way to get online without breaking the bank. Some Shared Hosting solutions provide the tools to allow their customers to develop their own ecommerce sites through template rich designs. Remember, just because the server is shared with others doesnt make it a bad solution. To say otherwise would be to say an office building is bad because it contains more than one office.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com. Start your own ebook business with BooksWealth at: http://www.bookswealth.com

Choosing A Host For Your Company's Website

I can tell you for sure, that it really IS IMPORTANT to choose the Web Hosting company wisely. There are many reasons and it could take a book to recite even the most important ones. Here though, let me share with you the basic idea(s) that need to be examined:

APPEARANCE: Just as the sign on a storefront needs to give the public a reason to shop there, your website needs to give the online visitor a reason to trust your company. Let's not even discuss, for the minute, the actual website design or the page contents. Just as important (if not more so!) are some other factors. How fast does the page load? Is the web server so bogged down that it takes forever to get your website fully loaded into a browser? These days, half of home users - and a lot more business users - have high speed internet access. If your website is slow to load though, people will get VERY impatient waiting. Look at other websites that are hosted by the company you're looking at. Examine the pages on the COMPANY'S site too! Do the pages load quickly enough?

Also under Appearance is the subject of banner advertising. You do not want a shared, free web host that puts your company on a subdomain under their own. The price you pay for that 'free' hosting service, is that you're forced to put their ads on banners across the top of the page. While this may work for a hobby or home website, it makes a company look very amateurish to succumb to it. Bottom line: you need to purchase a domain name. YourCompany.com is a lot better than www.xyz.com/YourCompany any day of the week. You'll also be able to use email addresses from your domain. you@yourdomain.com means a whole lot more for appearances' sake, than you@aol.com or you@AnyOtherFreeEmailService.com ever could.

Benefits and Features: How much disk space does the Web Host offer you with the package you're interested in? Is it enough? You should quantify your needs and make an educated decision on this. If you are going to have hundreds of full color images on your website, you not only need to figure the space required to hold them but also the bandwidth that will be used on a monthly basis as your site's visitors look at the photos. These two things are key differences between hosting plans.

Does the hosting plan have the ability to use Ecommerce when you are ready for it? If you ever intend to sell things through the website, make sure your hosting plan allows this because many don't. What kind of tools do they offer for web merchants? Do they have their own Shopping Cart software or do you need to provide that yourself? Do they have support for their own Ecommerce plans or are you on your own?

Next, consider Support. They say Real Estate is all about three things: Location, Location, and Location. Doing business with a company on the Internet is similar: consider Support, Support, and Support! There won't be storefront for you to knock on the door and ask for questions. But there had better be a telephone number that is available 24/7/365. If not, look elsewhere. There is another Support tool that is quite common these days and is VERY useful: Online Live Chat with Support. It beats the heck out of being on hold and getting more frustrated by the minute, waiting for somebody to get to you on the telephone. Live Chat is quick, easy, and effective. If your hosting company offers this you will be glad, when there is an issue.

Uptime Guarantees: Most guarantees are not worth the paper they are written on. If a hosting company offers 99.0% uptime, that's great. But look deeper. Just what are they saying? Do they give you a month's worth of Web Hosting free if your site goes down? That doesn't mean much. It's a fifteen dollar or so compensation for lost business opportunities. That does not make 'dollars and sense' to me.

What I meant by 'look deeper' is this: Find out why and how that particular hosting company can make the guarantee. What you are looking for is bandwidth redundancy. Is their backbone to the Internet only provided by one service? If they use one company for the backbone, then your website is going to go down if there's a problem with that company they use. A hosting company needs to have multiple feeds, perhaps from ATT, Sprint and MCI or UUNET. If there are multiple feeds and one of these "backbones" goes down, your website won't. No lost visitors or revenue.

CONTENT: Your company's website should be considered a 'work in progress,' not just something that you have to do one time and forget about. The more individual pages and links within the site, the more people will know it's there because the Search Engines will find it. Initially, just get the framework up if that's what you need to do. Hire a writer to help you with the content, if that helps you. Your first goal is to get a few full pages up on the Internet and if possible, submit the site to Yahoo and Google.

Next, down the road you need to add pages. Full pages of content, not just a paragraph or so. Spell check your writing and make it look professional. Use a color scheme that is easy on the eyes and won't make somebody itch to leave the page as soon as they find it! Look at your competitor's website(s) and see what type of content they have. Decide what you need to have on your company's site and make it happen.

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I hope this article has opened up your eyes to at least some of the things to consider when looking at a web host. Contact me through my company's Website if you have a need for coaching on this. San Diego PC has been helping our customers understand the Internet and it's technologies for over a dozen years! Call me directly at 619-850-5218

How To Compare Web Hosting

When you are looking for the best web hosting service for your needs you will have to compare web hosting services and options that they provide. This can take all day in many cases, but the education you can get will be worth your time and effort. You will know you have made the right choice when you take the time to compare web hosting companies, services and options.

To compare web hosting you will need to first figure out what type of web site you are going to have hosted. Most web site are personal, small business, information sites or ecommerce business sites. The difference with these types of web sites, makes it very important when you compare web hosting. If you are going to have a simple home page you may not need the quality and features that some web hosting companies provide. With a business web site you may need large disk space and bandwidth to handle the data transfer with traffic from your promotions. This is why this is the first and one of the most important steps to compare web hosting. You will be the most familiar with your web hosting needs.

Some Important Considerations When You Compare Web Hosting:

Costs and Setup Fees. When you compare web hosting make sure you are fully aware of the true costs before you sign up.

Customer Support. When you compare web hosting you will need to find out if the hosting service provides good customer support. Is it 24/7 or just Monday through Friday?

Control Panel. When you compare web hosting you will want to know if they have a control panel for your needs. This is very important for people with little experience on hosting web sites.

POP Email Account. When you compare web hosting you will need to find out if they give you access to email accounts.

FTC Transfer Limits. You will want to know if there are FTP transfer limits when you compare web hosting options and services.

Unlimited Space Transfer. When you compare web hosting you should always check out their Acceptable Use Policies to see what the web hosts say about unlimited plans. You do not want to get kicked off if you use too much space. Can you upgrade at any time?

When you compare web hosting there are many more things to check out before you sign up with a web host service. With education and looking into the resources available online you can compare web hosting companies, services and options with a few clicks of your computer mouse. It will be worth your time and effort to know you have compared web hosting that is best for your needs.

CY Fok is a webmaster with many years of experience. His latest site is "Information About Web Hosting": http://www.infoaboutwebhosting.com/