Web pages used to be simple affairs, where everything you needed to do could be done in HTML but now Web pages can be more complex and customers expect more from web pages. Terms like PHP and ASP now compete with HTML when starting a web page and it can be hard to figure out what option best suits your needs.

PHP, Personal Home Pages has more support on the internet than ASP – Active Server Pages.Advantage of PHP is that it’s based on unix, giving it more cross platform capability than ASP.

Windows severs do tend to be unstable and prone to failures, are more likely to be attacked by viruses, Trojans and exploits. Linux servers on the other hand are much more stable and the attacks windows servers suffer in a daily basis are non-existent in Linux.

Putting it all together, the power, the cost, flexibility, stability and support of PHP is far superior to that of ASP. If you’re going to commit to building the best web page you can, commit to using the best tools you can.

Now more and more hosting companies fighting for new customers due to multiple domain web hosting. Long gone are the days where you could only host a single domain on the one hosting account but now you can host multiple domains on the one hosting account.

Not only do some hosts offer multiple domain hosting, they actually offer unlimited domain name hosting. Companies such as cpwebhosting.net allow you to host an unlimited number of domains on a single hosting account. You can check it on CP Web Hosting – Reseller Hosting : Windows Reseller Hosting, Linux Reseller Hosting

Not only do some hosts offer multiple domain hosting, they actually offer unlimited domain name hosting. Companies such as cpwebhosting.net allow you to host an unlimited number of domains on a single hosting account. You can check it on CP Web Hosting – Reseller Hosting : Windows Reseller Hosting, Linux Reseller Hosting

If you run a number of websites and are not currently with a host that allows you to host multiple domains then do yourself a favor and have a look around for a new host like cpwebhosting.net .

Here are 10 true-life hosting mistakes our customers tell us they learn from and how to avoid them.

1. Falling For The Price Trap

The call of low hosting prices is like a siren. There are reasonable budget-hosting solutions and there are outrageously low budget hosting almost guaranteed to become a nightmare. If the price makes you wonder how they make money then you can look forward to an extremely slow site or even denial of service because they maxed out the bandwidth. Not good. Trust your instincts stay clear.

2. Inexperienced Reseller or Not Researching Your Reseller

Hosting with a reseller is not a bad thing. In fact sometimes resellers give you very good support. But you need to do your second layer research. Sometimes a reseller is very good all around but inexperienced especially when it came to scripts and server environments. Some resellers also couldn’t accommodate customer requests because the server administrators wouldn’t work with them under any circumstance. This usually happens when the server administrators are bulk sellers who are disconnected from the end customer.

If the server administrators are not reliable or cannot accommodate you, don’t hope your reseller can. Resellers should also have done their homework and know their servers as if their own.

3. Not Clearly Defining Your Requirements.

As an ongoing process you should keep a list of what resources your site needs and add to that list as you grow. One Webmaster was changing their static HTML pages to dynamic, which meant scripts were going to be used. Since the Webmaster didn’t have a clear idea of what he would like to install and what these scripts required, he only found out after moving, the host servers were not compatible with the scripts. He lost months of work moving the sites in and out again.

So, maintain a list. It also makes it easier when you need to upgrade because you can show the list to your host. If you use a service such as HostVoice the list is even more helpful because it can go out to multiple hosts at one time who’ll quickly evaluate if they have what you’re asking for or not.

4. Purchasing Hosting In An Auction

It might be a good place to pick up a deal but then you’ll need to go back and review the first point. This is not to say all auctioned hosting is completely unreliable but in case you haven’t noticed auctioned items have a good deal of terms and conditions attached, usually more than if purchased through the website. This makes your package very inflexible. Unless you review closely those terms or if you have a small static HTML pages with little ambition for the site, stay away or pay their regular website prices. This way the host will more likely work with your requirements.

5. Forgiving A Host’s Bad Or Limited Website

If the host can’t or won’t take time to craft an informational site of their own, most likely they won’t be too concerned about yours either. Cookie cutter sites are a dead giveaway.

6. Putting All The Eggs In One Basket

If you manage several sites, it seems like a good idea to have everything in one account. You can simplify your billing and get a better deal. Not always. We know of some webmasters who lost hours or work time because they couldn’t work on anything since all their sites were down. If your site generates income and they are interconnected, having all sites down at once is bad business. There is an option to this though. Ask your host if they’ll be willing to split your account across 2 or more physical servers.

7. Taking Testimonials At Face Value

Not all testimonials are created equal. You need to ask other webmasters, talk to their customers. If they don’t list customer names on their site, ask them if you can contact any of their customers or if they’ll contact you. If the host refuses, beware.

8. Not Keeping A Record Of Their Contact Information

Most of us are happy with email, forum and live support. One Webmaster’s host was down for days. This also meant the host’s own site. The Webmaster couldn’t contact them at all because he hadn’t taken the time to record a physical address or telephone number. 24/7 telephone support is still desired. When your site is down indefinitely and you’re losing visitors even sales it’s guaranteed you’ll want to talk to someone.

9. Relying On Host Backups

This happens far too often. When a customer’s site went down indefinitely, they were stuck. They couldn’t put the site with another host because they didn’t have any backups of their own. They would have to start from scratch, which would be just as bad because the site was rather mature. Always keep your own backups.

10. Trusting your host to have the latest software

Internet crime is and viruses are more prevalent than ever. New software or the latest versions are meant to plug security holes. A customer had their site hacked twice in 2 months only to find out the host was not up to date with their software. Check with the host before you order what versions they are running and how often they make updates.

If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.

1. Separate accounts for each site
2. A reseller account where they are all hosted or
3. A dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.

Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let’s look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company – a middleman between them and the end user.

The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don’t have to resell this hosting however – you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially “reselling” the hosting to yourself.

A reseller account is nice because all your websites are “under one roof” and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.

Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.

The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.

If you are happy with the hosting company you’re using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.

They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.

On the other hand, if you choose a different host you’ll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you’re currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you’ll have an alternative. It’s wise not to “put all your eggs in one basket” as the saying goes.

Advantage of using a different host is that you’ll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.

Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.

If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.

The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.

If you are happy with the hosting company you’re using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.

They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.

On the other hand, if you choose a different host you’ll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you’re currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you’ll have an alternative. It’s wise not to “put all your eggs in one basket” as the saying goes.

Another advantage of using a different host is that you’ll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.

Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.

If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices – separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.

Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let’s look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company – a middleman between them and the end user.

The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don’t have to resell this hosting however – you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially “reselling” the hosting to yourself.

A reseller account is nice because all your websites are “under one roof” and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.

Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.

The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren’t familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.

Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.