When looking for a hosting solution for your web site you’ll discover you have the choice of shared or dedicated hosting.

Shared hosting is what it says it is. Your web site shares a server with other web sites. You don’t have access to the other web sites files, they don’t have access to yours and you don’t share a domain name. What you do share is the machine and the scripts that are pre-installed on it. Why would you do this? Because it’s cheaper.

The cost of setting up a server machine is not inexpensive. Even relatively large web sites are only a few hundred megabytes, so today’s computers with multiple hard drives are easily able to handle the space. There can be as many as one or two hundred web sites on a shared server.

You’ll find there are different platforms available in shared hosting too. You will find Unix/Linux or Windows NT/2000 as your platform. You don’t have to choose the platform your PC is running. This has nothing to do with what the server needs to operate on. Unix platforms are very stable and are perfect if you have a site using mostly HTML pages, PHP or CGI. If you are using scripting such as Active Server Pages, have designed your web site using FrontPage, or need access to a Microsoft Access or SQL Server database, you need a Windows platform.

Shared hosting usually comes with a heap of extras and most are included in the price. You can get email, auto-responders, pre-installed scripts including counters and mail scripts, password protected directories, your own cgi-bin, and browser based control panels, secure directories and more.

However, if you need complete control of your server, you need a dedicated server. Obviously if you’re not going to share the server with anyone, it is going to be more expensive.

Dedicated servers are usually only required by experienced developers. If you’re not sure if you need a dedicated server, then you probably only need shared hosting.

A paddle boat is great for fun on a day off! But would you consider taking it to the open sea? A cruise ship on the other hand is ideally suited for pampering its guests with every facility imaginable for the vacation of your dreams!

Applying this analogy to web hosting can help you make a wise decision if you are currently 1) new to internet business and looking for that first web host, or 2) up and running but thinking the time has come to upgrade to a higher level.

Web hosts fall generally into 3 categories. They are:

1) Free Services
2) Budget Hosts
3) Full Service

Let\’s take a look at each category.

1.Free Services
If you want to run a home page for personal interest for family and friends, great! If you want to ease into the internet cautiously, great. Cpwebhosting.net offers a good free service with reasonable support. In short, if you merely want to paddle around, have a little fun, gain some experience, these services are fine. For serious business however you really need your own domain name, not someone else\’s. Cpwebhosting takes the edge off by allowing your name to come first in the URL

2.Budget Hosts
You get what you pay for, generally. Many may knock the value of budget hosts. If you are running a serious business, then probably this kind of package would not give enough stability or features.

If you merely want to paddle account have a little fun gain some experience, these services are fine. For serious business however you really need your own domain name, not someone else’s. Cpwebhosting takes the edge off by allowing the cpwebhosting.net.

3.Full Service
If your business is taking off and you need 24 hour full support with all the \’bells and whistles\’ then this is the way to go. If your internet business is your main stay then you need a \’cruise ship\’ company who are going to give you professional top of the line facilities and service.

See if there are good shopping cart facilities so you can easily set up your online store. Managing your post office and auto responders should also be easy through a friendly interface with good web hosts.

Look for 24 hour technical support and immediate response to customer needs. Some even have a troubleshooting crack force which can give a response usually within an hour or two.

Choosing a web host or changing a web host is one of those decisions which will have a massive impact on your business. Use the 3 category test above and decide where you are going! Then decide whether to jump into a paddle boat or book yourself a ticket on a cruise ship for a happy trouble free experience.

To select the right web host is an important aspect in lowering your web hosting costs. To find a right web host is not a difficult task but it’s a very time consuming task. There are few things in mind while exploring and when deciding to form a partnership with the host. Below are few things to consider which directly attribute to final cost:

• Disk Space Knowing how much web space your web site needs and compensating for a bit extra, for growth.
• Bandwidth Figure out how much bandwidth (data transfer) your web site uses. As above, ensure you get more bandwidth than your site uses.
• Block buying Ask the web host if they have \’block buying\’ facilities for purchasing projected extra disk space or bandwidth. But, be careful, if your web site needs only 2 GB extra bandwidth, you may have to buy an extra package in blocks of 5GB bandwidth; in this case, look for the host which will allow you to purchase extra disk space and bandwidth allowance as per your needs, this is crucial to cost savings.
• Number of web sites if you have more than one web site, sign up an account with a web host who provides multiple domains hosted on one account; this will work out a lot cheaper than an account per website.
• Applications and databases Ensure that all the applications your web site uses are supported within the chosen account type. Find out if there are any extra fees for particular applications or associated database support
• Mail Server Emails are the lifeblood of your online business. Ensure that you get a sufficient number of email addresses with your own domain name these are necessary for other email features like forwarders, and auto responders, etc. There is no need to pay an extra fee for use of a mail server as many hosts offer this service now for free, within the hosting plan.
• Avoid long-term contracts Many web hosts offer huge discounts on yearly or half yearly payments in advance, this may appear a good way to go, but note how long you are locked in. Paying on a monthly basis obviously has its benefits. If there are concerns with your service encouraging you to seek a new host elsewhere, you may lose out on many months of hosting fees when breaking a yearly or half-yearly contract; but, if the necessity arises, a loss of only a few days to close a troublesome account, is preferable.

Savings are mostly a matter of common sense, but in this industry of high technology most people forget this rule and try to look for the best, most efficient and most expensive technical programs and software to save them a buck or two. As in most businesses good cost effective groundwork is the best start to cutting costs.

If you visit any web hosting provider on line they will tell you how good they really are. Some are correct and some are not. Let’s get down to the basics.

(i) Back End/Network Operations Centers
This is where your accounts are actually housed. Sometimes a hosting provider will lease a part of a larger network and sometimes a hosting provider will develop their own. It is important to find out what kinds and how many fiber optic connections the NOC has. Make sure there is plenty of redundancy built in. Make sure the NOC is managed 24/7, even on holidays. Make sure there are fire suppression systems in place. Last but not least, ask about security. Make sure there are plenty of security measures in place.

(ii) Customer Service
Are they friendly? Do they answer their telephones? Are you put on hold and if so, for how long? If you have to leave a message, do they respond quickly? Does the rep on the other end know what they are talking about? Look at their network page and see if they have reports of down time or issue statements about problems.

(iii) Technical Support
How long does it take to get questions answered and tasks performed. Send a test support message and gauge the response times.

(iv) Ticketing Systems
Do they have a ticketing system that tracks performance times. This is key. If a hosting company has this, they are serious about improving internally.

(v) Domain Names
Do they offer domain name sales? This can help to consolidate your vendor costs. See about getting a discount on domains if you are buying in bulk on a monthly basis.

(vi) Branding You
Does the hosting provider offer branded support? As you grow, you will need to expand and see if the hosting provider will set you up with your own technician in your company name. Do they offer branded control panels and name servers? You need these tools to grow. Find out how easy it is to set these features up for your own account.

(vii) Scalable Discounts
If you are growing at a rapid rate, ask for better pricing and discounts. It is ok to ask. It\’s even better when you get it and will reduce your overhead.

(viii) Financial Overview
Is that particular company in the red of black? Do they have a good cash flow? How fast is the host growing and can they handle the growth? What are they doing to grow and maintain the customer service level you expect? Are they near a buy out or planning ?

Developing a successful website design takes a great deal of planning and preparation. An important part of your preparation is obtaining the essential tools of the trade.

HTML Editors: – An HTML editor is a software program used to create and edit HTML documents. Although some Internet marketers prefer to write their own HTML code, most prefer to use an HTML editor, as it can greatly simplify a somewhat difficult process.

Here are some popular HTML editors:

Macromedia Dream weaver
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
A popular WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) HTML editor. Great for beginners and advanced users alike.

Coffee Cup
http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/
A popular HTML editor that’s great for beginners as well as advanced users. Includes a built in browser that will enable you to instantly preview your HTML as you go.

Hot Dog Professional
http://sausage.com/products/index.html
Three HTML editors, including Hot Dog Junior for children, PageWiz for the novice user and Professional for advanced and budding webmasters.

Text Editors: – A text editor is a software program used for editing plain text that doesn’t add any special formatting. If you’re considering writing your own HTML code, you’ll need a good text editor. Although it will certainly be more time consuming, your code will be much cleaner and can reduce your file size considerably. FTP: – File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure used to upload and download files to and from your web server. Although many HTML editors will enable you to edit and transfer pages to your server, an FTP program is still an essential tool, as you must have complete control over the files on your server. An FTP program will enable you to upload scripts, set file permissions, create folders and transfer files to and from your server. Graphics Editor: – A graphics editor is a software program that will enable you to design and edit graphics. Graphic design is an intimidating subject for many Internet entrepreneurs. However, most of us must learn some basic design techniques in order to avoid the high costs of hiring a professional designer.

A Zip file is an ‘archive’ of one or more files compressed into one file for easy distribution. Zip files are used to compress and transport file archives over the Internet. It is the preferred method used for electronic file distribution, as rather than downloading several different files, you can simply download one Zip file. In addition, the download time will be minimized, as the files within the Zip archive are compressed.

Email: – Although most Internet Service Providers include email accounts for their customers, these accounts aren’t adequate for an Internet business — especially if you get a large amount of email. Not only do the email addresses contain your ISP’s name, but they are also very limited on features and options. The two most popular email clients used online are Outlook and Eudora. These programs will enable you to download email from your server and offer features, such as sorting and filtering, and will enable you to easily organize your email messages. What’s more, your email address will be your own domain – not someone else’s. Your webmaster toolbox will play an important part in your success. Take the time to ensure your toolbox contains these essential tools and you’ll be well on your way to designing a professional web site.

Many people think that all web hosts offer the same level of service within a certain price point. This could not be further from the truth. Fundamentally web hosting is web hosting but when you compare apples to apples you will find a broad range of differences that may or may not be a detriment to your business. Below are 3 simple steps to help you determine what provider will best fit for your needs and where to find them.

1. Determine Your Price Point
Let’s face it; the bottom line is usually at the top of the list, which is price. You can spend anywhere from a few dollars a month to a few hundred depending on your needs. Only you can determine your budget and what you are willing to spend so the best bet is to choose a realistic middle ground on price and then begin shopping. A great place to start is cpwebhosting.net. This is a very well known and established web hosting company. The obvious benefit here is that your hosting reliability factor increases greatly as well as the control of your content and customization.

2. Determine Your Needs
What are your requirements from your perspective web host and what are your expectations in relation to your budget? Web hosting in general has become much more affordable and competitive but you should ask yourself some fundamental questions first. Do you require your web site to be available 24/7/365 100% all the time or can you / your business live with a modest 99.9% up-time which is normally the industry standard for a much lower price point then a higher end SLA (Service Level Agreement) from a more expensive provider. What level of support do you need or expect? Will you require 24/7/365 phone support for technical and sales assistance or will email and or ticketing system be sufficient? Another important aspect but highly overlooked is the issue of potential data loss. Make sure that the web host you choose offers back up / restore services or perhaps at least an option to ad it or make it available at an additional cost.

3. Do Your Homework
Once you have narrowed your web hosting needs and price points its time to do a little digging on your perspective providers. Your research should begin on the providers own web site. Most companies have an ‘about us’ page which may provide some relative background on company history and a summary of their products, services, and infrastructure. You should also read their privacy policy and terms of service. Never take anything for granted. You should know exactly what you’re entering into and what you can expect from your provider should problems arise.

If you know exactly what you are going to do with your web hosting account, you can then have a pretty good idea of how much bandwidth you are going to need. The term Bandwidth can be referred to the quantity of data that flows across a network wire in a given time period.

A customer should make proper research with regard to his or her web hosting plans. Proper research helps in making the right choice or at least one knows what to expect from a host before he or she accepts and pays for it. You as a customer should find out the web hosting data transfer capabilities of a particular hosting company. There are many cheap hosting providers that come up with different hosting plans. Now, a customer with very limited hosting needs is unlikely to use high levels of server resources. So, the web hosting data transfers that will take place with regard to such websites are not big as per the package purchased by the customer. Such customers are the ones that web hosting providers are desperately hunting in order to make enterprises profitable.

There is so much competition among web hosting companies and this reflects on the customers where it becomes difficult to know how much bandwidth does the customers website will need. You must beware of the bandwidth usage when you are offering life time downloads on your website. We all know that a simple web page does not use up much bandwidth but the same cannot be said with regard to downloading files.

Mostly people use only a fraction of their allotted bandwidth per month and so the web hosting provider price their hosting plans accordingly. Even if your website used the maximum bandwidth that was made available to you each month, you would be then made to shut down in some way or the other. If you are using a shared hosting account where your website is hosted along with hundreds or thousands of other websites and if your website uses significant portion of the server’s resources, you might face bandwidth issues. If your website needs significant resources, it is better to go for a dedicated server. If your website is just new and you have little money and no real idea of how much bandwidth you would and no real idea of how much bandwidth you would be needing, then select a hosting provider that gives you more than you would be presently needing but it should be at a reasonable price.

The basic types of the web hosting available in the market are:

1. Free hosting This type is free because the service would usually be compensated with advertisements on your website. Free hosting usually offers little or probably no support at all. It could also have a lot of disadvantages. This could be considered as a thing of the past, because hosting has actually become more and more affordable through the years.

2.Shared hosting This hosting is most popular as well as the most widely used kind of web hosting. Shared hosting would basically mean that multiple websites are being hosted on just one hard drive and server. This would mean that each user would just have a limited disk space as well as bandwidth or data transfer.

3.Reseller hosting This would be the reselling of hosting accounts for another web host under a brand of your own. You would be determining the pricing structure and other aspects. As a reseller, you would be provided with everything that you need and you would not need any hardware anymore.

4. Virtual Private Server This would be the low cost alternative for having your own server. Virtual would mean that you are not renting a real server, but you are rather splitting hardware with the other virtual servers running on the same machine.

5. Dedicated Server This is an advanced kind of web hosting which would include the rental as well as the exclusive use of an internet connection, a computer and software. This kind of server would provide the most control compared to all the other types but would also require the greatest responsibility.

6. Managed Hosting This is like an expanded dedicated web server hosting. In dedicated servers, the client has to take care of his or her own server but in managed hosting, the provider would have the responsibility of doing that.

7. Colocation This would be a hosting type that would require you to bring your server to the data center of your host.

8. Clustered hosting This type of hosting is commonly used by the biggest and most important websites. Clustered would mean that the same content would be served on a number of servers enabling better redundancy and resource.

The benefits of shared webhosting can be very useful, especially for someone just getting started. Many individuals or small to medium size businesses choose to do this since it is cheaper than getting a connection to the internet for their web site all on their own. Web hosts provide the customer with the means to get the internet requirements they need in an affordable way. This is a great way for smaller businesses or individuals to save money, but still get exactly what they need.

The shared cost of the internet connection helps these businesses or individuals as well as the companies. The basic fee is a low monthly fee. This fee is cheap enough for you to afford, while still allowing you with the services you need to keep your website running smoothly. Another benefit is the powerful server that you will now have access to. Without the proper server and proper connection you will have a hard time keeping your website up and running.

Another advantage is that you do not have to be a professional webmaster to do this. This shared web hosting allows those who are not as technically advanced a reliable web presence. This is very important if you want to make sure you web site gets seen. If nobody know about your site it will be hard to get anybody to visit it. The shared web hosting also insures that you will have connectivity and uptime.

You will also get at least one e-mail address, and a domain name. You need both of these if plan on making your business a success. An e-mail address allows you to send information back and forth quickly. This is very important in a business.

You will also enjoy the convenience of shared web hosting. It is easy to set up and activate your services. You can do this right from home. Being able to do things from home always make it easier. This will only take a little bit of time, and will be available for you to use within a few minutes of signing up.

For those of you are may need help from time to time there is always support available. This is music to some ears. If you run into any trouble you can call them up and they will help you with whatever you need.

These are a few of the benefits that you may find once you start using a shared web host. If you are looking for a way to lessen your web hosting costs, you may want to look into the shared web hosting. This is a great way to save money and still get all the benefits that you need for yourself and for your business.

You can have the greatest store on the planet offering the best products for the best prices, but if no one travels down the road on which your store is located, your business will fail due to lack of customers. The same holds true with an internet business. Regardless of the quality of your site, you will need a web hosting solution to get you noticed on the information highway.

Numerous websites are built from the ground up and those new to the internet often forget a few basics such as the importance of meta tags and their relevance to the page on which they are attached. Many web hosting solution companies will advise that the tags, which are hidden from view but imbedded in the page’s code, are the first glimpse a search engine has as to the relevance of your site to the information requested in a search.

There a couple of important considerations to keep in mind when searching for a hosting company offering web hosting solutions for you or your business. The amount of space provided for your site and the amount of bandwidth available for your visitors. It may be better to have more available than you plan to use to keep your site up and running and for any additional adjustments you make in the future.

Dedicated Servers Reduce Down Time
If the web hosting solution provider you chose continues to have a lot of down time, you might consider switching to one that offers dedicated servers. That is one who sets aside whatever size storage server you contract for strictly for you. This also prevents what is known as crossover with other sites that may be on the same server as yours.

Dedicated servers also offer the web hosting solution of potential viruses from getting into your files from another site. Since yours will be isolated into its own dedicated memory, nothing can get in unless you put it there. You can either contract for them with a good web hosting company, or buy your own and set them up in your place of business.