Questions for choosing right web-host
This article will provide full information about how to choose a web host. There are many things that one must take care while selecting a reliable web host. Following are the most frequently asked questions and the answers to common questions that help in selection if a right web-host.
Q1.Is web host service really reliable?
One must check for the reliability of the web hosting service as even researches have proved that it is an e-businesses main concern. One must look for at least a 95 percent guarantee uptime, so as to ensure that the service is really reliable.
Q2. What kind of performance to expect?
A good hosting company mostly have their own one or more T3 lines that are always connected to the Internet and not going through someone else’s network operations center. One must check that the servers should be fast, ideally Pentium Pro or Linux. Its also required that one must tell his/her host in advance about the requirement i.e. if he/she is going to use much bandwidth like for audio or video which just kills bandwidth.
Q3.Is the phone support really good?
In terms of phone support one must look for 24/7 phone support and that too free of cost or toll free with live operator available all the time. After checking the availability of such support one must check the response by calling or emailing the technical support line on odd days or time like at 10 o clock on Sunday night then should check if really any response is coming or not.
Q4. How expensive it is?
One must look for the cost as well generally the entry level hosting service with a single domain name, 20 - 30 MB (Mega Bytes) of hard drive space, email services, and up to a 1 GB (Giga Bytes) of monthly bandwidth should not cost more than 50 dollars.
Q5. How powerfully is security handled?
One must check for the security parameters as well. The passwords to one’s website or domain are required to control the host as well as to manage the web site. Every file on the server should also be backed up on a daily basis. One must also look for a host that offers secure transactions as well.
Q6. How much bandwidth required for data transfer?
When taken as rough estimate, 2GB of bandwidth should be considered perfect for a very small personal site. If one were going to run a medium site with text and images but no large files, 5 GB would be enough. On the other hand larger sites with jpg files or videos require 30 GB of bandwidth. If a hosting company is really good then it will inform its client via email for the exceeding limit of bandwidth and also requests for taking measures like upgrading plan before the site go offline.
Q7.How good is a control panel?
Mostly all the hosting packages come with some type of control panel, enabling its client to configure his/her hosting packages as well as settings without having to learn the entire operating system that powers the site. These Control panels can be accessed through a secure web page, and then they will appear in one’s web browser. Some most popular control panels are Helm, Cpanel, Hsphere, Plesk, and Ensim. The most common is Cpanel, which only runs on Linux. Most beginners and other users would be more suited to Cpanel, as its quite economic as it runs on the cheaper platform of Linux.
Q8. What about a POP3 account?
While working with emails, POP3 accounts are very important. These types of accounts can be assigned to individual users as their own email addresses. One needs enough POP3 accounts for the amount of email addresses that he/she wishes to assign to other people. Most of the times this number will be quoted as being unlimited, although there is only many email addresses that one can actually create.
Q9. Is there protection from Spam and viruses available?
Spam and virus protection comes in a separate category that includes auto responders, Spam filters, even anti virus protection. This facility is also very important and actually varies from host to host. Generally most host providers offer these services as free of cost when one sign up for an account.
Q10.How to run own online store?
In one is planning, for running his/her own store on the Internet then there are some factors that have to be involved with that decision. Firstly one need an SSL certificate for his/her own website, so that even credit card transactions can be processed. . Generally, there are 3rd parties that will take care of each and every transaction, after charging a small percent fee, eliminating the need for extra security on server. One must also ensure that the server as well as the software is capable of running the script that one have for his/her shopping cart.
Q11.How to take final decision?
If one plans for having a website that will be relying on for income or storing important data, then one must make sure that he/she must choose a host that will offer a high level of customer support. There are many of hosting companies offering forums as well as their contact numbers; however the forums can be excellent in case of very small problems.
Conclusion
One must not hurry and must act wisely while selecting a host provider, which fulfills all his/her desired needs. There are thousands of hosts and lakhs of different packages out there to choose from, which mean one must not just stick with the one he/she gets first. One must take time to compare plans, costs, and customer service and thereafter can work peacefully with no tensions from the host.
Web hosting Services and Domain names
Choosing an appropriate domain name is very important. First and foremost, when it comes to domain names, try to stay away from the silly, stupid, ridiculous or clever. Keep your domain name simple and make it something your customers can remember if they lose the link to your business website.
Take note that, while your domain name on Geocities or AOL may seem like the least expensive way to go, it may also get you dropped from certain search engines. Some search engines ignore domain addresses that reside on these ‘free servers’ or on the ‘cheap’ servers.
Even if your site is recognized and considered by search engines, a professional domain name that uses your primary company name or associated words is likely to get more attention and be considered as a stable business by your prospective customers.
Purchasing domain names are not that expensive which cost about $100 and there are many companies that can register the name for you, provided it is available and has not already been used by another company.
Using one of your keywords in your domain name can increase your score on some search engines. For example, solderingirons.com could be more effective as Electric-soldering-irons.com, if that domain name was available.
You might also choose to establish more than one domain name using keywords and then link your ‘doorway’ domain sites to your primary site. But you will have to pay for each of the domain name and also the monthly hosting fees. It all depends on the type and size of your business and your competition.
Keep in mind that some search engines disregard ‘doorway’ sites. So put at least a page of content on the doorway site with some useful information and then link it to your primary site. But don’t design it as an empty page. The other reason being, you can have one, three, five, or even more email addresses that all contain your business name, and give your business a professional feel. When customers get emails from dominicstone@solderingirons.com they feel as if they are dealing with a stable, professional business operation.
No need for customers to understand how you manage all your email boxes on your domain. They just need to feel your business is dependable and reputable.
Using Subdomains—Benefits and Drawbacks
Most businesses don’t like to use subdomains because they feel like they give them a disadvantage in many areas, such as having a prefix name before your web-site, being ignored by bots and index spiders in search engines and all in all, it just doesn’t look right. So let’s check our facts on subdomains.
A subdomain is substitute or second-level of a domain. A regular domain looks as follows: www.jamesbrown.com . A sub domain looks like this
http://bravenet.jamesbrown.com. Subdomains do not have www on the front of them. All subs start with “http://subdomain/maindomain.com pattern of identification.
Subdomains rank efficiently well. Search engine spiders and bots are not prejudiced when it comes to the ranking of subdomains and regular domains. As long as your site has the right SEO keywords and has been optimized, whether you have a subdomain or regular domain name doesn’t make a difference at all.
Let’s pretend that you site has a lot of categories in it. If you were to submit to a search engine, you could submit each subdomain as its own individual category and still get a good ranking. Each subdomain would be looked at by search engines as a new site with its own index or home page. You may want to try creating subfolders on the subdomain to get around this so that search engines can read the folder as one set of site information.
People worry about their subdomain getting banned if the main domain name is banned. If the main domain is banned, it will have an effect on the subdomain. You see this happen often in adult content sites that have violated certain agreements that they have signed with a provider that does not want a domain used for adult material.
Again, there is nothing wrong with using a subdomain. If you want to develop each subdomain as its own entity, then by all means, do so. If not, get yourself a main domain name and use that as a certified landing page.