There are a couple of things that you will need to consider before choosing web hosting for your business.

1. Choosing a domain name

First of all you will need to choose a domain name for your company’s website. The name you choose should relate to your business or be the name of your company. Obscure domain names will make it harder for potential customers to recognise and find your website. Check if the domain name that you want is available here > Domain name checker!

2. Hosting Requirements

You need to consider the basic requirements for your website.

For a small business site it would be best to choose a shared Linux web hosting package. Linux hosting is commonly cheaper than Windows web hosting so unless you require services such as ASP and .NET Linux hosting is preferred. The type of hosting that you choose does not reflect the operating system that you have on your computer.

Up-time- Check the up-time guarantee stated on the hosting companies website. You will want to find a host that offers 99.9% + up-time to ensure that your customers can find your site at any time.

Disk Space – Most websites use less than 50mb of disk space so to be safe its best to look for packages that offer around 100mb. If you have lots of large files on your website then you will need to find a larger hosting plan however try not to be lured into web hosts that oversell their services.

E-mail Accounts -  A handful of e-mail accounts is usually enough to satisfy most businesses so just check the web hosts site to ensure that there will be enough for your needs.

E-commerce Support – If you have intentions to sell products online you need to ensure that your web host supports features such as SSL certificates and e-commerce software.

Server Location- As your website grows so will your customer base so you need to look at where they are located. If you have 70% of your customers in the UK, it is recommended that you select a UK hosting plan so that the majority of your clients have a slightly faster connect to your website.

Hosting Support – As a business if you have any website problems you will want to have these fixed as soon as possible. Plan for errors to occur and check that your web host has fast technical support to resolve any issues that you may have as not to affect your day to day sales.

The Internet is a large collection of computers all connected together in one very bignetwork. A diagram of the Internet looks similar to a spiders web. A website is a place on that web, and website hosting means providing the physical location, the connection and, usually, the computer that “serves” the web site’s content to the PC that requests it. Web servers or computers are installed with special software designed to handle many users and services simultaneously.

The Internet is a global network, which means that communication can occur at any time. This means that a website should be ready to receive visitors at any moment. For this to be achieved there should be a constant connection to the web and a server that is always powered on running a stable environment.

The physical environment where the server is located, often called a Network Operations Center, or NOC is also very important. Data Centres have temperature controls, backup generators, earthquake-resistant architecture, and more, all designed to ensure your site is available at every moment.

When you are creating your website at your home computer, to upload it you need to send the files to your web server. FTP (File Transfer Protocal) is a service that allows you to do this. Once the file is on the server, whenever someone requests that file from the Internet either by typing in the web address or clicking a link, the server gives them the file they requested. Changing the content is as easy as changing the file and re-transferring it to the server.

In addition to web and FTP services, web site hosting almost always includes an email server that will receive email sent to your domain. This enables you to control mail delivery, create your own addresses, and present a professional image to your customers, clients, or constituents.

Everyone has different needs when looking for shared web hosting. You will need a certain amount of space and bandwidth for your website. You may also need databases, add-on domains, sub-domains and e-mail accounts. You should check with the host that the package will meet your needs.

Over Selling Resources

A small website will not need many resources; however people are caught in the headlights by large numbers. A large majority of web hosts on the Internet oversell their services. You may have come across plans that include 500GB Space and 2TB of bandwidth, this is overselling. If you were to actually use all these resources I’m sure the host would soon close your account on the grounds of “high CPU usage”. There is no need to get lots of space and bandwidth, simply get what you need at a moderate price.

Resource Limits

Most shared hosting will have resource limitations such as CPU etc. This means that you can only use X% resources for your site for X amount of time. If you are running scripts, check that they can run in the time limits set by the host. You should also check database size limits, and outgoing e-mail limits that may be in place.

You may only be able to have a database up to so many MB. If you have a forum then this is likely to grow and you may need to upgrade so you might want to plan ahead and see how easy upgrades are going to be. E-mail limits may be set hourly which means you can only send for example 200 e-mails an hour.

Reseller Hosts

Reseller hosting makes it easy for anyone to setup a web host. This means you need to check to see how reliable the host is. The last thing you want is a weeks hosting before the person running it ditches their hosting site leaving you with no money and no hosting. To avoid this look for a host that has good reviews from others and is well established. If you are insistent on going for a certain host check how long they have been operating for, if they are a registered business and you may also check there PayPal transaction rating if this is available.

More on Reviews

There are many review sites that you can take a look at, however it is likely that the host themselves have added their website to allow reviews. This also implies that they have the ability to edit and remove reviews that have been left. The best place to get reviews is from existing customers – how obvious was that? You can do this by running reverse IP on the hosts IP address. This will allow you to get some of the web addresses on that hosts server.

Hopefully you will not get other sites run by the host so check the WHOIS info to different details and send an e-mail to the site owner asking about the service. You may also want to Google terms such as “hosts name reviews” or “hosts name scam” to see what comes up. Forums are another good place to ask, however if someone simply keeps saying the host is great, check the website URL that they have hosted with the host to ensure they are not just self promoting.

Up time

Up time is very important in hosting and now many hosts have a service level agreement that ensure you receive X% of up time. You may want to use external monitors to see what the up time for a web host is like. The only real way to find the truth is to ask previous customers due to some monitoring sites allowing hosts to remove outages from statistics.

Support

This is one of the most important things in hosting. Check what types of support are available. Do they have Phone, E-mail, Instant Messenger, REAL Live Chat or Ticket Support? If there is a problem with your website you want it sorted asap so ensure that the facilities are there for you to receive help when you need it. Ensure their after sales support is as good as their before sales.

Summary

Always go with a host that has a good reputation for up time, pricing and customer service. New hosts with great deals might to be around for too long due to lack of experience. It only takes one thing to go wrong with a small host that removes their budget for servers so ensure that your host is there to stay.

Those are a few basic things to look out for; more advanced users may wish to check that the server IP is not black listed and that they have a good server infrastructure etc.

A dedicated IP address, or a static IP is a unique IP address that is related to only one website. With a dedicated IP address a website can be viewed online by typing this into the web browser. There are two main different types of IP hosting, one is where a shared IP is used which involves many websites being hosted under one IP. The alternative is to get a dedicated IP address under which only one website is hosted.

Many web hosting companies can provide you with a dedicated IP address. The primary use for a dedicated IP address is to enable SSL (Secure Socket Layer) on your website so that data can be encrypted.

If you want to start a web hosting business you will first need have the required resources that will be needed for the day to day running of the business. The resources that you need will depend upon the type of web hosting that you wish to offer your customers and how large you want your business to be. It is important for a web hosting provider to appreciate the importance of good customer service to the clients that you provide web hosting to. You will need to ensure that you have the resources to provide a high level of customer service at all times.

Starting a web hosting business is not an overnight task although many people believe that all you need to do is get a reseller account and proceed from there. The reality is that there are many obstacles along the way that need to be overcome in order to setup and honest professional web hosting company. To ensure that you web hosting business has good online organisation you will need to have a clear website along with third party software packages so that you can keep track of customer information. You will also need to invest in support systems to make it easy for customers to contact you.

Reseller Account or a Server?

If you are decided upon starting a web hosting company then you will have to plan how you are going to proceed with setting up your business. There are a few options to choose from whether you pick a reseller account, VPS server or a dedicated server. To start a web hosting company you will need at least one of these to provide your customer with a web hosting account. Your investment budget will affect your choice so you should plan ahead for the future to ensure that you will be able to cover the recurring costs if you rent your hardware. As a beginner or a small web hosting company it will be more beneficial for you to start off with a reseller account. By choosing a reseller account you can lower your start up costs therefore lowering the risk of losing money. There are other advantages to reseller accounts which are listed below:

• Low Running Costs – The cost of a web hosting reseller account is a lot less than that of a VPS or dedicated web server. In the case of most reseller accounts they include third party applications and a control panel already installed so you do not have to pay extra for these. With a VPS or dedicated web server the cost of the control panel is usually billed at an extra monthly charge.
• Server Management – The management of the server that your reseller account is on is usually taken care of by your web hosting provider. This means that you can start up your web hosting business with limited technical knowledge until your skills grow.
• Free Support – Most reseller hosting accounts come with free support so if there is an issue with one of your customers accounts your web hosting will resolve the issue for you. If you have a VPS or dedicated server you will have root access which means you can make changes and solve issues yourself. There are managed VPS and dedicated packages available so your web host can take care of things as well if you are unsure.

Web Hosting Business Costs

As a new business just starting out you should know it is imperative to keep start up costs as low as possible. Reseller web hosting is therefore the ideal solution to achieve this. If you have customers or want to be able to offer customers a wider variety of options with your web hosting plans then a VPS or dedicated web server is the better choice. Although there is a higher cost incurred with VPS or dedicated servers you are provided with the following advantages:

• Root Access  – With VPS and a dedicated server solution you should be provided with root access to the server which means that you can manage it yourself and enable you to install applications of your choosing. A customer may require a setting changing on the server and this may not be possible with a reseller account.
• Dedicated Resources- With a VPS or dedicated server you will get RAM and CPU resources dedicated to you. This means that you do not need to share these like you would with a reseller account.

Any of the above discussed types of hosting are suitable to start your own web hosting business. A shared web hosting package would be an unsuitable choice for a hosting business because you are not able to create individual accounts. If you are a web designer / developer then you may choose to host your clients websites under your own shared hosting plan however a reseller plan allows you to split them up for better management.

Web Hosting Support

If you are running a web hosting business then you need to be able to communicate effectively with your customers. If you customer has a problem with their hosting package you should be available to help them get the issue resolved. There are a variety of communication methods that you could use to communicate with your customers. Most web hosting companies will use web based contact methods to communicate with customers, an example of this is e-mail. As the owner it is your choice as to which methods you have available to your customers. As a new business you may not need to provide 24/7 support and this may also be an unnecessary cost. You might not want to provide phone support either and just stick to web based contact methods such as:

• Web Based Support Ticket System – Many web hosting providers will use a third party software to provide support to their customers. These packages allow customers to raise a ticket with the problem that they have and then the web host replies to that ticket with the solution.
• E-mail – Stand e-mail can be used to contact your customers about problems that they may be experiencing with their web hosting packages.
• Online Forums – You may wish to install some forum software onto your hosting website so that your customers can register and communicate with each other. Customers may use to forum to ask questions regarding their web hosting packages. It is important to moderate the content on the forum so that no spamming occurs.

You will find that communication is a very important part of web hosting and if you do not get this right customers may move to another web host. As a start up phone support is not imperative however as your business grows it should be considered so that all customers can contact you with a method that they prefer.

Complete Guide to Starting a Web Host

If you want a step by step guide to starting your own web hosting company you may wish to read this eBook. This eBook has great information all about how to start your own web hosting company! Get great inside knowledge from an industry expect along with SEO tips and tricks plus lots more! Learn more here about how to start a web host!

A web hosting package is sometimes also known as a web hosting solution due to the fact that it provides the user with the solution that they require to host a website. There are many different web hosting solutions available and each user will require different features from a web hosting package. A web hosting solution could be in the form of shared, reseller, VPS or dedicated web hosting to name a few. With such a wide variety of web hosting solutions available there is a package to suit all users from those who want to host a personal website or a business website. There are many web hosting providers on the Internet who can meet the needs of users looking for a web hosting solution. As a web hosting customer choosing a web hosting company can be a hard task simply due to the large number to choose from.

Web Hosting Control Panel

Most web hosting solutions will come with a web hosting control panel to allow you to manage your website with ease. The majority of web hosting service providers will give you access to cPanel. This is a web based control panel system that can be used to manage and maintain your website. There are other choices for control panel available such as Plesk and Direct Admin. You may wish to consider the control panel available from the provider before you purchase a web hosting package.

Web Server

There are two main operating systems that are used to power web servers which are Windows and Linux. Linux servers are usually cheaper than Windows since they are have no license costs. It is an advantage as a user that you can see the different web hosting solutions available before you purchase. Some web hosting providers will specialise in one type of hosting package based on a specific operating system. By specialising on a hosting niche that company can build a reputation for being the best provider for that specific hosting solution.

Reliable Web Hosting Solutions

In most cases users find that Linux shared web hosting is the best package available because it is cheap and meets their requirements. This is usually the case due to the low amount of traffic their websites receive which means that fewer resources and bandwidth are required to power the website. From a business point of view they are more likely to adopt a dedicated server to provide a more powerful web hosting solution.

Most web hosting solutions are in place to server users who wish to have a public website. Web hosting solutions do not only cater for websites, but in some cases for e-mail hosting too. It is now very common to be able to obtain a web hosting package relatively cheaply that will meet the needs of the user.

There are a wide variety of web hosting companies that can offer or tailor the perfect web hosting solution for you. It is important that you know the requirements of your web hosting package so that you know which web hosting solution is best for you.

There are millions of websites on the Internet all competing for visitors all the time. To ensure that your website is successful in attracting the most visitors it is important to have a modern website. This article details points that can help you to ensure that your website is up to date.

Designing a Modern Website

The design of a website is obviously important when attracting visitors, however it is not the only thing that should be considered by the designer. The website content is just as relevant as the page design if not more so. Having unique content on your website helps you to achieve better search engine rankings and therefore more web traffic.

A modern website should have consistency throughout where the sites logo and general colour theme is continued on every page throughout the site. A tip is to spend time looking at professional websites that you like and evaluate what makes them appealing to you. You can then take these ideas on board and implement them into your own website. It is advisable to spend plenty of time designing your website and ensuring that it is of a high standard as to impress visitors.

A visitor that finds a website to be interesting and rewarding is likely to return to visit your website again. This is the biggest reward for producing a great quality website.

Website Homepage Design

It is very likely that the first page a visitor will see will be your home page. As the home page it should have short sentences and paragraphs explaining about the site and its content. A few images may be used to make the page more attractive however do not use to many or the download time of your website may increase. By updating your home page regularly with relevant contact search engines will begin to rank you which will increase traffic. The overall look of your website should be professional and enable visitors to read the content easily.

Web Page Linking and Navigation

It is very important that your website is easy to navigate for visitors and search engines. There will naturally be many internal and external links to other website pages so make it easy for your visitors to navigate to them. This means that while designing your website you should have in mind your site structure and ensure this shows through your menu.

If a visitor cannot find the content they want on your website it is highly probable that they will leave. A general rule is for a visitor to get to any content they want by three clicks. This is what is called the three click rule.

Attracting Visitors to your website

On your website you may find it useful to offer some freebies to site visitors. This can be anything from an eBook to a piece of software they can download and install. This is a great way of getting more traffic because the first person who downloads content from your website may inform their friends that they can get free “your freebie here” from your website.

Using Images in Web Pages

Images are a great tool when creating a professional modern website. They can be used to separate and space of large chunks of text or to explain something more clearly. You should only use relevant images on your website that help to promote its content. Very large images on a website can increase the time it takes to download to the users PC.

Multimedia has become more available on the web so you can make use of videos, images and sounds to enhance your web pages. Great high quality content is the number one factor that will drive traffic to your website. Use images and other facilities to promote the page content and make it easy for the user to understand.

There are few barriers to creating a professional modern website simply due to the number of helpful resources on the Internet that answer web developers questions. On a final note ensure that your website is clear and easy to use as not to confuse the user. A great website will always be recommended to friends so work on making your pages eye-catching and interesting.

As a business it is important for you to provide and maintain a high quality of service to your customers. The Internet has resulted in unprecedented growth in businesses setting up or expanding online. Choosing the right web host for your business website is very important to ensure that the high standards of your business are maintained.

If you have a customer trying to get information about your business and they find a link on a search engine to your website, you want them to be able to access your site with no delay. If the website does not respond, this will be their first impression of you. Nine times out of ten if this happens it is likely the visitor will not bother trying to access your site a second time.

This is why you need to look for a web host that is reliable with a good record for website up-time. You should research all your potential hosts very carefully to check if they have had any bad reviews.

You may also want to check how long the web host has been operating to see how likely it is that they will be around in a year’s time. Some web hosts offer special web hosting packages designed for businesses that provide 100% up-time guarantee.