Getting To Know Web Hosting

What does web hosting mean?

 

Web hosting is where a service provider supplies space for your website so that it can be online for other people to browse at all times of the day and night. Because of the huge amount of disk space that web hosts have and the fact that they can provide constant access to the internet means they are capable of offering this service to others. When a visitor wants to check out your website they will do this through your web hosting service.

 

Why is web hosting necessary?

 

You could try to host your website yourself but it would probably take up too much of your time and it is very unlikely that your personal computer would be able to handle this type of activity. Your home computer would need to be constantly sending files to the internet and you would need to have a lot of technical expertise to be able to manage everything. Also you could find that your site is more susceptible to hackers if it is hosted by you.

 

Which is the best type of web hosting provider to choose?

 

Although there are free web hosting services available they may not be as reliable as paid web hosting providers. You will more than likely have to allow a free web hosting provider space on your site to put advertisements in order to get this free service. A free web hosting provider makes money from these adverts. The free services may also have limitations as to the type and size of files you can upload. It is also well known that you may not get a lot of technical support with a free web hosting provider.

 

There is a much higher level of dependability and many more choices available with paid web hosting services. Many of these will guarantee you uptime of as much as 99% - not bad. You will get much more space and bandwidth and may even get other features such as email accounts. Technical support tends to be a lot better with paid hosting services.

 

Anybody thinking about venturing into internet marketing should have hosting set up beforehand. Newbie’s can find, though, that the web hosting world can be rather confusing. For example, you may come across reseller web hosting or even linux web hosting while searching different options.

Why New Online Entrepreneurs Should Not Opt For Free Web Hosting

Those who are new to the world of internet businesses will be trying to keep their costs down initially. It takes time for online businesses to start making money so unless you have a lot of capital behind you, you may want to try to spend as little as possible. Even though it is normal for a website to take quite a while before it makes money, it is even more common for it to take a bit longer if the website owner is new to the business. The reason for this is that those who are new, do not normally know everything they need to before starting out. There are plenty of right ways to get your online business making money and plenty of wrong ways. Only by making these mistakes can the new internet entrepreneur learn how to do things the right way.

 

But however you go about trying to keep your costs down, one thing you cannot cut costs on is web hosting. In order to get a website off to the best possible start, you will have to make sure that you choose a good web host as every website must have a host. Before a website can be seen by others it will need to be placed on the server of a web host

 

Now there are plenty of web hosts out there offering free web hosting but is it worth using one of these services? The draw of getting your website hosted for free may sound absolutely great. However, you may find that if you use a free web host, your website will suffer as a result. Your site will look very unprofessional if it is full of ads placed there by your web host which is usually the price for the service. Your website can get off to a flying start if you choose to pay for your web hosting rather than opting for a free service.

 

Whenever you make your decision to enter the big, bad world of internet marketing, you should really have web hosting sorted out. The web hosting world can be a confusing one though for a newbie. For example, you may come across reseller web hosting or even linux web hosting when you are looking at different hosting plans.

Free Websites and Blogs - Bad For Business

by AJ Farro

 

Free websites and blogs can only take a serious entrepreneur so far.  They’re a great sandbox for getting your feet wet and figuring things out, but they’re full of advertisements, gaudy templates and themes that reek of “free”.  It’s like doing business out of the back seat of your car - with a Hannah Montana sticker on the bumper.  Few people, if anyone, will take you seriously.

 

If you build your business on free sites, you risk losing everything because you do not own the site and it can be taken away from you for any reason.

In May 2009, Facebook disabled accounts with, what it “assumed”, were fictitious names.  People with legitimate accounts that have spent years building personal or business relationships had everything disappear in the blink of an eye.

When I first started using free blogs, Blogger shut down one of my blogs and to this day I don’t know the exact reason why.  It could have been because I was using it to pre-sell affiliate products.  It could also be because I hyperlinked every occurrence of my main keyword to my main website and they considered that spammy.  What did I know, I was a noob.  I couldn’t get back into the blog to fix it.  No amount of contacting them ever got an answer and I was forced to abandon it.  Can you imagine if I had built an entire business around that blog? 

I also know that using free WordPress.com blogs for business purposes is a violation of their terms and they will shut you down, too.

Many people starting out don’t know that because they never read the terms of service.  Stay away from free blogs.  You need to own your own blog or website.  Always remain in control of your business.

Before you can run your own website or blog you need your own domain name and web hosting.  The good news is, it’s cheap to get started and I’m going to give you my personal tips for doing it.

Warning:  Do not take advantage of “free domain names for life” when you buy web hosting.  They are only free if you keep your hosting account with them.  Plus, you will not own the name, the web hosting company will.  Always remain in control of your business.

Domain Registration

I’m not going to get real deep into selecting a domain name because that’s beyond the scope of this material.  However, I will leave you with a few guidelines. 

If you want to be found in the search engines, it only makes sense to include a keyword or two that people are using to find what it is you’re selling.  So if you’re an affiliate selling outdoor furniture, incorporating “outdoor furniture” into your domain name is nothing but beneficial.  BestOutdoorFurniture.com beats TomsDeals.com.  No one is going to be searching for outdoor furniture using the words “toms deals”, but they will be searching with “outdoor furniture”, even “best outdoor furniture”.

Only use a .com name.  Stay away from .net, .biz, .info and all the other dots if you can help it.  People don’t remember extensions so when they type in your domain name they will be typing your domain name and automatically adding .com to it.  So get found.  Don’t be invisible. 

Make a list of several domain names because the chances of finding something that isn’t already taken is going to be slim.  Oh, and to stay out of legal hot water, do not use trademarked names in your domain name. 

A great example of that is new businesses that come on board at Commission Junction or other affiliate networks frequently have no restrictions on their name.  Then affiliates will go hog wild snapping up domain names with the vendor’s name in them and spend weeks or months promoting and establishing an online presence.  Then sooner or later the vendor modifies its terms and suddenly bans the use of trademarked names.  It’s happened to me more than once.  It’s a knife to the core of your business.   

Hot Buying Tip

• Get your domain name at NameCheap.com. 
• $9.69 for a .com name, but use the coupon code and get it for $8.81.
• They don’t sneak stuff into the shopping cart during checkout like other registrars.
• They have a very easy to use Domain Manager interface.
• NameCheap is a great domain registrar, but don’t buy web hosting there because you pay too much.  Just get a domain name.
• Be sure to enable the free privacy manager on the domain.  It will hide your personal details from spammers.  goDaddy charges $8.99/year for privacy protection.  At NameCheap, it’s free for the first year and renews at only $2.88/year after that. 

Web Hosting

In order for your new domain name to be seen online, you need to have it hosted by a web hosting company.  It pains me to see web hosting companies take advantage of their customers, so I will only recommend companies with outstanding customer service and reliability.  I also wouldn’t recommend something I don’t use myself.

Hot Buying Tip

SuperGreen Hosting- Unlimited green hosting with cPanel.  Very reliable.  My WordPress blogs run at lightning speed and customer service is quick and courteous.  Easy blog setup.

I hope you found these tips helpful for getting your business off on the right foot.

 

 

Next Page »