Email Hosting in 2018: What You Need to Know

Email hosting has been around for a long time. Not many may be aware of it, though, since most email users rely on free email services like Gmail, AOL Mail, and Yahoo! Mail. Businesses and professionals, however, may want to look into email hosting as it can possibly have some impact in the field of business. What changes are expected to affect email hosting in the year 2018? If you are planning to get email hosting in 2018, what do you need to be aware of? 

Why Get Paid Email Hosting?

Before anything else, it’s important to understand why there are those who want to have their own custom emails. Why would they want to abandon feature-rich and tested email services like Gmail? The reason mainly boils down to the following: credibility building, branding, and being in full control.

Businesses and professionals want to be taken seriously. Having an email address that bears the company’s domain name is one of the ways perceived to boost credibility. This is but logical considering that getting a domain name and a web host is not free. A business that invests in its own email hosting is most likely one that is seriously doing business.

On the other hand, having an email address with a suffix that is the URL used of your business website is a good way to make it easier for people to remember your business. It’s one way of subliminally promoting your brand name.

Moreover, having your own email system guarantees that you have full control of it. Running your own email server with your own domain may not be a simple process; but doing so gives you full control of your email. This means you get to decide on the amount of storage you allot for it and on what features to use. 

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantage of email hosting, basically, are mostly summarized by the reasons for getting email hosting discussed above. It’s about establishing credibility, furthering your brand name, and being in full control.

When it comes to the disadvantages in running your own email server, there are also a number of them to bear in mind. For one, email servers are complex. The usual email server involves the use of several software components. The more functions you want, the more software you will have to deal with. These include the mail transfer agent, mail delivery agent, IMAP or POP3 server, as well as the antivirus and spam filter.

Additionally, maintaining an email server takes time. You need to continuously monitor the rules set for your spam filter and virus protection system. Also, you have to ascertain that all your software components to make sure that everything is working properly and that your system is adequately protected.

These advantages and disadvantages haven’t really changed that much over the years. In 2018, these will be the same advantages and disadvantages you have to weigh as you make your mind up on whether or not to get your own email system.

Things to Look for in an Email Hosting Service in 2018

If you decide that you really want to have your own email server, don’t forget to check for the following features. 

● The Necessary Protocols - To have email flexibility, the email hosting company you choose should be able to provide IMAP/POP and SMTP access. IMAP and POP (also POP3) are protocols needed in accessing emails. IMAP is generally regarded as the better protocol since it is great for accessing emails through multiple devices, something most email users are likely doing. As emphasized by UK email hosting provider LCN, “IMAP is the preferred way of getting mail across desktop, tablet and smartphones.” With POP, emails are downloaded to a device and the server copy is deleted, so only one device can access the emails received. SMTP, on the other hand, is required for the delivery of emails.

● Security - Needless emphasizing, your email system should be secure. As such, you must find an email hosting service provider that comes with virus protection and firewall features. It’s also an advantage if the email hosting service provider provides TLS encryption.

● Spam Protection - This is a basic feature email hosting services should include. See to it that the spam protection system provided is reliable and efficient.

● Email Filtering - Different from spam filtering, email filtering is the ability to organize or segregate your emails according to rules you set. This feature lets you sort emails as you receive them or sort emails you have received as you deem fit.

● Customer Service - As mentioned, setting up and maintaining your email server can be a complicated and tedious process. You don’t want hiccups or glitches making things even more difficult especially if you are handling everything by yourself. You need to make sure that your questions, complaints, and concerns will be promptly addressed. 

● Other Features - Other features worth considering are autoresponders, email forwarding, and webmail. Autoresponders allow you to send automatic replies to emails you receive based on certain triggers. Email forwarding is a feature that lets you forward the emails you receive in one email address to another email address you own. This means you don’t have to switch to a new email account if you want to get emails using a different email address. Webmail, on the other hand, makes it possible to access your inbox using a web browser, which is basically what happens when you use the web-based interface of free email services.

Decent email hosting companies can provide most of these features. Regardless of your location or the location of the hosting company you choose, most companies provide similar services. You can find a UK email hosting service provider, for example, with a package that includes TLS encryption, autoresponders, email forwarding, spam filtering, a user-friendly control panel, webmail, and 24/7 support.

In 2018, the features mentioned above can be considered essential, especially if your intended email users are accustomed to the features being offered by popular free email services like Gmail. For the sake of comparison, here’s an enumeration of some of the top features of free Gmail: email forwarding, spam filtering, encryption, webmail, POP3 and IMAP, and the ability to install plugins. You can install an autoresponder plugin to Gmail as well as the ability to send emails according to a schedule (the Boomerang plugin, for example). Perhaps, the only thing it notably lacks is the ability to add your own domain name. It would be good to use these features as your guide as you evaluate the features of the email hosting service you are considering.

Is It Better to Just Use the Enterprise Versions of Free Email Services?

It can be said that if you want to avoid the complicated processes and tedious maintenance of maintaining your own email server, you can just use the enterprise/business version of free email services you have already been using. This way, you can change your email address to one that bears your domain name without having to go through the tedious tasks of setting the server up and doing maintenance.

There are some email hosting companies, though, that can help you set your email server up with ease. If you find a company that provides competent and accommodating technical support, along with a good range of features, it may not be that difficult to set things up and maintain your own email server.

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Finding the Right Web Host for an E-commerce Website

Reliability and customer satisfaction: two important things that every business owner should always keep in mind when it comes to selling online. With buyers being more careful in terms of online shopping, make sure that your online store provides a pleasurable experience to buyers and this will keep them coming back. The first step towards having a user friendly e-commerce website is finding the right web host provider for your site. There are a number of web host plans offered by different companies but it is better to go for one that specializes in the field of e-commerce since they can address your issues right away and work on improving the website if needed.

Here are some important features that must be included in a web host offer for an e-commerce website:

Secure Sockets Layer 

Website security builds the customers’ confidence especially since online shopping presents a risk for fraud and identity theft. Secure Sockets Layer or SSL is an important feature that should be included in a web host plan. This will allow a safe gateway for making payments online. It protects personal and credit card information by producing encrypted data as information is a passed along from one computer to another as part of the transaction process. Remember that in any sale transaction, order and payment processing are two different aspects wherein personal information are often included. Without SSL, there is a risk of having the data compromised during the process.

Web Design

Choosing a hosting package that already includes website design will not only save you time but money as well. Designing a website is a tedious task that involves a great deal of planning. This is to ensure that every detail is being considered and the final output will provide customers with a good shopping experience. A number of providers now offer web hosting packages to make it easier for business owners to launch their online stores with ease and in no time.

Shopping Cart

To make online shopping easier, a shopping cart feature must be present in an e-commerce website. Just like an actual cart, it allows customers to place their purchases in one place and proceed to check out once everything is all set. With a shopping cart, customers can browse through several pages of a website and just conveniently click the shopping cart button for items that they want to purchase. Upon check-out and payment all the items will be processed as one order rather than having to pay individually for each.

Since more and more people are finding it convenient to shop online as it eliminates the drive to a store and the products are delivered right at the doorstep, online stores should step up and ensure that its customer service is excellent and that the website is easy to navigate.

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Cloud Computing Security and Choosing a Provider

Although cloud computing is becoming a household phrase, uptake of this radical new paradigm is to some extent being restricted by security-related concerns. Enterprises especially are reluctant to rely on a solution they don’t fully understand, and one which just might pose security risks.

Regardless of how secure providers profess their systems and solutions to be, the fact is that high profile outages and security issues have dented confidence in cloud-based options, and cloud customers need an insight into the potential difficulties inherent in the cloud. Some basic strategies can though help safeguard companies against possible threats. Here are some ideas on knowing your provider and keeping your cloud-based data secure.

Background Checks

Trusting your provider is key, and key to trusting your provider is trust in the companies your cloud provider trusts. It is all very well doing a background check on a provider, but unless the same background check is done on the third-party providers that underpin a cloud provider’s service, then you really do not know exactly the nature of companies that just might have access to your sensitive data. In particular, establish whether there is a hosting company behind your provider’s cloud, and ensure they have been independently vetted for security.

Provider Performance

If your cloud provider’s basic performance is problematic, they are probably going to have security issues – if they can’t manage a basic cloud service, how much effort are they putting into keeping their cloud secure? Look at a provider’s reliability records. If there are holes, probably best to move on to another provider.

Basic Security Procedures

Beyond checking your provider, some of the basic procedures that companies employed with their more traditional hosting and IT solutions also pay dividends as far as cloud security is concerned. How companies assign passwords, and who to, is just as important in the cloud as it was when you had your own servers.

Updates 

It is great to have the latest and greatest software, but if your cloud provider is going to make changes without informing you, chances are this is going to impact your security settings. And that means the potential for security threats. Establish how your provider will manage updates and get assurances that changes won’t impact security.

Where is the Data?

Unless you know exactly where your data is going to be stored, you have no idea which data laws will apply as far as your data is concerned. Will the US Patriot Act mean the US government will be able to access your data? Or will it be located in the UK and under the jurisdiction of multiple European countries? Find out before you lose out!

Conclusion

So, as you can see, background checks are good - applying the same checks to your provider’s providers even better. Make sure that your provider can manage his/her business effectively, if not, security is probably way down his/her list of priorities. As far as the cloud is concerned, apply the same approach to security as you applied to your server – just who has your passwords anyway? Make sure that a provider’s updates aren’t going to leave you widen open to a range of threats, and most of all, ensure you know where your data is and who might be snooping on you! If you do all of the above, your visit to the cloud could be a pleasant one.

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Main Web Hosting Features That Give High Marks To Hosting Company And Service

If you are planning to establish your online business and looking for hosting services then this article may guild you to choose a better web host. First thing that take place for a website it’s the design, and development part however there is a lot of value of your host provider that ensure to host one sites online. Being online of website is not sufficient nowadays however there is some more support given by Host provider that could not be avoided while selecting hosting company. Hare we have listed some of them and should take look before hiring any service-

Secure Transaction – Online transaction is one of the most important factor considering today’s some of host may charge you separately for providing you SSL certificates for your website however it should be included with your ecommerce website.

Software Support – Every hosting provider do not support for all software so ask everything related to software support by company such as My SOL etc. The control panel should be user friendly so client may handle most things from itself. It may save huge time for

Full control – Ask for full control as some non experience host provider doesn’t give your whole control of your site. Another quality is the web hosts' security. Since you will be putting much information about yourself, your account and the information of your client's there, it is important that the website hosting provider is secure enough. With all the skilful hackers out there, robbing client information and using it in an illegal way is not too far fetch.

Secure Servers - As you will be putting much information about yourself such as your account information, it is important that the website hosting provider is secure enough and should not get passed anywhere. Shared hosting ever considered as an unsecured hosting and hackers may harm your personal and important data so ask for an secure server that may secure your data.

Reliable - You can research the background profile of company and the experience on related industry and look for client’s reviews on services. Website hosting company should also be trusted source in market as well know company for their products and services. Check for customer service, technical support, maintains that will give you an idea for getting best deal.

Affordable - On this competition environment one just ask for more affordable service without compromising on quality of services. So now you get the most import point that you can mark any hosting company for choosing them to run once website.

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The Top 5 Myths about Web Hosting

Web hosting remains one of the most misunderstood concepts of the technological world, as many individuals and website owners consider it to be far more complicated than it actually is. By misunderstanding its nature and its purpose, however, they are missing out on a considerable opportunity to develop their online venture and brand.

Essentially, a web hosting service provides the expertise and support required to ensure that your website is accessible through the World Wide Web. Beyond this, modern service providers are able to offer comprehensive and flexible online solutions, so that your business can prosper in a difficult and challenging economy.

The 5 Leading Myths about Web Hosting

With this mind, what are the top 5 myths that distort the general perception of web hosting? Consider the following: -

◉ Web Hosting is Costly and Unaffordable: While many website owners feel that they can ill afford to employ a web hosting service, the truth remains that they can hardly afford not to. Contemporary web hosting services in fact offer excellent value for money, and allow you to focus on driving the creative aspect of your business while they attend to functionality and accessibility of your website.

◉ Web Hosting is an Inflexible Online Solution: Far from being an inflexible and limited online solution, web hosting is in fact extremely malleable to the requirements of consumers. With a number of alternative options including shared and managed hosting available to website owners, you have the influence to determine how you site is operated and whether it has its own private server.

◉ There is No Tangible Financial Return from Web Hosting: If you consider the core purpose of web hosting, then you will understand that a competent service provider can save you significant sums of money over time. For example, in the event of your website going down or experiencing server issues, you will be able to rely on 24 hour technical support network to repair any errors and restore your website within moments.

◉ Only Those who are New to Online Business Need a Web Hosting Service: There is a school of though which suggests that experienced online entrepreneurs need not concern themselves with the intricacies of web hosting, and that it is only truly beneficial to novice website owners. This is a false perception, however, as placing your trust in a reputable service provider can allow you to focus on the more strategic elements of business planning.

◉ Web Hosting Stops with the Procurement of a Domain Name: Web hosting is a diverse and comprehensive online service, and one which goes far beyond the procurement and registration of a viable domain name. Instead, online web hosting services offer their clients a range of innovative solutions and services, covering everything from technical support to the creative elements of website design and theme.

The Bottom Line

Whether you consider yourself to be knowledgeable about web hosting or not, it can do no harm to refresh yourself on exactly what can be gained by employing a reputable service provider. After all, technological advancement is a continually evolving concept, and one which will forever shift the boundaries of possibility and opportunity.

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10 Critical Tips on Finding a Web Host

You can never be a good poet unless and until you are aware of the basics of the literature. In the same way, entering in to the world of web just randomly going with any hosting company is a blunder. In fact, a good host can solve most of your worries. Prior investing on a host, you need to enquire about certain points from him. Here we have mentioned about some of these. Have a look!

10. Share or Dedicated Host

If you are having a professional intention regarding your web presence, then going with a free hosting is never recommended. They can just make your life sleepless. Yes, being a tyro you may initially go with the shared hosting options. And, as the site grows you can shift for the dedicated hosting plan.

9. No Hidden Cost

Undoubtedly, shared hosting will cost you less and the dedicated hosting a bit more. But, make sure the hosting company involves no hidden cost. Enquire in detail about the bandwidth, storage that they offer with each package.

8. Go Through the Reviews

Go through the reviews, forums, and discussions about the particular hosting company and then make a decision. If the customers have provided the contact number there, you must make a call. Going through the host’s own site is fine; but read different blogs written in a comparative way on it as well. You can get a clear picture through the process.

7. Customer Support

Irrespective of the discussion kind, it is obvious to be a point there regarding Customer service. Reason is apparent. Not every one is an expert in terms of server, hosting, and all those; neither can you guarantee everything is going to be all right for ever. Hence, make sure they put all out effort in solving your queries.

6. If Anything Wrong Happens in Future

It is important to mark that your name is mentioned as the administrator with InterNIC regarding your domain name. The host must register the domain name for you. This is important to stay assured if any inconvenience happens in future with that particular hosting company.

5. Which Others Are Sharing Your Server?

If you are on a shared hosting plan, make sure the server you are sharing is not hosting any porn site. These sites generally affect the bandwidth at a great extent. In fact, you should have every detail about the other sites those are sharing your server.

4. Protection

Protection is the utmost importance of any business, and so with this. Make sure your host offers high-end security arrangements. Ask them about the kind of solution they are having for something like spam, viruses cross site scripting, etc.

3. Prior Going With Bigger Deals

Going through the annual plans might sound lucrative, but sometimes they have turned out to be regretting. Prior going with these long term plans have strict enquiry about what are the conditions if the performance is not up to the mark. On these occasions, ask for money back guarantee.

2. Control Panel Flexibility

Have a clear picture on the kind of server you are going to be functional with, and their statistical impact on your site. If you want full control over the cpanel, then the internet based solution might not be convenient for you. Discuss in detail on these aspects with your hosting company.

1. How Your Company Does Get Internet Connection

Ask the company about the way your host gets linked with the web. If they answer something like UUNET, then be sure the connectivity will be good. T3 (Transmission) line connectivity signals a weaker connectivity. The other ways available for connection are through optical carrier, and digital signal. OC3 connection ensures the best among all.

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Web Hosting Reseller Automation Tools for the Customer

As a web hosting reseller, aside of having servers that are connected to the Internet and letting new customers know about your services via a webpage the most critical part of your company will be the set of hosting automation tools you use to manage your customers and your servers and the tools that you give your customers to manage their websites.

This article is meant as an overview of the kinds of automation tools that are out there for web hosting customers, i.e. web masters and web site owners, and what advantages or gotchas there may be for these items as well as a list of the bare minimum set of tools you will need to run a reseller hosting company.

In general, server management tools can be divided into software suites, like control panels, that provide control over a range of tasks and specialized tools or tool sets for a more granular control over smaller groupings of tasks. Control panels and other suites usually do not control everything in as fine a detail as you may like although they do offer the advantage of single vendor support and interoperability. That is, everything naturally works together and there is only one vendor you need to deal with if something doesn`t work (although this could potentially be a disadvantage as well).

Control Panels

Let`s start by talking about the some of the software suites or control panels that allow a hosting reseller company to get off the ground quickly and easily. Three of the biggest and most well known reseller control panels currently offered are SWsoft`s Plesk, cPanel, and H-Sphere.

Plesk supports both Windows and Linux and handles administration by giving different users different levels of access to the same control panel. Plesk has user accounts for Server administrators, Clients & Resellers, Domain owners and Mail users. If your web hosting provider offers Plesk with their HSPcomplete application this will automate credit card purchases and email notifications for you as well

cPanel`s WHM (Web Host Manager) application can create web hosting accounts and packages, add websites to an account or suspend them, monitor bandwidth usage, park domains, and install SSL certificates, etc. A drop down menu will allow you to go to the control panel for any of your customer`s websites as well as your own.

An upgrade purchase, WHM AutoPilot, will automate account management, and includes helpdesk software and a payment component among other tools.

A downside for some hosting companies is that cPanel doesn`t currently support Windows or Apple (or Solaris) although all of these are in development according to cPanel`s website.

H-Sphere is a difficult control panel to master but offers more options than either cPanel or Plesk. While H-Sphere requires its own server it also allows the administration of sites on different servers from the same control panel.

H-Sphere offers control over separate domains with multi-domain hosting, can automate account setup, credit card purchases, domain registration, and includes a sophisticated helpdesk application.

Going it Alone

If you would like to develop your own solutions you should, as the reseller, at a minimum have an automated way to setup and manage accounts, process credit card purchases, manage websites with the ability to manage by account and monitor and log bandwidth usage and disk space usage per account. Some other nearly necessary automation tools include billing management, domain management, help desk and email notification applications. Your customers should, at a minimum, be able to manage some of their account details and email accounts including the ability to make online payments, manage their files and database, manage some of the aspects of their website, and view their site statistics.

If you are planning on developing your own set of management tools or you are going to add in a few specific tools to patch the gaps left by a control panel there is a highly developed methodology called CRM or Customer Relationship Management that helps companies manage their customer relationships in an organized way that can also be applied to how you think about your automation tools. As an example, a customer database might help Sales to predict their target markets, while being used by the Help Desk for simple information look-ups, while being used by the IT staff to determine the configuration for a server setup based on the customer`s hosting plan, while the Customer could use it to update their personal account information. While thinking about automation and web hosting it`s good to keep the goals of CRM in mind.

Automation Tools for the Customer

Another way to think about hosting automation tools as opposed to thinking of them in terms of control panels or software suites vs. individual tools is to think of them in terms of tools for the web host and tools for the customer. Website and server management tools will contain a lot of overlap for the customer and the web host in terms of what the web host and customer use the tools for. What is different in these overlapping areas of management is the level of rights the user has. Obviously the web host and the customer will have different rights access levels. This is something that needs to be planned for whether you are using a suite or set of individual applications.

Another important reason to divide your automation tools into customer and web host administrator categories is the applications you give to your clients add value to your company. Hosted applications are an area where hosting companies can diversify and be competitive beyond simply offering low prices.

For example, a robust email application that acts like a desktop application through a web interface adds a huge value to your customer far beyond a simple hosting plan. If your customer hosts a small brochure website for their company but is able to replace Outlook with your email platform your hosting company will make more money on email than on the website and you will engender far more customer loyalty. There is no way this customer will move to a cheaper web host without the same kind of email support and even with it they will be unlikely to want to move their email archives, contacts and calendars, etc. without a strong reason to do so beyond a small price break. Following is a list of customer automation tools, most of which can generate profit for a web hosting company by creating a hosted service application, although the items in the list are also areas that need plain and simple management as well. We will leave the subject of hosted applications for now and focus on the items below in terms of hosting automation.

Customer Tools

◈ Account management
◈ Site statistics
◈ Email & Spam
◈ File management
◈ HTML editor
◈ Site Builder Wizard & Web Templates
◈ Site & Directory Security
◈ Database & ODBC management
◈ Web site management (IIS/Apache)
◈ Domain name
◈ eCommerce
◈ Tech support

Account management

From the client-side perspective, your customers should have the ability to manage their accounts in terms of how they relate to your sales, IT and tech support areas of your company. By automating tasks in these areas you can reduce the amount of man hours needed to run your company.

Customers should ideally be able to retrieve forgotten passwords in a secure way, pay for their hosting plan, change their personal details, upgrade, cancel, downgrade their hosting plan, or add/drop web sites or plans to an existing account.

They should also be able to find information about their account in terms of billing, site and domain information, access to tech support and how to use the tools you provide them.

The more automated these tasks are the fewer calls and emails your support staff will have. Also, most people enjoy being able to do things for themselves rather than wait for someone else to do it, for example, a customer`s website that allows users to upload images might exceed their disk space late one night. If the webmaster is alerted instantly and can add more space and pay for it right away through an automated interface and their site then continues working they will be much happier than having to find out about the problem from their customers and then email the help desk or sales about getting more space.

A security concern regarding account management software is that hackers will love fully automated system even more than the customers. Fraudulent accounts can be used to send spam, distribute viruses or host illegal content and without a human being watching over the process your fully automated process makes it easy to do.

Site statistics

Site statistics are important for most companies with a website as a gauge for how they are doing. Without knowing how many hits they are getting on each page, the time users are spending on each page, or what keywords are leading users from which search engines to their site it will be nearly impossible to engage in a serious SEO effort. These kinds of statistics are not only important for marketing and sales but for IT as well. One important feature that shouldn`t be overlooked is a tool that alerts customers when they are nearing their monthly bandwidth allotment or maximum disk space usage. If you let your hosting plan kill your customer`s website they may well move to another host even if it is technically, "their fault". Save your customers from themselves. This is a matter of policy as much as automation as well. By nailing a customer to the wall with a steeply escalating price scale for going over their bandwidth usage in an `unlimited` usage plan you will probably be kissing them goodbye as a customer.

Email & Spam

For many web hosting companies email is the red-headed step child of software applications. It`s there but ignored when this can actually one of the most important tools a web host has for retaining their customers. If a web hosting provider can also provide a company with a hosted email service that feels like a desktop application without any client side software they will keep their customers. Email is a very `sticky` application. Companies will be extremely reluctant to move to from a web hosting provider that can provide an enterprise level collaborative email solution to one that simply provides a mail server. Customer loyalty is low in the web hosting industry and is often determined almost solely on price. This is the killer app that will tie your customers to you. This pertains to hosted applications again which is not the focus of this article but it`s worth noting since it is such a money-maker. On a pure management basis customers should be able to add/manage/delete email addresses and delimit their access rights according to the kind of email you are providing them. This begs for automation and can really eat up a help desk`s time if the customer doesn`t have their own tool to manage this themselves.

File management

Your customers will need a way to get their files to your servers. Whether you go with tried and true FTP or a web based solution is up to you. When evaluating any software or contemplating building your own you may want to consider whether or not the system you are considering contains most of the elements from the Orthodox File Manager (OFM) 10 Commandments list. This is the time again to think about policy. Are you going to allow customers to upload custom applications to the server and how are they going to install them? Do you want to allow them to customize the Linux kernel or install Active X components?b

HTML editor

HTML editors come in an infinite variety of feature sets and prices. The lowest form of editor on the evolutionary scale is Notepad although this classic application still has its proponents while more advanced editors feature WYSIWYG(What You See Is What You Get) and source editing, scripting, hotkeys, integration with FLASH and other apps, etc. Technically, you don`t have to provide an editor and many web hosting providers don`t but it will help you keep your less technical clients if you have a good one.

Site Builder Wizard & Web Templates

Site Builders on the low end are little more than a basic HTML editor with some templates to get started with. More robust site builders offer automated graphics tools, style sheets, automated web blogs and forums, site navigation(menus), upload capabilities, site security wizards, shopping carts, SSL, PayPal setup, credit card authorization and even sales & promotion management tools. These range in price from nothing to thousands of dollars for an enterprise license. An extremely advanced web-site builder will help with less technical customers or customers without a high development budget but may be wasted on customers who have a substantial development staff in place.

Site & Directory Security

Site and directory security is something you will have to carefully plan in terms of how much control you want to give your customers. You will have to balance the risk of allowing your customers a high amount of control vs. having your support staff take time to help your customers setup their security environment.

Database & ODBC management

Database & ODBC management should give your customers the ability to manage their connectivity to a database and to manage the objects in the database itself. Database management tools range from very sophisticated and expensive heavy hitting analysis tools for serious research to tools that are a bit like WYSIWYG editors for web development or have a spreadsheet kind of feel to help beginning users tackle setting up and managing a database. If you are targeting the low cost hosting market the best scenario may be to invest more in a site building tool that will automatically create the database and hide it from your users although you are still going to need an interface for your users to manage tables and rows.

Website management (IIS/Apache)

Depending on your target market you will need to offer a different level of access to your customers for controlling their website. A low-cost shared hosting plan website may need little more than to know the root directory name of their website where a dedicated hosting customer will most likely want full access and control of all the features that are available for tweaking their site. All or nothing control is the easiest to provide because you can either give access or not, where the shades of gray in-between create the most difficulty when you have to find a way to create very granular levels of security. Your technical support staff will be very busy if they constantly have to look after constant small requests from your customers because they can`t do things themselves.

Domain names

Customers should be able to relate the domain name they`ve purchased to the IP address you are providing for them. They will need to contact their domain registrar to help with this as well and is something that is probably more on the `would be nice` list in terms of full automation than an absolute necessity.

eCommerce tools

eCommerce tools will help your customers set up the infrastructure for their online revenue streams by allowing them to manage an inventory of goods and processing credit card and PayPal purchases. This is one of the most important tools to provide your customers for a web host targeting the small business market.

Tech support

Tech support access can very largely determine how your customers feel about your company and its services. By providing easy access to information on how to get things done and even tutorials on how to manage and build a web site with your tools you will greatly lessen the load you tech support has to carry and there is almost no technical overhead in simply providing a well-organized set of information. Email is obviously a must for tech support and chat is a very nice feature for a customer as well.

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7 Steps for Changing Your Business Web Hosting Company

It's a common scenario: You create a website for your business and choose a Web hosting company that promises to meet your needs for space, bandwidth and customer service, but over time, you become increasingly frustrated as your business Web hosting company fails to meet your needs. Just like a family that's outgrown its starter home, your business now needs a new Web hosting company to call home.

You may be reluctant to make the move to a new Web hosting provider, as you anticipate the headaches that lie ahead – especially costly Web hosting downtime. Luckily, you don't have to feel stuck with a Web hosting provider that is not meeting your needs. By following a 7-step plan for changing your business Web hosting company, you can move your website with minimal downtime.

#1: Back-up your website

When you switch to a new Web hosting company, the possibility of problems always exists. Give yourself a safety net by backing up your website. To do this, use your chosen Web development tool (such as Frontpage®) to download all current files used in your website – graphics, HTML files, etc – to a local computer.

#2: Record important information

Don't rely on your memory when changing to a new Web hosting provider – take the time to record important information that you'll need when you make the move. This includes details such as security settings, email boxes and software and configuration information.

#3: Select a new Web hosting provider

Want to make sure you never have to change your business Web hosting company again? Take your time selecting a Web hosting provider that can meet your needs now – and in the event of future growth. Look for a Web hosting company with an uptime guarantee, and make sure that their server can support everything that you are running on your site. When you find a Web hosting provider, create an account - but don't close your old one just yet.

#4: Alert your visitors

Changing to a new Web hosting provider doesn't just affect you, but your visitors as well. This is especially true for ecommerce websites whose visitors may panic upon not being able to find a website from which they recently placed a purchase. By giving visitors prior warning – and perhaps alternate contact information – you can ease the transition.

#5: Load your site

It's best to load your website with your new Web hosting company before dealing with your domain name change. You can do this by loading all your site's files to the IP address provided by the Web hosting company.

#6: Change your domain name record

Update your domain name information with the name server information of your new Web hosting company. If your business Web hosting company is also your domain name registrar, this will be very simple. However, if your domain name is registered elsewhere—or you are not registered as the administrative contact – it will require more effort. Once a change has been initiated, it will take up to 2 days for domain propagation to take place – or, in simpler terms, for DNS servers across the Web to "get the message" that your website now lives on a different server.

#7: Cancel Your Account

Once the domain name propagation period has passed, you can test for issues and -- once you feel confident that everything is in place -- close your account with your old Web hosting provider.

While changing your Web hosting provider requires planning, it doesn't have to be stressful. By following seven simple steps, you can move to a new Web hosting company that meets your business Web hosting needs.

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Top 10 Ways to Market Your Web Hosting Business

A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.

1) Social Networks

You are probably familiar with social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. What you may not realize is that these social networks can be powerful marketing tools, when they’re used wisely. Start by setting up an account for your business on each of the major social networks. Before you start adding friends or soliciting followers, make sure you populate your profile with information about your company, images, and links to your website. As a general rule, don’t start posting promotions right away. Establish yourself as an interesting person to follow. Post links to relevant industry news articles and build a following in the tech community. This takes time but, once you’ve got loyal followers, you’d be surprised how many of them turn into customers.

2) Search Engine Optimization

SEO is a term that is bandied about all over the place these days, and for good reason. The higher up your site appears in searches, the more customers you’ll get. It’s a one-to-one ratio. If you’re not familiar with SEO, head over to one of the many SEO forums and start reading up. It’s not complicated, but improving your SEO is a skill. A good way to start is by using a tool like Google Analytics to see what search terms people are using to find your site. Once you know what people are looking for you can start seeding your site with those terms to boost your relevance in searches. You can also boost your SEO by earning backlinks from other websites in your industry.

3) Backlinks 

A backlink is just what it sounds like: a link back to your site from another site. Backlinks are heavily indexed by Google and a few high-profile backlinks can send you right up the search result list, fast. The more popular the site is that links back to you, the better. Consider soliciting backlinks by offering products or services, or by reviewing other providers. Backlinks grow naturally as you grow your business, so the real grunt work comes at the beginning. Don’t despair if you don’t see immediate results. Chances are, when you do start seeing results, they will snowball quickly.

4) Press Releases

Press releases will get you immediate attention, and they can be great for marketing specific products or promotions. There are many websites where you can post press releases for free, and some where you can pay for your release to be indexed faster and more comprehensively. If your release is particularly newsworthy, you can submit it to local papers and radio and television stations.

5) Email Newsletters

Email newsletters get your message out to the people who care to hear it: your opted-in subscribers. There are many email newsletter platforms you can use to manage your contacts and automate your messages. Most of these cost under $30/month and include widgets for your website. Start sending out a monthly newsletter about happenings in your company along with special promotions just for newsletter readers.

6) Ad Buys

Ad buys are a classic, tried-and-true advertising tactic that work best in conjunction with other forms of online advertising for grabbing consumer attention and driving sales. Ad buys work best on forums or magazine websites, where readers are spending a lot of time. Ad buys can be expensive, so, in order to maximize your ROI, you should wait until you have a special promotion or a new product line before purchasing them.

7) Classifieds

Classifieds are free, there are a ton of them out there, and they are thoroughly searched by consumers on a daily basis. You probably won’t be able to post a straight-up ad without getting flagged, but free giveaways, free trials and contests are all fair game for most classified sites. Work classified posting into your weekly schedule and the benefits will accumulate over time.

8) Articles

Well written, well researched articles may not be easy to write, but the results can be exponential. If you write something people want to read (and include a link back to your website) people will follow it just to learn more about you, the esteemed author. There are tons of free article-submission websites where you can build a following fast. A single article can continue to drive traffic for months, and it gets you noticed, both good things for your business. Writing one really good article that impresses readers is infinitely more powerful than twenty mediocre articles nobody wants to read. Take your time. Think it out. It’ll pay off.

9) Forum Participation

Forums are communities and, as such, participating in the discussion and making friends is just like networking in person. Build trust with the people you meet. Contribute interesting or helpful information. Establish yourself as an expert in your field and be sure to include a link to your website in your signature. Many no-follow forums may not get indexed directly, but if you do your job, they will get followed.

10) Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are a critical part of any established business. Reviews allow current customers to express themselves and share their experiences and they allow new customers to learn about your business. As a business, you can learn a lot from the experiences of your customers. If you strive to deliver top-notch customer service, you will see it reflected in your reviews. You may want to consider partnering with a third-party review service. This lends authenticity to your reviews, so your customers know they are real and unbiased.

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Virtual Private Server Hosting: When to Make the Leap

There are many ways to host a website. While some businesses and individuals choose to run their own hardware and software, the most popular option for hosting a basic website is to take advantage of shared web hosting. It`s easy and it`s inexpensive. A hosting company places hundreds of websites on a single host server with the idea that few of the websites will be overly active at any one time, so sharing the resources of one large server is cost effective.

Shared web hosting is quite adequate for most individuals and some small businesses with simple needs such as hosting a blog or providing a few web pages that are mostly informational in nature. However when needs grow, or something more advanced is required, things don`t remain quite as simple.

While a viable option for many customers, there are some definite disadvantages to shared web hosting. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is the next step up in the hosting hierarchy. A virtual private server looks to the customer like a stand-alone computer and is managed just as if it were your own machine. Behind the scenes virtual servers are another form of shared computing; the hosting company uses a single large physical machine to host a number of VPS installations. The big difference is that a VPS gets guaranteed resources while a shared host website never does.

How do you know when to make the leap to a VPS? Whether your needs demand a Linux VPS or a Windows VPS, the basic principles are the same.

1. Your website has become very busy with substantial traffic, and sharing processing power and bandwidth with hundreds of other sites is not giving you the performance you need. A slowdown in the responsiveness of your website is a key indicator.

2. You need the ability to obtain additional resources. Your business may be growing quickly and you need to upgrade your server capacity at increasingly frequent intervals. A VPS arrangement allows you to work with the hosting company to get a bigger slice of the resource pie, something that can`t effectively be done with a shared hosting arrangement.

3. You need to run special applications, such as media streaming or real-time gaming. While this can sometimes be done with a shared host, resources and performance will be limited and often the hosting company frowns on your running such intensive applications.

4. You need more control over the server, especially root access, to properly manage your server content and performance. You`ll almost never get this with a shared hosting service.

5. You have concerns about information privacy in the shared hosting environment, which relies on shared data storage; with a VPS, your data storage has significantly more isolation.

If any or all of the above describe your situation, it may be time for you to make the leap into virtual private server hosting services.

Of course you should look, at least a bit, before you leap. The additional power and flexibility comes with new responsibilities and some additional work. But if you or a member of your staff have a little experience with server operation or are willing to learn, this will be an opportunity, not a problem. Some modest work up front will pay enormous dividends down the road. Here are a few things to consider.

1. You run the VPS, not the virtual server hosting company. This means that you may have to do some of the software updates, you ensure adequate system security, and so on. With full control comes full responsibility. This, however, is not as onerous as it may sound. Many easy to use system administration tools are available and often these are supplied by the hosting company. Plesk, cPanel, and other hosting control panels ease the transition into system administration with a minimal learning curve.

2. You can break things, and when things break, you`re the one to fix them. Again, this sounds worse than the actual reality. Yes, you`re completely free to make trouble. But acting with care and deliberation will help you avoid 99% of the problems. It`s those who take a cowboy approach who cause issues, and unfortunately get the headlines.

3. Some old-fashioned gumption is required. Running a Windows VPS or a Linux VPS is not for the faint of heart. But then, neither is being in business, so chances are you don`t have this issue.

VPS hosting provides a significant step up in capability from shared hosting arrangements without the costs and difficulties of running your own hardware and software. There is some effort involved but it is easily managed, and you`ll be rewarded with better website performance, increased flexibility and resource availability, the freedom to run intensive applications, and the freedom to manage the virtual server to best support your business.

Are you ready to make the leap into better website performance and flexibility? VPS hosting may just be the next big move in empowering your business.

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Why Choose Shared Web Hosting Not Dedicated

There are many things that can increase profit, revenue and turnover of any business. The main function of generating business is promotion and it can be in different way like banner, off line seminar, exhibitions and online. Online business grooming and ignoring the online customers could be a wrong decision for any business. If you are business man and handling a business then you need a website to represent your business it’s not matter that you have small business or you are an owner of a big organization. Because it has been proved that there are many small web businesses has climb on success rock from a small platform but It’s really necessary to go with quality hosting platform so your visitors can enjoy uninterrupted web experience. Naturally we all don’t perform on sites those takes much time to download and just show round circle running on browser. Now customers need fast web experience and if you are unable to feel them such experience then your competitor will do that and finally you will close the door for you customer. I think now it’s not need to repeat that why web hosting is really important for your web business. Now let’s know the various type of hosting and which hosting suit to your business.

Shared Web Hosting - Most famous hosting type among small and mid size business because quite cheaper and affordable. As name is defining “SHARED” so many web site hosts in single server in this web hosting. Best part for this hosting is more affordable and worst part about shared hosting is it unsecure hosting as multiple sites shared single server. Even we recommend this hosting for start-up company those have less data base on their website.

Dedicated Hosting - It’s totally opposite of shared hosting so it’s quit expressive but give secure environment because only one site host in server. Mostly preferred by big sites like ecommerce those have more confidential and big data and those don’t want to compromise from security. The best part of this hosting a site have less down time and unlimited way to customizing hosting but it’s quite expensive so it’s only worst thing of this type of hosting.

VPS Hosting - VPS stand for virtual private server which is made with combination of shared hosting and dedicated hosting so it’s really famous hosting among web business. Now most of the business hire virtual private server because users get benefits of shared hosting and dedicated server through VPS hosting. It’s quite safe and affordable service and better from shared hosting in every manner but no doubt less grade from dedicated server. VPS provide significant space in server to users and that area is not shared by anyone so there are benefits of dedicated environment too.

Basically there are the three types of hosting and some people can use other hosting types like word press hosting, ecommerce hosting and other CMS hosting which all are serving on above manner. So you just need to get updated with basic hosting information that will support to change gear of your business.

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Dedicated Hosting or Shared Hosting: Which One's Better?

If you’re planning on starting up an online business then you will first need to make sure that you have a website and a domain name. Next you will need a hosting service. Without a hosting service your website will not be accessible through the internet. If you don’t already know, there are many different types of hosting services that you can choose from within the particular online hosting companies that are available. Depending upon the type of website you will be running will determine the type of hosting service that you will need to choose. 

Two of the Most Common Types of Hosting

Although there are more than two types of web hosting that are available to choose from, the majority of web developers choose to go with either dedicated hosting, or shared hosting. There are many factors about each one of these types of hosting that will help you to determine which one would be the best one for you to choose for your website. Now, it’s not necessarily about which one is better than the other. It’s more about which would be best to choose. 

The business of hosting a website is not a task that is easy. Just think of the millions of people all over the world who have to be able to have access of your page 24/7. It’s a huge file management business that is very time consuming, and it also requires a lot of energy to run such a business. 

Let’s move along to discuss both of the two types of hosting so that you can determine which one of them would be the best one for you to choose for your website.

Dedicated Hosting

In the world that we live in today information and the way that it is communicated across the web is quite important. With that being said, the websites that we set up should be designed well with the proper specifications that will allow information that we want the clients to receive to be delivered successfully with no issues. When all of these things mentioned are of importance, a server that is well managed is needed.

Dedicated hosting is the type of hosting that is custom built for a particular client and their website. Dedicated hosting gives the client of a website the coverage that they need for their website so that their site will continue to run smoothly and properly. This type of hosting can be rented by most online web hosting companies. The specifications that are given to the web hosting company are what the company applies in order to give the client exactly what they need in an ideal dedicated host for their website. So basically if you want your hosting features to be customized to your very own personal preferences, then dedicated hosting is the type of hosting that you will want to choose for your website. You even have the ability to choose the amount of memory that you need for your website.

Now that you know about dedicated hosting, you might already have an idea of whether or not there is a chance that you might choose this type of hosting. Let’s move on and discuss shared hosting. 

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is somewhat the opposite of what dedicated hosting is. For one thing, it is not the type of hosting that is created for the purpose of one owner. It is not even the type of hosting that is customized better yet. Shared hosting is just what the first word says “shared.” That means that this type of hosting is a server that is shared amongst various different domains. It is often the option that is chosen for website owners who are just getting started out with a business that isn’t very big. You don’t really get as many advantages with the shared hosting like what you would with the dedicated hosting, and it is the cheaper option to go with.

Shared hosting really isn’t all that bad though; you are basically just sharing resources with other domains. However you will still get your own space for your server. It just most likely won’t be as big as that of the amount of space for a dedicated hosting site. 

Shared hosting still remains to be one of the most popular options when it comes to choosing a host for websites. Generally people choose to go with shared hosting because of the low price. You may only pay a few dollars each month for the service of shared hosting. There are some companies that offer free space for your website when you sign up for shared hosting under them. It’s really a great benefit to take advantage of. 

Why is shared hosting not a bad choice?

Starting out with a shared hosting service is not all that bad because typically most of the websites on such a server do not generate a lot of traffic; so there is plenty of space for everyone to use. 

Another factual benefit about shared hosting that you should keep in mind is that it does not take up very much disk space or data when it comes to transferring information for the different websites. No website actually uses the quota that they are allowing, so there is never an issue. 

Too many websites on the same server

Some web hosting companies that offer the shared hosting as an option often have too many sites featured on one server. It is not in the best interest of the hosting company or the owner of the website that they are on a server that is full, because then that is when mishaps could occur, or websites can function a bit slowly. One gigabyte of memory is usually all that one shared server needs, but it is still the responsibility of hosting company to know their limit for how many websites are able to fit on one server. One of the main issues is the amount of memory that is used, and the bandwidth. When one too many of those two features are used then your site will tend to run slower than what it should. 

So when choosing the right shared hosting company to represent your site; make sure that you pick one that is reliable with few to no issues.

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Linux VPS vs. Windows VPS: Which is right for you?

One of the most important choices you’ll have to make when you choose to move from a shared hosting solution to a VPS is what kind of operating system will provide you with the most benefit – Linux or Windows. Depending on the server provider you choose, you may be able to install whatever OS you prefer, or you may be bound to use the same OS as the host. Both types of operating systems offer a number of benefits for an SMB, but which one is right for your business?

Benefits of a Windows VPS

Windows VPS servers are not as populous as Linux, in part because of the proprietary nature of Windows as a Microsoft product. As a result, Windows VPS servers tend to be used for more specialized tasks, and while they will come with a higher price tag, they will also come with a broader base of support, and more regular updates. Most Windows servers currently run on Windows Server 2008 R2, in combination with Windows Hyper-V, a hypervisor that functions as hardware and allows the server to manage the resources being used in real-time. There are number of advantages that a Windows-based server can offer you over a similar Linux solution, starting with more robust support for ASP and ASP.NET, which can be especially useful for Web developers. In addition, Windows VPS solutions will come with support for the Microsoft SQL or Microsoft Access database. Microsoft SQL Standard or Enterprise will require a separate licensing fee, however. Another benefit to a Windows virtual private server is the ability to remotely access your desktop through an easy to configure GUI that will let you manage tasks even when you are not at your computer.

Benefits of a Linux VPS

A Linux VPS can also offer your business a wide range of benefits, starting with the many types or “flavors” of the OS that are available. Linux as a whole is an open-source OS, which means that it is constantly being changed and modified by users, and does not come with as large a cost as a Windows server, simply because the cost for you to use Linux is much lower – and often free. Different types of Linux will offer different features; some will have easy-to-use GUIs, while others include strong communities that are constantly releasing updates for their work. Linux VPS servers are also known as more reliable, in part because so many VPS providers use them, and can often provide a greater amount of uptime for end users. Another feature of Linux not found in a Windows VPS is secure shell (SSH) access, which will allow you to direct access to the control panel of your VPS, and allow you to control all of its functions. This SSH access is text-based only, meaning it will require a higher level of knowledge to use, but can give you a great deal of power from anywhere you log on.

Making the Choice

There is no clear-cut winner in the fight for VPS supremacy, and which OS you choose will depend in large part on the needs of your business. If you’re looking for a server that can offer you dedicated access to resources and support for ASP.NET, then a Windows VPS may be your best choice. If you need to manage your IT on a tighter budget and want an OS you have more control over and greater access to remotely, then you may want to consider the use of a Linux VPS to get the most value for your dollar.

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What is managed hosting and how it can help your eCommerce business?

Before trying to explain what managed hosting is, I am going to explain what different kinds of hosting are.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is similar to managed hosting in that the service provider leases a particular server to just one client.

However, the chief difference lies in the fact that these servers come pre configured and you do not get much choice when setting up the servers.

Cloud hosting

With cloud hosting the consumer can access various hosting resources via the internet.
Cloud hosting networks provide a great deal of flexibility in adding or removing memory as and when needed with ease.

A lot of the headache that goes along with configuring servers and calculating space requirements and changes in advance isn’t simply there.

Now let’s try to understand what managed hosting is.

What does managed hosting service imply?

Managed hosting refers to the hosting service where the service provider sets up, monitors, maintains, secures and patches the hosting servers for you.

The servers are owned by the hosting provider but instead of hosting several websites it hosts only websites from your network and is leased to only or only to one single customer.
Managed hosting lends more flexibility to hosting your site than shared hosting services. You have full control on the server, the choice of operating system and the hardware that goes along with it.

When it comes to the operating system managed hosting services may use one among the two kinds of operating systems:

a.) Windows Operating System- commonly the Windows 2008 server

b.) Linux Operating System- commonly the CentosOS

Generally the hosting provider also sets you up with the following services, namely

1. Set up - Full installation of the control panel and OS. The buyer has administrative access but rarely accesses that. Generally the managed hosting is accessed by the client via the control panel virtually.

2. Monitoring - Server, network, databases, and Apache monitoring. Ping monitors run simultaneously for server and network uptime, and monitors website uptime.

3. Security Scans - Most managed hosting companies offer monthly security scan. These scans ensure that no virus or bug hosts itself in the system. The reports are reviewed too.

4. Application Support - Installation and update of supported applications.

5. Patching - Official operating system and application patches, updates, and bug fixes.

6. Trouble shooting - If the server faces any problem a dedicated staff would take of those problems.

7. On call maintenance - Pick your phone and call the staff at the hosting company to do the maintenance work on the servers

8. Hardware upgrading - You need not worry about maintaining the hardware or upgrading it.

9. Software upgrading - The IT staff at the hosting company takes care of the software upgrades for you in a timely manner.

10. Backup services - Most managed hosting providers take daily or weekly backups of the site data. In case of an emergency you can contact them to get the files back.

What benefits does a managed hosting service provide?

Managed hosting is proactive in its nature. To understand what the term means we must first understand the difference between reactive and proactive.

The support that a webhosting company provides in managing a disaster is the reactive nature of the industry. However, with managed hosting, the service tends to be proactive in nature. In other words it manages the service in such a way that problems do not crop up.

With compatibility checks, patching, security scans and other such measures a managed hosting provider tends to avoid problems as much as possible.

Who should consider managed hosting?

If you aren’t fully aware of the technical details behind configuring servers and setting up your hosting then a managed hosting service where the provider takes care of most things for you will be perfectly suited to your needs.

Managed hosting solutions work best for clients who cannot spare the time to learn the tech behind hosting or run behind it whenever they face a problem.

If you are running an eCommerce venture then it’s likely that you’d want to spend more time on business generating activities rather than managing hosting servers.

Concluding thoughts

Managed hosting takes the pain out of running and hosting your business. You can run your business while the experts take care of the traffic problems for you.

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More than Just Hosts: These Important Services Are Also Offered by Web Hosting Companies

Many companies have diversified their product and service offerings that they have outgrown their business classification. Web hosting companies, for example, are no longer just web hosting service providers nowadays. They offer several other related services that many of them can already become one-stop shops for those who want to create and operate their blogs or websites. The following are some of the most important services web hosting companies are offering:

1. Website Builder

Website builders are usually not a paid service but it’s something worth including in this list. Many web hosts now provide simplified or sophisticated website builders that allow customers to quickly create their sites right after subscribing to a web hosting plan. Many want to create their own sites as quickly as possible with minimal need to understand the technicalities. Web hosting companies apparently acknowledge this, that’s why many are now offering website builders. Even better, there are companies such as Weebly and Wix that actually use the free website builder service as the “bait” for customers. They offer customers the opportunity to create their professional-looking websites for free, and in turn, offer provide reliable hosting (for a fee) for the site.

2. Web Design

This is different from website builders. There are web hosting companies that actually provide professional web hosting services. These web design services are usually intended for those who are availing of a web hosting package and are in need for a design upgrade. Their sites may have to be overhauled to take advantage of new technologies or the new features of the web hosting package. Sometimes, it is advantageous to use the web design services of a web host because they likely have already mastered how to optimize a site’s design for the hosting they offer. They can provide advice on what to do and what not to do to ensure that the resulting website performs at its optimum.

3. Domain Name Registration

Domain name registration is one of the earliest related services web hosts have been offering. There have been many companies that conveniently bundle domain names with their web hosting packages. There are also those that provide the service separately. Most of them specialize in domain names for their specific country or region. A web host based in the UK, for example, offers .uk and .london domain names. Moreover, in years, there have been web hosts that are already able to register the new top level domain names such as .cafe, .restaurant, .club, and .store.

4. SSL Certificate

There are also web hosts that help website owners secure their sites through SSL certificates. The web hosts are not the ones granting these certificates. They simply help obtain them from trusted certificate providers such as GeoTrust. Having an SSL certificate means the encryption of sensitive data in a website. This is particularly important for sites that accept user registrations, ecommerce sites or online stores for example. It’s important to have data encrypted to prevent data theft and fraudulent schemes such a phishing. SSL certificates may be offered in different ways. It could be basic entry-level website protection, protection that covers all sites and sub-domains, or protection intended for enterprises. For the uninitiated, SSL certificates are typically manifested by the presence of a “lock” icon on the browser, on the address bar in particular. It’s also worth noting that there are claims that SSL encryption can help raise Google search ranking.

5. Search Engine Optimization

Web hosts haven’t stopped with just putting a website up and running. There are those that have also ventured into search engine optimization (SEO). After providing the solutions to build and operate a blog or website, they also offer services to make sure that the site is competitive in terms of being searched using certain keywords. SEO has many aspects. It’s not just about optimizing the content with the insertion and positioning of certain keywords. Optimization techniques are also implemented in the design of a site. There are do’s and don’t to observe to maximize searchability and avoid getting penalized, especially by Google. Additionally, there’s the link building aspect. Not many web hosts may go as far as undertaking link building campaigns, though.

6. Online Marketing

Although there aren’t that many web hosting companies that offer online marketing solutions, you shouldn’t be surprised to find some that help their hosting clients in promoting their websites. After providing everything needed to start a site, they also offer services to boost the reputation, awareness, and popularity of a site. This can entail something as simple as email marketing or a full-fledged website marketing package that includes SEO and social media marketing. Just a reminder, though, for those who want to try these online marketing solutions: ascertain that the company offering this service has a proven track record

Web hosting companies at present are like modern mobile phones. Everyone still refers to them as “phones” even though they are way more than just phones. The emphasis on phones now are more on their camera, display, battery life, and other features but they are expected to still perform well for their basic phone function. Web hosting companies offer several other important services that allow them to provide virtually everything needed to start and run a site or blog. It’s important, however, not to forget that their hosting services should be reliable, not laden with flaws to be compensated for by the other services being offered.

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Multiple Data Center Hosting

Multiple Data Center Hosting 

What exactly is multiple data center hosting? Why does it exist? Is it expensive? Can it help your business? Should you even be looking into it? These questions and more will be answered by this article.

Like all things technology-based, you don’t need to know the exact specifics of how it works. You just need to know the basics: what does the program/practice/software do, why is it important, how can it help you?

Obviously, it’s not enough to know that something exists; you have to know why it’s being used and whether or not it can be used to improve your business, cut costs, make your life easier, etc., etc.

This is especially true for multiple data center hosting. If you have or hope to have an online business or website, chances are you use a web hosting service. Essentially, a web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible through the World Wide Web.

Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for the use of their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data server. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center. This is called collocation, and enables multiple data center hosting. So, is this important? Let’s find out.

How It Works 

Essentially, multiple data center hosting affects the speed at which websites can be accessed. Aside from a very small percentage of large, international web hosting companies, most U.S.-based web hosting companies provide services to local businesses. Some of the largest data centers are located in the United States, and many of those web hosting companies use their own dedicated servers.

Some businesses and sites located overseas utilize the services of American companies, and unfortunately for them, their websites tend to load much slower and overall performance is lacking. It is for this reason that businesses targeting local customers often utilize local web hosting providers, which use unreliable small data centers in their country.

Multiple data center hosting can be considered an outsourcing solution. Many web hosting companies are relocating their own servers to new data centers. Whatever company you choose to provide your business or site with multiple data center hosting will still be held completely responsible for site administration and any problems that may arise, but the new data center itself provides the server cabinet space, bandwidth, routing, and electricity, among other things.

Multiple data center hosting is not reselling. Web hosting companies who choose to move their servers to these data centers still own their servers, as well as a good percentage of the routers and switches that connect the servers to the data center’s Internet connections.

Many now consider multiple data center hosting as the solution for this problem. This type of service gives small business and website owners the ability to choose the option they feel will work best for them. Clients get to pick from three existing data centers, and whatever center they choose will be the one responsible for hosting their website. The theory is that the website owner is technically controlling the speed at which their site loads, but only if they understand that the speed will be controlled by choosing the data center that is physically closer to the majority of their clients.

For example, business owners should not expect to be able to pick a center in Illinois because a majority of their clientele is located in Chicago. Keep in mind that there are only three main data centers being utilized, so the best option would be to choose a data center located in the United States -- as opposed to choosing a center located in Europe. The location of a majority of your clientele is key when determining which data center to utilize. While webmasters from Norway may choose a Swedish data center, Canadian customers may prefer US data center.

It goes without saying that website speed can make or break even the most successful of online businesses. It doesn’t matter if your company offers the most dependable services or appealing goods; it doesn’t matter if your site utilizes the most cutting-edge technology and graphics; if it takes minutes for your site to load, no one is going to see it.

Online users have become accustomed to accessing everything online at lightning speed. Dial-up is practically non-existent, with most people utilizing cable/DSL Internet services. We’ve become a country that wants what they want when they want it, and if someone finds your site online and is met with a slow loading time, you can be guaranteed that you’ve lost a customer. During these hard economic times, there isn’t a company or website in the world that can afford to lose even a single customer.

Those who have websites and online businesses should consider website speed to be a very important marketing factor. As mentioned previously, it should come as no surprise that multiple studies have found that people leave websites that take too long to load and not only that, but their opinion of the business itself is lowered. Small business owners or those with fledgling online businesses should really consider multiple data center hosting. Some may dismiss it at a ploy for web hosting companies to drum up more business, but it really does increase loading time, which can lead to happy customers and more sales. What’s to lose?

How Will Multiple Data Center Hosting Help Your Online Business? 

Some things can be taken at face value, they are black and white; multiple data center hosting is not one of those things. Utilizing this new type of web hosting is not just about improving load time. Business owners need to think more critically when it comes to the image they hope to project to their clients -- old and new alike -- and the online experience with which they provide them.

Today's competitive marketplace requires that online businesses and websites use the most efficient and reliable web hosting services available. After all, what will it say to your clients if you don’t care enough to ensure that they have a positive experience on your website? What does that say about the service you will provide them with?

Aside from the speedy response we’ve already discussed, multiple data center hosting also offers a number of other important benefits to fledgling businesses considering making the switch to this type of service. For example, multiple data center hosting offers multiple links to the Internet, backup power supplies and generators, electronic security systems, and 24-hour-a-day hardware and network technicians on site.

This last feature is particularly important for an online business. Nothing can be more frustrating than paying a company on a monthly basis and not being able to get through to customer service for hours, and then having to pick up the pieces after the damage is done. As stated previously, the company you’ve chosen -- and not the multiple data hosting center -- will still be held completely responsible for site administration and any problems that may arise. But for minor technical difficulties or glitches that have to do with the data center, it’s especially nice having technicians available at your disposal no matter what the day or hour.

It’s possible to create an online business that’s thriving, but one of the downfalls is that weekends don’t keep people off the Internet as they keep them out of the office. This is why it’s so important to make sure that the web hosting you choose provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After all, technical problems can occur at any time, day or night.

Benefits of Multiple Data Center Hosting 

Multiple data center housing provides a very cost-effective means of accessing a secure hosting environment. Most companies that provide this specific service help small businesses and websites by saving them time and money. It has been reported that the cost of utilizing a company that offers multiple data center hosting is a bit more expensive than utilizing the services of an average web hosting company. Choosing multiple data center hosting should be seen as the same as choosing to “green” your home with energy efficient appliances: the upfront costs may seem excessive and overwhelming, but it saves a significant amount of money in the long run and definitely evens out.

Multiple data center hosting companies are providing their clients with super-fast service that will help the quality of their business. Many companies that offer this service are also providing high speed connections through multiple carriers in order to prevent downtime. Many also have a guaranteed power supply that incorporates UPS for short-term combined with an onside diesel generator and sub-station for any extended power outages that may occur.

Other popular features include the deployment of new machines within 24 hours in case of technical emergency or equipment malfunction and the use of electronic access security and security guards to protect all equipment. It’s important to understand that these data centers assist countless small businesses and websites and it’s of the utmost importance to them to keep their clients happy, because if not it will greatly affect their livelihood. In other words, it’s in their best interest to make you happy so you can rest assured that you will be well taken care of.

Multiple data center hosting may not be for everyone. Surely there are those who prefer local web hosting companies whose services and performance more than meets their needs. If you want to expand your client base, quicken your load time, and provide your future clientele with a positive online experience, then multiple data center hosting may be for you.

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