Archive for May, 2010

By Andy Nataghi

eCommerce web site hosting is the type of hosting that is required by an enterprise that will be selling products or services directly from their web site. An on-line enterprise has some added requirements but the basic criteria for selecting a hosting service still apply, in fact they are of greater significance because of the potential to lose business if the hosting service is poor.

For eCommerce web site hosting the following should be considered:

Site Availability – Your hosting service ought to give an uptime guarantee with a financial penalty if it is missed.  Whilst no one can provide 100% uptime you want to get as close to this as feasible. If shoppers want to buy and your site is down they will go to a different site. If your site is down regularly it will result in a significant negative impact on your business.

Site Operation and Page Load Times – Consumers will want to move through your site as speedily as possible. If your site is slow you will lose buyers who will just move to your rivals. Even if they stick with the site and make a purchase they are less likely to come back.

Helpdesk - Good quality support should be obtainable 24/7. If there are any urgent issues they must be resolved without delay.

Shopping Cart/Payment Processing – An eCommerce web site hosting service will offer a SSL certificate to provide security for your customers and it should be easy to add a shopping cart (you might see a choice of shopping carts) to your site.

Upgrade Path – As you are starting a business which you expect to expand, it is important that your hosting service can look after you as this comes about. For example you do not need your page loading speeds to get slower as your site gets busy.

Supplementary Functionality – A high-quality hosting service will provide all-embracing email capabilities, virus protection, security from hackers/malware and backups of your site and data.

Some web hosting companies offer specific eCommerce hosting plans whilst others just incorporate it within their ordinary plans. However, if you are opening a serious business you will need to take a business targeted plan that will offer you more functionality, such as your own (not shared) SSL certificate.

Shopping cart functionality is not consistent. Some hosting providers let you integrate a 3rd party shopping cart whilst others sell their own and the package you pick limits the functionality e.g. how many items you can have in your shop and how many delivery choices you can use.

Changing your eCommerce web site hosting service once you are up and running would be a major upheaval to your business that you want to avoid. Choosing your hosting service is therefore a serious decision. You must look for a well known business with a first-rate reputation for support which should be in the business for many years to come. Time used on research at the outset will be a good investment.

By Andy Nataghi

The best website host is essential for any business moving onto the web. By using a well established and reliable provider you should have few problems and will be able to offer a good service to your customers through your website always being available and loading quickly.  Google are now taking loading speed into account when generating their search results so, if you will be aiming for a good search engine ranking, finding the best website host is even more important.

Business users should not think about using free or very cheap website hosting providers.  There are plenty of website hosting providers which can provide the level of service required and a web search will find several sites which list the top suppliers.   However, this can still be confusing because there is no consistency about which providers are considered best and reviews usually emphasise certain features of each package, making a detailed comparison difficult.

To get through this and make a good choice you need to be clear about what you want:  

Linux or Microsoft Hosting- If you are having a site built for you the developers will advise you on the hosting requirements.  If, for example, they build a site which requires a Microsoft hosting environment it is no good signing up for a Linux package.  On the other hand, if you are building your own site you should go for a Linux package.

Shared, VPS, Dedicated Server- A best website host will offer a range of services offering more resources, bandwidth, disk space etc. and reduced competition with other users for these resources.  This provides and upgrade path for the future. If you are starting a new site a basic shared package will be fine. Here multiple users have their websites and email on the same server and share the disk space, bandwidth etc..  There is a danger that shared servers can be overloaded but this is unlikely with a reputable supplier.

Speed and Reliability- To provide a good service to your customers and to avoid them going elsewhere it is vital that your site is always online and loads quickly when requested.  It is worth looking for recent user comments on potential suppliers and also checking that they give a guarantee of 99.9%+ uptime.   

Help and Support- This can be overlooked at the outset but it can be critical if you have a problem.  Look for 24/7 support preferably with a toll free phone number, in addition to email.

Disk Space/Bandwidth- Most hosting providers now offer unlimited website hosting with unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth.  This is really just a marketing gimmick as it is obvious that the disk capacity in the server is finite, as is the provider’s bandwidth, so the terms and conditions are likely to include some sort of limitation.  However, bandwidth and disk space are unlikely to be an issue in the short term and may never become so unless your site grows dramatically.    

Domains/Databases- The lead-in packages often limit these.  If you are only interested in creating a single website these packages will be fine – you can always upgrade later.

Cost- This is last here because the price difference between the top website hosting providers is not enough to outweigh the other factors above and should not be a major criteria in choosing your best website host.  You normally pay a number of months in advance (the more months the cheaper it is per month) but some providers will allow you to pay monthly.

By Cindy

If you’re planning to launch a business online, then you should consider having your own Web page. Online presence is very important in order for you to gain visitors, which can later turn into potential customers. To do that, you need to have a lucrative website that can attract the attention of online users. There are a lot of ways for you to get your business started and one of these is choosing a business web hosting provider to take care of your website needs.

Small business web hosting is among the most popular methods used by many aspiring online marketers. Consider the amount of users logging on every single day; it’s easy to transform website traffic into potential profit, granting you have the right kind of website for your market niche. Exploring the possibilities of gaining a spot on the World Wide Web is fun, especially if you are equipped with the right kind of services. If you still can’t get the drift, here are some of the reasons why it is important for you to use business web hosting services:

1. Easy Access

One of the many wonders that the Internet offers is that, it enables you to reach thousands of people with just a few clicks. It creates a viral connection to people all over the world. In this light, it would be easier for you to market your business and the opportunity of gaining potential customers is not too far away.  In fact, you don’t even have to do a lot of effort in driving traffic to your website; that is, if your website is built with great features and function. Also, online users can easily learn about your company and can easily contact you if they have concerns regarding the services that you offer.

 

2. Online Presence and Credibility

Having a fully functional website can help push your online presence to the top, thereby establishing your online credibility as one of the fast rising online businesses of today. With so many websites lurking over the Web, consumers are left without a choice but to give their trust to those whom they often see —those that pop on top of the search engine results page.

3. Your Own Brand

If you have your very own Web page, it means you get to have your own domain name, which can bear any name you wish to have for your business. Most web hosting sites have pre-defined web templates that you can freely use. You have the option to use the design as it is, or customize it to your own style. Additionally, you can create an online signature that represents your business. Customization becomes endless with the right business web hosting to back you up.

4. Better Business Environment

Unlike choosing social media sites to market your products, your own business Web page can give you the necessary features you need to run your online business. This includes having a shopping cart, payment page, and product page among others.

By Cindy

Having a fully functional website with substantial and compelling contents can help your online business grow. This is the reason why, aspiring online marketers are always trying to look for a good and reliable web hosting provider to work on their needs. There’s a lot on the web, but how do you find the best one?

For someone who wants to try his luck on the online business world, it could be quite crucial to begin with, most especially if your resources are insufficient. The competition on the Web can really be tight, that one wrong move can totally make or break your business.  However, there are ways that can help make your life easier and this can be as simple as building and setting up a lucrative website.

Before you can actually find the best web hosting provider on the Web, you have to know the things that such services can do for your business. One tangible benefit is that, it publishes your website on the cyber world, so that it can be viewed by the online users. Therefore, it is always good to entrust your online business to a company that has already been in the industry for years and they are backed up with recognition from their past customers.

At the very least, a good and reliable hosting provider is one that can give 99% uptime percentage. When you say uptime percentage, it means the amount of time that the website server is up and running well. Disk space and bandwidth is also one thing that you need to look for. For a commercial website, it is always best to go for a hosting provider that offers unlimited disk space. You would want to have a good amount of space that you can utilize for the content of your website, which are mostly images and descriptions of the products that you are selling. Furthermore, you would also want to deal with a web hosting company that has a 24/7 technical support. Glitches and technical problems cannot be avoided, thus, you would want that your hosting provider can immediately attend to your concerns.

Dependable web hosting need not be expensive. A company with the highest fees for their services does not automatically mean that they are the best one you can find. Therefore, the price must always be factored in when looking for a web hosting provider. With tons of hosting companies, it can be quite daunting to decide which is good and which is not. Good thing is, there are hosting review sites that you can visit. Look for review sites that are not directly connected to any other hosting company. In this way, you can be sure that the reviews are honest and unbiased. You’ll know that it is an honest review if it discusses both the pros and cons of a certain web hosting company.

By Cindy

Looking for the best web hosting provider is easy and difficult at the same time. Easy because the Internet makes everything quite convenient, that just by a few clicks on Google, you’ll instantly get a list of all the web hosting services available on the Web. But it’s also difficult at the same time because you can never be too sure if all these services are actually good. What makes it even more difficult is that, almost all providers claim that they are the best. Therefore, before you choose one, you have to make a lot of thinking first. And the way to do that is, to consider some factors that help you spot the best one.

Here are the factors that you need to consider:

1. One of the many issues that you need to settle is, deciding whether or not, the web hosting service meets all the requirements that you need for building your website. The provider must be geared with all the necessary tools that allow your website to hold a lot of features and different scripts. On the same note, the best web hosting provider makes it possible for websites to have 24/7 secure servers.

 

2. Another thing that should be factored in is the cost for the services being offered. With the abundance of such services these days, you cannot just simply deal with the first provider that comes your way. You have to consider all other providers waiting on the line. Do a quick price comparison and see which web hosting provider gives you more than what you pay for. Some of the best web host services out there are extremely affordable and yet do not compromise the quality of your website.

 

3. Other factors that you need to consider are the issue on speed, bandwidth capacity, uptime percentage and upgrade compatibility. Think of it this way, a website that has a fast page loading and a huge bandwidth has greater chances of generating maximum traffic.  And you very well know that a large volume of traffic means maximum profit.

 

4. You could also check on their design features such as their templates. It would be better if you have a lot of pre-set templates to choose from. This way, you could make your website unique from many others and make sure that these templates are easily customizable so that you’ll have exactly the kind of website that you want.

 

These are just some of the things that you need to bear in mind.  Somehow, spotting the best one also relies on your instinct. If you’ve been a businessperson for quite a period of time, you can easily know whether a service provider has a potential or not. But you’re still new to this; you can do an extra mile of research. Joining some relevant forums and group discussions is one good option. Here you can meet people who have actually tried using web hosting services. From them, you can learn which website hosting companies is the best one on the Web.