Web Hosting Blogger

Deciding which to get should be easy.  If you’re getting a lot of traffic as your site is getting popular, you need a dedicated hosting solution.  If you have a lot of dynamic php content that hogs memory and bandwidth, you need to be hosted separately.  Or if you can’t afford any level of downtime that might be caused by one of the sites you are sharing with, then you need a dedicated server.

A good shared hosting service is about $10 a month, while a dedicated service starts at around $70.  If you’re running a commercial site that generates revenues for you, don’t get cheap.  You will need more flexibility and control, greater bandwidth and resources in a dedicated solution than you can ever get otherwise. Just as a WebRec Webbhotell in Sweden  says, dedicated server is mostly for solutions that can’t afford to loose uptime because other shared hosting users crash the whole server with crappy scripts. Speed and uptime is the most important dedicated advantages.

This should appeal to hosting bureaus in the Linux Platform.  The HMS control panel solution is a multi-server tool that allows customers to have a better grip on their virtual private server. It offers complete domain management, email system and accounts management, web application management and advanced security features that both tech savvy customers and web host administrators can enjoy.

It’s now on version 3.5.1 and boasts of one of the most sophisticated control panels on the web hosting market.  If you’re in need of one, there are many control panels on the market.  But try the HMS panel’s free 30-day license and see if it addresses your needs.

Nothing upsets a web host administrator than having to deal with security problems on its content management system for its clients.  Content is always a major target for cyberspace hackers. This becomes a real headache when content contains sensitive data like credit card or social security numbers. 

Enter Secure Live. It’s a mix of software tools with real-time monitoring facility that can make life easy for securing content-rich websites you are hosting. Though aimed at securing Joomla websites, Secure Live also offers modules for open source based applications.  This is not an all-inclusive security package and is expensive besides.  But with what it offers, it is sure to be worth every penny.

The wisdom hasn’t eluded big businesses with millions of dollars exchanging hands when creative agencies design brand logos for various large companies. From airlines to apparels, designing the right logo has always merited special budget allocation.  And so should small businesses online.  Certainly not in the same magnitude as what California-based Landor and Associates might ask, but the point is, to allot sufficient time, resources and brain power to get your business or brand logos right. 

Make your logos unique, simple and memorable.  Everyone knows the Nike logo or the GAP logo.  Nothing extraordinary, but they bring memorable imagery to latch on the product.  That means letting the consumer get a handle on the logo to mean only one thing – your product. 
Like when you see a Nike logo, even without the name, you know right away it’s a Nike.  Online logos are actually easier to execute as a simple graphics tool will do.  The key is spending the time, effort and some bucks to get to it done right, preferably with a professional logo designer.

If you are starting out to design and develop your own website, apart from knowing HTML or just use those designing tools that make composing web pages a non-programming effort, you need a good graphics editing tool to spice up your design. 

While there are free ready-made graphics you can download, as well as hosting sites that offer some graphics rendering tools to customize a template web design, nothing beats designing your own graphics.

I’ve used a lot, starting with JASC Paint Shop Pro in the early days and finally settled to Adobe Photoshop.  Even their older version is just fine and a bargain these days.  If there’s one tool a web designer can’t do without, it’s a graphics editing tool.  And Photoshop is a favourite among designers out there.  What’s your favourite?

For purposes of getting your online presence search-optimized, the best is always to have your main keyword in your domain name.  Selling apparels online?  Why not a name like “apparel.com?”  So if you’re web hosting, the best name should have “web hosting.com.”   The only problem is that the name has been registered as early as 1993 by some anonymous techie with an excellent foresight. 

There are other names that are sure to get top rank on Google, like webhost.com or webhostsolutions.com. But they’ll cost.  Some are for sale at around $1,500 to get the rights to the name.  If that’s cheap for you, go ahead and buy it.  Otherwise, feel free to chime in what you think are good names for a web hosting site.

This is often the concern of many entrepreneurs starting their own family business.  My answer is simple.  A website can be your very first distribution channel for your products.  Never in the history of man has the opportunity to get a worldwide market as quickly as it is today with the internet.  The only caution to worry about is: will you be able to meet the demands in case your product becomes popular? 

Rather than looking at that as a threat, it’s best to plan ahead and design your business around how to meet a growing demand.  With a good web hosting service, a fully search optimized website , a linked blog and social networking site and a diligent web administrator who can maximize his web presence, that is sure to happen.

With the current economic recession plaguing many businesses, nothing is sacred as far as cost cutting measures are concerned.  IT departments is one area and managers would like to get the most out of any investment they put it.  Web hosting doesn’t escape the cost cutting scissors as they look for ways to get down to the basics of web hosting with the least expense. 
Free domain names are often part of the web hosting services and this is one area site owners can look at. 

But this is just a one-time savings.  After getting your domain name, the next item to consider is bargaining for the most bandwidth at the least possible monthly.  Securing a service level agreement with penalty provisions on downtimes is another are to consider.  Have you started negotiating with your web hosts lately for better terms?  Or else?

There’s a lot of room for interpretation in the copyright laws with one side arguing that web host providers should not be held liable if one of its clients do some hanky panky on the net that law enforcers frown at. Apart from putting child porn on their sites, it includes having copyrighted materials ready for downloading.

Some states require that web hosts close down the offending sites after reasonable warning and a desist order from posting illegal materials.  I’m not sure how a court order will affect the operation of a web hosting services, but feel free to give us your ideas and opinions on what the web hosting management should do for against offending web sites it hosts.

There are literally thousands of web hosting companies out there wanting a slice of the hosting business.  In the process, many are making ridiculous claims to entice the unwary novice web site owner to get him onboard. 

One that stands out are claims they’ve been in business since 1990 or earlier.  Folks, I can assure you there are no web hosting businesses back then.  Another is the boastful claim that they have hundreds of servers over thousands of square feet of data center space.   That could be true for some, but for most, they are mostly like resellers who are selling a fraction of the server space in other firm’s data centers.  Feel free to chime in what you think are funny claims from web hosting bureaus.