What to Look For When Searching For a Web Hosting Solutions?

Hosting Services

For a business to thrive in this competitive world, one must consider plethora of factors affecting it. While issues related to products and services in offer require a lot of planning and execution for creating a perfect equilibrium between the input and output supply chain, the website also needs to be looked at. A good website will help you to attract more and more customers who are looking for best deals and prices. Also, right from the choosing the domain name in conformation with the offered services to the daunting tasking of domain search and checking of domain availability, everything thing needs a pin pointed review. Here, point to be noted is that a midst all these decisions taken to benefit business entity as a whole, we tend to ignore the importance of critical website hosting services.

Web Hosting

The maintenance and development of a website is not the only thing needed to promote business and ensure its success. You must make sure that your website is also hosted properly, more commonly called as website hosting. For people who are new to this term, the web hosting can be simply referred to as hosting your website on a web server so that it is available on the Internet. Also, companies providing web servers for hosting your website are called as web hosting service providers. Such companies offer a number of web hosting solutions at affordable rates.

Selecting the best web hosting service providers

Choosing the right web hosting solutions can be a bit tricky as it involves a lot of research from your end. But, nonetheless, it is one of the deciding factors for ensuring the success of your website, which in turn is linked directly with the performance of the business. Evidently, it is the key factor that will help you improve the functionality of your business. Web hosting helps you to improve you website's ranking on search engines like google and yahoo. Enlisted below is a list of how good website hosting service provider can prove to be highly influential for your business and website alike:

a) Speed of the Website: How long your website takes to open up on being accessed depends on the web hosting services. Evidently, a long loading time will see you loose on traffic. The whole situation worsens as your existing customers too will find it highly inconvenient to wait for a long time. Thus, choosing a good web hosting service provider can help you boost network traffic and also influences your existing customer base with low latency.

b) Uptime of the Server: The uptime of your service provider's servers should be high, for low uptime will adversely affect the traffic. Thus, you would be losing on visitors impacting sales and making business suffer in return.

c) Content on Sub-domain: It is observed at times that some web hosting providers also create sub-domains along with the domain that is already registered. This may result in duplicate content issue, and as such, your website will be penalized. Furthermore, it also affects the ranking of your main website.

Apart from the ones mentioned above, there are many other ways through which web hosting can influence your website and hence, your businesses. So, needless today, it is quite important to choose a web hosting service provider that is reliable and trustworthy.

Things to consider before buying web hosting services

Web Hosting Solutions

Accessing a website on the world wide web is only possible when it is hosted on a web server and is live to the visitors. Hosting a website on the world wide web involves services of a web hosting company. These days, there are many web hosting companies who offer their services at competitive prices. Many cheap web hosting companies provide web hosting at bare-minimum costs. But, the affordability should not be the only delimiter when searching for and short-listing a company for its web hosting services. There is an entire list of factors that need to be ascertained before one can take the plunge and entrust the hosting activity to one of the cheap web hosting companies.

Companies providing web hosting in India are also increasing with time to meet the growing demands of web hosting services. The multitude of hosting plans and services offered by cheap web hosting companies in India need to be checked for their viability before the company is handed over the task of hosting the website. Some points to be considered before engaging a web hosting company for its services are as under:

1. Affordability: The web hosting services provided by the web hosting companies are a determinant of the type of service that will be offered by it. Web hosting in India can be found at reasonable prices, ensuring that they do not burn a hole in the pockets of the user / customer.
2. Specialties: The web hosting services offered by the web hosting company should be in sync with the type of services desired by the customer or end user. This implies that the services requested by the user are the ones in which the company deals in.
3. Technical specifications and limitations: A cheap web hosting company need not necessarily provide the requisite technical specifications as may be the need. It entirely depends on the type of website to be hosted.
4. Support: The type of support offered by cheap web hosting company during downtime or if anything goes wrong with the server is also a deciding factor in the selection of web hosting services.
5. Features and add-ons: A good web hosting company not only provides servers to host the website, but also provides additional features and add-ons to add an attractive touch to it.
6. Hardware: The hardware being used by the cheap web hosting company is also a factor in determining the performance of the website hosted by it.
7. User Interface: This is one factor that determines the usability of the website by people who are launching their website.
8. Scalability: Expanding the website to meet the growing demands of traffic or to accommodate larger amounts of data over time should be possible with the selected web hosting company.

Once these aspects of services are fulfilled by the company offering web hosting in India, the customers can proceed with the completion of formalities for hosting their websites.

How to choose between Windows hosting and Linux hosting?

Web hosting plays a major role in determining the success of a website. Although there are various types of services offered by service providers, Linux hosting and Windows hosting services are among the most popular. The former is a type of web hosting that runs on Linux, an open source operating system that is cheaper than others. Many of the companies generally offer hosting services that run on the Linux platform. It is cheap and capable of running scripts in varied programming languages. It can also be used for running websites that are developed on platforms like PHP, Joomla and Ruby on Rails. Windows hosting services is a new form of hosting service that is offered by web hosting service providers. It runs on Microsoft Windows platform and has gained popularity as it can run scripts on ASP and .Net.

Linux vs. Windows hosting services

Linux and Windows are two different types of operating systems, and among them, the former is the most popular operating system among web servers. Linux-based hosting has a higher number of features than Windows hosting services and thus, a higher preference in users. The major difference between the two operating systems is that Linux is an open source hosting service whereas Windows is not. The security factor usually depends on the quality of the administrator. Although, Linux is more secure than Windows, a similar level of security can be achieved if the latter well administered.

Things to consider while choosing between Linux hosting and Windows hosting 

1. Reliability: Linux hosting is considered to be more reliable than Windows hosting as it can run several scripts, irrespective of the platform that is used to develop the website. In the case of Windows hosting, it can only run scripts like ASP and .Net.
2. Price: Windows hosting is costlier than Linux hosting as it is not an open source OS, which makes the latter more preferred than the former.
3. Control Panels: Linux hosting has a more user-friendly interface with respect to control panels than Windows. However, Windows hosting also has a good interface but is relatively less user-friendly.
4. Security: In terms of security, Linux hosting is more secure than Windows hosting.

There are several aspects of hosting services that need to be taken into consideration before making a decision. Looking from a neutral perspective, both, Linux and Windows hosting, are good in their own right and can be used. However, with constraints like cost, user-friendliness and flexibility, Linux turns out to be the winner if there is a contest.

Why Become a Hosting Reseller?

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is a process through which a web hosting owner can allocate his bandwidth and storage space for a number of websites. The reseller buys hosting at wholesale rates and sells them to customers for profit. This is a common practice followed by many web design firms and web developers. It is also helpful for web entrepreneurs to start their own businesses in an inexpensive manner.

Profitability of web hosting reseller

There are not a large number of competitors in the web hosting reseller space. Since web hosting is essential for every company, this is a business which has tremendous scope for growth in the present and in the future as well.  Acquiring the hosting service from a big company would mean that one would become the middleman for the provider. As new clients come, bulk space that has been purchased could be divided into small plans and sold. It gives an individual the capability to start his own business. However, just as in the case of many businesses, hosting reseller India requires a certain investment, which means that the budget has to be planned in advance. Apart from being affordable, the amount of disk space and bandwidth provided are also important. Depending on the hosting plans, many companies provide unlimited bandwidth and space. Several email accounts are also required for employees and, at times multiple domains may also be necessary. 

Common Operating Systems for reseller hosting

Most popular operating systems for web hosting reseller are Windows and Linux. As compared to Windows, Linux is a safer operating system. For businesses that run on the basis of ecommerce, it is important to have dedicated servers. However, before selecting a vendor it is important to go through the credentials of the company. The company must also be able to provide 24 hour technical support, which is very important to keep the servers running at all times. This is because maintenance of the server is not the buyer's responsibility. Support could be required anywhere, which could often be a completely different geographical location. In other words, reliability of web hosting reseller is quite high.

Features that are offered on hosting reseller India are much more than on other hosting accounts. More features will definitely play an important role in attracting a large number of customers. However, one thing that needs to be kept in mind during reseller hosting is that suitable spam and virus protection has to be installed. The reason for this is that hosting is shared along with many other websites.

Website hosting: Can it really Increase Your Online Business

Web Hosting Solutions

Website hosting simply means putting up a particular website on servers to make it a part of the World Wide Web. A strong online presence is important for the success of any business. As India is considered to be one of the global hubs for Information Technology, there are several companies in the market that provide hosting services. These services, including design outsourcing, which can be availed at a reasonable cost. Some companies provide Linux hosting, while others provide managed hosting, DB hosting, exchange hosting and cloud computing.

Revenue potential of website hosting

Once a website is easily available to a large number of online visitors and potential customers, it’s potential to earn revenue increases automatically. Products and services would sell based on the quality. Moreover, in order to increase the online visibility, principles of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be employed by the user. SEO happens to be the use of various off page and on page techniques to increase rankings of websites on popular search engines. Interestingly, web hosting services can be used for putting up much more than just a website on the World Wide Web. It must be noted that such services can be availed from any major hosting company of the world. Files to be hosted on the website are stored on these servers and it can include text documents, audio files, video files, images and others.

When web hosting services are run for 24 hours, it allows customers to access a particular website or application at any time of the day or night. Big companies, like Google or Bing, have several servers running at the same time to provide hassle free hosting services to individuals. However, in a small business, it is possible to use the services of trained professionals for maintenance of hosting. Technical support must be provided by reputed hosting companies for 24x7. Based on the type of website that needs to be put up, website hosting is chosen accordingly. Some companies provide more than 100 MB of space for putting up on the World Wide Web. Based on the number of expected visitors, bandwidth has to be selected. With an increasing number of visitors, one would need to pay an additional fee to the hosting company or ask for an upgrade in the same.

Advantages of web hosting in India

Web hosting in India provides several plans for usage of at least one database. If there are plans of storing customer email addresses and physical contact information, database services would be required. Common databases used in the market are Microsoft SQL server, Access and My SQL. Regardless of the size of online business websites, web hosting in India would be most convenient due to the availability of space and powerful servers. It must be also noted that the downtime should be always minimum when reputed web hosting in India is selected and so is the cost.

Factors to be evalued before choosing hosting services

Hosting Solutions

Similar to many other things selecting a web hosting company is also a very tough task. Out of many companies almost each company promises to have 99 percent uptime, knowledgeable technical support and unlimited resources. But there has to be a way to cut through the jargon and make an informed decision.

Guide for choosing best hosting solutions 
By following the below guidelines you will be able to decide that which hosting service company and package best suits your requirements.

1. Price: This is the most important factor when selecting a hosting provider but it should not be the deciding factor. Going with the cheapest offer you see in the market is not always the best idea particularly if you rely on your site to earn money. Remember the very old saying that we get what we pay for. Take a deep look at the features that different hosting services offers, and then only compare prices.

2. Area of specialties: It is true that for different kinds of customers not all web hosting services are right. Some hosts offer great plans but do not have the solutions that are good for growing businesses, whereas others have great enterprise way outs but are not the right choice for someone with a very small recipe blog. Therefore it is always advisable that before buying you should always verify the specialty of the company and its area of expertise. You can Google to find the reviews and recommendations.

3. Technical Limitations: Figure out what you exactly want you want to do with your website. If you are looking to host a blog, rich content, e-commerce, videos then you should try to find out the best web hosting company or hosting package.

4. Technical Support: In most people’s views, this is the biggest one. When my website, for some unidentified reason, goes down, can I call up and get a real, live technical person on the phone? And, more than that, can they figure out what’s incorrect and fix it, or at least tell me what I need to do to get my website back online? Before going with hosting solutions always look into their reputation for customer support.

5. Features and Add-ons: This area of concern comes down to the following queries – What makes this web hosting company extraordinary? What additional incentive do they offer to make hosting your website with them just a touch additionally more nice-looking? Whether it is an energy-saving performance, various data centres or extra features such as standard data backups or hosting companies often provide other than just servers. If you observe one that give something you require or find vital, that can be a first-rate pointer that you should look into using that particular company.

6. Customer Reviews: This is one of the best factors that you’ll have to get a little creative to get the real story on. Do a Google Blog search for a particular hosting company and find out what former customers are saying about them.

Key Differences between Paid Hosting and Free Web Hosting

Website Hosting

When making a choice between hosting services, more often than not it ultimately boils down to paid hosting and free web hosting. Business owners also have a tough choice to make when deciding between Windows hosting and Linux hosting. Here’s a checklist that should help you make the right choice as far as web host provider is considered.

Free–hand to Advertisers: In most cases when hosting services are free, the providing company at hand generates revenue through advertisements. Your business website, in such a scenario becomes an advertisement portal. Your web host has the free will to put up pop-ups, banners and other adverts, without you having any control over the same. On the other hand, when you pay for a web host, you are directly giving money to the provider, allowing for complete control over your site from your end.

Customer Support: Free web hosting companies generally offer minimal customer support. Getting a query answered, even if it is a crisis, may hence involve a long wait time. Obviously paid hosts in that respect are a notch up. They ensure quality customer support, at your beck and call at all hours of the day. What’s more a paid web host will provide you with tutorials and help desks as a backbone, making it all the more valuable.

Security: Naturally, a free web host doesn’t have security for users among the list of its priorities. It can be said hence, that with a free host, the likelihood of your website being hacked is larger. With investments in safeguarding business owners’ privacy and data, paid hosts, on the other hand give your website higher protection.

Bandwidth limit: A capping on the amount of bandwidth you are offered is a norm amongst free web host providers. In the event your website witnesses incoming traffic that is much above the limit offered by your host, it can lead to more downtime. With greater bandwidth at hand, paid web hosts, in contrast, are a better option. You also have the option of choosing for allowances on data transfers with possible upgrades in the future. High bandwidth can always be chosen at a later point in time. Most free web hosts don’t come with this option.

Features and functions: When you pay for the services of a host, you can rest assured in terms of the features and functionalities on offer. You get exactly what you pay for and sometimes more in terms of plug-ins, tools and webmaster implementations. With a free web host, all this is a challenge and you are offered just about the basic tools. Another aspect that most freebies have missing is site builders and shopping carts, which can pretty much make or mar your website.

So whether you decide to go for Windows web hosting or Linux web hosting, the cost of your host provider is important too. Ultimately, when you pay for something, you are automatically ensuring quality service. While a free web host could be great for personal websites or when you are working in a tight budget, it may not be the best option around for business owners. If you are a professional who yearns to generate income for their website, paying to get the crux of your website to be among the best will only help.

Look out for hidden costs being charged by web hosts in web hosting plans

Web Hosting Providers

There are a number of companies offering website hosting at affordable prices. More often than not words like ‘cheap’, ‘free’, ‘affordable’, ‘value-for-money’ etc attract all of us. But it is important to look for hidden costs when you choose a web host provider.

Don’t give in to temptation

As direct and straight as it can get, it is very important that when you choose a web host, you don’t let temptation or luring offers get the better of you. While at first an affordable or free web hosting plan may feel like the best option you could have come around, it’s important that you check it thoroughly. Even if your business online doesn't generate a large sum as profit, you must choose wisely. Many web hosting services look cheap on the face of it, but overcharge you in the most unlikely ways in the long run.

A number of hosting services in India claim to offer everything you need to have your website up and running in one value-for-money bundle. This however, may not always be true. What may look like an enticing offer could simply be bait. And you don’t want to regret your actions and suffer losses, for the most obvious things.

There’s a reason why they are cheap

Website hosting in India is no longer an exclusive service. You have a number of options to choose from. You may want to check beforehand the cons of the web host instead of taking the plunge for your website directly. Most web hosts that come with a low price tag have many pitfalls. The commonest among them being poor services and that’s the last thing you want for your business website at least. Many a times, web hosts offer their services for free when they are not fully equipped with the necessary resources. Behind all those frills and fancies, a nightmare could be awaiting you.

In other cases, some web hosting companies play smart and offer basic functionalities for a limited period in the beginning for free or in an affordable bundle. However, once you are deep into the design of your website, you may be required to make inevitable upgrades that could burn a hole in your pocket. Server performance and age of hardware is another aspect you may want to check in cheap web hosting plans.

Downtime and performance

While even the best in the business may face troubled times online, excessive downtime of your web host server is a cause for concern. If your web host is not fully equipped in terms of hardware to deal with overcapacity, your website could be in a mess. More often than you’d like them to, visitors will be seen jumping to your competitor’s website for services and products that could be your forte. Without the appropriate infrastructure to support your website, a host could do more damage to your business than anything else.

While a number of hosting services in India offer shared allocation of resources and servers, you must be wary of the cheap ones. In most cases, sharing your server for free could see you spending large amounts of money on maintenance. It could also affect the performance of your website drastically. What’s more, free services usually see many anonymous users making the most of their features. Imagine sharing your server with a hacker! That could definitely be dangerous.

It isn't obviously necessary though that all web hosts offered at affordable prices or for free come with poor quality services and support. But, it’s best to stay cautious. A little money spent could go a long way in determining the future of your website and consequently your business.

Web Hosting- Choose your hosting company carefully before it is too late

Web Hosting

The market is crowded with web hosting services and sometimes making the appropriate choice can be quite tricky. It is hence essential that you pick your hosting company carefully, early on, rather than regret later. The main reason for this is that changing a host is definitely not one of the easiest things around and best avoided. What’s more, a reliable hosting company will only work in favor of your business.

Having to choose web hosting in India is no different than having to make a choice anywhere across the globe. When you pick a website hosting company, you can keep a check for the following points so that you don’t regret your choice:

• Obviously, the pre-requisite of a website, especially one for your business, is that it should be online for most parts. You must hence ensure that the web hosting services you pick are running on most occasions. While it’s okay to have a website down for a couple of hours once in a blue moon, if it happens more often, you definitely need to rethink your choice of web host provider. Downtime often leads consumers to jump to competitors, causing much loss to your business. 

• Expensive web hosting in India doesn't necessarily translate to better features. Check for reviews of the company you choose while also ensuring that all costing details are clearly communicated right from the word go. When you start off, it’s best to incur minimum costs. Typically, a good host will offer bandwidth, online storage and customer service for one flat price. 

• The security offered by your website hosting company should be clear. You must double check the policy your host offers. The company in question must not only be able to keep hackers at bay, but should also have all the necessary protection to keep customer information confidential. 

• The amount of bandwidth your hosting company offers you is another important aspect that should determine your choice of the provider. With less bandwidth at hand, you could be putting an unexpected cap on the traffic to your website, which in turn could damage your business. In addition limited bandwidth automatically means a slow website, which can put customers off. Imagine having to wait until eternity for a website to load! Keeping a track of your online visitors will help in this department.

• Another important pointer to keep in mind when you choose your web host provider is the email services offered. Make sure that you get enough resources to handle emails, since most communications in online businesses happen via email. 

• Yes, 24*7 customer service at your beck and call by your web host is as important as any of the things mentioned in this list. When you’re running a business online, you don’t want to be left in the lurch in times of crisis.

• Lastly, having the support of a host that gives you a free hand to add domains later will only be of much help. With this feature, you not only save on the money you spend, but can also organize your website constructively. 

The success of your online business can more often than not depend on your choice of web hosting provider. So, make the right pick, and give your business a much needed online boost. 

10 Tips to Follow When Switching a Web Host

Web Hosting Tips

You are unhappy with your provider and have made up your mind to switch your web host. This is definitely not one of the easiest jobs around. Nevertheless, if you remember a few things, you can almost certainly avoid pitfalls. Here are 10 tips that should ease the transition process:

Back-up: Transfer of a hosting service will have you looking at many things simultaneously. Hence taking a back-up of your web files and pages before you get started can help you in the long run. You don’t want to be worrying about lost files and misplaced pages, when there are other important things that demand attention.

Operating System: It is very important that you check the hosting plan of both your current and new provider. Often, if not paid attention to, this can lead to a broken website. Check and compare the similarities and differences in functionality as far as operating system of the hosts is concerned.
Storage: Assess the storage of your existing website much in advance. This will allow you to choose the correct web host to make the desired switch. Your new plan should have the ability to store not just your current website storage needs, but a little bit more too. The storage plan should typically be your total storage, log files and emails included.

Bandwidth: When you buy hosting, it is inevitable that you check for the amount of bandwidth offered. It should be at least on par with your existing provider. Not knowing about your bandwidth details can see you spend extra money with a new web host.

Shopping Cart: If yours is purely a business website, your new provider must be capable of either accommodating your shopping cart from your previous host or offer a new one that suits your requirements. This feature is essential if your site requires visitors to add their purchases to a shopping cart before proceeding further.

Mail Support: Another often ignored feature is that of email accounts. You must know in advance whether your new hosting provider will offer email accounts in the same quantity as your current provider. You may also want to check for mail forwards and auto responses.

Uploading Content: Hosting a website on a new provider can make you quite hassled, if you didn’t already check for the ease at which you can upload content. The functions and features of different hosts are obviously going to be different. It is important for you to check the know-how of your new provider as far as file uploads to the server is concerned. Most hosts offer to help you transfer your files.

FrontPage support: If your existing website deploys FrontPage, it is only essential that you check whether your new provider does so too. In addition to this, make sure that you check the version of FrontPage supported by both hosts is the same as well.

Email Set-up: Before you transfer your website to a new host, you must have your current email accounts set up on the new server. This ensures that there are no hassles and confusions later.

Script support: Lastly, your new provider must lend a helping hand to all your existing scripts on your website. Hosting a website on a new provider may require you to make relevant changes to your current scripts for smooth functioning.

How to Choose a Web Host in a Sea of Options

Web Host

The online space is crowded with a number of options for web hosting. Making the right choice can hence be a tedious process. Planning and research should however solve most of your dilemma as far as website hosting is concerned. Scour the internet for options, weigh the pros and cons and finally make a choice based on your requirements.

What do web hosts do?

Web hosts are typically designed to add functionality to your website. Depending on the company and the bundle offered, the features can be varied. While some may come packed with storage space and web connectivity, others may have limited email storage space. Categorically, you must be able to identify the hosting services that best suit your need. Whether your website should include shared hosting, committed web hosting or collocation hosting will purely depend on the extent to which you look at expanding your business online. Hosting services are meant to keep at bay the troubles and complexities involved in managing and maintaining your website. So choose wisely.

Tips to keep in mind when choosing website hosting:

Free Hosting: If you go for a hosting service that is free, more often than not, the company will impose adverts on your web page. This may include pop-ups, banners, an advertising frame etc. While banners and frames are still okay, pop-up windows can be really annoying, especially if you are launching a new website. Thus, it is important that you clearly make-up your mind about going with a particular service of this kind that doesn't require you to pay any money.

FTP: FTP or File Transfer Protocol is the commonest way people transfer web pages and files to the server. In most cases, it is important that you enjoy the services of a web host that throws in seamless FTP access for good measure. You must be able to upload and download content without any hassles. Most online website creation tools give you the option of designing webpages online which though useful for starters can be quite troublesome when you look at expanding your website.

Dependability and Speed: While many people are of the opinion that these two factors can be ignored, bear in mind that these are the determining features to help you choose your provider. In the ever-competitive market, the last thing on your mind should be a website that is more down than up and running. Since the web is crowded with options, most users will jump to other businesses if they can’t access your website. The host must thus be reliable. Another important thing is the speed at which your site can be accessed. And this should be the speed, irrelevant of peak and non-peak hours.

Technical Support: You may consider yourself to be a tech whiz, but 24*7 technical support never hurt anyone. Your host must include a staff that is working on all days and at any given time, since inconveniences never announce their arrival. In this respect, it would be foolish to believe someone purely by word of mouth. Ensure that you test their services and competence before taking the plunge.

Shared Web Hosting: Well, the term pretty much speaks for itself. A shared web hosting service is cost-effective for more reasons than one. The price you pay for server maintenance will be shared by other people who may be using its services along with you. Thus, it’s a great option for those who are just starting with their website. What’s more, you can rest assured about security updates and software installations since that too should be taken care of by the providers.

There are many hosting providers in India, who meet the above criteria. With the aforementioned tips at hand, you should be able to make a good choice.