Find the Host With the Most

Written by Jason Shpik


Findrepparttar Host Withrepparttar 134398 Most No one can deny thatrepparttar 134399 quality and reliability of your Web presence can make or break your business. The average attention span of a Web surfer is a mere 20 seconds, and your competition is always just a click away if load times and connectivity aren't fast, reliable, and browser-compliant. Support and back-end infrastructure are just as critical to your Website as aesthetic appeal. A gorgeous, multi-tiered graphical interface is useless if no one can get to it – and no one will try more than once. Likerepparttar 134400 stage and silver screen, you get one audition, and that's it.

For this reason, running your own server is a tempting prospect. You have total control, and can configure and reconfigure to your heart's content, without having to concede to bandwidth limits or third-party server failures. Even SOHO businesses can afford to purchaserepparttar 134401 industry-standard HTML editors, and no expensive hardware is needed to quickly create a Website. But opting to do it yourself without countingrepparttar 134402 costs and consequences can end your business, or cause your site to be dismissed as amateurish. While amateur construction is adequate for home or hobby sites, it is increasingly necessary to outsource your hosting needs if you wish to operate as an effective eCommerce vendor.

Quite simply, eBusiness doesn't end withrepparttar 134403 Website. Aside from handlingrepparttar 134404 traffic that your site will attract, you need your server to maintain a constant connection torepparttar 134405 Internet while simultaneously accommodatingrepparttar 134406 needs of outside users. Few desktop PCs can handle such a load, and many home DSL and cable modem ISPs frequently prohibit hosting or any other high-bandwidth activities, which are so critical to eCommerce. Furthermore, there arerepparttar 134407 costs of site security, data backup, power back-up, redundancy, upgrades and transaction tracking to contend with, expenses that are far beyondrepparttar 134408 resources of evenrepparttar 134409 wealthiest of small businesses. Furthermore, someone will have to constantly monitor and manage your infrastructure to ensure a constant level of connectivity, which will requirerepparttar 134410 hiring of very expensive IT professionals.

A Web host will take care of all of this for you, for a monthly fee that is a fraction ofrepparttar 134411 amount you would pay to purchase these services and hardware on your own. Many people are leery of turning control of their business over to a third party, and because of this unwarranted fear are dismissingrepparttar 134412 security and benefits that a host can provide. You are not outsourcing your business; rather, you are outsourcingrepparttar 134413 responsibility for keeping your business up and running. Inrepparttar 134414 same way that a bricks-and-mortar warehouse hires security staff to watchrepparttar 134415 grounds, a Web host will keep a constant vigil over your virtual property, so you can focus on what's important: building your business.

Web hosts allow small businesses to play inrepparttar 134416 same arena asrepparttar 134417 corporate giants, giving them competitive bandwidth and traffic volume accommodation. Most importantly, your Web host will help you secure a domain name, something that most individual ISPs and free hosting accounts (such as Yahoo!) can't offer. Having a lengthy URL indicates that your business is hosted on a free server, and its amateur appearance will confuse your customers. Imaginerepparttar 134418 traffic that would be generated by a simple URL such as www.acmeflorists.com compared to www.yahoo.com/~128.hmpg/client2434/net~mypage/index_ acmeflorists!

But how do you choose a Web hosting service out ofrepparttar 134419 hundreds that are available? You'll have to do some careful shopping to findrepparttar 134420 services and relationship you need, asrepparttar 134421 wrong decision can be disastrous.

When shopping for a Web host, connectivity and reliability are key. The longer it takes for customers to access your Website,repparttar 134422 more likely you'll lose customers. Of course, no one's perfect. Connectivity time will fluctuate on a cyclical basis withrepparttar 134423 flow of daily traffic, but you should insist on a guaranteed connectivity rate of 95% when seeking a host. Aside from that, there are a few other issues to consider before making a final decision:

Look torepparttar 134424 future

As your customer base and revenue grows, your site may requirerepparttar 134425 addition of server-side scripting, eCommerce and database support, and a large bandwidth to accommodate audio and video streaming. Free hosting sites never offer these kinds of advanced features, but many commercial hosts don't offer them either. Make sure your host is big enough to accommodate your future needs, as well as your present ones.

Know thyself

Onrepparttar 134426 other hand, don't empty your bank account paying for services you don't need.

The most basic level of service from a Web host typically positions your site among a number of others on a single machine, with a virtual domain name that points torepparttar 134427 URL of your page. This is known as shared hosting, and is adequate forrepparttar 134428 simple "text-and-GIFs" variety of Website.

As your company grows, however, you will probably want to move from static HTML to incorporate more interactive elements into your site. Since this requires more bandwidth, you should probably move to a machine with more resources, and fewer sites vying for them. If you want to add streaming video, audio, or high-level graphics and forms to your site, your should probably switch to a dedicated server, which means having an entire machine to yourself. The host owns, maintains, and backs uprepparttar 134429 server while providing allrepparttar 134430 security, power management, and other aspects of maintaining a data center.

The highest level of service a Web host can offer is a Colocated Server. You ownrepparttar 134431 hardware, but it's physically located atrepparttar 134432 host's facility. The advantage of this is that you can chooserepparttar 134433 bandwidth you'll need, whilerepparttar 134434 host provides a clear pipe torepparttar 134435 Internet. Unfortunately, it also means you'll have to pay for any and all security and firewall provisions, as you won't be protected byrepparttar 134436 host's firewall. While this gives you complete control overrepparttar 134437 level of security you desire, it can be quite expensive.

Demand prompt service and performance

The popularity of your site will be directly affected by your host's level of service. Slow load times due to an overburdened server will send your customers elsewhere. Furthermore, a long update-to-live lag time can be disastrous - especially if you have a large, constantly fluctuating inventory. For example, you may want to set up a special page for a new promotion, linked torepparttar 134438 very expensive marketing campaign that your business is involved in. A few quick HTML entries are all that's required, but if you have to wait days for your host's IT staff to dorepparttar 134439 job, you could lose your marketing momentum and renderrepparttar 134440 initiative useless.

No matter how renowned your host is, technical problems will occur. As such, demand 24-hour, 7-days-a-week technical support for all your applications. If a host claims to already offer this, check! Call their tech line at 3:00a.m. on a Sunday to see if anyone is really there. Ensure that there is some sort of written agreement regarding service, which ideally will provide you with financial compensation inrepparttar 134441 event of failure.

Choosing The Wrong Server Will Literally Make Or Break You

Written by Rich Hamilton


Choosing The Wrong Server Will Literally Make Or Break You

by: Rich Hamilton

Choosingrepparttar right web server will be one ofrepparttar 134397 most important decisions you will ever make with your online business. Why? Becauserepparttar 134398 web server you choose will literally make or break your online business.

Today I am going to talk about two types of servers, one is Virtual Web Hosting andrepparttar 134399 other is Virtual Private Servers.

Overrepparttar 134400 last couple of years Virtual Web Hosting has beenrepparttar 134401 only way to go when choosing a web server. One ofrepparttar 134402 reasons that Virtual Web Hosting became so popular was because they supportedrepparttar 134403 necessary files and allowed you to have more freedom than other conventional web hosts. But now you can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. Moreover, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, because they are completely different.

Before I go any further I must explain whatrepparttar 134404 difference is between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server, so that you can fully understand. In this article I will also go overrepparttar 134405 advantages and disadvantages of both types of servers, to help you decide which is right for you and your business. Let's get started with Virtual Hosting.

Virtual Hosting

Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared Web Hosting, where you are sharingrepparttar 134406 physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting has been extremely popular inrepparttar 134407 past for it's fast deployment, strong resources, and most importantly for having a very reasonable price. Another advantage to Virtual Hosting is that you have a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server without having to have advanced technical skills, making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a beginner webmaster.

The disadvantage of Virtual Hosting is that you are sharingrepparttar 134408 server with other users, which are configured and controlled by an administrator, not you. So basically you have your hands tied behind your back, because you have to contactrepparttar 134409 administrator everytime you have to adjust or change your configuration settings. Even if you managed to get a hold ofrepparttar 134410 administrator, they may not fulfill your request. It's up to them, they arerepparttar 134411 administrator. If you wererepparttar 134412 administrator you wouldn't have these limitations and would have full control.

Virtual Private Servers

Virtual Private Servers are a hot topic these days and for a good reason. Before I get intorepparttar 134413 advantages of a Virtual Private Server, let explain what it is first. A Virtual Private Server is a single server that is partitioned atrepparttar 134414 root into multiple dedicated servers. This allows you to sharerepparttar 134415 cost ofrepparttar 134416 network connectivity, hardware, and system maintenance with other hosting customers, while maintaining your flexibility and freedom.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use