USA Reseller Web Hosting: Unix or Microsoft?

USA Reseller Web Hosting: Unix or Microsoft?

If you're in the USA, and you're planning to get into the USA reseller web hosting industry, you need to consider one major issue, first and foremost: would you like to offer Unix-ready features along with Microsoft-only ones?

Offering Microsoft-only services may seem to be the smart choice, but supporting Unix is its own asset, which could open a world of opportunities for you as a USA reseller web hosting outfit. In fact, if you have avenues to ask for both Microsoft and Unix support from your web host, all the better!

One downside to reselling web space instead of putting up your own server is that you don't get to control the basics. As a reseller, you may be able to change things around via the standard control panel. You may even have limited access to certain features like merchant accounts and secure site hosting. But when you want to switch between operating systems, or OS-es - it's unfortunately not your call, but your web host's.

Web hosts determine the kind of OS-es that run on their servers. Many web hosts offer both Windows and Unix features, by using Unix machines as servers, and then just running Windows programs and servers within these machines. Over time, Unix server OSes have become increasingly tolerant of Windows programs, which makes a Unix server a sweet deal for web hosts and resellers alike.

Unix servers are cost efficient because they are ideal for running open source programs. Preferring open source programs help save on operational costs, since they're mostly free for use, depending on the specifications of the persons or outfits who developed the codes to be used. When you run paid programs or servers on your machines, you don't only need to think of the cost of buying the software - you also need to consider the potential costs of license renewal.

There is, after all, no assurance that software licensing will cost the same throughout the years! And you have to consider that in your profit projections if you are running a webhost. Thankfully, you don't need to be concerned with that as a reseller. However, as a reseller, you should be aware of what software your potential customers will need.

If your web host only supports Unix and open source features, you run the risk of losing a big part of your clientele. But you run the same risk if your host only supports Microsoft and Windows! As a USA reseller web hosting outfit, you should be intimately aware of the needs of your target market.

Need web hosting ? Compare before you buy

Need web hosting ? Compare before you buy

The internet is one of the most important tools in the modern times. What started off as simply a mode of transfer of data is today used for a wide variety of purposes. Today, it plays a very important role in commerce and finance, all across the globe. These days, a large number of products are sold over the net. So, you will find products ranging from safety pins to cars and nails to large factories on sale on the internet. It is perhaps due to this ever growing popularity, that a large number of firms, enter the arena of internet marketing.

As a result of this, more and more websites are coming up each day. As a matter of fact, it does not seem to be a distant reality, that some day, every person would be having a separate website of his or her own. In order to cater to this growing demand for websites, web hosting services have come up as an effective tool. In recent times, a number of portals have come up, which offer web hosting services. These websites offer various web hosting plans that you can choose from, depending upon your requirements. However, one of the most important aspects in this regard, is to select the appropriate web hosting service. It gets typically difficult, to select an appropriate service which can help you achieve your objective.

Web Hosting Geeks can be of great help in this regard, in case you are facing such a dilemma. This particular site, offers you reviews of the various sites, which offer web hosting services, dedicated server hosting and other products. This would help you in analyzing the various plans that are being offered to you and eventually in the selection of the appropriate plan, which suits your requirements. This site provides you with unbiased and independent reviews of web hosting providers, which provide the best in terms of price and value. It provides a view of economical web hosting services with a fee structure of $10 a month. Also, all the web hosting plans offer at least one free domain name registration, as well as thirty days money back guarantee. So, now, you can have a review of the web hosts.

Dedicated servers offer a number of advantages for your business. Irrespective of whether you are running an ecommerce web site or you are looking for extra security, dedicated servers play a very vital role. In this regard, this website also can provide you with adequate assistance.

You can also opt for green hosting services and contribute towards environmental cause. Green web hosts are those, which make use of renewable sources of energy, for running their datacenters.

What is Linux/Unix-based hosting?

It means hosting that is provided on Linux/Unix operating systems platforms. There isn't much difference between these two types of operating systems because Linux/Unix is an improved version of Linux/Unix operating system. When just applying for web hosting companies for web hosting that is based on Linux operating system it doesn't matter which one you are using on your computer as it is commensurable with any operating system.

Usability
Some years ago Linux operating system used to be available only for professionals and if you were not an experienced user you had no future with this OS. In the last couple of years the situation has changed. Providers have done their best to make users' web sites administrating more comfortable and easier. In case you're just a beginner you'll find friendly control panels that include Web- interface. And if you are an experienced user you can control your site by means of shell.

Reliability
Experts claim that Unix-based platform is one of the most reliable ones but it will mainly depend on maintenance stuff professionalism. Thus quality and stability of Linux-based web hosting won't depend on some sudden system bugs and the operating system consistency itself secures your web site operating dependability.

Functionality
In this area Linux differs the most from other popular platforms. It can handle a lot of processes that happen at the same time. This gives you a possibility to get more from the server.

What Scripting Languages Are Available For Unix?
Unix supports a wide variety of application languages, more than any other operating system. The most common applications of such kind include C, C++, Shell, Perl, Tcl, Python, Java and PHP.

What Databases Does Unix Support?
Databases available for Unix are mSQL and mySQL. The one you choose would depend on your own needs and your Host Provider's offers. This is important for you to review when choosing a hosting company.

Cost
Linux operating system was developed by Linus Torvalds as an alternative to other operating systems and is being improved by many specialists all around the world. Most of its versions are free of charge. This circumstance makes Linux-based hosting much cheaper than any other. As for Linux versions they are sometimes called Linux Distributions. The most popular Distributions are RedHat and Mandrake. Which are easy to install have a lot of different utilities and suitable for any web hosting type.

Why choose Linux/Unix-based hosting?
So, as it was mentioned before using this platform is cheaper and more convenient than others. All existent scripts, like PHP, function best when using the Linux-based web hosting. Linux/Unix based web hosting upgrading possibilities increase when using Shell and Telnet access. The Linux/Unix-based platform is probably the most stable and reliable.

ASP Hosting Simplified

ASP Hosting Simplified

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. It is a technology that enables users to design and creative interactive pages for their websites, using something called “server-side scripting. What do we mean by interactive? Forms, in-site search engines, blogs, user forums, newsletters, calendars, WhoIs searches, web-based email, polls, surveys, hit counters and more.

Best of all, with ASP, no longer do webmasters have to concern themselves with what browser a visitor to their site is using. With ASP hosting, your website will appear identically on all computers, on all browsers, a claim that HTML simply cannot make.

Anytime a browser requests a webpage that has the .asp extension where the more familiar .htm or .html would be, the hosting providers web server interprets any ASP scripts in the program first and foremost, before delivering any HTML info to the browser. This is why you cannot simply run ASP websites with just any hosting company. The hosting company you choose must have servers that support ASP, or else the ASP scripts you use will be rendered useless.

When examining web hosting companies to find one that supports ASP, you must look specifically for ASP support. Do not simply assume that because a hosting company supports “most web-based scripts, from CGI to Perl that it supports ASP. If it doesnt say so in an obvious place on the sales site, go to the hosting companys FAQ and look for ASP. And since most FAQs are searchable, this shouldnt be difficult to do. If youre really enamored with a particular hosting company (or their current promotion) but can find no information on ASP support, consider contacting them via email, telephone, or web chat to find out. Its possible that they do support ASP and just have a lousy sales site (which may be an indicator of an altogether different sort).

Microsoft brought ASP to the world, and as such provides the platform - Windows - on which ASP generally works best. In order to play around with ASP scripts on your web pages, youll have to download and install onto your system an ASP server, like Microsofts Internet Information Services (IIS) or Microsofts Personal Web Server (PWS) -- one or both of which is included with most Windows packages for no extra charge. If you use Windows on your machine and have never encountered IIS or PWS, chances are its because you have to the program to your hard drive using the Windows software CD-ROM or through your control panel, since its often not included as part of the “Basic Install.

Incidentally, Windows ME and Windows XP Home Edition are lacking in support for ASP scripts. But were willing to bet the forthcoming Windows Vista probably does.

For those webmasters on a PC that isnt Windows-based, all hope is not lost. Sun Microsystems has developed a program called Chili!Soft ASP that allows other servers -- such as Red Hat, Apache, and Secure Server -- and other operating systems -- such as Linux, Solaris, and AIX -- to support ASP hosting.

Writing and using ASP scripts is easy too -- at least its no harder than HTML, with all commands occurring between and instead of and. Not so big a difference, is there? And you can find an abundance of software tools all over the web (many for free) that helps even the greenest novice create interactive web pages rife with ASP.

ASP is such a versatile language that more and more hosting companies are finding themselves compelled to add ASP support to their hosting packages just to remain competitive. This, of course, is only to your advantage as you can comparison shop around for the best ASP hosting offerings right alongside all the other features youre looking for.

ASP Hosting Simplified

ASP Hosting Simplified

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. It is a technology that enables users to design and creative interactive pages for their websites, using something called “server-side scripting. What do we mean by interactive? Forms, in-site search engines, blogs, user forums, newsletters, calendars, WhoIs searches, web-based email, polls, surveys, hit counters and more.

Best of all, with ASP, no longer do webmasters have to concern themselves with what browser a visitor to their site is using. With ASP hosting, your website will appear identically on all computers, on all browsers, a claim that HTML simply cannot make.

Anytime a browser requests a webpage that has the .asp extension where the more familiar .htm or .html would be, the hosting providers web server interprets any ASP scripts in the program first and foremost, before delivering any HTML info to the browser. This is why you cannot simply run ASP websites with just any hosting company. The hosting company you choose must have servers that support ASP, or else the ASP scripts you use will be rendered useless.

When examining web hosting companies to find one that supports ASP, you must look specifically for ASP support. Do not simply assume that because a hosting company supports “most web-based scripts, from CGI to Perl that it supports ASP. If it doesnt say so in an obvious place on the sales site, go to the hosting companys FAQ and look for ASP. And since most FAQs are searchable, this shouldnt be difficult to do. If youre really enamored with a particular hosting company (or their current promotion) but can find no information on ASP support, consider contacting them via email, telephone, or web chat to find out. Its possible that they do support ASP and just have a lousy sales site (which may be an indicator of an altogether different sort).

Microsoft brought ASP to the world, and as such provides the platform - Windows - on which ASP generally works best. In order to play around with ASP scripts on your web pages, youll have to download and install onto your system an ASP server, like Microsofts Internet Information Services (IIS) or Microsofts Personal Web Server (PWS) -- one or both of which is included with most Windows packages for no extra charge. If you use Windows on your machine and have never encountered IIS or PWS, chances are its because you have to the program to your hard drive using the Windows software CD-ROM or through your control panel, since its often not included as part of the “Basic Install.

Incidentally, Windows ME and Windows XP Home Edition are lacking in support for ASP scripts. But were willing to bet the forthcoming Windows Vista probably does.

For those webmasters on a PC that isn’t Windows-based, all hope is not lost. Sun Microsystems has developed a program called Chili!Soft ASP that allows other servers -- such as Red Hat, Apache, and Secure Server -- and other operating systems -- such as Linux, Solaris, and AIX -- to support ASP hosting.

Writing and using ASP scripts is easy too -- at least its no harder than HTML, with all commands occurring between. Not so big a difference, is there? And you can find an abundance of software tools all over the web (many for free) that helps even the greenest novice create interactive web pages rife with ASP.

ASP is such a versatile language that more and more hosting companies are finding themselves compelled to add ASP support to their hosting packages just to remain competitive. This, of course, is only to your advantage as you can comparison shop around for the best ASP hosting offerings right alongside all the other features your looking for.

8 Things You Need To Know When Changing Your Web Host

8 Things You Need To Know When Changing Your Web Host

Changing from one web host to another can become necessary if your website becomes popular and your current host can't meet your needs for bandwidth, storage, etc. This can be especially true if your site is hosted on a free web host.

If a move become necessary, be sure to plan it carefully. The first step is to decide on a new hosting company, of course.

Once you have found a host that can meet all your needs, you need to move your site on to the new server. Before making any moves, be sure to back up your website from the old host.

If your website isn't well structured and has been growing haphazardly, this is a good time to consider redesigning things. That could simply mean a new page design or it could mean redesigning your database and content storage.

For the first 48 hours after moving to a new host, you should use a redirect page on your old site, that automatically forwards people to the new one. This will ensure that your visitors will see the new site, even if its IP address hasn't propogated yet.

It takes about 48 hours for a new website to get listed on most domain servers across the internet, so after that you should be fine.

A few more suggestions for an easy transition include:

1. Find out whether your new host is running on Unix or Windows and make sure it will be compatible with everything you're moving from the old host.

2. Check to see how much storage you need for all your files and content on your current site, and make sure you get enough on the new host to give you room to grow.

3. Check to see what services your new host offers, and make sure anything you have been using on your current host (like autoresponders, mail forwarding, etc.) is available.

4. If your current website is created using Microsoft Frontpage, make sure your new host supports Frontpage extensions.

5. Check to see what your new host's policy is for extra bandwidth, in case your site continues to get busier.

6. If the new host's server is a shared server, check to make sure there are no adult sites hosted on the same system. They can get busy and cause all the other sites on the same server to slow down.

7. Check the review sites and forums for customer feedback about your new host before signing up. These are good indicators of the level of service you can expect.

Once you have your data uploaded to your new host, test your site to make sure it's working properly. You should be able to preview your site before you fully switch your domain name to the new address.

Small Business Owners Web Hosting Guide

Small Business Owners Web Hosting Guide

Your small business website needs to be hosted on a web server or simply a server (another name for computer) that is connected to the World Wide Web so that anyone can access your website.

Choosing a web hosting company for your small business website is easy if you follow the guide I have layout for you. Depending on the scale of your business, the type of business you run and your level of technical competency, there will always be a right hosting provider just for your business.

The general rule of thumb in choosing a web hosting provider boils down to:

Excellent Customer Support

Company Stability

Robust Datacenter

Affordability

Excellent Customer Support If all things being equal, I would rate customer support as my number 1 determining factor in choosing a web hosting provider. Relying on testimonials found on the provider's site is a common approach to assess a company's level of customer excellence but it is also quite an outdated one. After all it's not uncommon for some providers to fake the testimonials. Instead I suggest you follow my way of assessing their customer support.

Sizing its level of customer support is sometimes as easy as finding out whether they have enough employees to support their level of business growth. You should look at the Customer to Employee ratio, CE ratio, as a benchmark.

For example, according to our records SiteSell Inc has approximately 15,000 customers and employs about 30 support staff, it has a CE ratio of 500 (15,000/30 = 500), you can expect a much higher level of customer satisfaction and a faster response time when compared to another provider who is serving 100,000 customers but only have 75 support staff. Their CE ratio would stand at approximately 1,333. Basically you should look for a professional hosting provider with a low CE ratio.

Getting As Close As You Can The other accurate way to assess the real status of its customer service is to get as close as you can to the company whenever possible via the following means:

Live Chat - Check to see if it's 24/7. It helps to know that you can have your questions answered almost immediately with a live chat function. Test it out by answering some basic questions to see its response time and also test its level of technical competency. Not critical but it's good to have.

Email - Send them a test mail to see how fast they respond, allowed up to 24 hours. Ask about anything but just do not be afraid to ask.

Number of Telephone Lines - Check to see if there are separate telephone lines for sales, customer service and technical support. I hate companies who use only 1 line to serve everyone. A professional small business hosting provider should have this in place. It is not uncommon for reputable providers to charge for telephone support.

Forum - The real condition of any web hosting company's customer support is really found in its members forum if any. You will get a good dose of complains and praises but if the complains outnumber the compliments; it's time to raise a red flag.

Company Stability A company's stability can be measured by the length of time they have been in business, the number of customers they have served and are serving and lastly their financial standing.

Personally as a business owner myself, a web hosting company that has been around for at least 5 years would have weathered all sorts of ups and downs in the online world, and their chance of being around is much higher than a company that has been around for less than 1 year.

Financial Stability Though public listed web hosting providers have better financial transparency than the privately-owned ones, they are not necessary always in a better financial shape than them. Bottom line, you would host your small business with a company that you know is growing in their customer base. For example, Interland having been in business since 1995 is currently serving less than 200,000 websites and this number has been decreasing. It is most likely less profitable when compared to IPower in operation since 2001 and is serving over 400,000 websites as of this writing!

Another aspect of company stability lies in its ability to remain relevant in this highly competitive industry. For example, as the number of internet users increase and streaming multi-media becomes the norm, you want to place your business with a profitable web hosting company who is able to constantly improve on their offerings so that the performance of your website is able to keep up with visitors' expectations.

Robust Datacenter Datacenters are where the web servers are resided on, and ultimately where your webpages will be accessed from. A strong and credible small business web hosting company would have the ability to own and managed their data centers or through colocation.

On one hand it might seem that is the best thing any decent web hosting company would do, but on the other hand, there seems to be a trend whereby the marketing and sale aspect of the hosting business has been outsourced to resellers.

The rationale behind this is quite simple, a web hosting company should focus on what it does best, i.e. make sure all servers are up and running. And a reseller role is to sell the hosting plans and is to focus entirely on doing just that without getting bogged down by technical issues.

Almost all the state of the art data centers should come equip with high level of security, uninterruptible power supplies and most importantly employs the latest technology to enable your website to be always up and running and is always accessible by high connectivity, i.e. fast access to your website.

Affordability Before I elaborate further, it's important to establish that after qualifying a company with the above points, there is no such thing as the best small business web hosting plan, but only the right hosting plan for your business. This is probably the last thing you should look at before deciding on the hosting provider.

Generally there are 2 main types of hosting that are available for you to choose from. They are the Linux web hosting and windows web hosting. Within these 2 platforms there are also another few subcategories of web hosting types that you need to understand before you can finally decide on the right web hosting for your small business.

To continue reading this article, please visit my site Small-Business-Web-Hosting-Guide.com for a no-nonsense approach to assessing web hosting companies for small business owners.

Web Site Hosting : From Domain Registration to Getting it Online

Web Site Hosting : From Domain Registration to Getting it Online

Once you've chosen your domain name and got it registered, what's your next step?

Your web host will give you the details you need to get your site up and running. This will include passwords to log into your website account, the paths to the directories where you need to upload your information, and most importantly the addresses of your domain name servers.

DNS servers are the link between your domain name (mydomain.com) and your IP address (a numbered address like 123.456.78.9. Every web server on the internet has a unique IP address.

If your website is hosted on a dedicated server, your IP address is unique to your website. Your website will respond whether someone types the domain name or the IP address into their browser.

Most websites are hosted on shared servers, however. What this means is that a single server hosts many websites, and each one shares the same IP address. If you enter the IP address of a shared server in your browser, it won't display your website.

DNS is the "translation" layer between domain names and IP addresses that allows multiple sites on one server.

Configuring Your Website On DNS

When you register your domain name, it will be pointing to the DNS servers for your chosen registrar. Until you have a account set up with a hosting service, your domain will usually point to an error page or an "under construction" page.

Keep in mind that there's no time limit between registering your domain and choosing a web host. Some people register domains and never actually get a website hosted on them.

If you've bought your domain with plans to use it, you'll need to sign up for an account with a web host and upload your website's files to their server.

The first step in making your website active is to change the DNS servers on file with your domain registrar to the ones that are given to you by your web host.

The DNS server information will look similar to this:

Primary Name Server: NS1.SOMEDOMAIN.COM (123.456.78.9) Secondary Name Server: NS2.SOMEDOMAIN.COM (123.456.7.89)

You'll get this information from your hosting company when you sign up for a hosting account. If you can't find this information, you'll need to contact your web host to get it. Otherwise your website won't be accessible from the internet.

Once you have this information from your host, you'll need to change the settings on file with your registrar to the new addresses. If your domain name was included with the purchase of your hosting, the web host will normally update this information for you automatically.

Once the DNS servers are registered it can take up to 48 hours for your site to be accessible across the internet. This is because of the way the DNS system works.

The domain names and IP addresses are stored in a database that is distributed through thousands of computers around the world. Each computer keeps a small part of the database cached and if they get a request for an unknown domain, they have to forward that request to another computer until the information is found.

This database gets updated on a constant basis on each of these computers, but it can take some time for your new website's information to spread throughout the world.

7 Simple Steps For Choosing A Great Web Host

7 Simple Steps For Choosing A Great Web Host

There are thousands of web hosts around today with thousands of plans to choose from making what was once a simple procedure seem like a daunting task for both newbie and pro alike.

Whether you're looking for your first host or looking to move on to a better one there are 7 simple steps you must follow to succeed in choosing a great host.

1. Platform
The first and most crucial step in choosing a web host is determining the platform the web server should run, usually a choice between Unix/Linux and Windows.

Your choice is largely determined by your website and the technologies used to create it, generally a website created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) will run on Windows servers while most other sites using open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Linux based systems.

2. Features
Once you've chosen your platform the next step is determining the features you'll need from your web host. Take your time with this step as the feature lists of web hosts are getting longer and longer every day and while some plans may look similar on the surface, a good look at the feature lists may tell another story.

Only you can determine the specific features you'll need, but some key things to keep an eye on are:

Disk Space
Bandwidth
Backups
Uptime
Money Back Guarantee
Domains Allowed
Databases (Number & type)
CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, SSI
Cron
Email accounts

The list goes on and on, just remember to take your time and make sure your new web host is going to provide you with everything you need.

3. Cost
Often this is the only thing people consider when choosing their first web host, funds are usually tight and on the surface most hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lucky and choose a good host, but more often than not it turns out to be a horror story.

I can't stress enough that choosing a web host based on price alone is asking for trouble, remember that the cost of your web hosting is more than just the monthly fee, think about the total cost of ownership. TCO includes lost sales due to downtime & slow speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth charges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and your monthly fee.

Many hosts will require you to pay yearly to get the best price available though there are some that allow you to pay by the month and still get the best price, it's really a matter of personal choice as to what payment method works best for you.

4. Customer Service
Customer service is another aspect that is often forgotten about until it is too late, something breaks and you need it fixed and those wonderfully handy sales people who were more than helpful in taking your money are now nowhere to be seen, all the while you're losing out on sales every minute.

You shouldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 service, your website needs to be running all the time so it's no good if your hosting company doesn't work during the holidays. Don't take the web hosting companies word for it, they all claim 24/7 support but few back it up with consistent performance. Be sure to test them out at various times of the day and night via phone, email and live chat if they offer it.

5. Support
An extensive knowledge base or faq can be a real time saver as well as being an indication of the level of customer service support and expertise you can expect to receive. Spend some time browsing the support sections of the website and see for yourself the level of support provided.

Are questions in the knowledge base answered thoroughly? Are real solutions provided or are they just “cut and pasteâ replies?

6. Longevity
Do a whois on the web host's domain name and find out the creation date, anything less than a year ago and the risk that they won't be around next year increases. They could be a great host, but considering more then 95% of new hosts go out of business within a year that really isn't something you should be taking a chance on.

7. Uptime
It's a fact of life that a web host cannot be online 100% of the time, servers need to be rebooted for security and software updates and any web host that doesn't get updated faces the increased risk of being successfully hacked.

99.9% uptime guarantees are pretty standard in the industry however a guarantee is only as good as how it is defined and the company behind it. Look for no less than a full months free hosting should they not meet their guarantee, a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime which ends up being about 33 cents.

There you go, 7 simple steps for choosing a great web host. It's not rocket science, just a little research and investigating that can save a lot of heartache in the future.

Game Server Hosting - Ping or Die

Game Server Hosting - Ping or Die

Game servers are usually developed in a form of a standard component that can be found in many games that have a multiplayer option. After this kind of business became popular, hosting companies immediately responded to the growing demand and started offering dedicated servers for online gaming to both those who want to make business and to those who are simply enthusiastic. Generally game server hosting caters to two main groups of online games – those available from the main server, and those that operate through a series of distributed ones.

Centralized servers are mostly often used to host games that require these servers to be able to host thousands of users playing at the same time. The main server stores all the necessary data about the game environment and the cyber world is there 24 hours 7 days a week. The game goes on no matter if the user is online or offline. To participate in the game, a player usually needs special client software that connects to the main server. One of the most popular game using the technology of centralized servers is the World of Warcraft.

Another model is the distributed servers technology. This one is usually utilized by enthusiasts and small businesses. In this model the software is distributed onto several dedicated game servers. As an example, real-time strategies are usually based on this technology. They need frequent updates of the game world that is executed through messaging between users and servers. There should be a master server in this chain to control messaging between the whole bunch of distributed servers. Low latency and fast ping time - that is what needed for this model to be successful and ensure the fast speed of messages reaching the server and coming back to the user. Users usually choose servers with the best ping rates and connect to them to play online. That is why game server hosting companies connect their servers to the fastest networks. Security, operating system and applications tweaking and thorough configuration are also very important.

Hosting providers usually supply their clients with game server hosting services that include the most technologically advanced servers and network connections, very often with the preinstalled software to start online gaming business immediately. The most popular games using the technology of distributed servers are: Doom 3, Medal of Honor, Halo, Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, Quake 3 etc.

Game server hosting providers are expected to significantly increase their revenue due to such rapid growth figures of online gaming. Many hosting companies have already build up a wide range of special game server hosting offers including even those for $30-40 a month. This is significantly cheaper than many low-performance dedicated servers.

How to Make Money with Web Hosting

How to Make Money with Web Hosting

We all know that web hosting is the basis of all web sites. It helps us attract visitors, it displays what we are desperately trying to get across, and it allows us to survive in the cut throat internet world. While these are all important qualities that come with web hosting, there are many other opportunities. Dying to make extra cash? Surprisingly, web hosting can actually help with your bills. In a few simple steps, you will be on your way to a richer lifestyle.

Fortunately, there is a new trend in the web industry. Reseller Hosting, which consists of purchasing a web hosting package and reselling it for a larger price, has been making webmasters just a few cents richer. Although this sounds like a daunting task, it actually only requires a large amount of space. Once the webmaster acquires such a large server and bandwidth, he/she is able to divide it up among other people. As long as they are willing to pay a monthly fee, you will never get screwed over.

Regardless of how much money you want to make, purchasing this re-seller hosting does not cost much. For an average of $30/month, you can purchase enough space to make a profit. While all of these websites will be on a shared server, the majority of webmasters do not mind this downside. After all, not everyone can shell out thousands a month just to acquire their own dedicated server. Once you have found a few loyal customers who will not create any illegal material, you will be generating a profit every single month out of the year. Fortunately, until you stop your hosting, you will never be out of a job.

In order to sell this type of hosting, you absolutely need to network. Regrettably, there are many webmasters trying to follow the trend. For this reason alone, you should look in unpopulated areas. Try and find a website or forum that has not yet been tackled by other masses of website owners. For instance, find websites similar to your own. If you do not have one, look on webmaster-related forums such as Digital Point or Webmaster-Talk. These areas are populated with thousands of interested clients, who will be more than happy to jump on the bandwagon, if you do have a great deal.

Still desperately trying to find other ways to market? Many website owners advertise through blogs and buy text link ads. As a result, people will be more apt to find what you are offering. If this doesn't work, you could even start marketing in a local newspaper or a newsletter that goes out to professional companies who are always looking for alternatives. Nevertheless, there are plenty of consumers out there. You just need to be creative and put in the effort, in order to get anywhere.

For years web hosting has been flooding the market. However, it has just recently become a form of revenue for webmasters who just don't own their own web hosting company. It is a wonderful alternative to an additional part time job, especially if this is what you love to do. Networking with others, controlling a server, while working on your website certainly sounds like the perfect occupation.

A Sundry of Options for Web Hosting

A Sundry of Options for Web Hosting

Since the birth of the internet, millions upon millions of websites have been created. They may contain different information and designs, but they all have one thing in common. Web hosting, one of the most important functions in the website process, allows website owners to put up their creative masterpieces. Regardless of what they do decide to display, this type of program gives them the independence to say whatever they'd like.

One of the biggest misconceptions of web hosting is that every package is the same. We all assume that one size fits all, and that there are no in betweens. Surprisingly, this is just the opposite. Depending upon the type of website you are making, and its popularity, you may need something much more professional and expensive. Nonetheless, there are affordable packages, no matter how tiny or large your budget is.

If you are just starting out and want no string attached, there are plenty of alternatives. Free hosting allows you to not only create a website, but it helps beginners, no matter how much experience they have. Although there are popup downsides and other annoyances, free web hosting will give you everything that you need. If you are not sure if you even want to extensively design one, Geocities or AngelFire is great to experiment with.

Are you looking for something a bit more customized? For many webmasters, shared hosting is a favorite. This means that an abundance of websites are actually on one server. While this only costs a few dollars a month, there are still issues that come along with it. For instance, if a fellow webmaster were to have done something illegal, chances are your website would be shut down as well. This is because you share an IP, which of course can be quite dangerous. For this reason, you must be careful when choosing people to share a host with.

While these are great alternatives, many professional companies enjoy dedicated hosting . Fortunately, the website is the only one on the server, which results in a lot less complications. With freedom comes a plethora of features, which include extra bandwidth, visitor trackers, and your own I.P. As a result, you do not have to worry about illegal situations occurring within your server. Everything is based around your needs.

Reseller hosting is another admired amenity. If you are a webmaster and are looking to make some extra cash, this is a great opportunity. In simple terms, you purchase a web hosting package from a company and divide the space into several sections. These sections can easily be purchased by fellow webmasters, who are in need of space. With this business in place, you will effortless make a few dollars.

Regardless of what you are looking to make, web hosting is necessary. From free companies to dedicated servers with only one website, there are endless opportunities. Although people assume that there is only one type of package, this article clearly shows how wrong the myth can be. The only requirement is that you are ready to work hard, be innovative, and stand out among the crowd. With these factors in mind, you could be to the top in no time.

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service

One of the most crucial decisions that most online businesses have to make is choosing the best web hosting service. With a popular or well known and reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP) you won't face many problems, however with a poor web hosting service provider it can be a nightmare.

Choosing the right kind of web hosting service can be a very daunting task at times as there are some very important features that you need to make sure of. Here you can find below what exactly to look for when choosing the best web hosting service.

Amount of web space: A web hosting service provider would usually assign you a certain amount of space on their server. You need to ensure that does it have the right amount of space for your website and your business requirements. You might want to expand your online business tomorrow and would require much more space. So it's imperative for you that the web hosting company should be able to provide you with ample of space especially if your website is rich in graphics or has video clips.

FTP access: FTP access is very crucial since it provides the ability to upload new pages. Some web hosting service providers allow you to just design your web pages with their own personal web builder. This may be useful for beginners however you need to ensure if they provide you the facility to expand later when you enhance your online business capabilities.

Degree of reliability, security and speed of access: Speed, security and reliability are extremely important for the success of any online business. While choosing a reliable web hosting service you need to ensure that this is taken care of. A site that is not available, not updated on time or is down, will lose many online visitors. If an online visitor finds your site listed on a search engine, and he tries to access it but finds it down, he is sure to move on to the next link and you lose an important customer or visitor. Even slow working websites are very frustrating. So how do you know if a hosting company is reliable or not? By word of mouth or feedback from others! If that's not possible then you can yourself try accessing your site during peak hours and non-peak hours too. Your site has to be secure of intruders at the same time, especially if it's an ecommerce website.

Dependence and support: Does the web hosting service provide 24x7 supports? Do they respond rapidly to your issue? Can you depend on them? If you need 24-hour technical support that larger companies need then expect to pay substantially more. In fact, people are much more expensive than machines.

Pricing plans : Price is also one factor that you should look out for when choosing the best web hosting service. It's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. Simply compare prices and services before you finalize one.

Data transfer (Bandwidth): You also need to see if the hosting company provides you with sufficient bandwidth for efficient data transfer. After all it's your website and you need to ensure that you are getting the best services for the money you invest.

Hosting Overseas – Is It Worth It?

Hosting Overseas – Is It Worth It?

No matter where you are located, businesses seem to clamor to host your website. The top hosting positions among these companies are not only hard to award, but hard to define as well. There are simply too many needs to be met for too many different websites to conclusively have ideal criteria for a hosting website. All top hosting contenders do meet standard requirements for standard hosting services, and overseas companies often will meet these needs for a lower price than US or Europe based competitors, but should hosting be outsourced overseas?

Why the Difference in Price

Foreign web hosting offers the same packages as top hosting companies for considerably less cost in most cases. While some overseas companies may simply be offering low rates as a sales ploy, other offer rates that adequately reflect the cost of living in that country. Overhead costs can be tremendously lower in countries such as India or Pakistan , which means the web hosting services can be offered for less.

This makes it difficult to determine the best route for selecting top hosting companies based solely on price. Low prices can be tempting, but there is always the question of quality. Do the budget services offer the same level of service? Like all things, that answer simply depends on the company. Overall, webmasters should not write off or immediately sign up for foreign hosting companies simply based on rates. There are many other determining factors to consider.

Location, Location, Location

Much like real estate, location matters. The closer your server is to your clients, the faster those clients will be able to access your website. Even in a virtual existence, the physical distance between servers and end users can make a difference. Most internet marketers target United States and European citizens, so by hosting halfway around the globe, website response time for target demographics may be adversely affected.

Customer Service

Many foreign companies are highly trained in customer service and are highly respectful of customers and other individuals. Customer, in this case meaning webmasters, care is a top priority for most of these companies as they realize they must work a bit harder than top hosting companies in the United States to garner the same level of respect and reputation.

Having stated that, hosting in countries with different customs as well as time zones can also be frustrating for webmasters. The same problems that complicate any sort of outsourcing affect web hosting as well. Communication gaps, misunderstandings, and difficulty finding a common time to work together, despite the claims of 24/7 service, can all plague individuals outsourcing hosting. These problems, of course, are not a guaranteed byproduct of overseas hosting, but rather should be determined on an individual basis.

Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce

Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce

If you are currently engaged in any facet of ecommerce, even service sectors, a website makes up a great deal of your business. Therefore, it is a safe assumption that you pay for hosting your website in some fashion. If you do not already have a dedicated server, perhaps you should revisit the decision for the best hosting options for your business.

What is a Dedicated Server?

Most web hosting companies set up accounts or on a shared server. You essentially share the total hard drive and bandwidth allowance with many others. This may not be the best hosting option and can present many problems such as security and traffic bottlenecks. On a dedicated server, the server is completely yours, and there are not other websites utilizing the same machine. The server is dedicated completely to you and your business.

Advantages of a Dedicated Server

Several advantages can make a dedicated server the best hosting choice for you. These include:

Server Security –Dedicated servers increase the security of your website tremendously. There are no other webmasters using the same workspace, and simple mistakes or user error that might occur due to shared machines simply no longer existent.

Storage Space – As the entire server is dedicated to a single customer, there is tremendously more storage space available for website pages, images, and features.

Data Transfer – As with storage space, there is a great deal more bandwidth available for data transfer. Traffic to your site no longer competes with traffic for other websites reducing bottlenecks and slow server response time.

Control Panel – Having your own server offers additional opportunities for control. Sharing a server indicates that you have only limited control of server features and functions, but with a dedicated server, webmasters have greater control and access to the day-to-day functions of the host.

Software Options – Dedicated servers also allow more software and script options. The server has greater storage capacity for this information, and there is no need to align coding or features with other users of the same machine.

Disadvantages of a Dedicated Server

The sole disadvantage of a dedicated server is the cost. It is only logical that obtaining an entire server versus a piece of a shared server would be more expensive, but the rate often makes webmasters baulk. It is important to consider the fee as related to the total cost of shared server space when determining if a dedicated server is the best hosting option for you business, despite cost. A single credit card safety incident or an exorbitant bill for bandwidth overage should level the playing field almost immediately.

Am I ready for a Dedicated Server?

Websites grow at different rates, but as the success of a business grows, so does the need for additional hosting capacity. If you are approaching the limits of your current hosting company or have concerns about safety, such as storing credit card information on the same server as others or simply if your current company is the best hosting company for your needs, it is definitely time for a dedicated server.

Finding the Best Web Hosting Service

Finding the Best Web Hosting Service

Finding the best hosting service for your website can be complicated. There are almost endless options all clamoring to be the top hosts or the least expensive service, and this can make it almost impossible for webmasters to sort fact from fiction. The best way to select a quality web host is to take the selection process one step at a time:

Assess Your Needs

The very first item to address in selecting the best hosting service for your needs is to actually identify what those needs are. What sort of website are looking to host? Small personal homepages will have very different hosting criteria from large company websites. To find the best hosting service for you, it is important to determine exactly what you plan to host now, and ideally take into consideration anything you are planning to host in the immediate future.

Rate

Different hosting companies offer a large variety of rates. Companies offering dedicated servers will be substantially higher than others offering budget hosting with limited bandwidth. Competition from overseas is priced temptingly low for many, but there are many factors to consider. Don't stop at price, and if you plan on using your website in a professional capacity, it is important to move beyond free web hosting. Free hosts are great for small family or fun sites, but are not suited to the needs of internet marketers – even those just starting out. Rate should not be a top determining factor until you have narrowed a list based on other criteria such as:

Reliability and Speed

The best hosting services will offer uptime of over 99%. This should be a guarantee to motivate the company to keep all servers up all the time. Of course, visitors should also be able to access your site quickly.

Data Transfer and Disk Space

Bandwidth requirements grow with your site. Web hosting companies pay for bandwidth, so you, the one using that bandwidth will be billed accordingly. It is far better to pay for the required amount of data transfer upfront rather than get a surprise bill in the mail for having gone considerably over your allotted amount. By the same token, be sure you have an appropriate amount of disk space reserved. Most websites require less than 3GB.

Technical Support

It is very important to be able to reach the hosting company if your website begins experiencing problems. The best hosting support one can hope for is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Most companies know this, so take their stated hours with a grain of salt. Always spot check the companies with email at random times to see if they really have someone available to help 24/7.

Scripts and Special Features

Different websites have different needs, and the best hosting service for you should accommodate those needs. Email addresses should be standard as well as the capacity for a variety of scripts. Be sure to see if other features like shopping carts and secure servers are available or standard.

Control Panel

How much control does the hosting company offer webmasters? It is inconvenient to work through customer service every time to modify a password or to change email addresses. Be sure hosting companies offer some form of a control panel accompanying hosting.

Web Hosting Instructions

Web Hosting Instructions

Web domains. Hosting. Content. These are the three top priorities for any webmaster, regardless of how experienced they are. Unfortunately, these three essentials often leave people in the dark, as there are dozens of companies offering the “same” packages for different prices. With an overflow of routes you could take, it can get mind boggling to figure out the appropriate steps. For this reason, instructions are essential if you are looking for a smooth path.

The first thing you should do is make a list of what your current goals are. If you are making a professional site, you'll need a secure and reliable host. For instance, if you know that your website will reach thousands of people within a few months, perhaps you should find a web hosting package that includes extra bandwidth. You need additional space, especially if visitors are constantly going to be accessing your website. On the other hand, if you are just experimenting, you should stick to the free hosting packages. Geocities or Angel Fire certainly provides a basic package, which will leave you satisfied. After all, you do not need bells and whistles if you aren't serious about the website in the long run. If you do end up changing your mind, you can always switch services and transfer your website.

Once you have made your decision, you need to find a reputable service. While searching for hosting companies on Google may seem appropriate, it often stems bad results. It is important to remember that just because it is listed on a search engine, doesn't mean it is 100% safe and legit. Therefore, if you do find a potential company, you should get a second opinion. It is usually smart to join a webmaster related forum like SitePoint to discuss such matters. This way you can hear about other people's experiences and what companies to avoid. Additional references from friends or family would also be ideal.

After picking a host, you will need to provide your credit card information. For many users, 3ix.org is a favorite, as it rarely charges you much. Surprisingly, there are discount coupon codes you can acquire through the internet, to also help you with your initial fee. Due to the fact that you have to include your private information, it is absolutely crucial to make sure you find a legit business. The last thing you want is to lose any money. Therefore, you should google their name and check out the reviews from fellow users. This will most definitely make all of the difference, especially if you find out that they are a fraud.

For website beginners, web hosting doesn't have to be difficult or even too time consuming. As long as you find reputable sources, second opinions, and a great easy to use package, you are well on your way to website success. With these instructions in mind, there should be no frustrations or year long debates on what company to use. It is quite simple, once you get in the webmaster's frame of mind.

Power of Directory can bring you lot of web traffic and business

We face much traffic in the internet and the web searchers are daily facing this problem. So the only way to come up this traffic in the net is the use of web directory. The web providers normally try to catch up the top positions in the results generated by the search engine which is attained by the process of optimizing the web sites for the web searchers. By the process of optimization more visitors visits their websites and this in turn boost the popularity of the online and also gains its separate recognition among the World Wide Web. The most important way for achieving this result is the use of the web directory submission.

Detail on Web directory:

We have many web sites in the internet and these web sites are rated by the humans depending upon the quality of web sites and the categories that are used in the web directories. The categories that are used in the web directories make the search easier for the visitors towards the relevant directory they search and also link them to the specific sites they search. There is a very little difference in the concept of linking and submitting the website. The web directory helps us in gaining relevant links with the websites by the process of reciprocal linking.

Advantages of Linking to a Web directory.

1. Search engines can find your business easily, as all web directories are big and they have lot of pages in it and also constantly updating, this is the reason why search engines like web directories.

2. Increase in the traffic for your websites is one of the most important benefits of providing the web directory link. To obtain the best result in this process is obtained by submitting the sites to a quality directory that has authorization.

3. Since human edited web directories for evaluation of rankings are used in the search engines quality of the web directory increases which boosts up the traffic of their websites.

4. The web directory links helps us to increase the website exposure and also the recognition of the website.

Types of Web directories

The web directory is classified into two different types. The first type is that it helps the web directory to review the required consideration. The important advantage of this type is a fast review of the listing of the required specification. If a site is under low quality then the website can’t be viewed under the listing provided by this directory. The second type is the free version of the web directory. These directories that are free often get hundreds of articles for submission each day and also have thousands for backlogs. Since it is free the owners of the directory often have a review of their websites which inspires them. But it is very difficult to maintain a good review of the websites since many of them submit their articles daily for this free directory.

Some of the types of web directory:

Human edited directory

Paid Directory

Reciprocal Link Directory

Business Directory

A Comprehensive Guide For Choosing a Small Business Hosting Provider

If you have a small business website and want to share it with the world, it needs to be hosted on the web server or simply a server. A server is just another name of a computer which is connected to the World Wide Web so that your website is accessed by every one else. With plethora of Web Hosting Providers, and each claiming to be the best, it becomes difficult to choose the right partner. But having said this, there is a checklist that needs to be followed to mitigate your worries. The type of Hosting Provider would depend on the nature, size and scale of your business. Consideration of these factors would let you decide on the technical competency that your business requires. The general rule of thumb in selecting the Hosting Partner drops down to the following: 1) Excellent Customer Support 2) Affordability 3) Company Stability

4) Robust Datacenter I would only be touching upon customer support in this article. Excellent customer support, ceteris paribus, is the number one criteria in selecting the Web Hosting Partner. The first voluntary step in getting acquainted with any hosting company would be visiting their website and skimming through their testimonials. Relying on the authenticity of testimonials is a commonly followed phenomena and an outdated one too. But honestly is it really difficult to fake the testimonials? Instead it is advisable to take into consideration other factors.

One important factor to consider is the company’s employee to customer ratio (C/E ratio). C/E ratio is the number of employees handling the total customers. This is a decisive factor since it indicates whether there are enough employees to handle the customer base effectively and efficiently.

Let us understand this with the help of two instances. In the first instance, a particular hosting company has approximately 10,000 customers and employs 20 employees/ support staff. This means its C/E ratio is 500 (10,000/20). In the second instance, another hosting provider has a team of 40 support staff to cater to 80,000 customers. The C/E ratio comes out to be 2000 (80,000/40). If we compare both the scenario, then customer satisfaction and response time would be much more satisfactory in the case that has lesser C/E ratio. Ideally, one should look for a professional Hosting Provider with low customer to employee ratio.

Dedicated Servers and Dedicated IPs

Web servers, like every other electronic device that connects with the Internet, are identified by an Internet Protocol (IP) address. So each fax, computer, router, printer, and switch has a distinct IP address. The IP address is made up of four 1-3 digit numbers, that are in the range of 0 - 255 and separated by dots. The IP address of a web server is “dedicated,” and that means that the server always has the same IP address. This differs from the situation with shared hosting in which websites that use the same server share the IP address.

Managed hosting service provides you with a dedicated server and a dedicated manager to administer your system. This is a more expensive service than dedicated hosting, in which you are leasing the server while providing your own server manager who will need to solve any problems that arise. Here’s an example of the difference in cost. Dedicated hosting with up to 500 GB of space and around 2000 GB of bandwidth runs from $55 to $215 per month at selected web hosts if the account is paid by the year. Managed hosting with those parameters for capacity and bandwidth runs $99 to $260 per month if the account is paid by the year.

There are several reasons why a dedicated server is the ideal situation. First is capacity. If you need the entire server space for your business or businesses, a dedicated server is an obvious choice. Second is bandwidth. On a dedicated server, you don’t have to be concerned with how much bandwidth anyone else is using: it’s all yours. Third is extensibility. Even if you’re not using the whole server now, but you have plans to expand, it may be preferable for you to have all your holdings on one server (with redundant reliable backup) rather than split over several servers.

Another reason that might push you towards a dedicated server is the behavior of neighbors on a shared server. It has been known to happen that spam blockers respond to the misbehavior of some users by blocking not just those users but an entire IP address. If your online activities require free and unlimited access to other web addresses, then freeing yourself from the repercussions of your server-neighbors’ poor choices might be enough to move you to a dedicated server.

Beyond the value of handing the dedicated server itself, there’s also the value of the dedicated IP address to consider. For one thing, those who seek a Private Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate must have a dedicated IP address. And that comes with having a dedicated server. SSL certificates have an encryption system used for the security of message transmission and are a crucial element of electronic commerce, such as accepting credit cards, as well as other sensitive information.

If you are looking for cheaper dedicated servers, you should be careful while choosing the right specification and package. Things to consider are operating system, data backup and monitoring service, hardware options, space, bandwidth and technical support. Ask the hosting providers to give you a few websites for references, read hosting reviews before you sign up and be sure that the price is affordable. We know that the dedicated servers on this site are the one that will give you the most reliability and flexibility for your money.

The Secret To Successful Small Business Web Hosting

The Secret To Successful Small Business Web Hosting

Running an online business is not a lot different to running a small business in the real world. You need to look after it and run it prudently. Whereas you might rent premises off line, your premises in the online world is your web site. And the rent you must pay is to your web host. So what is the secret to successful small business web hosting?

Considering that your business is your livelihood, many would get the first answer to this question wrong. Many would focus on the price as being the secret to successful small business web hosting. But I personally think that those people would be wrong.

The most critical element to any business web hosting, be it for a small business or otherwise, is the support you receive.

And I don't mean that support that everyone receives when you first sign up and you are a new customer!

What is most important is the support you receive when things go wrong. And things will go wrong, believe me. What matters most is how your web host reacts when the chips are down.

Thereafter, we can focus our attention on some of the more obvious things that would contribute to successful small business web hosting. Things like price, features and value for money.

As far as price is concerned, you can get very good deals on Internet hosting at the moment. There are a lot of web hosts around, so the nature of the business means that prices will be competitive. However, price is not so easy to measure as you would think. There are no hard and fast rules as to what constitutes standard small business web hosting package. You have to assess your needs and compare like for like as much as you can. Just remember that you will need to have adequate hard disk space to store your files on, and have a healthy monthly bandwidth allowance as well.

One of the reasons that you should focus on features in a small business hosting package, is that the better featured the hardware is, the less likely you will have problems with your web site. And you will want to keep your web site up as much as possible.

About the Author: Charlie Cory makes his living from computers as a consultant, and has been creating web sites and marketing them for a number of years.

Hosting Matters When It Comes To Interactive Marketing

Hosting Matters When It Comes To Interactive Marketing

While choosing any Web Hosting Company, the major things that an individual focuses on are price, technology and recommendations. Of course, these three vital requirements form the basis of your market research, but to come up with the most apt web hosting company for your own interactive marketing initiatives, it is important for you to focus on a few more factors.

Tools and Services:: One of the most important factors that you must pay heed to while selecting your preferred web hosting company is proper analysis of tools and services they support. Inquire well about the statistics or the web analytics packages that your host offers since you would not like to pay to an external source for your Web analytics package. Generally, most of the hosts maintain c relationships with Web analytics vendors to offer their client the option of powerful site measurement tools in their complete hosting packages. Inclusion of a site building tool in your web hosting package is a real good deal for your business with no Web development resources, however buyers should be careful of its impact on their your Search Marketing initiatives. Most WYSIWYG site building applications hamper the task of optimizing your site for the search engines. Moreover, these tools in many cases avert SEO best practices from getting included in your website.

Ecommerce packages: Another thing that most web hosts offer these days is eCommerce packages. This is quite a major requirement for all those website owners who are aiming to sell products through their website. If not, ensure your host supports your eCommerce solution of choice since many eCommerce solutions need specific installations which your host may or may not support.

Reliable email delivery: Moreover, along with website tools and services, consistent and reliable email delivery is also quite a critical issue for many website owners. Your host must be capable of fighting against spams and restricting spammers from using their servers as launch pads for their annoying spam campaigns.

Server uptime: Server uptime is quite an apparent issue. Significant downtime can cause significant revenue loss. It spoils the company’s brand image and brings transitory losses to the Search Engine rankings. Hence, make sure to test server uptime quite strictly while selecting your web hosting company.

Server Performance: Along with server uptime, server performance is also a significant point for consideration. No visitor has extra time to wait for pages to download. Such a scenario is very difficult for Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaign, where you tend to pay for clicks that do not even get viewed on your landing page because slow downloading. This will not only affect your eMarketing campaigns adversely but also impact your brand’s value among your visitors.

Summary: Selecting a proper web hosting company is a serious task that can have significant impacts on your eMarketing initiatives. Conduct an intelligent market research and ensure your host supplements your online marketing initiatives rather than making impediments working against them.

WiseNav Users Create Multi-Media Rich Websites in Seconds

WiseNav Users Create Multi-Media Rich Websites in Seconds

Denver, CO and Edmonton, Canada –September 1 , 2009–GearHost and WiseNav announced today that they have established a joint partnership under which GearHost will be a premier partner for WiseNav in Western North America and will now offer WiseNav 3.0 with all hosting packages. WiseNav 3.0 opens the door for inexperienced or non technical users, with no programming knowledge, to build and maintain multi-media rich websites in seconds as opposed to hours or days.

About WiseNav 3.0:
• Allows users to drag and drop pictures, images, music, videos, animations, calendars & photo-gallery
• Comes fully loaded for e-commerce
• Has an innovative desktop feature that optimizes photo, audio and video content for the web in an automatic and transparent manner
• Converts video files for streaming playback, loads quickly and can be seen without delay by site visitors
• Novice users with no previous experience or programming knowledge can build and maintain their own website(s)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) feature enables users to quickly see visually stunning results
• SEO feature consistently achieves high rankings with Google and other search engines

Don Pare, chairman and CEO of WiseNav says that “eventually personal web sites will be as common as e-mail accounts and cell phones -- with end-users and residential consumers contributing over 70% of Internet content through products like WiseNav. It is our vision that everyone should to be able to create and publish highly visual, engaging, rich media content web sites and now WiseNav makes it possible.”

“WiseNav is a new metaphor specifically designed to bring website creation to the mass market; and our GearHost hosting service provides customers with cutting-edge technologies for optimum performance, delivering reliability, and
scalability at the lowest costs available. We look forward to helping customers create visually stunning and “personalized” websites with WiseNav 3.0”, said Drew Bower, director of sales for GearHost.

Drew Bower continues by saying that "GearHost will initially offer a 3-month WiseNav 3.0 software trial allowing customers to experience WiseNav’s revolutionary website creation software in combination with GearHost's powerful web-hosting service."

In addition, effective, September 2009, GearHost will provide one month of free hosting and setup on any of their hosting solutions for new customers.

About WiseNav Inc.
WiseNav Inc is a privately held Canadian software company based in Edmonton, Alberta. Founded in 2002, WiseNav’s goal is to bring Websites to the masses by developing the world’s simplest to use media-rich website development tool. WiseNav frees consumers, small businesses and not for profit organisations from all the constraints and complexities of HTML template-based tools. WiseNav products are supplied exclusively through Internet Service Providers and Hosting Service Providers. For more information please contact:
Don Pare at don.pare@wisenav.com or see www.wisenav.com.

About GearHost
GearHost Inc. is an industry-leading, privately held, profitable web hosting and software application services company based in Denver, Colorado. Since 2000, our company has provided businesses worldwide with reliable, professional-class network environments to host websites, email, business applications, and other rich media content in highly available hosting environments.
For more information, please visit www.gearhost.com or contact: Drew Bower, Director of Sales.

Hosted Exchange Provider, SmarterTools, Extends Microsoft Patent Licensing

Hosted Exchange Provider, SmarterTools, Extends Microsoft Patent Licensing

Phoenix, Arizona - (The Hosting News) - September 29, 2009 - A recent licensing agreement between Microsoft Corp. and SmarterTools Inc. extends Microsoft's patented Exchange ActiveSync technology to more than 15 million end users through the latest version of the SmarterMail mail server.

The agreement provides a patent license to SmarterTools for this industry-leading technology and allows Microsoft to expand its reach to include SmarterTools' robust customer base, which encompasses hosting/service providers, enterprises, and small to medium sized businesses.

David Kaefer, general manager of intellectual property licensing at Microsoft offered, ''We are pleased to work with SmarterTools to provide Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to SmarterMail users. This technology is being sought out by our partners and competitors alike because it enhances their value proposition to their customers, and we believe that to be a testament to the innovation taking place at Microsoft.''

Microsoft has been licensing the Exchange ActiveSync protocol for mobile devices since 2003, and SmarterTools joins a growing number of companies licensing the Exchange ActiveSync patents for implementation on a server.

Tim Uzzanti, CEO of SmarterTools noted, ''With the growing number of mobile manufacturers adding Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync compatibility to their devices, the technology is the standard for mobile synchronization and communication. Mobile devices are becoming the primary device for communication and the ability to accept a calendar event, read email immediately, and track tasks from a mobile device while syncing with the server is a necessity. The addition of Exchange ActiveSync to the SmarterMail mail server is part of our continuing commitment to provide individuals and businesses the tools necessary to compete in today's marketplace.''

Under the terms of the patent licensing agreement, SmarterMail 6.x users have the ability to synchronize emails, calendars, contacts, and notes between mobile devices in real time using Exchange ActiveSync's Direct Push technology. SmarterTools has packaged the SmarterMail 6.x Exchange ActiveSync add-on differently than other providers, resulting in a yearly subscription priced well below competitive solutions.

In addition, SmarterTools allows customers to add Exchange ActiveSync to only the mailboxes that need the technology, making adoption of the add-on easy and affordable for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) and the ISP/hosting industry. Scalable and easy to manage, SmarterMail 6.x features a rich, Webmail interface; reporting; events/notifications; throttling; message archiving; intrusion detection/prevention; advanced synchronization with Microsoft Outlook; over-the-air support for BlackBerry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile devices; and optional add-ons for Exchange ActiveSync and Commtouch Antispam. Enhanced antispam, antivirus, and security features provide superior protection out-of-the-box. SmarterMail is available at the SmarterTools Web site and through authorized resellers.

Founded in 2003, SmarterTools Inc. is an information technology-management software company based in Phoenix, Arizona. SmarterTools builds a Windows mail server, customer service software, and a Web log analytics reporting tool that simplify and automate the day-to-day IT operations of businesses and hosting environments.

Dedicated Server, Reseller Hosting, Launched at Hosting Nation

Dedicated Server, Reseller Hosting, Launched at Hosting Nation

Parksville, British Columbia - (The Hosting News) - September 30, 2009 - New reseller and dedicated web hosting packages for Canadian and U.S. clients have been launched by web hosting service provider, Hosting Nation.

Sean Enns, Director of Marketing and Communications at Hosting Nation explained, ''We already offer a lot of extra resources in our shared hosting plans. The reseller and dedicated environments are natural extensions of products and services we already provide.''

Users receive WHM and cPanel, as well as the Fantastico DeLuxe and Installatron software installers. Hosting Nation has also added custom resources, such as simple installations of development frameworks like jQuery and Blueprint CSS and the R1Soft Continuous Data Protection. The basic reseller plan from Hosting Nation includes 25 GB of disk space and 250 GB of bandwidth for only $19.95 per month. View all reseller hosting plans from Hosting Nation

Dedicated severs are either dual or quad core Xeon servers with a minimum of 2 GB of Ram and 2000 GB of disk space. Dedicated servers from Hosting Nation start at $259 per month. View all dedicated server plans from Hosting Nation

Hosting Nation is a privately owned web hosting and web service provider headquartered in beautiful Parksville, British Columbia. Hosting Nation is committed to providing their citizens with best in class web hosting technology, software and support by drawing on over 50 combined years of experience in server management, web design, programming, project management and internet marketing.

Cloud Computing World Forum to Feature Small Business Opportunities

Cloud Computing World Forum to Feature Small Business Opportunities

London, United Kingdom - (The Hosting News) - September 30, 2009 - The Cloud Computing World Forum, scheduled to take place on October 22, will outline why Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service are ideal solutions for the small business sector, during its one day conference in London.

The event will take place the 22nd of October at 76 Portland Place and feature among others, a presentation from Mike Spink, Research Director for Gartner, who will discuss why the Cloud is perfect for SMBs.

Mr. Spink explained, ''The promise of Cloud Computing creates a tremendous opportunity for SMB's to revisit their IT strategy and critical planning assumptions. As the market evolves and matures, Cloud Computing will become a viable and cost-effective alternative to on-premises IT for an increasing percentage of requirements.''

Mark Johnstone, MD of organizers Point Zero Media noted, ''It's our intention with this event to make business aware of the possibilities of Cloud Computing and SaaS. This technology is available to everyone and could be of huge benefit to the SMB. We hope the event will provide insight to some of these businesses whilst also giving them the opportunity to network and meet with likeminded professionals and peers.''

Key speakers at the event will include:

• Evangelos Kotsovinos, VP of Hosting, Morgan Stanley
• Dr Pamal Sharma, CIO - UK and Ireland, General Motors
• Kostas Tsatsaris, CTO and Director, Strategy and Architecture, HM Revenue and Customs
• Keith Misson, Business Director, Group IT, Aviva
• Andy McLoughlin, Co-founder and Strategy Director, Huddle
• Simon Abrahams, EMEA Head of Product Marketing, Rackspace
• Euan Semple, Freelance Consultant/Former Director of Knowledge Management, BBC
• Laurent Lachal, Senior Analyst, Ovum
• Robin Daniels, Sr Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce.com
• Tim Mather, Author, Cloud Computing and Privacy
• David Terrar, CEO, D2C
• Mike Spink, Senior Analyst, Gartner

The event will also feature an intimate exhibition and networking area available to all attendees and provide great networking opportunities with industry leaders, presenting opportunities to meet and do business with likeminded individuals who have an interest in cloud computing.

To register, please visit: www.cloudwf.com or call +44 (0) 845 519 1230. For further information on the event, please contact Mark Johnstone at +44 (0) 845 519 1230 or email mark@pointzeromedia.com.

The Cloud Computing World Forum began as a way for professionals to learn and discuss the future development and integration of cloud services and will feature key decision makers from all of the cloud service providers. The conference will address the current state of the cloud computing market, the business value of the cloud, deployment strategies and integration techniques, and security and privacy issues, as well as look into what the future holds from cloud service providers.

Web Hosting Firm, 34SP.com Celebrates 9 Years of Hosting with Giveaway

Web Hosting Firm, 34SP.com Celebrates 9 Years of Hosting with Giveaway

Manchester, United Kingdom - (The Hosting News) - October 1, 2009 - UK website hosting firm 34SP.com is celebrating its ninth anniversary, by giving away 9 great prizes designed specifically to mark the occasion. The company was founded by Manchester University colleagues Daniel Foster and Stuart Melling.

Despite its growth, the website hosting industry is a relatively new business segment. With mergers, acquisitions and the threat of continuously increasing competition, it is a testament to a company's perseverance when that firm reaches the nine year mark.

34SP.com is located in Manchester, United Kingdom and specializes in providing the highest levels of customer service and technical support for website hosting and domain names.Over the past 9 years the company has solidified a reputation for outstanding support, coupled with extremely high reliability at fair prices. A complete list of the company's website hosting products can be viewed at: www.34sp.com/hosting.

Stuart Melling, co-founder of 34SP.com explained, ''We thought it would be great to reward clients with a truly valuable prize for each year that 34SP.com has been in the website hosting business. It has been a great challenge to grow as we have over the past 9 years and continue to offer our clients world class support, but we are gratified to have had the opportunity to serve our customers over the past 9 years. We are very much looking forward to the next 9 years.''

Anyone who purchases any 34SP.com product during the month of October is eligible to win the '9 Years of Hosting, 9 Great Prizes' contest. Winners will be determined by a random drawing at the end of the month. The prizes being offered are:

* New Apple iPod nano with Camera 8GB (5th Generation)

* Toshiba Satellite L350-20G 17-inch Laptop

* Canon Powershot 12.1 MegaPixel Camera

* Western Digital Elements 1TeraByte USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

* Canon Selphy ES40, a Portable Talking Printer (yes, you read that right - it talks)

* Sony DVPFX730 7-inch Portable DVD Player

* Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder With 8GB Memory

* Toshiba 19AV615DB 19-inch Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV

* The Beatles Rock Band - Limited Edition Premium Bundle

34SP.com was established in the year 2000. The company was founded with the aim of bridging the gap between sophisticated hosting solutions and affordable prices. The owners and core engineering staff have been with the company since its founding. In terms of reliability, independent monitoring service, Netcraft in Bath, England recently rated 34SP.com as the fifth most reliable hosting service in the world for the month of June, 2009. Additionally, a recent internal survey found that 98% of 34SP.com clients would recommend the company to others.

34SP.com offers professional website hosting services for cost conscious web developers and designers. The 34SP.com team of technical experts offers industry leading support and service coupled with a money back guarantee to ensure client satisfaction. Website hosting services offered include: UK domains, UK web hosting and dedicated servers. The company is headquartered in central Manchester, England.

CirtexHosting and HostV Web Hosting Companies Donate to Cancer Research

CirtexHosting and HostV Web Hosting Companies Donate to Cancer Research
News

New York, New York - (The Hosting News) - October 1, 2009 - Web hosting providers, CirtexHosting and HostV, will join the fight against cancer by donating a portion of its sales in October to the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

John Xie, President of Cirtex Corp. remarked, ''In one way or another, cancer affects us all. At Cirtex Corp, we've seen the effects of cancer up and close, and it's our moral obligation to stand up and do our part to help advance the important research that offers the hope of better treatment and higher survival rates. My hope is that we can encourage more individuals and businesses to join our efforts and begin to support causes like this. Sometimes we don't realize how important medical research is until it's too late.''

Each year, the Jimmy Fund hosts the Jimmy Fund Walk as part of the Boston Marathon. This year's walk was held several weeks ago and nearly 800 walkers raised more than $325,000. Cirtex Corp. is making its October donation to the 2009 Jimmy Fund Walk in the name of the walkers in this year's event.

Cirtex Corp. has supported a variety of charitable initiatives in the past, including the recovery efforts in the wake of the 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan province. The company also perpetually supports non-profit open source software development initiatives and conferences, including the WordCamp series for WordPress, as well as programs for Drupal, ClipBucket and PHPMotion.

Founded in 2003, Cirtex Corp. is the leading provider of shared, reseller, virtual and dedicated web hosting solutions. The company serves thousands of customers internationally through two dynamic brands - CirtexHosting and HostV. Cirtex Corp. offers 24/7 technical support and a 30-Day unconditional guarantee.

Web Hosting Domain Registrar, GoDaddy, Becomes Microsoft BizSpark Partner

Web Hosting Domain Registrar, GoDaddy, Becomes Microsoft BizSpark Partner

Web hosting domain registrar, GoDaddy.com, has become a Hosting Partner in the Microsoft BizSpark program. As part of this new alliance with Microsoft, BizSpark participants can utilize Go Daddy's services as part of a network of unique offerings provided for qualified Internet start-up businesses.

Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of Go Daddy remarked, ''Go Daddy is all about doing things easily and affordabl. That's why we've joined the Microsoft BizSpark program as a Hosting Partner. It's just one more way we can provide Internet entrepreneurs a simple, cost-effective solution to their registration, hosting and SSL cert needs.''

The announcement of Go Daddy's participation in this international program was made today during Microsoft's keynote address at the MIX09 conference for web designers and developers in Las Vegas, Nevada.

BizSpark is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage start-ups by providing them with three critical needs - software, support and visibility - throughout a company's first three years in operation when these tools are the most valuable and least affordable.

GoDaddy itself was an Internet start-up just a decade ago. Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons charged ahead with his entrepreneurial ideas in the midst of the dotCOM bust. Now, Go Daddy is a world leader in Web access, with more than 6.4 million customers and 34 million domains under management.

Mr. Parsons believes the Internet will soon be seen as the saving grace of a new global economy and encourages entrepreneurs to seek out new opportunities like the BizSpark program as a way to launch their ideas in tough economic times.

As a BizSpark Hosting Partner, Go Daddy will offer BizSpark members a wide range of essential applications and services including domain registration, hosting and SSL certificates for an extremely affordable price. Go Daddy will be the first Microsoft BizSpark Hosting Partner to provide member start-ups with this combination of services. In addition, these new companies will have access to Go Daddy's industry-best personalized customer service 24/7/365.

Dan Lewin, corporate vice president of Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft Corp. remarked, ''We are excited to have Go Daddy as a Hosting Partner for the Microsoft BizSpark program. Go Daddy's excellence in hosting services combined with Microsoft's software platform provides start-ups with a unique opportunity to grow their businesses.''

In the BizSpark program, a start-up can download free Microsoft software for development, test and demonstration purposes and use Microsoft software hosted ''production licenses'' free of charge for up to three years. For an online start-up to participate in the BizSpark program, it must be privately owned, in business less than 3 years and grossing less than $1MM.

In the coming months, both Microsoft BizSpark and Go Daddy will detail more about how to participate in this venture on their respective Web sites.

Rackspace Web Hosting

Rackspace Web Hosting

IT services hosting provider, Rackspace, will provide comprehensive monitoring, software, hardware, and network guarantees, designed to deliver high platform availability for SaaS software vendor, Confirmit.
In addition, Rackspace will provide 24/7/365 Fanatical Support, incorporating a range of measures that ensure compliance with current industry regulations and quality standards, particularly those relating to SAS 70 type II certification, ISO standards, and Safe Harbor certification for the European Data Protection Act. The agreement with Rackspace covers both of Confirmit’s On-Demand sites, one located in Dallas, Texas in the US, and one in London, UK.
Confirmit has indicated that they have completed the highest number of interviews on its platform to date, with 118 million interviews taking place in 2008. This figure brings the total number of completed interviews on Confirmit to over 430 million in the past seven years. The numbers represent an increase of 33% in completed interviews on Confirmit’s On-Demand platform over the past year.

Arnt Feruglio, COO at Confirmit remarked, ''Our customers depend on the outstanding reliability, scalability, and availability of the Confirmit software platform. Rackspace’s services and support of our On-Demand environment have been integral to our ability to deliver these capabilities, leading to excellent platform uptime and service levels that go beyond our guarantees.''
To support the continuing growth of its On-Demand platform usage, Confirmit has renewed its agreement with leading hosting provider Rackspace for a further three years. Confirmit will continue to use Rackspace’s highly sophisticated managed hosting solution to offer guaranteed availability of the platform to customers and increase the bandwidth and flexibility of the Confirmit On-Demand environment.
Confirmit On-Demand provides access to all of the functionality of the software platform via a secure, shared environment over the Web. Confirmit guarantees respondent uptime of 99.7%, a level that has been exceeded for each of the past five years. In 2008, it delivered 99.94% uptime.
Henning Hansen, Confirmit's President and CEO, commented ''The growth in activity on the Confirmit On-Demand environment demonstrates that the value of the investments we make in our technical infrastructure is appreciated by the market. Increasingly, we see that all of our customers, not only financial services and healthcare providers, demand the highest levels of security and reliability for their sensitive customer data.''
Mr. Feruglio continued, ''Compliance is becoming an increasingly critical issue for our customers, with security and regulatory issues featuring prominently in the purchase and renewal process. We therefore place a great emphasis on ensuring that our platform not only delivers unrivaled performance, but that it meets all the administrative criteria our clients require.''
Confirmit is a leading SaaS software vendor for Customer Feedback, Employee Feedback, and Market Research applications. The company has more than 200 employees and offices in Oslo (headquarters), Guildford, London, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, and Yaroslavl. Confirmit's software is also distributed through partner resellers in Barcelona, Kuwait City, Madrid, Milan, Santiago, Sydney, and Tokyo.
Confirmit targets Global 5000 companies and Market Research agencies worldwide with a wide range of software products for feedback / data collection, panel management, data processing, analysis, and reporting. Customers include British Airways, Countrywide Financial, Credit Suisse, Dow Chemical, Experian, GlaxoSmithKline, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Intrawest, Ipsos, Nielsen, The NPD Group, Safeco Insurance, Statoil Hydro, Symantec, and Virgin Media.