How To Select A Web Host

After the completion of web site next big thing is to find a quality web host for displaying it on the web. To select a good web host is the most important process. Here is a list of some of the most important things one should look for while selecting a quality web host. First of all we should know what is web hosting? This has already been posted in earlier posts. After knowing what is web hosting next important thing to look for is the price issue. We have an old saying "we get what we pay for" which is still true. There are many quality web hosts, which are reasonably priced, and we can expect to pay $20 - $50 per month for up to 50MB of space. It depends on the company and our specific needs and a plan picked by us. Now the next important thing is there are several types of hosting available like free as well as paid now next thing to consider is whether to select free host or paid web hosting. One should know that an Ecommerce web site should never be hosted with a free hosting service. These services are highly unreliable and never care if our site goes down. They are mainly concerned with their advertisers and as long as their ads are up and running, for the most part, they will not care about our site or us. In addition, it looks very unprofessional to host a site with free services and if we've decided to take the time to get our own web site design and our own domain name, than why to take risk by selecting a free host free service? It's not a wise step. In addition given below are some of the crucial things one should look for while selecting a web host: -
• Are they offering us fast connections?
• Are they providing us with a back-up system to protect our
• data in case of a power outage/ failure or shortage?
• Are they asking for an advance payment?
• Are they looking for long-term contracts?
• Is there is any set up fees?
• Is their customer support well enough? Test it.
• Are they providing free access to a secure server for order
• processing?
• Shopping cart software is provided or not in order to process
• our commands?
• Any online Web Site Manager is provided or not?
• An online support manual is provided them to us?
We can also ask for the references and can ask from some of their customers and their experiences will help us in select-ing a right hosting company.
Some basic features to be look for while selecting a web host is as follows:-
• 24/7 reliable tech support
• Our own domain name
• 10GB of monthly transfer (traffic)
• A minimum server space of 20MB - 50MB
• True POP email accounts should be Unlimited
• Email aliases should be Unlimited
• Forwarding of Email
• Unlimited auto responders
• Our own unrestricted CGI-Bin
• For secure transactions Access to SSL Encryption
• My SQL Database
• Perl
• Password protection by ht access
• Server Side Includes (SSI) support
• Designing (and uploading to) our site using Netscape or
• other HTML editing software
• For those utilizing FrontPage there should be Microsoft
• FrontPage Server Extensions
• Unlimited free access to our server via FTP/Telnet
• Our log files should be Easy to access
• Statistics on visits to our site
• Referral Program
We must look at the entire picture prior to making our decision while selecting a web host. We may find hosts whose monthly charges are $5.00 - $15.00 host our site, but it is not guaranteed that they'll provide excellent technical support for our web site.
A lower monthly payment, it is always attractive and appealing, but truly it will cost a lot because saving while sales is minimal as well as the support provided is not good enough to work a site properly. There are many web hosting companies online; but the mostly used and recommended is only one which is Host4Profit - Professional web hosting specifically designed for the Internet marketer. So take the time look into the requirements and than select the web host which meets our needs and expectations fully.

Co-Located Web Hosting

In situations dedicated or managed servers provided by a web hosting provider do not meet your needs, it is always possible to custom build your own server and place it in the data center of a provider. Co-located hosting means that you purchase a server from Dell, Gateway or your neighborhood hardware vendor and supply it to the host. The host will in turn plug your server at its data center providing you access to its network and infrastructure. The webhost is reponsible for the network infrastructure and the data center while you are responsible for the server through remote access. This type of solution allows the very customized and specialized web sites to function at peak performance. Many of the ulta-popular websites use a co-location strategy to provide them with the combination of customization and best possible performance. With co-location you would have to evaluate the specific providers to go over their terms of service, the security of their location, their bandwidth providers, backup and power systems. Some co-location hosting providers may also offer seperate management contracts for the day to day maintenance of your server.
Pros of server co-location:-
Co-location provides the ultimate in flexibility, choice and control. You as the customer know exactly what type of hosting service you need, and if your own custome server is the answer, you can put it together, house it in a data center and manage it as you please. Most providers will include a secure cage that ensures security and will also allow you to use your own specialized components like routers to increase efficiency.
Cons of server co-location:-
With co-located servers, you as the customer are fully responsible for the equipment. Most data centers will monitor and manage your system, but any problems will have to be dealt by the owner unless maintenance agreements are in force (extra costs). Co-located servers are most likely to contain specialized software or operating systems aswell, which have to be managed by experienced staff or the customer.
Co-located Hosting Review:-
1. Allows complete control of the server and its resouces
2. Allows you to use customized hardware and software for hosting
3. Usually the most expensive hosting solution

Reseller Web Hosting

The area of reseller web hosting is an interesting one for those who wish to create an e-commerce venture, selling web hosting and other related services. Reselling web hosting means that you contract with a hosting provider to sell their server space under your brand. Reseller agreements can be based on per signups, that is you sell one of a number of hosting packages and pay a certain amount of the fees to the hosting company. Another option involves a carte-blanche approach where you pay a set fee and receive certain resources that you are free to resell. Yet another option would be to lease a dedicated server and resell the web space, keeping all the profits.
Pros of reseller web hosting:-
It allows you as a client, to earn a potential income. If you do web design services, you can easily offer your clients a complete package that includes design and hosting. The clients would appreciate the lower costs and convinience of getting all the services under one roof and you can start building a business that brings in recurring monthly income. Another good use of reseller accounts is if you have a network or websites you wish to host. You might not have enough to justify a dedicated server, but too many to pay for individually. Multiple domain hosting can get expensive if you have to get an individual service for each of your web sites. So a reseller hosting plan can either allow you to create your own web hosting business or host multiple domains from one easy to manage place.
Cons of reseller web hosting:-
If you decide to get into the business of web hosting, you will have certain responsibilites and expenses. For one you will have to provide support for your clients. This could be anything from email support, live chats to phone support if you business grows. Other responsibilites could include ensuring that your clients are adherering by the terms of service and managing the billing cycles. Unless you are reselling from a dedicated server, this is again a shared or virtual hosting service. So all the pitfalls of shared web hosting would apply here.
Reseller Hosting Review:-
1. Allows you to earn an income by re-selling web hosting and services
2. Good for multiple domain hosting
3. Usually come with helpful control panels to manage all the sites
3. Can vary greatly in price, but more expensive than shared hosting