What companies can do with a website?
What companies can do with a website?
Surprisingly, even in this era of technology, many people are unaware of a company’s potential benefits of having a website. It does not matter what is the size of a company when it comes to having a website, which can help companies excel universally. This article will briefly discuss the endless possibilities of a company website. If a company is specialized in producing certain goods, then having a website can be immensely beneficial. Over the past few years, selling stuff over the internet has become extremely popular. Online shoppers are now interested in virtually everything. They not only buy expensive gadgets through the internet, but also tiny cheap ones if the price is right. One will be astonished to learn that these shoppers are millions in number and will be even more in the next few years. Even if a Web Hosting India company only sells others’ goods over the internet, it can still make huge profit through commissions and service charges. Hence it should be crystal clear by now that a seller company can excel radically with the aid of a website. Companies can also use their websites to impress potential customers and other parties. A suave website with a brief yet attractive company profile is sure to attract visitors who eventually begin to have a positive attitude towards the particular company. Using a highly functional website, a company can definitely edge out its competitors in the race of getting attention. Customers will obviously want to contact companies which have a professional looking website complete with every contact details. Furthermore, a website helps a company to showcase its experience and experienced workforce through a vivid online presentation at a minimum cost. Companies can use website to give feedbacks efficiently and quickly. While manually giving feedback can be a slow and hectic process, online feedback is said to be very effective yet snappy. Previously, it was seen that customers are unhappy with a lot of companies as they were unable to give feedbacks on time. Furthermore, the quality of those feedbacks were said to be sub-standard most of the time. However, with the introduction of online feedbacks, complaints diminished significantly. A company can use the forums of a website to give these feedbacks in a nice manner. Companies can give more attractive advertisements by using a website. It is possible because a potential customer is most likely to notice lucrative offers online rather than offline. Companies can also be benefited financially by having a website. Small-scale companies can display tiny advertisements of other companies in their webpage to make money. These advertisements are too small to notice, yet they have the capability to draw a lot of money for the website-owner company. A company can also place vital payment information in their website which will let the visitors know how to pay in case a transaction occurs. Some companies even offer the customers a very easy payment procedure through the website which is getting popular day by day.
Abdul Vasi is a Marketing Expert specialized in Internet Marketing, His <a href="http://www.hostcats.com">Web hosting India</a> Company <a href="http://www.hostcats.com">Hostcats </a> provides you with reliable but affordable web hosting solution for your online business.
Various aspects to Domain management
Domain registration is generally very easy. In fact you can simply contact your local domain registrar and give your details like name, address, contact info and of course the name of the domain you want registered and your domain gets registered. Alternatively you can simply go online to your domain registrar s website and if the facility is provided just fill out a simply online registration form with your name and other details and submit to register your domain. It s as simple as that. The problem arrives generally for most of us after the domain has been registered. We keep hearing all these words like name servers, domain pointing and forwarding, domain locking and other things which make it all a nightmare. But it is not as bad as you think. Domain management, once you understand the various aspects to it, is actually a very simply task. We look at some of the aspects in domain registration and management which you might have to go through while setting up your website. Name Servers Name servers are probably the most common words used after you have registered a domain. Your hosting company will tell you to change your domain name servers to their address in order for your web hosting service to function properly. So what are name servers? To put it in simple language, name servers are the name of your server. It basically tells a domain where your website files are located so every time someone types your domain name in their browsers, the domain exactly knows where to go to show your website files ” your homepage etc. Name Servers generally look like this: Assuming you are hosting with xyz hosting company then your name servers should generally be: NS1.XYZ.COM NS2.XYZ.COM Note the NS could be followed by 3 or 4 depending on your hosting company. Your hosting company will generally provide their name servers to you when you register with them. Domain Forwarding / Domain Redirect Domain forwarding or also know as Domain redirect means if you have multiple domains registered and you want one of your domains to quite simply point to another domain that you have as an active website. This technique allows you to have a single website be available under multiple domains. For example you can register your domain in both .com and .net format and then make the .net domain address forward to your .com website. That way you don t have to spend on having two different websites hosted for each of your domain extensions. Domain Locking This is quite new to the world of domains but is a very important one and you should always be aware of your domain s status ” i.e. whether it is locked or unlocked. Now, how does domain locking make a difference to you? Firstly if your domain is not locked, then malicious software or hackers have the ability to shift the domain in to their name or shift the domain s name servers on to their web site which could cause lot of embarrassment to you. Not just that in some cases, hackers can pull the domain from your domain registrar to theirs, giving them full control of your domain. In general you should always make sure your domain is in locked status. Of course when you need to change the domain s name servers etc for your own use then you can unlock a domain. But always make sure moment your work is done and the name servers or any other information you are trying to change has been completed, immediately lock your domain. If you can t lock or unlock your domain, please contact your domain registrar regarding this.
Lorenzo Modesto started in the Internet industry in 1996 and has held executive positions in sales, marketing and business development at industry leading service providers. He is the Managing Director of <a href="http://www.domains.com.au">Domains</a> a <a href="http://www.domains.com.au">domain registration</a> company.
Best Website Hosting Compare Hosting Plans and Packages
Choosing the best website hosting provider takes time and visits to several hosting company websites
Web Hosting Jargon Buster
Web Hosting Jargon Buster In this article, I am going to introduce a few web hosting jargons in a concise way.
Disc Space - The term refers to the amount of physical space devoted to holding the client s content (which is basically his website files or stored databasesemails).
Monthly Traffic ” If people visit one s site, data is sent from his server to their computer. That data may also includeemails received and downloaded to one s PC. At the end of each month, this request data is summed up to show the total data transfer or monthly traffic.
POP3 Email ” POP means Post Office Protocol which is a clientserver protocol for collecting email on a server fromindividual mail accounts. A straightforward online control panel lets client to configure the users and passwords.
IMAP ” Instant Message Access Protocol (IMAP in short) differs from POP3 as it allows remote clients to access email stored on a remote server instead of downloading it. A user can always access his mail from his home PC or mobile devices since themail is centrally stored. Microsoft OutlookOutlook Express and Mozilla MailThunderbird are known to have IMAP support.
Email Redirects ” Email redirect is better known as email forwarding. Instead of collecting email from the server, one can arrange for mail addressed to his domain to go to mailboxes hosted elsewhere.
Domain Name ” Domain name is a unique name which identifies a website. It workds as a permanent web address and provides aprofessional web presence. While moving a site can be really messy in case of a domain owned by others, registering one s own domain name lets him keep same address even if his site is moved.
BBS - BBS stands for Bulleting Board System , a computerized meeting system where users can have discourses, makeannouncements and downloadupload files. There are copious BBSs around the world, most of which rely on a direct modem tomodem connection over a phone line using a single computer.
MySQL ” MySQL is the most popular open source relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world with more than fourmillion installations powering websites, business applications etc. It is a very effective language for adding, accessing and processing data in a database. MySQL is specially recognized for its flexibility, reliability and most importantly, speed.
CGI ” CGI means Common Gateway Interface, a protocol that allows a webpage to execute a program on a web server. Common CGI programs include counters, guest books and forums. CGI scripts are programs written in PERL that is stored on the remote web server and run on the web server in response to a request from a particular user.
PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is a widely used general-purposed server side scripting language. It is very suitable for web development as user can embed it into HTML pages. Many popular CMS systems are based on MySQL.
Virtual Server ” A virtual server is a UNIX based server environment which allows multiple independent servers to work on the same hardware. It is the significant trait which discerns virtual server from dedicatedshared servers.
-Abdul Vasi is a Marketing Expert specialized in Internet Marketing, His <a href="http://www.hostcats.com">Web hosting India</a> Company <a href="http://www.hostcats.com">Hostcats</a> provides you with reliable but affordable web hosting solution for your online business
Top 5 Best Web Hosting 2007
If you are looking for the best hosting services and cheap prices on the web, this is the place where you check out the The top 5 Best Weebhosting and awards 2007 reviews. Best Web Hosting Awards (2007) Best Budget Web Hosting Best Email Web Hosting Best Blog Web Hosting Best Ecommerce Web Hosting Best Forum Web Hosting Best Multiple Domain Web Hosting Best Unix Web Hosting Best Reseller Web Hosting Best Windows Web Hosting Best Virtual Private Server Hosting Best PHP Web Hosting Best Dedicated Server Hosting
Selecting A Web Hosting Company
Selecting A Web Hosting Company As the owner of a network of web hosting information sites, I often get asked Which Web Hosting Company should I go with? . Most people are pretty disappointed by my answer. This is a question that requires a lot of additional questions. Which web hosting company is right for your website depends on many factors. What platform does your site run on? Which language was it written in? Is it a business or personal site? How critical is occasional downtime? How web savy are you? What is your budget? How much traffic does the site get? The reason there are thousands of web hosting companies is because there are millions of sites and these websites use different technologies, have different memory and traffic requirements, have different downtime requirements, etc. There are 2 large sections that I have broken this discussion into. What types of hosting services do you need/want? And what type of company do you need/want? The reason I chose the words need and want is because a lot of the answer are your preferences more then absolute needs. What Type of Hosting Services do You Need? The best way to start this discussion is to determine the type of hosting services that your web business requires. Notice I didn t say website. A lot of people have multiple websites as part of their web business, and this, too, plays a role in selecting a hosting company. In the big picture of the hosting industry, it all starts with datacenters. These are high availability facilities usually with multiple fiber feeds to them, backup power systems, network switching equipment, and racks of servers. Hosting companies that own and operate their own datacenter sit at the top of the chain. They can offer the complete range of services from shared hosting to co-location, although most specialize in an area. Next in the chain are hosting companies who own and manage their own set of servers. These companies co-locate their servers in a datacenter. Which means they rent space for racks or slots in racks in a datacenter to put their servers. The datacenter provides the fiber connections to the internet and the facilities(power, AC, security, fire suppression, etc.). This starts to get into how to select the right hosting company for co-location services. Then comes hosting companies that rent Dedicated Servers already in a datacenter. These companies do not have near the capital investment as the first 2 groups because they do not have to build a datacenter or buy servers. But they are dependent on the company they rent servers and rack space from. When selecting a hosting company that uses leased servers it is nice to know if the datacenter is local or in another city. Do they have the ability to troubleshoot their server themselves? Finally, there are reseller hosting companies. These companies rent space on a dedicated server from another hosting company. They have the least capital investment, the least monthly overhead, but also the least control over there environment. In some cases their are hosting companies buying a reseller plan from a hosting company that leases dedicated servers from another hosting company that owns servers but co-locates them at a final and fourth hosting company s datacenter. If you have a shared hosting plan with this company and the server goes down there are 4 companies that get involved to resolve the issue. At first glance you might ask, Why would I choose such a company? Maybe because he can offer super low plans with his low overhead, and he provides great fast service. But then again you may want the comfort to know that when you call your hosting company for support the server is sitting right there in their datacenter. As you can see from the above discussion there are multiple types of hosting companies. But the services they offer can be broken into the following 4 categories, shared hosting, reseller hosting, dedicated servers, co-location. There are subcategories in each of these. In the dedicated server category for instance, there are managed and unmanaged unix and windows servers. There are certain web hosting companies that specialize in each of these 4 aspects of dedicated server hosting. I would recommend a different company to someone who needs a managed windows servers versus someone who needs an unmanaged unix server. How do you know what category of hosting services fits your needs? The majority of all sites use shared hosting plans. These are ideal for personal, community, and small business websites. If your site does a lot of processing(like database transactions) or a lot of user traffic it may require a dedicated server. Otherwise a shared plan is fine. Shared hosting plans can( and usually are) provided by all types of hosting companies. These are the most used and most available. The competition is high. Selecting a company for a shared plan depends on your preferences more then anything. There are literally thousands of quality companies that can provide you great shared hosting services. For Windows based website the selection is less and a little more expensive. You can get shared Unix hosting plans for as little as a couple of dollars a month. But most companies offering these plans are small startups operating with a Reseller plan or in some cases an unmanaged server. This limits their initial investment, but also might leave you with a company that is out of business in a couple of months. Reseller plans are used for 2 main reasons. First, people use them as a platform for their own hosting company. Many reseller plans amount to a franchise in the parent hosting company with everything included to run your own hosting company without all of the startup costs. The other use is multi domain accounts. A lot of web business and web designers have more then 1 website. It gets hard to maintain several hosting plans even if they are from the same company. A reseller plan allows you to consolidate all of your sites under one plan with the ability to add more as you need them without adding to your costs(assuming the reseller plan has room left in it). Next, are Dedicated Servers. These are most leased by small hosting companies who have out grown reseller plans. But some companies that run websites use a dedicated server instead of a shared hosting plan due to performance and security. These are mostly higher end sites with a lot of traffic and database interactions. If you have questions about your website start with a shared plan and if this does not have the speed you need then consider a dedicated server. Depending on your system admin skills and budget it can be managed or unmanaged. A managed server means the company provides support and maintenance such as troubleshooting downtime, OS upgrades, installing programs, monitoring system performance, etc. Co-location is for the most part is a service bought by other hosting companies or medium size companies who do not want to invest in their own datacenter. It is really not a service that a website owner would need. When a hosting company fills a 20-40 leased servers it usually makes sense to buy their own servers and co-locate them at a near by datacenter. The other market is medium size non internet companies who use a lot of servers to run their business but do not want to invest in a datacenter facility. What Type of Hosting Company do you Want/Need? Now that you know weather you need a shared plan, a reseller plan, a dedicated server, or a place to co-locate your server, the next question is which company is right to provide this service? This is the second part of our discussion. The first discussion is more technical and determines the right service for your internet needs. This discussion is about what makes you feel comfortable. I have composed a list of questions to ask a potential hosting company and yourself. Do they provide Unix and/or Windows? Does your site run on Unix or Windows. Almost every host provides Unix platforms but fewer provide Windows. Are they a large or small company? Some customers like the comfort of a large company for their stability. Others like the personal service of knowing the owner and having his direct phone number. Do they provide phone support or just email? There are a lot of companies who only provide email support. If your business is mission critical this might not be a good option. Is the datacenter housing their servers local? A hosting company might provide great support, but if their server goes down and its located in a datacenter in another city then they are dependent on their datacenter provider to fix it. How long has the company been in business? In the hosting business there are over 15,000 hosting companies. Many are one man companies or web designers that get a few customers but never develop it into a real business and fade over time. The cost of entry to the hosting business is very low especially if you use a reseller plan. Make sure the company has a history or if it is a one person company you know the person. How many domains do they host? This will give you an idea of their size. This gets to your preference for a smaller or larger hosting company. Your Value Proposition for the hosting company? This is best explained with an example. If you are one of 100,000 people paying $5/month then you provide 1/100,000 of their revenue, which is not much value for them. If your site requires a lot of work will they really help? Afterall losing your account will not impact them. Do they provide their own server support or is it outsourced? This goes toward your preferences for support. Some do not want their hosting company relying on others to keep things running. Others prefer to let people who only do support do their support. Is it a one person company? A lot of hosting companies are one person companies with a reseller plan or dedicated server and outsourced support. But if they lease a robust server, have an excellent support company, and provide you with personal service then they might be the right choice for you. Are they local? A lot of small business owners who are not that web savy prefer a company that they can visit and know versus a company they order from over the internet. On the other hand a lot of programmers who are web savy just want the cheapest plan and do not care the location. Go to a search engine or hosting directory and compile a list of companies that provide the service you need(shared, reseller, dedicated, co-location), ask them these questions, and then go with the company that matches best with your answers to the questions. key to success is spotting the changes before your competitors do. Technological changes mean nothing. Introducing a new feature to your plans or reducing prices can be matched in literally days. About HostChart.com HostChart, a Web Hosting Resource, is a leading web hosting directory website that has been in business for over 5 years. They provide numerous web hosting articles and tutorials as well as news, interviews, and reviews. You can use their extensive set of tools to research and evaluate your current or future web hosts.
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including <a href="http://www.hostchart.com">HostChart.com</a>, <a href="http://www.resellerconnection.com">ResellerConnection.com</a>, <a href="http://www.foundhost.com">FoundHost.com</a>, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.