Website / Blog Hosting Reviews

What Is Web Hosting? How Much Should You Pay For Quality Website Hosting?

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Fri, 25 Dec 2099 22:34:00 +0000

If you own a company or are considering an online business, you will most likely want to set up a paid web hosting account. Although there are free website hosting companies out there, their reliability is poor and you will have to put up with random ads that may not be related to your business or that may be down-right objectionable.

So, paid website hosting is the way to go for reliability and complete control of your site. These days paid hosting accounts are inexpensive, making them the preferred solution for anyone even remotely serious about their web presence.

But what exactly is a website host?
Briefly, it's a place to put your website so that the rest of the world can visit it. Hosting companies run web servers. Simply put, web servers are computers that are attached to the Internet and can communicate with all other computers online. And that means your customers!

The bad news: To maintain this service costs hosting companies money, so there are charges for you to host your website on their servers. The good news: A typical website owner's costs used to be quite high, but prices have come down considerably in recent years. And, at the same time, the features offered have become much more robust.

How much does web hosting cost?
Anywhere from $3.99 to hundreds per month. But for the typical small business or online entrepreneur, quality feature-filled website hosting can be purchased for $3.99 - $7.99 per month.

Why the range in pricing? As you might imagine $3.99 / month web hosting packages normally include fewer features than their $7.99 / month counterparts.

To give you an idea of the differences, let's consider two of the most critical features of any web hosting package: bandwidth and disk space.

What is Bandwidth?
Bandwidth is also called "data transfer" or "traffic". So if you see any of those terms associated with a gigabyte or gb or GB value then that feature is actually bandwidth.

It sounds like a very technical term, but bandwidth is simply the number of gigabytes of data that your website is allowed to transfer from the web hosting server to your users in one month. A gigabyte is roughly a billion bytes of data.

You'll want enough bandwidth to insure that all your customers can access your website without exceeding your monthly data transfer quota. These days you will see typical monthly bandwidth offered in the range of 300gb all the way up to unlimited!

To give you an idea of the amount of bandwidth you may need...
For the average business website with a few thousand visitors per month and less than 100 average-sized web pages, 300gb is probably many gigabytes beyond what's needed. But you may have spurts of traffic, so the extra included gigabytes of bandwidth can be useful to have.

(For a detailed explanation of Bandwidth requirements, please read: Web Hosting Features: What is Bandwidth and Why Should I Care?)

What is Disk Space?
Web space or disk space is the total number of megabytes or gigabytes a web hosting company gives you to hold the HTML and images that will be displayed on your website when your web pages are viewed.

However, your web space also includes website log files, FrontPage extensions, PHP files, CGI programs, externally linked CSS and Javascript files, and usually email accounts as well as space for your databases. (For a detailed explanation of these terms, please read: Web Hosting Features: What is Web Space and How Much is Enough?)

How much space do you need?
As in our example above, if your website consists of 100 pages with just a few medium-sized graphics per page, then you probably only need 20 megabytes (that's megabytes, not gigabytes) of disk space. However, there are other website features like forms automation, photo hosting, data gathering, or blogging that can substantially increase your need for disk space.

Not to worry... because disk space is cheap for your hosting company, they can offer a lot of space for a low monthly rate. For example, even the least expensive paid hosting company offers 10gb of disk space, which is almost overkill for the typical small business website.

Of course, if you're running a membership website or allowing your users to upload data or pictures, then you might need almost unlimited amounts of disk space. Fortunately, there are inexpensive web hosting packages that offer just that. In fact, many of the $7.99 / month hosting packages offer unlimited disk space (as well as unlimited bandwidth).

An Example of a Superior Web Host
For example, if you're interested in a full-featured hosting package with unlimited bandwidth and disk space, I suggest you check out Hostmonster.

See How Affordable A Full-Featured Web Host Can Be!
Visit Hostmonster Now...

- O R -

Read Our Hostmonster Review Here!

Web Hosting Features: What is Bandwidth and Why Should I Care?

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Wed, 23 Dec 2099 23:51:00 +0000

So, you want to build a website and you're looking for web hosting. That's great, but what are all those features being offered? For instance, Bandwidth? What's that?

Bandwidth is also called "data transfer" or "traffic"...
So if you see any of those terms associated with a gigabyte or gb or GB value then that feature is actually bandwidth.

Simply put, bandwidth is the number of gigabytes of data that your website is allocated to transfer from the web hosting server to your users in one month. This number is not an absolute, it's just the number of gigabytes of bandwidth you pay for in the monthly price of your hosting plan.

If your users are so many or your website is so busy that you go over your bandwidth allotment in a month, then you are charged extra for each gigabyte over the amount included in your hosting plan.

The cost per extra gigabyte for the overage is usually around $0.50, depending upon your hosting company. If you are concerned about running over your bandwidth allotment, then you should check with your hosting company about the actual cost for each extra gigabyte.

Bandwidth is cheaper now than ever before, so it would be foolish not to get the most bandwidth you think you'll need right off the bat. Depending upon the hosting company, you may find that for a couple of dollars more each month you can get as much as 4 or 5 times the bandwidth of the cheaper hosting plan!

Generally, here's how bandwidth is computed...
It's the amount of information transmitted to and from your website by your visitors. The following are the factors considered in your traffic usage:

The amount of traffic you receive (hits to your website)
The size of your site.
The types of files offered on your site.
How much data you upload to your website.

A hit is more than a visit. Every file, picture or any other reference that's made to your hosting server when your web page is loaded is a hit. Each hit consists of a number of bytes of information.

For example, let's say your website is 1 megabyte (MB) including web pages and images. If 100 people visited your website and viewed all the pages, the traffic generated would be approximately 100 MB.

A megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes (1 million bytes) and a gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes (1 billion bytes). So that makes a megabyte 1/1,000 of a gigabyte. In the example above, 100 MB of data transfer would be 1/10 of a gigabyte.

So, if your website traffic consisted of 100 MB each day, your usage for a 30-day month would be 3,000 MB or 3 GB per month. In this case, you would want a hosting plan that provided at least 3 GB of bandwidth per month.

But that's not ideal. What if you have a burst of traffic during a month (lucky you!) or what if your daily traffic grows beyond 100 visitors per day (luckier you!)? You could easily exceed your monthly bandwidth. If this happened rarely, then no big deal, just pay the few dollars for the bandwidth you used over your monthly allotment.

But, if your site is that successful, it would probably be better to move to an upgraded hosting plan. You'll save money this way and won't be nagged by your hosting company to upgrade your hosting plan every month.

An example might help...
If your visitors increased by 50% you would have 150 MB of traffic each day for a total of 4.5 GB of monthly traffic. You would pay about $1.00 for the extra bandwidth.

You would probably find that an upgrade to a better hosting plan would cost you an extra couple of dollars each month, but you would triple or quadruple your bandwidth. That's a better bargain and allows your successful website to grow without further fees or upgrades.

And don't forget, even inexpensive hosting plans allow you to host multiple websites on one hosting plan. This is a real money-saver, but you'll need lots of bandwidth to handle more than one website on your hosting plan. Fortunately, as you've seen in the examples above, you don't pay double to double or even triple your bandwidth.

Basically, the rule of thumb is...
Total the size of all your frequently visited website pages, images, external CSS and Javascript files, any downloadable files, MP3s, or video and you will have the expected bandwidth per visit to your website.

Then check your server logs and determine the number of visitors per month. Multiply the two numbers and you should have an idea of your usual website traffic. Next add in the size of uploads you may make. For example, when you change a page or redesign your site, you will upload new web pages to your site. These uploads cut into your bandwidth too. Double the grand total to allow room for growth and you have a pretty good idea of your bandwidth needs for that website.

Next, allow some bandwidth for the addition of new websites on the same hosting plan. Add everything together and purchase a hosting plan that meets your current needs and has room for you to grow as your business succeeds.

One such plan is the all inclusive package at Hostmonster. And Hostmonster's monthly costs are very reasonable.

Summary:
Get the most bandwidth you can afford right away and never worry about website cut-offs or overruns. Note: Hostmonster offers Unlimited Bandwidth in their basic package for less! Check it out now.

See How Affordable A Full-Featured Web Host Can Be!
Visit Hostmonster Now...

- O R -

Read Our Hostmonster Review Here!

P.S. Hostmonster's complete hosting plan is a bargain at the everyday low cost of $6.95 per month, but I've seen it on sale at various times.

I suggest you visit the Hostmonster website now to take advantage of their frequent sales!. You won't find a better price for full-featured, reliable website hosting.

P.S.S. Wondering about the "Disk Space / Web Space" feature offered in website hosting packages? Here's a helpful explanation: Web Hosting Features: What is Web Space and How Much is Enough?

Web Hosting Features: What is Web Space and How Much is Enough?

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Tue, 22 Dec 2099 01:07:00 +0000

Web space or disk space is the total amount of megabytes or gigabytes a web hosting company gives you with your hosting plan. You probably already know that this space is used to hold the HTML and images that will be displayed on your website when your web pages are viewed, but...

What you may not know is that your web space also includes your website log files, FrontPage extensions, PHP files, CGI programs, externally linked CSS and Javascript files, and usually email accounts and emails as well as space for any databases.

Briefly, here's how your web space is allocated:

Log files - a list of all requests made to your hosting company's website server by your website. Your log files tell where visitors are coming from, how often they return, and how they navigate through your site.
FrontPage extensions - FrontPage is website creation software from Microsoft that allows you to build and maintain web pages via a graphic interface. FrontPage extensions are script files that run on the web server to extend the functionality of FrontPage when your website is viewed. These extensions support features such as counters, data collection, e-mail processing, and database processing.
PHP files - PHP is a scripting language that can create dynamic web pages. Useful for form processing, data base access or for generating customized website pages.
CGI programs - stands for Common Gateway Interface and is a standard way for data to be passed between web applications e.g. passing data from an online form.
Externally linked CSS files - CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets, is an addition to HTML that gives website developers more control over how pages are displayed. With CSS, designers can create style sheets that define how different elements, such as headers and links, appear. If CSS definitions are shared among pages in a website, they are usually stored on the web hosting server as a file that is then "linked" by the web pages that require them.
Javascript files - a type of computer code used to perform tasks on Web pages, such as incrementing a "number of visitors" counter or checking the input fields on a form for errors. If Javascripts are shared among pages in a website, they are usually stored on the web hosting server as a file that is then "linked" by the web pages that require them.
Email accounts and emails - web hosting plans usually include one or even several email accounts so you can create email addresses such as: sales@yourwebsite.com or help@yourwebsite.com. In many cases the emails stored in these accounts are added to your web space quota. Check with your web hosting company for details.
Database - a collection of data: part numbers, product codes, customer information, etc. Data is organized and stored on a web server that can be searched and retrieved by CGI or PHP programs.

Web space or disk space for your hosting plan is listed in megabytes or gigabytes. A megabyte (mb) is 1,000,000 bytes (1 million bytes) and a gigabyte (gb) is 1,000,000,000 bytes (1 billion bytes). Even 1 megabyte might sound like a lot of space, but if you add up the size of each of your web pages and include all the files and data mentioned above, you will be surprised at how large the total can become.

And don't forget, you may want to host more than one website on your hosting plan. If that's your plan, you will need many megabytes or even gigabytes of web storage. Fortunately, disk space is cheap and most web hosting companies offer hosting plans that include hundreds of gigabytes of space.

Bottom line...
If you are hosting one relatively simple website, you probably won't need more than 50 mb of disk storage. However, if you're planning on hosting a large website or multiple websites on a single hosting plan, then you should look for a plan with several hundred gigabytes of storage capacity.

You can estimate your web space needs by locating your website files on your hard drive and getting a total of the space used. This is easily done in Windows Explorer by selecting the folder or folders that contain your entire website and right-clicking. Select Properties and refer to the "Size:" display. You will get a total of the space used by all the files in the folder(s). Don't forget to add estimated space for emails and databases.

Finally, total the space for all the websites you expect to host on a single hosting account, add at least half of that space back again for growth and you should have a fairly accurate estimate of the space you will need for your websites now and in the future.

Summary...
If you're looking for a generous amount of disk space and other valuable features for a fantastic price, then check out Hostmonster Hosting Services. It's difficult to find a website host that can beat their service, reliability, and low price!

See How Affordable A Full-Featured Web Host Can Be!
Visit Hostmonster Now...

- O R -

Read Our Hostmonster Review Here!

P.S. Hostmonster's complete hosting plan is a bargain at the everyday low cost of $6.95 per month, but I've seen it on sale at various times.

I suggest you visit the Hostmonster website now to take advantage of their frequent sales!. You won't find a better price for full-featured, reliable website hosting.

P.S.S. Wondering about the "Bandwidth / Data Transfer" feature offered in website hosting packages? Here's a helpful explanation: Web Hosting Features: What is Bandwidth and Why Should I Care?

What's So Bad About Free Website Hosting?

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Sun, 20 Dec 2099 22:50:00 +0000

Nothing and everything. It all depends on your use of your free web hosting account. For example, if you are simply hosting a family blog, a temporary website to chronicle your latest vacation or just using the site to test your skill at writing HTML, then a free websites hosting account is probably all you'll need.

For anything more serious and especially if you need your site to be available and look professional, then not only should you sign-up for paid website hosting, but you should also grab a domain name of your own.

OK, how about I use free web hosting but coupled with a solid business domain name? Well, generally speaking free website hosting is NOT very reliable. Your up-time may vary considerably. (You get what you pay for.) Also, to defray the cost of providing hosting for free, the free website host will probably insist on running ads on your site... ads you may not like and ads you won't get paid to show.

These are just general comparisons, but if you are still considering using a free websites hosting company, then the following article should help you decide between free vs paid. ENJOY! . . .

Free Web Site Hosting Considerations

There are a lot of free web site hosting companies out there touting their services. While the accounts offered by many of these web hosting providers are free to use, there are sometimes hidden costs that can leave you wasting both time and money.

If you want to build web sites that are truly free, you are going to have to carefully evaluate free web site hosting services before signing up. Special considerations to keep in mind when shopping for web hosting providers include:

Reliability You can build web sites all day long, but no one will ever see them if your web host isn't reliable. To find out how reliable a free website hosting company is, you should ask about expected downtimes, traffic limitations, and customer service procedures. You should also ask what type of message will be displayed if the web site is disabled for any reason.

Bandwidth The amount of bandwidth you have determines how long it will take for your pages to load. To keep costs low, many web hosting providers offer limited bandwidth. The problem with this is that your pages can take ten seconds or more to load. That's just enough time for a user to get frustrated and seek out another web site. If your free website hosting account comes with limited bandwidth, you need to be prepared for the possibility of missing out on customer sales.

Unwanted Ads Free website hosting services are notorious for placing unwanted ads on customer web sites. This means that you will have pop-ups and other annoying advertisements on your site that you cannot remove. These ads might become very irritating for you and even more so for your customers, who may choose not to visit as a result.

Other Limitations If you want to build web sites that include pictures, icons, and large amounts of text, you may want to look for web hosting providers that will allow you to build these kinds of web sites. Some free website hosting services will place limitations on what you can and can't do. For example, you may be barred from using pictures or more than five web pages.

A Couple of Things to Look For There are a couple of things to consider when acquiring a hosting company that offers cheap web site hosting. An affordable web host that is worth investing in has two main attributes: there are no hidden fees and there are enough quality features to keep your web site running smoothly. When comparing hosting companies or looking for cheap web site hosting, it is imperative that you keep these two attributes in mind.

No Hidden Fees A web site hosting plan you can afford will have free or low cost set-up fees and reasonable annual or monthly maintenance fees. Hosting companies should make you aware of these fees right away and should also make you aware of any hidden costs that you might not be considering.

Unfortunately not every cheap web site hosting company does this. In fact, some of them purposely try to be sneaky and trick you into buying into a seemingly affordable web site hosting package that will become more expensive as time goes on. This is why you should always ask hosting companies detailed questions about what you will be expected to pay.

Quality Features Cheap web site hosting companies offer many of the same features that expensive web site hosting companies do, but not all companies have plans that are comparable.

To make sure you get a plan that keeps your site up and running smoothly, you will need to consider specific hosting features like storage space, down time, customer support, and tech support when making comparisons. If you shop carefully, there is no reason why you can't get an affordable web site hosting plan with all of the quality features you require.

About the author: Cliff Posey ... This article is provided by Websites That Succeed were you can get free website help.
Visit: http://www.webbusinesstoolsonline.com/build-your-own-website.html

Bottom Line:

Basically your options boil down to these: For the average web site or blog owner the choices are free website hosting or paid hosting.

Some considerations: Free Website Hosting vs Paid Website Hosting:

Free Website Hosting:

Some free hosting plans are run by very reliable companies and their down-time is minimal.
On the other hand, many are not managed reliably and there is virtually no support so your complaints / problems can fall on deaf ears.
Features (like picture hosting and bandwidth) vary widely, so it's harder to find just the right free websites host for the kind of website you may be running.

Paid Website Hosting:

There are many reliable, yet inexpensive web hosting plans to chose among. For example, I can recommend Hostmonster as one of the best web site hosting companies on the web. Hostmonster has one full-featured hosting plan making your choice much easier. Also, their hosting service is very reasonable and customer service is available 24/7 via phone, live chat or email. Bluehost is another company with a similar hosting plan and excellent customer service.
Any problems? You usually have access to customer service either by email, telephone, or live chat depending on the hosting service provider.
Features are usually more than adequate for a blog or small to medium sized business website, so you can add enhancements to your website or blog and not worry about availability or extra cost.
Reliability is usually around 99% up-time!

In short, if your website is not critical and if you feel you can manage your website without support help, then go ahead and try a free website hosting plan.

However, if you depend on your website for income or for the smooth operation of your business, then be sure to sign-up for a paid website hosting account and enjoy the benefits of reliable up-time and comprehensive website features.

But remember, just as all free web hosts are not the same, neither are paid hosting plans. We are happy to recommend Hostmonster.

See How Affordable A Full-Featured Web Host Can Be!
Visit Hostmonster Now...

- O R -

Read Our Hostmonster Review Here!

P.S. Hostmonster's complete hosting plan is a bargain at the everyday low cost of $6.95 per month, but I've seen it on sale at various times.

I suggest you visit the Hostmonster website now to take advantage of their frequent sales!. You won't find a better price for full-featured, reliable website hosting.

P.S.S. Want more information about web hosting? Take a look at the Free Guides available here: More Web Hosting Guides!

How To Design A Website That Works!

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Sat, 19 Dec 2099 19:47:00 +0000

To get started with your own website there are three steps that you have to take first. The first thing you have to do is to choose and buy your own domain name. The second step is to acquire hosting services. Finally, you have to design and upload your own website.

Preferably, before you decided to start a website you did some keyword research. It is generally a good idea to choose a domain name that uses your primary keyword or keyword phrase. If nothing else, choose a domain name that works well with your company and what you have to offer.

Choosing a hosting provider is relatively easy as well. There are many available across the web. GoDaddy is one of the most popular and reliable of the hosting providers available on the internet. You want to make sure that you have a good uptime percentage and that your files are safe in their storage.

Designing A Website

You have a few choices when it comes to getting a design for your website.

Your first choice is to hire your own web designer. They talk with you, figure out what you are looking for, and design the website per your preferences, specifications, and instructions. If this is the route you chose, make sure that you tell them you want a website that is clean and professional.

You can find great designers at freelance sites such as ODesk or RentACoder. You can create something of an advertisement of your needs within these sites and other web designers will start to bid. After receiving your bids, you should look through every designer that has shown interest, look at their portfolio, how much are they bidding and charging. After doing this, choose the one that most appeals to you and has what you are looking for.

Your second choice will be to choose a free template from the many available on the internet. This is ideal for those who are not willing to pay someone to do their design work. All you will have to do is download the template from your chosen website, replace the content with your own, and then make it live on your hosting provider by uploading it.

Your third choice is to use what is called a site builder. Your hosting provider may offer a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) site builder or you could opt for software programs such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver.

What Does Every Good Website Need?

A good website must:

- Be Professional - You should use professional colors; most any color can be professional if used right and should be neat, clean, and easy to understand.
- Be Simple - Avoid a graphic-heavy website, flashy banners, and a multitude of animation, this can be distracting. Keep it simple, easy to use, and navigational.
- Contain a Search Function - You want to make sure that your visitors can find what they need without a lot of clicks. Visitors love searching because it allows them to easily go where they need to and get what they want in terms of information and products.
- Have the Ability to Capture Information to Build Your Mailing list - One of the most important elements of building a successful affiliate marketing business is building your own mailing list. Having a box or method of capture on your website is crucial to success.

You know that a website is the first step in creating your affiliate marketing business. Make sure that it is easy to use, informative, professional, and can be easily navigated at the same time.

About the author: Jhon Cody www.instant-website-security.com | www.instant-squeeze-page-mastery.com

See How Affordable A Full-Featured Web Host Can Be!
Visit Hostmonster Now...

- O R -

Read Our Hostmonster Review Here!

P.S. Hostmonster's complete hosting plan is a bargain at the everyday low cost of $6.95 per month, but I've seen it on sale at various times.

I suggest you visit the Hostmonster website now to take advantage of their frequent sales!. You won't find a better price for full-featured, reliable website hosting.

P.S.S. Want more information about web hosting? Take a look at the Free Guides available here: More Web Hosting Guides!

Review of Hostmonster Website Hosting: Best Overall Hosting Value!

noreply@blogger.com (tom-thomas) — Fri, 15 Jan 1999 23:24:00 +0000

One website hosting plan with tons of features for the money makes Hostmonster an easy choice for your first (and last) website host. With their simple pricing and expanded services, HostMonster blows away all other web hosting companies.

Get the highest bandwidth we've ever seen in this price range... Unlimited!! Couple that with Unlimited web storage space and you can store as many web pages, images and other files as you need.

Oh yeah, and Hostmonster allows you to host UNLIMITED web sites on one hosting account! No extra hosting charges, no matter how many sites you set-up on your account.

Of course, if you've already used up your free included domain name , then you'll have to pay for any additional domain names you want to host. There is a nominal fee for this at Hostmonster or you can buy your domain name anywhere and simply transfer it to your Hostmonster account.

Here's What HostMonster's Top-of-the-Line Hosting Plan Includes:

UNLIMITED monthly bandwidth!
UNLIMITED disk space
UNLIMITED email accounts
Host UNLIMITED domains and websites at no extra cost!
Unlimited autoresponders
100+ databases
PHP & CGI-BIN Scripting languages
Full multimedia support, including flash, real, shockwave, streaming audio and video
Site Builder software to help you design your new website
Low Monthly Price!

The advertised monthly price (see the current price at the Hostmonster website) is for a 24 month pre-paid hosting account and includes a free domain name for life. A one-year pre-paid hosting plan with free domain name will cost you only a little more per month. About one dollar or so per month.

The best benefit of HostMonster...
With Hostmonster, you can host an unlimited number of domain names and websites on the same account at no additional hosting cost!

When you consider their years of experience, support availability (24/7, toll-free), up-time guarantee (99.9%, Wow!), and complete set of features, HostMonster gets our very highest rating.

Summary:
A fantastic bargain for this full-featured website hosting plan. Hostmonster has the lowest price on the Internet for such a complete set of hosting features.

Our Highest Recommendation for Best Website Hosting and Best Value on the web!

Click Here To Grab The Latest Sale Price For Hostmonster Hosting...

Not Ready To Buy?
Click Here ONLY If You Decide NOT To
Join Hostmonster Today!