I am talking about the service provided by CloudFlare. This is a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and distributed DNS (Domain Name Server) service offering both free and paid services. The paid service is aimed more at the corporate user and the free service will be fine for most users.

So what does it do? Well basically it acts as a proxy server standing between your visitors and your hosting service. You change the DNS servers associated with your domain name to the CloudFlare name servers and all requests for your pages are routed to them. CloudFlare cache your static content so minimizing the need for calls to your host.

This gives you the following benefits:

• Improved Page Speed of Loading: CloudFlare has servers located throughout the world so your cached pages are delivered from the nearest server. The caching results in increased page speed and for visitors who are some way from your host’s servers the increase can be very significant. It is well known that web site visitors are not patient and many will not wait for a slow site to load. Using CloudFlare your site can be fast throughout the world (CloudFlare claim that on average sites load twice as fast).
• Protection Against Peaks: If your site gets a sudden surge of traffic (e.g. you get a post featured on the front page of a site like Digg or Stumbleupon) this will easily be handled by the CloudFlare network without affecting your host.
• Protection Against Downtime: CloudFlare can continue to serve the cached pages even if your host takes their server down for maintenance.
• Cheaper Hosting: As CloudFlare takes much of the load you can manage with a cheaper hosting service than you might otherwise need.
• Improved Site Security: CloudFlare uses its own, and third party, data to identify threats and stop them getting to your site.
• Spam Reduction: CloudFlare uses third party data to reduce the number of spam comments made on sites on its network.
• Spots Infected Computers Trying To Access Your Site: CloudFlare alerts visitors that have they have an infected computer which requires action by them. They must enter a CAPTCHA to continue to your site.
• Additional Statistics: You can now find out more about search engine bots visiting your site and threats to your site that have been averted.

So are there any disadvantages? Only minor ones:

• As CloudFlare reduces the calls to your host this means that the statistics taken from your web server will not be very meaningful. However, web based statistical programs are not affected. CloudFlare actually is very easy to configure for Google Analytics.
• Because CloudFlare caches static content any changes you make to this will not be seen by your visitors straightaway, although you can put CloudFlare into development mode to avoid this.
• CloudFlare’s basic mode cannot handle SSL certificates. If your site uses these then that part of the site will need to be on a separate sub-domain which is served directly from your host.

Does CloudFlare Work With Any Host?
It should work with any host but CloudFlare is partnered with HostGator and is an option within the HostGator Control Panel. This makes the setup easier.

What If I Am Using WordPress?
CloudFlare has a plugin for WordPress which ensures that everything works smoothly and simplifies the set-up for WordPress sites.

Conclusion
The CloudFlare service is good and we are happy to recommend it. It improves site security, increases page speed and doesn’t cost anything – what is there to dislike?

If you are using HostGator and WordPress you will find it very easy to set-up.

Registering a new domain name vs buying an existing one

Generally, registering a new domain name will be cheaper and you have a lot more scope to get exactly what you want but an existing domain will be easier and quicker to get ranked. If buying an existing domain make sure it is indexed (i.e. already appearing on the search results).

GoDaddy are one of the top domain registrars where you can obtain both types of domain names.

The best suffix to use
If you are aiming at a worldwide audience you are still best using a .com domain. If this is not possible the normal advice has been to use .net or .org but people have reported good results with others such as .biz and .info. So if you can’t get a .com go for whatever allows you to register the best domain name.

If you are aiming at a geographically limited market you are best to use a local suffix such as .au or .co.uk as these are preferred in the local search engines such as Google UK.

If you are going to have a separate mobile version of your site you might think about registering a .mobi domain as well. There is a debate as to whether it is better to do this or put your mobile site on a sub domain of your main domain e.g. m.yourdomain.com. At present it is best to see how others in your market have done it and do the same.

Content and format of Domain name
Ideally a domain name should be:

• As short as possible – preferably no more than 20 characters.
• Have no hyphens or underscores – If you are having trouble getting the name you want it is preferable to add a prefix (e.g tips, key, secrets, top, hot, fast, etc) or suffix (now, today, review, info, advice, guide, tool, etc). Although the search engines won’t mind a couple of hyphens, they will cause confusion for human visitors.
• Indicate what the site is about – When your site is listed on the search results it is helpful for the searcher (and they are more likely to click) if your domain name indicates that the site is relevant to their query.
• Include a primary keyword – For a small tightly focused site it will probably be quicker to rank if the domain name includes a keyword. If you do include a keyword it is better to have it at the beginning of the domain name.

It should not:

• Include any trade marks – It is not advisable to include anyone else’s name or trademark in your domain name without their permission. If you are forced to change it later you will have wasted all your efforts to promote your site.
• Be open to misinterpretation – If it can be read more than one way then this is a case when a hyphen is justified.

Once you have completed your domain names search you will then need hosting and our present recommended hosting supplier is HostGator

Before signing up with such a service you might just consider if a free blog on one of the big blogging sites like Google’s Blogger or WordPress.com would meet your needs. These allow you to quickly create a blog but you do not have the flexibility that comes with hosting your own.

The first thing to consider is the domain name. You will need this when you sign-up with a hosting service and will need to decide whether to register if via the hosting company or with a third party registrar. In terms of the operation of your site it does not make any difference but having it registered with a third party will probably make it easier to change hosting companies later, if you need to do so. If you use the hosting company make sure that you own the domain and be aware that even if it is free (i.e. part of the package) you will have to pay for it if you cancel the hosting, even during any money back guarantee period.

There are a number of platforms you can use for a blog but WordPress is the most popular. There are a great number of plugins available which means you can get your site to behave as you wish. There are also numerous themes available which means you can get the appearance and layout of your blog as you require. If you have any problems or want something different you will find lots of help available online.

You might consider using one of the free web hosting sites but if you are new to blog hosting I would advise against this. The most of big hosting companies support WordPress and offer “One Click”, or at least very easy, installs which means that you can have your blog up and running in just a few minutes. If you have any problems they will provide support.  With free hosting you will have to learn how to install WordPress manually and if you get stuck you can only expect limited support by email (as this is expensive to provide).

I have tried a number of hosting companies for blog hosting and my present recommendation is HostGator, I have found that the service includes everything I need and the support is good.

So What is a Webhosting Service?
A Webhosting service means the provision of a web server with a high speed internet connection on to which you can load your site. To do this you connect to the web server via an FTP client and transfer files as necessary. The hosting provider deals with all maintenance of the server and its connectivity so you don’t have to worry about anything other than maintaining your site.

Most hosts offer tools to help you build a site easily but you need to aware that these often lock you in because you cannot easily transfer the site to another host. Most also offer easy installation and set-up of third party tools like WordPress (if you are setting up your first website you are recommended to use WordPress).

Some hosts only offer Linux hosting but others offer a choice of Linux or Windows. This is the operating system running on the web server and is not related in any way to the operating system used by your computer. Often Windows hosting costs more than Linux and the package may be more limited. Actually Linux powers the majority of the internet and you should sign-up for Linux hosting unless you have a particular reason for needing Windows (perhaps because your site has been built for you using Microsoft tools and it requires Windows hosting).

Types of Web Hosting Available

Shared Hosting – This is the basic service that is used by most people. Here the webhosting provider hosts many customers on a single server. This does have its drawbacks but it has the great advantage that the service can be offered at a remarkably cheap price. Shared webhosting is often sold with “unlimited” resources (no limit on things like bandwidth, disk space, domains, databases and email accounts). This keeps it simple as when limits are set most users get nowhere near them.  However, “Unlimited” cannot be taken literally as the server has finite resources and the host cannot allow one user to adversely impact other users. Therefore the Terms Of Use will contain some restriction and if your site were to become very busy you would be asked to upgrade.

VPS Hosting – VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is a step up from shared hosting (and costs considerably more) but you might consider using it from the outset if you are running an eCommerce site and security is important to you. Here software creates virtual servers on a physical server. The users see their virtual server much the same as they would a physical server in that it has its own resources and much greater flexibility and security than shared hosting provides. You can specify the resources you require and upgrade if necessary.

Dedicated Webhosting – Here the user does actually rent a physical server just for their use. As well as providing more resources this means that they can have total control of the server as no-one else can be impacted. Alternatively many hosts offer a managed service where they perform some of the support and maintenance functions.

Cloud Hosting – This is the most recent type of web hosting in which a site is hosted in the “cloud” instead of on any particular physical server. Resources can be specified at the outset and can easily be increased or decreased as required. As the site is not tied to any physical server reliability should be better and this type of hosting is ideal for big sites which may have periods of high activity. The disadvantage compared to dedicated webhosting is that the user cannot have total control so there will always be third party staff who can see the data.

Reseller Hosting – A lot of the web hosts advertising are simply reselling the services of one of the big hosting companies. Normally the hosting service is provided by the large company but the reseller is responsible for things like billing and support. Resellers can offer cheap prices but often can’t provide the sort of 24/7 support that you get from a big hosting company (for people new to hosting that support is important).

e-Commerce Hosting – Sites that are selling something need additional features such as a shopping cart, payment system and the necessary security. Some hosts offer specific packages for this.

SEO Hosting – Where a user has multiple sites and wants to link them together for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes normal hosting is no good because if the sites have the same IP address, the links between them will be ignored by the search engines. SEO hosting enables the sites to be hosted with different IP addresses to avoid this problem.

Once you have decided on the type of hosting you want you need to chose from the numerous hosting companies which offer the service.

Web Hosting companies vary in the services they offer. Some such as Bluehost offer just one shared linux package. Offers such as HostGator offer a range of services which provides an upgrade path if your site becomes busy.

When choosing web hosting don’t forget to look at the host’s reputation for support, this often is the critical factor for users.

For more information on how to choose the best web hosting service for you click this link Website Hosting Services For New Users.

Alternatively you can go for our present webhosting recommendation which is HostGator.

If you use applications or store data in the cloud the big benefit is that you can assess them from anywhere, on any device, provided you have an internet connection. Hosting is rather different, here the key benefits are flexibility and resilience.

With the traditional forms of hosting your site is maintained on a physical server which in the case of shared hosting also hosts many other user’s sites or in the case of dedicated server hosting hosts just your sites. In the case of the latter you pay for the whole server whether you fully utilize it or not. If that server requires maintenance or has a problem your site will be offline until the problem is fixed.

With cloud hosting you are not limited to a physical server, you just use some of the cloud resources. The resources required for maintaining your website are spread across more than one web server, and are supplied as needed.

A major benefit of cloud hosting is that it is very quick and easy to add resources (bandwidth, disk space etc.) if you are expecting an increase in traffic, and then release them when no-longer needed. You therefore do not need to maintain spare capacity just in case it is needed. In most cases you pay for resources used, (rather like you pay for electricity) so it is a very cost effective way of operating.

The other big advantage is that the chance of any downtime is greatly reduced because you are not dependent on one server.  If one server were to go down the others would take the load without users noticing.

So why isn’t everybody using cloud hosting? Well the major factor is cost. No cloud hosting package is anywhere near as cheap as a standard shared hosting package so it does not make sense for a personal user or the small business user.

When it comes to business users cloud hosting is used by many medium and large companies but hasn’t replaced dedicated server hosting. The latter has the advantage that the user has full control over the server and who can access it. Despite the advantages of cloud computing some companies worry about security. In the cloud they have no control over where their data is physically held or who can see it (need to trust the cloud administrators).

However, cloud hosting does seem to be the future and as costs come down we will see more people using it.

If you are going to use WordPress then you should make sure that your host makes the installation easy and provides support if you have any issues. Most of the major hosting companies do this, but not all. Read the rest of this entry »

To keep it as simple as possible, for most people a basic shared hosting Linux package is what you need. Shared hosting means that many user’s web sites are hosted on a single server. There are disadvantages to this but it has the overwhelming advantage of providing website hosting services at a very low price.

Unless you confidently expect your site to become very busy very quickly shared hosting is the best way to start. You can always upgrade later if necessary. The exception might be if you are setting up an eCommerce site (i.e. selling things) when you might think the better security provided by VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is worthwhile.

Linux is the operating system that powers most of the web (i.e. most web servers use it). The alternative is Windows hosting which is offered by many website hosting services, often at a slightly higher price. You would use this if it is required by the tools you will use to build your site i.e. you would know if you need windows hosting. If you are planning to use WordPress to power your site you should use Linux hosting.

When choosing between website hosting services you should look at:

The Service Provided – You want your site to be easy to set-up, have the pages load quickly for visitors and have minimal downtime. You should look for recent comments from users of potential hosts to see how that host is performing. No host can offer 100% uptime but many guarantee 99.9%+. What you don’t want is to see complains about unexplained downtime lasting hours (or even days).

The Support Provided – I have looked through lots of user comments/reviews on website hosting services and it is clear that poor support is the reason for the great majority of complaints. Support staff not being interested or just giving stock answers annoys customers but good support generates praise even if the company was in error in the first place.

Good support is particularly important for users new to hosting as it is easy to get stuck on something that would be obvious to more experienced user. Once again you need to search for user reviews to see how a potential website hosting service is performing.

The Price & Terms – Only once you are happy with the service and support should you look at price. At this point it is reasonable to go for the cheapest. However be careful to check the cancellation policy if you are signing up for a long period. It is much cheaper to do this but you want a refund if you need to cancel before the end of the term.

You will notice that I have not mentioned what is included in the package. This is because most packages include everything that a new user is likely to need. Most now include unlimited resources (bandwidth, disk space) and where limits are set they are unlikely to be an issue in the short term,

Of the many website hosting services available our recommendation is presently HostGator as they meet the above criteria at a good price.

Click Here to see the latest HostGator Coupon Codes (to reduce your first invoice).

Admin comment – A description of SEO hosting which is a service for webmasters with multiple sites who, for search engine optimization purposes, want to disguise the fact that the sites are connected.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ambroses_S

Find The Best And Most Reliable Hosting Plan Now! CLICK HERE!

One key factor is page speed is hosting so you should host your site with one of the major reputable providers. HostGator are our present favorite. See side bar for access to coupon codes to significantly reduce your first invoice.

• You own your Domain Name which is registered with a third party domain registration service and you want to change Website Hosting Provider.

• You own your Domain Name but your domain registration service is also your present website hosting provider and you want to change just your host or you might want to change both.

• You don’t own your present URL and will be changing your URL as part of the process of changing website hosting provider.

In this article I will be looking at the first scenario as here, with careful planning, you will be able to change your website hosting provider without visitors noticing. The others are more complicated and may involve some downtime or loss of visitors.

Of course the easiest way to change hosts is to let your new host do it for you. If you use WordPress, several hosting providers (including HostGator) will transfer a site for you free of charge if you are a new customer.

If you need to do it yourself proceed as follows:

Step 1 – Full Backups

Copy all the files on your web server to your PC via FTP. If using a database driven blog or site backup the database to your PC.

Step 2 – Set-up New Site

Set-up your account with the new website hosting provider and copy the site from your PC to the new host and if appropriate restore your data files to a new database.

Create new email accounts taking care to ensure they are exactly the same as the current ones.

Step 3 – Check Out the New Site

Thoroughly test the new version of the site to make sure everything works as before (put the new IP address in your local Hosts file so that your computer sees the new site). It is also a good idea at this point to make some change to the home page so that you can easily see that this is the version with the new Website Hosting Provider.

Step 4 – Change the DNS Records

Enter the name servers of your new website hosting provider against the domain name with your domain name registrar. The change should be complete within 48 hours but to be sure wait a few days longer. During the changeover period some visitors will see the new site and some the old site but they will not notice any change. Importantly neither will the search engines so your rankings will not be affected.

Step 5 – Cancel Existing Hosting

Only now cancel your account with the old website hosting provider, if you time this right it should mean only one month of paying two website hosting companies.