1) Is domain registration included, or do I have to pay extra?

Most of the best web hosts today offer free domain names (the .com) when their clients sign up for a long-term package. Registering your domain with the company you host with reduces headaches and hassle that can result from trying to import your domain to your hosting company. However, understand that this feature is often only available when you pre-pay for one year or more.

2) How many websites can I host with this hosting package?

Many internet marketers have a large number of websites. These websites can be informational sites, or websites used to target very small niches. Whatever the reason, having the ability to host extra domain names at no extra charge can save you from purchasing a brand new hosting package for each domain you register.

3) What is the percentage of guaranteed uptime?

When a web host experiences downtime, your websites are inaccessible and your company could lose money. Leading hosts will guarantee the amount of uptime – which should exceed 99.8% for the best companies.

4) What level of service does the company provide?

From uploading files to configuring systems, hosting a website can be a tricky business. You need a company that provides world-class support when you need it. Before signing up for a hosting package, make sure the company you’re considering provides support through multiple methods: email, phone, helpdesk, knowledgebase, and a customer forum. The best companies will offer 24-hour phone support in case of emergencies. When hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, you want to have this level of service.

5) Does the company offer a money-back guarantee?

Occasionally people run into web hosting companies that provide poor service or slow web servers. In order to prevent yourself from being locked into a year-long contract with a company that does not provide the level of service you need, make sure the web host you’re considering offers a 30-day money back guarantee. This is standard in the hosting industry, and nearly every reputable host offers it.

5 Features Your Web Host Must Have –

1. Greatest Control Panel: The control panel is the place you will be visiting most often, so it should be easy to use, have all the features you need, etc. You can find a great control panel with cPanel, which provides one of the best control panel user experiences among all of the others. CPanel offers more than 42 different icons, 50 of the most used PHP scripts, shopping carts, forums, and even a WordPress blog – one of the best blog hosts out there. cPanel also provides an easy to use layout and navigation so when you do use it you can forget about frustration.

2. On 24-7: Your web host should be working for you around the clock. This will keep your website up and running 99.9% of the time, and the server should be able to locate and repair any problems as soon as they appear. It is rare that a server could become inactive, but if/when it does happen, you do not want it to happen to your website. That could mean lost sales, lost visitors, and maybe even lost customers for life. No one wants that. The web host should be working all of the time – no exceptions. It should constantly monitor your website at least every few minutes for problems, check your server load and RAM, and be able to let administrators know immediately so they can instantaneously fix the problem. Your web host should also provide a fire wall to keep your website safe from hackers, viruses, and anything else that could effect your website.

3. An Outstanding Server: If you want to avoid regular problems and too much downtime (all that can be avoided) you need to find a web host with a reliable server. The web host’s server should have multiple hard drives, good RAM, the latest CPUs, the best power supply, quality motherboards, a great cooling system, and a testing system for all new servers.

4. Linux Servers: No, you do not need windows servers. You should get a web host that uses Linux only. You don’t need to have Linux on your own computer to have a web host that uses Linux. Linux has been shown to be more reliable and able to handle larger loads than other server operating systems. It is even better at virus protection and has a better uptime than others.

5. Free Features: Your web host should provide you with a variety of free features, or features that you can use for a small fee. These features should include things that you can use for your website such as graphics, blogs, paid pages, sub domains, interesting facts to add to your website, forums, and more.

Benefit #1 – First Impressions DO Count

Surely, you remember your mother telling you, the first impression is all you get in life. This still holds true in life and on the internet. Your website is your access to a world of customers and your customer’s access to you. It is a proven fact that you have no more than six seconds, that is right six (6) seconds, to grab a potential customer’s attention. If your website is not professional designed in an appealing nature with easy navigation, fresh content, and believability, you will have lost them almost instantly.

Benefit #2 – More Sales = Greater Profit

It is yet another proven fact that the right design will increase your sales. If you are new to website design and fail to include the fundamental aspects in your website, there is a great chance that your sales and profit will suffer as a result. With professional web design, the designers, project managers, and any person that works with the company knows just what it takes to create a profitable website, which will increase sales, and ultimately your profit.

Benefit #3 – Product Highlights

No matter if you offer 1 product or 5,000 products, a professional web designer will know just what it takes to highlight the right products. They have a good idea of your targeted audience, what they are looking for, and how to properly highlight products for increased sales. The same applies with services as well. It is necessary to show the best of what you have to offer in order to convert visitors to paying customers.

Benefit #4 – Unique

Perhaps one of the best things about a professional web design is the fact that your website will be yours and only yours. There will not be another website on the internet that looks like yours. When you use templates found on the internet or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, there is a good chance that hundreds of other webmasters, just like you, have the same exact template. Potential customers want to see something new, fresh, and unique. They definitely do not want to see the same website over and over again.

There you have it the top four benefits of a professional web design. There are so many more benefits, but the above four are the top reasons why you should be choosing a professional design company.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page

Insert keywords within the title tag so that search engine robots will know what your page is about. The title tag is located right at the top of your document within the head tags. Inserting a keyword or key phrase will greatly improve your chances of bringing targeted traffic to your site.

Do not spam the description or keyword meta tag by stuffing meaningless keywords or even spend too much time on this tag. SEO pros all agree that these tags are not as important today as they once were. I just place my headline once within the keywords and description tags.

Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.

Become a student of SEO. If you’re taking the do-it-yourself route, you’ll have to become a student of SEO and learn as much as you can. Luckily for you, there are plenty of great Web resources (like Search Engine Land) and several terrific books you can read. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, Jennifer Laycock’s Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin are three I’ve read and recommend.

Use a unique and relevant title and meta description on every page. The page title is the single most important on-page SEO factor. It’s rare to rank highly for a primary term (2-3 words) without that term being part of the page title. The meta description tag won’t help you rank, but it will often appear as the text snippet below your listing, so it should include the relevant keyword(s) and be written so as to encourage searchers to click on your listing. Related bonus tip: You can ignore the Keywords meta altogether if you’d like; it’s close to inconsequential. If you use it, put misspellings in there, and any related keywords that don’t appear on the page.

Build links intelligently. Submit your site to quality, trusted directories such as Yahoo, DMOZ, Business.com, Aviva, and Best of the web. Seek links from authority sites in your industry. If local search matters to you (more on that coming up), seek links from trusted sites in your geographic area—the Chamber of Commerce, etc. Analyze the inbound links to your competitors to find links you can acquire, too.

You’ll find search engine optimization can do a great deal for your traffic. You’ll find your traffic increasing and converting much better. And once you have tweaked your website for on-site search engine optimization, you can turn to the off site steps to rank even higher.

Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Article exchanges. You’ve heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else’s article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links.

Make sure that the text within the title tag is also within the body of the page. It is unwise to have keywords in the title tag which are not contained within the body of the page.

Do not link to link-farms or other search engine unfriendly neighborhoods.

Have web analytics in place at the start. You should have clearly defined goals for your SEO efforts, and you’ll need web analytics software in place so you can track what’s working and what’s not.

Write for users first. Google, Yahoo, etc., have pretty powerful bots crawling the web, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy with humans in mind. Yes, you need keywords in the text, but don’t stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.

Use press releases wisely. Developing a relationship with media covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of exposure, including getting links from trusted media web sites. Distributing releases online can be an effective link building tactic, and opens the door for exposure in news search sites. Related bonus tip: Only issue a release when you have something newsworthy to report. Don’t waste journalists’ time.

Search engine optimization can do a lot for your website. You’ll begin to attract a great deal more in quality traffic. Just like any field, the right techniques, done properly will soon begin to yield results. And then you can turn to off site SEO to get even better results in your search engine rankings.

Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.

Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.

Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.

Open up a PPC account. Whether it’s Google’s AdWords or Yahoo’s Search Marketing or something else, this is a great way to get actual search volume for your keywords. Yes, it costs money, but if you have the budget it’s worth the investment. It’s also the solution if you didn’t like the “Be patient” suggestion above and are looking for instant visibility.

Use press releases wisely. Developing a relationship with media covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of exposure, including getting links from trusted media web sites. Distributing releases online can be an effective link building tactic, and opens the door for exposure in news search sites. Related bonus tip: Only issue a release when you have something newsworthy to report. Don’t waste journalists’ time.

You’ll find search engine optimization can do a great deal for your traffic. You’ll find your traffic increasing and converting much better. And once you have tweaked your website for on-site search engine optimization, you can turn to the off site steps to rank even higher.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page

Make sure that the title tag contains text which a human can relate to. The text within the title tag is what shows up in a search result. Treat it like a headline.

Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.

Describe your images with the use of the alt tag. This will help search engines that index images to find your pages and will also help readers who use text only web browsers.

Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.

Include a site map page. Spiders can’t index pages that can’t be crawled. A site map will help spiders find all the important pages on your site, and help the spider understand your site’s hierarchy. This is especially helpful if your site has a hard-to-crawl navigation menu. If your site is large, make several site map pages. Keep each one to less than 100 links. I tell clients 75 is the max to be safe.

Diversify your traffic sources. Google may bring you 70% of your traffic today, but what if the next big algorithm update hits you hard? What if your Google visibility goes away tomorrow? Newsletters and other subscriber-based content can help you hold on to traffic/customers no matter what the search engines do. In fact, many of the DOs on this list—creating great content, starting a blog, using social media and local search, etc.—will help you grow an audience of loyal prospects and customers that may help you survive the whims of search engines.

You’ll find search engine optimization can do a great deal for your traffic. You’ll begin to attract a great deal more in quality traffic. And once you have tweaked your website for on-site search engine optimization, you can turn to the off site steps to rank even higher.

Be bold. Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It’s called the navigation bar. See how the second navigation bar at the bottom of Last Minute Florida Villas is like a mini-site map?

Also, sprinkle your keywords throughout your article. The most important keywords can be bolded or colored in red. A good place to do this is once or twice in the body at the top of your article and in the sub-headings.

Do not link to link-farms or other search engine unfriendly neighborhoods.

Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.

Write for users first. Google, Yahoo, etc., have pretty powerful bots crawling the web, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy with humans in mind. Yes, you need keywords in the text, but don’t stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.

Diversify your traffic sources. Google may bring you 70% of your traffic today, but what if the next big algorithm update hits you hard? What if your Google visibility goes away tomorrow? Newsletters and other subscriber-based content can help you hold on to traffic/customers no matter what the search engines do. In fact, many of the DOs on this list—creating great content, starting a blog, using social media and local search, etc.—will help you grow an audience of loyal prospects and customers that may help you survive the whims of search engines.

Search engine a optimization will give you a great return on your investment in time. You’ll find your traffic increasing and converting much better. And once you have tweaked your website for on-site search engine optimization, you can turn to the off site steps to rank even higher.

Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

Insert keywords within the title tag so that search engine robots will know what your page is about. The title tag is located right at the top of your document within the head tags. Inserting a keyword or key phrase will greatly improve your chances of bringing targeted traffic to your site.

Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.

Submit to the search engines yourself. Do not use a submission service or submission software. Doing so could get your site penalized or even banned.

Build a great web site. I’m sure you want to show up on the first page of results. Ask yourself, “Is my site really one of the 10 best sites in the world on this topic?” Be honest. If it’s not, make it better.

Open up a PPC account. Whether it’s Google’s AdWords or Yahoo’s Search Marketing or something else, this is a great way to get actual search volume for your keywords. Yes, it costs money, but if you have the budget it’s worth the investment. It’s also the solution if you didn’t like the “Be patient” suggestion above and are looking for instant visibility.

Diversify your traffic sources. Google may bring you 70% of your traffic today, but what if the next big algorithm update hits you hard? What if your Google visibility goes away tomorrow? Newsletters and other subscriber-based content can help you hold on to traffic/customers no matter what the search engines do. In fact, many of the DOs on this list—creating great content, starting a blog, using social media and local search, etc.—will help you grow an audience of loyal prospects and customers that may help you survive the whims of search engines.

Search engine optimization can do a lot for your website. You’ll find your traffic increasing and converting much better. Just like any field, the right techniques, done properly will soon begin to yield results. And then you can turn to off site SEO to get even better results in your search engine rankings.

Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Not anchor text. Don’t overdo the anchor text. You don’t want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, “Gumbo Pudding Pop” occasionally, “Get gumbo pudding pops” as well, “Gumbo-flavored pudding pops” some other times, etc.

I always use the headline of my pages as the title tag to help the robots know exactly what my page is about. A good place to insert the headline is within the h1 tag. So the headline is the same as the title tag text.

Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.

Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.

Write for users first. Google, Yahoo, etc., have pretty powerful bots crawling the web, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy with humans in mind. Yes, you need keywords in the text, but don’t stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.

Use social media marketing wisely. If your small business has a visual element, join the appropriate communities on Flickr and post high-quality photos there. If you’re a service-oriented business, use Yahoo Answers to position yourself as an expert in your industry. With any social media site you use, the first rule is don’t spam! Be an active, contributing member of the site. The idea is to interact with potential customers, not annoy them.

Search engine optimization can do a lot for your website. Your traffic will become higher and the quality will be better. And the good news is that you can always learn a few more tips and techniques to help your website traffic increase and convert much better.