Posts Tagged ‘Web Host’

How to Choose a Reliable Domain or Web Host

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Ken Kachope asked:




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As I get involved with more and more client web sites, I am noticing an alarming trend. Nine out of ten web site owners cannot access control of their own sites!

What do I mean by this?

If you had to change to a new hosting company, how would you go about it? Do you even have the login information for your domain account? (I can hear many of you going, “Huh?”)

Or, if you want someone new to go in and make a few changes to your web site pages, can you give them FTP access? (Again, “Huh?”)

Facts You Need to Know

Every web site is comprised of two parts:

1. Domain name (i.e. yourname.com)

2. Web Hosting (i.e. the actual web spacewhere you “park” your domain)

You have to sign up and pay for each of these services separately. Even if your host offers domain name registration, it is still two separate accounts and you need to have the login information for each.

Domain Name

As I said, your domain name is your web site URL, such as yoursite.com. You must pay for ownership of your domain yearly. It’s not very expensive, but it is very important to know that is must be renewed. If you let your registration lapse, your site will disappear, even if your hosting account is current.

You need to be able to access your domain account to tell the Internet where to look for your site. Your DNS settings inside your domain account indentify the host server space where you web site files reside.

This sounds more complicated than it really is. Your host has a machine called a server that stores web site files. The DNS settings tell the Internet exactly which machine houses your files.

When you want to change hosts, you have to change these settings to correspond to the new host’s server. This is not complicated. Every host provides the information you need to do this easily, provided you can login into your domain account.

To maintain control of your business web site, you must be able to login to your domain registration account.

Web Hosting

Again, your web host provides the web space where you “park” your domain. They store your web site files (such as graphics, html files, etc.) on a machine call a server and then those files become accessible via the Internet.

You need to be able to access your web site files. This is NOT information for designers only. If you want to have complete control of your business, you need this information too.

I’ve already mentioned FTP, which stands for File Transfer Program. It is the software used to transfer files from your computer’s hard to your server space and vice versa. All changes to web sites must be made via FTP and if you don’t have the connection information, you can’t do anything to your site without the person who does.

In order to have complete control of your business web site, you must have, or be able to grant, access to your web site files.

What’s the Big Deal?

I had a host once that literally disappeared. A major break down in communication meant that while I had paid for a year’s worth of hosting, I was going to have to settle for only two months instead. My site was down and I had to find another host right away. (To this day I never heard from that host again. I was offline for weeks while I tried everything I could to reach them!)

The point is, I didn’t know how to login to my domain registration account to changes the DNS settings to my new host’s server! I had long since left the host that actually registered it for me. Thank goodness he was kind enough to simply hand over my login information at my request. Thank goodness he was even still in business!

And it’s the same with web sites. I can’t tell you how many of my clients originally started off with another designer who has moved on to other things. Some can’t even get their old designer on the phone anymore! But, when they come to me because they’ve decide to find someone new to work on it, they can’t give me access to their site. In most cases they don’t have any idea what I’m talking about when I ask.

Protect Yourself!

I know that technophobia is a real problem for some people. As soon as someone says something like “HTML” they tune out thinking there’s no way they’ll ever understand what’s being said from that point forward. But your domain and hosting are not something you can just leave to others, they are the backbone of your business web site.

It’s really not complicated. And it’s so important to maintain control of your business web site. You absolutely must have access to your domain registration account AND your web hosting account. Even if you never use the information yourself, you need to have it. Without access to both of these accounts, your business could end up dead in the water

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Cathy Wagner asked:




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How to Prevent Web Host Shut Down?

Sunday, May 10th, 2009
In web hosting world there are many interesting events that take place. For a beginner it’s quite difficult to segregate between two hosting companies as all look alike in the beginning the difference is only found out afterwards when he/she gets shut down without warning.

The problem faced by beginners now a day is how to rely on a web host review when thousands are there. It is really impossible for anyone to review the thousands of web host out there, but it is in one’s favour if the user bases his/her web host review on high in demand providers. It is a fact that there are many top marketers having their own server, and one can’t afford to pay $200 or more monthly for one’s own server.

In this article we are going to discuss on the things which are helpful in preventing web host shut down and the ways by which one can learn how to use the forums to find recommendation for choosing a right web hosting provider.

For a beginner it is really difficult to digest that even the forums given are not very helpful. These forums are posted by people who are not having any good experience by the company.

Following are the four tips one should follow to get a good web host review:

1) Say no to unlimited domain names: One should always keep in mind not to go for unlimited domain names. Whenever a user creates a new account a provider automatically divide up his/her hosting bandwidth, it means that if one is just having 40 Gigs of bandwidth and he/she opts to divide it up by four domain names, in that case he/she must have used up all his/her bandwidth. Thus addition in any domain name will exceed the bandwidth as well. This is the policy adopted by cheap web hosting providers. By this way cheap hosting providers charges unlimited for extra bandwidth and user has to pay as he/she is not having any other choice. Thus one needs to be very careful regarding this matter.

2) Say yes to monthly payments: It is quite often that web hosting providers offer cheap prices in case user is making yearly payment. However in that case user will be in great loss as after paying the yearly amount he/she has already tied up with the company and now they will provide the services which are just useless and user have to accept it. Thus one should go with a company that is offering quarterly or monthly payment plan with money back guarantee.

3) First test by sending email: One should first test by sending a simple introductory email to check the response time. The response time of the host provider will tell everything about his/her services.

4) Ask for refund: One should always keep all the receipts safely and at any time if his/her site gets shut down, he/she should ask for refund from the provider if the payment is paid in advance. One should immediately file the complaint and should do all to get valuable money back.

Thus after keeping all the above 4 points in mind one will surely know how to get rid of problems and will safe his/her valuable money.



By: Web Hosting

About the Author:

Searching for the best web hosting company? Find sales, deals and discounts from top web hosts as godaddy and hostgator

Getting New Web Hosting Service for your Web Site

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Due to Various inefficiencies of Old Web Hosting provider like poor technical support, down web server, inability of old provider to met with your requirements, expensive web hosting service, an Online Business owner decided to go for a new Web Hosting provider. Because of all above-mentioned and many more not in the list you would opt for new web hosting service. So the next step is to transfer your web site from current web host to new web host which can be done by following the under mentioned steps. Transferring of Schedule For transferring the old web hosting, planning should be done in advance, atleast one month before so as to ensure smooth transfer, as transferring in less than one month can led to inaccessibility of your web site.

Registering new web hosting service.

Once the above step is complete, user must go for a new web hosting service and must sign it accordingly within 24 hours so as to enable new account earliest.

Taking Files Backup.

As soon as you created a new web hosting account, you should take back up of all your web files for the new provider. Generally you already have all files of your web site on your local computer still it is beneficial to backup all your files from old web server. Further including HTML files, backup of any script file, database file and even of server logs file should be taken. Thereafter create a directory structure similar to directory structure on web server and then load the file in their respective directory.

Uploading of files

You will receive a notification email from your new web-hosting provider after the notification of your new web hosting account. Information needed to set up a website including FTP server information all will be provided within that email. With the help of that FTP information user can now FTP his new web-hosting server and can upload all his files. First the user should create a directory structure and then can upload all his files in their respective directories. User can also install any script file or databases if used in his website and also should setup his email accounts with the help of administration panel.

After finishing of uploading of all the files and installation of script files or databases temporary URL can be used to test the new site. This temporary URL can be obtained from through notification email from new web hosting provider.

Testing of new website

The new website can be tested online by using temporarily URL directory. As different web hosting server require different server environment to work, that’s why user needs to verify all the scripts like CGI, Perl if they are working as per the requirement or not. Further all the hyperlinks should be tested in the normal web pages so as to confirm that no broken links are there. Your website hosted on the old web hosting provider is continued to be operational, even when you are testing through the temporary URL directory. Transferring of domain name After finishing of testing new website on the temporary URL and verification of its perfect execution, next step is to contact the new domain name registrar so as to change the old domain name server to point the new DNS of the web hosting provider. There after the user will get DNS information through email after he finishes the successful registration with new web hosting provider and also would get the information from website of his new web hosting provider. The purpose of Domain name servers is to control how to resolve the domain name. Commonly the domain names are in following format:

NS1.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

NS2.THE-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

Some domain name registrar requires the IP addresses of the DNS. In this case you have to provide the IP addresses of your new DNS. For example:

NS1: 216.193.194.212

NS2: 216.193.207.106

DNS record to change and propagate through all the WHOIS servers takes typically 24 to 72 hours. Whois tools such as whois.com can be use on Internet to monitor the status of DNS transfer. New DNS will be displayed once the transfer is complete. Even minor modifications are possible like the user can upload his own file or picture to the new web-hosting server. When the user checks his homepage through the normal domain name he can notice the new home page, which makes sure that transfer of DNS is successful. Final Testing Now, your website on the new web hosting provider is officially transferred and online. You should repeat all the tests to ensure it is fully functional.Thereafter you can go ahead to terminate your old web hosting account after the final confirmation is received.



By: Web Host

About the Author:

How to host with the best web host? Web hosting blog provides one cents web hosting for hostgator and cheap domain names from godaddy domain registrar. You can read more about dedicated servers

Where to Register Domain Names

Friday, February 27th, 2009

FCJ Oghab asked:


To obtain a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. Take into consideration that you cannot buy a domain for life. You get it for a period of one to ten years. If you fail to renew the domain name at the end of its term, the registration of the domain will be revoked and the domain name may be acquired by another party.

Buying a domain name is one of the easiest tasks. To purchase a domain name, take the following steps:

1- Refer to the website of an authorized registrar.

2- Use the registrar’s online search function to search to see if your desired domain name is taken.

3- If your domain name is available, you can then proceed to the next step to complete the registration form and pay by credit card.

******************

Important Tips:

1- As you’re registering your name, you will be presented with the option of adding Privacy to your domain registration. A private domain registration will keep your information (name, email address, etc.) out of the global Internet database, and will prevent a lot of spam from reaching your email box. It is highly recommended you select this option.

2- Avoid web hosts offering free domain. Try to register the name yourself, so that you can be sure that you are registered as the owner. If your web host places itself as the owner, they can always decide to not let you change your web hosting service. Especially if you are not happy with their hosting service it can be catastrophic! So don’t accept any free domain name and pay for it.

3- Don’t trust any cheap service. Some registrars are cheating and misleading their customers. For example if the price of a domain name is $10 /year, they offer it $2 for first year. But next years they charge $35 to renew the domain name! On the other hand, many of cheap services don’t allow you to have full control on your domain name.  

If you are looking for a safe and cheap service that works for you, GoldPuma.com is a reliable website to register your desired domain name. Their service is one of the lowest cost services on the web which is really full-featured and easy-to-use. They offer free extras with every domain name and you can check out their hot prices by going there.

http://www.goldpuma.com/domain



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Where to Buy Domain Names

Friday, February 27th, 2009
To obtain a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. Take into consideration that you cannot buy a domain for life. You get it for a period of one to ten years. If you fail to renew the domain name at the end of its term, the registration of the domain will be revoked and the domain name may be acquired by another party.

Buying a domain name is one of the easiest tasks. To purchase a domain name, take the following steps:

1- Refer to the website of an authorized registrar.

2- Use the registrar’s online search function to search to see if your desired domain name is taken.

3- If your domain name is available, you can then proceed to the next step to complete the registration form and pay by credit card.

******************

Important Tips:

1- As you’re registering your name, you will be presented with the option of adding Privacy to your domain registration. A private domain registration will keep your information (name, email address, etc.) out of the global Internet database, and will prevent a lot of spam from reaching your email box. It is highly recommended you select this option.

2- Avoid web hosts offering free domain. Try to register the name yourself, so that you can be sure that you are registered as the owner. If your web host places itself as the owner, they can always decide to not let you change your web hosting service. Especially if you are not happy with their hosting service it can be catastrophic! So don’t accept any free domain name and pay for it.

3- Don’t trust any cheap service. Some registrars are cheating and misleading their customers. For example if the price of a domain name is $10 /year, they offer it $2 for first year. But next years they charge $35 to renew the domain name! On the other hand, many of cheap services don’t allow you to have full control on your domain name.  

If you are looking for a safe and cheap service that works for you, GoldPuma.com is a reliable website to register your desired domain name. Their service is one of the lowest cost services on the web which is really full-featured and easy-to-use. They offer free extras with every domain name and you can check out their hot prices by going there.

http://www.goldpuma.com/domain



By: FCJ Oghab

About the Author: