FTP And Email On Web Hosting Accounts

Posted on March 10, 2011 by admin

One of the things that you must consider when you are purchasing web hosting is the amount of space that you will require.  While that might seem straightforward, there are different rules depending on the web hosting company that you choose.  Certain companies may choose to include things like your email account and others will not.

Make sure that you are perfectly clear about what you will need to include in your calculations.  Obviously, all files that are accessible through the web are going to count.  It can be more difficult to make an estimate if the email accounts must also be calculated.  Unlike web content, it can be more difficult to figure out how large these will be on an ongoing basis.

If you are dealing with a web host company that wants to include every type of file in the calculated amount of storage, it may be worthwhile to turn off logs.  That will depend on your preferences; some people need to have statistics available four usage.  The type of logs that you use may also factor in.  Often, daily logs can easily be used and deleted whereas monthly logs may not work the same way.  When it comes to email, you may want to put limits on the size of each account to make estimations easier.

Choose carefully when you are setting up your email accounts.  There are a variety of different configurations that you can use.  You might want POP3 accounts which are the most familiar type to most people.  This involves a single user and password for each email account.

There are also options that allow you to use aliases that will redirect to other POP3 accounts or forwarding that will send your mail through spam filters before it gets to you.  You may also want to set up email accounts that will auto-respond.  They are not really an account, but more of a system that will automatically send information to users.

Also look at the FTP access that you will get through web hosting.  These are easy programs that allow you to manipulate and change the content of your site more easily.  In some cases, you can even set up FTP accounts on your own.  This is perfect for those who want to have someone else helping them with their site from time to time.  That will allow you to keep all of your files separate making organization much easier.

Even if you are not going to use the additional FTP accounts right at the beginning, it probably makes sense to have this available from your web hosting company.  It is likely that you will expand and require it down the road.  If it is setup, you will not have to give out your own FTP account information when you go to have somebody do an upgrade for you or provide servicing work on your website.  Having the right plan in place at the beginning is important, but you also need to bring in future considerations.

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Getting Started With Web Hosting Requirements

Posted on March 8, 2011 by admin

Whether you are a sole proprietor or you have been charged with the task of setting up web hosting for your company it can sometimes be a daunting task.  For people who are quite familiar with the process, they will likely know what questions to ask.  They can easily identify what kind of bandwidth they need or what type of space requirements they will be looking at.

For those that are less familiar, the concept of space is particularly important.  While it is likely impossible to estimate exactly how much space you’ll need, you can certainly make an educated guess and give yourself a room to grow.  You’ll find that when you go to do virtual web hosting, there are different packages available.  You can buy anything as low as 10 MB and the sky is the limit in terms of size.

It’s important to consider what kind of content you’re going to be putting on your pages.  If you are new to web hosting, you might not realize how much different various kinds of content can be in terms of space requirements.  Anything that is text-based will be quite low.  Simply look at the size of your average Microsoft Word document that contains nothing but text.  It’s actually quite small.

Now take a few pictures with your 10 mega pixel camera on the highest setting and see how large those files are in comparison.  Of course, it makes a website look good when you have plenty of content that includes pictures.  When they say a picture is worth 1000 words, it might be worth even more when it comes to size.  If you are thinking of including video, then you will really need to make adjustments.  Try finding some sample video that will bear the content on your site and this can give you an idea of how much you need.  Remember to err on the side of caution.

You’re also going to have to consider how much bandwidth is required.  This can be a little more difficult for beginners; it can be harder to estimate because it relies on anticipating traffic.  To look at an example, if you had a few 1000 visitors to your website on a monthly basis and each one downloaded a few pages, you are going to need at least a gigabyte of bandwidth.  This is assuming that you have low to average page sizes.

The good news is that most web hosting options will automatically include that amount of bandwidth and more.  Still, you are going to have to make sure that your web hosting provider lets you know how much bandwidth you have.  The last thing that you want to see happen is to have a successful website with plenty of visits and to run out of bandwidth.  It likely will not bring your site down, but it will cost you more.

Another important consideration is that your web hosting provider is able to grow along with you.  That’s usually not a problem, particularly when you go with one of the larger companies that offer you space for rent on the web.

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Advice for Developers Getting into the Web Hosting Business

Posted on February 15, 2011 by admin

If you are involved in the creation of websites, then there may be additional income that you are leaving on the table by not offering everything that you can to your clients.  You might consider not only selling the web pages that you create but also selling the space that they occupy on servers.

If you are familiar with building web sites, it is very likely that you also have a working knowledge of web hosting.  If you have the resources, you can set up a dedicated server that you will use to handle the websites of your clients.  If not, you can still purchase space on somebody’s server and make good income out of it.

One of the first things that you can do is to get a multiple domain hosting account.  This will allow you to run a number of different websites on your server space.  Of course, it’s possible to keep your own website on that space and rent out the rest to your clients.  Chances are that you won’t be spending much more than you already would for the space that you need yourself.

One of the advantages here is that you can have administrator control for the websites that you have sold to your clients.  That way, it is easy to manage their websites.  When you are shopping for web hosting, it is important that you not only have your own control panel but that it can be made available to your clients.  It should also be possible to tailor the control panel to make it suitable for the use of your individual clients.

You may not wish to have your clients aware of the fact that you are selling space on someone’s server.  That’s your decision and you can elect to conceal the identity of the web host if you prefer.  That’s an important question to ask before you buy web hosting because not all companies are willing to do this.

If you are planning to do this, then it’s important to get the correct paperwork in place.  Whenever you are selling a service, you know that you must have everything in writing.  If you are already doing this for the web development you are doing, it won’t be much more trouble to add something.  In many cases you can borrow language from the very web hosting company that you are using.  In most cases, they won’t mind as it works to their benefit as well.

If you plan to do this, you will need to be ready.  Of course, this may not be your core business so you have to be aware of the fact that it may take additional time and you’ll need to provide sufficient support to keep clients happy.

When you have already taken the time to bring in a client, it makes sense to get as much business from them as possible.  It’s much easier to increase your revenue from one client than it would be to go out and find a new one.

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Consideration for Start-ups When Choosing Web Hosting

Posted on February 15, 2011 by admin

You have to be careful when you go to choose a web hosting company.  You will hear that there are some very inexpensive options, but they often come with inherent problems.  The additional time and frustration that you experience can often offset any minor savings that you may have realized.

One of the best sources that you can get is objective opinions from people that have written about their web hosting experiences.  There are many blogs and discussion forums available for people who want to gather information.  You’ll find that users are extremely candid about the good and the bad of different web hosting proprietors.

When you go to purchase space, it’s important to look at what kind of database management system they might be running.  It’s common for a company that sells a lot of web hosting space and puts a variety of different users on each server to put just about every kind of management system on their server.

That may seem like they are covering all the bases, but it does come with inherent problems.  First of all, there can be security issues as a result of doing that.  You’ll also find that updates often come, and without you doing anything to your website it suddenly does not work.  That’s when you will really find out whether or not they offer the kind of service that you require.  It can be very difficult if you are new to the game and don’t even know where to start.

Even if you have somebody that holds the expertise to code properly on your site, you may find that they have trouble as well.  As a result, they may end up having to use some innovative solutions in order to get things working.  That shouldn’t be a problem if you are able to keep the same person employed indefinitely.  Obviously, that’s not possible in many cases and you may find that you have to start from scratch again with a new person.

There’s more to be considered.  If you have somebody available that can explain to you what kind of bandwidth requirements you need, then that will help immensely.  In most cases, it’s not a problem because companies will offer fairly large amounts of bandwidth.  Unless you are going to have a fairly popular website (congratulations) then you’ll usually find that your requirements are met by most plans.

More of an issue for many companies is often the amount of space that they require.  You may find that you estimate a little low when you are determining the size of your site.  Once you go to build it and continue to upgrade the content on the site, you may end up being much larger than you think.  You might also have additional pages that you didn’t consider when you are first setting it up.

Instead of trying to get the least expensive web hosting that you can find, try to find something that is simply good value for the money.  If you are part of a small operation, you don’t really have to spend that much but you will be giving money away if you don’t choose correctly.

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