How much bandwidth does your web site need?One of the most common concerns people have when deciding to host a web site is figuring out how much bandwidth they'll need. Get too little bandwidth and you might be hit with overage fees or have your web site shut off altogether. Get too much and you're paying for bandwidth that you don't really need. The following is a helpful guide for determining the amount of bandwidth that's right for your web site.
Every time someone views a web page or downloads a file, bandwidth – also known as data transfer - is used. How much is used depends on the size of the page or file that is being viewed or downloaded. Essentially, the amount of bandwidth that your web site will need depends on two key factors: (1) Web site content and file size (2) Web site traffic/popularity. Let's look at a few web site examples to get an idea of what their bandwidth requirements might be, and why.
Let's start with web sites that have high-bandwidth requirements. If you have a web site that has large-sized content and gets a huge amount of traffic, you're going to need a lot of bandwidth. An example of a web site that requires a lot of bandwidth would be http://www.compfused.com/ This web site is comprised of thousands of pages, and almost all of those pages are packed with images and video clips. Simply viewing the pages uses a lot of bandwidth, and of course downloading the video clips uses a TON of bandwidth. Combine this with the fact that this web site probably gets tens of thousands of visitors per day and you can see that its bandwidth requirements are quite extensive.
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The Seven Fatal Errors of Internet Marketing
1. Use large graphics and no navigational aids.
Have you ever tried to load a page and were met with a 150KB opening graphic that takes 2 minutes to download? Or have you clicked all around a site unable to find what you are looking for? Don't make the same mistakes and alienate your visitors before they become customers. Make it your goal to have pages load in 30 seconds or less, preferably faster on your main page. Have enticing information on the first screen so that visitors can see it without having to scroll down (of course, you can and should have scrollable pages, but have the material to catch their eye "above the fold"). Bear in mind that although Windows default screen resolution is 640x480 pixels, some will be seeing your page at 800x600, even 1024x768 pixels. If you are unfamiliar with the intricacies of HTML code and scripting, do yourself a favor and hire a professional. You'll be glad you did.
2. Host your web site on a slow server.
There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a web page to load from a slow server. In fact, many people won't wait - with a single click they're off to somewhere else. Your web site should be hosted on a minimum T1 connection, a T3/DS3 is much preferred. Does the host server have redundant lines (in case one goes down, will your web site still be accessible?). On-site backups are also good to have, although you or your web site designer should maintain your own.
3. Don't list your web site in search engines, or not correctly.
This is the one thing done most often but also most often incorrectly. All search engine submissions should be done manually. The concept of a all-in-one search engine submission service is a nice idea, but the simple fact is it is not reliable. Every search engine is different, and each have their own method of both getting a web site included and performing searches. Web site submissions should be performed to take advantage of both. Again, you may want to have a professional do this (entire companies exist around this concept, but check references and ensure they submit all sites manually).
How many search engines should you submit your site to? Well, there are hundreds if not thousands of search engines, indexes, hot lists, and directories out there. If you ensure that you are placed in the top 12-15 you will be in good shape, as these will provide you with 90-95% "coverage". The remaining 5-10% can be attained with a lot of time, money, or both. Making sure that your web site gets listed on "Billy Bob's Kool Links" page (with 17 hits a month) just may not be worth the trouble.
One caveat: if you are able to find places that are directly related to your web site, you should submit it regardless of their traffic as you will be reaching a more targeted audience that way.
4. Place your web site online and wait for the phone to ring
Having a web site is not the be-all end-all of marketing on the Internet. Since your web site is considered a virtual storefront, you should do everything in your power (and budget) to direct traffic to your web site. Banner advertising, press releases, appropriate newsgroup postings, links on complementary pages and more can be done. You would not think of opening up a store in the real world without budgeting money to promote it, your web site must be given the same consideration.
5. Don't respond to visitor inquiries on a timely basis
Make sure all e-mails you receive are responded to within 24 hours, even the same day if at all possible. People want information and they want it fast. The Internet makes it easy for people to quickly find and purchase goods and services - make sure it is from you and not your online competitor!
Likewise, if a potential customer wrote a letter to your company you wouldn't reply with a hastily scribbled missive on a sheet of notebook paper - be sure not to send them the e-mail equivalent! Every e-mail you send out is an advertisement for your company, so make sure it is grammatically correct and doesn't contain misspellings. While this may be a "no-brainer", it is amazing how many e-mails are sent out with typos and other errors. And for Pete's sake, DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS!! Besides being difficult to read, it is the e-mail equivalent of yelling and frowned upon in the online community.
6. Don't update your web site
Web sites look stale if they aren't changed periodically. Worse yet are those that still wish you "Happy Holidays" in March! Make sure any expired information is removed promptly, and keep those pages dynamic while still staying within the theme of the site. Every so often a site may need a general overhaul - as they say "change is good!" As most of the time changes are billed at an hourly rate, these should be budgeted for as well.
7. SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM.....
"Spam" is the sending of unsolicited e-mail or posting inappropriate messages to newsgroups. Simply put, don't do it. Besides giving your company a negative image, the recipients can retaliate by e-mail bombing you (like sending 10,000 e-mails an hour), your online provider, and your web hosting service. The end result is your e-mail account could be terminated by your provider, and you may even lose your web site. Many online services and hosting companies have a no-spam clause in their service agreement.
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Network Monitoring for Serious eCommerceNetwork Monitoring for Serious eCommerce By David Leonhardt
In the real world, businesses come in every size, from self-employed entrepreneurs like me to mega malls like Wal-Mart.
On the Internet, companies come in every size, too, from a stand-alone ebook sales page with webmaster and owner all in one, to 300 pound gorilla like Amazon, with over a million pages requiring the entire population of a small country to serve as webmaster.
If your site is a single page, it is its own network. But if your site is any bigger, and you have plans to grow, it is a network or is fast becoming one. You need network monitoring.
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