What Makes For A Good Host?I've had to change web hosts a number of times. In fact, I spent most of this week changing from one host to another. Believe me, it is a major pain, although I have made sure that my site is always ready to move if necessary.
One thing I've become is very aware of the difference between a good host and a bad host. To put it simply (and obviously) a good host makes it easy for you to create and maintain your web site. A bad host gets in the way and makes you angry, unhappy and gives you an ulcer.
The key point to remember when evaluating hosts is the most important quality is responsiveness - of your site and support people. Your site should be up virtually all of the time (unfortunately computer crashes do happen but they should be rare and far between) and it must be fast. In addition, all good hosts react in a timely manner to support issues and questions. You can tell when a host is going bad from the failure of these key areas - unresponsive technical support, slow servers or constant downtime.
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Should you renew with your current host? - Your website in the year 2005
Philip Wylie
Sometime during this year the chances are you're going to have to renew your hosting package. Can you be sure you're still getting the best deal for your site?Hosting companies, as businesses, spring up all the time. This is because they are so easy to set up. Nowadays you can become a reseller for free.
Starting a proper hosting company with your own server - simply put - involves buying a computer, an internet connection and some potentially expensive software. Due to this relatively easy ‘set up' many companies go bust when they don't make ends meet.
So look around for potential companies. One of the best ways of doing this is by searching for hosting reviews. Hopefully what you find are reviews from the company's clients, as their opinions could be more important to you than the company's own advertising.
Your site requirements will probably have increased since you first bought hosting, so take this into account when browsing. If you own more than one website you may want to look into packages that allow you to share the quoted resources between multiple domains and websites.
Pricing is obviously very important - many hosts offer discounted monthly rates when you sign into a contract, forcing you to remain with them for a certain number of months or even years. This does offer good value but it raises the question - will the company still exist in a few years? It is also important to find out if the monthly price/rates will change if they raise or lower their prices. You don't want to lock yourself into anything thinking you're paying a fixed price. Read the company's information page to see how long they have been trading as this will give you a rough idea of whether or not they are reliable.
Moving your website to a new provider can be a daunting task. Just moving files can be awkward, especially if your website is powered by a database. An excellent way of moving your whole site including databases, email accounts and other settings is by creating a backup from inside your control panel. Ask your new host if they will unpack the backup file onto your new website. This may only fully work if your previous host and new host use the same control panel software. But you can always ask beforehand.
Philip Wylie is the CEO of PWnet, a company offering web solutions to all types of business. For more information visit www.pwnet.org.uk or to contact him email philip.wylie@pwnet.org.uk.
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Unlimited Wealth Creation through Reseller HostingUnlimited Wealth Creation through Reseller Hosting Web hosting can be an exciting business start up for aspiring entrepreneurs. All you have to do to set up your business is become a hosting reseller, i.e., provide hosting facilities to website owners. Here as a business owner, you are buying space from a big hosting company, and redistributing the hosting space to other website owners.
Resellers are nothing but entrepreneurs acting as middlemen, offering you hosting services by leasing time and space from another Web host's server rather than owning their own. Most of the times, the quality of services offered by resellers are so good that consumers do not even have the idea that they are dealing with resellers who do not have servers of their own. Resellers, since they can pick and choose their servers, are basically in a position to provide the customers with the best of services.
Reseller hosting business can be quite a profit making venture once you understand the figures and profit margins involved. Let us go through them. One can buy around 1000 MB space from a major web host at a cost of $25 per month. This 1000 MB space that you now own can in turn be redistributed to site owners who need space for uploading their site. Here you can give about 25 MB space for around $5 per month. Which means your monthly income comes to around $200 when you sell 40 hosting packages. Want more... some hosts allow you to oversell the space and do not charge you extra unless the actual usage of your account exceeds 1000MB. It is seen that a typical user uses less than half of the allotted web space... which means you can double or even triple sell your quota and make unlimited wealth.
And mind well, this income is residual income. It will keep coming to you month after month, year after year. You do the work once... and get paid for it over and over. All you are doing is buying space from a major web hosting company and becoming a reseller host. Your efforts are focused towards selling hosting space and the rest is handled by your web host. Some of them even handle customer service to your customers for a nominal fee... which makes it even easier for you.
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