Posts Tagged ‘Email Accounts’
10 Web Hosting Tips to Consider When Selecting a New Host
The following are the tips one must keep in mind while choosing a new web host: -
1) One must make sure that the new web host plan offers the storage capabilities to handle all of the current website storage requirements. If the size of the website is 50MB, then one must check for the plan that offers at least that much space or more. In case one is not able to make estimates about the space required then he/she must ask his/her current host. Also this information can be found on control panel.
2) One must also check how does his/her current web host determine the amount of storage used for? It is necessary to check what one’s current and new host includes in the plan’s storage amount also one should check are one’s emails and log files counted towards his/her total storage, or the web files only?
3) Its necessary to know what operating system does one’s current hosting plan use? Windows or Unix? Mostly it makes no difference but in some cases it can make the difference between a working website and a broken website. In case one’s site is currently on a Windows server and the website uses ASP scripting, then its difficult to make things work well on a Unix server, as ASP is a Windows based programming language. So one should check immediately whether his/her hosting plan is on a Unix or Windows server.
4) Also its important to check if one’s your site currently use FrontPage? Before switching to new host one should check if the new host supports FrontPage and the prevailing version.
5) Another important issue to take care is the amount of bandwidth offered by the new host. One should check if the new hosting plan offers the same amount of bandwidth that the current host offers. This should be checked in advance to avoid unexpected high bills afterwards.
6) Make sure if the new web hosting plan gives the same amount of email accounts, auto responders and mail forwards that the current host provides.
7) Its necessary to check if one’s site uses a shopping cart that the current hosting plan provides? It is essential to have a suitable shopping cart replacement in case one desires to move the cart to the new host. So one must check that as well.
8) If one is using any scripts on his/her website, its important to check if one’s new hosting plan supports all of one’s scripts. One must make sure in advance if there is any need to make any modifications to scripts to get them working on the new server.
9) Don’t forget to set up the existing email accounts on the new server before transferring domain name to the new server.
10) In case user is just a beginner and even don’t know how to upload files, its necessary to check with the provider if he can do that with no extra charges. There are some hosts who offer such facility free of cost yet some don’t offer this facility because of liability issues.
It’s necessary to double check if the site looks and functions properly on the new server after completing the uploading process. Preview facility is provided in the form of preview link to see how the site looks and some hosts provide this facility before the domain name is transferred over. In case this preview facility is not available with the host, still there is a method to preview the site. One can modify his/her host’s file to preview the site. The host file tells the computer where to go to look for sites that are listed in that file and this works with any version of Windows. Here the file location can change but the file name remains the same. Below is the way to modify the host’s file:
The file HOSTS should be in the c: windowssystem32driversetc One can find a file named HOSTS.SAM (as in SAMPLE). That is OK; one can modify the HOSTS.SAM file as well and do a SAVE AS HOSTS.
In both the cases one should double click on the HOSTS file to open it. Thereafter one will be prompted by Windows to select an Application (Program) to use to VIEW the file.
Now scroll the list and select Notepad and then one should click on the OK button. The NOTEPAD program will now open, displaying the file HOSTS.
So, in order to tell computer that www.yourwebsite.com is at the address (replaced with the real IP) 12.345.678.90 one should add the following entry to the bottom of the hosts file:
12.345.678.90 www.yourdomain.com (As in the example).
Now one should click on FILE, slide down and click on SAVE AS. Then in the Save As one should type field, select ALL FILES. After completing that click on save. One warning will come which should be ignored i.e. the file already exists but that’s ok, then just one has to click YES.
Now one should close Notepad, by clicking on FILE, slide down to EXIT, and click.
Now when one will open the web browser, or try to ping the site, the system will go to the IP address one typed in the HOSTS file.
One should not forget to undo this when testing is finished else the computer will always want to go to that IP address whenever one want to go to that site.
After being satisfied with the site looks and functions, one can go to his/her registrar (where the domain name is registered) and modify the nameservers associated with one’s domain name to his/her new web host’s nameservers. In case one does not know his/her new host’s name servers, should confirm with them. However most hosts have that information listed somewhere on their website or in the email one first get after signing up for an account.
After the completion of domain nameserver modification it will take around 24-48 hours and the site will be displayed on the new server.
One must check his/her domain name and should see if the nameservers added are listed. If yes, the website transfer is complete to new web host. And after the confirmation is received one can cancel the old web hosting account.
Free Website Hosting. Is it Good or Bad?
Whether you are creating an informational website or starting up your first Ecommerce site you are going to need a good and reliable host provider. For most people when doing their first general search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc, they will find plenty of listings for free and paid websites that offer hosting. Many will ask, what’s the difference? And only a few will find out before it’s too late. Free and paid hosting have their advantages as well as their disadvantages, and in order to pick which one is right for you and your website you need to be able to differentiate between the two.
Price is the most obvious difference between free and paid hosting and is usually why many beginners jump on the free ride. If you have a very limited budget and would like to spend you money on other areas of your website then free hosting always looks appealing. In the long run though, paying those few extra dollars a month can be very beneficial because most paid hosting come with extra features like; site builders, content management, enhanced functionality, and email accounts. These extra features can end up saving you a lot of time and even money as time goes by.
Both free and paid hosting also have their limitations, but with paid hosting you always have the option to upgrade if your website starts to demands more. With most free host providers you have a limited availability of space, file size, and support. Once these numbers have been reached you have very few options, if any, to choose from. Free hosting would not be recommended if you are planning on building an Ecommerce, social, or file sharing website. This is because these types of websites usually require the most space and support that is offered by hosts that you have to pay for. If you do try to go the free route with these types of sites, then in the end you will probably wind up purchasing hosting from someone else in order to keep your website going. If you are building a blog, informational, or personal site then free hosting maybe the way to go, because these site usually require the least amount of space and support.
Another difference between free and paid hosting is with paid hosting you have more control over your website and the content that’s on it. There is a catch that comes with many free host providers, and that is they will post advertisements on your site in exchange for their free hosting. Advertisements for other products and services are where they usually make their money since they are not charging you for their services. It’s also almost definite that you will not get your own unique domain name when pursuing the free side of hosting. Usually your domain name will end up being their sites name followed by the name of your websites. This can sometimes be looked upon as unprofessional from the Internet community and people visiting your website. With paid hosting however you have total control over your site and you can do as you please when it comes to having your own unique domain name and the content and posting of advertisements.
So which one is better for you? Well it all depends on what type of website you want to create and how far you want to take it. Most webmasters will tell you to go with paid hosting because in the long run its better and comes with more options and flexibility. Whatever road you do decide to travel down make sure you do your homework first and know exactly what you are getting into before you make your final decision.
What are the Advantages of Free Web Hosting?
Who does not like to get things for free, in fact everyone indeed! However, web masters receive free web hosting services from the service providers with the best of knowledge for them to understand the benefits as well as drawbacks thereon and how they can make the most of free hosting.
Usually choosing the right hosting becomes a daunting process for any webmaster. There are either free or dedicated hosting services available to your disposal always. For the broad category of genres, PHP, dedicated server and shared web hosting can be the ones to opt from.
In free web hosting, the webmaster does not have pay anything to the host, such as in case of banner advertisements. However, it does not constitute MySQL database to be offered to the client. Also there is not much availability of several email accounts or the capacities to run different scripts for the clients in case of free web hosting. Clients generally get a sub domain or some directory in the free web hosting plans, but which are not of much help in their web promotional activities.
It is advised that any webmaster who is not willing to or cannot afford a good hosting due to cost factor, must choose a minor hosting to help in the reception of dedicated hosting with the utmost use of free services. Not only this, your investment in a cheap yet dedicated hosting would fetch you good returns on investment in the process for its various advantages you enjoy.
If you are in dire need of higher bandwidth and storage space, dedicated hosting service is the one for you, as it offers more database, email accounts and unlimited bandwidth, ranging from 500 GB to 1 TB (tetrabyte) per month, to cater to your all website requirements. It also provides better control and greater flexibility as the server administrator is the user himself. Though dedicated web hosting does require lot of time and is not comparatively a cheaper option.
Finding a Web Host in 5 Easy Steps
Everyday, more people are discovering the benefits and global reach of the Internet. As a result, more online businesses are being established and more websites are going up. Now is the right time to stake your claim in Cyberspace and the best way to do it is with your very own website. Because web hosting is what you need to get a piece of the action, I will help you find a good service in five easy steps.
1.) Determine Your Needs
The first step in finding a web host is determining your individuals needs. Why do you even need a website? Is it just to share photos and info with family and friends? Are you moving your business online? Do you plan to sell products or services? The answers to these questions are very important as they will ultimately determine what type of web hosting you need.
2.) Features
After getting a good idea of what your website needs, it’s time to consider the feature-set that will meet those requirements. Of course, features will vary greatly depending on individual needs but here are a few to keep in mind.
- Disk space and bandwidth
Disk space refers to the amount of space you have on the server for storing your website files. Bandwidth entails how much traffic and activity your site can support. If you don’t have enough of either, your site will be limited and can actually become slow or inaccessible. The good thing is that most web hosts supply more than enough as the average website requires less than 1 gigabyte of each resource per month.
- E-commerce tools
If your goals consist of selling products or services, selecting a web hosting plan with Ecommerce features is a must. Keep your eyes peeled for multiple email accounts, free shopping cart software and SSL encryption to protect your online transactions.
- Control panel
The control panel is one of the most essential web hosting features. This software allows you to control virtually every aspect of your account. From the interface you can access the design tool that allows you to build your site, create email accounts, upload files and much more.
3.) Reliability
Your website won’t be very popular if it’s always down because of technical difficulties. In order to avoid these issues, I suggest searching long and hard for a host that delivers a reliable service. There are many aspects that point to reliability but the most critical is uptime. Uptime refers to the amount of time your site will be available opposed to being down for a wide range of reasons. As of now, 99.9% is the industry standard so anything less should be viewed as unacceptable.
4.) Technical Support and Customer Service
When it comes to web hosting, one should never underestimate the importance of support. Anything can go wrong behind the scenes and when it does, you need to know what’s going on. I recommend looking for a company that offers various means of support including toll-free phone, email and live chat. Support is something that can make or break a web host and also determine how successful you will be online.
5.) Customer Feedback
One can learn a lot about a particular web hosting service from customer feedback. You can find web hosting reviews all over the web, and trust me, they are absolutely golden. A quality review you will tell you what to expect in terms of price, features, reliability and support. Most importantly, it will let you know what service is worth looking into and who should be avoided at all costs.
Way to Get a Combination of Cheap and Reliable Web Hosting
As with the event of time, one can easily find an immense number of low cost hosting providers on the net these days. Creating confusion in the mind of user which to select? A cheap web hosting, or a reliable web hosting, because experience compel the user to believe that in several occasions cheap hosting is not a dependable option. If the user has decided to go for cheap web hosting he/she should go carefully through the features proposed by the host and should pick the one on which he/she can trust upon. Fortunately, there are several cheap web hosting providers in the market providing guarantee for a month to the user from there side, hence, one can easily look for an another alternative if the current hosting server is not fulfilling the user’s requirements to the expected level. Talking in general, duration of one month is quite sufficient to judge whether current server is dependable or not.
What can be a crucial factor user should consider while selecting a free web host? Answer is, the features provided by the free hosting server, it includes, type of supportive programming language, provided bandwidth, accumulating number of email accounts, charge of course, and probably very crucial feature i.e. disk space, because a large website cannot survive with a small quantity of disk space. An expert advice is instead of going straight to the cheapest, one should keeping in mind that even that small amount he is paying for is useless as in return the user would get a server which will be most of the time down. While exploring sites providing hosting at a cheaper rate one should not be concern about the fact that host is offering cheapest service or not but should verify that it is dependable or not. Because many a times service cheap in price are cheap in quality also. After all the formalities and going through all the features, user should not act as a blind with proper eyes, rather should investigate about the web hosting server from the people related to that field, forums and exploring search engines.
While dealing with the condition, when user have more then one web site, he/she should locate for a hosting provider who offers several accounts at the charge of one, there are several hosting providers in the market who provides such facility, and if user stars are favoring him/her, he/she can probably get an unique offer, which on doubt will demand few amount but provide the user a free setup or something related to it, however, one should read the contract papers carefully and should avoid signing long term contract, it is a thing which definitely provide the user a fair amount of concession, till the time he/she go for a dependable web hosting server.
Now at the end it can be concluded that a web hosting providers do not have full control over their server; they just work in cooperation with other companies, to make their services cheaper, so one should keep this aspect in mind and then must carry on with his/her search.
Hosted PBX Services for Businesses
Hosted PBX phone services have been the available as well as affordable telecommunication resolution for businesses doing during low budgets. Besides facilitating well-spoken information exchange with commercial operation as well as commercial operation associates, hosted PBX phone complement assistance tiny businesses to effectively cut down their telecommunication as well as alternative expenses.
State-of-the-art Technology but Expensive Hardware
Hosted PBX phone services come with innovative call doing facilities which have been identical to those offering by dear premise-based write systems. These embody automobile attendant, voicemail, call waiting, voice to email, fax to email, involuntary call distribution, find-me/follow me call forwarding, as well as more. The categorical value of this phone use is which we can suffer all these facilities but installing any costly hardware during your site. The PBX use providers say the required infrastructure during their premises as well as additionally take caring of installation, upgrades as well as maintenance. Reliable use providers suggest tiny businesses PBX phone functions during an affordable monthly rent.
Efficient Call Routing
The hosted PBX phone use enables the tiny commercial operation bureau to conduct patron calls professionally. The automobile in attendance greets callers as well as transfers calls to applicable staff members or departments. Calls nearing concurrently have been additionally well handled, but transmitting line bustling write signals. In short, the practical receptionist overrides the need for call responding staff in your firm.
Tie your Workforce Together
This phone use is the good approach to tie your workforce together as well as keep them continuous during all times. Traveling employees good from the modernized find me follow me choice which routes calls to their dungeon phones as well as alternative directed towards numbers. Unanswered calls can be diverted to the voicemail complement or email accounts.
Toll Free Numbers for the Big Business Image
Most hosted PBX services suggest fee giveaway numbers so which commercial operation can call your bureau but being charged for the call. Some write companies assign the monthly prosaic rate for their fee giveaway service. The fee giveaway numbers have been mapped with the hosted PBX complement to suggest callers an interface identical to which found in the phone systems of large corporations.
PBX services additionally suggest internal numbers to assistance the tiny commercial operation emanate the internal participation in mixed cities. You can have as most extensions as we need with the internal series as well as all these can be reached from any location.
A preferred hosted PBX use provider would be the single which can recommendation we upon the devise most appropriate matched for your commercial operation office.

