Website Hosting

ALL WEBSITE HOSTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

Not too long ago I read there were over 59 MILLION web servers last year!!! Website hosts certainly play an important role because they provide the OFFICIAL INTERNET ADDRESS of your website. Actually your official address is just a bunch of numbers like 207 64 758 4985.

A Domain Name Server makes it possible for you to be known as joessupersandwiches.com.

FREE HOSTING VS. PAID HOSTING

This is really not an issue if your desire is to promote your business and earn income. NEVER USE A FREE HOST FOR A BUSINESS WEBSITE.

For starters, if you used a site like Geocities or a free website provided by your Internet Service Provider (AOL, MSN, Comcast, etc.) you do not have a REAL domain name. You have a subdomain. Also, free-hosted sites on ISPs are usually not spidered by search engines. They're certainly not spidered by the major engines.

The next issue of a free-hosted site is what IT SCREAMS to your potential customers. "I'm not serious about doing business because I can't afford a real website."

Paid Hosting is your only viable option. But there are numerous paid hosts and they, too, are not equal in what is provided. What do you need from your host? That depends on the type of website you will have.

Do you need a host that supports php, PERL, ASP or whatever? GoDaddy has been running a lot of television spots, but many webmasters who post messages to numerous forums (let me find a good way to say this) are less than pleased with GoDaddy.

At NetVentures Unlimited, Inc., we use several hosting services based upon what we want available for a particular website. Another item to consider is the type of hosting package you need for your site. The major hosts for online marketing sites, offer a standard hosting package that includes what most sites need.

Of course there are ecommerce packages, commercial packages and professional packages, each with different site sizes and bandwidth usage.

DOMAIN NAMES

What domain name do you want? In a perfect world you would be able to get a domain name the same as your business name or one that describes your business. There is also a very good chance that your first choice may already be used by someone else. Or, a hosting company has registered that name and will sell it to you for an inflated price!

You need to decide on a domain name BEFORE signing on with a hosting service. One host we use includes the cost of the domain name in the price for hosting. That is preferable to a lot of people for one simple reason: it's easier to control. You will lose your website if you fail to pay your hosting fee on time. You will also lose your website if you fail to pay your domain name fee on time.

That's also why we prefer to handle domain name registration and hosting for our clients. Let us be responsible and save you the headache and possible heartache. If you prefer to do it yourself, it's good to have a professional domain registrar at which you can register all your domain names. We recommend:

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Efficient website publication to the web REQUIRES an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. This is a software program that allows for fast uploading of your website pages and graphic content.

Some hosts provide a way for you to upload everything to your server folder with your Internet browser rather than using FTP software. The number of files you can upload at one time is limited, which makes this a slower process.

Some hosts provide you with a VERY GOOD control panel you can use for numerous reasons. Check your statistics to see how many visitors are coming to your site, what pages they're looking at and which days of the week and times of day you are being visited. This information can be quite valuable when planning advertising campaigns.

WE WILL ASSIST YOU

As previously mentioned, we prefer to handle domain name registration, secruing a website host and performing FTP uploads for our clients.

If you prefer to do it yourself, we will assist you in the process. We will provide you with the pros and cons of various hosts and direct you to good FTP programs. Yes, not all FTP programs are equal. Some are smarter than others! Depending upon your level of expertise, you may need a simple upload program that handles both binary and ascii files. Or you may need something with a little more automation to simplify your process.

WHAT IF YOU DECIDE TO BUILD YOUR OWN SITE

While web design and production are our major focuses, they are not the only plates in our cabinet. Perhaps you are wanting to learn how to build a website without learning a lot about HTML and the myriad other parts that are required in a professional website design.

We have used two major programs to do that very thing. We did one site as a test and a second for a client who wanted to take complete control after the site was published. One of the programs stood head and shoulders above anything we've seen, and we'll direct you there if you choose not to hire us.

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