Switching web hosts without messing it up.

Are you planning to switch you hosting service providers? I can understand how painful this could be. But before you do it, let me give you a few tips about things that you should remember and plan before you do the switch.
Most important of all, you are probably the best person to identify the reasons why you have had to switch your web hosts. Poor customer service and technical support, jamming networks, low bandwidth, insufficient space and there reasons could be many more. So the first thing you have to do is to ensure that your new hosting provider is good at all these aspects.
Consult a good site that provides tips to web hosting so that you prepare yourselves to do the switch to your new host.
A few things you might want to consider is as follows:
· Check if your new web host supports scripts and services that you have been using or, that you plan to use. If your website is a critical business website you need to ensure that your shopping carts, merchant accounts, payment gateways, ecommerce software etc. is being supported by your current hosting provider.
· Create a backup of the files and folders that you wish to transfer. It is normal for all of us to forget to copy a few files when we format our systems or, change our computers. A similar mistake when you switch you web hosting provider could prove to be very costly.
· Shop around for web hosts providing money back guarantee. Wondering why this is required? This is because it is practically not possible to ensure that your new web host is absolutely perfect in all sense before you start using them. So a money-back guarantee would ensure that you can change them if in case you do not find them useful, though I understand the whole process of changing your web host could be hell of a process.
· Check out a good web hosting directory to know about the best web hosts on the internet. You can find a list of these directories by doing a search on Google. These directories also tell you about their rankings and the positives and negatives of all these web hosts.
· The most important and most tedious of all of these is to change DNS settings. This is requires only in case you are changing registrars. You have to have the knowledge of the registrar with whom your domain is registered and also the procedure to change our DNS settings. It is advisable to gather all this information much before you actually do the switch so that you don’t end up in a soup.
These simple but easy and handy information would surely help you decide and switch your hosting provider.

Shared hosting vs Dedicated Server

I have come across a lot of people who start an online business, spend hours and hours in deciding the appropriate domain name, hire a very good web-designer who designs a beautiful website and yet are bogged down with a poor hosting provider or, a hosting account, to only think that they committed the biggest mistake by choosing to start an online business.

This is not something that is uncommon. Most of us face this situation. The biggest reason why our websites keep encountering problems is our choice of the wrong kind of hosting. Lets first understand the difference between a Shared Hosting and a Dedicated Server.

1. Shared Hosting - Shared hosting as the name suggests is shared by a lot of people. This means that the server on which your website is hosted is only a part of a huge server which is being used by a lot of other website owners. What difference does it make? This means that the bandwidth available would be shared by the multiple websites thus resulting in slow browsing speed and delay in loading when your visitors visit your website.
2. Dedicated Server - In such a hosting account you are assigned a dedicated server depending upon your space and bandwidth requirements. This means that you would not be sharing the space or, bandwidth with anyone, thus ensuring that you get better browsing speed and better satisfcation to your visitors.

When should you choose a Shared hosting account? This is good when the site you are going to host is not meant to be a commercial venture targetting huge amount of traffic. For eg: a private online album can be hosted on a Sharde hosting account. Similarly, Company websites which are meant only to share some information wiht the visitors can be hosted on shared hosting. So the consideration, as is evident is the usage of bandwidth.

A dedicated server is the best option when you decide to launch an online store which would consume a lot of bandwidth.

So choose cleverly before you start off, as it would be difficult at a later time to switch servers or, hosting accounts.

Windows or, Linux hosting

The major hosting operating systems are Microsoft Windows and Linux. Let’s discuss what these operating systems are before we discuss their comparisons.

Linux:
Linux is an open source OS and is the most widely used hosting platform in the world. The biggest advantage of Linux is the availability a huge amount of free applications available on the Internet and it uses less hardware resources than Windows 2003.

Microsoft Windows 2003:
Microsoft Windows 20003 server has the advantage that it integrates well with other Microsoft applications. Windows 2003 is recommended only if one has to use specific applications that require Microsoft Windows to run such as Access, Cold Fusion, ASP, .Net, and Microsoft SQL.
Comparisons below are made about important aspects of each operating system.

1. Security : On of the most important aspects to be considered, Security issues are often the fault of the administration rather than the operating system. This is where the server management team has to be evaluated.
2. Supported File Types: Standard HTML, Front page, Cold Fusion and JavaScript files are supported by both. Perl and CGI platforms are something that is supported by Linux but not by Windows. If you need to use either of these file types on windows be sure that the software is specifically supported. PHP is commonly supported under Linux while ASP is commonly supported by Windows.
3. Databases: This is often where platforms can make a difference. MySQL and MSSQL are supported by both servers whereas MS Access is only supported by Windows.
   

With this information, one should be able to evaluate the different options available and make a decision on which one to opt for.

Choosing your hosting company

When you normally choose a hosting company, your web host will charge you a fee for monthly service that ranges from $10 or $20 to the more expensive $50.00 per month. You should be prepared to pay upto $500 per year to your web host.

Choosing a free or very inexpensive web hosting services is not really a great idea, because this means, inviting bouts of server downtimes and you are likely to have significant limitations in storage, number of email addresses, FTP upload etc.

Be sure your web host can accommodate e-commerce and storefronts, wireless capability, bogs, forums, chats, online interactive helps and anything else you want to add onto your site.

Estimate what your growth needs are and ensure that this web host can serve you as you grow. The last thing you want to do is change host mid way unless you absolutely have to do so.

Check your bandwidth capability to be sure that, if your website traffic grows rapidly, your customers will not have to wait to download or view information. Three things to look for in a web hosting company are:

1. Class Customer Support: Your hosting provider should be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem. Ask them how long it takes for them to typically respond to your problem. A good test is to call them in the mid night to check if you get to a live, level 3 support.

2. Infrastructure: Check whether they offer a multi-homed network powered by multiple bandwidth providers to ensure redundancy. Some offer a 100% guarantee on its network availability or network uptime.

3. Financially stable: If you're running very critical operations, you can't afford to be with a hosting company that may not be in business in a few months.

How to Effectively Use PPC Advertising and Not Burn Your Pockets

PPC or, pay-per-click is the best way of advertising your websites on the internet. This could also prove to be the worst option available in case you set out for PPC advertising without appropriate knowledge. The moment one talks about the internet, the first thing that comes to your mind is a search engine. There are thousands of searches done by internet users on various search engines everyday, the most prominent of them being Google, Yahoo and Ask. This is why search engine advertisements are the best available options for online advertisements. To understand PPC let us first understand, what a 'search' is. I, as a common internet user would answer this question as "typing a term in a search box on a search engine to get relevant information about this term". This would normally be the answer from any internet user and this statement says it all - what is ppc,what is the appropriate strategy to be adopted,how to optimally use the PPC.

1). In the definition of a 'search', above we used the word "TERM". This term that we would normally enter in the search box would be called as the "KEYWORD". This is the most important aspect to be considered while advertising in search engines.

2). The second most important aspect to be considered is again there in the definition. The phrase "to get relevant information" is this aspect.

On understanding these 2 aspects we get to know that an internet user would use a KEYWORD to search something so that he "GETS SOME RELEVANT INFORMATION ON THE KEYWORD USED FOR SEARCHING". Also to be noted is the fact that in most of the cases the search is only to get some "relevant information"

How PPC ads work? - Search engines have a bid attached to each keyword that you select for your website. For eg: if your website sells spectacle frames and you select a keyword like 'light-weight carbon frame' and would like to use this is your PPC ads, then this keyword would have a bid attached to it. There would be hundred others using this same KEYWORD for their sites. Suppose you bid at $1.50 for your keyword and there is somebody who has a bid of $2.00 for the same keyword, then when somebody searches for this keyword on the search engine, your ad would only be placed below the above said high-bidder's ad. You would be charged the amount you bid when somebody clicks your ad.

So does that mean that you always bid higher than others. No not always. The technique lies in understanding and selecting the appropriate keyword for your products or, websites.

Most of the people searching the internet only do this to find information. How many times have you searched the internet to actually buy something? Very less. That is exactly what anybody would do. So the technique is in understanding that you need to select a keyword that a prospective customer (somebody who searches the internet to buy something) would use. The keyword used in the above example is one such word that only somebody who really wants to buy a spectacle frame would use. The best way to find these keywords are to assume you are the customer and think of terms you would use to search something that you intend to buy. In more generic kind of products that you are selling, you can also prefix your main keywords with terms like "buy", "get", "purchase" etc. If I am looking to buy something on the internet, I would sure use one of these terms to search for something.

These terms would normally show a very less number of searches in any given month, but that should not worry you, because you would rather prefer only interested customers searching and clicking your ad than anybody searching just to get information, clicking on your ad.

Once your KEYWORDS are selected, bid carefully step-by-step until you know that your ad would be in the top 3 ads. Once you are there, you ROI would be much better than what it normally would have been and you would be able to use your monetary resources optimally.

Choosing The Right Host For Your Website

Websites today are the best and low investment source to an income. But the decision to launch your website is just the beginning to it. With an inappropriate and inadequate understanding of the basic things that you need to take care off when launching your website, you would end up being the only one to be browsing to your website everyday. The most important of all the factors is your choice of the host where you decide to host your website. A poor host would mean that you face a lot of downtime, with problems every now and then on your pages. The bottom line is that a poor choice would ruin the otherwise good website you would have launched.

Your choice should be based on the following:

1. The kind of website you wish to launch is the most important aspect to be taken into consideration. If you are planning to launch an online business you cannot afford to loose your customers because of downtime. You would have to look for a host who can assure you an excellent uptime. You would probably have to spend some time on the internet researching at various directories and forums as to which provider has a proven uptime record. The success of an online business depends upon the niche market it is targetting and this would mean that you would have to develop one primary website for your primary website and a few secondary websites whcih would cater to a few of your niche websites. So it is always advisable to look for a hosting provider who offers you an affordable plan with multiple or, unlimited domains hosting.
2. The kind of web pages you intend to process at the server is another important aspect. In other words this would mean the kind of language you intend to use to develop your website. A wrong choice of a host would at times mean that you have certain requirements to process CGI scripts and the host doesn't support it. Hence after you decide what language you would want to use, search for hosts who would support widely used languages like PHP,ASP,ASP.NET,Coldfusion,CGI,PERL,Frontpage. Even if a host does not support all of this (which should be the primary consideration) support for 4 out of these should be an optimal choice.
3. Who do you think would be the administrator for the site needs to be given a thorough thought. There are hosting providers who offer a very wierd way of accessing you hosting account which would not be enough is you plan to administer you website. You need a complete hosting manager access to do any changes that you want to anything in youy hosting account. Hence look for a hosting provider who would give you access to a 'Hosting manager'.
4. How huge a website you plan to launch would again be another important aspect. If you intend to launch a website which needs huge bandwidth and dedicated server assistance, you should opt to go in for a dedicated server, either virtual or, otherwise. Else if you are planning to launch a normal and simple website, or even a small online store (small businesses and personal websites) you may opt for an affordable shared hosting plan.
   

A bit of research by spending some time on the internet can bail you out of the difficulties you would otherwise face by choosing the WRONG host for you website

Selecting a domain name

Choosing a domain name for your online business can seem to be the most easiest thing on earth, before you start searching for one with any domain registrar.
The first thing that you would come across is a search result saying, "The domain name xyz.com is already taken" and you would wonder what next. The same easy thing would now seem difficult.
A few simple things to keep in mind when you decide to go online with your business is:

• Choose a name that reflects your nature of business. This could be anything in your product range which could symbolise your line of business.
• Take a pen and paper and write combinations of names that you would like to give your website, keeping in mind that the name has to reflect your nature of business.
• Also keep in mind that these names should not be containing more than 3 word phrases. for eg: eggsandchickens.com is fine but prefer not to go for eggsandchickenpoultry.com
• Names with a hyphen (-) would also do but is not recommended because it is dificult to narrate your website's name with a hyphen in it.
• Preferably write about 10 combination of names.
• Arrange the names in a descending order of preference.
• Search and find the most suitable name for you website.