Comparison of Personal and Business Web Space

There are many web hosting subscriptions available. They can usually be categorized into two: personal hosting and business hosting. Personal website hosting is more affordable and basic; business hosting costs more but has advanced features. If you’re trying to select between the two, ask yourself these questions:

1. Why are you building a website?
2. What hosting features do you require?
3. How much budget can you spend?
4. Does having enhanced security important to you?

Why are you building a website?

Are you intending to advertise your products and services? Would you like to blog about your thoughts? Are you planning to display your artistic side? The purpose of your website is the first factor in availing your web hosting package. If you run out of time to consider all the other features, just avail personal hosting if your website is for personal use. On the other hand, purchase business hosting if your website is for business.

What hosting features do you require?

Personal plans have more straightforward features than business plans. Consider your requirements in terms of disk space, bandwidth, domain hosting, email accounts, File Transfer Protocol accounts, and more. Features and resources that come with business hosting are more appropriate when you are running a large business. If you want to share your creative side with your friends, you probably won’t need unlimited MySQL databases or a thousand email accounts—so personal internet hosting would be a better option.

How much budget can you afford?

Of course, you are not automatically compelled to get business hosting after making a business website. If you’re planning to have a basic catalogue website for a small business, personal web hosting might be more significant for you. If you, however, wish to have an e-commerce or community site, business web hosting plans do offer additional resources and security features that would benefit you and your visitors.

Do you need enhanced security?

Unlike personal hosting, business hosting commonly provides for SSL certificates. An SSL certificate permits encryption of data during online transactions. This translates to enhanced security for your website. If you own an online store processing credit card payments, or if your website retrieves sensitive information from your visitors, it is better to get business hosting with SSL support. In the end, the decision really depends on your special needs.

Roald Madison teaches organizations how to buy web space, build their website, and grow their online presence.

Beginner's Guide to Internet hosting

If you would like to build a website and establish your online presence, you ought to learn web hosting. What is web hosting, anyway? It's not hard to understand. First, you have to know the basics of IP addresses, domain names, and domain name systems.

Each computer that is connected to the Internet -- whether it's a desktop PC or a massive web server that houses websites -- has a unique number to identify it. This number is called an IP address. Take, for example, this server IP address: 68.142.255.16.. Think of how tiresome it would be if you had to memorize this number in order to visit the website that it points to. This is what domain names are for. Domain names are like nicknames that turn IP addresses into names you can easily remember. For example, if the number were Yahoo's IP address, instead of remembering the number, you only have to visit Yahoo's domain name, Yahoo.com.

How does the system know which IP address a domain name corresponds with? This is the responsibility of a Domain Name System server (DNS server). Every time you go to a domain name, a DNS server directs your request to the correct IP address.

How do you get a domain name for your website? You have to register it with a domain registrar. Registrars are licensed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to register domain names. Domain registrars also take care of the DNS servers for their registered domain names.

As mentioned above, each web server has an IP address through which it serves up websites. But how do you get your website on a web server in the first place? This is what web hosting is for. Websites are made up of data. They may contain code such as HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript; multimedia files such as images, music, and videos; or information databases. All this data must be stored in a computer that's connected to the Internet all day, every day. Web servers fulfill this purpose. When you register with a web host, they let you rent space on their web servers for a fee.

If you want to have a successful website, be sure to register with a quality web host. Avoid free web hosts -- they offer minimal customer support, limited features, and overcrowded servers. Many of them place unwanted advertisements on hosted websites. Also, you can't tell how long they will stay afloat, since they're not very profitable. It's best to sign up with a regular paid web host. Decide on your web host carefully. Consider the amount of disk space and bandwidth they provide. Also take a look at their features, such as website building tools, design templates, application installers, supported programming languages, database support, and others. Lastly, research on the helpfulness of their technical support. A good web host is vital if you want to be successful in building and growing your online presence.

Roald Madison teaches businesses how to buy web space, launch their website, and establish their online presence.

Get an Email Address at Your Own Website

Whether you're selling products, advertising services, or just want an online presence for your organization, it's important to have an email address at your own domain name. Sure, email services such as Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail are free to use and easy for beginners to set up. But there are disadvantages to free email services:

• Unprofessional -- free addresses look cheap on flyers, Internet sites, and business cards.
• Unreliable -- you have no guarantee that your email address will be supported in the future.
• Advertisements -- in your inbox or even in your outgoing emails.

Having your distinct domain email address is far more dependable over the long term and offers you more control over your email. And it absolutely makes you look more authoritative, trustworthy, and professional. Simply follow these simple steps if you'd like to acquire one:

Come up with a distinct domain name

The address of your online space is a domain name. Yahoo.com is an example of a domain name. Brainstorm carefully for a name that's unique, easy to remember, and reflective of your brand, business, or personality. Try to avoid childish or unprofessional names; you need to look for a name that will last you a long time. Also list down some second-choice names in case your desired name has already been registered by another person.

Get your domain name and web hosting

Register the domain name and purchase web space. Web space provides your online space while your domain name is your online address. Think of it as the difference between your home address and your actual house. You may choose to get your domain name and web hosting separately, but choosing just one company is recommended for beginners. That way, you wouldn't have to configure them to work together.

If someone else has already registered your preferred domain name, you could try another domain name, or try the same name with a different extension. Examples of extensions are .com, .net, and .org. If yourbusiness.com is taken, try registering yourbusiness.net.

As for web hosting, it's essential to find a quality web host. Below are some issues to consider when purchasing email web hosting:

• Email accounts. If you own a company, you're not the only one who will make use of this domain for your email address. Make sure that your web host provides enough email accounts to make room for your partners and employees so that they can enjoy the same benefits.
• Email access. Make sure that you can log in to your email through your chosen medium, whether it's a desktop application, a web browser, or your mobile phone.
• Spam protection. A good spam filtering system will save you time and frustration.
• Email features. You may want to send a monthly bulletin or special promotion announcements to your customers. Or you may want separate email addresses for different business functions (such as customer feedback, support, and billing) -- all forwarded to one address for easier retrieval. find email hosting that can give you everything you need.
• The actual web hosting. Even if you just want an email address for now, you may want to use the same domain to build a website in the future. Find a web host that will fulfill all your potential needs.

Set up and enjoy your email address

You can use your web host's control panel to create your new email address. Once it has been created, figure out how you would like to access your email. If you'd like to read email straight from your computer, make use of a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird. If you'd like to read your email on a web browser, make sure that your web host offers webmail access.

If you experience any problems while setting up your account or accessing your email, just have patience. Read your web host's instructions carefully and follow them as meticulously as you can. It truly helps if your web host offers good technical support so you can get your email up and running as soon as possible.

Once you've set up your email, test it thoroughly to see that it's running properly. Send a few test emails to your new address. Use it to send out emails as well.

Congratulations. You now have a distinctive and professional email address at your own domain.

Roald Madison teaches businesses how to buy web space, launch their website, and expand their online presence.

Web Hosting Programmer Tools

Even if you're not a website developer, webmaster, or system administrator, you still must be concerned about developer tools when getting website space. It's better to get ready now rather than find out later that your web host doesn't support a feature you require. There are lots of programmer tools on hand, however these are the most required.

PHP

PHP is a commonly used server-side scripting language. This means that scripts created in PHP are ran on your website server, as against your visitor's system. PHP will give your website's functionality. In fact, most famous internet applications, blogging platforms, and content management systems are done in PHP. Ensure your web space host maintains the latest version of PHP. It's also better if they provide for older versions, since some website applications may still use them.

MySQL

MySQL is a relational database management system, which is utilized to save your website data. A scripting language like PHP is in charge of writing and reading the details stored in MySQL databases. It's most recommended to avail of a website host that permits unlimited databases. Some internet hosts present a limited number, which will be a hassle if you plan to put up many sites.

Cron

Cron is a job scheduler. It allows users to run scripts or commands at a scheduled date and time, whether it's a non-repetitive task or a periodic one. Cron jobs are normally utilized for system maintenance, such as automatic backups. They can also be utilized for other reasons, like sending email to mailing lists. A website host that offers an integrated control panel makes setting up cron jobsmuch simpler by permiting you to use a visual interface cron jobs is much simpler if a internet host presents an integrated control panel that allows you to make use of a visual interface.

CGI

CGI, or Common Gateway Interface, is a standard protocol for external gateway programs to interface with information servers. Mainly, it's a way for servers to communicate with users. Web forms that utilize CGI to handle submitted form data is an example of this.

.htaccess

Htaccess facilitates directory-level configuration. Putting an .htaccess file in a directory allows you to override and polish up your web server's configuration for that directory and its subdirectories.

Bonus: Ruby on Rails

While it may not be thought of as valuable, Ruby on Rails support is a good thing to have. RoR is a web application framework used to design websites. It's deemed to be more straightforward than PHP; it has clearer syntax, and allows modules to be done with little codes. Since it's a relatively new framework, some web hosts don't support it just yet. It's a good idea to obtain a web host that does, since RoR is becoming more and more widely-used.

Roald Madison teaches businesses how to buy web space, build their website, and expand their online presence.