Information for the Marketer

Most hosts offer storage space for web pages with global public access to those pages over the Internet along with a limited form of program execution known as Common Gateway Interface or “cgi-bin” for short.

Depending on the type of server will depend on the operating system the most common being Apache over Linux. Apache responds to web page requests from remote browsers while Linux is one of several variants of the UNIX operating system. Hosting companies operate by providing customers their own password protected user id under Linux. By logging in with his user id, the customer gains access to his web storage space. Every user id “owns” a structure of disk subdirectories in the Linux file system. The “root” of this structure is the “home” directory, found at path “/home/user id.” Note that this is somewhat similar to the MS-DOS directory structure; except that there is no drive letter and forward slashes are used instead of backward slashes. When you FTP to your account using your domain name and user id, you don’t need to put in “home/user id.” You will automatically be taken there. Inside the home directory are many files and other directories. The most important one is named “www” or”public html” however, it is important you do not delete any directories in the root. Every customer has his own separate “www” subdirectory. Files placed in the “www” directory are visible to remote browsers over the Internet, so this is where you want to place all your html documents, graphics, sounds, files, etc. which you want people to be able to access from the world wide web. For example, when a browser asks for URL http://yourdomain.com/page.html, Apache looks for the file: /home/yourdomain/www/page.html and sends it out.

I appreciate that all this may be overwhelming to you at this time. It was to me the first time I looked at my cpanel. However I found the following programme that helped explain to me in easy to follow steps how to conquer my fear of using cpanel.To think how much money I spent before finding this programme just make me shudder. Go and have a look at the video programme it will help you in your business and budget.

 

With thousands of web hosting companies in the market it can be difficult if not impossible to know which web site hosting companies truly provide an excellent hosting solution at an excellent price. When you have an established domain name with a good web hosting company, you can get reports on your traffic and which of your pages your customers are visiting most often, as well as many other statistics.

  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. Plan to pay between $300 and $500 per year to your web host. This will obviously depend on which plan you choose.

 Always avoid free or very inexpensive web hosting services, because you may experience bouts of server downtimes and you are likely to have significant limitations in storage, number of email addresses, FTP upload etc. The old saying you get what you pay for rings true.

  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. Always think ahead so that you will not be caught out with you have “exceeded you bandwidth” this can cost you dearly in terms of business.

Three things to look for in a web hosting company are: 


1. Excellent 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 night to check if you get to a live, level 3 support.

   2. A Sound 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. Financial Stability: 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. “I have been using Hostgator since coming online in 2005. To my knowledge I have had a 100% uptime. If you want to have a look at their site just click on the link to the below. You will not regret it”!