10 Sneaky Tricks of Cheap Web Hosting Companies

If you thought all those billions of web pages are hosted on expensive and full service web hosting companies, you need to cross check your information sources again. Of course, there are free or cheap web hosting companies that provide basic features good enough for simple html pages. You can take the example of some blog sites for these. But cheap (as cheap as $1.99 a month) web hosting service is different as they claim to provide more than the basic features which require huge infrastructures and funds to maintain and remain in the business. How do cheap web hosting companies attract business and what are their tricks?
Trick Number 1: The 24/7 toll-free number that a cheap web hosting company will advertise on their website. Most of these rarely work and those that do work seem to work only Monday to Friday. They are there mainly to create a false impression. What will you do on the weekend or after hours? You need a web hosting company that provides real support.
Trick Number 2: E-mail contacts given, which give you a very nicely worded (auto responder) response, requesting you to be patient while promising that an appropriate web hosting executive is handling your query. Don't you want to talk to a real person at some point? Email messages could go on forever with no resolution in sight. Your time, in short supply, is valuable.
Trick Number 3: Unlimited emails in POP3 and SMTP which hardly give any value to a small webmaster but can have a big impact on your decision making. Cheap web hosting companies cannot provide good email service. Yet, you need good email service so that you can stay in contact with your customers. (better service=more customers=more sales)
Trick Number 4: Cheap web hosting companies often make promises of free downloads worth thousands of dollars. You can check this offer only after you subscribe to their service. You should be able to check out all aspects of an offer before making a commitment, thus saving you valuable time and money.
Trick Number 5: The lure of freebies like all platform database support, preinstalled server side scripts, site builders, templates and SSL & ecommerce tools. In actuality, if these products are provided by cheap web hosting companies, they are very limited. Why limit your business from the start? You need a web hosting company that will give you the tools you need to be successful right out of the gate!
Trick Number 6: Domain registrars and sister companies of cheap web hosting companies don't allow editing DNS zone files and MX records. Registrars talk about "name server management" when they actually mean the exact opposite resulting in forced hosting with them. You should be able to choose the services that you want for your business. After all, who knows your business better than you? Locking yourself in with a cheap web hosting company forces you to do business their way. Don't do it!
Trick Number 7: Artificially populating user forums is another way of promoting their cheap web hosting business. Cheap web hosting companies do this so you will think they have tons of satisfied users. Really, you should rely on referrals to check out a web hosting company's services. This is the only real way to be sure you'll get the service you deserve. Trick Number 8: Display of an unknown or little known award and trying to impress you that they provide award winning service. Do awards mean anything anymore these days? Better to rely on actual comments from real customers.
Trick Number 9: Offering free integration of shopping carts and payment gateways. Cheap web hosting companies do this because they know that for many online businesses having access to an online payment tool is a must. What you actually get is PayPal, which is well known, and is not their product at all. Why would you trust a web hosting company that would do this?
Trick Number 10: Free Marketing support. Of course they do it but what they market vigorously is their site where your name might be mentioned. Cheap web hosting companies will not do more than this. In fact, they cannot. Are you paying for marketing your business? Or theirs?
Being on the lookout for tricks such as these will keep you from falling into the trap of thinking that cheap web hosting is good. You can make a better choice for your business. You need a web hosting company that provides real, complete services that help improve your business. Do you want your business to be just a number?
Remember the old adage, "you get what you pay for".
Greg Cesar knows web hosting! Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg's web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting his Web Hosting website.
Greg Cesar is a successful Internet marketer, web designer and web hosting provider with over 10 years' experience. He specializes in providing innovative web hosting and internet marketing services that help business owners make more money online. To improve your online business immediately and work with someone who understands what it takes to make real money online, visit: http://www.hostpartnerplus.com

By : Greg Cesar

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net

Keyword : web hosting, cheap web hosting, web hosting companies

1and1 Hosting - Raising the Bar!

First, I have to admit. I'm a terrible customer. I'm a demanding perfectionist who rarely feels that he is getting his money's worth. This is especially true of hosting providers. In the past four years, I've had to change providers at least six times because I felt that I was not getting what I paid for. This brief commentary is somewhat of a treat for me as I finally get to say something good about a hosting provider!
A little over two years ago I was reading up on the latest technologies in one of my favorite publications, eWeek, when I ran across a nice, full-page ad from 1and1 offering an introductory offer of free hosting for three years. Wait! What! No way! This has got to be too good to be true! Off to the trusty computer I go...
Sure enough, it was the real deal. 1and1 was indeed offering free web hosting for three years to introduce its new public sector hosting service. Well, like any good cash-strapped college student, I stepped right up and got me a piece of the pie. I've got to say, the pie was good too!
After roughly two years of hosting with 1and1, with minimal problems I should say, I started to notice that I was getting dangerously close to the bandwidth allowance my free package had to offer. No big surprise there; these things happen when you're trying to establish an online presence and you offer free downloads. It was time to upgrade my hosting.
At the time, there were no great specials going on at 1and1 so I decided to shop around. That was a tremendous mistake! What I got was a course in how *not* to run a hosting service. I will be polite, this time, and not name and companies, but let's just say stay away from cheap reseller hosting accounts! The uptime is nowhere near what they promise and every time you turn around some idiot is running a script that bogs the server down to a crawl.
After a couple months, a chunk of wasted cash, and several moves back and forth between providers, I finally conceded that 1and1 was indeed the best host I had come across thus far. As luck would have it, I had received an email from 1and1 announcing a great promotion for their free preview package holders (obvious marketing trick, but good timing in my situation). They were offering their top shared Linux package for half the price. Ok, that sounds like a good deal, and it was, but what about next year? Well, this is where it gets even better. Not only did I get the package at half price, but they guaranteed that price for three years with free upgrades!
I might not be the brightest light bulb in the box, but I know a good deal when I see one. So, as I'm sure you've already figured out, I signed up. What I got was a whole lot more than what I bargained for, and honestly, could have hoped for. Almost instantly after upgrading, I noticed that my sites were running faster. I'm assuming that paid customers are placed on less crowded servers.
Then, the first upgrade came. My space and bandwidth were doubled at no extra charge. I thought to myself, cool, I'll take it! A couple weeks later, I was browsing the 1and1 site comparing features for a potential client when I noticed that the package I have had been bumped to ridiculously high levels. Even though I was getting my money's worth at the time, I felt a little bitter that I wasn't getting the full package spec. After all, I was promised that I would get every package upgrade.
Just like any other nightmare client, I promptly dialed billing to give them a piece of my mind. Apparently, the billing agent was no stranger to difficult clients like me. Within a few minutes of talking to me, he got me defused and assured me that my package would be brought up to spec within four weeks. That was two weeks ago. He explained that it was taking more time than expected to upgrade all their current accounts to the new account specs. He really surprised me when he said that I'd actually be getting more than what was currently listed on the site. What?! Ok then! Thank you for your time! Needless to say, I was left feeling very positive about that support call.
Here's where we get into the numbers... When I logged into my account today, I was greeted by some very generous numbers for the package I have. I discovered that I now have 30,000MB of storage and 1,500 GB of transfer on a shared hosting account that normally runs $19.99/mo! Wait! That can't be right! Those are VPS specs! Yup, you read right. 30GB of storage and 1.5TB of transfer for under $20/mo. PLUS, with 1and1, I only pay $5.99 per domain, per year.
Now, let's be real here. Those numbers are great and all, but other providers offer similar specs. What sets 1and1 apart? For starters, uptime! With every other host I've used, uptime was a major issue. This is not so with 1and1. I can count on one hand how many times in the past two years my site was not available and nearly every time it was related to an ISP router, not 1and1! Also, one of the things I've really grown to appreciate is their one-of-a-kind control panel. It's a little slow, but it more than makes up for it in streamlined administration. This is especially true of the domain administration. Even complete n00bs have no problem navigating the 1and1 control panel and managing their package like a pro.
Again, I'm not the easiest person in the world to impress, especially when it comes to hosting providers. Nevertheless, 1and1 has really raised the bar of what a good hosting provider is in my mind. They are now the benchmark by which I will measure all hosting providers. If you are in the market for a good, reliable, affordable hosting provider, I cannot say enough positive about 1and1.
There is only one negative I've found with 1and1 and it's not even really a negative. They're a bit restrictive on script execution. If you think about it, in a shared hosting environment, this is a good thing, and this also explains why the only time I've noticed the server actually being down was during a scheduled hardware upgrade. Now, who's going to complain about a free upgrade in performance?
If you would like more information on 1and1 and the packages they offer, I encourage you to visit their site. Just as a point of reference, I'm running on the Developer Package. I think you'll find that it's a more than adequate package for moderate to heavy traffic sites.
James Morris is the Co-Owner and Webmaster of MyWebResource, a comprehensive resource site for webmasters, including webmaster articles, webmaster tools, free downloads, and more.

By : James Morris

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net


Keyword : web hosting , shared hosting

20-Point Checklist on Web Hosting

When we begin our journey in the ecommerce world, it is easy to fall into traps by simply overlooking most important checklists in our decision making in regards to web hosting. It is easy just to consider the disk space provided when selecting hosting company and other less important features which we do not need in the beginning. All plans look impressive but do we really need those features on offer? It is best to consider the following factors when deciding on your web hosting packages:
1. Established Host
You would not want to get involve with someone not long enough in the business to host your ecommerce or simple personal website. What is more if you are running a full fledge ecommerce with lots of data to back up your operation. Time is of the essence in selecting your host. The longer a host has been around, the more likely the better it would be. You would not want to go down along with the host that also goes down. To sort things out will get real messy.
2. Reliability
This is an important checklist you ought to consider. Reliability is one the most important checklist as one would not want to engage a fly-by-night hosting company. Check the length of time on their response to your email enquiry. It is important to enjoy both after sales and technical services. Some big names with substantial customer base and length of operation may get complacent and not able to provide reliable services while small new companies will try their best to impress. You need to make your own judgment.
3. Space
You need to decide on your disk space requirement. However, a better planning for future expansion is also important so that you need not come back to the hosting company and being charge unreasonably. There is a saying, once hooked, forever hooked even if you do not like it.
4. After-Sales and Technical Supports
You never know what you need after the sales or even after the web is up and running. You like to feel comfortable that after sales and technical support are there, when needed. Time take in responding to email enquiry is a simple indication of the level of services the hosting companies are providing.
5. Up-Time
Most hosting companies offer a 99% uptime. You should select the one offers nothing lees than 99% uptime.
6. Recovery Time
Determine how fast the hosting company recovers from a downtime. Do they have back up procedures? What kind of UPS they use? Where are they located? Are they near any disaster prone area? These are the questions you need answers.
7. Bandwidth
Do not overlook bandwidth limit. Excess bandwidth uses accompanied by excess bill. Do not go over the allocated bandwidth; plan what you want to put in your site. Higher pixel images definitely utilize higher bandwidth.
8. CGI Bin
CGI is used to install scripts and programs; CGI comes standard with any hosting packages.
9. Perl
You must have Perl to run Perl Programs. Paid or free scripts are mostly written in Perl. Make sure you get the latest version or get to upgrade from time to time.
10. SSL
This is the most important criteria to consider especially when you are planning for a ecommerce. Make sure the SSL is included in your hosting packages. You may use third party credit card processor but the provider may not operate in some countries. It is also limited to electronic products only, not physical products.
11. SSI
Server Side Includes is used to minimize time in updating your site. You can edit you page or link section you want to amend without amending all the pages.
12. MySQL
Some scripts and programs require a MySQL database to run. Make sure the charges are not exorbitant and it normally comes with the hosting packages.
13. PHP
Many new scripts and programs require PHP support, and this feature is almost standard for all hosting packages.
14. Domain
You should be able to point your own domain name to the site. Other feature is to make sure you can control you domain because you may not stick with the same hosting companies but your domain remains yours.
15. FTP
Definitely you need a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer file or make change to your web pages and uploading. You must be given unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site.
16. Control Panel
Main feature of hosting is availability of control panel. The level of use ranges from friendly to difficult. Choose the one that suit your technical capability and budget.
17. Statistics
For adjustments on your marketing programs you need a good statistic program. Excellent statistical program enables you to monitor visitors, collect email, and so on so forth to fine tune your marketing programs. Get advanced statistical program from third party if the hosting is not able to provide one, provided the program can be installed.
18. Site Development Software
If you are not a webmaster, or a programmer it is best you consider package with software offered to build you site. Some hosting companies provided this free while other charge a fee.
19. Slow down and take time
Some hosting packages may look excellent but if one feature that is required according to your needs is not offered, then the package may not meet your requirements. Take your time to compare all the features that are on offer. What is good for someone may not be acceptable for you. The important thing is what is your criteria and can the hosting company meets your needs?
20. Last big Step
The following table lists some of the criteria that are normally offered by web hosting company. Do not be alarmed by the long list. As it was mentioned, some features may not be required when you start and it is good to know that those features are offered. You are always ready when the time is up for expansion. At the end of the day, what is important is the hosting that meets your budget and your expectations.
Pricing & Setup (Choose your billing cycle) Setup Fee N/A Option 1: Pay Monthly 34.95 USD (e.g) Unconditional Money Back Guarantee 30 Days Setup Time 30 Seconds Quota Allotment Summary Disk Usage 5000 MB Summary Traffic 150 GB Default Disk Space Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 5000 MB Domain Resources Multiple Domain Hosting 10 Domain Sub Domain 100 Sub Domain Third Level Domain 100 Third Level Domain Stopgap Domain 100 Stopgap Domain Domain Alias 100 Domain Alias Parked Domain (DNS Hosting) 10 Domain Parked Mail Domain Alias 10 Mail Domain Alias Web Services & Tools CGI with Custom Mapping Free Own CGI-Bin Directory Free MS Front Page Support Free ASP Free ASP Secured N/A NET Framework Free ASP.NET Free Server Side Includes (w/ custom file extension) N/A PHP with GD (Latest stable version) N/A Perl with GD (Latest stable version) Free Cold Fusion MX 6.1 Free Redirect URL 100 URL Custom Directory Indexes Free Pre-installed Commonly Used Components / DLL Free Custom DLL Components Free Server Side Image Map N/A PhpMyAdmin / PhpPgAdmin Free Web Shell (Advanced File Management Interface) N/A Password Protected Directories Free Site Studio Software (Best Selling Website Creation Tool, WYSIWYG plus tons of templates and features!) Free PHP BB 2 Forum Software Free Custom Error Document Free MS SQL Server Manager Free Transfer Log (Access Log) Free Referrer Log N/A Agent Log N/A Error Log N/A Webalizer Site Statistics Free Mail Services & Tools Web Mail Free Mailbox 1000 Mailbox Default Mailbox Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 10 MB Email Auto Responder 100 Auto Responder Catch All Email Address Free Mailbox Alias 100 Mailbox Alias Mail Forward 100 Mail Forward Mailing List 10 Mailing List Own SMTP Server Free IMAP Support Free Ecommerce Dedicated SSL Module Free Shared SSL Free OS Commerce Shopping Cart Free Databases MySql User 3 User MySql Database 3 Database Default MySql Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 50 MB MS SQL User 3 User MS SQL Database 3 Database Default MS SQL Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 100 MB PgSql User 3 User PgSql Database 3 Database Default PgSql Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 50 MB Advance Features & Others Anonymous FTP Server 3 Server FTP Sub Account N/A Virtual FTP Server N/A ODBC Service Free Custom DNS Records Free Shell Access N/A Crontab N/A Dedicated IP Address 3 unit Daily Backup Free
The author, Abdul R Mohamad is the webmaster at http://www.webhostingplanners.com and http://www.alt88.com. He has many interests ranging from internet to software devlopment and entrepreneurial development both in the virtual and real world. This includes food and hardware retailing. A veteren of 22 years in oil and gas industry, he is now retired from the industry and concentrates on building his base on the net and off the net.
You may re-print this article or re-publish on the web site or ezine.

By : Abddul R Mohamad

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net


Keyword : web hosting , hosting

ASP Hosting Simplified

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. It is a technology that enables users to design and creative interactive pages for their websites, using something called ??server-side scripting??. What do we mean by interactive? Forms, in-site search engines, blogs, user forums, newsletters, calendars, WhoIs searches, web-based email, polls, surveys, hit counters and more.
Best of all, with ASP, no longer do webmasters have to concern themselves with what browser a visitor to their site is using. With ASP hosting, your website will appear identically on all computers, on all browsers, a claim that HTML simply cannot make.
Anytime a browser requests a webpage that has the .asp extension where the more familiar .htm or .html would be, the hosting provider??s web server interprets any ASP scripts in the program first and foremost, before delivering any HTML info to the browser. This is why you cannot simply run ASP websites with just any hosting company. The hosting company you choose must have servers that support ASP, or else the ASP scripts you use will be rendered useless.
When examining web hosting companies to find one that supports ASP, you must look specifically for ASP support. Do not simply assume that because a hosting company supports ??most web-based scripts, from CGI to Perl?? that it supports ASP. If it doesn??t say so in an obvious place on the sales site, go to the hosting company??s FAQ and look for ASP. And since most FAQs are searchable, this shouldn??t be difficult to do. If you??re really enamored with a particular hosting company (or their current promotion) but can find no information on ASP support, consider contacting them via email, telephone, or web chat to find out. It??s possible that they do support ASP and just have a lousy sales site (which may be an indicator of an altogether different sort).
Microsoft brought ASP to the world, and as such provides the platform - Windows - on which ASP generally works best. In order to play around with ASP scripts on your web pages, you??ll have to download and install onto your system an ASP server, like Microsoft??s Internet Information Services (IIS) or Microsoft??s Personal Web Server (PWS) -- one or both of which is included with most Windows packages for no extra charge. If you use Windows on your machine and have never encountered IIS or PWS, chances are it??s because you have to ??Add?? the program to your hard drive using the Windows software CD-ROM or through your control panel, since it??s often not included as part of the ??Basic Install??.
Incidentally, Windows ME and Windows XP Home Edition are lacking in support for ASP scripts. But we??re willing to bet the forthcoming Windows Vista probably does.
For those webmasters on a PC that isn??t Windows-based, all hope is not lost. Sun Microsystems has developed a program called Chili!Soft ASP that allows other servers -- such as Red Hat, Apache, and Secure Server -- and other operating systems -- such as Linux, Solaris, and AIX -- to support ASP hosting.
Writing and using ASP scripts is easy too -- at least it??s no harder than HTML, with all commands occurring between ??;?? instead of ????. Not so big a difference, is there? And you can find an abundance of software tools all over the web (many for free) that helps even the greenest novice create interactive web pages rife with ASP.
ASP is such a versatile language that more and more hosting companies are finding themselves compelled to add ASP support to their hosting packages just to remain competitive. This, of course, is only to your advantage as you can comparison shop around for the best ASP hosting offerings right alongside all the other features you??re looking for.
Hosting-Review.com is the premier resource on web hosting. Visit http://www.hosting-review.com for comprehensive reviews and rankings of over 50 web hosts, as well as informative hosting articles.

By : Sage Kalmus

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net

Keyword : Web hosting , asp

ASP Web Hosting

In any ASP Web Hosting plan, some standard features are provided depending on the type you opt for. You can compare the features that are provided for the different plans offered. Email, databases and other technological features have to be carefully scrutinized before you choose a plan.
An ASP Web hosting will provide you with a limited number of email accounts for the starter plans. For enterprise plans, you may get unlimited email accounts. The space allotted for your emails plays an important role in the amount of emails that you can retain in your server. If this is less space then expected, you have to use an email client that can download your emails from the server periodically.
A WebMail feature is provided by most of the ASP web hosts that enables you to check your email online using your browser. You can check the email forwarding, email aliasesand email auto response features. A ??catch all e-mail?? feature is also provided by many ASP web host providers. Nowadays, with an increase in spam mail, you have to look for anti-spam filtering feature in your ASP Web Hosting plan. Anti-Virus protection is also one that cannot be neglected.
If you need your web application to have databases, so that you can create dynamic database driven websites, then you have to look for the type of database that is supported by ASP web hosting. By default, all the ASP web hosting providers give support to MS Access database. If you need a more robust database like the MS SQL Server, then you may have to pay an additional fee for that feature. You can ask for an Enterprise Manager or a Web-Based SQL Manager to manage the database on your own. mySQL is another commonly available free database that is used for web applications. For an ASP Web Hosting with a database, you can also look for ADO/ADO.Net, OLEDB, MDAC2.8, and ODBC.Net support.
ASP Hosting provides detailed information on ASP Hosting, Cheap ASP Hosting, Free ASP Hosting, ASP Web Hosting and more. ASP Hosting is affiliated with Web Server Hosting.

By : Kristy Annely

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net

Keyword : ASP Hosting, Cheap ASP Hosting, Free ASP Hosting, ASP Web Hosting

Back To School Web Hosting

Every year as school starts web hosts see an up tick in orders as entrepreneurs and stay at home parents have more free time and the vacation summer season winds down to the shorter days of winter. Many hosting companies plan special fall campaigns designed for these small business startups. But lately there has been another wave around this time of year and it comes as specialized hosting packages for students and parents. Increasingly we are seeing websites for bloggers, online photos, resumes, family forums, podcasting, and web cams. This variety of new technologies has spawned a larger need for web hosting. Someone has to host all of this content and information. And in some cases like web cameras, photos, and podcasting the hosting needs are pretty large.
Seniors and juniors in college are using simple resume websites with ??their name??.name to help promote their skills and give potential employees a place to research them. These websites can give a lot more information and if designed well are a tribute to the professionalism you are trying to portray. This is an easy thing to use on job hunting websites and to include in your email signature. You can usually find a website like this for around $40/year with tools to help you easily create it.
Blogs, blogs, blogs. This is certainly one that we here about all of the time. But students, teachers, and even parents love to blog about their education experience from college down to elementary school. Blog websites have become extremely easy to setup and many very full featured ones are free! These websites give anyone a forum to express their views and experiences, and education seems to be a topic people love to talk about.
The next buzzword after blogging is Podcasting. This is the art of taking a blog to the spoken level. People can record whatever they want and upload it to a pod casting website for the whole world to hear. It is very popular for people to create virtual tours of museums and universities for people to download and walk around with in their ipod. Or it can simply be a recording of your personal views for the whole world to hear.
What do parents who like to see their child??s classroom and voyeuristic college kids have in common? Web cams. Another step up from blogging and podcasting your thoughts and voice, is actually filming yourself. Web cams are finding their way in to all sorts of places and the back to school season seems to spur an extra boost. Web cams are being used by schools to allow parents to view their child, they are being used around campuses and neighborhoods for security, and also by parents and children separated by distance to see each other.
Another smaller type of website that we have even heard of is Family forum boards. As a family gets spread out with multiple kids in multiple colleges across the country, a forum board offers a convenient way for everyone to communicate on their own time and keep up with all of the conversations of the family. Most hosting companies offer free forum boards with their hosting plans and these are very easy to install and setup. If you look for a web hosting company with an auto-installer script, such as Fantastico, you will be amazed at how easy it is to get started.
The final type of back to school website are online photo albums. With the proliferation of digital cameras people are now turning to online photo albums as a place to store their family treasures. This also allows your far away college student to post pictures of his dorm room for the extended family to see as well as for the family to post pictures of the good times they are having. A picture is worth a thousand words. There has been the creation of web hosting companies specifically designed for this task. This is called Image hosting. Type ??image web hosting?? into any major search engine and you will find all of the companies you need to choose from. Also, most web hosting offer free online photo album scripts that you can install. And as mentioned previously, if they advertise an auto installer like Fantastico, then the install and setup is done for you.
The fall months historically offer increased web hosting demand, but with the advent of recent technology trends we are now seeing an increased demand in specialty hosting during the fall that caters to students, parents, and friends. These are just 6 specialty hosting needs but I??m sure there are other ways people are using the internet to enhance their educational experience and reduce the distant that it sometimes puts between family and friends.
About the Author: Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including HostChart.com, ResellerConnection.com, FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.

By : Rodney Ringler

http://www.flight-hotel-travel.com

http://www.SuperSubmit.net

Keyword : web hosting , website deisgn

90s Web Design: A Nostalgic Look Back

Remember the days when every PC was beige, every website had a little Netscape icon on the homepage, Geocities and Tripod hosted just about every single personal homepage, and "Google" was just a funny-sounding word?
The mid-late 1990s were the playful childhood of the worldwide web, a time of great expectations for the future and pretty low standards for the present. Those were the days when doing a web search meant poring through several pages of listings rather than glancing at the first three results--but at least relatively few of those websites were unabashedly profit-driven.
Hallmarks of 1990s Web Design
Of course, when someone says that a website looks like it came from 1996, it's no compliment. You start to imagine loud background images, and little "email me" mailboxes with letters going in and out in an endless loop. Amateurish, silly, unprofessional, conceited, and unusable are all adjectives that pretty well describe how most websites were made just ten years ago.
Why were websites so bad back then?
Knowledge. Few people knew how to build a good
website back then, before authorities like Jakob Nielsen starting evangelizing
their studies of web user behavior.
Difficulty. In those days, there weren't
abundant software and templates that could produce a visually pleasing,
easy-to-use website in 10 minutes. Instead, you either hand-coded your
site in Notepad or used FrontPage.
Giddiness. When a new toy came out, whether
it was JavaScript, Java, Frames, animated Gifs, or Flash, it was simply
crammed into an already overstuffed toy box of a website, regardless of
whether it served any purpose.
Browsing through the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine, it's hard not to feel a twinge of nostalgia for a simpler time when we were all beginners at this. Still, one of the best reasons for looking at 90s website design is to avoid repeating history's web design mistakes. This would be a useful exercise for the tragic number of today's personal homepages and even small business websites that are accidentally retro.
Splash Pages
Sometime around 1998, websites all over the internet discovered Flash, the software that allowed for easy animation of images on a website. Suddenly you could no longer visit half the pages on the web without sitting through at least thirty seconds of a logo revolving, glinting, sliding, or bouncing across the screen.
Flash "splash pages," as these opening animations were called, became the internet's version of vacation pictures. Everyone loved to display Flash on their site, and everyone hated to have to sit through someone else's Flash presentation.
Of all the thousands of splash pages made in the 1990s and the few still made today, hardly any ever communicated any useful information or provided any entertainment. They were monuments to the egos of the websites' owners. Still, today, when so many business website owners are working so hard to wring every last bit of effectiveness out of their sites, it's almost charming to think of a business owner actually putting ego well ahead of the profit to have been derived from all the visitors who hit the "back" button rather than sit through an animated logo.
Text Troubles
"Welcome
to??" Every single website homepage in 1996 had to have the word
"welcome" somewhere, often in the largest headline. After all, isn't
saying "welcome" more vital than saying what the web page is all about in the
first place?
Background images. Remember all those people who had their kids'
pictures tiled in the background of every page? Remember how much fun it
was trying to guess what the words were in the sections where the font color
and the color of the image were the same?
Dark background, light text. My favorite was orange font on purple
background, though the ubiquitous yellow white text on blue, green or red was
nice, too. Of course, anyone who will make their text harder to read
with a silly gimmick is just paying you the courtesy of letting you know they
couldn't possibly have written anything worth reading.
Entire paragraphs of text centered. After all, haven't millennia of
flush-left margins just made our eyes lazy?
"This Site Is Best Viewed in Netscape 4.666, 1,000x3300 resolution."
It was always so cute when site owners actually imagined anyone but their
mothers would care enough to change their browser set up to look at some
random person's website.
All-image no-text publishing. Some of the worst websites would
actually do the world the service of putting all their text in image format so
that no search engine would ever find them. What sacrifice!
Hyperactive Pages TV-envy was a common psychological malady in 1990s web design. Since streaming video and even Flash were still in their infancy, web designers settled for simply making the elements on their pages move like Mexican jumping beans.
Animated Gifs In 1996, just before the dawn of Flash, animated gifs were in full swing, dancing, sliding, and scrolling their way across the retinas of web surfers trying to read the text on the page.
Scrolling Text Just in case you were having a too easy time tuning out all the dancing graphics on the page, an ambitious mid-1990s web designer had a simple but powerful trick for giving you a headache: scrolling text. Through the magic of JavaScript, website owners could achieve the perfect combination of too fast to read comfortably and too slow to read quickly.
For a while, a business owner could even separate the serious from the wannabe prospects based just on how (un)professional their business websites looked. Sadly, the development of template-based website authoring software means that even someone with no taste or sense whatsoever can make websites that look as good as the most biggest-budget design of five years ago.
Of course, there are still some websites whose owners seem to be trying to spark a resurgence in animated gifs, background images, and ugly text. 'll just have to trust that everyone is laughing with them, not at them.
About the author: If you want to avoid these mistakes in your website Joel Walsh recommends you check out this website authoring software : http://www.ezgenerator.com/documents/167.html

By : Joel Walsh

7 Simple Websites Changes To Double Your Client Base Online

So you want make an impact online? You??ve created a website and it??s beautifully designed. You??ve written a sales letter. You have Pay-Per-Click ads and lots of traffic, but no business is coming in. Why? Maybe your website doesn??t work. Could it be missing that personal touch? A website can be a very impersonal experience. Can you brand your website to give your user a more personal experience?
Let??s go shopping for a minute. Imagine entering a store that has no salesperson. No one greets you at the door. No one acknowledges your presence. No one answers your questions. No one seems to care that you have come to visit. If you have a question who do you ask? You will probably leave to find someone who does care and can answer your questions.
Does your website provide the best customer experience possible? I like to think of the website like a salesperson. The components of your website represents you when you are not there. What does your salesperson/website look like? What does your salesperson/website say? Is your salesperson enthusiastic or boring? Compassionate or Firm? It is important to build a website for your targeted audience. What does your targeted audience want to hear? Start thinking like your customer.
I have put together some questions to help you start thinking about your website??s components that may need to be changed or modified.
1. Does your website have a crystal clear vision of who you are?
2. Have you included photos that give your targeted customer more visual information? A personal picture is a great idea, but maybe you own a large yoga studio. Adding some studio pictures would bring warmth to the website.
3. Is information about your background included?
4. Do you have testimonials with valuable messages? Add testimonials with energy. Everyone loves to read rags to riches stories.
5. Do you want your audience to HEAR your message? Have you thought about adding audio to your website? Why not explain your service to them. Save them the time of reading a long message.
6. Have you included an email address opt-in form box? Most web visitors aren??t ready to buy, they are just gathering information. Give them what they want. Inform your visitor with articles and give them the opportunity to receive email newsletters or ezines from you.
7. What does your site REALLY say? The copy on your website is extremely important. It should be clear, concise and to the point. You may want to consider using an informal, you-are-my-best-friend tone. I try to picture one person and write to that person.
-- Jen
After spending over 13 years in Internet Marketing, Advertising, and Web Development, I left my corporate career to teach others how to build and brand their internet business. My development and internet marketing expertise has been utilized at Dell Computers, Siemens Medical and Emerson Process Management.
Learn more about me on my website at: ibrandweb.com

By : Jeneth Blackert

Can You Make Money Selling Web Hosting?

There is a new fad in the web hosting market. Reseller hosting. Where individuals like you and I can become web hosts (sell web hosting) without having to buy all the infrastructure and do-hickeys that go along with setting up such a business.
Becoming a web hosting reseller for a web hosting company is becoming a very profitable past time for a lot of Internet marketers. Being able to earn a monthly on going income selling a service every webmaster needs with out huge setup costs is a hard business model to ignore.
So what exactly is reseller hosting and how can you get started?
Reseller hosting allows you to sell a web hosting companies services as your own. This is called private labelling. Basically they offer you a discount rate on their web hosting services and you sell it off as your own at any price you want.
Reseller hosting can start for as little as $20 a month. That means you can have a full featured web hosting business without any major start up costs.
The great thing about some companies offering reseller web hosting is that they do all the technical work for you as well. They provide around the clock support for you, they manage your servers and they can even bill your customers for you, so all you have to sell is focus on selling their products.
There is more to it but you can find out more about a web hosting companies reseller program by asking them directly. In this article, I want to focus on how to make money by selling web hosting.
So how can you make money selling web hosting? Here are my favorite methods.
#1 - Create And Sell Businesses On Ebay
This is my favorite method of generating sales for my web hosting services. In a nut shell, what I do is I create turnkey businesses (businesses built just to be resold to other people) on Ebay and charge people a flat monthly fee to host the site they just brought on my web hosting service.
If you go to Ebay and have a look in the website/businesses for sale section, you will see people doing just this. It might look strange seeing a website sell for a few dollars. I never use to understand exactly how they made any money, then I realized, they were not making money from the sale of the business, but on the back end. They would create good clean website site, sell it on Ebay for a few dollars and then charge the buyer to host this site on their hosting service.
This is perfectly legal, as long as you tell them up front that they must continue to host their website on your web hosting services for a certain period of time.
You could easily sell 100 small websites a week on Ebay. On average, you could sell hosting for $10 a month. So every week, you could be making $1000 a week. But that's not the best thing, since web hosting is paid monthly, you get paid monthly for as long as they stay with your web hosting service. This is as close as a steady pay check as you are going to get with Internet marketing.
You get paid every month whether or not you actually even work.
#2 - Become A Dedicated Hosting Service Just For Blogs
Blogging is hot right now. Very hot. There are an estimated 40,000 new blogs started every day. EVERY DAY. Can you imagine that? Sure, most of them are hosted for free, but there are a lot of blogs and bloggers who want the control of having a domain name and their own web hosting for their blogs.
The great thing about blogs is that they take up very little disk space and transfer (bandwidth) allowance. You can host many, many blogs with very little resources and you can charge a good price for your services.
Another great thing about blogs and bloggers is that most successful bloggers have more then one blog. This is great because blogs take very little technical assistance on your part which means you can grow your business quicker and have more paying customers without the need for costly and time sapping technical support.
So how can you market your blogging web hosting service? Good question! Here's an even better answer.
Forums! And not just forums about blogging. Any forum, any topic could be perfect for a blog, and there are a lot of people in forums looking for a way to express their interest in their hobby or passion.
You could easily position yourself as the service to go to for niche blogs. You could target forums that talk about any subject. Fishing, gardening, dog training, pie eating, you name it.
Posting in forums with helpful answers will no doubt bring you a lot of qualified business. Just make sure you answer with helpful posts and not just blatant plugs for your business.
The way to really make an impact with this type of service is to offer something no one else is doing. Maybe you could get an ebook written about the secrets to niche blogging and give that away with every hosting sale, or maybe you could give away free unique content that they could use every month on their blogs when they sign up for 6 or 12 months of hosting.
There are many ways to make money reselling hosting, and as you can tell, it is quite the lucrative business model.
To your success.
Bedrich Omacka is responsible for maintaining web hosting reviews site which is full of customers experience with big web hosts.

By : Bedrich Omacka

Can You Pay Too Much for Web Hosting?

Your web hosting plan is based on several components: disk space, traffic, number of email boxes, and other services. Why pay for more than you need? If you ever need more, you can upgrade to the next web hosting plan.
The question is, what level of these do you really need for your website?
DISK SPACE:
If you have the files for your website on your hard disk, use Windows Explorer Folder Listing to look at the folder(s) containing the files. You may need to do this for several folders to include all the website files, and add up the totals for each folder. (You can also do this at the MSDOS prompt). If you don't have a copy of your website on your hard disk, then you can either download it all with you browser (File - Save as...), or use an FTP program to view the files and folders on the remote server.
TRAFFIC:
This the volume in kilobytes of your files that are being downloaded to visitors screens. If your website is live, then your host can provide summaries through traffic analysers like Webalizer or AWStats to show how many kilobytes of traffic your site has. But if you are not yet at that stage, once you know the total size of your files, you can estimate your monthly traffic by multiplying that size by the expected number of visits per month. This can be a little complex, because all visitors may not look at all files on your site.
Small websites:
Say you get 1,000 visitors per month (33 per day) looking at web files totalling 300 Kb. That equals 300 Megabytes (300,000 Kb) of traffic per month. What could make up 300 Kb of files? Well, an A4 page of text can take 6Kb. Adding a picture averaging say 50Kb on each page makes 56Kb per page, multiply by 5 pages equals 280 Kb. Add 20Kb for some javascript and style sheets and you have 300 Kb for 5 pages. If 1,000 visitors looked at 300 Kb of web pages your traffic is still only 300 Mb per month.
Larger websites:
Our own website averaged 17,000 visitors per month over the last 6 months, but the traffic averaged only 1,075 Mb per month for that period. That is because most of our 120 web pages are text only with no graphics. The header for each page has graphics but these load only once per visitor, not for each page opened.
HOW TO OPTIMIZE FILE SIZES:
HTML text files are very small, although we have seen files created in MS Office programs four times the size they need be.
Image files can be large in terms of kilobytes. Check their size in Windows Explorer. Our image files average less than 50 KB. If yours are larger than 100 Kb then try optimizing them by compressing with a graphics program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
Website with a large number of images optimize for traffic by displaying thumbnail files which click through to the full sized image file. Then only the image required to be viewed in full will add to the traffic.
A 150 Kb image viewed by 1,000 visitors adds 150 Mg to your traffic. Compress it to 50 Kb and you save 100 Mb traffic.
ONLY A VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE of our clients need more than 100 Mb of disk space for their websites, but most need more than 1,000 Mb allowance for traffic, due to graphics, sound, video or flash animations. If you don't need the traffic or disk space allowances of your current web hosting plan, you could save money by shopping around for another plan.
Ken McKay is an Australian web designer. More information on web design and web hosting for small business is available at platypus websites - http://www.platywebs.com.au

By : Ken McKay

20-Point Checklist on Web Hosting

When we begin our journey in the ecommerce world, it is easy to fall into traps by simply overlooking most important checklists in our decision making in regards to web hosting. It is easy just to consider the disk space provided when selecting hosting company and other less important features which we do not need in the beginning. All plans look impressive but do we really need those features on offer? It is best to consider the following factors when deciding on your web hosting packages:
1. Established Host
You would not want to get involve with someone not long enough in the business to host your ecommerce or simple personal website. What is more if you are running a full fledge ecommerce with lots of data to back up your operation. Time is of the essence in selecting your host. The longer a host has been around, the more likely the better it would be. You would not want to go down along with the host that also goes down. To sort things out will get real messy.
2. Reliability
This is an important checklist you ought to consider. Reliability is one the most important checklist as one would not want to engage a fly-by-night hosting company. Check the length of time on their response to your email enquiry. It is important to enjoy both after sales and technical services. Some big names with substantial customer base and length of operation may get complacent and not able to provide reliable services while small new companies will try their best to impress. You need to make your own judgment.
3. Space
You need to decide on your disk space requirement. However, a better planning for future expansion is also important so that you need not come back to the hosting company and being charge unreasonably. There is a saying, once hooked, forever hooked even if you do not like it.
4. After-Sales and Technical Supports
You never know what you need after the sales or even after the web is up and running. You like to feel comfortable that after sales and technical support are there, when needed. Time take in responding to email enquiry is a simple indication of the level of services the hosting companies are providing.
5. Up-Time
Most hosting companies offer a 99% uptime. You should select the one offers nothing lees than 99% uptime.
6. Recovery Time
Determine how fast the hosting company recovers from a downtime. Do they have back up procedures? What kind of UPS they use? Where are they located? Are they near any disaster prone area? These are the questions you need answers.
7. Bandwidth
Do not overlook bandwidth limit. Excess bandwidth uses accompanied by excess bill. Do not go over the allocated bandwidth; plan what you want to put in your site. Higher pixel images definitely utilize higher bandwidth.
8. CGI Bin
CGI is used to install scripts and programs; CGI comes standard with any hosting packages.
9. Perl
You must have Perl to run Perl Programs. Paid or free scripts are mostly written in Perl. Make sure you get the latest version or get to upgrade from time to time.
10. SSL
This is the most important criteria to consider especially when you are planning for a ecommerce. Make sure the SSL is included in your hosting packages. You may use third party credit card processor but the provider may not operate in some countries. It is also limited to electronic products only, not physical products.
11. SSI
Server Side Includes is used to minimize time in updating your site. You can edit you page or link section you want to amend without amending all the pages.
12. MySQL
Some scripts and programs require a MySQL database to run. Make sure the charges are not exorbitant and it normally comes with the hosting packages.
13. PHP
Many new scripts and programs require PHP support, and this feature is almost standard for all hosting packages.
14. Domain
You should be able to point your own domain name to the site. Other feature is to make sure you can control you domain because you may not stick with the same hosting companies but your domain remains yours.
15. FTP
Definitely you need a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer file or make change to your web pages and uploading. You must be given unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site.
16. Control Panel
Main feature of hosting is availability of control panel. The level of use ranges from friendly to difficult. Choose the one that suit your technical capability and budget.
17. Statistics
For adjustments on your marketing programs you need a good statistic program. Excellent statistical program enables you to monitor visitors, collect email, and so on so forth to fine tune your marketing programs. Get advanced statistical program from third party if the hosting is not able to provide one, provided the program can be installed.
18. Site Development Software
If you are not a webmaster, or a programmer it is best you consider package with software offered to build you site. Some hosting companies provided this free while other charge a fee.
19. Slow down and take time
Some hosting packages may look excellent but if one feature that is required according to your needs is not offered, then the package may not meet your requirements. Take your time to compare all the features that are on offer. What is good for someone may not be acceptable for you. The important thing is what is your criteria and can the hosting company meets your needs?
20. Last big Step
The following table lists some of the criteria that are normally offered by web hosting company. Do not be alarmed by the long list. As it was mentioned, some features may not be required when you start and it is good to know that those features are offered. You are always ready when the time is up for expansion. At the end of the day, what is important is the hosting that meets your budget and your expectations.
Pricing & Setup (Choose your billing cycle) Setup Fee N/A Option 1: Pay Monthly 34.95 USD (e.g) Unconditional Money Back Guarantee 30 Days Setup Time 30 Seconds Quota Allotment Summary Disk Usage 5000 MB Summary Traffic 150 GB Default Disk Space Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 5000 MB Domain Resources Multiple Domain Hosting 10 Domain Sub Domain 100 Sub Domain Third Level Domain 100 Third Level Domain Stopgap Domain 100 Stopgap Domain Domain Alias 100 Domain Alias Parked Domain (DNS Hosting) 10 Domain Parked Mail Domain Alias 10 Mail Domain Alias Web Services & Tools CGI with Custom Mapping Free Own CGI-Bin Directory Free MS Front Page Support Free ASP Free ASP Secured N/A NET Framework Free ASP.NET Free Server Side Includes (w/ custom file extension) N/A PHP with GD (Latest stable version) N/A Perl with GD (Latest stable version) Free Cold Fusion MX 6.1 Free Redirect URL 100 URL Custom Directory Indexes Free Pre-installed Commonly Used Components / DLL Free Custom DLL Components Free Server Side Image Map N/A PhpMyAdmin / PhpPgAdmin Free Web Shell (Advanced File Management Interface) N/A Password Protected Directories Free Site Studio Software (Best Selling Website Creation Tool, WYSIWYG plus tons of templates and features!) Free PHP BB 2 Forum Software Free Custom Error Document Free MS SQL Server Manager Free Transfer Log (Access Log) Free Referrer Log N/A Agent Log N/A Error Log N/A Webalizer Site Statistics Free Mail Services & Tools Web Mail Free Mailbox 1000 Mailbox Default Mailbox Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 10 MB Email Auto Responder 100 Auto Responder Catch All Email Address Free Mailbox Alias 100 Mailbox Alias Mail Forward 100 Mail Forward Mailing List 10 Mailing List Own SMTP Server Free IMAP Support Free Ecommerce Dedicated SSL Module Free Shared SSL Free OS Commerce Shopping Cart Free Databases MySql User 3 User MySql Database 3 Database Default MySql Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 50 MB MS SQL User 3 User MS SQL Database 3 Database Default MS SQL Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 100 MB PgSql User 3 User PgSql Database 3 Database Default PgSql Database Quota (Adjustable to suit your requirements at no cost) 50 MB Advance Features & Others Anonymous FTP Server 3 Server FTP Sub Account N/A Virtual FTP Server N/A ODBC Service Free Custom DNS Records Free Shell Access N/A Crontab N/A Dedicated IP Address 3 unit Daily Backup Free
The author, Abdul R Mohamad is the webmaster at http://www.webhostingplanners.com and http://www.alt88.com. He has many interests ranging from internet to software devlopment and entrepreneurial development both in the virtual and real world. This includes food and hardware retailing. A veteren of 22 years in oil and gas industry, he is now retired from the industry and concentrates on building his base on the net and off the net.
You may re-print this article or re-publish on the web site or ezine.

By : Abddul R Mohamad

7 Websites to Make you Think

We are constantly told to reflect on the changing nature of the web; as a web content creator I feel I should be updating my view of what makes a 'good website' about, say, ....hmmmm, every month. In reality, it's rare that I get a chance to do this, but I've had a recent excuse to do so and would like to share the results with you.
I was lucky enough to get hold of a transcript of a talk by Lauren Parker (curator of contemporary programmes at the V&A). Coupling this with thoughts raised by the recent D&AD awards and Alexa Web Search's list of most visited websites, here is my idea of seven websites to make you think.
1) Myspace seems a good place to start. In the vanguard of 'Web 2.0', it's a website that has massive awareness with a core demographic and a fanatical fanbase - but also many critics for its often lurid design and lack of accessibility.
The thing to really make you think is: What if all of the web was like this? Surely, however, it won't ever be, AS the ConStanT jumping between page styles is just toO Bruising. Myspace is the best possible raison d'etre for web developers, and (like most innovators) myspace will find the market tough over the next few years.
2) On the subject of huge customer loyalty (which myspace certainly has) it's worth mentioning 'avatar' websites - by which I mean gaming sites where players adopt online characters which interact in an online world. World of Warcraft is the most popular and an interesting concept: It immerses users in a virtual world and reminds me of the early predictions (like William Gibson and 'The Lawnmower Man') of how the web would turn out.
3) I won't dwell on the networking side of the web, but will now look at a contrasting emerging trend: online magazines. It's worth having a look at thisisamagazine.com. Although the page style is almost as 'in your face' as in myspace, this is a feature of deliberate design and there is at least a constancy of function and design through the website.
Magazine type sites (see also F magazine) are an emerging trend due to the penetration of broadband and the increasing sophistication of Macromedia Flash (which is making great strides in accessibility). They are challenging the notion that quality, thought provoking content and great design are only the realm of the printed press. In my opinion the sites I've seen don't quite do it. They still feel cramped and clunky in comparison to an actual magazine.
4) Despite the confines of the computer screen some websites are taking an innovative approach to use of space. Leo Burnett Canada recently won a D&AD design award ("the black pencil") for their website. Once immersed in this insteractive space, perceptions of how a website works (and should work) are altered: the pointer is now a pencil, the site reveals itself by zooming in and around giant cursive letters playfully, rather than through conventional navigation. It's an unfettered and delightful vision.
5) Sites such as Leo Burnett are made possible through Macromedia's Flash technology, yet there are enough clunky flash sites out there to convince that this it should be used sparingly. The Design Museum website is a confusing mishmash of HTML and Flash. Users are expected to express which rendering they prefer when first entering the site, but the options bear little relation to the journey that follows. If even this venerable institution can get it so wrong, perhaps it???s safer and better with HTML , XML and php (at least for the moment).
6) Speaking of simplicity, a visit to craigslist.org is a real step back in time. It's the web as first perceived by geeky scientists, a graphics-free information exchange portal.
7) I'd like to end with my personal favourite website: The Arts Council website. Wholly accessible, packed full of useful information and unassuming with its branding. It would be a mistake to think this website is simply offering information. It's actually selling an idea and a brand throughout, but doing it a respectfully low level. I for one would love to see an Amazon or an eBay realised in this style.
This article is by Rishi Coupland. Please leave any comments on www.humblemasterpiece.com
Rishi Coupland develops content for websites in the UK. Read more at http://www.humblemasterpiece.com

8 Important Elements for Small Business Web Sites Design

Key visitors to your commercial pages include web robots that crawl the internet and catalog your content. Having proper HTML source code, plus the right combination of text and graphic presentation, is just one secret to success. Proper code may mean higher robot ratings, and the "look" is equally important. Once a new prospect finds your web site, you have 5 seconds to get them to stay.
As a small business web site owner, you may have asked "Why don't we get any hits?". Did you know web pages can load and appear correct with improper or deprecated HTML code? A browser may ignore your mistakes, and display what it thinks you meant, and it may look great. Web robots may not be as forgiving.
Following is a list of 8 basic elements for good search engine placement that need to be considered in your design and web site promotion. For details on code issues from the worldwide authority, visit the World Wide Web Consortium to view DOCTYPE and other quality standards.
1. DOCTYPE Statement2. Page Title3. Proper HTML Code4. META Description5. META Key Words6. First Paragraph of the Home Page7. An Extra Page of Just LINKS8. Backlinks (Links to your pages)
These 8 key items are either missing or poorly designed in 85% of all web sites. Some search engines may only list the other 15% in their directories. In other words, as few as 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it into some search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being blacklisted, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it's corrected. This could explain why you "never get any hits".
Web sites can be simple and professional without using fancy software to create your pages. Veteran programmers hand code and many create the HTML in NotePad. Web authors who choose to use flash, frames, or the latest software may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because the visitor may lack the technology or newest version of browsers. If they are turned off and leave without giving your site a fair viewing, it could mean lost profits.
Most designers use prepackaged software to create web pages. If the software leaves out any of the key elements, the code is hidden, and you'll never know your site was not optimized for search engines. The designer may not know, or care, about these items as long as the page looks attractive. Note: Search engine algorithms vary by company, so some elements such as "an extra page of links" may not be as important today with some search robots. Backlinks refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.
Finally, business visitors want information. They do not visit your home page to be entertained. Most have a need (problem) and want a fast answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video unless that's your core business. Anything that distracts from a positive first impression may violate my "5 Second Rule".
Jim Degerstrom offers custom web site design at http://www.jimdegerstrom.com with 100+ examples of custom artwork for marketing in print or online, plus a 5-star directory of 200,000 truly free stock photos.

By : Jim Degerstrom

8 Tips for Designing a Great Website

Square buttons, round buttons, flashy buttons ?? will they match my shoes, my handbag or my tie? Are you stuck in a maze of buttons, headings, bullets, sub-headings and colour schemes?
STOP!!!!
Take a deep breath and read some practical tips for professional looking websites.
1. Select a colour scheme and stick to it.
If your company has a logo or preferred colours on its stationery that??s a good start. For those of you starting from scratch, choose two or three complementary colours and stick with them ?? don??t change colours on every page.
The most common colour schemes include:
Red, yellow and white
Blue and white
Red, grey and white
Blue, orange and white
Yellow, grey and white.
If you??re not sure what colour scheme to choose, surf the internet and find a website that you like. You can then model your colour scheme on what already exists.
2. Use templates.
Can??t find a website you really like? Another option is to choose a template. There are many templates or pre-set designs. These come as part of your web design software (such as FrontPage) or you can check out some websites that specialise in designing templates.
Visit:
www.web4business.com.au/templates1.htm
www.newtemps.com
www.website-templates-resale-rights.com
www.123webtemplatesandmore.com
3. Provide an easy to use navigation system.
This is one of the most important issues to consider when designing a website. You need to ensure your visitors can find what they are looking for easily. Most websites either display their navigation bar on the left or at the top. And since most people are used to this type of navigation, it??s best to stick with it.
It also helps to include your navigation bar at the bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top.
4. Don??t go overboard on special effects
Whilst it is ok to have one or two special effects to jazz up your website, spinning graphics and logos often distract your visitor from the content, not to mention they can take too long to download. Your visitors may click away even before your spinning logo finishes loading.
5. Backgrounds
Ensure your visitors can read the text on the background, ie. no black writing on dark blue background or yellow on white. Also be careful that your links are visible before and after being visited. The default for links in most programs is blue (before being visited) and burgundy (after being visited), so if you have a dark background, ensure your links are light.
6. External Links
It is a good idea to open links to other websites in a new window. That way your visitors can easily return to your site when they are finished browsing the external link
7. Site Map & Search Feature
If you website is more than 15 pages, it is useful to have a site map or a ??Search?? feature to ensure your visitors can easily find what they??re looking for.
8. Content is King
While it is important that your website looks clean and professional, it is far more important that you concentrate your efforts on the content and promotion.
If you want a professional website, things to stay away from include:
Flash intros, revolving globes, bevelled line separators, animated mail boxes
Loads of pop up or pop under boxes
Autoplay music. Allow your customer to play music only if they choose.
Hit counters of the free variety, which say ??you are 27th visitor??
Date and time stamps, unless your website is updated daily or weekly
Busy backgrounds.
Don??t sweat the small stuff and get yourself focussed on what to include on the website and the best way to promote it. We will cover these topics in future articles.
Copyright 2004 Ivana Katz
About The Author
Ivana Katz is the owner of Websites 4 Small Business, a company specialising in the design and promotion of small and home-based business websites. She believes that every business deserves to have a successful website, no matter what its budget is. For more information visit www.web4business.com.au or email info@web4business.com.au

By : Ivana Katz

Canadian Web Hosting Resellers

Intermediaries or middlemen exist in every business; they act as liaisons between the manufacturer or service provider and the final customer. In most cases, they might not even own many assets that they handle. Middlemen make a profit in the transaction.
The Internet has the potential to eliminate intermediation by offering services directly to the customer; at the same time, it has spawned new types of intermediation services. Web hosting is one such service that has given rise to intermediaries called resellers. Resellers are third parties who buy space from web hosting companies and then resell the space to individuals and small and medium enterprises for a profit.
Generally, large web hosting companies sell multiple accounts. The buyers of multiple accounts may then sell the unutilized accounts to others. The resellers are usually website developers. Since the resellers operate from a parent host, it would be very difficult to identify a reseller. The reseller buys space at a discount and then marks it up, which makes a win-win situation for both reseller and the buyer.
In order to be a reseller, one needs to have multiple domains. As a third party, it is essential that, in addition to the domain account, the reseller needs to have full control over the administrative panel of the client??s websites. It enables the reseller to hide his or her identity as a reseller. The terms and conditions should be executed by the reseller and the buyer.
The advantages of dealing with a reseller is that they provide extra services like web and graphic design, search engine promotion, and managed services. As the resellers are familiar with the configurations, they may be able to provide more support for the client.
The reseller is ideally suited for those businesses operating from homes or individuals because the reseller has fewer clients than the parent; as such, the reseller may be able to provide better services. The businesses must take care to know the features available, and to be familiar with the maintenance and technical support before signing the terms and conditions. For instance, if the reseller doesn??t pay the fees to the parent, the websites will be shut down.
Canadian Web Hosting provides detailed information on Canadian Web Hosting, Cheap Canadian Web Hosting, Canadian E Commerce Web Hosting, Canadian Web Hosting Resellers and more. Canadian Web Hosting is affiliated with Dedicated Internet Hosting.

By : Jason Gluckman

Care For Some Cheap Web Hosting?

No, ??cheap?? is not necessarily a bad thing (well, not always), but when it comes to a services industry as competitive and with as thin margins as the web hosting industry, customers better watch out. Hosts offering ??low-cost?? services tend to offer the world for Rs. 900 per year but, usually fail to deliver even the most basic of services. Surprised? I??m not. Let me explain some basics for the benefit of the vast majority who would still be unsure as to what I??m rambling about.
A ??web host?? is a company (well, most like to think of themselves as such but that??s a whole new article) that is in the business of procuring bandwidth (internet connectivity) and servers (glorified computers) with the intent to re-sell the same, in smaller bits, to people who need storage space for their e-mails and websites. This is usually (read always) accomplished by renting out dedicated servers with a decent hard drive and bandwidth quota and then using a hosting automation suite (control panel) to divide the server resources up into smaller chunks called ??hosting plans??. The goal is to price these plans in a way that they remain affordable for the client while helping the host maximize profit from the resources it has.
Now comes the fun part??
Since there are almost no barriers to entry in this particular industry, new web hosts keep popping up every day. This helps keep the price for hosting services sane and should also mean better service for the customers since there are many hosts competing for their business. What really happens is that one Johnny-come-lately decides that the only way he can grab some market-share is by offering the lowest prices. Once customers start quoting his price to the host struggling for their business, the host decides to match it. Before you know it, everyone has slashed their prices by half! This, in Pakistan, can be seen every 10 ?? 12 months.
??Good??, you say? Read on??
What does this mean for the web host? Suddenly, all their existing clients are paying them half of what they used to. This means that in the coming year, they would have to generate twice as much new business just to make the same amount as last year! Is this considered growth? I think not!
Sadly, the number of clients does not magically increase with every price shave. So, the web hosts are left with little choice other than to cut costs just to make ends meet. Where there were 3 support people, they decide to make do with just one. Where there were 2 servers earlier, they decide that they can load all of the clients onto just one server resulting in lower operating costs. These measures, needless to say, do have a positive impact on the host??s bottom-line but deteriorate the services resulting in un-answered support queries and long periods of downtime (website/email inaccessibility) or extremely slow server response due to excessive loads on the server.
Now, if the host were to put their existing clients first, they would price their service fairly so that every client not only feels good in his wallet, but can also rely on the service being offered. I guess, all it boils down to is; whether a web host is in this business to provide a top-notch service with a long-term business goal or is just there to make a quick while competing with all the fly-by-night hosts who happen to come along.
Recently, I have come across at least three such hosting companies that are now in financial peril because they could not resist the urge to slash prices in order to try and capture some new business. Sadly enough, these are not people who are ??new?? to the industry. Such an impact on the market is magnified 10 fold when an older host decides they would be better off by just slashing prices rather than improving on service. As a result, the younger companies follow suit and create a mess for themselves and more importantly their clients. The ultimate outcome is that frustrated clients decide to switch to foreign web hosts that provide a better service at a saner price.
From experience, I have learnt that providing a good service is what really matters. The rest falls into place when clients realise that they can only run their online business if the service they get is of good quality. After all, you get what you pay for. What good is a cheap service when you will eventually stop getting any?
Zahid N. Sindhu is an editor at the Article Street. For quality content to place on your website and ezine, visit http://www.ArticleStreet.com.

By : Zahid Sindhu

CGI Web Hosting - 3 Essential Scripts for Your Business

If there??s one thing that people love it is a web site that has plenty of automated features. Sites that are highly interactive tend to get the most traffic and generate the most business for the companies that run them. Automated features can also play a ??behind the scenes?? role, making your site easier to use, run smoothly and allow for things like online sales and password protection.
There are many ways to get this type of automation into your site, but all involve either client side or server side scripting. Scripts are written in programming languages specially designed for the web, and there are several languages that are commonly used. Most client side scripts are written in Java which is still one of the best web programming languages around. Some functions of a web site must be completed via server side scripting, however, and the most commonly used languages for server side scripting are PHP, PERL, and CGI. PHP and PERL are newer languages and are gaining a lot of popularity, but there are still plenty of features that can be scripted in the granddaddy of web scripting languages, CGI.
Shopping Carts
No online sales site would be complete without a functioning shopping cart and most of the best ones have been written in CGI script. CGI web hosting is great for shopping cart scripts because it interfaces well with most databases, including the popular MYSQL and MS Access databases, it can be utilized on Windows, UNIX, LINUX, and MACOS servers with equal ease, and can be easily configured for sales tax and shipping cost calculations. Some newer shopping cart scripts are being written in PHP and PERL, but most of the functioning carts on the web are in good old CGI web hosting scripts.
Password Protection
Many web sites require some sort of registration and entry of a password for the user to access the site??s features. This is done for a number of reasons from simply a desire to track visitors for marketing purposes to allowing postings on message boards and ensuring that users have paid any required fees associated with use of the site. The automated registration process and user name/password issuance can be written with CGI scripts and many of them have been.
Form Managers
Have you ever wondered how the forms you fill out online are handled? In most cases, they??re handled by CGI web hosting. When a user fills in that form and hits the ??submit?? button, a CGI script takes over and sends the data in email or writes it to a database where it can be accessed later by the site??s administrators.
These are just a few of the uses for CGI scripts on today??s web sites. There are literally hundreds of others and if there??s something that can be done on a web site, it is something that can be done with CGI. PHP and PERL may be gaining a lot of popularity for various reasons, but CGI was with us first and it isn??t going anywhere. As long as there are web sites, CGI web hosting will remain king.
John Michaels is a freelance author for WebHostPacks.com where he regularly publishes articles on how to find a cheap web host and reviews of low cost web hosting services.

By : John Michaels

Changing to a New Host? No More Worries!

John's online business is expanding. His customers are increasing day by day. However, he feels very frustrated at the moment as he finds his website is 'down' about every 4th day. Whenever he calls up the support team of his web host, he gets the same old answer that his problem will be rectified soon. If the problems do persist it will surely hamper his business. He has been with his present hosting provider for the last year but now he feels he has to find a new web host as soon as possible because his present hosting package is also not able to meet up with his growing demands. This is not a one-off occurrence that has happened only to John, it happens with many people like him. Changing the web host might become a cumbersome task if John and other people like him don't know the correct procedure of doing it. So, let's have a look at the following easy and simple steps:
First of all, it's very important to have a backup of your website and everything related to it, like databases, scripts etc. It will be very helpful in case there is data loss because of any unforseen reason. Save at least 2 copies of everything and store them separately, so that you can work with one and the other one will function as a backup. You can take backup in various ways. One is by using software programs like a FTP program (e.g. Smart FTP http://www.smartftp.com/) for downloading data.
Now, the time is to look for a new web host that meets all your requirements and provides better technical services than your previous host. Since you have already been through the search procedure it won't take you much time to come across a reliable hosting company.
Once you have taken a new web-hosting plan and you are ready to upload your web pages, databases etc., check that you have received an IP number, FTP or FrontPage login, and password from your new hosting company. Now, upload all your files to the new server; you are just repeating the same procedure that you've done in the past when you uploaded your files for the very first time.
Only a few more steps more and you will be completely done. Before transferring your DNS servers over from your previous host to your new one, debug and test the new site from an individual IP number. Check that all the web pages exist, the links point to the right pages and that all your scripts are running. One important point which people always forget is their domain name expiration date. If you plan to move near the expiration date, it could cause you lots of problems. To be on the safe side, make sure that you have at least 3-4 weeks in hand before the domain name expires, or just renew it for another year.
To transfer domain name service to a new host identify registrar using "WHOis" lookup http://domreg-m6.net/domains/WHois.asp, verify registration of your domain name, identify the name server information for the host your are transferring to, and make changes in the DNS information at the registrar. During this DNS transition period new DNS information has to be propagated throughout the world's DNS servers. This propagation might take 2-4 days as an International root name server will firstly have to check all the various Domain registrars for updates, and then every ISP provider will update their DNS setting to show the new changes. Not only this, even Internet, i.e. Internet routers and caching engines have to update/clear its DNS cache as well. During this propagation period, you keep your old site running so that the visitors whose ISP provider haven't updated can still visit your website.
It's advisable that you don't cancel your old hosting service during the transition period, as you will need to check your mail from both the hosting providers, as some will direct e-mail to your old server whereas other Internet regions will send mail to your new server. After one or two weeks you can annul the account with your old host.
On the very first notion it sounds like a painful task to find a new web host and make all the necessary changes, but with the steps known, people like John will not find this procedure problematic. With so many automation software packages available, it has now become easier to switch over your web site from old host to new host. If both hosting providers have the same operation system platform, the procedure will become even simpler. But remember, the most important task in the whole host-changing scenario is to find a host that meets your requirements so that you don't have to go through this entire procedure again in the future.
Priyanka AgarwalHosting evangelist

By : Priyanka Agarwal