September 2009
Monthly Archive
Fri 25 Sep 2009
Making the Most of a Blog
Starting a blog is a great way to share any knowledge that you feel may benefit others, but in short you will find that a blog can also be used as a powerful form of marketing and promotion when used correctly and this is something which most people don’t realise, hence why it is important for you to make the most of a blog – whether you have one at the moment or not. When setting up a blog it is important for you to pay particular attention to the factors which could affect your search engine ranking, and this means making sure that you setup permalinks, attach tags to individual posts and that you have the relevant categories setup with your posts sorted into the appropriate ones. Part of making the most of the actual blog is actually the content if your posts since it is these which will be displayed on your blog and indexed by Google meaning that you may wish to post the appropriate backlinks in your posts to your main websites in order to make sure that your website gains maximum exposure through your blog.
For your blog to be as effective as possible you should also choose the right blogging platform for your needs as this can help to cut down the amount of work you need to do as some systems can assist you in other areas more than others; the most popular blogging application available is Wordpress and quite simply it is powerful yet easily expandable and very intuitive to use, and it’s built-in features allow you to setup a blog which is very much SEO friendly although it is recommended that you take a look at some of the plugins which are available for Wordpress to make the most of the blogging application when it comes to promotion through search engines. For a blog to be of any use to you it is important for you to post new content to it regularly to ensure that you build up a good number of returning visitors, but if a search engine can see that you are updating your site regularly then the likelihood is that you will receive a higher search engine ranking anyway; it is also important for you to be sure that the content which is being posted to your blog is of high quality which means spell-checking anything before posting it although this shouldn’t be too much of a task for most people.
(more…)
Tue 22 Sep 2009
cPanel Server Hosting
cPanel is one of the most popular web hosting control panels available and is offered by many web hosting providers with most of their Linux web hosting services, meaning that if you are after a reliable and secure Linux web hosting service then you should look out for a web hosting provider that is using cPanel. Similarly, when looking for a Linux server hosting service it is worth considering cPanel as your control panel of choice for your Linux server so that you are able to make it easier for yourself when it comes to managing your server, but there are also other features that come with cPanel as standard that it may be worth making use of; cPanel is available for most Linux server hosting services offered by most web hosting providers as an optional extra, and this can be beneficial to you as it means that you don’t have to use cPanel if you don’t wish to. cPanel server hosting services are the right way for you to go if you wish to start your own web hosting business offering Linux web hosting packages as you will be able to harness the full power of the server that you have purchased by hosting many web hosting accounts on it; as cPanel is able to offer both reseller/admin and client side access it means that you will be able to offer both shared hosting and reseller hosting packages to those who require them.
Making a profit out of offering your own cPanel hosting services using your own cPanel server can be pretty easy as depending on the specifications of your server you should be able to host many users on a single node, and although you need to consider the price of the server and the cPanel license most VPS servers and dedicated servers can be picked up for low prices and cPanel itself doesn’t cost an enormous amount each month. When it comes to choosing a cPanel server hosting service for your requirements it is important for you to choose a server that will be able to meet your needs for the long term, although you also need to make sure that the server which you choose comes with enough system resources to last; it is a good idea to note that cPanel only has basic system requirements, although if you plan on hosting many users on your cPanel server you will need to go for a higher specification server than what cPanel specifies to ensure that it remains stable.
(more…)
Sat 12 Sep 2009
Combatting Spam
Spam is a problem which is on the rise for both general users and businesses, but with the right tools it is pretty easy to combat spam and if you do receive spam email messages then the likelihood is that you are willing to do anything to stop them; as a web hosting user there are many measures that you can take on your half to help prevent spam email messages from reaching your email inbox. Spam email messages are sent out for a number of different reasons, although in most cases they are designed to lure money from the victim in one way or another; some spam emails will also contain viruses as file attachments which are then designed to infect the victim’s computer. The best known form of spam are fake ‘lottery’ emails which claim that you as the victim have won a large amount of money and require you to forward your personal details to an email address in order to claim your winnings; in most cases this personal information will include your bank account details and once the spammers have your details, they are more likely to steal money from you as you will never see your so called ‘winnings’ as they simply don’t exist.
If you have your own web hosting account and/or domain name then there are many more steps that you can take to combat spam than you would be able to if you were using a free email service such as Google Mail/GMail, Windows Live Mail or Yahoo email; i.e. most web hosting uk providers will allow you control panel access to your web hosting account which will allow you to setup specific email filtering rules alongside those that are specified by your web hosting provider so that you can weed the spam out from the genuine emails. When designing your website you can also take measures to ensure that any email addresses that you do need to publish publicly on your website can’t be harvested by bots looking for new email addresses to which spam can be sent; ideas would include concealing any email addresses as images since most spam bots aren’t able to read these, but the key thing to remember is that spam bots are becoming cleverer and a select few have been developed to be able to read email addresses that are concealed as images on web pages. In any case it is important to battle spam as you are going to get fed up of it after a while, but the main thing to remember is that you should never act on any email which has come out of the blue and seems too good to be true.
(more…)
Tue 8 Sep 2009
ASP Web Hosting
Classic ASP and ASP.NET are both popular scripting frameworks developed by Microsoft that are used by many web developers to create dynamic web applications for hosting on Windows web hosting servers, and it is mainly ASP based websites which keep the need for web hosting services alive as they won’t function correctly on any other web hosting platform. ASP based websites usually integrate with a database backend of some sort, and most web developers prefer to stick with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access databases if they are developing ASP websites as databases of both kind will integrate very well with ASP based websites but will only work on Windows web hosting servers. In order for you to be able to make the most of any classic ASP or ASP.NET based website you will need to host it in a Windows web hosting environment, since although there are modules and components available for Linux that claim to be able to offer support for classic ASP and ASP.NET based web pages, you will only experience the best levels of performance by using the web hosting environment that is designed specifically for the hosting of classic ASP and ASP.NET based websites. ASP web hosting services can be purchased from most web hosting providers although it is important to remember that Windows web hosting services may not be offered by all web hosting providers since they aren’t the most popular; it is important for you to make sure that you choose the right Windows web hosting service for your needs as there are several different forms of Windows web hosting on offer from most web hosting providers.
It is important for you to make sure that any web hosting package which you are considering for the hosting of classic ASP or ASP.NET web pages comes with native support for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access databases; most web hosting providers will allow you to host an unlimited number of Microsoft Access databases under your web hosting account as these can’t really be monitored, although you are normally limited with the number of Microsoft SQL Server databases that you are allowed to create. Although Windows web hosting services may be more expensive than Linux hosting services, you will find that you can only consider Windows web hosting services for your requirements which can cause problems for some; if you kow that you are going to be looking for a budget web hosting package then you will be better off considering another scripting language for your requirements.
(more…)
Sun 6 Sep 2009
Linux Web Hosting vs. Windows Web Hosting
When you come to purchase a web hosting package you will find that you have a choice of either Windows web hosting packages or Linux web hosting packages, primarily because these are the two main operating systems used by most web hosting providers as most consumers demand either one or the other for their web hosting services. Linux and Windows variants of the main forms of web hosting are available meaning that for example you should be able to purchase a Windows shared hosting package and a Linux VPS server from any web hosting provider without any problems. Most users have a preference of either Linux or Windows, and this preference is usually based on their requirements although the characteristics of each operating system can sometimes sway someone towards liking one over the other; although both operating systems are designed to run on most servers and have applications available for most purposes, their aims and target audiences are both very different. Linux is an open source operating system which helps to make Linux hosting services popular with consumers on a budget, and although Windows is a commercial operating system it still has a large audience when you consider the number of Windows web developers and application developers that there are.
Although some may argue that Linux hosting services and Windows hosting services can’t really be compared because they are both based on completely different operating system platforms, web hosting packages based on both platforms can still offer similar features albeit at different prices because of the individual factors which can affect the price of Linux and Windows hosting packages. Linux hosting services are available from most web hosting providers because they are the cheapest web hosting packages to setup, but if you are using a small web hosting provider then the likelihood is that they don’t offer Windows web hosting services; Windows web hosting services are generally reserved for the larger web hosting providers because of the costs that are involved in settings up Windows web hosting servers. When searching for a web hosting package that will suit your requirements it is important for you to be sure of which platform you want your web hosting service to be hosted on – Windows or Linux; your choice of web hosting platform can have a massive effect on your choice of web hosting package as your chosen platform can affect how much you pay for your web hosting package, the specifications of your web hosting package and what you are able to use it for.
(more…)
Sun 6 Sep 2009
Inexpensive Web Hosting
Web hosting doesn’t need to be a costly purchase, and if you do your research there are many inexpensive web hosting packages to be found that will still meet your requirements, but are low cost meaning that you will probably get better value for money then you think possible. Although you may initially be put off from using an inexpensive web hosting package because of the low price, as with anything if you choose the right web hosting provider for your web hosting services then an inexpensive web hosting package can probably be the best investment you’ve ever made, but if you choose the wrong web hosting provider then you are bound to run into problems. Most web hosting providers offer budget web hosting services as well as more expensive web hosting services for customers with more extensive requirements; it is their budget web hosting packages that tend to be the most inexpensive ones, but cheaper web hosting packages also tend to be the most popular as they allow people to test web hosting out without having to spend a large amount on their web hosting package. If you require shared hosting then this is where inexpensive web hosting packages are going to benefit you the most as most inexpensive web hosting services are indeed shared hosting packages, and although shared hosting packages can be picked up fairly cheaply as it is, saving that bit more money can still benefit you.
The one thing which concerns most people who are considering inexpensive web hosting services is the level of service that they are going to receive from their web hosting package; the main thing to remember is that cheap doesn’t always mean nasty, and if you purchase an inexpensive website hosting package from a reputable web hosting provider then you shouldn’t need to worry about reliability. When considering an inexpensive web hosting package it is more important for you to consider the resources that come with the web hosting package rather than the cost of the web hosting service; because of the cost of the web hosting package you shouldn’t come to expect too much in terms of resources with inexpensive web hosting packages but there is bound to be a web hosting provider that will either be able to offer you more resources for your money or an even cheaper web hosting package. Inexpensive web hosting only becomes inconvenient when your web hosting provider isn’t able to make a profit as this is when they will start overselling their web hosting services, and this will of course have an affect on the performance of the hosting server.
(more…)
Fri 4 Sep 2009
Web Hosting Provider
There are many web hosting providers available at your disposal who will be offering different web hosting services to meet the needs of those who may come to them looking for a web hosting package that will be able to suit their requirements. Web hosting providers are based around the world and it is recommended that you choose a web hosting provider that is based in the country that you reside in so that you won’t have to worry about support times or language barriers; however, as a business you may find that you require web hosting from a web hosting provider based in another country for location related reasons. Most web hosting providers will offer the standard set of web hosting services provided by most other web hosting companies including shared web hosting, reseller web hosting, VPS server hosting and dedicated server hosting packages, all of which will be available at different price points depending on the specifications of each individual web hosting package; if you have complex requirements for web hosting then you may wish to consider a specialised web hosting provider who will be able to provide you with a web hosting packages that has been tailored specifically to your requirements. When choosing a web hosting package that is suitable for your requirements you will also need to make a choice over which web hosting provider you are going to use for your web hosting services; if you have an existing web hosting package that you are happy with then you should either consider upgrading that hosting package or purchasing another web hosting service from the same web hosting provider, as if you are happy with the level of service offered by your existing web hosting provider you shouldn’t really need to change web hosting providers.
Choosing the right web hosting provider is important since you should be able to rely on your chosen web hosting provider to offer you a high level of customer service as well as reliable web hosting services; any web hosting provider which can’t promise either isn’t worth considering, and over time you will come to appreciate the importance of both factors. The pricing of the web hosting services offered by individual web hosting providers will differ from provider to provider and it is important to be aware of the fact that it’s not just the specifications of the actual web hosting package that can affect its price; other factors such as the level of support offered can affect how much you pay for a web hosting package.
(more…)
Thu 3 Sep 2009
Using a Domain Name
Domain names can be purchased from most web hosting providers as domain name registration is usually a service offered alongside standard web hosting packages as most web hosting providers try to benefit customers as much as possible by allowing them to purchase all their web hosting needs from one website hosting provider. Using a domain name is pretty straight forward if you know what you’re doing since all you will need to do is point your new domain name towards your web hosting package by changing your domain name’s name servers to the ones that you have been provided with by your web hosting provider, and from here you will then be able to make the most of your domain name by controlling it using your web hosting package. It isn’t just the setup of a domain name that can be associated to the use of it as your domain name is going to be used by your visitors to visit your website, and because of this it is important for you to take the domain name itself into consideration; this means that you should ensure that you choose the right domain name for your website, associating it with the purpose of your website or the content of your website.
Although domain names are advertised as being free with some web hosting packages, you need to be aware that if you wish to purchase a domain name on its own you will need to pay for it, and the price that you pay for a domain name will depend on several factors such as the TLD you are looking to purchase from as well as the web hosting provider or domain registration provider that you have chosen to use for this purpose. Using a domain name will help you to establish your presence on the web, regardless of whether you are an individual or business; it is important to have a domain name so that people are able to visit your website with ease as it is your domain name that your visitors will be typing into their web browser address bars in order to visit your website. It is important for you to choose the right TLD that is applicable to your website when ordering a domain name as this will help you out in local search engine listings; if your website is aimed at an international audience then you should consider an international TLD for your domain name, but if your website is aimed at a more local audience then you may wish to consider a country-specific TLD.
(more…)