All to often, online businesses forget about the vast opportunities available right at home in their local community. Never overlook this market!
Local Community Newspapers Chances are that your local newspaper has a “business directory” section where you can display a small business card sized ad at a very affordable rate. I’ve seen prices as low as $10 per week! This is a great way to promote your brand in your local area.
You may also want to create a special promotion only available to your local community. Advertise this promotion with a display ad and you’ll be delighted at the response. I’ve seen a quarter page display ad that costs under $200 generate over $1000 in new revenues!
You can also utilize classified advertising in your local newspaper for only pennies a day! Yes, people do read the classifieds. Make sure to add BOLD TEXT to your title to increase the visibility of your message.
Trade Shows Trade shows are one of the best ways to generate new business. To get a booth at a trade show or convention might cost anywhere from $100 to $1000. You will have the opportunity to personally promote your brand face to face to thousands of potential clients who are actually interested in your products or services. This kind of face to face contact is priceless!
Hold a Seminar It sounds strange but seminars are fantastic ways to promote your business and to promote the fact that you are a true professional with extensive knowledge in your line of business. Someone they can trust! Make sure that all of your marketing materials promote your brand at every chance. Plus, you can charge a small registration fee to offset the cost of the room and pay for your time.
Example: A web site development firm might want to host a 1 hour seminar on “creating a successful online presence” or “Generating additional sales online”. A small conference room that holds 50 - 60 people might cost about $350 (including light refreshments). If you charge $10 and get a turn out of 50, you would generate $500.00 (Leaving you with $150 profit). Plus, that’s 50 business owners that have a very good change to actually become a paying client!
Check with your local chamber of commerce for upcoming business seminars and events that you can take part in. You might also want to join your local chamber of commerce. Many times, members will only do business with other members so it’s a great market to tap into.
Ever try to get to your own web site only to discover that it seems to take a long time for the page to load? Here are a few pointers on how exactly to understand and quantify your page load times.
First a few basics – there are many potential culprits when trying to track down why your page is loading so slowly – for example:
Your Local Internet Connection and Modem – Are you only connected to the Internet with a dial-up connection through a 14.4 K modem? Well…HELLO!…it’s gonna take a while for those large graphics on your page to load at that speed.
Your Local Personal Computer – Are you still using that “boat anchor” computer that you got back in the early 1990’s? Does it have an 8086 processes or with 64 meg of RAM? If so, your machine can slow down your Internet page loads.
Network Congestion – This is a catch-all phrase that most of the tech support folks will use when you call them. While it is possible for the specific portion of the Internet that you are connected with to be experiencing a general slowdown, this is rarely the cause of a slow loading web site.
WAY Too Many Large Graphics on Your Pages – Now we’re getting somewhere. A fairly common cause of slow pages load times (especially on a dial-up connection) is simply too many humungous files to download.
A Glitch in Your Script – Many times a simple plug-in or script that is expecting a common browser setting or cookie condition can hang. This is most common when you are testing or uploading new components to your web site.
Broken Links or Images – Often a simple typo in a URL will cause pages to hang while the Internet is off looking for a page or graphic that doesn’t actually exist.
Got Spyware? – Let’s face it, unless you watch your system like a HAWK, it’s possible that there are internal stealth programs that can slow your browsing experience to a crawl. Check early, check often for spyware.
Finally, Maybe Your Hosting Provider is Just Plain S – L – O – W.
Here is a simple step-by-step way to check your web site and to quantify how fast the page is actually loading from multiple locations around the world.
We’re going to use a free tool located at: www.alertra.com. Go to the upper right hand corner of the Alertra site to an input box labeled ‘Spot Check’ with the words ‘Enter URL’ next to it. Type in your website’s URL and click the ‘check’ button to the right of the input box. I will be describing the results I got when checking ‘Yahoo.com’.
Alertra checked the site from multiple worldwide locations including Hong Kong, China – Las Vegas, USA – and Atlanta, USA. Under ‘Result’ we see that the site loaded okay at each location. The page size is listed under ‘Kbytes’. The real deal is the next column: ‘Secs’. That is the exact time that the page took to download entirely at that location. The site loaded in under a second in Las Vegas, while it took a long 7.66 seconds in Atlanta.
Use the tool for your own URL and see what the results are. You can also type in the URL of several competitors and see if their sites load faster or slower than yours. You can also make changes to your site and quantify the difference in page load times.
Experts generally agree that if your pages are taking any longer than a few seconds to load, you could be losing visitors and sales to a faster loading competitor.
Good luck using this free tool to examine and understand your page load times. One last thought, make sure to check your pages multiple times throughout the day and get an average page load time. This will even out any irregularities that might sneak onto the Internet during the day.
If you forgot to back your content up, sometimes it is possible to retrieve it when your webhost is down & both URL & IP addresses don't work [this will not work with all hosts!] 1. If you don't know what your webhost's IP address is, go to this site & look it up by typing in the address of your webhost. 2. Login using the IP address as the address. Use the same username & password that you signed up with in the first place. All of your files should be there. Unfortunately, you won't have access to any database files, unless you backed them up or they were backed up automatically & saved in a zip file. You should have access to your mail folder, so you can save any emails you want. However, you have access to database files via cpanel if you access it through IPaddress/cpanel
This is especially good if you plan on switching webhosts right away.
What the Heck is Server Side HTML? By Robert Plank
If you're stuck in the dark ages and are still editing the pages of your web site by hand, there's an easy way to change the look of your web site on a moment's notice, by editing only one file.
I know, there are all kinds of brand new blogging scripts, forums, CMSes, and other stuff to make your site easy to update. But on the other hand there are just as many desktop-based programs that churn out thousands of static HTML files for you to put on your server.
What do you do when you have to change these files later? Edit them by hand, one at a time? I don't think so.
You can save a lot of time down the road using Server Side Includes (SSI).
The point of using Server Side HTML is so you can include other pages on your regular HTML pages, things like a list of links you regularly update OR a header and footer.
Try it out. Take one of those static HTML pages on your site and rename it to something like "filename.shtml" instead of "filename.html." All we've done is changed the "html" at the end to "shtml."
Now, take the part of that site you want to appear on every page (the header graphic, link sidebar, etc.), copy and paste that part and save it into a file named "header.shtml." REMOVE that text from your filename.shtml file.
Now, in the filename.shtml file, place this at the top:
[!--#include virtual="/header.shtml"--]
(IMPORTANT: Replace the brackets [ and ] above with the greater-than and less-than "HTML" brackets... hold shift and press the "comma" and "period" keys on your keyboard.)
Upload filename.shtml and header.shtml to your server and load header.shtml. If everything went well, the page should look exactly as it did before. The only difference is: you only need that one "include virtual" line to show the top of the page, AND to change that top HTML later on all you have to do is edit header.shtml.
If you had this sort of code on 20,000 pages of your web site all you'd have to do was edit that ONE header.shtml file, and your entire site would change as soon as you uploaded that header.shtml file.
Not bad, huh?
Now do the same thing with the bottom of your web site, only save the new file as footer.shtml and at the bottom of filename.shtml place this:
[!--#include virtual="/header.shtml"--]
Again, not that exact code... replace the hard-brackets with HTML brackets.
But wait, your fancy page generator software will only save the files as .HTM or .HTML, and specifically links to certain files. You can't just go in and edit everything to link to .SHTML files.
Htaccess to the rescue.
Place this in a new text file:
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml .html .htm
Save that as "htaccess.txt", upload to your web server, and rename that htaccess.txt file you just uploaded to ".htaccess", WITH the dot in front. Now try renaming filename.shtml to filename.html. Guess what, your server side includes now work on .html and .htm files too.
Hopefully your page generator software allows you to edit the template and place these server-side include tags in there. (If not, look into a program called BKReplaceEm.) Don't worry, the pages will look funny and broken on your hard drive but once they are sitting on your web server everything will turn out ok.
If you find yourself doing a bunch of repetitive HTML editing it might be time to look into Server Side Includes to make instant changes.
You know what else, you can use a similar bit of HTACCESS code to make PHP scripts act as HTML files. That, plus 35 more "Why Didn't I Think of Those" secrets are revealed in my upcoming ebook: http://www.affiliatebattleplan.com
This tutorial is focused mainly at cPanel users but is for everybody who would like to get a little extra bang for their buck. Resources are what it is all about in the webmaster world and conserving some resources is crucial in money management. Even if you think you may have pulled all measures to save resources this may be a helpful tutorial. Yet again you may already know everything here. Read on to find out.
Conserving Bandwidth
Bandwidth is what is all about, do you have enough to get your visitors what they need with sufficient overhead? Too much overhead is a waste but too little overhead will make you lose customers, so how do you determine how much bandwidth you will use? How do you save bandwidth?
* A little known method of bandwidth saving tips (mostly because hosts do not want you to know) is a very simple one... using the control panel from your domain contributes to your overall bandwidth. Use your hosts domain instead For example: instead of going to http://yourdomain.com/cpanel for cPanel go to http://yourhost.com/cpanel (switching "yourhost" with your hosts website) * Disable HotLinking - HotLinking is where people will link from another website to your images or downloads and not give your website any credit. Basically the images are on your website and this website just links image tags to your website, Basically they are stealing your bandwidth. There is a tutorial on how to go about this if you are not sure how to accomplish this. * Enable caching on your website if its not dynamic. Caching will allow the end users computer to read from your server once in a while, the rest of the times it will read from its own backup copies until they expire. * Optimize your images for the internet and shrink their size, never use bitmap files (.bmp) and stick to jpeg (.jpg) or gif (.gif) files for images, these are optimized for the internet. There are conversion programs out there and there are optimization programs, be sure to get an optimization program that will be able to retain the images quality while drastically reducing its size. More than 50% of the bandwidth on most websites comes from images. * If you run any forums or submission scripts on your website ensure that they are secured (require a validation code for submission or login) this will reduce the possibilities of people making bots to spam your website and will reduce bandwidth usage. * Websites that have Large images, Videos, MP3's, and large files will use a lot of bandwidth. Some websites may need these but if you are sure your website doesn't need them then don't use them. It will save A lot of bandwidth * Limiting robot scanning can help greatly, this includes bots by google, msn, and yahoo alike. All you have to do is create a robots.txt and tell the bots what and what not to index. You can also do this with .htaccess if you are experienced enough. * Look at your logs of visitors, if you see any suspicious activity of what you may believe to be a bandwidth hog you can block these users from accessing your website via .htaccess or cPanel
Taking these measures Will save bandwidth but will not ensure you not to go over your limit. If you have a popular website be equipped with a lot of bandwidth respectively. Typically you should have 15% - 45% extra overhead on your bandwidth. You can calculate used bandwidth by how many hits you will be expecting by the average size of all of your files.
Conserving Storage
Storage is the second most important factor in web hosting with bandwidth in the lead. Storage is the amount of space you have to put files on the web server. Most websites generally do not use much storage, the most of what they use is bandwidth. However some sites make the exception and provide a multitude of things or just some big files. Either way here are some conservation tips on storage.
* Zip up all files meant to be downloaded - if you want to have a database of downloads or just offer a couple of downloads this will greatly reduce the amount of space and bandwidth you use. If you are offering big documents for download as well (over 250kb) you should zip these up as well. * Optimize images - as said in bandwidth conservation, images play a majority in resources on the typical website. Optimizing images for the web is a rather crucial step in resource conservation. * Avoid Duplicate files - Duplicate files do you no good, make your hyperlinks point to the same file rather than the same file in 2 places on your account. This also makes updating much easier as you only have to update only one file. * Manage Backups - While backups are helpful they will pile up, Keep no more than 3 backups on your web hosting account simultaneously. Consider the fact that the backups are almost the size of your entire account, so 2 backups more than doubles your accounts disk usage in the typical scenario. Usually you should make the backup, download it, then delete it from FTP. However having a backup of the backup on the webserver will not hurt. * File Management - Remove unneeded, unlinked files. These files will be serving you no good anyway. * Use Dynamic Pages if you can, Dynamic pages do not require every page to be stored and can prove helpful. Instead of having multiple pages you can have one main file with a bunch of files that are included or generated via a language such as PHP. MySQL also helps in this as well, it is a further extent of space saving.
Saving space on a webserver is very easy and webspace isn't in as much demand as bandwidth, however the storage can be a deciding factor in your web hosting price. Be sure to not use any excess to save yourself hassle and bills. Whether you are a website offering many downloads or a website with no downloads conserving space is a very helpful practice.
Other Conservation Tips
Although the main conservation tips have been stated there are some you should know about...
* MySQL/PostgreSQL Management - Be sure that you do not use too many, you can put different scripts in the same database for compacting. This will allow for you to meet your limit without having to go over. MySQL databases are almost always limited due to the fact they may be resource strenuous, as a countermeasure webhosts limit these to provide a cleaner service. * If you have severly limited e-mails use them wisely, instead of using a different e-mail for a different service or function try to mix them together and have a generalization mix. So instead of having support@yourdomain.com and billing@yourdomain.com and request@yourdomain.com you could sum them all down to websitename@yourdomain.com
Resource saving is helpful, especially when you are tight for money. Follow these tips and you should be better off for a cleaner, more effecient web hosting experience. - Howard
Before you can launch your web site, you'll need to engage the services of a web hosting company.
A web host, quite simply, allows you to rent space on a web server. Your web pages are then stored on this server, and the host computer allows other people connected to the Internet to view them.
There are literally hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from. How to choose the right one?
As with trying out any new service, you won't really know how good a web hosting company is until you try it. Therefore, ask around and see whether you can get any recommendations from those who already use a web hosting company. You might also want to consider how long the company has been in business, how reliable it is known to be, and how expensive it would be if you want to upgrade your plan in future.
Other areas to consider include:
Disk space How much disk space do you need? Does you website have less than 10 pages? You'll need only a small amount of space. Is it a huge site that has thousands of pages? You'll be needing a lot of disk space. Most web hosting plans limit how much space you will have, so make sure the plan you choose meets your needs.
E-mail accounts How many e-mail accounts do you need? You'll probably need one for each employee and one for each department (sales, accounts, support). Make sure you purchase a hosting plan that has enough e-mail accounts. Also, do you want full POPS access, Web-based e- mail, or both? Ekhwan Hosting has it all at the right price.
Data transfer How much data do you need to transfer? Most hosting plans limit how much data transfer you are allotted each month. If you expect a lot of people to visit your site, you'll need a plan that allows for plenty of data transfer.
E-commerce Will you be selling goods or services through your site? If not, there's no need to sign up for an e-commerce web hosting service. If you are, e-commerce web hosting services such as shopping cart software, SSL support and a merchant account will be vital.
Database, script and extension support Some hosts will try to blind you with all the features they provide: Frontpage, MS Access, MySQL, MS SQL, Peri support, PHP support, ASP support and SSI support. Do you really need all these features? If not, make sure you are not paying for extras you'll never use.
Operating systems Do you want a UNIX hosting plan or a Windows hosting plan? Unix is the most commonly used operating system among Web servers. It is known for its flexibility, reliability and stability. Windows hosting plans give you the ability to utilize many forms of dynamic content and specialized databases. Windows hosting plans are often used for sites utilizing Frontpage, ASP, MS Access databases, MS SQL Servers and other Microsoft applications.
Support Is customer and technical support available 24/7? Can you easily get through on the customer support hotline? Or are you on hold for hours?
VDS/VPS - A portion of the server resources is devoted to your account. The more you pay the bigger your portion of resources. Think of it as a pie that has been un-equally divided up for the most part. Now also the other thing to remember with VDS/VPS many hosts will be running these on dual or sometimes even quad xeon servers thus there is plenty of resources to go around. Just also remember in some rare cases your VPS/VDS may be affected by another VPS customer on the host machine. Dedicated server(s) come in two forms: Unmanaged - You get a good rate with a nice amount of transfer normally and are given root access to the server. The datacenter is not responsible for managing the server as it is "self managed" otherwise known as unmanaged. Pretty much leaves you with a few options available: managing the system yourself completely or bringing in an admin to assist you with your kernel/software upgrades as well as securing the system. Managed - You pay a bit more for the monthly fee (usually around $200-$400 approximately depends upon what server specification and how much management time is put into it pretty much) and the datacenter or the host you choose handles doing operating system upgrades/updates and securing the server for you. Now the main thing to remember here is that many companies offer different levels of server management best thing to do with this is always read the management definitions so you are aware of what is covered with your plan and what is not (should give you a bearing upon how much you need and what you can handle on your own). What it really boils down to is do you want to be a piece of the pie or do you want to be the pie? That and also what your budget is, remember you can always upgrade further one the need arises that warrants doing so. Hope this elaboration has assisted in giving you a bit more understanding of the aspects of levels of services. Definitely owe you some congrats on chosing to come seek guidance on WHT first before doing as so many have and diving off the deep end. I wish you the best in all your endeavors. -Justin
A Portal CMS is a CMS that is built to serve as a news aggregator or community based system. Portals tend to focus on posting news stories, with automatic linking from introductory text to full stories. Most allow for readers to rank and comment on the stories they read, and make provisions for non-administrators to post items of interest.
The short answer - a DMS is a Document Management System.
The long answer - a DMS is a system that seperates the content from the web site.
Content in this case can be a PDF file, a Word file, Excel, and any other native format. The system is a container for these documents.
The benefits include being able to retrieve these documents easily and without losing its original format. More sophisticated systems allow for fulltext searches, cataloging by topic or interest, and access controlled by user and group permissions.
General web statistics give pertinent information about website visitors. Webmasters analyzing these statistics have a better understanding of who their website visitors are and how they perceive the website. A lot can be learned by evaluating navigation patterns, most-viewed pages and exit pages. Deciphering web logs could easily become a full-time job. The information that can be gleaned from close log scrutiny is extremely valuable.
When a visitor comes to a website, the site has just a few seconds to grab the visitor's interest. Slow-loading pages or broken graphics will send visitors and potential customers looking elsewhere. In order to make sense of web statistics, consider using a log analysis program. These programs tend to format the information in an easy-to-understand way, often providing graphs or visual representations that make understanding and seeing patterns that much easier.
The downside to using software for web log analysis is that webmasters can easily be confused about what the actual results mean and which results matter the most. The information contained in the log file should be analyzed in conjunction with other information.
Let's take a look at some of the critical areas. How many unique visitors visit the site each day? This statistic, by itself, is not terribly important, but when compared to a previous week's or month's logs, patterns will generally emerge. Sudden declines in site visitors might be indicative of downtime or dropped links, while sudden increases might be indicative of a successful ad campaign or improved search engine ranking. This assumption can only be made if sales for the corresponding time period have increased as well.
Traffďc alone is not the goal; qualified website traffďc that converts a visitor into a buyer is generally the goal of most webmasters. Web statistics on their own do not always paint a true picture. Webmasters need to use logs to validate advertising campaigns and track where traffďc is coming from. While details in a log file alone are not conclusive proof of an ad campaign's success or failure, general assumptions can be made based on the patterns. General statistics will help determine who your visitors are and what habits they have.
Specific areas to take a close look at:
How long are users staying on the website or a specific page? This question addresses a website's "stickiness". Stickiness gives webmasters an indication of how important their content is. If users return on a regular basis or remain on a specific page for an extended period of time, generally the content is considered valuable.
Site Entry Pages? What pages in a website are visitors coming into? Is a specific page on the site drawing an unusually high amount of traffďc? Do users come back to the website? Is there a reason for a visitor to come back to the website? Generally, content that is refreshed often will attract return visitors. What specific areas on the site are of interest to web visitors, and can those content sections be expanded to increase the overall value of the website?
Site Exit Pages? What pages in a website are visitors leaving from? If a specific page has a large number of visitors leaving the site, perhaps the content needs updating. It is critical that you consider the source of the traffďc. Are visitors coming to the website through a pay-per-click campaign with a landing page that does not relate to the initial search terms? Directing visitors to content-specific landing pages will help reduce quick site exits.
Who is Making the Referral? What kind of website is sending traffďc to your website? Assumptions can be made based on the quality of the referral source. Let's face it, if a crack site is the leading referral generator to a software site, it is unlikely that the majority of visitors will be interested in purchasing.
Bad Requests? Are visitors attempting to access pages on your website that are no longer active? Be sure to chëck logs for any pages or graphics that are generating errors for visitors.
Number of Unique Visitors? Don't get too hung up on the number of "hits" a website has, as this can be interpreted differently. Sometimes logs interpret graphic access as a hit. A more accurate reflection of traffďc can be seen by tracking unique visitors.
There are a number of inexpensive yet quality log analysis applications available for download from: Monitoring-Software.net and Monitoring-Tools.net.
By evaluating web logs webmasters can continuously improve their site and measure their success. Online or off, tracking results is critical to achieving success. If you don't track, you don't know what works. How can you improve what you don't measure?
About The Author Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage a wireless text messaging software company.
Before you begin reading this article, it’s only fair to point out that there’s very little difference for you between a Windows or Linux web host, if you fit at least one of these: • A new or casual Webmaster, • Your site is non-revenue generating • Your web site is created with static HTML pages generated from boxed software More often than not, you need to look no further than regular Linux web hosting because it usually cost less and offers a wider variety of control panels, which may be a strong selling point for beginners and intermediate users. So, When Do You Consider Windows Hosting? The moment you decide you want your web site to have more complex features, such as members only sections, shopping cart, live help, chat, forums and so on, then the host server operating system might be important. You could use Java Scripts, which are processed by the visitor’s browser and are non-dependent on the web server, but they lack the power to access, retrieve and store information in a database. A database is one of the cornerstones of interactive web sites. They store information necessary to provide web mail to your visitors or give them the option of a customized web page every time they visit. To fully harness the power of a database, you’ll need server side programs as the go between. These programs sends a web site visitor’s input to the server, processes it and returns information in HTML format customized to the visitor’s instruction. Because the web pages are generated on demand, they are also referred to as dynamically generated. Windows Desktop And Server Operating System If you run a Windows desktop or use Windows based web page builders such as FrontPage, it doesn’t mean you must opt for Windows web hosting. This is true vice versa. Whatever operating system you use on your desktop has little to do with your choice of hosts unless it’s a matter of preference. As long as you understand your FTP or web publishing software, your web host can be on any operating system. Keep in mind, that you don’t have to learn how to use another operating system because web hosts usually provide a web based control panel from where you administrate your account and uploaded files. Web Site Objectives What’s important is for you to know what you want your site to do and what you want to offer on your web site. This is what will ultimately lead you to the type of hosting that’s right for you. As mentioned earlier, interactive web sites utilize server side programs. There are many out there but the more common are ASP, PHP or Perl. Each programming language has it’s own strengths and weaknesses and sometimes one can give you something the other can’t although not very often. For the future reference, PHP and Perl are Linux based and ASP is Windows based. Which Languages To Use All these languages are capable of processing similar instructions. There’s little one can do the other can’t. As you might expect, ASP will naturally have tighter and better integration with Microsoft’s products such as their SQL Server, .NET framework and it seems to work a lot better for web based systems with intranet capabilities. Moreover, server side scripting can be complex, requiring web developers who are able to code in that language. Developers are usually strongly partial to one language. If you hire one, chances are the developer will use their programming language of choice and make the necessary hosting recommendations. Given these factors, it isn’t uncommon for businesses to gravitate towards ASP. Most businesses have invested a lot of money in acquiring software licenses. Switching could mean investing time, knowledge and more software and businesses are not always prepared to do that. If you’re not a business, it depends on your learning capabilities and which language makes more sense to you. Casual webmasters and those running web sites not entirely commercial usually choose PHP scripts. This is rather natural considering there are no hidden costs in running PHP. The source itself is open meaning anyone can download, utilize or amend it as long as they don’t claim copyright or sell it. If you opt to use ASP to power your web site, then you’ll want to go with Windows hosting. In the past several years, ASP has also become available on Linux machines if your web host has Chilisoft installed. Do remember, if you choose this option, it might not work as well as it would on Windows. Because Chilisoft is a go-between program, it’ll have some limitations. This is also true the other way around. While you can have PHP or Perl on a Windows web host, they weren’t developed for Windows and might not work as well. Support is also lacking. In fact, there are often disclaimers about using these languages on Windows servers. Some hosts have successfully implemented these programming languages for the different platforms. Be very clear in this case about the scripts you want to use because server configurations for Windows can be vastly different from Linux; certain server settings work well for one script but not another. This might cause the script to fail or not function at it’s full potential. This is why it’s always best to go with the operating system the language was built for. Security In most cases, you’ll most likely be told flat out that Unix based servers have better security. Mainly, because these operating systems have consistently been reliable, while Windows is a big target for exploitation. Unfortunately, Windows servers historically aren’t known for it’s reliability but both are can be equally secured. Web hosting wise it boils down to one thing. No matter how good the operating system is, your site cannot be secure or reliable if your host has not configured it correctly and doesn’t update often or swiftly. Performance In speed and performance they both perform well although it is known PHP and Linux seems to be a little faster than ASP and Windows. With more web hosts using the newer Windows 2003 Server, performance has also improved. Unless you’re counting the seconds you’ll probably not notice too much. Regardless which platform your web hosting is, the key is to look for a good host. Do they upgrade well ahead or do they max out the resources before doing so? Are they responsive to you? In conclusion, the first step to deciding between a Windows or Linux host is what you want your site to do now and in the foreseeable future. Next, you need to figure out which scripts work best for the particular job you want to do. For example, ASP is better known for it’s shopping carts and PHP message boards are reliable and popular. Boris
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a standard application protocol that uses the Internet’s TCP/IP protocol to transfer files from one computer to another.
FTP is a very common process today. FTP is commonly used to transfer web pages from the creator’s computer to the server where the web site is situated. Also FTP is used to download programs and files to your computer from a server.
How do I use FTP?
To use FTP you will need to install FTP software on your computer. There are many freely available FTP programs on the Internet such as, FTP explorer (http://www.ftpx.com) and Smart FTP (http://www.smartftp.com).
How do I connect with FTP?
Follow the steps below to connect to a server, to upload files using FTP Explorer:
Open FTP Explorer.
Click on the connect button on the toolbar or select connect from the Tools menu.
In the Profile Name text, enter a name to give your FTP connection.
In the Host Address text box enter the address of the server you are connecting to (this can either be the DNS entry or the IP Address).
Enter the Port number that the server accepts FTP connections on (the default port for FTP is 21).
Tick the Use PASV option, if your computer is behind a firewall, which does not allow external FTP connections.
Tick the Use Firewall option if your computer is located behind a firewall.
Either enter a user name for the FTP login or tick the Anonymous option (the anonymous option will only work if the server is set up to allow anonymous FTP connections – if this is selected go to step 10).
Enter the user’s password in the Password text box.
In the Initial path text box, enter the path on the server, where you want your connection to start at – this is optional.
In the Attempts text box enter the number of times to try the FTP connection if fails, you will need to have at least 1 in this text box.
In the Download path you can specify the path on your computer where to save the files downloaded from the server – this is optional, you can specify this later if you like.
To establish the connection with the server click on the Connect button.
How do I upload files using FTP?
Once you have established your connection with the server the next step is to upload your files to the server. The following describes how to do this:
Go to the path on the server where you want to upload your files to.
In the Tools menu click on the Upload button.
Select the file or files that you want to upload (to select more than one file hold down the CTRL key).
NOTE: You can also upload files by dragging and dropping them to the directory/folder on the server.
Click on the Open button. Your file will now be uploaded to the server. (You will see this uploading process in the dialog box.)
How do I download files using FTP?
You can also use FTP to download files to your computer from a server. The following describes how to download a file.
Make sure you are connected to the server.
Go to the file that you want to download.
Right click on the file and select Download To..
Select the path on your computer where you want the file to be saved to.
The file will now be downloaded to your computer. (You will see this downloading process happening in the dialog box.)
How do I end my connection?
You can end the connection by simply clicking on the Disconnect button on the tool bar or by clicking on Disconnect from the Tools menu.
When you're searching through the Internet you will find endless amounts of information, about everything, and all at your fingertips. The Internet is the largest source of knowledge in the world. Why is this? Because anyone can get their information on there. All you need is a web site and a resource generous web hosting company.
Many people think that getting their website on the Internet is an expensive venture, fortunately though, this need not necessarily be true; if you find the right web host, the benefits of having a web site will definitely outweigh the costs.
There are many different ways to benefit from having a web site, whether it is for personal gain, or to aid your business success. Those who have their own personal websites generally use them to further an interest or a hobby; having a web site is a great way to share and exchange knowledge with others. Businesses on the other hand use a website to promote and market their goods and services, while cutting back on such expenses as postage, couriers and advertising, etc.
These are but a few key benefits of owning a website:
Increased awareness of products and services - Businesses can now greatly expand their markets, no need to constrain the focus to only the local scene, but by using the Internet, businesses can venture into international and regional markets, with greater ease. This dynamically changes the nature and the marketing activities of some businesses, possibly encouraging the business to expand the diversity of its products and services, to meet these new markets. Websites, in their nature, allow hundreds and thousands of items to be on view 24/7; thus encouraging wider viewing, and extended trading hours.
Freedom - With the freedom of being able to post your information on your website, hence on the Internet, at any time of the day; available information of all variations is increasing at a huge rate. The freedom to browse anywhere and interact with anyone is enough to tempt the smallest of businesses and the most introverted of people to get on the Net; hence Net users are increasing in numbers, at an alarming rate, approximately 50,000 per day. Businesses are buzzing on the Net, they have found a way to compete on an even field, with even the largest of corporations; and within a daily increasing customer marketplace.
Cost advantage - Net businesses are extremely aware of how they can profit by being on the Internet; they can advertise their products and services without the huge costs, and delays of printing, publishing and distribution. The market is a global one, which adds greater value to the costs outlaid for promotion and marketing; compared to the limits of offline. E- commerce facilities can be incorporated into the website, transforming 2D screen visuals into user reactive models, for example, consumers can order their products and services online, greatly reducing administration expenses. Reduction of telephone calls to potential customers; follow ups by email; newsletters digitally made, promoted by email or downloadable from the website, with reduction of distribution costs; less promotional material sent out, printed and wasted; extended trading hours without a human presence; are just a few ways to cut costs.
The current opinion is that any business not on the Internet now or in the near future is not only missing out on the rewards of this new and vibrant industry, but is adding itself to the list of "the forgotten".Don't waste time scratching your head wondering what the Internet can do to benefit your business, you will be left behind; instead, think about how you can take advantage of this new and cheap form of industry awareness. Look for a web designer, or web developer, get a quote, and tell them what you need.
Top Five Questions to Ask Your Web Hosting Company
Each day many new and existing webmasters either launch a new web site for the first time, or transfer their web site to a new web hosting provider. In preparation for this important process, there are five important questions that should be asked prior to signing on with a new web hosting company.
1. Do you have a trial period or money-back guarantee?
Okay, so that’s technically two questions. The point is, no matter how much homework you do, or how much research stands behind your decision – it’s still possible to make a mistake. Also – the company could change policies or services, or management – prices can go up, call wait times for support can spike, and things can just generally go bad. With the assurance of a trial period or money-back guarantee, you won’t end up paying over and over again for that bad decision.
2. How does your customer service and technical support system work?
I don’t care how smart you are, how much programming you know, or how many web sites you’ve set up in the past – you are gonna have to call support eventually. There are just too many weird little things that can derail a web site or email. Many reside on the web hosting company’s side. To figure out what’s up – you need to get in contact with them. So…will it be by email only, during the hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm eastern standard time or via a toll free phone line that is available 24x7? Make certain you understand when support is available – and how you actually reach someone with real knowledge, not just a “knowledge base” or “canned” response.
3. Can I view a sample site that is hosted on the same server that my web site will be on?
Sure, the main company web site has nearly 100% uptime. That’s because they have their web site on a separate server than their customers. Viewing an actual customer site potentially tells you many things about the web hosting company and their web hosting services. You can check the load times of their pages easily by using a tool like Alertra (www.alertra.com). You can also send the webmaster of the site a nice email asking about their experiences with the hosting company.
4. Will you waive set up fees or give me some other special incentives to sign up with you today?
In the highly competitive business of web hosting services, each customer sign up is precious. You will often see special offers listed on the company’s web site or in advertisements. Unknown to each buyer is the fact that sales people are often given “extra special offers” to close sales of customers that are right on the edge of buying, but are resisting. The special offers are designed to close the sale. Make sure that you ask for each and every special offer they can give you. You have nothing to lose, and you may find that the offer that’s being given today is fairly generous.
If HTML isn't your thing and you're planning a website with lots of content, you might want to consider using a "Content Management System," also known as CMS. With CMS, content is stored in a database away from the site's templates, which makes it impossible to destroy the design structure of the site when editing.
CMS systems allow anyone to edit his or her website, regardless of technical skill level. Pages can be added or changed easily without knowing any intricate coding. Many websites that use CMS resemble a portal design. This type of system also works well if multiple people or departments will be making updates to the website.
Most CMS systems must be installed on your web server and require that PHP and usually MySQL also to be installed. Once you decide that CMS is for you, you'll need to decide on which software you'll want to use. Many content management systems are "open source," which means there is no charge to use them and most come with complete documentation for setup and use. Most all of them also offer support forums if you run into problems when installing or you need to ask a specific question.
Let's take a look at some of the more popular CMS options available:
1)CMSimple:
Small open source program that's less then 50KB. It's frëe to use but contains a link back to CMSimple's website. If you're willing to pay $40.00 to register the software, you can remove it.
This program is written in php and runs on Linux and Windows32. It does not need a database as the entire site is stored in one simple html file.
2)Typo3:
Frëe again and open sourced software that comes with a list of default plug ins such as calendars, forums, guestbooks, polls and more. This software is not for the faint of heart, as there are many customization features along with a big learning curve.
3)Rodin:
Requiring PHP & MySQL, on your server this open source software consists of 9 small files weighing in at under 12KB. Very simple to get up and running. If you want more functionality, there are extra add-ons that can be downloaded as needed.
4)WEbApp:
Frëe software written in Perl and runs on a Unix server. WebApp creates a "portal type" set of pages that includes forums, polls, news and others. This system does not require SQL on your web server, but does require Perl 5. One drawback is the limited number of themes that are supplied.
5)ASPBite:
A frëe ASP CMS system with many expandable modules. You'll first need to download and install what's called the "base station" as everything else is built on top of that. Add-ons include; polls, feedback forums, FAQ and more. There are more extensive "Pro" modules such as shopping carts and classified ads and others that are available for a fee. ASPBite is easy to use and comes highly rated.
6)PHP-Nuke:
This software runs on Linux and Windows servers and does require SQL be installed. Very popular and packed with features including; themes manager, banner ad systems, polls, forums, search engines and others. You'll find a lot of web support and add-ons for this popular CMS system. Price $10.00.
7)CityDesk:
Unlike the others, CityDesk is downloadable Windows-based software you install on your PC. A very simple layout that allows you to add articles easily. You won't need any special software installed on your web server to use it. Two versions are available: one frëe, which allows up to 50 files on any one website or the Professional version, which will set you back $299.00. You'll find City Desk as simple to use as any word processor program.
8)Metadot:
This open source portal software is Perl based and allows many user-based customizations. Metadot runs on Linux, Apache and requires MySQL. This system would be a great choice for anyone planning a "community site." It comes standard with calendar, polls, end-user personal websites and more. Totally frëe.
9)DotWidget CMS:
CMS software made very easy. Features include a built-in WYSIWYG text editor, multiple users and access levels, customizable templates and more. Your web server must have PHP and mySQL installed. You can easily install DotWidget and begin building your site's structure and adding content. No client-side software is required and all editing is done through your browser. Only $49.00.
As you can see there are many content management systems to choose from, most of which won't cost you a dime. Before deciding on which one is right for you, you'll need to know what software is installed on your host's server and you'll also want to read over the support forums at each site to get an idea of any known problems or issues with each particular system.
A great site for reviewing and rating all types of CMS software is CMSMatrix.org. You can check boxes of the software packages you wish to compare and you'll be shown a side-by-side comparison of each along with a full description.
If you're planning a community site or any type of website that will require constant editing and additions, a content management system might be just what you've been looking for.
About The Author Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offers a F-r-e-e ebook and an e-course that will teach you how to promote and market your website. Grab your copy today at WebSiteTrafficPlan.com.
Every webmaster cringes at the thought of moving hosts. Like moving your home it can be messy and sometimes problems arise. But if you follow these simple steps, your move will be less painful. Backup Backup Backup If you’ve been diligent with your backups, you’ve got a lot of insurance to fall back on yet always make the latest backup. If you haven’t, before you do anything else, do a backup now. Backup anything and everything you can and don’t forget your database if your site relies on it. Save at least 2 copies and store them separately. One for you to work with, and the other as an archive. Do not underestimate how easy it is to copy over these files as you make changes or simply mess it up. If you’re moving to a host who has as different control panel, make a manual backup by downloading all your files because different control panels may not be able to restore the backups made by your old host. They also have different directory structures so your file trees will be in a mess. If you need to, make a small note file with notepad with memos for you to remember the old server configurations. This will help you as you make changes on your new host server and save the confusion moving back and forth between hosts. Remember to make the correct transfer type (ASCII or Binary) as you download. If your download is not right chances are you’ll have a tough time getting your site to work on the new host server. If server logs are especially important, remember to backup those too. There is no good way of moving logs yet because different hosts may log statistics differently. So the best thing to do is to download it and use a log analyzer on your computer to make references to later on. Gather Odds & Ends 1. A Good FTP program which you should have by now 2. Get your new host server’s DNS 3. It’s also helpful to have a script that tells you the server environments installed on your new host server for quick references. 4. Get the temporary URL on your new host so you can check your site before you make a DNS change. 5. If you have your host control the domain inform them not to change your DNS until you tell them to. 6. If you run scripts: - Get a copy of the original installation guide and the script. Sometimes after moving the scripts just do not work right so you might need to install the script from scratch. - Get a list of all the server paths such as Perl, Sendmail and home directory on your new server. - If your script needs special server modules or programs ensure they are installed and where. Even though these might be covered before you ordered the account with the host but sometimes your host has removed it or haven’t installed it yet. Inform Your Visitors It is common and good practice to inform your visitors and customers of the server move. If you run a e-store, this helps assure your customers you have not fled with their money if there is any downtime. Also give an alternate email so you won’t lose emails in the transfer. You might also want to give periodic updates prior, during (if there is downtime) and after. If your site is large, doing this is helpful because your visitors can alert you whenever there is a part of the site not working. Moving Day Try to schedule the move at a time where there’s least traffic. Backup again just before you do the move so you’ll have the latest data. Start by first copying or creating your custom error pages onto the new host server. Put a small note in there about the move. You can always remove it later. Then upload the most visible parts of the site first i.e the main pages then move on to the less critical parts of the site. If you have a large site with many divisions you might want to split them across different days and instead move the least critical first. Just ensure you always do a backup before you do any moving. Use the temporary URL to check your site, visiting as many pages as you can. Changing DNS Once you’re satisfied, change your DNS over. This typically takes about 24-48 hours so you have time to make some minor changes if need be. You might want to also take this time to modify your old site’s error pages to inform your visitors of the move and give a new URL if there are URL changes. To help you determine if the DNS has resolved, make a small change on the new pages to differentiate between the old and the new. Monitor After you’ve moved and the DNS resolved, do not release the old account yet. Keep it as long as two weeks running concurrently. Go back and check the old servers for activity. Check your old email account and if you have a web based contact method on the old server check to see if any communication is left there. Once you’re comfortable all email and traffic is correctly directed to the new host server, you can cancel that account.
Once you have decided what web hosting services you require, it is then time to make a list of certain web hosting features and options you must consider. Here are some of the most important aspects of web hosting;
Storage space and bandwidth
You should have figured out how much data your website will generate, and also the amount of bandwidth you will need. If you envision that your site will continually grow, then allow some headroom in terms of storage and bandwidth. Also check how much your web host charges for extra hard drive space and bandwidth. Remember, there is no such thing as unlimited or unmetered bandwidth! Internet bandwidth and storage space are finite commodities, they are not available in infinite amounts and are capped at some point of based on hardware or service levels. Don't be fooled by the 'unlimited' or 'unmetered' monickers, there is no such animal.
Operating system and programming tools
Most web hosts run on a Unix based operating system, usually Linux or BSD. If you will be running an application that requires ASP/.NET/MS SQL Server/SBS/etc, you will need to find a Windows based web host; usually a little more expensive. Unix based hosts will provide PHP, Perl/CGI, Frontpage, and very limited ASP functionality. If you will be developing your own web applications, it would make sense to get a good idea of their operating system environment.
Look beyond the priceAs the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". This certainly holds true in the realm of web hosting services. If you focus too much on the price, you are likely to end up with a sub-par web host that will provide you with a combination of overloaded servers, poor connections to the Internet backbones, frequent downtime or little or no support.
Support, guranteed uptime, and backups
Many web hosts provide telephone support - some even have 24/7 support through local or toll-free numbers. Other ways that web hosts provide support includes online trouble-ticket/helpdesk systems, web discussion forums, live chats with technicians and email support. With respect to uptime, this guarantee is usually a little harder to find and enforce. If you settle for 99% uptime, that means your website could be down for an average of 14.4 minutes a day. That is acutally quite a lot, especially considering the amount of potential revenue you might be losing. On the other hand 99.99% uptime makes a huge difference and leads to a average negligable down-time per day. So if you need reliable webhosting, make sure to check the support, uptime and backups.
Hosting features included
A plain vanilla HTML based website requires different resources compared to a PHP/CGI/ASP based site that uses a database, special image libraries, and custom programming. So if you are developing anything more than an HTML web site that will require custom programming work or uses any type of scripting language, make sure the web host supports these standards and needed features. Often, web hosting companies list everything they offer up front, but if you have questions, make sure you ask. Apart from programming languages, you might need special access to your website, say through FTP or Telnet. Just about every paid web host allows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your website, but Telnet or SSH access is more rare or might cost more. Same with mail, just about every web host will provide SMTP/ POP3 and web based access to email. If you require IMAP or say a secure access protocol, check with the hosting provider.
Data centers, bandwidth quality, and security
Web hosting providers both big and small need a central location where they house their servers and equipment. It is important to have some idea as to where these systems are located. If you seek reliablity and high quality you may not really want your important web venture hosted in someone's basement off an xDSL connection. You might also want to check what type of data connections/providers are being used your web host. Just because someone says that they have a "10-MBit Internet backbone" does not mean high quality and reliability. One would rather see them accessing the Internet backbone through multiple, reliable providers that allow world wide traffic to be routed in the most efficient manner. Most web hosting companies will provide some detail on their data centers including the built-in redundancies, their use of UPS and/or diesel generators, the different bandwidth providers they use, and physical security of their premises. It is really worth looking into this aspect of web hosting.
Once you decide to create an Internet presense that will require a web site and web hosting, it is key to figure out the types of resources you will need. This determination can make sure that you are not overpaying for service, paying for features you won't be using, or worse yet, paying extra for functionality that you required but failed to check on.
What type of web site are you building?
This is a key question. Are you going to use the web site for an e-commerce business, as a hobby site writing about your interests, will the site be static or interactive, used as a blog or online forum, or a site that will provide information and generate revenuss? If you will be running an e-commerce site you will need to find an online payment system, you might need to have your web host support the secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, and you should inquire whether they provide any shopping carts like MIVA merchant. If you will be developing custom e-commerce software, it is essential to make sure that you know the web hosting environment to ensure that your software will work on their systems. A blog or a online forums site will most likely require PHP or Perl/CGI scripting and in most cases access to a database system like MySQL, PostgreSQL or Microsoft's SQL Server.
How much storage space would you need?
If you are running a small, static website, you don't require a very large amount of storage space. On the other hand, an extensive information or e-commerce site with thousands of web pages and images or a large online forum would require much more data storage. In many cases, the databases are given their own seperate storage limit and could cause problems since 100mb of data capacity might not always equal 100mb of database capacity.
How much bandwidth would you need?
After storage capacity, bandwidth is the next most hyped web hosting feature. If your average webpage (html code + graphics) is 5KB, and you receive an average of 100 hits per day, you can easily see that you are using up (5 x 100) 500 KB of bandwidth a day. Multiply this number by 30 and you have an average monthly figure. It is essential that before you sign up for any web hosting service, you put some thought into how big your web site will be, how popular the category is, and what type of service you will be providing. For example, oneline discussion forums use up a lot more bandwidth than any other type of website because users usually stay on for longer time as they read posts or contribute, and there is a much higher rate of repeat visitors who come back to read new messages, etc. Therefore, your bandwidth needs should be considered prior to signing up for a hosting plan.
What hosting features will you need?
A plain vanilla HTML based website requires different resources compared to a PHP/CGI/ASP based site that uses a database, special image libraries, and custom programming. So if you are developing anything more than an HTML web site that will require custom programming work or uses any type of scripting language, make sure the web host supports these standards and needed features. Often, web hosting companies list everything they offer up front, but if you have questions, make sure you ask. Apart from programming languages, you might need special access to your website, say through FTP or Telnet. Just about every paid web host allows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your website, but Telnet or SSH access is more rare or might cost more. Same with mail, just about every web host will provide SMTP/ POP3 and web based access to email. If you require IMAP or say a secure access protocol, check with the hosting provider.
Those @yahoo, @gmail or @hotmail.com addresses just don’t cut it in business.
When a business establishes a website yet operates from personal Yahoo!™ or Hotmail™ email accounts, it sends a certain message to the customers. In a word: unprofessional. Customers need to feel your services are credible and that your company will be there long term. The importance of email accounts with your business name help convey a sense of legitimacy.
Legitimize Your Business Just as you would set-up a separate bank account for your company, differentiating business email accounts from personal legitimizes your business correspondence and makes maintenance and customer care easier. A business based email also creates brand identity and awareness
What To Do with 1000 Email Accounts? (Much Less 500) The real values in today’s cheap web hosting market are the many services and features bundled into hosting packages. Email accounts are not only part and parcel of most packages but many offer a number of free email accounts, some as many as 1000. At first glance this might seem excessive but consider the many uses and benefits of multiple accounts and you’ll see how valuable they can be.
Market Your Business Business based emails offer a myriad of opportunities to market your company, including: newsletters, customer service inquiries, promotions, coupons, service announcements, new product announcements, seasonal or holiday promotions, greetings, and invitations. Email marketing is also a great way to save money on the cost of printing collateral such as brochures.
Grow Your Business As your business expands, you should have enough email accounts to support the growth. Email accounts can be set up for employees, departmental lists, project-specific groups for sharing of information or even separate business ventures. Many resellers use their multiple accounts to sell to and set-up email for their many clients.
The Bottom Line It’s cheaper to take advantage of bundled email accounts. Not only do they legitimize, market, and grow your company but bundled email accounts are more cost effective than adding them as you go.
Web hosting is a key aspect of the Internet. Whether you wish to utilize the Internet for an online business, an information resource, a discussion forum, or sharing views on a hobby or interest, you must use a web hosting service that will allow everyone else to view your creation. It is web hosting that empowers you to share information, sell prodcuts and services, and interact with people through a web site. Therefore, it is essential that the process of selecting a web hosting provider for your Internet presence include some sort of research and review before jumping in.
In the heyday of the Internet giving things away for free was so fashionable that a lot of companies burned through millions of dollars giving things away, before they went under. If you wish
