Archive for cheap web hosting
How to Get Cheap Web Hosting that Doesn’t Remind you It’s Cheap
Posted by: | CommentsWeb hosting in our economy must acknowledge that it is a buyer’s market. Even if you are restricting your options to inexpensive web hosting, say, under $12 per month, you have more potential candidate companies than you can list. Thus, you know that you can get it cheap, but ensure that you also get it good.
With the number of web hosting companies out there, a compromise between cheap and quality can be obtained. The hard part is finding out who they are. Just about every web host has a pretty store front. What you want to know is what’s under the hood. Fortunately, there are a few ways you can find this out before committing any money and effort.
Good tech support – The new best feature
It doesn’t take much to run your own web host: you can actually do it from your own home. Now it’s not the technology that’s hard to obtain, it’s the people who know how to explain it.
It may be surprising given how desperate so many people are for jobs, but the truth is that the entire IT world has a reputation for bad customer service, one which is unfortunately well-earned. To be fair, it’s not a problem which is restricted to the dot-coms, but there are certain truths about a web host’s existence that help feed this problem (for example, almost no support is face-to-face, leading to an “out of touch” psychological dynamic).
If you want to find a web host with good tech support, send ones you are interested in an email with a question that’s a bit difficult and a touch complex, but still reasonable. Here’s an example: “I notice there’s a new version of PostgreSQL, which I use for my site. Do you plan on getting it?” Then, focus not just on the content of the answer they give you, but in how honest it sounds: that may sound difficult, but when you see several answers side-by-side, it’s not as hard as it might seem. Notice, for example, whether or not they address you by your name.
Age before beauty
It may be tempting to go with a flashier web site on the assumption that that must automatically make them experts. Don’t believe the hype. Being pretty is not the same as being functional.
Look instead of how long they’ve been around. If they have at least ten years of consistent operation, then you can reasonably assured that it’s for a reason, and that they’ll be around tomorrow as well. This isn’t to say the newer web hosts are necessarily unreliable, it just means that you’re taking a bigger risk.
Know your features
Some features are worth more than others. Some are meant to sound exciting but really aren’t highly technical. Some hosts may offer you lots of email addresses for your domain name, but in reality this costs almost nothing to do. Better to get a user-friendly control panel or good spam protection.
In truth, really bad web hosting is hard to come by, but you still don’t want to prove it still exists. Use some simple litmus tests, and you should have no problem having it not just good or cheap, but good and cheap.
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Does Cheap Web Hosting Really Exist?
Posted by: | CommentsPerhaps it’s the million dollar question attached to a thrifty price tag. The short and sweet answer is yes: cheap web hosting really does exist. Web owners looking for a hosting provide may follow the initial question up with an inquiry was to whether or not the services are watered down due to the inexpensive monthly hosting fees. The answer is absolutely not. The secret to finding reliable cheap hosting providers, however, is opting for a host with a proven track record of delivering affordable and quality hosting services depending on your web hosting needs.
How Can Web Hosts Offer Services at Affordable Rates?
Many customers may wonder how in fact is it that hosting providers offer web hosting plans at such affordable rates. There are a couple of reasons for the affordability. Competition is a huge factor in the reasoning behind cheap web hosting. With new web hosting companies emerging every day seemingly by the hundreds, the competition tends to drive down the costs. For example, if web hosting company A provides the exact same hosting features as company for several dollars more every month, chances are the potential customer will opt for the cheaper package offering the identical bang for the buck.
Furthermore, it’s caused providers to advance with the technological times and provide the most and fasted features currently being offered by competitors. Web hosting features including unlimited storage space, bandwidth, e-mail accounts, MySQL databases, FTP access, respectable network uptimes, cPanel support and quality customer support are generally included in most hosting packages.
Another factor in cheap web hosting is the fact that a single server is shared among multiple users. By allocating web hosting space to numerous customers, it allows the web host to save on resource and additional maintenance costs. Although customers share one server, hosting resources such as disk space, bandwidth, free domain names, MySQL and FTP access are shared among customers to support individual websites. While shared hosting has many advantages, however, it also has its drawbacks. Larger websites with heavy traffic flow don’t make very good candidates for shared hosting; instead Virtual Private Servers are the better option.
Conclusion
Although there are many more very affordable web hosting providers, it is important to perform in-depth research to find only those hosts that offer an abundance of free features and services at very affordable prices. Even small business ventures have the ability to launch and maintain a professional-looking website on any budget. Just remember when choosing a web hosting provider to make an initial assessment of your hosting needs, and then determine which best accomdates your website needs.
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An Overview of the Pros, Cons, and Types of Managed Web Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsDedicated web hosting is usually seen as the top of the hosting industry, offering unparalleled access to customized Web server resources that are only allowed to be utilized by one webmaster at any given time. The majority of cheap web hosting plans offered by major web hosting providers are operating within the shared hosting environment, which is much less robust than dedicated hosting because you have to share a web server with hundreds of other website owners, which usually amounts to thousands of other websites.
While dedicated hosting is definitely preferable over shared or some types of VPS hosting, not all dedicated hosting types are the same. The enhanced functionality and additional capabilities offered with a dedicated server come with difficult server administration duties that must be performed to ensure optimal server performance. Fortunately, managed hosting provides an all-inclusive solution that does not require the webmaster to be familiar with Web server administration. The following paragraphs provide a brief overview of the pros, cons, and types of managed web hosting.
Partially Managed Versus Fully Managed Web Hosting
There are two main types of managed web hosting – partially managed hosting and fully managed hosting. However, the boundaries that separate these two types of managed hosting are not always made clear by individual web hosting providers. For example, what one web hosting provider may call fully managed, may be another hosting provider’s idea of a partially managed plan. In general, a fully managed hosting plan will include 24-hour customer service, on-site technical support, and fully managed server administration and performance maintenance. On the other hand, a partially managed web hosting plan would only provide services such as routine server resets, and ensuring basic functionality of the server. Partially managed hosting is therefore only ideal for webmasters on a budget that are experienced with server administration. The following are the pros and cons of fully managed hosting.
Pros of Fully Managed Hosting
Perhaps the most appealing advantage of fully managed web hosting is the ability to focus on more important tasks associated with managing an online business, while the managed hosting provider handles all of the administrative server duties on a continual basis. Since you no longer have to update, optimize, and maintain the performance of your web server, you can boost the productivity of your business in other areas, expanding your outreach into more diverse endeavors. Instead of spending several hours of your day trying to fix technological bugs within hosting control panels and performing server maintenance, you can spend the same amount of time soliciting new clients and expanding your business for greater profits.
Cons of Fully Managed Hosting
Unfortunately, for webmasters that are experienced and demand the utmost control over their web server, a fully managed hosting plan may not be the best solution. Along with the simplified server management and included technical support comes reduced freedom over the software configuration of your server. Hosting providers tend to think that webmasters that do not know how to use a Web server should not have full control over it, as they may accidentally cause software errors that will consume the time of the hosting providers employees unnecessarily. Fully managed hosting also tends to cost more than other types of dedicated hosting.
Shared Web Hosting vs Free Web Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsShared web hosting is the cheapest and most common type available, which is one of the reasons it is often compared to other hosting types. Free web hosting on the other hand is often despised by serous webmaster, and many people do not believe it is worthy of any comparison. However, both free and shared web hosting have their applications, and many people use both of them with success on a daily basis. If you’re wondering whether you should spend money on a shared hosting plan, then you may want to consider the following comparison between shared and free web hosting.
Reliability
Many people have problems with the reliability of shared hosting because shared web servers have a tendency to experience server down time. Shared hosting plan are often criticized by experienced webmasters because of the lack of reliability in comparison to VPS and dedicated hosting plans. Free web hosting on the other hand is nearly as reliable as shared hosting, as long as the limitations of the hosting plan are not exceeded. Unfortunately, the limits of free and hared hosting plans differ greatly depending upon the provider and the specific plan.
Limitations
Although each plan is unique, in general shared hosting plans have far less limitations than free web hosting. Free hosting plan are designed for novice webmasters that need a way to get a little bit of hosting experience without spending money on a hosting plan. There are very few web sites on the internet that utilize free web hosting for an extended period of time, simply because there are too many limitations involved with nearly every free web hosting plan. Nonetheless, a lot of personal sites and portfolio sites do utilize free hosting, as it is certainly possible to host several pages on a free hosing account without having any problems.
Choices
In general, shared web hosting provides many more options because there are a wide variety of plans available. However, free web hosting also comes in many forms, as there are many ways to establish a site without ever setting up a hosting account. For example. Web 2.0 sites lie Squidoo and Hubpages give individuals the opportunity to set up their own pages, or as many pages as they’d like. If you are just looking for a way to put your opinion on the internet then web 2.0 is undoubtedly your best option. Most people don’t realize that they are spending money unnecessarily on shared hosting, when in fact they don’t even need a hosting plan. If you do not foresee the need for expansion then you may ant to investigate some of the free options available before purchasing a shared hosting plan.
Conclusion
If you’re planning on using free web hosting then you may want to consider the benefits of setting up a simple web 2.0 property. Shared hosting plans are great options for novice webmasters, and should only be considered by individuals that are planning to operate their we site regularly. Purchasing a shard hosting plan does not make sense if you do not intend to utilize it to its full potential.
Cheap VPS Web Hosting vs. Cheap Shared Web Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsCheap web hosting is often frowned upon by more experience webmasters, however it is a beacon of hope for aspiring web site owners on a very limited budget. Cheap web hosting gives the average person a gateway into the web hosting community by giving them the ability to host their web site for only a few dollars a month. However, it is debatable as to which kind of cheap web hosting is the best.
VPS web hosting is very different from shared hosting because it comes in a wide range of plans, all of which are priced very differently, with the cheapest plans starting at about $10 per month and the most expensive costing about $200 or more per month. The cheapest shared hosting plan on the other hand only costs about $3 per month, with the most expensive type costing about $50 per month. The following information will attempt to draw an accurate comparison of the two hosting types in their cheapest forms.
Fees and Startup Costs
Since budgeting is of obvious importance when shopping for cheap web hosting plans, it is best to compare the fees and startup costs associated with each type of hosting plan first. The fees associated with VPS hosting plans will differ greatly depending upon the hosting company, however most hosting providers do charge a setup fee when the plan is first purchased. Even so, most cheap VPS plans do not require you to pay more than one month upfront, which greatly diminishes the total setup costs. Cheap shared hosting plans usually do not have nay setup fees, however many of them require you to pay at least a year upfront, which makes the startup costs equal to or greater than that of a cheap VPS hosting plan.
Features and Limitations
Even though novice webmasters do not need a very comprehensive hosting plan, it is still beneficial to have access to the best possible hosting plan for your money. Shared web hosting plans are known for having strict limitations that cannot be bypassed without upgrading your plan to a more expensive solution. However, VPS hosting is slightly more expandable because it is possible to instantly draw resources from another part of the server and allocate them to your site during unexpected traffic surges. If you are expecting traffic surges then you may want to consider a VPS hosting plan, as they are better at accommodating sudden server loads, and they are easier to upgrade.
Support and Reliability
As in every other industry, you will undoubtedly get what you pay for. As such, cheap web shooting plans of all types are notorious for being unreliable and inconsistent. However, the reliability and support of a hosting plan will usually depend primarily on the hosting provider. Nonetheless, VPS hosting is consistently more reliable than shared hosting based on the server environment and how it is configured. Ideally, a new webmaster on a budget should look for a cheap VPS hosting plan from a reliable hosting provider with no startup fees and a flexible billing schedule.