Top Website HostingLearn about the Best Web Hosts in the Industry
Although there are many website hosting options that you can choose from today, this discussion is primarily based on my first-hand experience with various web hosts throughout the past few years. The host you select can make a big impact in determining your success online so make sure to take your time to understand the various options available and what each has to offer to your business. There is no way out of researching for a good host provider unless you plan on getting your own dedicated server for your website. Servers are big powerful computers that securely store your website’s data and files on the Internet so that it can be visible to your visitors. The problem with having your own server is the maintenance and energy it takes to maintain the server and keep it up at all times. Moreover, you will also need to ensure that backups of your website’s data and files are performed regularly. If your server goes down, so does your website. Ever tried visiting a website that was down due to issues with its host? You don’t want to be that site ! Because of the cost and complexities involved in getting your own dedicated server, it is best to hand off this responsibility to the professionals. There are so many professionals today in the market place that getting a reliable and abundant service for us the consumers is getting easier and cheaper by the day. No matter what the size and needs of your online business are, there are host providers today that are guaranteed to meet those needs at a very reasonable price. So forget about getting your own server and consider some of the top website hosting options discussed in this section. The single most important piece of advice I have is regardless of which option you choose, ensure that the host company is well established and has a good customer satisfaction history. Hosting is one of the biggest key components of your website and you want to take your time getting this right.
GoDaddy provides Website Tonight, a basic HTML Editor that has a plethora of website templates already pre-designed so that you can just choose one and load up your text and images and you are good to go. It’s like visiting a website and making changes to it with just the aid of your mouse. I highly recommend this option for a beginner wanting to gain some experience with websites. View the WebSite Tonight tour.
Website Tonight is flexible enough to allow you to integrate sophisticated technology to your website such as Flash programming, discussion forums and digital file display (audio and video) amongst many others. And while this option comes with hundreds of professionally pre-designed HTML templates, you can choose to use your own HTML code to modify the appearance of your website as you wish. Click here to see some of the templates available to you with WebSite Tonight.
Click here to read more about Photo Galleries and creating websites to hold a collection of images.
GoDaddy has a collection of very powerful tools meant for more of an intermediary to advanced user. They are also known for their dedicated web hosting, firewall infrastructure and security technology. With a GoDaddy hosting connection, you will have an access to a forum that is a one stop collection of free website related resources (i.e. Wordpress if you are looking for a Blog solution). All you need to do is click on the install button and the tool you select will automatically be incorporated into your website. I prefer purchasing Website Tonight from GoDaddy as the prices are generally better and you can often get better discounts by purchasing website related tools in bulk. Click here to see WebSite Tonight’s features or Click here to sign up for GoDaddy's hosting plan.
Yahoo web hosting offers a very simple 3 step wizard to get online immediately. You can choose from one of its hundreds of website design templates, personalize them and get them online instantly. All the functionality is pretty self explanatory. I personally like this option because of the web design tools it offers. The functionality is very broad yet the use is simplistic. It’s also a great option for someone wanting to put up an eCommerce website relatively quick. Yahoo web hosting offers various tools to gather customer information and tracking tools to monitor the performance of your website and visitor behavior. I had a very good experience the two times I used Yahoo Web Hosting.
I was impressed with the ease at which I was able to use the tools available. You get so much more than you pay for. And to top it all of, Yahoo provides 24 hour customer service which is well spoken off on discussion forums and bulletin boards on the Internet. Click here to sign-up with Yahoo Web Hosting
Host Monster is one of the leading names in the hosting industry. When I used Host Monster, I was impressed with their usability and customer support. The set-up was extremely easy and quick and they also handed out free credits for Yahoo and Google ads to advertise the store. Host Monster’s plans include unlimited hosting space, bandwidth, email accounts, SSH, SSL, FTP, website statistics, your own domain, MS Front Page extensions, free HTML editor (tons of free templates), free simple set-up, Blogs, shopping carts, forums, photo galleries all with no long term commitments. You can pay as you go with this package. They host over 300,000 domains, have live chat option, 24/7 customer service and you can get started for as low as $6.95 per month. Host Monster prides itself most on its customer service and promises that you will never be on hold for more than 2 minutes whenever you call them.
I am very impressed with their hosting quality, features and customer support. I might be a bit biased but I really believe BlueHost is superior to most host providers whether you compare the environment, control panels, eMail services or extras. Their services are extremely affordable for what you get. You can get the standard hosting plan for as low as 6.95 BlueHost provides unlimited hosting, file transfer, 2,500 email accounts, SSH, SSL, FTP, tracking tools, CGI, Ruby, Perl, PHP, MySQL, Front Page extensions (great for MS Front Page users), your own personalized domain, free HTML editor and 24/7 customer support.
If you prefer to communicate online, BlueHost also offers a live chat function on their website. Their website also has a comprehensive help center and discussion forum. You can tell this company is a leader in its industry by the amount of activity within their website itself. BlueHost is definitely committed to excellence in web hosting. Click here to sign-up with BlueHost
This option is best for you if you plan on conducting financial transaction online. If your website is eCommerce based and you are selling products or services online, PowWeb comes built in with a shopping cart. This is not to say that you have to use Powweb’s shopping cart but it’s certainly available for your consideration.
In all honesty however, host server space is of the least concerns to me personally as every host provider provides more than enough space, even in their most basic plans. I’ve never encountered space shortage issues in my experience with websites. PowWeb is also very user friendly and a good option for beginners. Their service also comes with a built in webpage creation tool and a number of pre designed templates. Again, you don’t have to use any of these tools if you choose not to; but they are there for your convenience if you choose to use them. Here is a quick summary of Powweb as a hosting provider:
Click here to sign up with PowWeb.
Simply provide visitors with much needed valuable information and SBI will help you monetize your website’s traffic. With SBI you don’t need to register a domain on your own, or choose your own host option or get an HTML editor. SBI is an all encompassing tool that will help you create your website, optimize it and market it so that it can generate a lot of money from the traffic it generates. Don’t get me wrong, the other programs I have talked about in this section are also very good solutions. I just don’t believe that anything as good as SBI has been created yet for someone who wants to build a website with the sole purpose of making a lot of money on the Internet. SBI also has several built-in tools that allow you to optimize and market your website online with ease. SBI will help you automatically find the most profitable areas of interest on the Internet and subsequently what domain to register. SBI has customized built in keyword tools that will help u tweak your website’s content to perfection to gain the high visibility needed for success on the Internet.
The other software discussed on this website is great, but no software provides the visitor traffic that SBI does. As a website operator, you are often left on your own to climb up the ranks of Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and the other big names in the search engine industry. Gaining visibility is the biggest cause of frustration amongst website operators. SBI has built in tools that constantly analyze the content of your website and provides you with the ongoing updates needed to make your business successful. Why? Because SBI is in the business to make you successful. Their employees are solely dedicated to staying on top of recent trends and changes in the world of search engines. They make sure that you’re the first one to know and are able to make the changes necessary to continue to stay on top. All that said you don’t even have to have a product to sell. Leave that up to SBI and you are guaranteed an idea that you can work on to start making money on the Internet. Just look at this site. I am selling you absolutely nothing yet I am making money. All you have to do is stick to the plan provided by SBI and remain patient and persistent. This is NOT a get rich overnight scheme so stop right here if that is what you are thinking. SBI can help you build a self sustaining business only if you are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to build it up front; and you will be reaping the rewards on autopilot for years to come.
Secondary Website Hosting Options
Below are web hosts that are also very good. However, I have very limited experience using them. The bulk of my experience with the 6 hosts below is limited to assisting others create their website and publish them online. Most of these were already researched and brought over to me by the people I was assisting build and publish a website. From the many I have dealt with, I have chosen the 6 below because of the ease at which I was able to use their tools and make use of their additional features. They are all affordable and come with great customer support.
You can get started for $6.95 per month. Always check for promotions (i.e. buy one get one free), these guys run one quite often.
Their plans start as low as $7.96 per month and include ASP, NET 2.0, SSI, Perl, PHP, script library, comprehensive control panel, site statistic tools, spam/virus blocking software, 99.9% uptime guarantee and 24/7 customer support. They also have a live chat option on their website. Host Gator is also a big name in the hosting industry. Given its top quality and capability, you can take full benefit of this popular host for as low as $4.95 per month. At this price Host Gator truly “eats up the competition”. My one and only experience with Host Gator was while building a website for an existing eBay seller. They were adamant that I used Host Gator as the host provider. My experience was wonderful and painless. Hot Gator offers many standard hosting plans, dedicated website hosting as well as reseller hosting. (on a side note their reseller program is one of the best) Their most popular plan comes with 600 gigs of hosting space, 6,000 gigabytes of bandwidth, free setup, panel hosting, 24/7 support, a free website HTML editor (over 4,500 pre-designed templates), CGI, PHP, RoR, Perl, MySQL, SSH, SSL, IMAP, POP and a 99.9% uptime guarantee! If you are currently with another web host, Host Gator will welcome you with top class hospitality by providing free domain transfers, free file transfers, free database transfers and free script transfers. Many others will ask you to pay fees for such services – there simply is no reason to however. I would recommend this host any day to anyone whether you are a beginner or a professional. You can be assured with their 45 day money back guarantee. Check their website for promotions all year long. It is not uncommon to find 20% off deals on your initial order. I was able to get in on one of these deals when I built my eCommerce website. Click here to sign-up with Host Gator.
You can get hosting for as low as $4.95 per month. If you see a price higher than this, wait around for a bit as they run specials frequently. Lunarpages has a great reputation with dedicated website hosting.
Check for special offers. When I was looking into these guys I saw a 6 month free special for a limited time only. Webhostingpad provides a free domain, free set-up, unlimited hosting space and bandwidth amongst tons of other features. They also offer free professional consulting and top notch customer service.
In any case, you get everything expected from a quality web host along with your free domain name. They provide an excellent guide on teaching how to drive traffic to your website. This is an invaluable resource since we all know that traffic is king when it comes to the Internet and websites. Make sure to get this when you sign up with them.
I do recommend however selecting from one of the six top website hosting options discussed at the beginning of this discussion. Below are additional resources of Website Hosting: An Excellent forum on Top Website Hosting. Here is a neat Blog I found some time back on what to look for in your host.
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