Web Hosting Tips

The Web expands every day, and so do your choices. How do you find a web host to meet your business needs? There are many providers, each one with a different focus and services designed for a specific segment of the market. As you study your options, you might consider the following factors:

How much should you spend to host your e-business?
What should you get for your money?
What operating system is best for your web site?
What do you get out of a world-class data center?




How much should you spend to host your e-business?

You've probably seen those low cost web hosting advertisements that offer massive amounts of data storage for ridiculously low prices. You get what you pay for. Data storage is generally cheap and easy to supply, however it is much more difficult to provide customers with uninterrupted high-speed access, quality customer care, technical expertise, and guaranteed uptime.
At the other end of the scale almost all ISP's that also offer low cost web hosting services , severely overcharge you! Issuing out a few crumbs of Megabytes of storage space for upwards of US$19.95.

It is important to make sure exactly what you need, and what you are getting, before you jump at a bargain. Choose a low cost web hosting provider offering prices commensurate with the range and quality of its services.

HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting offers the most reliable and affordable web presence solutions on the Internet. For a few dollars per month, your web site can perform with the best.

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What should you get for your money?

Data Storage (Disk Space)
In order to have your web files served to the world, you need to have a generous amount of disk space on our servers where you can upload your pages, images, sound clips ,etc. and store them. HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting allows you to manage your space through FTP.

Bandwidth (Data Transfer)
Bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted or received through a unit of time. In low cost web hosting , bandwidth is consumed when visitors make requests for files on your web site and download them to their personal computers. When you add up the total of all files downloaded off of your site in a particular month, your total should be lower than the amount allotted with your hosting plan. If it is not, your file sizes may be too large or you may be generating a lot of hits - in which case you may need to upgrade to a larger hosting plan or to a dedicated hosting server.

Your Own Domain Name
A true virtual domain name (www.mycompany.com) gives your site instant credibility. New customers have a good first impression, and returning visitors don't have to remember where your site is hosted in order to reach you. It's like having a direct phone number rather than an extension.

POP3 E-mail Accounts
You can send and receive mail through Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) accounts, so that your e-mail addresses end in your web site's unique domain name.

E-mail Aliases, Forwarding and Autoresponders
E-mail aliases and forwarding allow you to set up names@yourdomain.com that forward to a POP3 e-mail account that you may already have. This allows you to check multiple aliases by downloading mail from one e-mail account. Autoresponders are also a great feature with hosting accounts since you can automatically respond to customer e-mails sent to a particular address with a standard message, like "Thank you for contacting our Sales team. We will be responding to your e-mail within 24 hours."

Technical Support
You may be new to low cost web hosting or an expert, either way, you will want your hosting provider to have great technical support online.This way, when you have a question or concern you can find the help you need in a timely manner and have the ability to find the information in the format you wish to receive it.

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What operating system is best for your web site?

An operating system or "platform," such as Microsoft's Windows NT or DOS is the basic set of commands that tell your computer how to open applications and store files. In the early days of Internet activity, most servers operated on a Unix platform, an extremely powerful and flexible system that requires considerable technical expertise to administrate. Unix is still as popular as ever, but today you have a choice: Windows NT and Unix variations such as Sun Microsystem's Solaris, Silicon Grahics' Irix, and Berkeley's BSD.

Experts offer widely different opinions as to which platform works best for web sites. In the end, the choice depends largely on what you want to do with your site. Unix servers are compatible with certain Microsoft extensions and applications, for example, MS SQL (a database program) or Microsoft FrontPage (a web authoring tool). You might however,be more comfortable operating your site on a Windows NT platform. On the other hand, many engineers prefer the flexibility, security, and control of Unix servers. Unix also allows for more web sites per server, lowering the cost of hosting per account. HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting operates on unix servers.

As your site grows in size and complexity, in all likelihood you'll decide that a particular platform is desirable. It's best to anticipate this contingency and choose a web host that offers scalable systems and backs them up with technical expertise. HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting offers a wide variety of hosting packages - and we're always looking toward the future and the latest in server technology. When you host with a market leader like HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting, you can be sure that the best technology that becomes available will be available for your web site.

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What do you get out of a world-class data center?

Redundancy
No matter how excellent the equipment, no matter how expert the engineers, technology fails occasionally. A web host with multiple routers and switches, secondary servers, and UPS systems with backup generators can provide consistent, high-speed access and guarantee at least 99% uptime.

Web hosting companies, unlike Internet Service Providers (ISPs), have high-speed lines connected to more than one Internet "backbone" provider. This is crucial to reliable web site performance, since network service can be compromised by technical glitches and unexpected surges in traffic. A redundant network design allows a web host to direct traffic away from Internet "hotspots" and along the fastest routes - and your site remains available even if one network's service is interrupted.

Reliability
Excellent low cost web hosting providers can offer this guarantee because they've invested in the best automatic monitoring equipment; hired experienced engineers who can anticipate problems and emergencies; and installed redundant backup systems to take over the moment anything goes wrong.

If a web host guarantees only 95% uptime, keep in mind that this translates into 8.4 hours of down time per week: the equivalent of a "closed" sign on the door of your 24-hour business.

Security
It takes many layers of Internet security, from password protection to firewall barriers, to prevent determined hackers from wreaking havoc with your Web data. Most hosting companies offer some assurance that their network and software are protected from unwanted intrusions such as spamming and hijacking. Make sure the hosting company you choose has enough security measures in place to ensure that your data is completely protected.

HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting 's servers are well protected, both physically and digitally. Our advanced firewall system keeps intruders out of our network; our switches are configured to prevent data snooping; and we monitor site security 24 hours a day.

Servers
Although it's possible to host a web site on the CPU of an average personal computer, responsive web sites require high-speed SCSI disk drives, error-correcting RAM, and the most powerful microprocessors available. Reliable providers host their sites on equipment built to withstand the constant bombardment of web traffic. HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting is constantly upgrading to maintain state-of-the-art technology.

Speed
Web hosting companies typically connect to the Internet through T (Transmission), OC (Optical Carrier), and DS (Digital Signal) lines. Many smaller low cost web hosting providers still use T1's to connect your site to the world at a rate of 1.544 megabits per second (Mbps). HOSTTRADE low cost web hosting uses redundant OC-3(155 Mbps) lines with expansion plans to OC-48(2,888 Mbps) lines. All this to offer our customers the bandwidth they need for multiple user sessions on their site at any given time.

The best low cost web hosting companies use redundant lines to ensure that customers' sites remain responsive even if their primary Internet connections are temporarily unavailable. It's a good idea to determine which providers offer backup connections fast enough to maintain your site's performance in the event of a primary line failure.

In addition to offering the fastest network connections, a host should provision its lines and circuits to use less than 50% of available bandwidth. Overburdened network connections will inevitably result in poor site performance - in fact, a lightly used T1 line will transfer data faster than an overused T3 connection.

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