These days your website is the most important aspect of promoting your business and it is extremely paramount that you have a good hosting service. Fortunately, excellent web hosting doesn’t have to be expensive. Technology has made today’s web hosting services so much better than they used to be. Now you can get affordable web hosting that is dependable and will keep your website up and running with no downtime. Downtime is the killer. You need to be sure your web hosting service has a good track record of keeping their websites up at all times and when there is a problem they have plenty of backup systems in place to keep your site out there.

Affordable web hosting is the only way to go. There is no reason to spend a lot of money on web hosting. Spend the money finding ways to further promote you business online. That is where money is well spent. It really is great that advances in technology have made web hosting affordable and easy to get. Web hosting should be mindless once it is up and running. You shouldn’t have to worry about a single thing once you get your site up. It’s the job of your web hosting service to make sure things are running smoothly. It’s your job to keep your business profitable.

The reason that affordable web hosting exists is that a good web hosting service is operating on volume. They have the resources needed to keep their customers up and running because they have a lot of customers and can spread the cost out amongst them. This is one of the signs of a good web hosting company. It is also important to remember to pick someone who is primarily a web hosting company and doesn’t dabble in a lot of other businesses. This keeps their product fresh and up and running. Affordable web hosting is available and if you need web hosting you shouldn’t spend more than you need to.

We can show you how our affordable web hosting can help you. Learn why you don’t have to pay a lot for web hosting at our website and see what we can do specifically to suit your website hosting needs. Our affordable web hosting service has everything you need to help promote your website all over cyber space. Having a huge presence in cyber space will boost sales.

Green Hosting is the term used to describe a web hosting company that chooses eco friendly manners of operation in some area of their company. We can all agree that any effort helps in a time where the news media includes a smog alert with the every day weather forecast. With web hosting companies providing so many options and very similar qualities of products and services, having the option of using a “green” web hosting company becomes the deal breaker for some.

Green Web Hosting usually refers to the way a company powers themselves. This means they use energy obtained through alternative methods such as wind, solar, geothermal, bio fuels, etc. Some of these companies use Renewable Energy Certificates (purchased certificates proving energy is being supplied by a renewable resource provider) to be certain that their power is generated via these means, and others actually generate their own green energy, have their own plants in some cases, maybe power their offices with these same energy saving resources, and often offer options to their employees like telecommuting.

If green web hosting is something you are considering, any of these methods of conservation are acceptable. After all, something is better than doing nothing! There are enough web hosts on the market today that even when only selecting from web hosts within this category, you have a wealth of different options to choose from, and you should still be able to find an affordable price. You’ll even notice that well established web hosting companies are turning to alternate methods for power. It is evident that green web hosting is the way of the future! Next on the agenda… saving the world!

In the age of the internet, if you don’t have a website, you are behind the times! Having a website is a professional way to present your products and services to your customers. The first place I turn when I need a new product or service is the internet (either to buy the product/service or research it.) Whether you are a restaurant who posts their menus, daily specials, and driving directions or a beauty shop who offers virtual makeover software to help your clients choose their new hairdo, the World Wide Web can be applied to any business to increase its profitability.

To begin your website, you will need make a few decisions and understand a few things to get it going:

First, you will need to choose your domain name. You may choose to purchase your domain name through your web hosting company or directly from an ICANN accredited registrar (see also “Pros and Cons of Free Domain Names.”) If it is available, we recommend using your business name in your domain name. This won’t be an option for everyone because if you have thought of it, someone else probably thought of it before you and bought the domain name. Do keep your name choice relevant to your product/service or business name while still keeping it as short and simple as possible. You don’t want to lose your clients to your competitor because you were trying to be clever with your spelling (or misspelling!) Definitely double-check your spelling! Following these pointers will help your customers find you without much thought.

Next, you will need to choose a web hosting company. A web host provides a server that runs constantly to “serve” your site to the internet. To put it simply, it is a place to “park” your site so others on the internet can see it. This server will have a constant connection to the internet with enough bandwidth to handle the traffic you get from people surfing your site. If you have DSL or other broadband service, you may be asking why you couldn’t host your own website on the internet. Although high-speed internet is fast for you to surf the internet with, it is not fast for sending outbound information which is what you would need to upload your information to the web. Broadband internet service is simply not designed to support this type of use. In addition to not being able to send the information out at a quick enough rate, there would also be a significant investment required just to be able to do it all yourself. You would need a server (separate dedicated computer) of your own to hold all of your site’s information and multiple broadband connections to ensure that if one connection goes down, you have a back-up for your site to stay online at all times. The cost of being your own host far outweighs any benefits. A web hosting company provides a much better service, and because they do this in bulk, they are able to offer the service at very reasonable rates.

Now that you know what web hosting is and why you need it, you will need to choose the best web hosting company for your service (see also “What to look for in a web hosting company.”) A few factors may sway your decision since you are a new site with special needs. You will need a website designed for your business. You may choose to have an independent contractor build a site for you or build a site yourself. If you choose to build your own, multiple web hosts offer free site builder programs in their service. These applications are an excellent alternative if you are not willing to invest in a unique site from a designer. If you plan on running any type of billing system or shopping cart on your site, you will need a web host that offers an SQL database system. MySQL is the most popular database application used on web hosting accounts. For taking payments, you will also want to make sure to protect your customers by choosing a host that offers SSL capabilities for security. Last, make sure that your web hosting company offers e-mail accounts. An e-mail address with your company’s name shows your customers you are a legitimate business and provides a professional means of contact.

In closing, this article is not the only information you will need to start your own site, but it will give you a great head start! Choose your web hosting company wisely, and ask them questions. They want your business, so they will be more than happy to answer your questions and walk you through the process. Good luck!

The most important thing to do when you select your web hosting company is to choose a reliable host, but even reliable hosts have occasional down time. We’d like to arm you with a few tips to make sure you avoid disaster when down time occurs.

There are a few preventative measures everyone should take to protect their business:

• First, keep an up to date copy of all of your files. Basically, if it is on your server, you need a current copy of it somewhere you can retrieve it in the event a server goes down.
• Second, keep daily back-ups of your databases on hand. You don’t want to lose all of your customer’s information if the server’s problem happens to be terminal.
• Lastly, having control of the DNS for your domain name is very important in times of trouble. (See Pros and Cons of Free Domain Names.) If you have DNS control, you can quickly point your domain to a new hosting company if you need to do so, and having back-up copies of all of your files and databases keeps you from having to wait on your current web hosting company to get their service back up to retrieve those copies of your own information.

These are all extremely important precautions to take to protect your hard work, but don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. Knowing that all of your information is safe by putting all of these safe guards in place will allow you to make an educated, rational decision.

Next, let’s focus on what to do if your web hosting service goes down. Contact your current web hosting company and ask how long they anticipate their service to be down. (ALWAYS keep your web hosting provider’s contact information in a place where you do not need the internet to access it. If your hosting company’s service is down, there is a pretty good chance their website is also down, and you will not have access to their contact information via their website.) If a fix is anticipated within a reasonable amount of time, it is easier to wait it out. Calculate ahead of time how long your business can handle being down. If the resolution time exceeds what your business can endure, by following our recommendations above, you will have all of the tools you need to move your service to a new web hosting company whose service IS up. (See our article on “Changing Web Hosting Companies“)

In conclusion, I’d like to reiterate that down time happens to everyone, so evaluate your web hosting provider on their over-all performance, (How often is their service down? How quickly do they resolve problems” etc…) Also, no one cares for your business like you do, so scrutinize and do what you must to make sure your livelihood is in prime condition!

Posted by Debbie at WebHostingDoc.com

Ask any business person the most important factor in a successful business, and you will always get the same answer, “Location, location, location!” On the internet, your domain name is your location. This is where your customers come to find you. Once your site is established, losing or having to change your domain name is the equivalent of hanging a “Closed” sign on the door with no forwarding address, so it is certainly a good idea to choose how your domain name is managed wisely.

Free domain names can be a great addition to your web hosting service. Many hosts offer multiple domains or even free domains for life, meaning they will continue to pay your yearly domain name subscriptions for you, but at what cost? Asking a few simple questions before taking the plunge can save you a lot of heartache down the road.

1. Who “owns” the domain?
   Full ownership of your domain is best, but either way, this is something you should know before beginning your transaction with a web host.
2. Can you change your domain settings?
   To change contact information or to move your website to another web hosting provider, you will need access to your domain settings.
3. This question is a derivative of the first two: If you leave that web hosting company, is the domain yours to keep? If not, can you pay a normal fee to have that domain transferred?

If you are not satisfied with the answers you receive from the web hosting company in question, it is better to purchase your domain name separately from a reputable, ICANN accredited domain registrar. Be sure to have other options if your web hosting provider doesn’t perform to your standards. Ensuring your domain name is actually yours is imperative to maintaining your identity on the internet.

With all of the competition in the web hosting industry, customers tend to change hosting providers at a significantly high rate. While changing providers seems like it could be a difficult or overwhelming task, WebHostingDoc.com will try to make it simple for you.

To begin changing your web hosting provider, you first need to select a new host. This will be a big factor in how easy or challenging moving you website will be. The degree of difficulty has everything to do with the control panel used by the hosting company you are with now. To make the move as smoothly as possible, you should try to find a new web hosting company that uses the same control panel as your current host. Most control panels have a “back-up” feature. You can use the back-up system from the control panel and download a single file that will include all of your email accounts, sub-domains, addon domains, SSL certificates, any databases that you may be using, and all of the files for your website. You can take this back-up file to your new hosting company and have it “restored” to the new hosting company’s server. There may be a bug here and there that will have to be manually corrected, but most hosting companies will either do the transfer for you or assist you as needed.

If you decide to use a hosting company with a different control panel than the one you use now, it would be best to contact the host first to see if a conversion tool is available from your back-up file to their control panel. A conversion tool can also make moving a simple process. Some of the tools available now will let you convert from one control panel type to another with minimal assistance. If a tool is not available, the other option will be a manual setup of all your hosting data. While this could be a long process, if you choose a good hosting company with a knowledgeable tech department, they can assist you in getting moved over to their control panel. Just remember to ask for this before you order. As a potential customer, you have great bargaining abilities BEFORE you order the product.

When a potential web hosting customer is looking for a new hosting provider, the customer comes across many “Top Ten” sites. Most of these sites rate web hosting companies based on commissions paid. What we are doing at webhostingdoc.com is breaking the standard. Though we are starting out, our web host ratings are based on our review of the company. We go to the web host, try out their support system, call them on their support line, and in some cases, set up hosting accounts to take them for a full test drive. As webhostingdoc.com gets more customer reviews, our rating of the web hosting companies will be updated. We realize that customers looking for new web hosting service want to hear from real customers with real experiences. We allow anyone to review their web hosting company, but to keep the company rating as true as possible, we weight the ratings submitted on several factors. The main factor we base a customer’s review on is if that client actually has a website hosted with the company they are reviewing. To do this, we ask that anyone who reviews a web hosting company tell us the domain name they have hosted with that particular company. This information is considered private and will not be posted anywhere on our site. What we do with this information is a simple test to confirm the site is hosted with the company that is being reviewed. If that domain is on the company’s servers, then the review holds more weight than a review without a domain.

For WedHostingDoc to get the most accurate reviews possible, we encourage everyone to visit our review page, find the web hosting company you use, and leave them a review. If the hosting company you use is not listed, send us a note on our contact form suggesting a new web host be added to our list. The 10 hosting companies on our main page are not the only companies we have reviews on. There is a full list of reviewed hosting companies available on our review page with more being added all of the time.

We would like to thank all of the customers who have already left reviews for hosting companies, and we are looking forward to providing the best rating and review site on the web for customers on the market for a new web hosting company today.

Some people allow themselves to be cost driven when choosing their web hosting service, but low cost alone is simply not enough in today’s competitive market. Price is certainly important, but value, quality, and reliability are much more desirable traits in a web hosting company than cheap service. A good web hosting company should have rates that are reasonable and consistent with the value of their services. Sometimes this still means a very inexpensive rate since web hosting is in high demand, but always do your homework to ensure you are making the smart choice.

If not price, then what are the most important qualities to look for in a web hosting company? Reliable service is the number one most important detail in a web hosting service because if your web hosting service is down, NO ONE is seeing your website! If you are also a web hosting reseller, then no one is seeing your customer’s websites either, and we all know that’s bad for business! As a reseller, downtime also brings your dependability into question, so for the sake of everyone’s reputation, choose a dependable source!


Now we all know things happen from time to time, and you will never see 100% guaranteed uptime from anyone. You will find in your search many 99.9% uptime guarantees. If there’s no guarantee directly advertised, don’t shy away - just ask.

When downtimes do occur, technical support MUST be superb. Knowledge bases are excellent resources for quick answers to questions and common problems, but when real technical issues occur, I want immediate help. Support tickets are great as an organized way of getting your problem reported. The most important factor of a support ticket is the response time. Make sure your web hosting company has a good track record for response and resolution to their support ticket submissions. Initial responses should be less than one hour. The parameter of the problem will dictate the resolution time, but you need to know they are working on it. I also love to see a technical support phone number or live chat 24/7, but excellent response time on trouble tickets eases my mind when these are not available.

Last but not least, let’s talk features. Determine what you need to support your site, which features are important, and what can be compromised if necessary. Many web hosts today offer unlimited disk space / data storage and unlimited bandwidth a.k.a. website traffic / data transfer. About 5% of all web hosting customers need a remarkable amount of disk space and bandwidth, but for the rest of us, take no less than 1GB of disk space and 20GB of bandwidth in this competitive web hosting market.  If the company you are looking at offers unlimited on these features for a good price, why not! So compare and choose what you like to narrow it down to your perfect web host.

Posted by Debbie at WebHostingDoc.com