Delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services, CODANK Web Design and Internet Marketing Company is one of Charlotte’s top rated design firms.

Established in 2007, CODANK has dedicated itself to providing clients both locally and nationally with outstanding professional service. The company targets either small to medium businesses or motivated entrepreneurs who don’t mind the satisfaction they receive from affordable designs.

CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company offers top-notch services that include:

Web Design and Development – Web Hosting, Project Management, Content Management Systems, E-Commerce, Web Applications

Graphic Design – Logo Design, Brand Identity

Internet Marketing – Internet Consulting, Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing

CODANK’s proven records of developing world class E-Commerce web sites, converting or typing into companies’ existing legacy systems, or developing customized content management solutions has provided development professionals with the experience required to deliver the results that meet our client’s expectations.As a Microsoft registered business partner, CODANK Web Design also extends Microsoft based technologies to its customers making it simple to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives to each project.

As a Microsoft registered business partner, CODANK Web Design also extends Microsoft based technologies to its customers making it simple to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies to achieve the goals and objectives of each project.

CODANK’s success is contributed to its inventive team of web specialist, creative designers, writers, programmers and marketing professionals that know how to get not only physical marketable results but online results as well.

If you are interested in learning more about CODANK Charlotte Web Design’s development process or have a question about their services, please visit www.codank.com

One of the best, and newest, home based affiliate marketing tactics is called a replicating web site. Many farsighted affiliate companies offering a home business opportunity provide Internet marketing to its distributors in this brand new way. Before replicating Web sites the primary income driver for these distributors, and their primary Internet marketing tactic for their home business, were the product and compensation plans. Now, it’s the replicating Web site, which enhances the distributor’s efforts at duplication and viral marketing. With these sites, the distributor can build national or even global distributor organizations for her or his Internet home business.
The first step in creating the massive downlines by means of the replicating Web site is for the company to develop its own corporate Web site. This corporate site should include the history of the firm, information about all its products and services, the distributor compensation program, and forms for enrollment as an affiliate partner. Anyone should be able, once it’s completed, to go to this site and buy the company products and / or sign up as an affiliate. No live person is needed to complete either transaction.
So, each home business distributor for the sponsoring affiliate company is offered his or her own Internet marketing site. This site links directly to the corporate site. The prospective distributors are sent first to the site of the referring distributor, whose link takes the prospect to the enrollment forms. The home business distributor’s Internet site is now an affiliate marketing opportunity for both product sales and growth of the distributor’s downline of additional distributors.
Once the products are purchased through the e-commerce enabled company site, or the prospect enrolls as an affiliate the referring distributor is notified. With most affiliate companies, the distributor receives an e-mailed notification of every site visit or inquiry. Should something not result in a sale or enrollment, the referring distributor can take action, answering questions, answering objections and hopefully closing the sale.
The one disadvantage to a replicating Web site for someone who wants a home based affiliate business on the Internet is the marketing and content control that the corporation holds. Letting the company maintain this control, however, maintains the branding of the firm and the distributor’s affiliation with its national marketing success. It also leaves the distributor to focus on sales rather than technical oversight.
With an Internet business home replicating site as a marketing opportunity it’s possible to build a large organization of distributors and customers under you without leaving your home office. You don’t need to meet you’re the distributors in your downline or any of your customers. Your replicating Web site does the communicating for you.

You’ve seen the ads every part of the internet with people saying they make $100, $500 or even $1000 a day through affiliate marketing. As some of these people are fakes and are only trying to prop up the newest affiliate marketing product, some of them do really make a lot of money doing affiliate marketing. The reality is, affiliate marketing can be a very money-making business—provided you know exactly what to look ahead to when you get into it. It won’t always be an easy road, but if you follow the guidelines below, you’ll be well on your way to making good money with beginner affiliate marketing.

Tip #1: Don’t Expect Instant Results

Wouldn’t it be great if you got into affiliate marketing today and earned $100? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Affiliate marketing, much like any company on the internet, takes time to make up. You probably won’t be making $100 within a day or two of becoming an affiliate marketer. In reality, you’ll be fortunate if you make $100 within a week of becoming an affiliate marketer. But you can make that much or more a day if you merely stick with affiliate marketing. This is the major thing that people seem to have difficulty with when it comes to beginner affiliate marketing: simply staying with it even when things are slow in the beginning.

Tip #2: Don’t Pay Hundreds of Dollars for a Program!

Just like those ads you’ve seen, there are also hundreds—if not thousands—of beginner affiliate marketing programs out there that declare to teach you how to make lots of money with affiliate marketing. And while some will do just this, the majority of them won’t earn you crouch. That’s why it’s a good idea to stay away from affiliate marketing programs that charge a lot of money, as more often than not, they’ll end up costing you more money than you ever pull in with them.

Tip #3: Find a Adviser

Affiliate marketing is not a very easy business to crack into, which is why so many people choose to try it, but often discontinue trying within a couple weeks of giving it a shot. The reality is, most people who not succeed at affiliate marketing have ignored a critical step of the method of becoming a successful affiliate marketer: finding an adviser. An adviser is somebody who is already doing well with affiliate marketing, and can assist you with starting out. Many unbeaten affiliate marketers are enthusiastic to give guidance to newbie’s, either for at no cost or for a value. Whether you have to pay or not, finding a adviser is important.

Tip #4: Copywriting

Since you are going to be advertising products to others, having copywriting is very important. If you’re not a copywriter by now, you might think about taking the time to be trained how to write articles and other content to promote the products you’re advertising. Bum-marketing, a frequently used and very successful form of affiliate marketing relies on copywriting by the affiliate marketer. If you’re sure that you can’t write articles on the products by yourself, you might think about appointing a good copywriter. Having good copywriting will let you to turn into successful at beginner affiliate marketing.

Tip #5: Learn the New Trends

One thing that regularly makes affiliate marketing hard for newbie is the truth that it is continuously changing. A technique that works today may not work tomorrow. You have to be prepared to “change with the times,” or else your affiliate marketing calling is fated to be unsuccessful. Nevertheless, if you are keen to familiarize yourself to whatsoever is thrown at you in affiliate marketing, you’ll do tremendously well with it—in instant.

http://autoprofitsmarketing.com

As a marketing coach, I’ve probably heard every excuse in the book why people can’t market their businesses. You wouldn’t believe some of the whoppers people tell when they’re trying to justify their failure to attract clients.Now don’t get me wrong; it’s not that failing to attract clients makes one a bad person. Not at all. It’s just that when I hear the following excuses I feel compelled to call ‘em as I see ‘em: Baloney!If you have the mistaken notion that any of these lame excuses are the reason that your business isn’t successful, get a clue. These are just EXCUSES for people who fail, not reasons not to succeed (a subtle, yet important, difference).1. “I’m too honest to market.” OK, this little gem is at the top of my list because it is both a lie AND an insult! I am a marketer by trade, and I am honest, so I know for a fact that marketing is not a dishonest process or practice, nor does it have to be dishonest to be effective. What’s dishonest is when you overstate your results, or if you truly don’t believe that your product or service is worth what you charge, or if you deliberately intend to defraud people. In that case, the problem is with you, not marketing, so stop insulting the rest of us. 2. “I’m too modest to market myself.” Listen up, princess, every word out of your mouth doesn’t have to be about YOU. Think about what your clients want, need and actually get, and that’ll keep the conversation going for as long as you need it to go. Hey, if you’re not comfortable saying great things about yourself, start saying great things about what your clients get out of working with you. Or better yet, let them say it for you in the form of testimonials. But don’t think that you have to be the subject of every fascinating conversation you have with prospects.3. “I’m too shy to market myself.” As a highly sensitive person myself, you’d think I’d have more sympathy for this excuse, but I don’t. If you want to be successful, know right now that it may not always be comfortable, and you have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed, even if that means going outside your comfort zone. Shyness is a habit that can be overcome with practice, so join Toastmasters, or see a therapist if that’s what it is going to take, but get over yourself. I promise you will be glad you did.4. “I’m too creative to market myself.” This excuse is really lame! Marketing is a very creative process, and since you have literally thousands of options when structuring your marketing plans, creativity is an asset, not a liability. Unless you’re one of those I-am-a-self-indulgent-whiner-who-refuses-to-accept-any-responsibility-for-my-actions-and-masks-that-character-flaw-with-claims-of-misunderstood-or-excessive-creativity kinds of people, in which case I say, grow up, and while you’re at it, think up a more creative excuse.5. “I don’t have enough time to market my business.” OK, this excuse sounds good at first, but in reality it doesn’t wash. Either you are already marketing but not acknowledging your marketing activities as such, or your business is so busy that you don’t need to market at all, which makes this excuse unnecessary. So if you haven’t got all the business you want but you don’t have time to market, you need to reevaluate how you’re spending your time, and make some tough decisions about when you are going to do what you need to do to get those clients.6. “I don’t have enough money to market my business.” Again, you get points for trying, but this is still just an excuse, because good marketing isn’t about money, it’s about relationships. You can start very modestly with your marketing plans, and spend nothing but your time. And let me tell you, if you can’t get some traction spending 40 hours a week trying to build your business relationships, maybe you should rethink your decision to be an entrepreneur.7. “I have no personal network to market to.” Oh please, you’ve got to have a better excuse than this! If you truly have no family, no friends, no colleagues, no acquaintances or no former co-workers, then start meeting some. I don’t care if you’ve been on a desert island for the past 20 years, you can always meet people through networking meetings, trade associations, classes, social clubs, or at the gym! Just pick up the phone and call the people you want to know, get out there and mingle, and your personal network will grow quickly.8. “My product or service is too hard to explain to people.” Fine. Quit explaining what you do, and start talking about what your customers GET from working with you. Do you help your customers get thinner, smarter, married, fitter, their first home, or what? Seriously, nobody cares about what you do, really; people care about what they get. Get it?9. “My product or service is so good that it should sell itself.” Sure, that’s probably true if your product is a talking monkey, or your clients are all telepaths, but other than that, it’s going to take a little effort on your part, bucko, so start creating some momentum in the marketplace and you’ll find that your product needs less and less of your efforts to sell, until one day it almost seems like it DOES sell itself!10. “My niche is too narrow and I can’t find my customers.” Hogwash. What this usually means is that you haven’t yet defined your customer, because you can’t find what you haven’t identified (and don’t give me that you’ll-know-them-when-you-see-them line). Start with a matrix of situation and need to identify that client. For example, let’s say you’re a financial planner, and you think your clients are “people who want to get their financial affairs in order.” Think instead about who needs to get their financial affairs in order, and you’ll probably come up with something like “married couples with children who have $X in assets and need to protect those assets with planning.” And you can certainly find those people, can’t you?So we’ve blasted all these lousy excuses, but we haven’t yet addressed the biggest excuse of all: fear. Most of the time I’ve found that the more excuses my clients offer for not moving forward with their businesses, the more fearful they are.Hey, I understand, and I’ve been there myself. But what it comes down to is this: Are you more afraid of succeeding (or failing) than you are of going back to work for that idiot boss you always end up working for? If the answer is that you’re more afraid of facing the personal responsibility of entrepreneurship than of any garbage your boss could throw at you, then good-bye entrepreneur, and hello wage-slave.But if you think that the worst possible scenario is working for some moron again, and that you’ll happily work like a dog if that’s what it takes just so you don’t have to slink back into that stinking office with your tail between your legs, good for you. It’s time to forget about excuses, and start figuring out how to make this whole self-employed thing work for you.The first thing to understand is that fear is OK. Yes, we’ve all been fearful (and yes, I include myself in that “we” statement). It can be scary picking up the phone. It can be scary going to a sales meeting.But at the end of the day, isn’t your product or service of value to someone? Aren’t people glad (or going to be glad) that you’ve solved a problem for them? So stop worrying and fearing the marketing process, and remember this: Marketing is really nothing more than the process of developing relationships, and you, my friend, can do that in your sleep.Veronika (Ronnie) Noize, the Marketing Coach, is a successful Vancouver, WA-based entrepreneur, author, speaker, and Certified Professional Coach.  Through coaching, classes and workshops, Ronnie helps small businesses attract more clients. For free marketing resources including articles and valuable marketing tools, visit her web site at http://www.sohomarketingguru.com/

Comparing all the online money making opportunities, affiliate marketing programs might be the most popular opportunity you can find online. These programs often offer good money and some can even give you 75% commission on every product you sell. Life doesn’t get better than this.

Although some affiliate marketing programs do pay you handsomely, you still need to be aware of the earning potential of these programs. It is common that the more commission an affiliate marketing program pays you, the more effort you need to put in to earn from the affiliate marketing program.

If you aren’t ready to work hard for your affiliate marketing business, you can choose a lower commission affiliate marketing program and if you want to be successful in any affiliate marketing programs, you need to have certain tools to help you on that.

Since the internet offers numerous choices to run your business, you are given the flexibility to choose either a paying or free marketing tool. Of course it will take you more time to earn from the affiliate marketing program if you choose the free method. If you opt for the paying marketing tool, be prepared to invest some money.

Then again there is a third way to enjoy results from your affiliate marketing program which is to mix and match both the marketing tools. You can hire a ghostwriter to write articles for you and you submit the articles manually. If you choose to promote your affiliate marketing program in this way, just make sure that you can manage your time and finance properly.

And the most important criteria that set you apart from a successful affiliate marketer is that a successful affiliate marketer will share his success or failure with others. There is no shame to reveal your failure and there is no secret to hide your success. Can you do that?

If you can do that, you will enjoy more success to your affiliate marketing business as other more experienced affiliate marketers might be able to help you analyze your weakness in promoting your affiliate marketing programs. These comments are so invaluable that it can help you earn your first thousand dollar online almost immediately. 

Since you have earned so much money with other affiliate marketers’ help, why not help other affiliate marketing newbie yourself? You can create your own affiliate marketing program and use it as a material to teach other newbie to excel in affiliate marketing.

You will then earn money as a merchant with the newbie helping to promote your product while the newbie earn from your affiliate marketing program commission. A fair deal, don’t you think?

At this point, you may be wondering just how search engines decide which site goes where. Well, the bad news is, the exact formula search engines use to rank web sites is a bit of a mystery; much like the secret ingredient in the recipe for my grandma’s famous barbeque sauce.

If the secret every got out, web sites would attempt to manipulate the system for better ranking and the major engines are having none of it.

The good news is that you don’t have to know the secret ingredient to be extremely successful with the major engines. A few basic rules of thumb are all you really need.

#1 Tip: Search engines rank web pages based on content and the relevance of that content to the search terms. Here’s the logic behind this ranking system. If someone is looking for information about famous barbeque sauce and you happen to have a web page with content that feature the phrase “famous barbeque sauce” a number of times, chances are that page is about famous barbeque sauce and everybody gets what they want.

The engines have done their job, the person search the terms feels like they’ve found what they where looking for and your page gets traffic.

That being said…

You won’t be able to pull the old “barbeque sauce, barbeque sauce, barbeque sauce” routine; call it quality content and think it’s going to fly with the engines. Where some might find such a gag somewhat amusing (myself included), the search engines are all business when it comes to relevancy.

Your best bet is to stick with good solid content and a healthy sprinkle of your “famous barbeque sauce”, and you’ll create the kind of flavor for your site that everyone will love.

So, the general rule of thumb for a good ranking would be…

Keyword in your headline; keyword at least twice within the first two paragraphs, and wrap up your conclusion with (you guessed it…) keyword and good quality content to fill out the rest of your web page.

Now-a-days Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is best used as a Marketing Platform to make money online. One can make money online only by driving traffic to their website.

You can drive traffic by optimizing your website using some techniques based on Search Engines. So here are some SEO Tips to optimize your website.

Include your most important keywords both in the title and the description of your website so that we can submit it to the ODP with perfect descriptions and titles.

The most important aspect of your website is content. Without informative content users will quickly exit your site and not come back. Having tons of quality content on your site’s pages is a great way to develop visitor loyalty.

Once you have some good content on your site you will need to get some incoming links. Email other webmasters and ask if they would be willing to trade links. The more links coming to you from related sites the higher your page rank will be. Steer clear of link exchanges and link farms. These are being overused and the links you receive are usually worthless because those same sites link to thousands of others. Some search engines even penalize you for using these programs.

If your budget allows, pay for inclusion to a high page rank directory. I have heard stories of people who have gone from a PR 0 to a PR 5 in as little as two months just from getting listed in a high ranking directory. These directories also have lots of visitors so having a listing would also be good for increasing traffic to your web site.

In general the smaller and more classic your font is, the more it implies authority and respect.

Get Website traffic and top search engine rankings in as quick as 24 to 48 by uploading Internet videos to free hosting sites.

Link directories are the best way to start off, if you are trying to improve ranking. Another method to improve your search engine ranking is by submitting articles to article submission directories. This is an easy way to boost your website traffic. But, the benefits are only minimal. You can post a comment or answer questions asked in forum and mention your website in the signature link.

I hope the above article was of help. These are just basics; we have more and more SEO techniques to optimize your website. The Search Engine Optimization Company TheRealTraffic.com is well known for these techniques. We at Real Traffic use the best possible techniques to optimize your website and drive traffic to your website. Soon we will post another article on SEO Tips to provide you some authentic information on SEO.

In web hosting world there are many interesting events that take place. For a beginner it’s quite difficult to segregate between two hosting companies as all look alike in the beginning the difference is only found out afterwards when he/she gets shut down without warning.

The problem faced by beginners now a day is how to rely on a web host review when thousands are there. It is really impossible for anyone to review the thousands of web host out there, but it is in one’s favour if the user bases his/her web host review on high in demand providers. It is a fact that there are many top marketers having their own server, and one can’t afford to pay $200 or more monthly for one’s own server.

In this article we are going to discuss on the things which are helpful in preventing web host shut down and the ways by which one can learn how to use the forums to find recommendation for choosing a right web hosting provider.

For a beginner it is really difficult to digest that even the forums given are not very helpful. These forums are posted by people who are not having any good experience by the company.

Following are the four tips one should follow to get a good web host review:

1) Say no to unlimited domain names: One should always keep in mind not to go for unlimited domain names. Whenever a user creates a new account a provider automatically divide up his/her hosting bandwidth, it means that if one is just having 40 Gigs of bandwidth and he/she opts to divide it up by four domain names, in that case he/she must have used up all his/her bandwidth. Thus addition in any domain name will exceed the bandwidth as well. This is the policy adopted by cheap web hosting providers. By this way cheap hosting providers charges unlimited for extra bandwidth and user has to pay as he/she is not having any other choice. Thus one needs to be very careful regarding this matter.

2) Say yes to monthly payments: It is quite often that web hosting providers offer cheap prices in case user is making yearly payment. However in that case user will be in great loss as after paying the yearly amount he/she has already tied up with the company and now they will provide the services which are just useless and user have to accept it. Thus one should go with a company that is offering quarterly or monthly payment plan with money back guarantee.

3) First test by sending email: One should first test by sending a simple introductory email to check the response time. The response time of the host provider will tell everything about his/her services.

4) Ask for refund: One should always keep all the receipts safely and at any time if his/her site gets shut down, he/she should ask for refund from the provider if the payment is paid in advance. One should immediately file the complaint and should do all to get valuable money back.

Thus after keeping all the above 4 points in mind one will surely know how to get rid of problems and will safe his/her valuable money.

Before coming directly to characteristics of good and cheap web host first it’s better to have review of the fundamentals.

Defining Web Host.

A web host is a service provider that places websites of its customers on a server, which is connected to Internet.

For proving this facility a web hosting provider is generally having high-speed Internet connection as they have to host thousand of web sites on many servers depending upon requirement. Essentially the host providers rent out space where a user can get his website made available to whole world through www i.e. World Wide Web.

The best part of web hosting facility is that now its easy to manage the website even for a layman as all the technical aspects like maintenance of complicated server technology, technical maintenance etc us now the work of these providers. Now one can easily focus on his own Internet business for rest there is host provider.

Now coming to the point following are the features offered.

Features

The followings are the features available in most web hosting plans:

? Control Panel

A control panel is an interface by which access of website on web server is made possible, it helps in setting up and constantly updating as well as customizing the website. Some host providers customize their own control panel so as to enable them to upgrade and expand it when and where required.

? Disk space

Most of the sites that have less data or graphics or video clips or big downloadable files can use 50MB of disk space easily. This helps in further growth for reseller as he can use that space of host providers for other purpose.

? Bandwidth

It is the amount of data sends or received through a unit of time. When a visitor downloads files from website on his own computer then that time it is the bandwidth which is making that possible.

? Email Account

With the use of POP3 email accounts one can check email from Outlook, Netscape Mail, Eudora or any other Email software.

? Scripting language

As now the latest technology is based on Unix and Linux platform only host that support latest versions languages like php, perl and CGI must be selected as that can only provide the optimum utilization of money one is paying.

? Database

For displaying big amount of data like user accounts, stock prices, maps, Interactive news, message boards and forum etc that should be accessible also there is a need for an account that offers a database. For this MySQL, most popular and powerful built on Linux operating system is used. Besides language, many other features are also there like ability to handle millions of entries all at once, flexibility and speed allowing storage of logs and big pictures, ability to scale well under heavy traffic conditions that all together makes MySQL ideal for database-intensive or e-commerce-enabled Web sites.

Customer Support

Customer support is also an important criterion while selecting a good web host service and it is equally important both for an expert as well as a layman.

Following are the essentials for a good support system:

? size of the database.

Size of the database is an important feature as it helps in providing quick search for any answer and thus helps in getting solution of any problem without even bothering customer support staff. If the database is large its easy to search for information from it. Some web host providers even provide video tutorial guide, which helps in step-by-step setting up of account even for a layman.

? efficient customer staff

In order to get fast and good response quick customer support is a must. The following are few forms of customer support:

a. Email support

b. Phone support: Generally for sales and technique aspect it is used. A well-equipped and knowledgeable staff knows and problems and provide with immediate and relevant remedy without wastage of time.

Clove Chat support: Some web host companies like Lunar pages and Globat even have live chat support for their customers, but irrespective of how many support channels a company is offering its more important that the available staff is responsive to the need.

Price calculation on basis of ratio of Disk space to Bandwidth ratio What is the amount that one must pay depends upon the disk space and bandwidth that is available with the host plan. Thus price must be ascertained keeping in mind the above two factors.

Popularity

Besides all of the above features it’s all in vain if web host is not offering an effective marketing plan. It is so because if a web host provider is not having good customers or members as well as steady growth of them, then it’s not possible for them to survive in this competitive world.

The popularity of a particular web-hosting provider can be judged by the number of awards won as well as the reviews of other websites and also from the ranking in Alexa traffic.

All the hosting providers listed on our Top 10 Cheap Web Hosting Directory are among the top 40,000 most visited websites in the world.

Trustworthiness, Speed and Uptime Guarantee

For any company if its website is not available or accessible, then it tends to not only loosing of customer but also it hampers credibility therefore its important to check if web host provider is guaranteeing at least 99% uptime. However to ensure maximum uptime, installation of redundant back-up systems is quite important “Redundant means having an alternative Internet connection on the verge of interruption of main Internet connection. It tends to minimize downtime and is a part of host provider’s management system For a matter of speed, how fast a site is depends upon the types of network connections. Other matters like routing, web server set up and local area networks also play an important part but still they are after the factor of Internet connection.

Many hosting providers still connect to the Internet through T1, or T3 connections. However the best one would be one using OC (Optical Carrier) lines.

A T1 line offers data transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second), while a T3 line supplies data transfer rates of 43Mbps. OC-1 refers to a circuit that transmits 51.85Mbps. Higher levels are multiples of that speed. Ultra-High Speed OC3 and OC12 lines offer 155Mbps and 622Mbps respectively. Some hosting providers have connections to major Internet backbones at the speed of OC48 (2488Mbps) and OC96 (4976Mbps).

Web hosting may be defined as renting space on a web server in its simplest form. One should keep in mind that a website is a collection of files linked together by HTML code to display text and graphics on a computer. However website is not complete here until and unless it is displayed on the net. To make it visible for the world it has to be housed on a computer somewhere that has access to the Internet. This is not possible by just a computer rather special device is required termed as web server. A web server may be defined as a computer set up with special software that allows it to receive requests from the internet for the website files it has stored on it and to send those files out over the internet so that the requesting computer can display them.

Web server in addition to making site visible performs several other functions as well like it provides the ability to create email addresses based on one’s domain name and even helps in sending and receiving emails with them. There are several types of software installed on the web server that allows one’s website to run programs, create and manage databases, display video, etc. One must note that almost any type of computer can function as a web server, but it’s the software that’s on it that makes it a server.

When one goes buying a web hosting, the monthly fees to be paid includes cost for maintenance and upgrading of the server’s hardware and software, the cost of keeping it online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a secure data center with a fast and powerful internet connection, and cost of professional proving these services. It is surprising to know that it is possible to turn one’s home or office computer into a web server if one really desires, but it is just not economical. Therefore it is better to outsource it. There are several kinds of web hosting available which are discussed below:

Kinds of web hosting:

Shared Hosting – Through a shared server one can save a high amount. If one talks about the drawbacks then Spamming and blacklisting from different search engines are the key problems. Such problems arise due to the reason that several sites are assign to one particular IP address. One should demand for a separate IP address for his/her website (on additional monthly charges) to secure the user from such problems.

Dedicated Hosting –Dedicated servers are best for big, highly trafficked websites, which will require large amounts of server resources to run. One of the downsides to shared hosting is that the server’s resources are divided across all the sites it’s hosting and answering page requests for. If you are in a dedicated environment you can better monitor your server resources. The downside is that dedicated servers will run you generally $50 per month or more. Shared hosting can be purchased for as little as 5$ a month. Most small or medium sized businesses will have neither the website size or bandwidth requirements to make dedicated servers cost effective.

Server Co-Location – If one wants to have full control over every aspect of his/her web server, he/she might very well choose to buy one and maintain it himself/herself if he/she is having sufficient knowledge. Still there are possibilities that one is not having enough resources to keep his/her server completely safe from power outages, roof leaks, thieves, unwary employees and other problems and in addition it is not possible for him/her to keep it on the internet on a fast, high-bandwidth connection through out. Thus he/she needs a data center to provide those services for him/her.

Co-location is the center providing facilities like physical security on rental, continuous electrical power and a fast, reliable Internet connection for a server that one owns. However, the data center is not responsible for any of the hardware or software maintenance of a co-located server, rather user his/her self. Thus it is a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting if one is having the necessary expertise and time to run a web server by own.

There are several web hosts offering UNIX hosting and Windows hosting.

UNIX Hosting

There are several web servers in the world running mostly on UNIX. UNIX is an operating system originally developed for servers and networking. Till now many different versions of UNIX have been written by programmers around the world under the open-source protocol, which means that the code for the operating system is openly available so as to enable programmers to customize and make improvements when and where necessary. The two most popular forms of UNIX are Linux and BSD that comes in several varieties, like Red Hat Linux, Debian, SuSE, and FreeBSD. The best part of UNIX is most of above mentioned versions can be obtained free of cost, making UNIX hosting cheaper for a web host in comparison to other operating systems. Other plus points of UNIX are that UNIX hosting platforms are generally considered to be stable, secure, powerful and fast. That is the reason why most web programming applications can be performed by software that is available for a UNIX platform.

Windows Hosting

Another very popular operating system developed by Microsoft is Windows operating system, Windows Server 2003. Like every thing useful it is having price and can be obtained by purchasing a license, which in turn increases the cost of operation for the web host and usually results in higher hosting prices. This is considered a negative point as compared to UNIX. Plus points of Windows include it is mainly user friendly however it is generally considered to be less powerful and secure than UNIX for operating in a network environment. There are several scripting languages like ASP, ASP.NET, and Cold Fusion, which will only run on a Windows server, as will the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access database programs. Thus the above are some of the most popular scripts for certain web programming applications, and if one is thinking of using them while building his/her site, he/she will first definitely need to find a Windows host.

Before searching for a web host, it is essential to know some important terms used in hosting. They are discussed as under:

Storage or Disk space –As one’s website is a collection of files being offered on the Internet for viewing, it is necessary for storing them somewhere for retrieval and take up space. For each and every web server there is a limited amount of hard disk memory, which is divided up and offered to hosting customers. Different package levels are there, so as to enable to pay more for more space and vice versa divide specifically that space up. If one’s website expands its space then the user needs to buy extra space from the web host.

Bandwidth or Data Transfer –One of the crucial parts to verify is bandwidth. There are several sites, which loose their host due to excessive downloads causing budget going beyond their expectations. Occasionally, host even charges in hundreds of dollars for the additional bandwidth. One should confirm about this before dealing with any of the host. Usually, ideal-hosting providers deliver initial bandwidth of 25 to 50 GB to the users.

Uptime –It is a universal truth that if one talks about perfect web servers then they are the one, which would be up, and running and offering web pages to the world round the clock, whole year. But, it is also true that web servers are mere computers, and like any other computer, they may fail or needs repairing or updating. Often web hosts gives 99% uptime guarantee, and if they fail they refund a certain portion of user’s money depending on the amount of excess downtime they experienced.

Traffic Statistics – By traffic statistics we mean those programs that track visitors to one’s website. These programs are capable of telling how many times a user visited one site, how many visitors were unique and how many came back more than once, which pages were most popular, from where the visitors came to one’s site, what search terms they used in the search engines etc. In addition they offer several types of information which are useful for marketing one’s website to a target audience. There are several web hosts offering some sort of traffic statistics software with their hosting packages.

CGI Scripts – There are several web hosts offering a variety of free CGI scripts with their packages. CGI Scripts are the things like hit counters, guest books, form mail programs, message boards, and other programs that enable one website to perform commonly desired functions. Most CGI scripts are written in common programming languages like Perl, PHP or ASP.

Thus one should take care and keep all the above points in mind while selecting a web host.