In this highly competitive industry of web hosting, having a faster connection inherently means you are one up against your competitors when advertising your web hosting services. To a web master’s perspective, this is a good thing, as the speeds of web hosting servers go up, the benefits they  bring to a website, especially a business one, are immeasurable. Of course, there is a limit as to how fast the web hosts can be, but at this point in time, the fastest web hosts are boasting T3 connections which are only loaded at 50% bandwidth. This allows the web host to provide its subscribers with the fastest web hosting available to technology today.

There are many benefits of having a fast web host. A fast loading page is likely to keep the visitors browsing through the website as compared to a slow loading host. This allows for business websites to retain their traffic effectively. This is not the only benefit though. If data is transferred quickly it means that there will be a lower latency on the server, which in turn reduces the lag on your website. This is particularly crucial for various social networking websites and game sites where there is a lot of navigation between various web pages. Of course, there are many other benefits and these two are merely an example of what advantages fast web hosting have over their slower counterparts.

There are many web hosts available these days, and it is often difficult to identify which web host is the fastest. A good method would be to browse through web hosting blogs, forums, and directories. These may be able to give you a general idea or picture of which web hosts are faster or slower. This is just personal opinion though, and you may need a more accurate test in order to get a better idea. Many web hosts advertise a T3 connection with low bandwidth usage, and of course this is in their interest to do so. However, it is not enough just to see what the features page of the web host states, it can be often better to test it out yourself. There are many websites with plugins where you can test out how fast a website loads. Try to find websites of different web hosts which have the same bandwidth usage or web space and then test them out using these online services.

All in all, a fast web host is generally a good thing to have. However you must also take notice of the other parts of web hosting, namely the web space, bandwidth, and other services such as site builder and content management systems. Ultimately, picking the right web host is more important than picking a fast web host, although more often than not, these two will coincide. In any case, you need to take careful note to which web host you opt for. A fast web host is not necessarily a good one especially if it provides poor technical service or features.

Previously the difference between Linux and Windows hosting made a huge difference. Picking which operating system to host your website made a huge difference in what you could do with the server and what you could accomplish with the website. However, in today’s context of cross-system web hosting, there is little that practically separates these two operating systems: Linux and Windows.

The first unique difference is how you access the server. Generally, both offer FTP access to your files, however, Linux is the only one that offers telnet or ssh access. This is probably due to the target audience that each operating system targets. While windows is targeted to the mass public, linux is probably more focused in that it provides many more features that would only be demanded by programmers and people familiar with computing and programming. In any case, while this may seem like a fundamental difference, there really is very little to separate FTP from telnet or ssh in the practical sense. While FTP allows you to download the file to work locally, telnet and ssh allows you to modify the root file on the web server by using unix commands.

The second difference between linux and windows hosting is that windows and linux support different languages. Linux tends to be associated with PHP, Perl and CGI while Windows is usually associated with ColdFusion and ASP. The database languages are also usually different, with Windows favoring Access while Linux users use MySQL. Windows also writes its pages in .htm format while Linux writes its web pages in .html. Ultimately these differences are minor, but can make significant difference if you are not prepared for it. Trying to modify Access files while you are using a computer that only has Linux can often be a surprising exercise in futility for the beginning programmer.

In terms of security, people tend to argue against Windows, citing a whole host of vulnerabilities. This is correct in a sense; while Linux tends to have the same amount of vulnerabilities, it is patched and updated faster due to its open source and free nature. This is in stark contrast to Windows vulnerabilities which are usually patched every time a new service pack is released. However, security also depends largely on your network administrator. With good administrators, your website is safe regardless of OS.

Ultimately, the choice is yours to make, whether you prefer windows or Linux. It is better to pick a web host based on its features and service rather than on what operating system it is running on its web servers. As the difference between the two is very little. However, if your website particularly requires a certain language due to the programmers you work with or any other language, it would be prudent to check for system compatibility before subscribing to a web host. If you do not require such specific details, you should simply sit back and let the web host handle these complicated technical details and focus on your website itself. After all, the content is way more important than the programming language or the OS of the web servers.

Introduction

Almost everybody needs a website. Every business, no matter the size, can enhance its prospects with a website. A website allows you to sell or reach millions of people with ease. You also have the added advantage of managing your business at the click of a mouse. Given the importance of websites, it becomes a matter of necessity to have one. But building a website requires knowledge of coding, html, programming, graphic design and excellent copywriting. If you do not have all of these skills, what do you do? If you do not have the time to put together hundreds of pictures, thousands of words and tens of pages, what do you do? This scenario leads us to the issue of quick deployment of websites. In what way can we quickly get our information onto the net? In other words, how can we get our sites running in les less an hour?

Fortunately, there are several options to help in this direction. There are many tools, software and packages to help us publish our content onto the web without having knowledge about html or web design. Once you can type, you can get your information online.

In this guide, we take a look at the various ways we can get our sites operational quickly. Contrary to opinion, a website need not take hours to do. Getting your information onto the net should not necessarily be a matter of days. Within an hour, you can get published without having to know anything about web design.

Whether for fun or business, you can manage your web publishing in a timely manner. We show you how. You will be amazed to learn that, the tools you need to get this fast turnaround are with you everyday and you may have on several occasions come across them.

The various option described here are not supposed to be utilized en bloc. Depending on your individual needs and situation, one option may be more viable than the other. The essence is to show you what is available so you can conveniently adopt or implement the choice that offers the most of benefits.

Blogs

Blogs originally started as online journals that enabled users to make posts about their daily lives. Later they became fully fledged websites favored by many because of its ease of management and deployment.

Basically, a blog is an easy to use website that allows speedy and simplified publishing of text and images onto the internet. They are mostly free on the Internet. There are several of them, including Blogger, Xanga, TypePad, and LiveJournal.

Blogs have thousands of attributes and features, but the most outstanding of them all is the ease and speed with which you can generate a website with them. Many people begin their online presence with a blog. The reason is simple. You don’t need any html or programming skills to deploy a blog. They are superbly fast to implement.

To obtain a blog, you can visit any of the provider websites and sign up for an account. That’s all you need. The next thing is to make entries into your blog. All posts you make are published instantly o the web. You don’t wait for any process to complete. You write, you click, you publish.

The blog interface is designed to facilitate speedy entries. You go to your dashboard, which is the platform you use to manage the blog, and click on create a message, post a message or create an entry. The phrase differs from provider to provider, but they all refer to writing. You will be presented with a text box into which you will write the title of your post. The title is usually about 10 words long. After this entry, you will come to the body of the post. In this box, you will write all you want to. You are not limited in words length as in the title. You will have tools to enable you to bolden, italicize or otherwise format the text in any way you want. No html or coding is necessary. After the entry, you can click on Add Image text or icon to add an image to the blog. That’s it. You click Publish and your post is live. Your entry is immediately published to the net.

Blogs offer website owners a smart and quicker way to post information to the internet. If you are in a hurry and want to get your information onto the internet in minutes, blogs offer you a quick option. The intuitive and graphical nature of the blog also facilitates your entries and contributes to the overall expedited publication of information onto the internet.

Turnkey websites

Another quick way to get your site running in minutes is by the use of turnkey websites. Turnkey websites are fully functional websites developed for particular themes. So we can have a blog turnkey website which talks about blogs, an automobile turnkey website that discuses cars and a PC turnkey website that contains information on computers. You will not have to worry about designing the site or loading it with content. The information and text you need to run the site plus all the images required are sold as part of the package. You will just need a web host and domain name to make the site go online.

Turnkey websites assist website owners with an easy access to online presence. Within minutes, you can load your website and then display the content to your web users. The site owner is relieved of the stress associated with writing articles, looking for information, developing images and getting the back end aspect of the site going. You leave all of this to the turnkey site sellers.

Many turnkey sites come with complete management capabilities, so you don’t need any skills in web design or programming to be able to manage them. The sellers understand that most website owners are more businessmen than techies, so the turnkey sites are made to be managed with all simplicity.

They come with pre installed forms, shopping carts, search capabilities and even images. All that a buyer needs to do is to host it. The turnkey website has been pretested under thousands of scenarios and certified to be of the highest quality. They will fit every type of hosting, Windows or Linux. Again, they don’t require large amounts disk space or bandwidth to run.
Turnkey sites remove the stress out of web site design. You will find out that all the hard work has been done by the sellers and all you have to do us to host it and enjoy your internet presence. You will not need to do any research to get the best images or text for the site. You have everything done on your behalf.
If you do not have the software, time or skill to design simple or elaborate websites, one of the easy ways out is to buy a turnkey website. In minutes you will have your website rolling on the internet with all the necessary capabilities installed.
If you are looking for a cheap alternative to website design, turnkey sites will be an option as well. They cost less and are the easiest to manage. You will not worry about scripts not working, images not right or text not appropriate. All you get is a complete website that is ready to be published on the internet the moment you buy it.

Domain name

One of the prime needs of anyone contemplating an Internet presence is a domain name. You need a domain name to be able to reach out to your site visitors for they need to get your address so they can visit your site.
A domain name is simply the address of your website. An example is www.buildwesbite.com or www.domain.info.
Since the domain name represents you or your business, you will have to take a lot of factors into consideration when making a choice. First the name should be memorable. Www.buildawebsite.com would be better than www.websitebuildingsite.com. People need to remember your site easily. If you have a business and it is quite known, you can use that name. For example, www.ibm.com would attract more visitors than www.computers.com. People looking for IBM machines would simply append the .com to the company name and then reach your site. Additionally, your domain name should be short, easy to spell, not confusing and reflect the content of your site.

A domain name is easy to obtain. You should visit the website of a domain name registrar and click on the buy domain or any similar link you will see. You will find a list of domain names and their prices. Usually, .com, .info, .net and .org are very cheap. They usually cost $5 to $10. Once you make up your mind on the extension you want, you will input your preferred name into the registrar’s registration text box. From here, the system will verify if that name is available. If it is not available, you will have to try another extension or modify your name.
Once the registration is through, you will proceed to the shopping cart and then make payment. The domain details would then be sent to the email address you provided in the domain purchase process. The details will contain your username, login password and the page from which you will login to manage your domain. For most of the time, registrars also sell web hosting so you will only go to the hoisting console and then start managing your website with content. If you are only buying the domain and then using it for a website hosted elsewhere, you will be given the particulars to use for the site.
Within the same day, you will be able to load your website content to the site and give the address out to people to visit. The web hosting company will give you access to your hosting account from which you will manage your web files and load content.
Your website becomes live now and you can draw as many visitors you want to it.

Existing websites

Buying or acquiring a pre-designed website offers a quick and easy way to bring content to the web. You do not need to write any piece of code, nor do you have to go about seeking which images to use. You have everything already setup and published to the web.

The hassles of registration and bureaucratic processes associated with the purchase of hosting is also eliminated by using an existing website, and all of these tools contribute to a speedy implementation of content and web publishing.

All the time you would have spent consuming infrastructure needed to get a site going would have already been dealt with if you buy a website. Hosting and domain name services which consume a lot of time would have been catered for by the previous owner. All you have to do now is to take over and then begin managing. You are not going to waste time by starting from the basics.

There are many sites on the web that offer pre-designed and existing websites for sale. These sites have been previously set up and are been offered for sale. Some people design sites, launch them and then sell them off. That’s their business. Buying from them relieves you of laborious administrative processes and time wasting activities associated with hosting, domain name search, design hassles and deployment. Perhaps the most important relief that new owners get from purchasing existing websites is content development. Getting your site filled with information is a time consuming process, as you have to research keywords, write the huge loads of content, format them one by one and get them onto the site.

Buying a website requires that you take due care. You will have to ascertain ownership by finding out whose details are in the DNS records.  These records will establish ownership and make sure that you buy from the rightful owners. Usually, the one whose details appears in the DNS records holds the password and the login credentials that you need to manage the domain name and the hosting service.

Buying or acquiring an existing website is your quick way to getting your content onto the net. All the petty details that can get you bogged down for hours and possibly days have already been dealt with. You simply take over the site and then have your content posted onto the web. There is hardly any other faster way to get yourself published on the internet.

Hosting

A quickly designed website requires a quick host. Going about your hosting services can be quite bothersome. There are thousands of web hosts on the web and choosing one that will you give you speedy and efficient implementation of your website can be tricky.

We take a look at how to locate a good hosting service provider and get your website deployed on the net in minutes.

The first point is to choose a host that offers domain services as well. So you buy the address, then you deploy from the same company. Buying a domain name from one company and hosting it o another firm’s servers take as a lot of time and effort. For people hard pressed for time, this option may not be feasible.

Point number two is to look for a host that will offer you control panel – an easy to manage control panel. Code based interfaces take long to manage and will bog you down. Go for web hosts that will give you a graphical interface. One good choice is cpanel. Cpanel is a WYSIWYG tool for managing your website. No code, no programming or html knowledge is required. You just point and click.

If a web host requires extensive paperwork and sign up procedures to get you space for your files, you must avoid it. There are many that will let you buy your hosting in seconds and get your site going in that fraction of time as well. You only need an email address and you are given space to host your files.

For quick deployment of websites you would also have to get a hosting service provider who will map your hosting space to your domain name. With this service, you will only indicate during the purchasing process that you want to host the website on a domain you already own with the company. The wizard will then guide you through the process that will associate your domain name within the hosting you are buying. This way, you can deploy your site in one go instead of going though additional steps to configure your site to your new website address.

Getting your site off the ground quickly requires a web hosting service that is quick as well. Buy both services at one place and get your pages onto the internet in a matter of minutes, not days.

Hosting websites using web builders

Web builders enable you to design and host websites within minutes. They have an easy to use interface that is similar to MS Word. You do not need any knowledge in programming or website design to build your pages. You just point and go. Getting a site ready in minutes would be a breeze with website builders.

Especially made for newbies and professionals who need to get their websites going in minutes and not days, website builders have WYSIWYG or GUI consoles from which you can manage all aspects of the design from text input to images insertions. You will not need a single line of coding. All you need to do is to launch the software and then type what you want.

Website builders have been built into various web hosting control panels. One of such tools is the Templates Express program found in cpanel. This software is actually part of the Fantastico suite that comes with all cpanel consoles. With this software, you can build websites within minutes. It helps you build websites within stressful programming. The program has over 56 web design formats from which you can choose the most appropriate one that meets your needs. You can launch the software from the same control panel that you use to manage your files, check your web stats and run scripts for your website. The Templates Express program requires no programming knowledge. Once you launch the program, you are walked trough a series of steps till you have your website launched. The wizard will be just a matter of point and click so you not waste any time at all.

Another website builder you may want to try for quick website building is the CoffeeCup HTML Editor. It is a simple tool used to generate web pages in minutes. You just drag and drop the features you want for your website and you are ready to go with your web pages.  The interface and menus are arranged just like the ones we have in MS Word – graphical, simple and intuitive.  Coffecup has the capability of sending your webs files straight to your website if you are designing offline. After you have designed your website, you will not need to log in to your web host to load your files. From the program you can publish the website you just created to your hosting account.

Website builders help build sites in minutes. For novices and busy professionals, they serve as the ideal way to get online presence without much effort. They simply point and click and the get whole websites published. You don’t need to have any elaborate html skills. You only need the builder which can be managed online or offline and then you are set with your website. Web builders will assist you design several hundred web pages in minutes and the also help you upload them to the website in a matter of minutes.

For many people, web builders serve as the main means through which they can beat time, beat deadlines and beat price as well.

MS FrontPage

MS FrontPage deserves special mention. This software used for creating web pages quickly comes with the Microsoft Office Suite. So if you have the MS Office, you probably have MS FrontPage for free. Of all web creating software, MS FrontPage appears to be the easiest to use. The reason is, it has the same interface as Microsoft Word, the widely used Windows word processing application. The menus, the tool bars, the windows and the usage mechanisms, follow that of the MS Word.

MS FrontPage is also specially supported by Windows web hosts. There is a component called FrontPage Extensions that ensure that once you create your pages with MS FrontPage, you are assured of compatibility and secondary resources on the server.

These reasons make MS FrontPage a favorite tool with web designers. It has the ability to develop pages quickly and then launch these same pages on the internet at the same time. You will not need any knowledge of html, coding or programming to run MS FrontPage. You simply point and click.

To create pages on MS FrontPage, you simply type your text and add pictures. You use the same process you apply in MS Word. Infact, aside the task bar, you can hardly tell if you are running FrontPage or MS Word.  Like Word, you simply click File, go to New, choose a new page and begin typing. You can format the text as you want right inside the text area. You can make them bold, change the font, change the size and even create your links with GUI tools.

FrontPage comes with templates to ease your job of creating web pages. Templates are preset pages that are tailored towards specific themes. So you have templates for creating sites that relate to computer, cars or houses. These templates provide quick launch websites as you only add text and then have the software do everything else for you.

Publishing your web content to the net is a breeze. From the software, you will click the Publish button and the wizard will initiate the publishing process. You will be prompted for a login to your web host and then your files will be loaded onto your server. The pages you so publish are immediately available on the web for viewing.

Themed websites for sale

One other way to quickly launch your website is to use themed websites for sale or for free. Themed websites are sites about a particular industry or subject. An example of a themed website is web hosting. A themed website is different from a turnkey website in many ways. A themed website may not require hosting from you, they do not have the back end engines that come with turnkey sites and are usually less elaborate in content and format than turnkey websites. They are useful for quickly deploying information onto the net. A themed website may be a single page sales letter or a three page product description.

A themed page is available for free or for a fee. Many affiliate sites offer themed websites about their products that anyone can pick up and then use as their own pages. You would only need to change a code or two to personalize it so that any commission accruing to the website can be credited to you. Themed websites lack flexibility but are extremely easy to deploy and manage.

It affords you the opportunity to work quickly, intelligently and productively. The absence of any html programming requirement makes it an easy option for non technical people who just need to put information on the internet. HTML can be quite laborious and technically intensive. If you have no software skills, then themed websites will be your option towards a fully functional website in minutes.

Without any experience in web design, you can take the themed website en bloc and put it into your web hosting account. Within minutes, you have a full website viewable over the internet.

If you needed a rapidly deployed, DIY website, you have a choice now. Get a themed website and get that information on the net in minutes. You no longer have to go through elaborate designs, programming or tweaking. You have the pages set and ready to go.

Themed websites work for people without technical experience. Not everyone is an html programmer so themed website come to the rescue of the technically deficient individual. The only tools you would need to get a fully functional themed website ready for the net is 10 minutes and internet access.

For people who appreciate speed and quick deployment of web information, themed websites comes as the obvious choice.

Desktop HTML Editors

Unlike other web builders that can be launched and used online, the desktop web builder must be installed on a PC before you can create pages with them. The fact that you will need it on your PC does not take away the speed and flexibility with which you can create websites. Desktop web builders have the same capability of quick web page deployment as their online versions. Many of them also have in built ftp programs that will allow you to upload your website onto your servers and have your website running in an hour.

We take look at the most common and versatile web builders which are also called desktop html editors.

Dreamweaver is a favored html editor. It has a graphical user interface and operates on Windows.  To aid quick building of websites, the interface has several icons and wizards to help both beginners and professional undertake web projects in a fraction of time.

Adobe Creative Suite is another desktop html editor worthy of consideration. This software has advanced image capabilities and rightly serves as both a web page builder and a graphics editor. If you needed to manage images quickly and deploy them onto the web, this may be an obvious choice.

Adobe GoLive is a high quality editor for image intensive websites. It has an interface similar to Photoshop. Infact, the software incorporates some of the powerful image processing and editing functions of Photoshop, one of the world’s leading image editing software.

Expression Web comes from Microsoft. As expected of the software giant, the software comes with several easy to manage templates and tools to help web designers create several pages in less time.  Expression Web will suit website owners seeking to create web content for hosting on Windows Servers.

Microsoft Expression Studio is Microsoft’s version of Adobe Creative Suite. The program is very powerful for graphics and will give you outstanding and colorful images for use on your website.

Homesite is another website creator with utmost simplicity. The console is graphical and you can easily upload your content to the web trough its inbuilt ftp.The software is very small and highly recommended for designers with small capacity PCs.

Conclusion

You do not have to be an expert to quickly deploy your web pages to the internet. Almost everyone can get his site up and running in an hour. You can create the pages online or offline and just upload them to your web server in that instant.

With simple tools, you can have your site up and running in an hour. These tools are designed with utmost efficiency in mind. They have been created to facilitate quick creation of web pages and speedy loading of files onto web servers as well.

Choosing a web host is as important as the content you will put on the site itself. The success of your site will, to a large extent, depend on the versatility of your web host. In this guide, we take a look at services provided by web hosting companies and the features website owners should consider when making a choice.

A web host is a company that provides space to keep your files so they can be viewed across the internet. Most companies charge a fee for such services, and the amount charged will vary from company to company. It would be mostly dependent on the kind of services you are seeking from the firm and the length of time.

Information about your website is kept on computers called servers. These servers are high speed machines that are capable of delivering web pages to your site visitors faster than ordinary home PCs can.

The web host will price its services accordingly to the length of time the service is been offered to the website owner. Periods are usually calculated on a monthly basis, though a few charge annual fees. Each fee will correspond to a set of features as requested by the client.

The price of each item will depend on the level of sophiscation of the service. For example, if you wanted a security or e-commerce service, your price will be higher than someone who just wanted a place to keep files. Running a website requires shopping cart activities will is more costly than ordinary web space.

You do not own the equipment from which the hosting service is delivered to you, you only rent the space. When you quit the service, the same space will be allocated to another buyer.

The prices, features and characteristics of the web host are usually all displayed at their website. On many occasions you will find a table that spells out the various services, differences, similarities and points that help the customer make a choice.

So, given the jobs that web hosts do, how do we choose one that will best meet our needs? There is no simple answer to this question. Our choice will depend on so many things, including the kind of site we are hosting, our budget and the technology used to create the site.  Notwithstanding these peculiarities, web hosts must be able to provide bottom-line services irrespective of your individual needs. The next topics take a look at the issues we must take note of when selecting a web host for our website.

Bandwidth Allotment

Bandwidth is the amount of traffic allocated to a website. It is also called data transfer. As users visit and leave your website, they create traffic. This traffic represents wear and tear on the web host equipment so they charge website users accordingly. The more traffic you have for your website, the more bandwidth you will need. Sites that offer heavy applications such as chat, forum, software download and video uploads and download would have to get very high bandwidth.

You web host must be able to provide you with a high bandwidth if you are going to incur very heavy traffic at your website. You will not want to visit your site one day to see a Bandwidth Exceeded notice.
To calculate your bandwidth, you will have to make a projection of what services you will offer and how many people would visit your site in a day or month. If you forecast 100,000 visitors a month and each visitor browses 10 pages of about 60K size, then your bandwidth needed would be 100,000X10X60K=60,000,000 or 60GB.
So by this simple calculation, you realize that you need a bandwidth of 60GB.
The web host you choose must therefore offer you this amount of data traffic. If you have a simple website with only text and graphics, then 40GB would be just enough.
As you look for hosts, be careful not to be confused about the Unlimited Bandwidth offer used on many web host sites. This offer is different from actual bought bandwidth. The unlimited bandwidth offer is mostly used for small, shared hosting websites and it is usually unpaid for. The assumption is that small sites do not consume much bandwidth and would never exceed 40 GB bandwidth or thereabout, no matter what traffic they experience. If you anticipate heavy traffic, buy the required bandwidth as the unlimited bandwidth offer is not guaranteed.
If you have a small site but anticipate future growth, you should go for a hosting plan that allows you to upgrade to a higher bandwidth service.
Bandwidth is very important in website management. It is essential that you buy the right amount to keep your site running at all times.

Server-Side Functionality

Server side functionality refers to the ability of servers to execute programs that output onto web pages. They are scripts that reside on web servers and allow you to run interactive websites. For example, if you had a database of user names and passwords of all your website users, the program that offers the login authentication will be based on your server and not located on the website page. Almost every complex site such as membership and e-commerce ones will necessarily require server side functionality.
If you are offering such a site or any one that requires that such a program be run, you will need a web host which offers server side functionality. The server side functionality reduces the burden of web pages in most cases and enables sites to provide dynamic information to their users. It also reduces the size of web pages and resultantly makes sites load faster.
Many common Internet functionalities such as email and password management, polls, photo rating services, mailing lists, require server side functionality.
Your web host must provide the common functionalities used by almost every web page on the internet.  At the minimum, your host must offer you a CGI-BIN. This important server side script allows you to run interactive scripts such as guestbook and contact forms.

Another server side functionality will be the ability of your site to run ASP (Active Server Pages). This technology from Microsoft enables you to display dynamic pages. For example if you had a website that displayed search results according to the criteria specified by the user, then you will need the ASP functionality. Moreso, if your site was predominantly created with MS FrontPage, you will obviously need ASP. If you have a file in your website with the extension .asp, then you need a host with ASP capabilities.

PHP is another widely used script. PHP also generates dynamic content but its usage spans almost every known activity on the net. From membership sites to user authentication to online forms, PHP has been used in all of these.  If you have files with .php extensions, you must have a host that provides this script via their server. MySQL is an easy to use database that runs on servers. You will need this script to manage any type of database you have especially if you are not using a proprietary database such as MS SQL or Oracle. Infact, it is free and will easily integrate into any web page with ease. MYSQL goes with phpMyAdmin, a console which helps you to manage your database via a graphical user interface.
Your host must provide you with server side functionality to enable you get more from your website. You will have ease of management, be able to apply universal changes to your site and incorporate more interactivity into your website.

Control Panel

Another important feature to consider in your choice of web host is a control panel. A control panel is the platform from which you will manage all aspects of your website. This feature comes free with every web host and one that does not provide it to its customers must be a bad host.
The control panel will make the administration of your website a breeze. Usually, it has a graphical user interface that especially helps novices to run their websites without asking for too much help from the helpdesk. It also enables them to save time on many jobs that would have required hours or days of exquisite programming from expert software programmers.
The control panel allows the website owner to do many routine tasks including adding of websites, removing old pages, creating new email addresses and updating content. In the absence of a control panel, these tasks would be quite laborious and sometimes almost impossible to undertake accurately.
The web host must offer a control panel as part of its hosting service. The features of the control panel, together with the platform on which it runs must be clearly explained in the services page of the web host. It must be able to explain in detail what each feature of the control panel can do so the customer can see if it falls within their requirements and need.
Every web host must offer a control panel. You will need this feature to administer your website, and at the same time, run essential services for your website. If a web host does not offer this feature, you would have to find another one that does. The reason is quite simple – the control panel ensures that you are able to manage your site and do edits on them in a fraction of time. Many laborious tasks such as assigning emails and installing third party programs such as WordPress are facilitated with a control panel. No site owner can effectively run his website without a control panel. You definitely need a versatile control panel in order to make a successful website.
There are many types of control panels out there, but your choice must reflect the level of sophistication of your website.  If you are a beginner, or simply want ease of management, then Cpanel will be an obvious choice. Cpanel enables customers to view their web statistics in a graphic format, installs scripts such as WordPress, oscommerce and bulletin boards, creates new web pages using a graphical html builder and many more easy to do tasks. It is the most widely used control panel on the web and every web host catering to beginners must offer one for free. Another control panel that you may want to consider is PLESK, which is a little more sophisticated and dynamic than Cpanel. Plesk will appeal to advanced users.

Disk space

Disk space refers to the amount of storage space your web host accords you on their server. The web pages, text, images and databases that you use on your website all require some place to keep them. The web host will aggregate all these and conveniently store them on their servers. The volume of disk space required will depend on the type of site you are running. If you have a simple site, you will need just 1 GB of data storage but a membership or a video site with hundred of thousands of users will need some 10GB or even more.
By necessity, every web host will offer some disk space, but the volume offered must match your website needs. You will particularly need a disk space service that allows you to upgrade to a bigger storage as your website grows. This way, you are assured that your site will be up and running as your membership site or video site grows.

In calculating your disk space, you will have to take into account non-web page files, for example, you will need to consider the number of email accounts you will be holding. These are not necessarily web pages but do take up space as well.
You will need a bigger disk space for other reasons too. Your web pages will load faster if you have a bigger space. A large space means your pages will not be crammed on your site. They will be free and immediately available for download. Your site visitors will not have to wait for hours for your pages to appear. So a bigger disk space will help your website grow and become user-friendly as well.
Databases also take up a lot of disk space. If you have offered unlimited inbox capacities to your users or offered them large format personal homepages, then you would need to get extra size disk space.
The issue of disk space is crucial for website owners. You would want to make your website available at all times, you would want your users to experience a fast download of your site and even make their video stream interruptibly. All of these activities require large disk space. Be sure to check with the host you intend to sign up with if they have the amount of space you need. You will do yourself a great deal of good if you choose one with sizable storage so you can run your site smoothly.

Email accounts

Every website needs email. You will need to put up a professional image and a domain based email is one way to do that. You will put up a more credible front if you have an email address based on your website instead if a free one like yahoo.
Again, you will need to have different email address for various segments of your website. If you run an e-commerce website for example, the customer service, sales, tech assistance and webmaster would need their own emails, so that issues related to each department are resolved quickly and conveniently.
Ultimately your web host must provide an elaborate email service so you can be able to administer your website with ease.
Aside from this, you will need to undertake several email operations of which the majority are reviewed here.
Email forwarding is something your webs host must offer. This service will enable you to receive your domain based email at your personal email. For example if your email address is sales@hosting.com, then when customers send you emails, you will get it at jolie@yahoo.com. You will have the added convenience of looking at your corporate emails in your old and frequently used mailbox.

An auto responder is another feature you will find useful. It is a system offered by hosts that enables you to send predetermined messages to each mail that arrives in a certain box. You will need this capability if you need to send routine and repetitive messages from a certain email account.
Your web host must limit the amount of spam that gets into your mailbox. They must have scripts to prevent unsolicited mail. A common and free program is Spam Assassin which almost every web host provides.
Email services cannot be ignored in your search for a good web host. They enable you to streamline your communications to get yourself organized. Your prospective hosting provider must offer you that as part of their service.

Reliability

You have designed the most elaborate and fantastic site of all time. You have uploaded the files successfully to your web host. You have placed several ads and have got many visitors to your site. You however wake up one morning to find out that just as your site was experiencing a boost in traffic, it goes down. This scenario is something every website owner would want to avoid. You would like to see you site up and running 24 hours a day, without exception.
So reliability is one essential factor you cannot ignore in your choice of web host. A website that is down frequently will lose its visitors. So will one that has a slow download and frequent outages.
You will therefore need to assure yourself that your web host will provide guaranteed access to the site. It must be part of their service offer and you must see their uptime guarantee in their service. You must see the 99% uptime guarantee in their service agreement so you can refer to the written information if they fail to provide the guarantee.

How do you choose a web host that is reliable? Well, you will see they make the effort to guarantee it. You will see something like 99% uptime guaranteed on their service offer page or notice of refund if they are unable to guarantee that. Though, these may not be actually enforceable, it tells you of their commitment to provide reliable service to their customers. If the site has previous clients, you may want to find out from them as well. Additionally, you can test how reliable one website is. You can try to access the site from different locations, through different browsers, at different times of the day and from different PCs. These activities will at least tell you how committed they are to their declarations.
The website must also offer you back up assurances. In the event of disaster, you must be able to recover all your files. Many sites offer these services for free, and you must particularly look for this feature if you are seeking a web host. It is important that they also have an alternate power source so that the site will not go down due to power failure.
Site redundancy is something every website owner would like to avoid at all costs. You must choose a web host that will guarantee round the clock uptime. You will not want to lose customers to your flourishing website due to server outages and slow downloads.

Server type

A Server is a computer that serves web pages to web users. No matter what website type you run, you will need your pages to be stored on web servers. For this reason, you cannot ignore the features of the Server you intend to keep your files on for its capabilities will determine how you can host your web pages.
Servers operate on strict technology. In other words, each Server has its underlying technology which may match or not match your particular website. Fort this reason, it is of the utmost importance that you choose a host which Server will complement or enhance your web pages or overall website.
What sever type do you choose for you website? Well, the answer depends on many things, but for a simplified approach and to make decision making easier, we will group Servers into two main types and then match each against known website technologies and features.
The two main types of Servers offered today are Windows and Linux based.
If your files predominantly use .php extensions, you will need a Linux Server. If you need to configure your .htacess files, then you need this Server type as well. A website running mysql database will go for Linux Servers. Also the most popular blogging platform in use today, WordPress, uses PHP technology and will only run on a Linux Server

On the other hand, web pages made with Microsoft technology will need Windows Servers. Pages created with MS FrontPage, files ending with .asp extensions or databases running MS SQL technologies will all require Windows Servers.

The most popular server technology for the average user is a Linux server. Do NOT go for a Windows server unless you have a very specific need to do so!

The number of sites sharing a single computer is also important in the selection of your Server type. If you are concerned about security and its utmost performance, you may want to get a dedicated Server which will host your website on one PC. You will be able to run advanced or customized applications on this type of Server. With a shared Server you use the same IP and resources like other websites. This situation can result in blacklisting of your site if any of the other website owners engages in any fraudulent activities as websites are identified by the IPs they belong to.

The kind of Server you choose will depend on many factors. You will need to take a critical look at your website technologies and find the host that will match your needs accordingly.

Site management tools

No website remains the same. After the web designer has finished your website, it may then be your responsibility to do updates. You will need to change the images, remove old text, change the format, install new scripts or even offer downloads. All of these activities require elaborate administration.
If you are a beginner or a non-techie, you will find the website management tool of your web host an indispensable part of your website site management. You will use it to go about complex programming tasks on your site.
A web host that offers site management tool will facilitate the undertaking of these tasks and make you do more in less time. An ideal website management tool will enable you to manage passwords and user names, manage files, manage page redirects and even images.

The site management tool that your web host offers must be very flexible to use. You will have to read the features of the tool and come to a conclusion if it is versatile enough. It must allow you to update your website from any where. It must feature a browser based interface. You should not install any special program on your computer to be able to use it. Again, it must be easy for novices to use. You can test drive the tool at the host’s website or read about its characteristic in detail. The site management tool offered by the host must be very fast to load. You would not want to wait forever to manage your site. The panel must be able to load very fast and display the tools in a very friendly way.
You will appreciate the need for a site management tool if you are, for example, running a site that has about 10,000 pages, and you need to make universal changes on all the pages. This situation will obviously need a central console that will quickly let you apply the modifications without necessarily downloading the entire site and then effecting the changes. You will not find the alternative of making the changes offline and then loading the site easier either.
The site management tool is a necessary part of every web host service. If you are going to choose a web space provider, you must get one that offers this feature so you can manage your web pages on a breeze. You will need the tool even if you are a professional as it is a time saving one. You will find this feature a time saving one and will complement the effectiveness of your update. You will need this tool if you are going hand over your website to a non-techie who will have to do frequent updates. You will make his job easier and ensure that consistent updates are carried out across the site harmoniously.

Security

If you are running a website that features a shopping cart, or stores or processes sensitive information such as credit cards, social security numbers or bank accounts details, you will need to be concerned about security. Given the anonymous nature of the internet, you will need to assure yourself that all information processed at your website is safe and will not be divulged to malevolent users. You will need to assure your customers that your site will not be compromised by cyber criminals and the content fraudulently used.
If you are concerned about security, then you need to select a web host that will protect your web page and its processes. The most common and universally accepted way to render safe web pages over the internet is through the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. This advanced security system encrypts sensitive data over the internet so that it cannot be captured by people with ill-intent. If you are browsing a page with this security feature installed, you will notice a closed padlock icon on the task bar of the browser.

SSL is the standard security technology used on the internet. It has become the main means to ensure a secured site. The technology ensures the integrity of all data that passes between the website and the Server. Billions of websites use this technology and it is one sure way to assure customers that their data is safe and secured.
You will also need a web host that can offer you a Digital Certificate of Authenticity. If you have a very sensitive website, you will need a unique SSL not shared SSL. Shared SSL is used by all websites on a Server.
SSL is a way of building confidence in your website. It tells customers that your website is free from hackers and that whatever information they provide will be kept confidential. When customers are assured of this safety, they feel confident to do business with you or visit your website. It also tells them that the website is known and has been verified to be authentic. For this reason, any website providing sensitive services must get a host that provides SSL.

Technical support

A website is hosted in anticipation that it will run smoothly and never encounter any problem but this supposition hardly materializes. On one or two occasions, we may need to contact our web hosts about a problem on our site.  We may want to alert the techies of a problem they may not have noticed. At other times, we may want a service that is not listed at their website or we would want to find out about a feature. All of these activities require contact with the hosting service provider.
Technical support or simply put, how well organizations address the problems and concerns of their clients, is therefore crucial for every website owner. You must therefore choose a company that will offer excellent customer service and address your needs quickly.
Choose a web host that offers 24/7 support. Stay away from hosts that offer only week day support for you can encounter problems or need help over the weekends as well.
Your web host must offer their clients several methods of support. They should provide phone lines, online chat, knowledgebase, emails and bulletin boards. A company may not necessarily offer all of these methods of communication but the fact remains that the more contact mean the site offers, the more responsive they can be to their clients.

You will need to ascertain any claim that the site makes concerning the efficiency of their support services. Send them emails and see how long they take to respond. Try to make a call and determine for yourself if the agent is cooperative, understanding and patient. You will also have to find out about the competence of the support staff. Many a time web hosts just employ people who are more sales inclined than technical. You need people to help you solve your problems.
Lastly, find out what others are saying about their service. You can visit sites that review web hosts and see what others have written about then. You can also visit forums and then read about user posts. Be careful about these types of verifications. A review site can sabotage a hosting provider with a poor rating or a staff member or affiliate can deceive website owners into signing up with an affiliated company with claims that are untrue.

Conclusion

Choosing a webs host requires that you take an appraisal of your website, the technology used to create it, your web page elements and your future growth. You will also have to make room for emerging technologies and web trends. All of these scenarios require that you choose a web hosting provider with utmost care.

You will have to first compile a list of all hosts that meet your need and then sift them down to the one that best meets your need at the least price. In determining your ultimate choice, you are considering several factors, such as customer response time, reputation, server uptime guarantee, security and reliability. You are going to choose a host that will give you value for money and at the same time make you retain your hard won customers.

You are going to look beyond the rhetoric of the web hosts. You are looking beyond their marketing gimmicks and rather applying all circumspection to make a wise choice. As part of your due process, you will want to visit forums which review web hosts and read about comments or complaints previous customer have about your prospective host.

You do not expect your website to run into trouble, but from time to time you may need the support of your host. Are they readily available? Does it take weeks to receive feedback from them? Which host will immediately resolve your issues? What tools do they have to address your complaints? Does the service provider offer its clients a web based chat where clients can quickly access technical support? Are they reachable by phone? You will have to consider all these features in your selection of a web host.

Be careful about sites that offer extremely low charges.  Many times they are resellers or web hosts providing the service from their homes. They may not be able to guarantee the essential uptime and back up services you need for your site.

Again, read through the web host policy to take note of any obligations and responsibilities. You will want to avoid any site that has policies you do not agree to or that will be detrimental to your website.

At the minimum a web host must provide you with a server space of  10mb, Cgi-Bin, a server uptime of  99%,  three email accounts, FTP access, web based email, a user friendly control panel, free scripts and an interface to let you know your website statistics.