web hosting

I’ve covered the importance of web hosting in my previous posts, and today I’d like to offer you a legitimate case study.

It’s actually one of my web properties.

Although not considerable in value, this property - it’s a blog on mobile phone - is nevertheless very important to me.

In fact, all of my web properties are very important to me, so that I can’t tolerate any complacents related to them. I’m sure you agree with me on this.

The case study

Let’s say the blog is hosted on X web hosting company. When I opened an account with them, all looks fantastic - nice site management tools, domain name management tools, and other tools that are (supposedly) add value. What’s more, they are on promo - so it’s fairly a cheap hosting at that time.

However, the X company seems to forget their number one critical success factor in offering web hosting solutions for clients - reliability.

To cut long story short, my blog seems slow and patchy at times, and it’s rarely cannot be displayed due to server problems. This results in dropped traffic, SERPs, and eventually PageRank, not mentioning readership and Google AdSense revenue!

Regarding the latter - I’m not sure whether it’s related to web hosting reliability or not, but logically, if Google ’see’ your site going up and down too often, I think it will see my blog less important, hence dropped in PageRank. Any explanation would be much appreciated :)

This is recoverable, but it wouldn’t be easy.

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I wrote about choosing the right web hosting partner for your web business a moment ago, and through this post, I would like to take you to focus on how to look for recommended web hosting partner.

As you might already know, there are so many choices of web hosting today. I ended up changing web hosts several times during my journey in online business, just to waste valuable resources - time and money, that is.

Of course, a web host is better than the other in some ways, but choosing and testing each one randomly would not be the best way, and would not be fair for your business website visitors.

Moreover, doing so might damage your online business reputation, especially in term of website reliability, simply due to the fact that changing web hosting will cause your business website to be temporarily unavailable. And you don’t want that to happen often.

There are better ways.

You need to look for recommendation from the Internet, such as web hosting rating websites and personal blogs, to give you insights on what people think of their choice of web hosting.

Browsing for web hosting recommendations

The best way to choose the web hosting partner for your business is to look for recommendations from the Internet. Here is a tip or two on how to look for the best web hosting partner for you.

1. Personal blogs
   You can read what bloggers recommend from their own first-hand experience. Some giving honest reviews (and critics), some doing affiliate marketing - but all in all, bloggers are one of the best source for ‘unedited’ comments of a product!
2. Tutorial websites
   Webmaster tutorial websites is your source for web developing-related tutorials, including web hosting tutorials. Let the expert recommend you their choices of web hosting.

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I’ve been into web design, publishing, and development for many years. Yet, I still in a position to learn the ins and outs of web, particularly with the emergence of social media and web 2.0.

The Internet is no longer the good ol’ place to hang out and share info. Websites and blogs are commercialised. Nothing wrong with that, as I also believe that the Internet is the driving factor of the new economy. There are people make a living (or even a lifestyle) working on the net - as their only source of income.

For the unaware businessmen - behold, the e-Commerce will leave you in the dust. You HAVE to jump into the band wagon NOW. I did, too. Why? According to Paypal, e-Commerce transaction already pass US$ 2 billion mark. Huge numbers. Big opportunities. The market is still wide open for you and me.

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to explore the lucrative world of the Internet or an avid businessman looking to expand to the Internet, I have one thing for you: start selling with your website, and start evangelising about your business with your blog.

You already have a great product. Now, sell it in your website. Here’s the how-to:

Choose a domain name

Domain name: Web address that usually starts with www.yourgreatbusiness.com (the most common ending - called TLD, Top Level Domain - is the .com… however, you are free to explore other TLDs, such as .us, .ca, .biz, .info, .tv, etc) - suggestion: Never choose other than .com or .net, unless you have strong reasons to do so!

Web hosting company: Your provider of web space. Usually the company have several hosting packages, or even for free. Suggestion: Use web hosting company that guarantee almost 99.99% uptime (meaning, your website is accessible 99.99% of time)

About free domain name and hosting

So many free alternatives out there, but why throw money? location, location, location. Your ‘physical’ location on the net is your domain name (just like your ol’ business address) and web hosting (just like your ol’ leased retail space). You see, location is important. You wouldn’t want put your business address on P.O. Boxes to gain trust. You don’t want your business website address looks like http://mygreatbusiness.otherpeopleweb.com or http://www.otherpeopleweb.com/mygreatbusiness - you’ll want http://www.mygreatbusiness.com. Got it? :)

How to find a good domain name

To get a good domain name, you have to search for it. Usually, a good web hosting company has a feature to search for domain name. If not, just try to look for it in whois.ws, whois.net, etc.

Some tips on good domain name:

1. The shorter, the better. www.abc.com is great, but unfortunately has long been gone… www.mygreatbusinesswithgreatproduct.om is NOT a good idea!
2. Easier to read, the better. www.mygreatbusiness.com is good, but www.my-great-business.com is easier to read. It’s all up to you.
3. Filled with keywords about your business. If you sell Acme biscuits online, you’d name your domain www.acmebiscuits.com or www.deliciousbiscuits.com, rather than www.acmecompany.com.

Choose a hosting package

Next, choose a hosting package. Choose what you WILL need, not what you need it right now. Choose more than enough storage space for your website, and more than enough bandwidth to attract visitors. You would not want for your website to be unable to get more visitors, because your ‘retail space’ is full!

You shouldn’t worry too much about pricing, because nowadays the web hosting competition is so stiff, that prices are low and almost identical.

I suggest you to look for the plans and features you need. For example, I want to establish an online store. Then, I look for a web hosting company that is designed to support e-commerce, to simplify my life :)

If I were you, I will choose web hosting that:

1. Can search domain name
2. Simple registration
3. Easy to reach customer support
4. Have verified testimonials, full of positive words on the service.

There’s there. Hopefully this article helps you look for good domain name and web hosting company. If you want to, you can try IPOWER for reliable hosting and great service.

Related posts other people has read:

How to Start Small but Successful Ecommerce Shop

How NOT to Regret Choosing the Web Hosting Solution for Your Valuable Web Property: A Case Study

How to Find a Good Domain Name Registrar

Web Hosting Review Business: Lucrative?

Choosing the Right Web Hosting Partner for Your Web Business