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When webmasters start to look for a web hosting package they usually consider only a few basic features like PHP, MySQL database, amount of disk space and data transfer allowance. However, typical web hosting plan consists of many other components. Continue reading this article to learn more.

So what are the most typical components of a web hosting package?

1. Number of domains allowed under one account
Some hosting providers require to buy separate account for every domain name which you want to host. It is ok if you are sure that you will never need to host multiple websites. However, most webmasters get new marketing ideas during the time and they start new internet projects. It may become expensive to buy a new hosting package for every project so ordering a hosting plan which allows to host more than one domain may be very clever step.

2. Domain name registration
To host your own website you need to own a domain name. Domain names can be bought from the registrars or directly from the web hosting company if they provide domain name services. Some companies offer free domain when you buy the hosting plan from them so you can save some money.

3. Subdomains
You many need to create subdomains in your web space. Typical hosting plan allows to set up them, but there are usually some limits how many of subdomains can your set up.

4. Customer support
Customer support is sometimes overlooked, but it is very important part of the hosting service. Keep in mind that your website may have problems anytime, not only on weekdays. For this reason, make sure that the provider is able to solve support tickets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

5. Emails
Almost every web host offers email services. However, you may need a little more — spam and virus protection. You will like these features as soon as you start to receive a lot of junk emails.

6. PHP and databases
PHP support is important for dynamic parts of your website. Even contact form requires PHP support. PHP usually works with MySQL database, however, some programmers prefer to use PostgreSQL database. To manage your database it is very useful if the PHPmyAdmin is installed on the server. For advanced programmers may be important the zend optimizer which allows to speed up the scripts.

7. FTP (File transfer protocol)
File transfer protocol allows to upload the files to your web space using software like Total Commander. When you connect to your shared hosting you will see it like another hard drive in your computer. The upload is managed in the same way how copying the files from one folder on your hard drive to another one.

8. Website statistics
The hosting package may consist of the software like WebAlizer which will give you important information about your website and visitor. Some web hosts also allow to download the logs which can be very useful when you want to analyze your traffic.

The popularity of colocating a company’s servers into a data center is a growing trend today. With the need for increased power, cooling and reliability – organizations are realizing that housing their server infrastructure internally is no longer adequate.

The following are some simple Q

Don’t be fooled by the name because FatCow web hosting does more than hold it’s own. It is the perfect example of not judging a book by its cover. Fat Cow is one of the best, most versatile web hosts out there today. When it all comes down to hosting platforms, the Cow has a knack for delivering. FatCow was born in 1998 and from the get go was designed to be an alternative and affordable hosting platform design geared at cutting through all of the technical babble to make things a lot easier for its users to understand and operate. It offers one of the best hosting plans out there. It is reliable and exceptionally user friendly with an excellent customer service group. FatCow has everything that a small or medium business website needs to succeed. When it comes down to delivering quality plans and plenty of servicable features, you can’t do much better than FatCow. Of all the hosting plans we evaluated, this very competent group displays a culture that brought us to chuckle and ask, “Why didn’t we think of this!”

Reliability
If the name of the game is reliability, then we have to declare FatCow as one of the finalists. Their data center is located in Burlington, Massachusetts and comes fully equipped with top of the line features. They pride themselves of employing a “Load-Balanced Hosting” solution that will stop any technical failures. FatCow is backed by over 800 servers. When using this system your site will literally have numerous paths to its destination. FatCow also provides physical security and surveillance systems. Impressively, they offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not pleased with their service. When it comes to reliable web hosting, FatCow reigns supreme.

Price
At the time of this review, FatCow was offering the Original Fat Cow Plan for $44 a year. That comes out to be $3.66/month. Not to bad considering GoDaddy charges anywhere from $10.00 to $15.00/month. If you have concerns as to whether you are getting enough bang for your buck, worry no more. Our webmasters at Web Host Mentor were highly complimentary of the FatCow value proposition. Fat Cow allows you to have unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited POP mailboxes, and customize email address. They are WordPress, phpBB and Joomla friendly. They have point and click site building tools, integrated Google Webmaster tools, application installation wizards, and many other goodies. They also have a bundle of freebies that include $75 of free search engine ad credits and $50 of free social networking ad credits.

Control Panel
FatCow has adopted the H-Sphere. It is just as easy to use as C-Panel which is practically used by every other web host. It has an icon based interface that even the most novice of webmasters would be able to use. The thing that really moves the H-Sphere away from the competition are features like the real time e-mail management and the directory and multiple domain management.

Customer Support
When it comes to customer support, I have to say that this group is nearly obsessed to ensure your needs are addressed. Its is part of their business model. Their technology platform is obviously competent, but they wish to be known for delivering industry leading value and customer service. When working with the internet and websites, problems will eventually happen and you had better hope that your web host can solve that problem as soon as possible. These guys stand by their “Heifercratic Oath” in which they live and breathe. They promise to answer your call in under two minutes and maintain a pleasant and friendly disposition to any of your queries.

And by golly, when we tested the oath, they delivered. The Moo Crew, as they are called, receives considerable training and are extremely focused on helping you with your question. They aim to please and if not, they offer a credit equal to one month of hosting. In our view, this is taking live phone support to another level. They also offer a chat and email support system. Their phone and email support are open 24/7. However, the really good thing about FatCow is that there is a chance you can solve your problem without ever having to talk to their customer support team. Simply search through the various FAQ’s, tutorials or whatever additional resources that they provide.

Summary

- Unlimited disk space
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited POP mailboxes
- Free domain names
- Free script barn
- Free we
- Daily server backups
- WordPress friendly
- Joomla friendly
- $75 of free search engine ad credits
- $50 of free social networking ad credits
- 24/7 customer support
- 30 day money back guarentee
- Free setup

Conclusion
FatCow’s strength is their diversity. It is in this diversity we discover great site tools, a novel control panel, outstanding customer service and an attractive value proposition. That is why FatCow made our top list. Their overall hosting platform features would really suit all levels of webmasters and small and personal business websites. They have excellent customer service and a reliable foundation which all adds up to an outstanding web host. FatCow is very good at finding the right fit for each an every customer. If you need a host that seeks to understand your needs then you best take a hard look at FatCow. Feel free to click on the link below to discover more about how this host may fit your style.

Check out the rest of web host mentor

You will find web hosting reviews as your new best friend when you go looking for a service which suits your online needs. Reviews written to compare different service providers will give you the information you need about how important a website is with regard to building your online presence and credibility. As you go along, you’ll realize that these evaluations will also open your eyes to how much competition there exists among this important e-product.

You may have probably heard, time and time again, about the claim that you don’t need a website of your own when you start doing online business. This may be true if “starting” is your only concern, but if you plan to build a productive business in the online world, you’ll probably be a lot better off with a personal website. This is where web hosting reviews will come in handy.

As you’ll later realize, such reviews are fiercely competing against each other, that many people looking for accurate information become overwhelmed and stop dead in their tracks of deciding which to use. However, when you try looking closely at web hosting reviews, they have several things in common.

For one, the reviews “have to” stick to the facts regarding their services and offer. As these web hosting reviews are all informational, most present both strengths and weaknesses – although weaknesses are mentioned in a way which shows how these are compensated by the advantages of the same service. Another important thing to note is the availability of testimonials from happy customers present in the so-called “honest” reviews, and virtually all of the programs have so many! So, what exactly are we looking for to benefit from them?

We have to search for what they did not cover in the service provider reviews available to us. Such independent reviews, just like all other web tools and products in the internet, are not without flaws. After all, we are talking about human opinions and sometimes, it is best to judge based on cold hard facts. Nevertheless, we want to know the facts and decide with these laid out on the table – this may probably be the best way to get the most out of every evaluation, especially web hosting reviews.

What are the advantages of a paid web host or a cheap web hosting service? If you are really serious about your online business, the first thing you must keep in mind is how you can improve your overall credibility in your chosen industry. This is easily accomplished if you get a website of your own. How can such services add to your credibility? One of the most important things prospects and customers think about is the assurance that you, as a seller, will remain in business and will not go away after they purchased your goods and services. A cheap web hosting service is all you need to secure a domain under your own name or the label of the market you are trying to target.

When you are paying a service provider for cheap web hosting, your clients do not really know how much money you shell out for it. It is impossible for an outsider to tell the difference between a lower priced provider and a higher priced one. And this information is usually not something you display on your websites. It may even be considered outright irrelevant for your website visitors to ask if you are using a low end hosting service provider, or one that offers better deals and prices compared to their own host. But this is important: people want to know whether you are paying to operate your business or not. And they will find out by simply looking at your domain!

Also, customization is essential for an online business to stand out among thousands of competitors. Free services come with so many limitations or just cannot offer in-demand features. Paying for cheap web hosting services brings website management to another level. And because hosting services are needed by every online business owner, such lower priced hosting packages become an income option.

To sum it all up, online marketers who want to profit in the long run recognize the importance of paid hosting services. To boost online visitors’ trust toward these marketers, preferring an online hosting provider that provides budget packages turns to an immediate (and equally important) business decision over getting a free host. And for those who want to sell tools to the sellers, offering low-price hosting services is an easy income stream. A cheap web hosting, which is still paid hosting, goes a long way in improving the marketers’ credibility and building lasting relationships with the market.

Every online business owner, starting or experienced, is on the lookout for the best website hosting available. But before the internet marketer chooses what he or she thinks as the best service provider, it is just as important to decide first which specific criteria should be considered. Here is a list of the things which online marketers usually regard as key when finding the best web hosting provider.

The primary consideration to think about is the specific business model you want to operate. A good question which needs immediate response is, “Does this type of business run only with a web host, or hosting is not really necessary?” For instance, an affiliate marketer or a blogger who wants to promote products of other people may not readily see the need to have a privately hosted site. Moreover, they are not that interested about the best website hosting provider (unless this information affects the products being promoted).

Of course, the price of the hosting service is a center of attraction and is generally the greatest deciding factor towards availing it. This doesn’t mean that the best website hosting service must be the cheapest one in the market. The top web hosting companies around the internet secure their position by keeping the price relative to the features of the service and bonuses included in the hosting package they offer. Actually, the cost is largely dependent on the next criterion for being the best provider: quality.

The most outstanding service providers are those who are able to offer high quality service to clients. The top web hosting companies may even charge a lot to clients, and still effectively keep their market because of the quality they provide. “Quality” here is dependent to a number of sub-criteria – customer support, technicalities (such as connection speed, bandwidth capacity, compatibility to upgrades or plug-ins, website customization, etc.) and bonuses (referral or affiliate program, business learning tools like software and eBooks, and other perks). Most of the top providers utilizes the power of affiliate marketing nowadays, and many people easily think that this alone is what attracts a huge clientele for the most impressive web hosting companies. But, among these components affecting quality of service, customer support – the way these providers resolve issues and handle customer relations – is actually treated as the most vital aspect which separates the best website hosting companies from the mediocre ones.

When you do web hosting comparison between two different service providers, you have to make it a point that you are comparing both paid services or both free services. In most cases, and as much as it is possible, you should avoid conducting a comparison depending on the one delivered by one paid service provider and another one that is free of charge. The only time this kind of evaluation is useful, is when both free and paid service are offered by the same company. But comparing different web hosts is difficult to be mainly informational, because this may always look like a sales pitch – obviously, the service with pay is superior to the one with no costs. Let us explore these concepts further.

Free web hosting is also called shared web hosting. When doing a web hosting comparison between two unpaid services, you will know which provider delivers more in terms of quality and technical features. Comparing services which are both free, is actually comparing two different companies offering the same type of product (no company will set up two different programs offering the same free service!). You will need to focus mainly on the technical aspects that are available for free. When you avail a costless hosting service, you literally host your website along with other people.

The provider’s hardware is utilized to maintain the websites being shared by all website owners, which is the top reason why free hosting is always unstable and very limited. Aside from these, there’s nothing more left to make further web hosting comparison.

Now, when it comes to the comparison of two different paid hosting providers, all expectations or aspects of a good hosting service come into play. You will have to observe and rate the kind of customer support being promised and delivered, the speed of connection and updating of web pages and elements (like pictures and audio), the bandwidth usage and stability, and ease of access or user-friendly management, to name just a few.

Most reviewers see to it that their reviews include charts to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the two services, and ultimately conclude “the better web host” using these points. Some people also include within their summaries if customers are given the opportunity to profit via becoming affiliates or resellers. Web hosting comparison is an activity which allows business owners to decide whether they have to switch to another paid service, to remain with their current provider, or to settle for a free one.

When reviewers compare web hosting packages, evaluations are always about different paid service companies (two providers at least). In almost all scenarios, when you start comparing the services, it does not mean evaluating free services versus paid ones. Only on rare occasions will this kind of evaluation be used. When it does, it is used to explain the advantages of a paid service over a free package, both of which are under a single company – it means you get to evaluate the services of only one provider. This is seen mostly in sales pages, not in helpful reviews. The obvious reason for this is that free services are very limited, and even sometimes low-priced packages turn out to be considerably better.

To justify this, let us try to compare web hosting services – one without costs and another one that comes with a price tag. The service that is free of charge, also referred to as shared web hosting, is unstable because all the users’ websites are hosted in a single hardware of the service company. If you start comparing services without fees to the ones “with paid packages”, you will notice that a single hardware is dedicated to host only one website for the paid hosting. A dedicated hardware server means increased bandwidth size, connection speed and security for the privately hosted site. When you compare the free web hosting to the paid package, it will only highlight the disadvantages of utilizing the free services.

In some cases, customers are offered free web hosting which include full benefits of a high quality and paid maintenance. This happens only as a bonus plan, or after the customers have paid for “another” (usually earlier) service or product related to hosting. In essence, if this scenario is mentioned in a review, it is merely to highlight the services including the possible perks. This is important because we can see everything that is offered by a service provider. Being able to compare web hosting providers in just one month would be too difficult and too short to achieve.

To fully understand the features being offered as a package, one must always consider the company’s background or track record. Reviews also cover the availability of support, technical aspects, and short-term and long-term bonuses. The outcome of every hosting comparison in all its aspect is vital for improvement of the service itself, as well as the company as a whole. To some web host providers, this may also impact other products and programs they have. Online business owners compare web hosting services as part of their overall decision-making routine; the result of this activity can either make or break Internet Marketing efforts.

When you’re in the market for web hosting services, you should know how to conduct web host comparison. Being able to differentiate between two or more hosting providers can make the difference in the kind of service that you get. By doing smart service evaluation, you are only saving yourself from headaches and frustrations later on. Just what exactly should you look for in the different web hosts? Here are some tips:

Web hosting comparison point 1: Uptime – The best hosting services will boast of the maximum uptime, which is 99.99% and truly fulfill this claim. Of course, when you do your shopping for a suitable package, there will be many hosting service providers who will say practically the same thing. To filter the real deal from the fakes, you can refer to the different IT forums for feedback. Actual user feedback can make a huge difference when you’re doing a comparison between the web hosts.

Note too that you shouldn’t expect any website hosting service to be up 100% of the time. When you find any service that claims this during your web hosting comparison, they are clearly not being truthful about it. Some downtime is necessary for web servers to maintain consistently good service.

Web hosting comparison point 2: Platform – There are several advantages and disadvantages to the type of platform that you select for your website. Popular platforms that you will encounter during your evaluation of the different services are Windows and Linux server platforms. When doing a comparison between the two, note that one is not necessarily better than the other. Although, you will find that the Linux server platform may provide better security and stability. Windows server platform, on the other hand, may have greater usability. And you might need this type of server for certain scripting languages, like ASP.

Web hosting comparison point 3: Administration Features – The user administration features of your selected web hosting provider will also matter, especially if you have limited technical knowledge. When you do consider getting a package, you will encounter several administration interfaces, like CPanel and the Web Content Management System. You might find some of these administration interfaces easier to use than others. Likewise, many of these come with a pre-installed software program that you can use for your website. The web hosting service that you select should have those software programs that you want for your site. Factor these in when doing your hosting comparison.

When shopping for a web hosting service provider, you will necessarily have to compare their services. Not all web services are created equal. Some will provide great services. And, when you put them side by side to rate, you will find that others are just plain bad investments. Thus, a comparative evaluation is necessary. Typical web hosting products are packaged per year. So, you will be spending on a year’s worth of web hosting right away. Here are a few tips on how to rate the different services and help you make your decision:

1.Know what you need in a web host before you compare hosting services: You can’t go into the whole web hosting “scene” without knowing what you need. This will only confuse you with techie terminologies, gigabyte memories and the like. First of all, decide how much web space you need. Then, decide what features you’ll have on your website. For when you start to review each service provider, you will need to select between server platforms that are best for running so and so script. Some scripting languages require a specific type of platform to run on. Thus, when you start comparing the various web hosts, know the basics for your website, even when you’re not the one doing the programming and all.

2.Check user feedback: When you compare web hosting, it is best to do some online research first. Nothing compares to firsthand accounts from actual users. Note what they say about the general functioning of the servers, uptime, administration interface, and technical support when you check out the different services. These are the crucial factors to look at when you shop for a good provider as these will be what you’ll have to deal with the most once you’re with a hosting service provider.

3.Talk to the customer support representative: When you are looking for a good service, it is never too early to talk to customer support. This tests the hosting service provider’s attentiveness to customer needs. Typically, sales inquiries are immediately responded to, either via chat, phone or email. This is expected so don’t let this slant your assessment as much when you make your decision. The better gauge would be to talk to technical support regarding the details of their hosting services. Have some questions drafted on issues that typically arise when you have web hosting accounts. The speed and effectiveness of the response you get from tech support should be a good basis when you compare web hosts.