About hosting Reviews
The hosting company that is capable of achieving customer demands plus fulfill all that is expected as a hosting provider truly deserves to be the best web-hosting company in the eyes of the customers. In return, the customers help in spreading the word of mouth via forums and web hosting review sites which further acts as a catalyst in the growth of the companies customer base and hence the profits.
As a basic expectation, a customer wants their website/s to be online and running with optimum performance so that whenever a user access it should be able to grab the information. Many responsibilities are played by a best hosting company in order to keep a users website up and running smoothly. Some of the basic responsibilities of a best web hosting company are listed below.
Overview of hosting Reviews
Monitoring the Servers: Most of the hosting providers do monitor their servers round the clock, or atleast that is what that can be seen on their websites. But do they actually do it? We cannot be too sure about it. But if you observe a serious web hosting provider who aims to be the best web hosting provider, their servers are constantly monitored and so does the websites hosted on it. Usually web hosts offer server monitoring service with their Managed Web Hosting packages.
This is a role played by the host in order to offer customer service to its users. There are various tasks such as scanning event logs, trace and rectify the issues related to the server and the website/s hosted on it. The best web hosting company monitors the servers round the clock. Such a hosting company uses complex monitoring scripts onto the servers. In case there is a malfunction, an automatic email is immediately shot to the respective server administration departments, who further investigate the problem takes necessary actions to rectify it with minimum waste of time. It is equally important to choose a hosting provider who operates 24×7 as the problems can be addressed immediately without waste of time.
Software Installations: The hosting provider is responsible for providing the necessary software and software licenses required for the client websites. In most cases the best hosting provider takes care of the installation, testing, trouble shooting and the deployment of the software for the clients websites.
Software Updates and Security Patch uploads: The best web hosting providers often takes care of updating the software and installing necessary security patches. As a part of server security, the best hosting provider would proactively install the security patches prior to the client requesting for it.
Upgrading the Hardware Components: Most of the web hosts who have earned recognition to be the best hosting provider are often seen to offer flexibility for upgrading or downgrading the hosting packages. This is helpful from a customers point of view since, there are occasions when client websites suddenly start getting loads of traffic and the resources offered by the web hosting package starts falling short. It is then that upgrading the package becomes crucial for websites smooth performance. Equally the upgrade process should be made simple and the customer should be moved to the new server as early as possible without facing any downtime.
Maintenance of the Hardware and Component Replacements: The hardware maintenance is usually taken care by the hosting provider himself unless the customer has opted for Unmanaged web hosting packages. An ideal web hosting provider would replace the faulty hardware components within minutes from the time it has been reported.
Back-Up and Restoration: There are limited number of hosts that offer free backup services to its clients. They automate the process of back ups, which can be set according to user requirements. These backups can be restored on demand from the customers. A professional hosting company also offers additional back up plans for some nominal additional charge that can be availed on request to the hosting provider. These servers are usually located away from the other servers or at different DC’s as a precautionary measure against various natural and online threats.
Secure Hardware: Since the server hardware is owned by the hosting company, its security is their sole concern. These hardwares should be adequately protected against various threats.
The hosting providers that fulfill these criteria are usually fit for competing in the race for becoming the Best Web Hosting companies in the industry.
When comparing the best Web hosting sites to choose the top host for your website, you need to consider:
- What operating system you need
- What control panel you prefer
- What type of hosting will fulfill your needs
- What level of technical support you may need
- Where the server is located and how it is connected to the Internet
- Whether past and present customers are satisfied with a host
Operating Systems
The two most common operating systems for Web servers are Linux and Windows. Linux Web servers running Apache for the Web server, MySQL for databases, and PHP and Perl as programming languages are the most common. There are a wide number of applications and scripts available for Linux Web servers. If you need to use ASP pages or you need to use Microsoft SQL server as a database rather than MySQL, however, you should get a Windows-based server.
Control Panels
Most of the best Web hosting sites will provide a control panel to allow you to easily control your site hosting account. Control panels allow you to easily see web site statistics, administer databases, check on server status, and manage email accounts, Web site updates, and access.
Unless you prefer a different control panel, cPanel is probably your best choice. It is the most popular and many Webmasters feel it is the easiest to use. Most of the best web hosting sites offer cPanel as an option.
Types of Hosting
There are a number of different types of hosting:
- Shared hosting,
- Reseller hosting,
- Virtual dedicated hosting (a.k.a., virtual private servers),
- Dedicated hosting, and
- Colocation
Most of the best web hosting sites will offer some or all of these types of hosting, so you need to decide what best suits your needs.
If you want to host a single domain that does not have huge demands for disk space or bandwidth, shared hosting is the most economical. With shared web hosting, your site shares server space and resources with many other websites.
While you may be able to host multiple domains with a shared hosting account, if you need to host multiple domains of your own or want to resell Web hosting, reseller hosting may better suit your needs. Reseller hosting is generally shared hosting with more resources and an additional control panel to easily configure additional domains.
If you have a high need for bandwidth or server resources, you may need a dedicated server. With a dedicated server, you do not have to share server resources with anyone. Only your domains are hosted on the dedicated Web server. You also generally get full control of the server with administrator or root access.
You may also want to consider a virtual dedicated server. A virtual dedicated server is similar to shared hosting in that more than one user is on a server, but each user gets a guaranteed slice of server resources. If another user has a busy site, it should not affect your Web sites.
If you would prefer to own your own server hardware, consider colocation. With colocation, you own the server and the Web host simply provides rack space, network connectivity and bandwidth, and hardware support for the server.
Technical Support
With shared hosting and reseller hosting, your Web host is usually responsible for managing the server, installing server software, applying security updates, and providing technical support (for you, not your customers).
With dedicated or virtual dedicated hosting, a Web server may be managed or unmanaged. Unmanaged is the most common, which means that you are responsible for all server maintenance, upgrades, and patches with the exception of hardware support such as new boards or new drives. Managed support means that the Web host (or a third party management service) will help manage or partially manage the server.
Different hosts provide technical support in various ways. Some require that you email about an issue, some have a support ticket system, and some have a toll-free phone number. Even among the best Web hosting sites, not all offer phone support. But if your Web site is ever down, you may wish you could call and talk to a live human!
Different hosts also provide differing Service Level Agreements (SLA’s). Some guarantee uptime. Some guarantee response time on support issues.
Server Location and Network Connectivity
Be sure to consider the physical location of the server and the network details as well. Some servers may literally be in someone’s basement. The best Web hosting sites locate their servers within professional data centers with dedicated support people and multiple redundant Internet connections.
Customer Feedback
You should now have a very short list of the best Web hosting sites for your needs. But before making your final decision, there is one last step: perform a Web search to look for complaints from old customers. Your list may have only the best web hosting sites listed, but a few hours spent surfing Web hosting forums and asking a few questions may turn up some surprises and could save you years of frustration!
The best web hosting for small business can make all the difference in the quality of the service and experience you give your customers. A reliable business hosting service can be the best partner a business owner can have.
A small business website that is structured for the search engines and placed on a reliable hosting service can generated many leads for the business. It can be a site that is used for lead capture or to provide contact information. It can also be an eCommerce site that utilizes a shopping cart.
In all cases the best web hosting for small business will be hosting that follows the guidelines listed here:
- Uptime Guarantee at least 99.9%
- Great 24/7 Support with access through live chat, phone and responsive email.
- A well maintained Knowledge Base.
- A proven track record with positive reviews from users.
- Software options and support for shopping cart, email, blogging and tracking scripts.
- Multiple hosting account options from Shared to Dedicated Hosting
- Affordable
- Get the best web hosting for small business.
When you have a site for your small business you want to know it is working for you around the clock. Not all hosting companies are reliable. A good website host will have a minimum of 99.9% uptime and a back up for data. You also want a host that will have servers with quick processing and not overloaded bandwidth from other sites on the same shared hosting.
The technical support team needs to be responsive and knowledgeable. When you have a site go down (and you will at some point), the hosting companies staff needs to be able to identify and resolve the issue pronto. When you use a web hosting for your business and it goes down, that’s money out of your pocket and probably a lot more than what you saved going with the cheapest and not the best web hosting for small business.
Cost on paper for your small business web site hosting account can look pretty attractive until you factor in the cost of lost business from an unreliable hosting company with poor customer support. The good news is there are many economical plans with the most reliable companies which are the best web hosting for small business.
When budgeting for you small business site hosting, factor in about $5 – $10 per month for a good shared hosting plan. As you company grows and you need to expand you can move up to a virtual private hosting for about $25 per month and from there to a dedicated plan of around $100 per month. Things to consider are your bandwidth usage for traffic and any scripts you may be using on your web host.
Some of the basic software programs the best web hosting for small business will include:
Email – Consider how many addresses are needed for you and your staff. Also, what amount of storage you will need? SPAM filters and protection from hackers? How much and how many? Unlimited accounts is good.
eCommerce – Do you need a shopping cart now or in the future? Does the hosting account have the latest PHP and offer enough MySQL Databases for your small business? Do you need an 800 number phone service? Streaming audio or video? A forum for your customers? Are the latest web applications for your business supported by the web host? You will want a web hosting company for your business that stays current on the latest applications and the back office programs to support them.
Site Building Tools – What kind of site do you have or will you create? Many web hosting companies have tools to build your site and a popular one is WordPress. For a good shopping cart ZenCart is easy to install and use. It also let’s you use PayPal for checkout.
You have many choices when it comes to getting your business online and one option that may be the best web hosting for small business is below.
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