Hosting Articles

Bound To Your Old Expensive Web Host by Fear?

You're not alone! Many people are bound to the old web host they've used for years because they're afraid of the hassle of switching. Customers will pay rates three or four or even ten times greater than what they have to, just because they're terrified that switching will be too complicated or that they'll end up losing their site altogether.

New customers just coming online and setting up sites for the first time may automatically assume that expensive prices and brand names, such as Yahoo or MSN or MasterCard automatically mean better service.

Think again!

While you should never base your hosting choice on price alone, you should certainly make your return on investment a priority. You can easily find plenty of space for your site with all of the features you need (and many you don't) for less than $10 per month – with discounts for paying quarterly or yearly.

So what should you look for when choosing a hosting company?

SPACE: Most websites use less than 100 megs of space. Unless you're planning to build a large community or upload entire albums of photos, 50 - 100 megs is probably plenty. Start there - you should be able to upgrade at no additional charge should you need more.

EMAILS: Your new host should offer Pop3 emails. If you're running a home based business, you want at least 10 - more if you have staff under you or family and friends who would love to use your email address and effectively advertise for you every time they send out an email. Your new host should also offer web-based emails, so that you can check your emails when away from your home.

SUPPORT: Can your new host answer your questions within 24 hours? If not, look elsewhere. Your new host should offer some sort of live chat capability during regular business hours as well, and a 24-hour a day help desk where you can email in questions. If you don't have a contact email and some way to reach someone during business hours - look elsewhere. Email their support or use their chat live capability before agreeing to their service - you want to see if you'll be treated rudely or gently. These are the people you'll be dealing with if you have snags - you don't want the support to make life MORE frustrating!

USER FRIENDLY RATING: What kind of control panel do they offer? Do they offer a demo? What options do you have on the panel? Do you have free 24-hour FTP access so that you can make those 4 am site edits? What about a site builder, bulletin boards, or chat rooms - how easy will it be for you to interact with your customer using your new host's services? Will you have access to popular features such as PHP, CGI, ASP, Java scripts, Perl scripting – can your new host handle it if your web page incorporates these things?

Now that you've decided to make the change and you've found the host you love, HOW do you go about it?

First, make sure that all of the files that have created your current site are on your computer so that they can be moved. If you created your own pages using something like FrontPage or SiteBuilder or Dreamweaver, you have these files. If you used a web based builder, you'll need to download each and every page of your site along with their dependent files to a folder on your PC.

This probably sounds harder than it is. You can either use an FTP tool to download files or download them using the "File – Save As" method outlined below. Should you choose to FTP your files down to your computer, you'll need an FTP tool. TUCOWS.com offers a free version at http://www.tucows.com/preview/195136.html

Should you choose the "File – Save As" method, simply follow these steps. First, go to your browser - most people use Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or Mozilla. Find your toolbar and look for the "File" button - you'll need this. Now go to the first page in your website. Once it has fully loaded, click on "File" then "Save As" and save the file and all dependent files to a folder on your website. Do this for every page. You'll then have possession of your website. It's always a good idea to keep your site backed up to your computer in a separate folder, as well.

Once you have your files, you'll need to make sure any other files on your web host are backed up. If you use web-based mail, forward your emails to an 'off-network' email address or archive your emails to your computer's hard drive. Once you change hosts, all those emails on their mail server will be deleted. Now, upload all of your new files to your new host's servers. Your new host should provide you with the FTP info needed to do this and/or live support should walk you through the steps in case you get stuck. The next thing you need to do is create an email account to match each email account from your old web host. If you had three accounts named info, sales, and support, make sure you have matching accounts on the new servers. This way you won't have bouncing emails later when the switch goes through. Now, change your domain name's name servers. Your new host should give you the information for this, as well. You will probably have a primary and secondary name server.

If you registered your own domain name, your registrar should have a management area. If you registered your domain name through your current host, make sure that you have access to change these items once you've moved. You never want to lose control of your domain name!!

The name server change will take 24 - 48 hours to propagate so that your domain name is pointing to your new servers rather than the old ones. You may wish to initiate the change earlier in the week rather than on a Friday because then you'll have to deal with a longer waiting period. Allow at least a week before canceling your old host so that you can make sure everything works properly on your new host, that you didn't forget any email accounts or old files and that your new host is living up to your expectations.

If you want to leave your host before your next billing cycle, be extremely careful. If your cancellation date falls after your normal monthly billing cycle date, you'll be billed again for that month's service and most hosts do not give refunds for less than a month of service.

Now that you know what to expect and have a better handle on changing your name servers, check out what the web has to offer - your bottom line will be glad that you did!

About The Author

Danielle Bailey created The Chayton Group at http://www.ChaytonGroup.com to be a complete, affordable online business solution. Whether you need web design or web hosting you won't find a company more committed to helping you get it for less.

danielle@chaytongroup.com

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

MORE ARTICLES:

Be Inspired to Create Better Websites
Being a writer, when I was asked to do some research into what makes a good website, of course I straightaway went to check out all of my favorite authors. After sifting through a few standard sites I remembered to look at one of my all time respected writers-Paulo Coelho.

The Ups and Downs of Dedicated Server Hosting
Getting your own dedicated server for your business is a great idea if you are interested in security, being the only business on the server, eliminating potential server problems, and have a budget that includes a substantial monthly fee. If you have a busy commerce website and a lot of visitors, then a dedicated server is probably your best bet, not to mention completely secure.

Hosting Considerations For Online Video
Many webmasters (you may be one of them) have probably considered using video on their web site for promotional purposes. Video is an excellent way to command attention from your viewing audience.

Impact Unlimited to Host 5th Annual Summer Symposium For Brand, Marketing, and Convention Managers
Impact Unlimited, a leading provider of brand communications for events, meetings, and exhibits worldwide, will host more than 90 meeting and event professionals at their Annual Summer Symposium on August 21 at the Princeton Marriott Hotel & Conference Center at Forrestal in Princeton, N.J. Entitled Re:Think 08, Impact Unlimited's annual event offers brand, marketing, and convention managers an opportunity to look beyond conventional approaches to creating successful meetings, exhibits, and events in today's complex and competitive environment.

Home 4 Sale By U, LLC Announces For Sale By Owner Property Websites
Home 4 Sale By U (www.home4salebyu.com) introduces low-cost property websites for the For Sale By Owner Market, enabling homeowners to compete with professionally listed homes.

Leading Organic Coffee Companies Host NYC Media Breakfast on U.N. World Environment Day June 5
To celebrate United Nation's-declared World Environment Day and raise awareness of the quality and environmental benefits of organic coffee production, journalists are invited to an organic coffee sampling featuring seven leading brands of delicious and environmentally sustainable organic coffees. These tasty products are ideal for general consumption or for holiday gifts and entertaining, and are widely available in stores nationwide and on the Internet. Space is limited so an RSVP is requested.

Article Marketing - Are You Submitting Articles to the Best Websites to Get More Traffic and Leads?
Article marketing is not all about getting links. It's about getting your articles published on the top, most trafficked, targeted websites, ezines and article directories that accept article submissions so you can experience more publicity, traffic and profits. How can you make sure your articles are published on the biggest sites that get the most traffic?

Steps to Becoming a Web Host Reseller
You've decided to get a reseller web hosting account to resell web space. What now? Here's a step-by-step guide.

The Websites has their own rules for Links.
The more links you have to your site (AKA backlinks), the higher listing you have with search engines. It also brings you more traffic. You can also exchange links with another site. This is known as a 2 way link. A one way link is better though. You can submit your link to directories to get one way links. People can go to these thousands of directories and add their link to it.

Multiple Website Hosting - Subdomains are the Answer!
Many business owners find themselves in a quandary over the ways to make the most of their company's web site. This is especially true of those who have the need to maintain more than one web site but do not wish to pay for multiple hosting accounts.

Global Red Chooses Macquarie Telecom to Host New-Age Marketing Campaigns
Leading Australian marketer, Global Red, chooses Macquarie Hosting in million dollar deal. Macquarie Hosting will support innovative electronic marketing campaigns (includes examples) for big name customers including Priceline.

2007 Is Free Hosting Really Free?
Sooner or later, as everyone finds out, zero in this globe is free. Although licensed are literally hundreds of Free Hosting adds surfacing on the Internet, no one can keep up in stir too fat giving it away. So how can hosting services instance for love hosting?

Hosting Controller, Inc. Announces the Official Final Release of HC7
Hosting Controller Inc (http://www.hostingcontroller.com), developer of Hosting Automation Solution, announces the official final release of HC7. Hosting Controller version 7C is the highest-profile Control Panel software. It has many advanced features, a sophisticated cluster management solution, support for both operating systems (Windows/Linux), built-in load balancing component, dozens of new click & install applications and improved billing system to automate and improve your web hosting tasks. Company has released this new version for real-world "production" use, after running betas for over two months. It is designated as the final version, and now recommen...

Patron Technology to Host Second Annual E-marketing Conference
Patron Technology today announced that it will host its second annual day-long E-marketing E-mersion E-vent." The conference, to be held at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City, will feature speakers from Google, the New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Opera, and more. Topics to be covered include: E-mail Marketing, Google Adwords, Social Network Marketing, Podcasts, and Video. Hosted by WQXR radio's Elliot Forrest.

vFlyer Announces "Domain Plus" For Realtors to Host, Customize Single Property Websites
vFlyer extends one-Stop-Shop Services for Real Estate Professionals to Create Single Property Listings Easier, Faster and More Economical.