Web Hosting Today

The tentacles of the web hosting industry are spreading its range with each passing day, bringing in more competition all the time. And this being the scenario around the free web hosting services may seem very much luring - free services, managing your site for free with their own domain names!! But do you know what you miss when you do not have your own domain name? Let us use a supposition to start with. Suppose you are the proprietor of a business, may be a small one, but you will definitely look out for the internet as one of the means of reaching out to your customer circle.

When you adopt a free web host, your site will have a domain name like http://www.freecraphost.com/youronlinecart. But if you put yourself onto your customers shoes, dont you think you would feel it more safer to shop with something like http://www.youronlinecart.com? The URL itself spells permanence and a brand. And when you leave the things to your free web host, without your own domain name, just imagine what an impression it would make with so many ads on your site - that you are reluctant to spend money on your own business and the worst part is these ads may include your competitor too!! One more important thing is the search engine perspective.

When you dont have a domain name of your own your URL would be something like http://www.freecraphost.com/yourwebsite, but with your own domain name it would be something like http://www.yourwebsite.com. And the profit of the second URL is that you can use the right keyword in the second URL helping your site to rank higher. To make it more clear, the search engine look at the whole domain and your site is simply a sub domain for them in the first URL and your index.html page is not the home page of that particular domain, even though it is your home page.

So your SEO strategies are at a twist at the beginning itself. Why make your job harder when you at least have a fighting chance with your own domain name? Have you ever thought that how could your own domain name help you in managing emails? With a domain name of your own, you can set up an email account anytime, for example name@yourowndomain.com. And what I mean by managing your emails with your own domain name is that -

1) You can set up lots of email addresses, as per your requirement.
2) You can forward your received messages to whichever email account you are using at the present,
3) When you change the address just redirect it to the one that you have set up.

And when your customers could reach you with sales@youronlinecart.com or faq@youronlinecart.com or articles@youronlinecart.com, what they feel, that they are dealing with an established organization. Another important factor that I would like to bring to light is that you have your URL printed on your cards, brochures, folders, etc and when you plan to change your host, imagine the turmoil and expense of reprinting everything once again! But when you have your own domain name, your URL is constant, forever. If you are blogger also, it is always favorable to host your own blog with your own domain name, so that you dont get confined by the restrictions of the blogging sites. If you are a student, or creating a website only for your craze of a hobby, than definitely the free web hosts are a better option as there is no point of spending so much on your domain name. But if you are an artist, a designer or a craftsman, than may be you wont want yourself to be seen with a free web host! And if its for your own business, however small, you definitely don’t want to be seen on a free hosting site with the irritating pop-up ads. One more point worth noticing is the way in which the domain name registration fees are declining these days. They are becoming affordable and cheaper day-by-day. Last, but not the least, as to why you have your own domain name is authority and liberty.

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Simply put, a domain name is a “front” - they are word sequences users enter in their browsers location bar to visit your site, but are not a Web site’s true address. Domain names are attached to DNS (Domain Naming System) servers, which are used to translate numeric addresses (known as IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses) into words. Each site you visit on the net has a numeric IP address behind its name, which represents the site’s true address on the Internet.

Domain names are typically categorized by their extension, which is their identifying code. The three most popular types of Top Level Domains (TLDs), which are domains that are not associated with a country, are:

.COM: Short for .commercial. Domain names with the .com extension are by far the most popular, and can be purchased by any individual or business. .

.NET: Short for .network, this domain extension was originally designed to be used by technical Web sites. However, domains using this extension can be registered by anyone.

.ORG: Short for .organization. Originally designated for non-profit firms and any other organizations that did not fit under the .com or .net extension, any individual or business may now register a .org domain name.

COUNTRY LEVEL DOMAINS

Domain names can also be assigned using country extensions. Each country has its own domain extension; Canada, for example, is .ca, while Japan has been assigned .jp. Most countries have specific rules surrounding exactly who can register domains using their extension and for what purpose; it’s therefore important to look before you leap.

ALTERNATIVE DOMAIN NAMES

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization responsible for the administration of TLDs worldwide, recently approved several new extensions that are not specific to any country. These are:

# .areo
# .biz
# .coop
# .info
# .museum
# .name
# .pro

Each has been designed for a specific use, and is accompanied by certain restrictions. You can find more information about these TLDs here: http://www.icann.org/tlds/

OTHER DOMAIN EXTENSIONS

In searching for your domain name, you may encounter Web sites offering extensions like .xxx, .free and .mp3. These are not true extensions endorsed by ICANN; rather, they rely on software solutions to guarantee their accessibility to users. Because ICANN has not approved any of these extensions, however, users that do not have the correct website builder software cannot access sites using these names; therefore, they should be used for supplemental purposes only.

Although .com, .net and .org are typically the most visible and talked-about extensions, they are not the only ones available for use. From a functional perspective, country-level domains work just as well as any TLDs, and alternative extensions work just as well. Therefore, do not necessarily settle for a mediocre TLD when you can get a better one using a different extension.

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So, you’ve decided that your current host doesn’t suit your needs and you need to choose a new one. Well, don’t worry - it happens all the time. Many webmasters upgrade their hosting services once their Web sites become popular, usually because their current hosting firm cannot provide an effective level of scalability or technical support.

Before you move, it’s extremely important to make sure you have copies of everything related to your site. Double-check that all content, including Web pages, databases and scripts, are properly archived. But don’t archive your Web sites just in case you switch hosts - always back up your data at regular intervals in case you experience unexpected data loss or hardware failure. This will also ensure that all your data is archived and compressed in its original directories, which is very important if you want to retain the full-working integrity of your Web site when you move.

Once you have archived your site, make arrangements to purchase your new hosting services. Make sure that any new solution you select includes basic services that approximate and surpass the service you where obtaining with your previous provider. Perform a search with our advanced search utility to make sure the companies you are considering offer exactly what you’re looking for. It makes no sense to replace your present hosting service with another Web hosting solution that equally cannot fulfill your technical requirements.

When your new solution is activated, upload your archived Web pages, database and scripts to the new host. You will be allocated an IP number from the new hosting company. Take time to debug and test the new site from the individual IP number.

After your site is entirely debugged and you verify that all site functionality is operative, transfer your domain name service (DNS) servers over from your old host to your new host.

During this DNS transition period, which is referred to as the “propagation period,” your Web site will be resolved by both your new and old host, as new DNS information about your Web site filters through the Internet worldwide. It typically takes about 1-2 weeks for the transfer to fully propagate around the Internet; so keep your old site running in case you get visitors whose ISP’s name servers haven’t updated fully.

It is imperative that you retain both your old and new hosting services during your hosting solution transition. You will need to check your e-mail from both hosting providers, since some regions of the Internet will direct e-mail to your original host, while other regions will start sending mail to your new server during the transition.

This same situation will occur with your site’s Web server during the period of propagation. For this reason, you must ensure that both hosting services are operating simultaneously during your solution transition.

Once a week or two have elapsed, cancel the account with your previous hosting company. Make sure to only pull the plug on your old account when e-mail stops arriving from your old server.

To ease the transition, you may want to select a hosting service that approximates the features of your previous hosting company. With a wide range of hosting control panel and automation software packages available, it is now easier to transition Web sites.

Transitioning from one new host to another can be a simpler task if you select the same operating system platform and control panel. Some hosting companies make transition from one control panel to another easier by employing a tool that actually automates the transition from a competitor.

Remember, when you’re shopping for a new hosting company, make sure their services suit all of your needs. Use our enhanced search to find a host that meets your exact specifics. This will reduce your chances of having to search for another host later.

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