web hosting

Starting Your Own Business Through Reseller Hosting

With the U.S. economy suffering like never before, more consumers are unemployed, thus more people are looking for ways to generate money online.  Fortunately, the internet offers endless opportunities for those looking to bring in a few extra books.  Many have been successful with affiliate marketing while several more have learned to master advertising programs like Google AdSense. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to start an online business is a unique type of hosting known as reseller hosting.

Reseller Hosting Defined

Reseller web hosting is a type of web hosting that allows you to purchase server space, bandwidth and other features from a legitimate hosting provider, and then sell hosting packages to customers of your own.  As a reseller, you get special software for creating hosting plans while your customers get a control panel application to manage their own hosting environment.  Though more expensive than traditional shared hosting, the resources and services you get in return usually result in excellent value for your money.

Benefits of Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting offers a number of benefits to the ambitious entrepreneur.  The greatest benefit is perhaps cost efficiency that allows you to purchase bandwidth and disk storage in small allotments.  This way, you are not wasting precious resources and most importantly, money.  With such a minimal investment requirement, you can eventually work your way up to a dedicated server or at least yield small profits instead of incurring substantial losses every month.  This factor alone makes reseller hosting a great business to get into.

Another benefit of reseller hosting is having the full support of a professional web host.  As we all know, things do happen and most of it will relate to technical jargon you won’t have a clue about.  The hard drive on a server may fail, an OS kernel might get corrupted, there could be an outage in the data center – anything could happen.   The good news for you is that the web hosting provider is responsible for such issues.  When signing on for a reliable service, you can focus on selling more packages and appeasing your customers instead of worrying about the technical aspects.

Finding a Reliable Partner

A reseller account should be treated like a real business and therefore, you need to be very selective when it comes to choosing a service.   Most providers will only allow you to host a certain amount of domains and may also limit features such as email accounts, databases, scripting languages, or other important services.   Additionally, not every host can be depended on.  Your best bet would be to take advantage of the available resources and learn more about what’s out there.  This simply means asking friends or using your favorite search engine to find a reliable service.

Reseller Expectations

Many have made a successful venture out of reseller hosting but be warned, it will take dedication and hard work on your part.  There are no guarantees so you have to be committed to bringing in customers and providing a level of service that keeps them around.  This is all made easier when choosing the right reseller hosting solution.

Do You Need Free or Paid Web Hosting?

If you are in need of a website, it important to know that are many types of services that can help you achieve this goal.  Rather than going into the endless variety of web hosting types, we will discuss two of the most basic services – free and paid hosting.  Indeed, you don’t necessarily have to spend money to get a website.  However, there are a number of factors that need to be considered outside of costs, all of which will help you make an informed decision.

What is the Intent of Your Site?

When it comes to choosing a service, the first step that needs to made is determining the purpose of your site.  Some people use a website as a convenient means of sharing photos and information with family and friends while others are looking to start a business online.  Although every website is based on the same general concepts, there are extremes that greatly differentiate business sites from their personal counterparts.  Knowing the purpose of your site will make it much easier to decide between free and paid hosting.

What will it Include?

After determining the needs of your website, you should then have a better idea of the content it will include.  Some websites consist of a single homepage and others contain multiple pages with dynamic features.  If you only need to upload small text documents and photos, you will not require tons of disk space and bandwidth in a web hosting solution.  The same holds true if you only anticipate a minimal amount of traffic.

If the above sounds like your plans, you can probably get by with free web hosting.  Free services are typically easy to use and cater to individuals with no experience at creating web pages.  With the right platform, you can learn more about HTML programming and put those skills to use for a professional site in the future.  Many have used these services to build their presence online before moving on to a paid solution.

Can You Afford to be Limited?

Although a free hosting service can help you get a website, there are several drawbacks you should take into consideration.  First and foremost, you have very little control over your hosting environment.  Because of this, you may be forced to allow the hosting provider to place third-party advertisements on your web pages.  Secondly, features are quite limited in comparison to a premium hosting solution.  You only have a small amount of disk space and bandwidth to work with and technical support is almost non-existent.  Such disadvantages are the very reason free hosting services are best suited for personal websites.

Paid hosting gives you more flexibility and control with a variety of packages to choose from.

You will have access to more disk space and bandwidth along with a number of highly sought after features.  This ranges from powerful databases and dynamic programming languages to multiple email accounts and free domain names.  These are features you just won’t find in a shared hosting plan.

Conclusion

As you can see, free hosting has its purposes, howevef, the usefulness is primarily limited to personal sites.  Anyone who plans to make a serious impact on the web is better served with a premium hosting solution.  In this case, it pays to have a service that provides the features and reliability you need to achieve your goals online.

Meet the Web Server

There is a lot that goes into running a web hosting business.  The provider needs an internet connection, bandwidth and data facility to store the equipment that enables the service.  While numerous components are required, almost all of them revolve around the web server.

What is a Web Server?

There term web server actually describes to different elements.  One is the computer that stores the data for a website.  The other is a software application that runs on the computer and processes requests from web browsers and other client-side technologies.  Though often used interchangeably, these two components are quite different.  For this reason, one should always clarify the mentioning of a web server as it can refer to either a machine or an application.  This article will focus on the latter and give a brief overview on how this type of software works.

The Web Server in Action

A web server application helps the actual hardware serve web pages upon the request of a browser such as Internet Explorer or Opera.  Because it deals primarily in HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) requests, this type of application if often referred to as an HTTP server.  After receiving a request, the server runs HTTP, which is a protocol for transferring data over the internet and enabling two computers to communicate with each other.  When using your web browser to access any given website, a request is transmitted to a web server on a remote computer.  The server application then processes the browser’s request and attempts to locate the requested web page.  If it is found, the server sends the page to your browser which then displays the appropriate content.

Commonly Used Web Servers

The Netcraft Web Server Usage Survey reports that the Apache HTTP server is the most the widely installed web server in the world, claiming that it has nearly 60% of the market share.  As an open-source application, Apache supports numerous open-source technologies such as the Linux operating system and MySQL database server.

The main competitor to Apache is IIS (Internet Information Services), a robust server application developed by Microsoft.  This web server was designed to work with various server editions of the Windows operating system.  Though it is compatible with MySQL and other open-source technologies, IIS was designed to be integrated with Microsoft products such as ASP (Active Server Pages) and the SQL Server.  Other web server applications exist but they are rarely used in comparison to Apache and IIS.

Using a Web Server off the Web

While primarily intended for the web hosting arena, web server applications can also be used for other purposes as well.  For example, many techies have the Apache server installed on their Windows-based computers.  This is great for someone who scripts custom programs for their own servers.  Several developers find this method much easier than working on a remote server.   So, if you have a powerful computer with a need to create PHP or ASP scripts, a web server like Apache or IIS could work wonders on your system.

Why Hackers Hack Websites

Security experts and various studies reveal that website hacking is definitely on the rise.  Today’s hackers are more advanced than ever before, often working together in close-knit communities trading tips and tools with one another.  These twisted individuals take their business serious, having countless online forums where updates are posted daily to help each other get around the latest security mechanism and increase the number of victims.  What makes website hacking so detrimental is that there are so many types of attacks.  In addition, different hackers have different goals in mind.

Hacking for Sensitive Information

Any who frequents the web can see that almost every website consists of numerous applications.  This goes from simple email forms and login pages to shopping carts and more dynamic creations.  These applications all share the common goal of allowing web surfers to submit and retrieve a given level of personal or sensitive information stored in an underlying database.  When such applications are not secured, you are essentially opening the gate leading to your most confidential data.  Just think if you’re involved in e-commerce – those databases probably contain credit card numbers and details regarding your customers.  If a hacker is able to inflict damage, your business could be in great peril.

Hacking to Steal Bandwidth

Bandwidth is one of the most vital internet resources and plays a major role in the functioning of your website.  Coupled with the expense, the opportunity to conduct illegal business is enough motivation to provoke a website hacking.  A knowledgeable hacker could penetrate a web-based application, leach off a large amount of bandwidth and go on with their illicit activities.  When this occurs, the web hosting provider’s server is being used to help carry out illegal business without them even realizing it.

Hacking to Distribute Illegal Content

One of the most common reasons website attacks occur is to accommodate hackers looking to distribute illegal content while leaving no trace of themselves.  This is often done to trade pirated software or even something as disturbing as child pornography.  When these activities are traced by the authorities, the trail only leads back to the website owner who could likely face legal implications, the loss of credibility or worse.

Hacking for Search Engine Rankings

It is a proven fact that search engines are one of the most effective ways to generate qualified visitors.  Hackers are aware of this as well and will do whatever it takes to get ahead.  Some are so advanced that they have the ability to inject hidden keywords into the websites of unsuspecting owners.  Search engines like Google frown down on such activities and will often penalize anyone caught spamming its database.  In this case, it’s the victimized website owner.  This is something that could really impact the ability to effectively promote your business.

Protect Your Website

The importance of application security just can’t be stressed enough.  These are just a few of several factors that motivate hacking and if your website isn’t secure, you could be the next victim.

Beware of Cheap Web Hosting Practices

At first glance, cheap hosting is an ideal solution for individuals and small businesses looking to create a web presence.  After all, why pay top-dollar when so many hosts are offering the same service for next to nothing?  Yes, cheap hosting appears to be the route for obvious reasons but is it really a reliable solution?  You may find this service questionable after reading about some of the most common cheap hosting practices.

The Ambitious Newcomer

It takes a lot to run a web hosting company.  Providers require servers, bandwidth and a plethora of IT experts to help maintain the infrastructure.  Those who lack the resources and expertise to run the infrastructure outsource their hosting operations to third-party professionals, thus enabling them to elude the hassle and enormous costs.  Aside from financial resources, the cost savings obtained from outsourcing is what allows many companies to offer web hosting packages at competitive prices.

Along comes a new company looking to dabble in the web hosting industry.  Noticing all the low prices on the market, they come up with the bright idea of offering their service at a fraction of the price.  What better way to increase profits and overall growth of the company?  Things usually start out well for the new ambitious web host.  With everyone searching for affordable hosting, customers flock to the cheap service provider.  The veteran hosts even notice some of their clients fleeing for the cheaper service as well.  In the spirit of competition, they also lower their prices in order to keep pace in the market.  Here’s the catch – more than likely, the prominent web hosts have the flexibility and resources that allow them to trim costs without suffering any major financial losses.  The brilliant newcomer?  Well, they usually find themselves in a world of trouble.

Cutting Back Equals More Losses

Despite all the customers, the incredibly low price leads the newcomer to cut corners and make sure the company remains profitable.  They start by relieving some of their IT staff and technical support personnel.  When that isn’t enough, they began to trim away more essential aspects of their infrastructure.  They cut back on the maintenance and security procedures that are vital to any web hosting company.  Next, they overload their servers with customers.  From there, its reducing the number of servers entirely.  The cheap web hosting provider is still in business but in bad shape.  Limited personnel and IT engineers has resulted in horrible customer service.  The lack of preventative measures leads to more hardware failures and excessive downtime.  Overloading and minimizing servers results in poor performance and you’ve guessed it, more downtime.  Now that cheap but reliable web hosting package isn’t nearly what it is was advertised to be.

There is Hope

The cheap practices of an overzealous web hosting company hurts you the most.  Fortunately, not all cheap services are cheaply run as there are several reliable hosts on the market.  There is nothing wrong with trying to save a few dollars with an affordable web hosting service .  Just don’t go too low because you might get less than you paid for.