Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » web hosting business http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 24 May 2012 11:11:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 What to do When Everything is Running Well at Your Web Hosting Businesshttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/running-your-web-hosting-business/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/running-your-web-hosting-business/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:51:26 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=2557 Believe it or not, owning a web hosting company is not always the hectic, out of control affair we think of it as. In fact, a lot of your time may simply be spent in front of your desk playing Solitaire as the bytes travel back and forth. Your servers may finally be running smoothly on autopilot, but does that mean you should take the opportunity to kick back, relax, and stop working on your systems?

Absolutely not! When you’ve got some “down time”—and not of the server variety—you’ve got a golden opportunity to ensure your servers are smooth, slick, and up to date. You never know when the perfect storm may be just around the corner, and the smart web hoster takes every placid opportunity to give his servers a looking over.

With that in mind, here’s some ideas for you to capitalize on the next time everything is running smoothly on the home front:

  1. Run Updates: This seems obvious, but taking the time to ensure your servers are up to date is a must. You may have fixed every other aspect of your hardware imaginable, but when’s the last time you checked to see if CentOS added any new features? If you’re bored, can’t think of anything else to check, or just want to keep your servers running smoothly, go run your distro’s updater application and download the changes.

  2. Nuke The Remnants: When a tenant on one of your servers leaves, their website is deleted. At least, it should be: The truth is, most websites leave behind scripting files, or the occasional stray media cache. There are also several preference bits that tend to get stuck to your hardware. With this in mind, just troll through your file cabinets looking for “remnants,” or bits of old sites that no longer exist on your servers. Take out any loose ends, and then feel better about yourself. House cleaning is hard work, and very likely needed to be done!

  3. Take Another, Deeper Look: When everything is running perfectly, why not take the extra time to be sure your eyes aren’t deceiving you? Troll through some log files and look for any unseen errors. Run as many diagnostic tools as you can. If there’s an error, you’ll find it this way. If there’s not, you’ll have yet another opportunity to give yourself a pat on the back! It’s a win-win, in our eyes.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/running-your-web-hosting-business/feed/ 0 Expanding Your Client Base by Marketing to Businesses Ownershttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/expanding-your-client-base-by-marketing-to-businesses-owners/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/expanding-your-client-base-by-marketing-to-businesses-owners/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:31:34 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=1502 A large client base is the key to becoming a successful web hosting reseller, and is usually the most difficult step in establishing a successful web hosting business. Every other aspect of reselling is covered within the control panel of your reseller hosting account, including site/hosting plan creation. To solicit a significant amount of clients you’ll need to put in some hard work and creative thinking. The best way to increase profit margins and ensure continual residual income is to target demographics and audiences that are relatively unsaturated and inexperienced in the Internet industry. Thus, targeting store owners and service providers that operate local businesses is the best way to bridge the gap between your online services and the real world.

The Advantage of Targeting Physical Business Owners

By targeting people that already own businesses, you can guarantee that your target audience already has an interest in expanding their marketing outreach. As a self established hosting provider you can meet this need by offering comprehensive website creation/promotion/hosting packages that will streamline the process of placing their business on the World Wide Web. Business owners also have a lot more money to invest than the typical audience, and many of them are inexperienced when it comes to online operations. Since your target audience will not be familiar with typical hosting prices and protocol you’ll be able to demand a higher price than you would if you were to target online customers instead.

How to Find Prospective Clients

The first step in finding a group of prospective clients is to browse through business directories, as these databases are full of business owners that are already trying to market their services. Ideally, you’ll want to target business owners that do not already have a website or hosting plan. You can do this by searching for the business name in Google; usually any business that does not have an online presence will not appear within the search results. After conducting these simple steps you’ll have a two-tier prospective client base to target – one group of business owners that are trying to market their services online and already own website, and another group that are trying to market their services online and do not own website. Although you’ll probably receive higher conversion rates from the latter group, both will bring sales if your services are promoted properly.

Properly Promoting Your Hosting Services

Most business owners are more susceptible to custom sales pitches than predesigned sales pages. This is because they like to feel as if they are important and valued before spending their hard-earned money on your services. Thus, while it is ideal to create a web hosting site that advertises all of the main features of your web hosting packages, it is also wise to approach each business owner with individual selling points that are based on their specific industry. For example, you could approach an owner of a bicycle shop and tell them how beneficial it would be for their shop to be listed in various online directories and to have their own professional website that can effectively target tourists and generate additional income.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/expanding-your-client-base-by-marketing-to-businesses-owners/feed/ 0 Are You Paying Too Much for Web Hosting?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/are-you-paying-too-much-for-web-hosting/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/are-you-paying-too-much-for-web-hosting/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:27:27 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=661 The easiest way to enjoy a low cost on your web hosting bill is to choose the right service provider to begin with.  Unfortunately, the web hosting business is growing at a rapid pace, which means choosing a good and reputable host is not only difficult, but often consuming and very frustrating.  The good thing is that once you find the ideal host, you will agree that the journey was worth the time and effort you put into it.  If you want to make sure you are getting a bang for your buck, keep your eyes on the following areas as they directly attribute to the cost of service:

Bandwidth and Storage

Bandwidth and disk space play a major role in determining the price of web hosting.  Determining how much of each you require can be tricky, but coming up with an estimate is important.  Whatever you determine, just make sure you understand how these crucial resources are allotted.  It is imperative that you understand the rules on overages and what will happen if you use more bandwidth or disk space than you have been allocated.  Simply knowing this will spare you the surprise of a huge web hosting bill at the end of the month.  A hosting company that will spill the details on allowances and overages ahead of time allows you to take the measures needed to reduce or properly plan for extra usage.  This type of host can be a real keeper.

Website Quantity

If you require more than one website, then you might want to consider signing up with a hosting company that allows you to run multiple domains on a single account.  This will help you save a lot of money over purchasing separate accounts from different companies.  Because you are essentially putting all of your eggs in one basket, you also need to consider the dangers of multiple domain hosting.  Should disaster strike the server, all of your websites could be compromised and unavailable to visitors.  You need to give this careful thought as crippling downtime might be the greatest cost of all.

Web Applications and Technologies

You can save yourself some money on web hosting just by ensuring that all the software applications and technologies your site requires are included in the package.  This includes programs such as FrontPage and WordPress as well as technologies such as PHP or ASP.NET.

If the host does not offer what you need, paying extra for it could end up costing you dearly.  Make sure you understand what is included and try not pay for features that can be obtained somewhere else for free.

Hosting Contracts

Many web hosting companies offer substantial discounts when paying for a year or two worth of service in advance.  Signing up for something like this may appear to be a smart move, but you need to find out how long you will be locked in first.  It is recommended to avoid any long-term contracts until you can assure that you are absolutely satisfied with a particular host.  For this reason, you may want to keep your options open to month-to-month contracts where the risks are considerably lower.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/are-you-paying-too-much-for-web-hosting/feed/ 0 Heed the Tricks of Cheap Hostinghttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/heed-the-tricks-of-cheap-hosting/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/heed-the-tricks-of-cheap-hosting/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:17:25 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=254 Cheap hosting has become a very popular niche, but there is another side to the service which the average customer may not be aware of.  Some web hosting companies employ a wide variety of tricks in order to sell their cheap service, many of which could hinder your ability to be successful with a website.  Learning about these practices will help you know what to expect and hopefully elude the hosts behind them.

Lack of Experience and Track Record

The web hosting market is filled with thousands of companies who are just waiting to provide you with service.  One should also beware that some of these providers have not been in business very long.  Even worse, some do not have the manpower, knowledge and experience it takes to run a web hosting business.  Signing up with a host that is just hitting the scene and riding the learning curve might leave you with a lot of heartache when things to start to go wrong.  While everyone has to start somewhere, it is best to find a company that has a proven track record.  This is one that is most likely to provide you with the best service.

Lousy Support

There are many web hosting providers that will cut back on every aspect they can in order to save money.  One of the most vital areas they sacrifice is support.  These are companies who make it next to impossible to get the help you need.  They may offer limited support by allowing you to only contact the staff via email.  Some will even advertise 24/7 support but fall short by taking forever to respond to your inquiries or simply not answering the phone.  This is why it is so important to make sure you sign up with a host that can provide quality support.  It is a good rule of thumb to test the company with an email or call during late night hours or over the weekend.  Whenever you need help, they should be able to step up and deliver.

Shady SLA

The Service Level Agreement or SLA, is often overlooked but you should never disregard it.

The SLA is to entail how problems that the web host encounters will directly influence the customers experience.  This agreement needs to be read thoroughly before signing up with any web host.  If the company doesn’t offer one, move onto the next.  If the SLA does not clearly outline the level of service you are to receive and what will happen if is not upheld, you should probably find a company that offers something more comprehensive.

Beware of the Middleman

When running across a cheap hosting plan, there may be a chance that you are not dealing with a web hosting company at all, yet an agent selling packages on their behalf.  This is known as reseller hosting, a practice that allows entrepreneurs and small businesses to profit from web hosting.  Although reseller hosting isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you should keep in mind that you will have no direct contact with the web host, the company who is doing all the work and actually housing your data.

Conclusion

There is nothing wrong with cheap hosting as it can be a viable option in many situations.  With that said, it helps to be informed on these questionable practices so you can stay away from the companies sacrificing quality for a cheap service.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/heed-the-tricks-of-cheap-hosting/feed/ 1 Meet the Web Serverhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/meet-the-web-server/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/meet-the-web-server/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:41:08 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=237 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.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/meet-the-web-server/feed/ 0 Digital Realty Trust Honored by Datacenter Dynamicshttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/digital-realty-trust-honored-by-datacenter-dynamics/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/digital-realty-trust-honored-by-datacenter-dynamics/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:03:10 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=152 Digital Realty Trust Inc. took home the “Innovation in an Outsourced Environment” award at the Datacentre Leader’s 2008 Awards.  The firm received the honor for the Turn-Key Datacentre it recently delivered to IBM to support the expansion of the company’s web hosting business in France.   Digital Realty Trust was presented with the honor on December 17, 2008 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.  The annual award ceremony is hosted by Datacenter Dynamics which also hosts a number of educational conferences for experts involved in mission-critical IT facilities.

Benared Geoghegan, Digital Realty Trust Senior Vice President, expressed what an honor it was to receive the award and aid in the project with IBM.  The completion of the new Turn-Key Datacentre in Paris, France provided IBM with the ability to eliminate a large capital investment and meet the financial and technical requirements for the project.  The award further proved Digital Realty Trust’s expertise in data center design and commitment to its partners.  Geoghegan says the firm was able to make it a successful project by utilizing environmentally sustainable development techniques as well as its industry-leading approach to optimizing energy efficiency.

Originally launched in 2007, the Datacentre Leader’s Awards were created to recognize technological innovation and reward excellence to organizations who specialize in facility design.  The award recognizes entities in London and throughout the entire continent of Europe.  The Datacentre Leader’s Awards provide organizations with the opportunity to showcase their ingenuity and professionalism in the essential data center industry.  Datacenter Dynamics launched the program to not only highlight teams, but individuals who make this vital sector what it is today, proving that it’s much more than sophisticated products and technologies.  Other than offering peer recognition, the Datacentre Leader’s Award also provide the opportunity to display the data center industry at its very best.

Located across Europe and North America,. Digital Realty Trust Turn-Key Datacentre facilities offer state of the art environments to support mission-critical infrastructures.  They are equipped with advanced power and cooling systems, multiple redundancy and sustainable elements to ensure that crucial applications are available and energy sources are optimized.  Each facility is physically secure, equipped with sophisticated power systems and environmental architectures that provide for efficient, eco-friendly operations.  All Digital Realty Trust Turn-Key Datacentre facilities are designed on the firm’s proprietary POD Architecture and utilizes metered energy to ensure that clients only pay for the power they consume.

The recent honor was fitting for Digital Realty Trust as the company is one of the most respected names in the data center industry.  The company is dedicated to providing its Turn-Key Datacentre facilities and Powered Base Building solutions for global clients across a wide range of industries.  Some of its partners include organizations in manufacturing, financial services, Information Technology and internet-based enterprises among other sectors.  This respected firm owns 74 facilities in 27 major markets throughout Europe and North America, each of which provide an infrastructure critical to the operations of its technology partners and corporate enterprise data center tenants.

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