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So, you want to build a Website!
by Bean Counter's Dave Marshall
Lesson 3
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So, you want to build a Website!
by Bean Counter's Dave Marshall
Lesson 3
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| [Website Space Calculator] | [Website Bandwidth Calculator] |
| Intro | Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Lesson 5 | Lesson 6 | Reference Page |
| Bean Counter Accounting | |||||||
After you have registered your domain name, you need to find a web hosting service. They provide those wanting a web site computer space to store their web site pages (files), e-mail accounts, web page making software, tools to use to give your site special capabilities, and 24/7 (24 hours a day seven days a week) access so that anyone wanting to visit your site can visit it at anytime. Wait a minute I've got my own computer why should I pay someone else to store my website (files) for me ? As Paul Harvey (old radio news show host) would say see page 2. Well you could host your own site but you not only need space on your computer but would need some special knowledge, a high speed computer, some special software and a high speed 24/7 connection to the internet in order to be able to do it. With hosting fees so reasonable unless you're a big boy or wanting to start a hosting business it just doesn't make any sense to do it yourself.
Purchasing hosting services is no different than buying any other product or service. You determine your needs and the amount you can spend and try to find the best deal. What complicates the decision is the terminology used and the options that are offered. Just like the cartoon guy with the ice cream cone hosting services come in many flavors.
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What To Look For In A Nutshell
"Free" or Paid For Hosting The very first hosting decision is whether to consider a free host or not. We all want to be frugal , but we sure don't want to save a nickel and spend a dime. Most Free Hosting services normally provide a lot less diskspace and bandwidth, restrictions on file sizes, domain names, scripts allowed, and FTP access. In addition, outside advertising banners and requirements to "check" in to your account periodically or click on other advertisers links may be requirements. |
On the internet your image is critical to your success. Spend a few bucks and present a professional image. Notice that I said a few bucks. You should be able to find excellent paid hosting for less than $10.00/month that will meet the needs of most small businesses. Cheap prices are great but beware of too cheap. The hosting provider must charge a reasonable price in order to be able to pay employees and maintain modern and reliable equipment.
Remember that old saying-"There ain't no free lunches in life". I may have been a little harsh. There are some but they're few and far between. Pay the small fee for paid hosting !
Speed, Reliability & Customer Support
Price is only one factor that you must consider in deciding on a hosting service for your website. Equally as important are speed, reliability, and customer support. If you encounter a problem or have a question, you want a hosting service that will fix your problem and answer any questions in a timely manner. You also need for your hosting service provider to have high speed connections, modern computers, and safeguards in place that protect your web pages and keep your site up and running at least 98 % of the time. Obsolete or old equipment will cause slow load times (visitors have to wait a while in order to view your page) and an increased amount of downtime (your webpages can't be viewed online).
Special Features
Lastly, your hosting service provider should offer a plan(s) that contains the features that you currently need and that you will need in the near future. What detail features do you need to know about in order to select a hosting service ? The different types of features (services) that hosts offer, what they are, and whether you may need a particular service or not are presented below.
In my opinion, some capabilities you could get by without, but you should always select a plan that provide email addresses and the ability to send and receive emails. You also need the capability of running scripts.
It's nice to get it right the first time, but remember that if you initially choose a provider that does not meet your needs you can always change to another hosting service provider.
Get It Right The First Time and choose Bean Counter Hosting. We provide you with a great price, speed, reliability, support, and the special features you need.
We'll use a list of features that a hosting service may present when promoting their web hosting services as a topside menu where you can click on each feature to find out what it is. You may also just browse thru this page to learn about the different hosting features that are offered.
Money Back Guarantee (Back To Main Menu)
A money back guarantee provides you with a way out if you happen to choose a web hosting service that you're not satisfied with. The reputable hosting services will offer this incentive.
Look for the Money Back Guarantee
Dedicated or Shared Servers (Back To Main Menu)
A dedicated server is a computer that is maintained and serviced by the web hosting company. It includes a Web server, related software, and a connection to the Internet. Shared hosting is when a hosting service stores and transfers pages for many different customer websites each with their own domain name from a single web server (computer).
For those starting out this decision is easy. You don't need a dedicated server.Later on if your web site becomes a super popular site (lots of visitors) with a whole lot of pages and files you may have to make this decision.
For us little guys shared hosting is all we need.
Operating System (Back To Main Menu)
An operating system is the special software that loads each time you turn your computer on. The operating system allows users to run programs, print documents, communicate and access the internet and controls and manages all your software and hardware.
The hosting services have to have an operating systeml for their computer's just like we do for our own computers. Most everyone is familiar with the Windows Operating System because it is so widely used; however, there are some other very good operating systems that just aren't as widely known or used. Just because it's not Microsoft's product doesn't mean that it's not as functional or as capable of doing the job as Windows. or
Commonly Used Operating Systems By Hosting Services
Connection Speed (Back To Main Menu)
Many of the visitors to your site will still be using a "slow" modem to connect to the internet. That's fine for your visitors but not for your hosting service provider. Your hosting provider should have a fast high speed connection in order to improve the time it takes to fetch your site's pages from their computer and eventually have it displayed from your visitor's computer. In the early days a T1 connection was considered fast. Not so anymore. Just as computers have kept getting better and better so have connection speeds.
Connection Speeds
| Description | Connection Speed/Second |
| Modem Analog 14.4 | 56KB |
| DO Digital (ISDN) | 64KB |
| T1 Digital | 1.55MB |
| T3 Digital | 43MB |
| OC-1 Optical Carrier | 52MB |
| OC-2 Optical Carrier | 156MB |
| OC-12 Optical Carrier | 622MB |
| OC-24 Optical Carrier | 1.244GB |
SSL Secure Server (Back To Main Menu)
SSL stands for secure sockets layer which allows data to be transferred in a secure environment. If you are planning on accepting credit cards on your site or requesting personal information about a visitor you need to have a host that provides SSL so your visitor's information will be safeguarded and protected.
Domain and Subdomain Names (Back To Main Menu)
We previously discussed domain and subdomain names in Lesson 2. What you hopefully picked up from that lesson is that you definitely need your own domain name for a business website. Most but not all web hosting services allow you to have your own name. This is a must. The web host that you choose must allow you to have your own unique domain name. If they also provide you with some subdomain names that are part of your own domain name that's considered an extra goodie. The subdomain should look something like www.products.yourdomainname.com. If you recall I said you didn't want a subdomain name. The previous subdomains that we discussed were a part of someone elses domain name. These are different. They're a part of your own unique domain name. If these "special" subdomains aren't offered as part of the hosting package don't fret because very few small business sites actually use them.
Setup Fees and Hosting Rates (Back To Main Menu)
Hosting services like other businesses incur costs and expenses in establishing a new account. Employees need to set you up in billing and configure one of their company computers to handle the needs of the hosting package that you purchase. Some services elect to "absorb" the cost in their service rates while others charge a one time fee to set up your account.
A hosting service that offers "Free" Setup has elected to absorb the cost in their service rates. They hope to keep you as satisfied customer so that they are able to recover their initial costs and expenses.
You will also run across options associated with whether you pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly for your hosting services. Some will offer "free" setup if you pay for the year while others will offer "free" setup regardless of the payment plan that you select. The hosting rate for the same hosting service plan will probably also vary depending on the payment plan that you select. Normally, but not always, the rate gets cheaper as the length of time that you agree to pay for becomes longer.
Is Free Setup Better ? I bet you think the answer to this question is a definite Yes ! Well I'm going to hedge and say it depends. Let's use an example to show why I'm hedging.
Calculation To Illustrate The Effect of Setup Fees
Calculate The Total Annualized 3 Year Price for All The Plans You're Comparing as illustrated in the following steps.
1. Depending on the payment option you select you
need to calculate the price of the service for a year excluding setup.
Monthly Payment Plan -Monthly Rate x 12
Quarterly Payment Plan -Quarterly Rate x 4
Semi-Annual Payment Plan -Semi-Annual Rate x 2
Annual Payment Plan -Annual Rate x 1
2. Multiply the result by 3
Assumes you want to maintain a web presence for at least 3 years
3. For those plans that charge a Setup Fee
Add this calculated price to the setup charge
4. Compare the calculated 3 year annual prices of all the plans that your considering
Lets take an example of two service hosting plans that have basically all the same features except price.
Assumptions:
Service Provider 1
Free Setup with $5.00/month hosting rate
Service Provider 2
$ 30.00 Setup with $4.00/month hosting rate
| Calculation Steps | Service Provider 1 | Service Provider 2 |
| Step 1 | $5.00 x 12 = $60.00 | $4.00 x 12 = $48.00 |
| Step 2 | $60.00 x 3 = $180.00 | $48.00 x 3 = $144.00 |
| Step 3 | $180.00 + 0.00 (No Setup) = $180.00 | $144.00 + 30.00 (Setup) = $174.00 |
Notice that in this example the 3 year annual cost is less for the plan that had a setup fee -Service Provider 2.
This purpose of this illustration was to show you that just because a hosting service offers free setup they may not necessarily turn out to be the cheapest. Even if the plan with the setup comes out a little higher you have to realize that if you intend on keeping your web site for future years with the same host that the lower rate is gradually offsetting the initial setup charge.
Is Free Setup Good or Bad ? You Will Have To Be The Judge ! If the only difference in the plans that you're comparing is that one has a setup fee and the other doesn't and you feel that both service providers will provide a quality service then select the plan with the Free Setup.
Uptime/Reliability (Back To Main Menu)
Uptime/reliable is the percentage of time that the hosting server is working and displaying your website. It doesn't do any good to have a gorgeous web site and find out that it is not working and being displayed so that visitors can see what you have to offer. You should not expect your site to be online and working 100 % of the time. Hosting services encounter problems just like any other business. Things do go wrong.
Many hosting service providers state what you should expect from them as far as uptime. How do you know what your actual uptime is ? Many sites on the internet offer a free service that monitors your site and sends you a weekly report.
You definitely need a service provider that has the capability of providing at least an average 95 % uptime rate. Uptime is critical to the success of your website.
Site Studio or Web Page Creation Software (Back To Main Menu)
Nowadays, YOU can create simple websites (web pages) without learning about all the dirty details. I still recommend that you educate yourself at least a little bit. Many of the hosting service providers, including Bean Counter Hosting, now provide software called Site Studio or something similar that allows you to basically just fill in the blanks and create a basic web presence (web pages). If you currently have a limited budget and can't afford to have someone design or help you design your site or you're not able or don't want to spend the time to learn the details of building a web site, you don't have an excuse for not putting your business on the web. We'll discuss creating web pages in more detail in Lesson 5.
If this tool is not offered by the web host service, there are many sites on the the internet where you can download free web creation software (editors). Think of this service as more or less a convenience when it's offered as part of the web hosting package.
Not absolutely necessary, but nice to have.
Web Space (Back To Main Menu)
Web space is just the amount of disk space you will be allowed to use on your web hosts computer (server). Web space or disk space is usually measured in megabytes (MB).
Let's define the units of measure that are used for disk space.
1 Byte = 8 bits
1 Kilobyte (KB) = 1024 bytes
1 Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobytes
1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1024 Megabytes
When you purchased your own computer you faced the same decision. How much space you needed to store your operating system (Windows, etc.) programs, and files. Now all we want to know is how much space you need to store all the files and programs needed for your web site on someone elses computer (host). I can almost guarantee you (sure thing) that you won't need as much space for your site as you have on your own computer.
Lets use our computer storage measurements and calculate what we will probably need. I have made my assumptions on the high side and your pages will probably actually be a lot smaller and take up less room.
Our Assumtions:
Size of Web Page Text 10K-50K
Image Size 5K-25K
Number of Images Per Page 5
Number Of Pages 20
Number of E-Mail Addresses Needed 3
Size Allowed For E-Mail Addresses 5,120 Kilobytes (1 MB)
Number of download files - None
Average size of download files - None
Our Initial Formula For Web Page Space becomes:
KB of web space you need for all pages= Number of pages or expected pages x Average Page Size in kilobytes
KB of web space you need for all pages = 20 (pages) x 175
KB of web space you need for all web pages = 3,500
That's what we need for our pages but we we also need to consider what space we will need to store the e-mails sent to us, and any special files such as scripts (discussed later), download files (e-books) that we might store on our site and any log files maintained for our site.
KB of Space Needed For E-Mail = Number Of E-Mail Addresses x Size Of E-Mail (Kilobytes)
KB of Space Needed For E-Mail = 3 x 5,120
KB of Space Needed For E-Mail = 15,360
Our Expanded Formula which includes e-mail adresses becomes:
KB of Total Space Needed for Web Pages and E-Mail =
KB of Space Needed for Pages + KB of Space Needed For E-Mail
KB of Total Space Needed for Web Pages and E-Mail = 3,500 + 15,360
KB of Total Space Needed for Web Pages and E-Mail = 18,860
Total Space Needed In Megabytes = 18.41 MB
To allow for growth (more pages) , scripts, download files, and log files we will double our calculation to arrive at our final estimate of our total space needs.
MB of Total Estimated Web Space Needed = Total Space Needed for Web Pages and E-Mail x 2
MB of Total Estimated Web Space Needed = 18.41 x 2
MB of Total Estimated Web Space Needed = 36.82
This should illustrate that most of us small guys and gals don't need so called "unlimited space" . A host that offers 40 MB or more should be sufficient unless we plan on having a huge on-line catalogue of our products. A little extra doesn't hurt but don't pay more for something that you'll probable not use. If you plan on having a huge on line catalogue or databases or a bunch of e-books available to download you will need more space.
Keep this in mind that the more space that is offered the more the cost should be for service because whether you use it or not your host has to make it available which means your host has less space on their computer that they can sell to others. Many hosts hedge knowing that the space will not actually be used.
If the cost for the hosting is very competitive go ahead and take the extra space, it can't hurt.
Let's Calculate Our Space Needs The Easy Way.
Data Transfer or Bandwidth (Back To Main Menu)
Most hosting companies offer a variety of bandwidth options in their plans. So exactly what is bandwidth or data transfer ? In layman terms bandwidth is basically a measurement that reflects the number of visitors to your site and the number of pages they view and e-books or other downloads that require your host's computer to take time to service your site over a period of time (usually a month). Just like a job, the more time it takes the more it should cost. Your host allows you a set amount based on what you agreed upon. If you exceed this amount you will usually be charged an additional amount for your excess usage. Another layman's way of defining bandwidth is the total size of all the files and images that your visitors have looked at during a month.
Lets use a formula to estimate what are bandwidth needs are like we estimated our space needs.
We previously assumed our site contained 20 pages and the average size of our pages were 125 KB in order to estimate how much disk space we would need to store our site on our host's computer.
We will also use these assumptions to estimate our bandwidth requirements. New assumptions are that on the average every visitor to our site visits 5 out of the 20 pages or 25 % of the pages that we have on our site. In addition, our site does not provide any files that can be downloaded to our visitors. We will perform five calculations to see the affect that the number of visitors has on our bandwidth calculation needs.
| Average Number of Daily Page Views | 5 |
| Average Page Size | 125 KB |
| Maximum Number Days In Month | 31 |
| Average File Download Size | 0 |
| Average Number Of Daily File Downloads | 0 |
| Additional Allowance-20% | 1.2 |
| Average Number of Daily Visitors | 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 | 1000 |
| Bandwidth Requirements in Gigabytes | .2 | .6 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 22.2 |
The formula used to calculate estimated bandwidth is:
Estimated Bandwidth in Kilobytes = [(Average Number of Daily Visitors x Average Number of Page Views x Average Page Size in Kilobytes(KB)) +
(Average Number of Daily File Downloads x Average Download File Size)] x 31
x Additional Allowance
Since bandwidth is normally stated in Gigabytes
we convert our estimated bandwidth from Kilobytes
into Gigabytes by dividing our calculation by 1,048,976
(1,048,976 kilobytes = 1 gigabyte).
Estimated Bandwidth in Gigabytes = Estimated Bandwidth in Kilabytes / 1,048,976
Let us examine each item in the formula:
Average Daily Visitors - The average number of people you expect to visit your site each day.
Average Page Views - The average the number of web pages you expect each person who visits your site to view. Note: This will probably not be the same number you used for the number of pages of your web site when you calculated your disk space needs. We used 20 pages to calculate our disk space requirements and only 5 for our bandwidth calculation because most visitors do not view every page on your site. We assumed that they would view 25% of the pages on our site in our bandwidth calculation.
Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB).
Average Daily Number of File Downloads - The average daily number of files such as
e-books and programs that you expect
your visitors to download to their
computer.
Let's use an example to clarify this. Let's assume that you have 10 e-books
on your site that you are
giving away to your visitors and you estimate that your site will
get 50 visitors a day. We'll also assume that out of our 50 visitors
that 20 % or 10 out of 50 will download our e-books and that
they will download
50 % or 5 out of the 10 e-books that we offer.
Our Average Daily
Number of File Downloads = Number of Average Daily Visitors That Download Files X
Average Number of Files Offered For Download (E-books)
Our Example Average Number Of File Downloads = 10 x 5
Our Example Average Daily Number Of File Downloads = 50
Average Download File Size - Average file size of the files that
you plan on offering to your visitors for download (such as E-books).
Use 1,024 Kilabytes (1 Megabyte) as your estimated average file size. Once you
get your site up and running you can calculate your actual
average file size. How ?
Average Actual Download File Size = Sum Of The Size Of
All The Download Files / Number Of Download Files
Estimated Allowance Factor - an additional percentage amount to cover unexpected usage. I recommend using 20 % which becomes a factor of 1.2 . If you use a 100 % the factor would be 2.0 and you'd be doubling your calculated estimated . Rather than using a big allowance percentage I recommend you do what I did in my example and play "what if" by calculating values for different values for number of visitors. Although I kept my number of page views constant, you could also change the number of daily average page view values if you wanted to.
Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31. (I know all months don't have 31 days but we're using the maximum number of days in a month) to calculate our monthly usage.
Starting out 1 to 5 gigabytes should be sufficient but if your site becomes real popular (which you want) and gets a 1000 visitors a day you would need approximately 22 gigabytes of bandwidth per month.
Below I've provided a calculator that you can use to estimate your bandwidth requirements. It's a lot easier than doing the calculations by hand.
All other things (price, space, etc.) being close to equal, when evaluating hosts the more bandwidth that they offer as part of their basic service the better. More is better !
SMTP (Back To Main Menu)
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a protocol for sending e-mail messages. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages. Messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client (e-mail software such as Outlook Express) using POP. SMTP is also used to send messages from a mail client (e-mail software) to a mail server. This is why you need to specify both the POP or IMAP server and the SMTP server when you configure your e-mail application.
SMTP access provides you with the use of a hosting services SMTP server which allows you to send mail. Your Hosting service by granting you this service acts like a post office and takes your message and delivers it to your recipient. Without this service you have to find another "post office" that will accept and deliver your mail.
You definitely need this as part of your web hosting package. Think of SMTP as the right to send e-mail.
Pop3 Server (Back To Main Menu)
The POP3 Server is the mechanism that provides the capability for storing your e-mail messages and provides the protocol that allows your e-mail client (fancy name for your email program such as Outlook Express, Eudora, or IncrediMail) to retrieve and display your e-mail messages. You normally have to enter your account name and password to access the server and retrieve your messages.
You definitely need this capability. Think of this as the service that allows you to retrieve your e-mail messages using your favorite email program (client)
POP Email Accounts (Back To Main Menu)
POP (Post Office Protocol) is a standard protocol for receiving e-mail (See Pop3 Server). Your hosting service is basically providing space to store your e-mail messages and a method for easy retrieval. Your hosting service usually allows you to set up a set number of accounts where different departments or individuals in your organization can receive e-mail. These accounts or email addresses are referred to as POP3 email accounts. The host stores the email and periodically you go and check to see if you have any mail. You can access your mail using an email program such as Outlook Express, Eudora, or Incredi-Mail that will go to your host's site and fetch your mail and download it to your computer.
Typical e-mail addresses:
info@yoursite.com
webmaster@yoursite.com
admin@yoursite.com
sales@yoursite.com
How many e-mail addresses (POP accounts) you need depends on how many departments or individuals in your organization need a company e-mail address. Most small businesses can easily get by with at least 10. Many web site hosting providers offer many more but only you can tell how many email addresses you will actually need and use.
Email extras such as email forwarding, aliases, mailing lists, and auto responders are useful tools that help manage your mail. You could probably get by without these tools but if they're thrown in with the service they sometimes do come in handy.
Most hosting services provide detailed instructions and support to help you set up your e-mail accounts.
Web Based E-Mail (Back To Main Menu)
Web based e-mail means that you can can access your account to send and receive email from any computer connected to the web. Nice feature that you'll probably need .
Email Forwarding(Back To Main Menu)
E-mail forwarding works works just like the post office. If you want mail that is addressed to your current or old address sent to a different address you fill out a card with the adress you want the mail sent to and the mail is forwarded to that address. The sender of the mail does not even that their letter was delivered to a different address.
I use e-mail forwarding to have e-mail forwarded from my business site e-mail addresses to my personal e-mail address so that I can read all my business and personal messages in one place.
Another use would be to have your "general" e-mail addresses such as sales@yoursite.com forwarded to a specific individual's e-mail account such as johnsmith@yoursite.com.
A feature you'll probably want.
Auto Responders (Back To Main Menu)
Auto responders are a tool that automate the process of initially responding to and following up with your visitors inquiries and requests from your site. If you manually read each and every e-mail and responded with just a simple thank you message most of your time would be spent just answering and responding to e-mails. Don't get me wrong some inquiries and requests still demand the human "touch".
Tasks such as subscribing to a newsletter, tutorial, or following up on a contact with promotional materials are jobs well suited for auto responders.
A feature you'll probably want.
Email Aliases (Back To Main Menu)
E-mail aliases allow you to set up a bunch of different e-mail addresses on your web site that actually end up in one mailbox (e-mail account).
A feature you'll probably want.
Mailing Lists (Back To Main Menu)
This service provides help and the tools necessary for creating and maintaining your OWN mailing lists. You may not need this capability when you first create your website but it's nice to have this tool available for future use.
A feature you'll probably want.
FrontPage Web Hosting (Back To Main Menu)
FrontPage Web Hosting refers to a hosting service that has the FrontPage Server Extensions available for their web servers. Anyone building their site using Front Page Software should host with a hosting service that has this capability. Leave it to Microsoft to require something special.
FrontPage is a Microsoft program used to build web sites. With FrontPage, you can build a web site without having to learn html code. This is often referred to as a WYSIWYG type editor.
MySQL Hosting (Back To Main Menu)
MySQL is a database software program that runs on your host's computer (server). A database stores and retrieves information information about "something". An example of a simple database would be sites where you have to signup to access their website. Your user name, e-mail address, and password are stored in a database and when you sign in your information is retrieved from the database and your password is compared to what you typed in in order to allow you to access the site. Most "average" users (web sites) will not need or use this option. Consider this option like icing on a cake. If it's offered in the package that's great. If not you can probably get along without it.
Script Languages (Back To Main Menu)
Scripts allow your site to become interactive.
What this means is rather than your site just displaying
information about your business and its products and/or services
your site can allow your visitors to actively communicate with your
site and do such things as participate in surveys and order products.
Scripting languages run from your hosting services computer. So in order to use scripts in your web pages the host has to have these programs installed or allow you to install scripts on their computer.
CGI-bin(Back To Main Menu)
Some hosting service providers require you to have a special area on their computer to install and run your scripts from while others let you determine where you want to store and run your programs. This special area on the computer is referred to as the cgi-bin.
Scripts are nothing more than small programs (a set of instructions) that perform specific tasks such as maintaining your links to others, allowing a visitor to bookmark your site, tell a friend about your site, provide shopping cart capabilities, process forms, conduct surveys or polls, subscribe and manage subscriptions to your newsletter, provide statitics and data about your visitors, and provide a guestbook for your visitors. run a bulletin board or chat room Many sites provide free scripts so that you do not have to learn any programming to be able to use the scripts on your site. Just like my cartoon fellow with the ice cream cone scripts come in various flavors.
Common Script Languages You May See Offered By A Host
Your hosting service may or may not provide you with actual scripts that you can use in your web page. Although it's nice if they do, there are many sites on the internet that you can go to to get free scripts.
What you do want and need is the host to provide the capability for your site to run scripts. Your initial website may not make use of scripts but as you become more seasoned and knowledgeable about websites you will definitely need this capability. If you eventually want to include forms, a guestbook, counters, a shopping cart or other visitor interactive type features on your site you will need a web host that supports scripts.
SSI (Server Side Includes) (Back To Main Menu)
SSI are instructions that are included in your web pages that allow you to display changing information such as the current date or time. SSI is a good tool for adding small pieces of information that you want displayed on your site.
If the hosting service provides this option fine if not there are other ways such as using scripts that allow you to do the same thing.
FTP Access (Back To Main Menu)
FTP stands for file transfer protocol. This is just the rules that need to be followed when transferring data from and to computers. The tool that takes care of following the rules for us is known as a FTP Program. This tool allows us to "publish" our web site on the internet.
Make sure that the hosting service does allow FTTP Access-you do need this !
Web Based File Manager(Back To Main Menu)
Most web hosting services have a program that allows you to transfer your web pages from your computer to your site's computer and vice versa and manage your web pages and other files. This is referred to as a Web Based File Manager.
In addition many hosting services allow you to use an FTP Program (programs used to transfer files) which is usually a lot faster way of getting your files to and from your host's computer. You usually have to get your own FTP Program but that's OK as there are many good free FTP programs available on the internet.
Just make sure that the hosting service does allow FTTP Access-you do need this !
Shopping Carts and Ecommerce Web Hosting (Back To Main Menu)
A shopping cart is a script program that allows web site visitors to buy goods and services offered at a website. This allows site visitors to pick products that they want (put them in their cart) and wait to check out (pay for them) until they are done shopping at the site. Let's use an example we're all familiar with to clarify. We're all familiar with our local grocery store. We pick up a shopping cart and browse the aisles putting products in our cart. When were done we go to the checkout counter and pay for our groceries. In the old days we could only pay with cash or a personal check. Nowadays many allow us to pay with credit cards. Just like the grocery store, online shopping carts allow visitors to collect the items that they want to buy in their "shopping cart" and wait until they are done shopping to check-out.
In addition to the shopping cart software you will also need the capability of processing credit cards or other online methods of payment. When you see the term E-commerce it is referring to web hosting packages that provide the tools necessary for you to sell products and allow your visitors to pay for the products online.
Most web hosting services charge an extra fee for providing these capabilities or offer different package plans such as Basic-Medium-Fancy (probably not the names they'll actually use). The fancy plan would have the shopping cart and e-commerce tools.
Whether you need these capabilities depends on whether you want to sell goods and services online or just advertise and provide good useful information about your business online.
Another option besides using the tools supplied by a hosting service provider is to use an outside service that will enable to you to setup a shopping cart and receive credit card payments for your goods or services. Two such services are StormPay and PayPal.
If you need this capability which path you need to choose is a tough question to answer. If a host offers this service you should find out exactly what is provided and what assistance if any is provided in setting up your shopping cart.
If you want to sell and receive payment online you definitely need this option. Whether you get this service from a hosting service provider or elsewhere is up to you.
Control Panel (Back To Main Menu)
Think of a control panel as a menu that allows you to manage your site. Normally you use it to access billing information and review statistical information about your website.
A feature you'll probably need.
Web Site Statistics (Back To Main Menu)
Site statistics tell you such information as:
Not all web hosts offer complete site statistics. You might want to find out exactly what statistics they do provide. If you feel that they don't provide enough statistics, there are many sites on the web where you can get free or pay for counters and scripts to supplement the statistics that are provided by your hosting service. Keep in mind that if you pay for some other service to provide you with these statistics that this is actually an additional cost of hosting your site with that particular hosting service.
You must have site statistics in order to properly monitor how well your site is performing. When you first publish your site the benefits of good site statistics may not be apparent, but as you become more "internet savy" they will.
The more site statistics a hosting service provides the better.
Custom 404 Error Page (Back To Main Menu)
Sooner or later everyone will click on a link in a website or type in a internet address and be presented with what is called a 404 error page. You don't want your visitors leaving your site if this happens. So what can you do ? You can create your own error page that apoligizes and directs your visitor back to your site.
Your web hosting provider provider should allow you the capability to create your own error page.
Password Protected Directories (Back To Main Menu)
A password protected directory is a special area where you store your website's "special" pages on your web host's computer that require a password in order for users to be able to view the page or pages. Only users that know the password or have a unique password if you set it up that each user has to have their own password can access and view these protected pages.
If you plan on having a special area such as a members only section on your website you will need this capability.
Customer Support-Last But Not Least (Back To Main Menu)
All hosting companies that you consider must have some form of customer support. The question becomes what kind of support do they offer and what kind of needs for support do you anticipate.
Types of Support:
Live chat is similar to phone support in that you carry on a one on one "conversation" with a customer support representative. Instead of using the phone you use your computer to type and respond to messages between you and the customer support representative. One advantage is that there are no phone charges if the hosting service doesn't have a toll free number. Just like telephone support, since people have a cost (they have to pay them) this an expense that the web hosting service has to cover whether with a special fee or built into the price of their package. This service like telephone support may only be offered during normal working hours.
What type of customer support you will need depends entirely on you. If you pay someone or have a friend that knows how to get your sight up and running you probably won't have a lot of need for your host's customer support. On the other hand if you're a do it "yourselfer" and think you need a lot of hand holding you'll probably need telephone or live chat support. If you're good at following instructions online support such as FAQ will probably meet your needs.
Remember the old adage-You Get What You Pay For ? This applies to customer support. The more expensive the types of support that a hosting service provides will be reflected in their hosting price.
All hosting companies that you consider must provide some form of customer support.
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We covered quite a bit of terminlogy in this lesson. Go ahead and sit back and enjoy a coffee break. |
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