What is Web Hosting?

Let's say you've just opened a business. You've located your business on an Interstate highway so that people can find you easily and so that they can visit you without much effort. The business itself is yours to do with as you please. Grow it, shrink it, close it - the choice is yours. However, the office space in which you work is not yours. You rent the building each month and pay the utilities to keep your doors open. However, property maintenance is the responsibility of the property owner.

In this analogy, your website is your business. You want to locate it on the Internet (Interstate highway) so that people can find you easily and visit you without much effort. Your web "host" makes this possible by providing you with a "piece of property" on the Internet where you can locate your business. The "rent and utilities," or hosting fees, are your responsibility. The maintenance, functionality, and infrastructure of the "building," or hosting solution, are the responsibility of the "property owner," or web host.

What should someone look for when shopping for a Web Host?

Individuals should compare several features when shopping for a web host. The first three items people should compare between potential hosts are:

1) Storage space
2) The number of email accounts
3) The transfer limit (MB per month)

Storage space will determine the dynamics of your website. The more disk space you have, the more text, applications, graphics, audio, and video you can use to build your site. The number of email accounts influences the communicative capability of your site. The more email accounts you have, the more people can communicate efficiently through the effective use of the email system. The transfer limit controls how much data can be transferred to and from your site on a monthly basis without being charged additional fees. A 5000 megabyte transfer limit, for example, means that you can transfer 5000 MB of information to and from your site in any given month before you are charged additional usage fees. Usage fees above the monthly transfer limit are established by each individual Web host.

Once you've compared disk space, the number of email accounts, and the transfer limit, you need to check for:

1) Database support
2) CGI-BIN support
3) Cold Fusion support and Active Server Pages support
4) Real Audio/Video support
5) Microsoft FrontPage support

Databases such as MySQL and Microsoft Access are used to accumulate and track large amounts of user information. CGI-BIN allows CGI scripts to be executed. CGI scripts have various uses. For example, you can use CGI scripts to add people to guest books and databases or to develop hit counters. It also enables your website visitors to participate in polls and online votes. Cold Fusion and Active Server Pages are computer languages that enable you to develop web applications, job databases, searchable databases, and database interfaces. Most business websites are used for purposes (such as e-commerce or internal process automation) that require the use of one or more of these items, so it's important to know which databases a web host supports (MySQL, Microsoft Access, or other) and whether or not it supports CGI-BIN, Cold Fusion, and Active Server Pages .

Real Audio/Video is used to make a web site into a multimedia website. If you intend to place audio or video on your web site, you will need Real Audio/Video, and you will need to locate a web host that supports it.

If you or the person(s) developing your web site use Microsoft FrontPage to create and maintain your site, it is imperative that your web host support Microsoft FrontPage extensions. FrontPage extensions are server add-ons that allow you to make use of pre-defined functions such as hit counters, online discussion forums, and form validation, which enables users to create forms.

The final two items a web host shopper should look for are:

1) Uptime percentages
2) Money-back guarantees

Every moment your web site is down you will either lose customers or you will forfeit some of the savings you gained by automating your internal business processes. Therefore, when your web site develops into a critical part of your overall business strategy, it becomes important to pick a reliable company to manage your site. Look for the uptime percentage a web host promises. Also look for money-back guarantees. The best web hosts offer a 99.9% or 99.99% uptime guarantee. They also offer a money-back guarantee, usually for 30 days, which allows you to cancel your hosting agreement and obtain a full refund - no questions asked!

What are the steps involved in creating and publishing a website to the Internet?

1. Register Your Domain Name
The web address you type into your browser to pull up a specific website is called its domain name, which is distributed through an Internet address registrar. Because thousands of websites are being published to the Internet on a weekly basis, it is important to register your domain name before you start to design your site, as the name you select will determine its look and feel. Because of Utopia Net's relationship with Domain Bank, we can handle the registration process internally from start-to-finish. Register your new domain name with Utopia Net. Or, move your current domain from another registrar to us and take advantage of our low domain registration costs and responsive customer service team. Some domain registrars take days or weeks to address your customer service inquiries. We're committed to addressing your issue within 24 hours of your inquiry!

2. Design Your Website
Once you have selected your domain name, the next step is deciding if you want your site designed professionally through a firm such as Utopia Net or if you want to try it on your own with a website creation tool. If you choose professional development, Utopia Net can take your web presence from design to deployment. First, we'll thoroughly analyze your Internet needs and desires to help you create your Internet vision. Next, we'll help you develop an effective strategy to make your vision a reality. Finally, we'll work with you and for you to implement your strategy efficiently and effectively. Throughout this process the 30+ associates of Utopia Net will supply you with responsive customer service, cutting edge design, innovative ideas, and unparalleled Internet expertise.

3. Host Your Website
As soon as your site is designed, you need to choose a web hosting company like Utopia Net to connect it to the Internet. Backed by our 30-day satisfaction guarantee and our commitment to 99.9% uptime, we offer scalable hosting solutions that can grow with the success of your business. We've also designed our hosting services to be easy to use and to administer with our unique web hosting operating system, Website OS. Website OS requires only a limited technical knowledge to operate, enabling web users of all skill levels to change the dynamics of their web hosting solutions instantaneously.

Unlike our competitors, who force their customers to choose between the NT and UNIX platforms, we have built a solution that is platform independent, seamlessly supporting both. This means that you will not have to choose between NT and UNIX hosting packages. You will enjoy the combined benefits of both NT and UNIX hosting.

4. Market Your Website
Once you have your business online, the next step is ensuring you drive traffic to your website. Utopia Net has made site promotion easy and efficient through our Website Promotion tool. In just seconds you can register your site with AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos, PlanetSearch, Excite, WebCrawler, and Infoseek. Simply check off the search engines you wish to be listed with, click "Next," and you're done!

5. Add Advanced Functionality to Your Site
As your web site needs change, Utopia Net's scalable solutions can be easily upgraded to provide additional capacity and functionality. Whether you want to enhance your e-commerce capability, automate additional internal processes, or add to the marketing message people see when they visit your site, Utopia Net will provide you with the resources to make your web business a success.

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