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Web Hosting Menu
What is a host?
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Website Hosting In Internet jargon, the term hosting means to provide a vehicle that allows a Website to be accessed from the Internet. A Web host is a company, usually a true ISP, that provides space on their server for independent Websites. Once on their server, these Websites can be accessed from any computer connected to the World Wide Web. Although few businesses realize it, the quality of your host is an important marketing consideration. Imagine creating an outstanding Website for your business. You hire a host and publish your new site. In order to attract customers to your site, you spend thousands of dollars on advertising and promotion. However, every time someone tries to access your site for information about your products and services, the site is down. Because a Website is an important information conduit, it must be available to the surfing public at all times. If your site is not available, you have just wasted a portion of your advertising budget. For ease and convenience, we hope you'll choose our hosting service. However, before choosing a host, decide upon the services you'll need for your site. If you're using your site for business, make sure that the host has the capability to service a business site. Ask about their e-commerce packages. If they have none, move on to another ISP. How reliable is the hosting service you are considering? Is the host system compatible with the editing and management software you're using? Do you plan to use a shopping carts or other forms of e-commerce? If so, make sure that your host can accommodate these types of business services. Ask the hosting service about down time and support. Down time and support are the two most important issues when considering an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Beyond reliability and compatibility, there is the issue of costs. Your website will be limited to a certain amount of disk space on the host's server. Most give you a minimum of 100 MBs. For a business Website, twice this amount of space may be required. Your average cost should run from about $25 to $60 per month depending upon the types of services you use and the amount of space you rent. If you do not feel comfortable with researching a hosting service, you can always use our hosting service. The advantage of using our hosting is that we can provide valuable insights into what makes an advocate website work. Once we determine what you need, we can then provide all services from a single location. We not only provide hosting, we also provide all of the Internet services you'll need as a practicing disability advocate. To inquiry into our hosting service, click on the link below or contact your assigned mentor.
We have already provided a few insights into choosing a domain name (URL) in the "Get Started" segment of this course. Here are some additional domain name considerations. As previously mentioned, you have the option of getting your own domain name either by using our domain service or buying from some other source service like Network Solutions. To establish ownership of your domain name, we recommend that you purchase it yourself. The owner of the domain name controls the website linked to that domain. This ownership issue become extremely important when your website is used for commerce. You don't want anyone other than yourself to have access or control over your URLs. You will need the additional flexibility that comes with having your own domain name. For example, if you needed to change host, having your own domain makes this process easier. You simply transfer your domain name and site contents to the new host. You might also what to protect your identity as owner of a particular domain. This can be accomplished by using what is known as a Private Domain. With a private domain, ownership is not published in Whois. Whois is a free online service that enables you to look up ownership of a website or URL. For more info on private domains, click below:
When we speak of Web management, we're referring to the ability of the site owner to change the look and capabilities of his site at will. Many web Host will offer you a hosting package that may include a Web page. Ignore these offers! In this extremely limited hosting scenario, the Web host actually builds your site and places it on their server for you. The advantages of this approach are the lower costs and the convenience of having someone else build your site. The disadvantages include: a) Limited control of your site style and content. Creating your own Web site eliminates the lack of control issue and allows the site owner to change or adjust his site at any time. As a business owner, you want and need this level of flexibility when operating on the Web. In order to exercise control of your site, you must have the right tools. We recommend Microsoft Expressions. This Website editor and management program is easy to learn and has an enormous number of built-in features. These features allow you to create some very sophisticated sites without depending upon your hosting service. In Website development, your editing program is the heart of your online service. Programs like Expressions is where you build, edit and control all Website related activity. You have completed the hosting segment of this course. For best results, we suggest that you now begin the "design" segment.
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