Intro: Getting the right Web Hosting service can be a stressful task especially when technology changes so frequently. We have put together step-by-step instructions on how to obtain the right Web Hosting service for your Web related projects.

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First step, figure out what you can afford. In today’s market shared Web Hosting is the cheapest and fastest way to get your Web site project rolling. At prices starting $4.95 per month, almost everyone can afford a year of Web Hosting service to start a Web site. However, for people who can afford more, there are Web Hosting solutions that start at $39.00 per month–these are usually dedicated servers or virtual private servers, we will touch on this topic little later in this Web Hosting Guide.

Second step, evaluate the complexity of your Web site project. Most people and small/medium size businesses need the bare minimum until they grow big enough to see the need for a dedicated server or a virtual private server. Web sites that contain, Flash, Scripts, Java, Databases, Ecommerce functionalities and Content Management Systems (CMS) will often need a dedicated hosting service to handle loads of tasks. Take CNN’s CMS Web site for example, it has been built using many different technologies which gives the visitors many interactive options, like leaving comments, subscribing to newsletters, sharing articles and RSS. On top of all that there are thousands of pages of content which require a dedicated database to quickly provide the information the visitors who are requesting it. Sites like CNN, Myspace and Digg, all need high-end powerful dedicated servers with unlimited bandwidth and storage space. If you are starting a simple static Web site i.e. family web site to share photos and news, brochure site for your business: restaurant, lock smith, carpentry, marketing, and other businesses shared Web Hosting service will suffice.

Our Recommendation:

Get Shared Hosting If:

  • Your Web site is static
  • Your Web site is less than 50 pages
  • Your Web site is not collecting and storing lots of data in the Database
  • Your Web site has ecommerce with less than 200 products
  • You are thinking of creating a Web site which will use Paypal for ecommerce transactions
  • Your Web site runs less than 10 PHP/Javascripts
    Your Web site has a small Database

Get Dedicated Hosting/Virtual Private Server If:

  • Your Web site is dynamic
  • Your Web site contains 51 or unlimited pages
  • Your Web site is collecting and storing tons of data in the Database
  • Your Web site contains 200 to unlimited products/services
  • Your Web site contains Flash, streaming music and video
  • Your Web site gets 1000 or more unique visitors per day
  • Your Web site contains tons of content i.e. text, images, music and videos
  • Your Web site runs a lot of scripts
  • Your Web site has a large Database

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Final step, once you have figured out how much you can afford and the complexity of your Web site, you will be able to find and purchase the Web Hosting service that fits your requirements.

Best cPanel Guide for Novice Users:

cPanel   Guide Summary: The goal of the following cPanel Guide is to help you (as the user) easily understand the powerful features and services that come bundled with your c-Panel control panel software. It is very important to understand the features available to you in your web hosting control panel software because it can save you a lot of money and time.

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Our study shows that less than 10 % of customers who have an active web hosting account have a solid understanding of their control cPanel software. Keep in mind, each Web Hosting Company has their own customized version of cPanel thus don’t be surprised to see a slightly deferent version of cPanel from one Web Host to another however, the core features and services will always be the same no matter who your Web Hosting Provider is.

Below you will find snapshot (s) of a functioning cPanel Console taken from a active web hosting account. We have organized this guide using cPanel’s features and services display order from left to right, top to bottom.

These are the following areas of cPanel that will be covered in details in cPanel User Guide:

  1. Partners
  2. Promotional Offers
  3. Account Preferences Tools
  4. Email Tools
  5. Web File Tools
  6. Web Logs/Stats Tools
  7. Web Security Tools
  8. Domain Administration Tools
  9. Database Administration Tools
  10. Additional Software and Services
  11. Advanced Administration Tools (for power users)
  12. Account Stat Column

Partners:

  1. Postini:
  2. Total ecommerce Free Cart:
  3. Shopping Cart Gurus:
  4. Web Site Design:
  5. Search Engine Marketing:
  6. Free Website Templates:
  7. Free Trial Wholesale Products:
  8. More:

Promotional Offers:

  1. Yahoo Free $50 PPC Credit:
  2. Google Free $50 Adwords PPC Credit:
  3. Wholesale Product Directory:
  4. Microsoft adCenter Free $75 PPC Credit:
  5. Free HTML Editor:
  6. Boxed Art Templates:

 

Account Preferences:

  1. Getting Started:
  2. Change Password:
  3. Change Language:
  4. Shortcuts:
  5. Renew Your Account:
  6. Update Contact and Billing Info:

eMail Tools:

  1. Email Accounts:
  2. BoxTrapper:
  3. Spam Assassin:
  4. Forwarders:
  5. Auto Responders:
  6. Mailing Lists:
  7. Account Level Filtering:
  8. User Level Filtering:
  9. Email Delivery Route:
  10. MX Entry:

Web File Tools:

  1. Backups:
  2. Backup Wizard:
  3. Legacy File Manager:
  4. File Manager:
  5. Disk Space Usage:
  6. Web Disk:
  7. FTP Accounts:
  8. FTP Session Control:
  9. Unlimited FTP:
  10. Anonymous FTP:

Web Logs:

  1. Latest Visitors:
  2. Bandwidth:
  3. Webalizer:
  4. Webilizer FTP:
  5. Raw Access Logs:
  6. Choose Logs Program:
  7. Error Logs:
  8. Awstats:

Web Security:

  1. Password Protect Directories:
  2. IP Deny Manager:
  3. SSL/TLS Manager:
  4. SSH/Shell Access:
  5. HotLink Protection:
  6. Leech Protect:
  7. GnuPGKeys:

Domain Administration:

  1. Domain Manager:
  2. Register Domain:
  3. Transfer Domain:
  4. Subdomains:
  5. Addon Domains:
  6. Parked Domains:
  7. Redirects:

Database Administration:

  1. MySQL Databases
  2. MySWL Database Wizard
  3. PhpMyAdmin
  4. Remote mySQL
  5. PostgreSQL Databases
  6. PostgreSQL Database Wizard
  7. phpPgAdmin

Additional Software and Services:

  1. CGI Center:
  2. Perl Modules:
  3. PHP PEAR Packages:
  4. PHP Config:
  5. RubyGems:
  6. Ruby on Rails:
  7. Simple Scripts:
  8. Fantastico De Luxe:
  9. Search Engine Submit:
  10. PageWizard Site Builder:
  11. Agora Shopping Cart:

Advanced Administration:

  1. Apache Handles:
  2. Image Manager:
  3. Index Manager:
  4. Error Pages:
  5. Cron Jobs:
  6. FrontPage Extensions:
  7. Submit a Support Request:
  8. Process Manager:
  9. MIME Types:

Account Stats Column:

  1. Main Domain:
  2. User Name:
  3. Home Directory:
  4. Last Login From:
  5. Disk Space:
  6. Monthly Bandwidth Transfer:
  7. Email Accounts:
  8. Subdomains:
  9. Parked Domains:
  10. Add-on Domains:
  11. FTP Accounts:
  12. SQL Databases:
  13. Mailing Lists:
  14. Account Expires In:
  15. Hosting Package:
  16. Server Name:
  17. cPanel Version:
  18. cPanel Build:
  19. cPanel Theme:
  20. Apache Version:
  21. PHP Version:
  22. MySQL Version:
  23. Architecture:
  24. Operating System:
  25. Dedicated IP:
  26. Path to SendMail:
  27. Path to Peal:
  28. Kernel Version:
  29. cPanel Pro:
  30. Server Status:

Here are very informative cPanel video tutorials you will find useful:

  • How To Enable Spam Assassin:

  • How To Backup Your Web Site using Cpanel BackUp Feature:

  • How To Create a MySQL Database using cPanel:

  • How To Use cPanel Email Services:

  • How To Install WordPress Blog using cPanel/Fantastico:

  • How To Use the HTML Editor in cPanel:

  • How To Use Fantastico in cPanel:

  • How To Add Redirect On Your Domain Using cPanel:

  • How To Use cPanel To Upload Your Web site:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

If you have any questions or still need advice, please feel free to contact us.

 

How to Choose a Hosting Provider for your Web site

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