Support

Web hosting companies are keen to provide their business customers with a higher level of support than normal customers would receive as for them it is with businesses where the most money lies. Larger web hosting providers are able to offer 24×7 support to all customers, although as a business customer you are more likely to receive more personal support from your chosen web hosting company. Email is the most popular support method as it means that you can contact the support team at any time of the day; for management and reference, most web hosting support email systems pipe emails into ticket systems so that you can then keep track of the progress of your issue using a web interface and reference number. Phone support is also on offer in most cases, but with smaller web hosting companies they may choose to only offer phone support to their highest paying customers such as those using business web hosting. Live chat is similar to instant messaging but is done through your web browser; live chat support is usually there to sort out small issues quickly so that you don’t have to open a ticket.

Operating System

For most businesses, their choice of operating system is highly important since most business website are based on dynamic technologies such as classic ASP or PHP meaning that the choice of operating system will be the difference between their websites functioning correctly and not. For most businesses Linux is going to be the operating system of choice purely because it will save them money instantly; however, the requirements of some businesses will sway them towards Windows web hosting. Although Windows web hosting services are more expensive than Linux web hosting services, they are able to offer support for a wide range of Microsoft applications and technologies. Microsoft Exchange Server is one good reason for businesses choosing Windows over Linux, although the stability of Linux is usually a good counter argument used by most businesses when weighing up their options.

Reliability

If you are selling your goods or services through your website then reliability is going to be of the utmost importance to you as downtime is going to mean lost revenue which is going to have a negative impact on your business. Even if you simply use your website to promote your business online, downtime is going to mean lost chances to get your business name known to people could be potential customers. Choosing a web hosting company that can guarantee you an SLA (Service Level Agreement) is recommended if you are able to afford it as this will mean that you will be provided with some sort of guarantee as to the level of uptime that you can come to expect from your business web hosting service. If choosing to go for a more complex form of web hosting such as server hosting, you will need to consider the extra skills required if you wish to make the most of such web hosting services; however, for business purposes you may wish to choose a managed server hosting service – this will provide you with access to a knowledgeable support team that will be able to deal with a majority of your queries.

Security

If you are selling goods or services through your website then your customers are going to be entering their personal details into your website at some point. It is important for you to be aware of the security that is surrounding your website so that you can be sure that any data stored in your web hosting account is going to be safe. There will be a wide range of security measures in place on most web hosting servers meaning that the security of the server isn’t what you should worry about, but more how your website has been developed since weak code is a popular way in for some hackers. You should also take your own security precautions to assure your website visitors, for example SSL certificates are a good visual way of providing assurance.

In conclusion, business web hosting is worth the investment if you want peace of mind that your website will always be available when you require it. As business hosting packages are available on both Windows and Linux servers, you won’t need to worry about your requirements prohibiting you from finding a web hosting package that is attractive because of the price. As most web hosting companies can offer a higher level of support with business services, you will have the addition of being able to contact your web hosting company about any query you may have with regards to your web hosting package.

As a business, you are likely to want a guarantee over the level of reliability that you will be provided with because you are going to be relying on your ecommerce website as a source of income in one way or another meaning that downtime is going to cost you. Considering dedicated web hosting services is a good idea as the isolation that a dedicated web hosting environment can offer you will mean that you won’t have to worry about the actions of others or their website impacting your website or web hosting experience. Depending on how important your website is, choosing a web hosting provider that can offer you an SLA (Service Level Agreement) is recommended as this means you have a benchmark that once crossed will mean that you will receive compensation for any downtime caused; as SLAs usually guarantee high levels of uptime, it is a good practice to follow.

Ecommerce websites, whatever the type, are usually busy in terms of traffic. If you are running an online shop then the chances are that you will be receiving a large number of daily visitors who are then becoming customers through the purchase of your products. In order to cope with large volumes of traffic you will want to be considering a web hosting package that can provide you with a good assignment of bandwidth. The amount of bandwidth that you have available to you will dictate how many visitors you can have to your website, although the file size of your downloaded web pages will also count towards this. If you are the webmaster of a growing website then considering a web hosting service that can offer you more bandwidth than you actually require would be a good idea since this will provide you with extra room in case there are a couple of extra days in a month where you experience a spike in visitor numbers (usually the result of increased advertising).

Your customers will want security. Ecommerce activities normally include the handling of personal data to some extent meaning that is highly important for you to choose a web hosting service that will be able to guarantee the security of the data that you are going to be hosting. For the highest level of security it is recommended that you store certain data in a password protected database; furthermore you should encrypt this data as it will prevent it from being of any use to any hackers that may attempt to compromise your web hosting account and/or databases. If you are going to be accepting credit cards or banking information on your website then an even higher level of security is advised – for the confidence of your visitors you may wish to invest in a VPS server or dedicated server. In any case where personal data is being collected, it is of the utmost importance that basic security measures are followed such as the use of SSL certificates.

When considering the size of your website, a larger scale multi-server may be more appropriate if you are looking to achieve 100% uptime whilst maintaining a setup that will also be capable of coping with high load spikes. Specialist e-commerce web hosting companies will be able to tailor solutions specifically to your requirements which can be of benefit to you if you wish to focus on the running of your business; if you have your own IT staff then again this will be useful as it means that you have the man power in place to monitor your server and hosting setup without having to pay extra. Clustered server hosting may be the answer to your requirements if you are looking to achieve high uptime as the number of servers available to you will mean that even if one of them fails, there will be at least one other server available to take up the role of the server that is experiencing downtime. This load balanced idea is highly effective as it will allow you to focus on other activities without having to worry and will mean that your IT staff can repair the crashed server without affecting performance.

In conclusion, ecommerce web hosting service need to be considered carefully as usually it is not just yourself that you need to consider, but also your customers and visitors – especially if you are going to be handling and storing their personal information. Whether you choose to use a shared web hosting service or dedicated web hosting service for your ecommerce hosting needs, you should still consider the same aspects of security and uptime as well as value for money so that you can be sure that your requirements are being met and that you aren’t being ripped off.

The main advantage of using a secure web hosting package is the fact that you won’t have to worry about hackers gaining access to any of the data that you choose to host with your web hosting provider. In some situations there may be files that you don’t want to be publicly accessible but still want to host under your web hosting account; you can be sure that these files will only be accessible to those who you grant access to as it is highly unlikely that hackers will be able to gain entry to a well secured server. The same can be said for the contents of any databases that you create under your web hosting account as databases in most cases contain sensitive information to some degree. If you store your email under your web hosting account then this could also be put at risk if a hacker compromises the server; however, with the safeguards of a secure web hosting environment you won’t have to worry about the contents of your email account becoming public.

Visitor confidence is something else that you will be able to gain by using a secure web hosting package as your visitors are more likely to enter their personal information into your website if you can guarantee them that this information will be stored and handled securely. Other ways in which you can increase the confidence that your visitors have in your website is to use an SSL certificate as this is something that will be noticeable to your visitors as it will be visible in their web browser; an SSL certificate is there to ensure that the data that is transferred between your website and your visitors’ computers is encrypted meaning that even if it is intercepted, it won’t be of any use to hackers or scammers.

A secure web hosting package will provide you with a platform from which you will be able to launch additional features to help expand what you are able to do with your website. A secure web hosting environment will be required if you wish to start an online store or carry out online transactions since you are going to be handling the personal information and credit card information of your visitors – both of these forms of information are highly sensitive and you could be in serious trouble if either fall into the wrong hands. However, your web scripting is going to need to be up to scratch as well since websites that have been poorly coded can also represent a security risk which is why many web hosting providers will have measures in place to help prevent the chances of any web based attacks, such as script and SQL injections, from being successful. Furthermore web hosting companies will also implement IP blocking software to ensure that if there are any IP addresses that constantly try to attack a server, these computers can be blocked.

In conclusion, the advantages of secure web hosting make the extra expense worth it for businesses that are looking to establish an online presence that will reassure their visitors about the security of their website. A secure website will always lead for a good company image and will mean that customers are going to be more willing to enter their personal details into the website concerned and will be more persuaded to purchase a business’s goods or services online. More or less every web hosting service available these days will be hosted on a secure server, although its easier to take security for granted with larger web hosting companies rather than the smaller ones because of the experience that the bigger players have to offer.

Reliability

Dedicated hosting services will be able to provide you with a high level of reliability that you will be able to your advantage since it will allow you to get on with more important tasks without having to worry about the reliability of your website. The specifications of most VPS servers and dedicated servers allow webmasters to host a number of websites without having to give great consideration to the stability of the hosting server. It is important to choose a dedicated web hosting service that is of the correct specification for your requirements as you don’t want to end up paying for resources that you are never going to use; in most situations you will be able to benefit from the configuration options offered by most web hosting providers since these will allow you to ‘build’ your own VPS server or dedicated server so that you end up with a web hosting service that is specifically tailored to your requirements.

Security

Dedicated hosting services can also be relied upon to offer a secure web hosting environment which is what most businesses require these days if they wish to be able to make the most of their web presence. The dedicated web hosting environment offered by VPS servers and dedicated servers will allow you to customize your web hosting environment so that it suits your needs ideally, thus allowing you to secure your server to an extent that you feel will match the importance of your website when you consider the information that is going to be stored. There are many different security measures that you can take to provide yourself with a more secure web hosting environment, although these will depend on the operating system that you choose to have installed on your VPS server or dedicated server. If you are going to be processing the credit card details and storing the personal information of your visitors then it is going to be important for you to have a highly secure web hosting environment that can’t be infiltrated by hackers; for such a situation a dedicated server would be more appropriate than a VPS server as you will be provided with complete isolation in your own physical hosting environment rather than simply being hosted on a physical server with many other users.

Guaranteed Resources

A VPS server or dedicated server will provide you with your own guaranteed resources that no-one else will be able to make use of. The guaranteed resources offered by dedicated web hosting services will allow you to ensure a high level of reliability, and the isolation provided by having your own guaranteed resources will count towards the higher level of security that can be achieved. Although a dedicated server can offer you the ability to make full use of the resources that you have purchased including your dedicated server’s CPU, VPS server hosting services can be a lot more limited and in most situations you will have to share the hosting node’s CPU with the other VPS servers hosted on that node.

In conclusion, there are several advantages to using dedicated web hosting that you can take away and make the most of as you wish. How effective these advantages are will depend on how well your VPS server or dedicated server is managed as well as its specifications and what it is used for.

What are the advantages of using SSL web hosting?

Using an SSL certificate with your web hosting package and website will provide you with many advantages in terms of security as it will allow you to expand the possibilities of what you are able to use your website for. Such advantages may include:

• Secure web hosting – although an SSL certificate isn’t directly related to the security of the server that your website is hosted on, it will still aid you in developing a secure web hosting environment as it means that you can be sure that the data transferred out of your website is encrypted – as long as your web hosting package will provide you with a dedicated IP address then you will be able to use an SSL certificate with your website
• Visitor confidence – most SSL certificate issuers will provide you with a ‘seal’ that you can display on your website, and on top of this most web browsers will make something of the fact that your website is using an SSL certificate – both of these factors will increase the confidence that your visitor’s have in your website meaning that if your website is an online shop or you are using it to collect personal information then your visitors are more likely to input confidential information such as their name and address or even their credit card information
• Varying costs – the cost of setting up your website to use an SSL certificate can vary depending on several different factors including the strength of the certificate that you are using – this can be beneficial in most cases since it means that you will be able to setup your website to use an SSL certificate for a relatively low amount of money if you choose to go for one of the less stronger SSL certificates – however, if you are a larger business then this could cost you more as it will mean you are going to need a stronger SSL certificate if you are going to be handling particularly sensitive information.

An SSL certificate will be able to provide you with a more secure web hosting environment but will also allow you to show to your visitors that you take the security of your website seriously and that you care about the safety of the data that they’re entering into your website.

What are the disadvantages of using SSL web hosting?

There can also be disadvantages to using an SSL certificate that you should be aware of if you wish to create a reliable and usable secure web hosting environment. The disadvantages that you could face may include:

• Extra costs – as well as the cost of the SSL certificate that you are going to be using, you will also need to consider the cost of a dedicated IP address to you as well as the administration costs that may be involved with the installation of an SSL certificate – some web hosting providers will charge you for the installation of a dedicated SSL certificate although if you buy one directly from them then this cost may be waived, but nearly every web hosting company around will charge you a small monthly fee in order to have a dedicated IP address fixed to your web hosting account
• Need for dedicated IP address – the need for a dedicated IP address in order to be able to use an SSL certificate can be off-putting for some since it is an added cost and generally means that you have to update your DNS servers before you can make use of the SSL certificate thus increasing the deployment time – this can also add to the cost of deployment an SSL certificate.

In conclusion, SSL web hosting can benefit both you and your visitors since a secure web hosting environment will provide you with peace of mind whilst the use of an SSL certificate will provide your visitors with a higher sense of security and trust with you and your website.

What are the advantages of managed web hosting?

In order for managed web hosting to be effective, you should ensure that you purchase your managed web hosting services from a large and reputable web hosting provider who will be able to meet your requirements in terms of the level of support that you expect to receive. The main advantages of using a managed web hosting service include:

• Full support – a managed web hosting service will be able to provide you with full support meaning that if you have an issue with trying to configure any part of your web hosting service, your web hosting provider’s support team will be able to assist you – it is important for you to consider a larger web hosting provider for this factor since you want to ensure that you will receive a high level of support from a 24×7 web hosting support team
• Reliable web hosting – a web hosting provider’s support team will be able to offer you a higher level of reliability since the server on which your web hosting account is hosted on is likely to optimized to a higher level – if you are going to be using a VPS server or dedicated server then you will be guaranteed a higher level of reliability than when using a shared hosting company, but a managed server will also be more reliable than an unmanaged server
• Secure web hosting – managed web hosting accounts are also hosted on servers that are more secure, something that will offer you peace of mind since it means that there’s no need to worry about hackers gaining access to your web hosting account – similarly, if you choose to go for a VPS server or dedicated server then your web hosting provider’s support team will be able to secure your server to a high level.

The advantages of managed web hosting make it ideal for individuals who feel that they don’t have the knowledge required to manage their web hosting account properly. Similarly, managed web hosting can also be of benefit to businesses who don’t have the staff or time to dedicate to the management of their web hosting services.

What are the disadvantages of managed web hosting?

There can also be disadvantages of using managed web hosting, including but not limited to:

• Cost – managed web hosting services generally cost more than unmanaged web hosting services since web hosting providers need to factor in the cost of the support that is going to be provided – if you are unable to justify the cost of a managed web hosting service then you may find that unmanaged web hosting is more suitable for you, and you shouldn’t choose managed web hosting if you are sure that you will be able to manage your web hosting service without any problems
• Service offered – in some cases the service offered by managed web hosting services doesn’t meet the level required by the end user, or on the other hand for some they don’t require the level of service that is offered – if you have the skills to manage your chosen web hosting service to a high level then you shouldn’t choose a managed web hosting service simply for the sake of saving money, but if you are going to invest in managed web hosting then make sure that you are offered a good level of support.

In conclusion, managed web hosting is ideal for end users who feel that they lack the knowledge or time that will allow them to manage their web hosting service properly. Although managed web hosting services are priced slightly higher than unmanaged web hosting services, if you require the support then the investment is worth it.

What are the advantages of using a business web hosting package?

A business web hosting service will be able to provide you with advantages regardless of whether you go for a Windows web hosting package or a Linux web hosting package within the context of business web hosting. The main advantages that can be had from using business web hosting include:

• Reliable web hosting – business web hosting services are designed to offer a higher level of uptime as this is one factor that people are beginning to take more seriously in their web hosting services – a reliable web hosting package should be able to provide over 98% uptime and this was only ever a level that could be met by dedicated server hosting services before, but now web hosting providers are optimizing their hosting servers in order to meet this level
• Secure web hosting – a business web hosting service should also be able to provide businesses with the level of security that they require to ensure that any customer or visitor data that they may be holding will be held within a safe web hosting environment – many measures can be taken by web hosting providers to minimize the chances of any attacks via compromised or insecure scripts or through any holes there may be in server level security
• Higher level of support – web hosting providers will want to ensure that business hosting customers are satisfied with their web hosting service since they are likely to be some of the highest paying customers – to help ensure a high level of customer satisfaction amongst business web hosting customers, most web hosting providers will be offering 24×7 support to ensure that any issues that arise are dealt with quickly but also so business web hosting customers have a direct line to a reliable and friendly support team.

The advantages of business web hosting show that investing in business web hosting services could be beneficial to your business in the long term if you wish to make the most of your web presence.

What are the disadvantages of using a business web hosting package?

Business web hosting services are designed to benefit businesses and so if you are an individual then you may wish to consider another form of web hosting for your requirements. Although business web hosting services are available as several different forms of web hosting including shared hosting and dedicated server hosting, there are general disadvantages that could have an affect including:

• Pricing – business web hosting services are costly because of the effort that has been put in to ensure reliability and security as well as a high level of customer service – for any business justifying the cost of a business web hosting package should be easy, but if you are finding it hard to justify the cost of your business web hosting account then business web hosting may not be the correct form of web hosting for your requirements
• Limitations – as part of offering a highly secure web hosting environment, the security measures implemented by some web hosting providers for business web hosting customers may leave their web hosting accounts with certain limitations in place – if you find that your business web hosting account has limitations in place that your web hosting provider won’t lift then you may wish to consider dedicated web hosting services.

The disadvantages of using business web hosting are unlikely to affect you if you choose a reputable web hosting provider or go for a business hosting service that can offer good value for money.

In conclusion, as a business you will find a business web hosting package to be good value for money if you wish to guarantee the success of your presence online.

What factors help to guarantee the security of a web hosting service?

There can be several factors that will affect the security of your chosen web hosting service, although the affect that these factors will have is going to be dependent on the form of web hosting that you have chosen. Such factors could include:

• Server security – there are many server-side measures that a web hosting provider can take to help ensure the security of both the server and the web hosting accounts hosted on that server – security measures are normally in place to ensure that attacks can’t be carried out using weak scripts that have been poorly coded although there are normally other much more basic security applications such as firewalls in place to help guarantee server security in Windows web hosting environments and Linux web hosting environments
• SSL certificates – any reputable web hosting provider should be able to provide SSL protection for any web based services that you may be using for the management of your web hosting account – the encryption of information that is transferred between your machine and the servers that you are using to manage your website is important since if this information is unencrypted then it won’t take much for a hacker to intercept this connection which in turn would allow them to inject or read data
• Form of web hosting – some forms of web hosting can be more secure than others and it is important for you to remember this if security is one of the main factors that you wish to receive from a web hosting service – dedicated web hosting services that will be able to offer you your own web hosting environment are going to be the most secure since you will be able to secure these to a level that suits your requirements whereas a shared web hosting service is likely to be less secure since you are sharing the web hosting environment with other users.

By considering the above factors in a web hosting service, you will be able to deduce the security of a web hosting package.

Does my choice of web hosting platform affect the level of security that I’ll receive?

There are many different views on the levels of security that Linux web hosting environments and Windows web hosting environments can offer; the bottom line is that the level of security that you are offered will be dependent on how well the web hosting server is managed.

In what situation should I consider a dedicated web hosting service for the sole purpose of website security?

Dedicated web hosting services are the best web hosting packages for you to consider if you are after a web hosting service that will be able to offer you a high level of security. A VPS server can provide you with the same type of web hosting environment as a dedicated server for a lower cost; dedicated server hosting on the other hand will allow you to have your own physical web hosting environment which could be beneficial for larger businesses.

In conclusion, secure web hosting services are an important part of the web hosting industry since they are there to meet the requirements of larger businesses whose websites will be handling high levels of personal data. Although shared web hosting packages can offer a certain level of security, if you wish to be sure that your data is going to be safe then you should consider VPS server hosting or dedicated server hosting for your requirements.

Linux is available with all forms of web hosting that are available, and Linux shared hosting packages are regarded as the most cost effective web hosting solutions available. If you are going to be considering a VPS server or dedicated server then you may be interested in the different distributions of Linux that are available; most versions (or ‘distributions’) of Linux are designed for a specific purpose, and you may find that there is one Linux distribution which is able to meet your requirements much more effectively than any others that are available.

What are the advantages of using Linux hosting?

There can be many advantages to using a Linux hosting service, regardless of whether you are a business or individual requiring web hosting. You will find that the main advantages of using a Linux hosting service include:

• Cost – Linux hosting packages are generally at the cheaper end of the spectrum, but this does mean that most Linux web hosting packages can offer excellent value for money if you purchase your web hosting services from a reputable web hosting provider
• Reliable web hosting – Linux hosting services are well known for being highly reliable and in an age where businesses in particular are taking the reliability of a web hosting package seriously it is important for web hosting providers to be able to guarantee high levels of uptime
• Secure hosting environment – Linux web hosting servers are able to offer one of the most secure web hosting environments available, and if you are going to be handling the personal information of your visitors or customers in any way then it is important that you are able to guarantee them a secure web hosting environment.

In summary, the advantages of using Linux hosting services mean that a Linux web hosting package is able to offer businesses the web hosting environment that they require in order to engage visitor and customer trust, whilst individuals are provided with a web hosting service which will be easy for them to use.

How can a Linux web hosting package benefit me?

A Linux web hosting package will be able to benefit you in many ways, especially if you have never used a web hosting package before and are using your Linux web hosting service for the first time. For most users, a Linux web hosting package will be able to benefit them in the following ways:

• cPanel hosting – if you choose a Linux web hosting package then the likelihood is that you will be provided with access to the cPanel control panel so that you are able to effectively manage your web hosting account – cPanel web hosting services are amongst the most popular available
• PHP web hosting – Linux web hosting packages offer you the best hosting environment if you wish to host a website which has been developed using a combination of MySQL and PHP to create a dynamic web application.

The features of your average Linux web hosting package help to ensure that you will be able to make the most of your Linux web hosting service. The features that are available with your chosen Linux web hosting service are entirely dependent on the form of web hosting that you are considering for your requirements as well as your chosen web hosting provider.

In conclusion, Linux hosting services are recommended if you require a basic web hosting package and have no need for a more complex Windows web hosting package. Linux hosting services are available from most web hosting providers which helps to ensure competition and therefore low pricing; however, it is important for you to make sure that you purchase your web hosting services from a hosting provider that can offer you reliable web hosting so that you can be sure that you are receiving good value for money.