Today we’re going to review a web host that offers high performance servers to its clients. We especially focus on iPage, which runs up-to-date high quality server systems to help clients make the most of their sites. I recommend everyone to experience its servers’ powerful and fast execution speed and processing power, to make your site perform at optimal levels.

iPage maintains world-class technology, one of which is known as their high performance load balanced servers. This article explains why the load balancing of servers is essential.

Once your website becomes popular, then it is obvious you will have to handle high volumes of incoming traffic. Under this scenario, if there is only one web server which is responding to all the incoming HTTP requests for your website, then the capacity will not be sufficient. This will result in web pages loading slowly and force some site users to wait until the web server is free to process their requests. It is also obvious that the increase in traffic and connections to your website will lead to a point where upgrading the server hardware will no longer be cost-effective. Hence, in order to achieve web server scalability, more servers are to be added to distribute the load among the group of servers, also called a server cluster. The load distribution among these servers is known as load balancing. When multiple servers are present in a server group, web traffic needs to be evenly distributed. These servers must appear as one web server to the web client, and so, load balancing mechanism is used for spreading requests, which is known as IP Spraying. The equipment used for IP Spraying is also called ‘load dispatcher’ or ‘network dispatcher’ or simply  ‘load balancer’. The function of an IP Sprayer is to intercept each request and redirect them to a server in the server cluster. This architecture provides scalability, load balancing and fail-over requirements. I suggest you use this iPage coupon to get big discount on this high performance web hosting servers now.

Web hosting is one of the biggest businesses on the Internet, owing to the fact that every website needs to be hosted on a server. Due to the high cost of servers and maintenance, not everyone can afford to buy his/her own server. So, people look elsewhere for making their sites accessible on the web. This has made web hosting very profitable.

Web designers and script developers are often asked by their clients to suggest where to host their finished products, which can range from ordinary HTML-based websites to web-based applications. Many of these professionals seize the opportunity and offer those clients web hosting services, as a way to make extra cash on the side. They do not own servers of their own, but rent server spaces from web hosting companies, and resell to their clients. Apart from joining a web hosting reseller program, a designer can as well be a domain name reseller.

Being a web hosting reseller does not consume much of a web designer’s or developer’s time, since he/she does not do the actual hosting job. The hosting provider manages the server and provides technical support. The designer or developer is only responsible for passing almost all technical complaints received from clients to the provider, and upon receiving response, relays them back to the clients. There is need for a reseller to show professionalism and mastery to his/her clients, in order to win their trust and confidence. You have to prove to them that you’re an authority in the web hosting profession, through your eagerness and devotion to solve their problems.

The most beautiful part of it is that your clients won’t even know you’re just reselling someone else’s service.

How to make it work for you:
Even though you don’t have any hidden agenda, it is best that your clients see you as the main web hosting provider, because they look up to you for support in their times of need. Making your service very professional will not only help to keep existing customers, but attract new ones.

• It is best you create another site dedicated to web hosting. And add all the features you’ll be offering in your hosting plans.
• Your newly-created hosting site should have a knowledge-base where clients come to find solutions to their minor problems. This will save you the time and resources of having to answer the same set of questions every now and then.
• Configure customized name servers that point to your domain name. Anyone who searches your site’s Whois record will presume the server belongs to you.
• Your site’s contact page should have a phone number where clients can reach you anytime, 24 hours every day. If your clients cannot get in contact with you when they experience issues, it means your technical support is not good. So, always be there for them.
• Install a live chat script on your site, so that clients and visitors can chat with you in real-time.

You have seen that every website designer and script developer needs to consider the profitable business of reselling web hosting packages to his/her clients and others in need. Even though web hosting is a competitive niche, it will never be over-saturated, owing to the fact that billions of designed web sites and web-based software need to be hosted. If you follow my guidelines well, you’ll become the best web hosting reseller on the Internet.

There are two kinds of web hosting, one is free hosting and the other is paid web hosting. Some people just stay away from free hosting, because they think one can get nothing for free in this world, and there must be some kind of catch.

If you want web hosting for your commercial website, then you need reliable web hosting which is up all the time. The moment it goes down, you will be in loss, every minute of down-time is a loss in your revenue. Some free web hosting promises up-time, but if they don’t keep up with their promise, then you can’t blame them for your loss. But why is that? It is because every free hosting has terms which it asks you to read before joining them, it is mentioned in the terms that they can’t guarantee up-time all the time, since they offer free services. So if you are running your site for commercial purposes, then it is better not to go for free web hosting services.

For those who are just experimenting by building websites, free web hosting is the best option. It is good for those people because, there is no commitment and no loss for both sides. For a new comer who wants to learn about websites and web hosting, free hosting is the better way to start. Because there is no money involved here. These free web hosting services ask you to display their ads on hosted pages in return of their free services, or they may ask you to participate in their online communities. Since online communities help users to interact with each other, you will have the opportunity to learn something there.

So, free web hosting is not a bad thing when considered properly, as it depends on what purpose you are using it for. If it is purely for business, then don’t go for it. If not, then you can give it a try.

This post was contributed/written by our guest blogger, Gurvinder Pal Singh.

There are numerous websites that provide varieties of web hosting packages at affordable rates. But all these companies are not equal. Not all of them can pass for web hosts when tested. However, there are a few of them that stand out while offering very cheap web hosting services to businesses and individuals.
It makes no sense to throw away hard-earned money to purchase an expensive hosting package, when there are top-of-the-class providers of cheap web hosting services that are right for every individual need and budget. If you’re on a tight budget, but would like to own your own website, cheap web hosting is right for you. Even if you’ so rich, but worry about unnecessary expenditure, this hosting option is also right for you.

Factors To Consider Before You Buy A Cheap Web Hosting Service:
The following are important factors you need to consider before you make your choice of a web hosting service provider.

• Features –  A host that installs anti-spam and anti-virus programs on its servers is a sign of good quality. This shows that the host cares dearly about the well-being, privacy and security of its customers. Before you sign up, ask the host about other features you might need.
• Packaged Software – Every quality web host has widely-used free software bundled together and packaged into every hosting account. These free scripts are must have when you buy a cheap web hosting package. They include WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Joomla, phpBB3, Gallery, phpNuke, OsCommerce and ZenCart. Including these open source software in a hosting account makes installations of them easy and automatic within Plesk or cPanel.
• Support – You need to make sure that the web hosting company you’re about to choose is always eager and ready to provide technical support in your time of need. The best way to learn about their support is through web hosting forums. Find out what people are saying about their support. Are they responsive, is it 24/7 support through telephone, live chat, help desk, and email? If others only have good things to say about their service, that’s a good reason why you should sign up with them. So, does your host provide fast, efficient and effective support when needed?
• SEO-Friendliness – Only purchase hosting account from a web host that offers clients the flexibility to create Mod_rewrites. Check to make sure they will allow you to create a .htaccess file for your site. If customers can’t be given this privilege, as a server administrator, the host at the very least has to be ready to set up redirects for you when needed. A host being SEO-friendly helps to solve issues of canonicalization and those of dynamic URLs generated by server-side scripting languages.
• Refund Policy – A recommendable cheap web hosting service provider should offer clients a risk-free service. Clients need to be guaranteed in writing that the money they pay would be refunded, if they’re not satisfied with the service, with no questions asked. Never sign up with a host that doesn’t guarantee refunding your money if you’re not satisfied.
• Control Panel – A hosting control panel should have an easy to navigate interface. Even though there are other control panels around, I prefer a cheap web hosting provider based on Plesk. It is fast, easy to navigate and not as intimidating as cPanel. Plesk is an award winning web hosting control panel software that makes managing your hosting account very comfortable and hassle-free.
• Server Up-time – A web host that frequently has downtime issues is not a good choice. Look for a web hosting service that guarantees 99.9% server up-time service. This will make sure your website will always be accessible.

While I was in Europe a couple of years back, I used the services of a top UK cheap web hosting provider, and I was happy throughout my time with them. And I still keep in touch with them.

Web Hosting plays a very important role in search engine optimization, which many seem to be ignorant of or neglect when choosing web hosting providers. Here we’ll discuss the role web hosting plays in canonicalization issues and how to save you from the hazards.

Sometimes search engines run into some duplicate content challenges when their bots crawl websites. Duplicate pages  happen when a given web page has many URLs that point to it.

Here are some examples:

1. http://yourdomain.com – A site owner may consider this as his/her authoritative or canonical URL for the site’s homepage.
2. http://www.yourdomain.com – When you add the “www” prefix to the website, you will still get to the same homepage.
3. http://yourdomain.com/index.html – You can as well add the specific file name associated with the homepage and get to that same page.
4. http://yourdomain.com/?track=123 – This scenario happens when a site uses parameters to track sales or other matters of interest. Most sites that implement affiliate programs use this type of URLs to ascertain the originating sites where their customers come from.

All the above-mentioned URLs have the same content, posing great challenges for search bots to decide which of the URLs is most authoritative of them all. Some search engines like Google and Yahoo will most likely index all the URLs, and consequently split the link juice among them. This dilutes the benefits the homepages gets from the external sites that link to it. Bing on the other hand tends to index the non-www version, if there’s no outright directive given with regards to the canonical URL.

Google, Bing and Yahoo all support a tag attribute that helps website owners to identify the single a canonical URL for a given web page.  Here is an example of the rel canonical tag attribute that can be placed in the source code of web pages between the <head> and </head> tags:

• <link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.yourdomain.com”/>

Google fully recognizes this rel canonical tag, while Bing views it as a hint and not a command. So, chances are that it might still not work with Bing.

So, the problem still remains! And this is where web hosting comes into play. Many web hosts offer their clients the flexibility to manipulate the .htaccess file, while others don’t. A canonicalization issue can be easily solved by choosing the most authoritative URL from the bunch and redirect the others using a 301 redirect. If you’re using a Linux web hosting service that allows you to edit your site’s .htaccess file, open the file in a text editor and insert the following code:

RewriteEngine on
<Files 403.shtml>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Files>

Rewritecond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com [nc]
Rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.yourdomain.com$
RewriteRule ^index\.html?$ “http\:\/\/www\.yourdomain\.com\/” [R=301,L]

Don’t forget to change “yourdomain” to your actual domain name, “.html” to the actual file name associated with the site’s homepage, and “.com” to the actual domain extension. Finally save the file. That’s it, your site doesn’t have any canonicalization issue!

If you’re using a Windows IIS hosting, unfortunately you cannot implement a 301 redirect through .htaccess. In this scenario, only the server administrator can configure it. So, contact your web host and let them do it for you.

On the other hand, if you use a web host that doesn’t permit you to edit the .htaccess and doesn’t implement the 301 redirect for you, then you’re stuck and left at the mercy of search engines. Your only option is to change to a web hosting company that offers you the flexibility to manipulate the .htaccess file as you like.

In conclusion, it is wise to make sure you choose a web host that provides customers flexibility ways of eliminating duplicate content issues caused by canonicalization.