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Choosing a Webhost to communicate your ideas and wishes to the potential customers is an important task ahead of all the aspirant affiliate marketers. There are hundreds of webhosting companies that provide and boast of services, trying to attract the affiliates to join them. Whereas the quality of such webhosting companies remain unmeasured. And there is always a danger in that people get attracted to the low prices such companies float and thereby ending it up with disappointment and discouragement. So, I thought it fit to advise my affiliate customers, on how to choose a webhost, the basic features that are essential for inaugurating your website, after all, it is going to interact with your friendly customers. I also included in my pages, a review made by myself in layman terms, without any technical expertise behind me, about very good webhosters that are really worth their price.

How reliable is the service of a web host?

Most surveys indicate that reliability is an e-businesses main concern. You should look for at least a 95 percent guarantee uptime, to ensure that the service is indeed reliable.

What kind of performance can I expect?

A great hosting company has one or more T3 lines that are always connected to the Internet, not going through someone else's network operations center. The servers should be fast, ideally Pentium Pro or Linux. You should also let your host know if you plan to use bandwidth killers such as streaming audio or video.

How good is phone support?

When it comes to phone support, you should look for 24/7 phone support that's always available with a live operator. Once you have found out, you should always check it. Call or email the technical support line at 10 o clock on Sunday night then expect it to be answered.

How much will it cost me?

The entry level hosting service with a single domain name, 200- 300 GB (Giga Bytes) of hard drive space, email services, and up to a 3000 GB (Giga Bytes) of monthly bandwidth should cost you no more than 100 dollars.

How is security handled?

The passwords to your website or domain should be required to control the host as well as manage the web site. Every file on your server should also be backed up on a daily basis. You should always look for a host that offers you secure transactions as well.

How much bandwidth will I need for data transfer?

Roughly estimating, 2GB of bandwidth should be perfect for a very small personal site. If you're going to running a medium site with text and images but no large files, 5 GB would be ideal. Larger sites on the other hand, require 30 GB of bandwidth. Good hosting company's will send you an email if you're about to run out of bandwidth, letting you know that your site may go offline if you exceed the quota. This way, you can upgrade your plan if you choose to do so.

What about a control panel?

Almost all hosting packages come with some type of control panel, enabling you to configure your hosting packages as well as your settings without having to learn the entire operating system that powers the site. Control panels can be accessed through a secure webpage, and then they will appear in your web browser. The most popular control panels are Helm, Cpanel, Vdeck, Hsphere, Plesk, and Ensim. The most common is Cpanel, which only runs on Linux. Most beginners and other users would be more suited to Cpanel, as it runs on the cheaper platform of Linux.

What about a POP3 account?

When sending and receiving email, POP3 counts are very important. These types of accounts you can assign to individual users as their own email addresses. You'll need enough POP3 accounts for the amount of email addresses that you wish to assign to other people. Often times this number will be quoted as being unlimited, although there are only so many email addresses that you can actually create.

What about spam and viruses?

These features are classified in a separate category, and can include autoresponders, spam filters, even anti virus protection. They may be important to you, but they will actually vary from host to host. Basically, these are all free things that the host will give to you when you sign up for an account. If you're plan doesn't quite offer what you want, your host may be flexible when setting up your account.

What about running my own online store?

If you are planning on running your own store on the internet, there will be a few factors that will be involved with that decision. First of all, you'll need an SSL certificate for your website, so that you can process credit card transactions. Basically, these are 3rd parties that will take care of each and every transaction, for a small percent fee, eliminating the need for extra security on your server. You'll also need to ensure that the server as well as the software is capable of running the script you have for your shopping cart.

I need help making that final decision.

If you plan on having a website that you'll be relying on for income or storing important data, you'll need to make sure that you go with a host that will offer you a high level of customer support. A lot of hosting companies will offer forums as well as their contact numbers; however the forums can be excellent when you are dealing very small problems.

In Conclusion

By taking your time and checking to see what each host has to offer, you'll find which service best fits your needs. There are many hosts and many different packages out there to choose from, which mean you shouldn't go with the first one you see. Take the time to compare plans, costs, and customer service and you shouldn't have any problems choosing a web host.

The author of this Article is an aspiring Affiliate Marketer S.K. Indusekar from Chennai, India. He is promoting a free and high payout Affiliate Program at Superior Affiliate Program and Webhosters Blog

Dedicated hosting involves a specific server for a website and is allotted for its exclusive functioning. It is called dedicated, since there is a single server committed to ?host? or run the website. Shared hosting, on the other hand, has the same server that hosts a number of websites. This reduces running costs of a server and is relatively inexpensive compared to dedicated hosting. In this case, the provider takes care of servers, softwares and other requirements that are uniform for all the users.

Users who own large websites that have a heavy flow of traffic should consider dedicated hosting. These users do not mind paying extra for customized services in return for enhanced speed, security and technical privileges. With dedicated hosting, the site is loaded quickly. The owner can easily access and change the contents as desired.

There are a significant number of positive features of dedicated hosting, such as customized services and on-site support. Hardware and software requirements can be modified, depending on the needs of clients. Website uptime can be enhanced by on-site support and monitoring results. Uptime refers to the percentage of time that the website is running. A longer uptime increases the site?s reliability. Option of data and power backup is another added feature. Clients need not buy updated or maintain equipment, because the service provider looks them after. Upgrading to a better service is cheaper.

The downside of dedicated servers is related to expenses and a few other limitations. The monthly fees charged by service providers may seem rather steep over a long period of time, depending on the way it is used. This makes users consider purchasing a server, and using a co-location facility. This alternative allows a number of users to pool in their resources to set up a data center. Certain dedicated servers may restrict the use of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or prohibit from posting adult content.

Dedicated Hosting provides detailed information on Dedicated Hosting, Dedicated Web Hosting, Dedicated Hosting Servers, Dedicated Web Server Hosting and more. Dedicated Hosting is affiliated with FTP Site Hosting.

HostGator is an incredibly successful and popular web host, but why? What sets this web host apart from all of the other shared web hosting providers competing for the same business. Here are 5 reasons HostGator stands out from the crowd:

1. No Setup Fees or Long-Term Contracts
   Many other hosts will charge an initial setup fee for your account, especially if you don't want to be locked in to a long-term contract. Not so with HostGator. Their willingness to offer a month-to-month payment, with the ability to cancel at anytime, shows potential customers how confident they are in their services. They don't need a contract to keep their web hosting customers - their good service does that.
2. Extra-long 45 Day Money Back Guarantee
   Some web hosts don't offer any guarantees, others stop at 30 days. HostGator gives customers a month and a half to evaluate their services, with a guaranteed refund of payments made to that point.
3. Linux and Windows Hosting Environments
   It doesn't matter if you are developing a project in PHP, Python, or ASP.net, you can find the right hosting solution at HostGator. Many other shared web hosting companies will offer one or the other. This is really important for people new to website development, who may purchase hosting only to realize the operating system they have chosen doesn't support the technology their website requires. When your hosting company has both platforms, it's easy to switch over.
4. Coupon Codes
   HostGator regularly supplies coupon codes, which discount the purchase cost of their services.
5. Web Hosting Rebate Participation
   Even better than coupon codes, HostGator discounts can be acquired through the use of web hosting rebates - instead of saving just $10 off hosting costs, you can save $50-$70.

For my HostGator discounts, I use web hosting rebates.

About the Author:
Daniel Eperson has a wealth of experience in the technology field, having built commercial websites for profit since 1997. Presently he runs the interactive department of a Philadelphia-area advertising agency, where he oversees projects, designs and develops sites, and advises clients on technology partner decisions (web hosts, mail exchange servers, search engine optimization companies, etc.). Eperson also blogs about online marketing.