Hosting for blog

So you have taken that first step. You are going to jump right into the blogosphere. That magical world where everyone is a journalist. Or a citizen-journalist as they are called.

A blog is short for “weblog.” A technology that allows you to post your thoughts, ideas, images, videos, emotions, rants, raves and more with just a few clicks. Indeed it is the onslaught of the blog that has heralded the new age of Web 2.0

But, even if the software technology is new, it is still dependent on the age old hardware technology of web hosting. If only that was not the case.

Accepting reality and moving ahead let us see what is needed from a web host for hosting a blog. Well, mainly the requirements for hosting a blog are similar to those required for hosting a web site. The disk space, bandwidth, and speed will make all the difference. Naturally, price will be a consideration too.

But other than the usual, there are some special considerations for blogs. For one, the hosting provider should allow the use of databases. Additionally, it would be great if there was a script that the hosting service provided that would install the blog for you. Of course, if you are technically qualified this may not help much. But, if you are a newbie, you want to stay away from all that jazz and simply focus on reaching out to your readers.

I am one of those buyers how are very price conscious. But, before you go ahead and purchase hosting, let me point out that changing web hosts can be a pain. So, think a little beyond the deepest discount you can get and focus on building a long term relationship with your blog host.

To begin with make sure that your blog hosting provider has been around for some time. It does not have to one of the big names in hosting. But, it must have an established track record. Second, try to ask some pre-sales questions. If they cannot service you well at the pre-sales stage, it is unlikely that they will come to your rescue after you are already a client.

Finally shop around and ask for opinions. If you are setting up more than one blog, try more than one hosting provider before settling on one for the long term. Once you find what you are looking for, you will know where to host your next blog.

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What is bandwith

Bandwidth can make all the difference when choosing where to host your website

A common mistake made by so many people when looking to choose a web host company is not asking about bandwidth. After spending so long designing or with a developer designing your web site you do not want to see a good web site ruined and only viewed by a handful of people at a time. A web site is generally your shop window and you want as many people as possible to look in and hopefully click on your information or purchase online if you are offering products. All web host companies will offer you a limited amount of bandwidth, it’s then up to you to calculate whether or not you need to pay a little extra for bandwidth you may require.

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from the web host company, it is there job to help you along the way and after all it’s you who is paying for there service. You will need to advice them as to how big each page is on your website and if possible a rough calculation as to how many people you think may view your site on a weekly or daily basis.

Is it possible to save bandwidth?

Yes it is and this comes into play at the time of designing your website. If you are looking to save the bandwidth you should put all photos in the JPEG format and all graphics in GIF format. By doing so you are compressing the files using only the very least bandwidth required.

Why do some companies offer only a very limited amount of bandwidth?

You have got to remember that web hosting is an extensive market and very profitably for the web hosting company. The more people they can attract to their services the more profit they make. They in turn have to pay out to the telecoms companies for the bandwidth provided to them and are only wanting to pay the bare amount to keep profits high. Web host companies that are not offering you the additional bandwidth are the ones to avoid. If they say it is not possible to purchase additional bandwidth, then the chances are this is a small company with poor technology behind them operating on a shoestring budget.

What will happen if I do not have enough bandwidth?

It’s very simply really, if your website has not got enough bandwidth to operate with, one of two things will happen. Your website will download onto peoples monitors very slowly and the chances are they will not wait around. The second problem is that your web site may only be viewed by a very limited audience at one time. You may have great link backs from other websites driving traffic your way only for that traffic to be diverted elsewhere to a properly functioning competitor.

How can I ensure that this will not happen to me?

Undoubtedly it is very frustrating to spend time and money developing a good informative website only to have it’s viewing reduced by lack of bandwidth. You need to be honest with your web host company and tell them the number of pages and how large your overall files are, by doing this the onus is on them to offer us the service your require. You can ask for a guarantee from the web host company that all will be fine with your site and there are many out there willing to give such guarantees. If you decide to go it cheap and risk the low bandwidth you are only fooling yourself. Look at the rates from the different web host companies for extra bandwidth and you will be pleasantly surprised that it will not cost an arm and a leg to have a little extra. Knowingly going over bandwidth with only cost you revenue in the long run and makes your website very unprofessional. If you are hosting with a reliable web host company they will not allow this happen anyway.

If you are unsure as to how large your website actually is act the person or company who developed the site for you to advise or simply ask the web host company, all will be happy to oblige you.

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Are free web site hosting accounts really free

There are a lot of so called free web site hosting companies out there touting their services. While the accounts offered by many of these web hosting providers are free to use, there are sometimes hidden costs that can leave you wasting both time and money.

If you want to build web sites that are truly free, you are going to have to carefully evaluate the services before signing up. Special considerations to keep in mind when shopping for web hosting providers include:

Reliability
You can build web sites all day long, but no one will ever see them if your web host isn’t reliable. To find out how reliable a free web site hosting company is, you should ask about expected downtimes, traffic limitations, and customer services procedures. You should also ask what type of message will be displayed is the web site is disabled for any reason.

Bandwidth
The amount of bandwidth you have determines how long it will take for your pages to load. To keep costs low, many web hosting providers offering limited bandwidth. The problem with this is that your pages can take ten seconds or more to load. That’s just enough time for a user to get frustrated and seek out another web site. If your free web site hosting account comes with limited bandwidth, you need to be prepared for the possibility of missing out on customer sales.

Unwanted Ads
Free web site hosting services are notorious for placing unwanted ads on customer web sites. This means that you will have pop-ups and other annoying advertisements on your site that you cannot remove. These ads might become very irritating for you and even more so for your customers, who may choose not to visit as a result.

Other Limitations
If you want to build web sites that include pictures, icons, and large amounts of text, you may want to look for web hosting providers that will allow you to build these kinds of web sites. Some free services will place limitations on what you can and can’t do. For example, you may be barred from using pictures or more than five page web pages. If you don’t have the elements needed to build the type of site you want, you could end up wasting a lot of time on a site that will end up having to be rebuilt with a different host later on

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