Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Getting the Most from Your Web Hosting Company.

By Matt Hedges

The web hosting industry has changed dramatically over the past decade. As the cost of clock cycles decrease and the availability of new Internet connectivity expands, the cost of web hosting has decreased. If you haven't had a close look at your web host since you first had your website designed, perhaps it's time to look again at web hosting companies that are paving the way for value within the industry.

Price wars have also played a part in reducing the cost of hosting. To become more competitive, web hosts now offer additional free services to attract new business. Companies like InMotion, Host Monster and Blue Host offer great additional features like control panels, plug-in functionality, free domain names, merchant accounts and free marketing dollars from companies like Google AdWords.

If you haven't contacted your web host or at least reviewed their website within the past 3 months, it's time to take another look. Check their website and understand what services you are currently paying for and what packages are available. This will help you to understand what features you currently have available with your web host.

If your host has not provided both exceptional value and exceptional reliability, it's time to go shopping for a new host. For a small business website, you should be able to find a hosting plan that offers a free domain, control panel, plug-in scripts, 24/7 support and many other features for less than $10 monthly.

If, after you have examined the fine detail on your current web hosting package, you come to find that your hosting company isn't offering a variety of free additional features, you should find a new hosting company. But how do you move your website to a new host? Its very easy to do if you are using the ubiquitous cPanel control panel. With cPanel, you can simply backup your existing website and 'restore' it with your new host. After this, you just need to update your domain name settings with your registrar.

If you've transferred your data to a new web host, you'll need to contact your registrar to transfer your domain name. Many web hosting companies today also offer domain name registration services. For example, GoDaddy offers domain registration, cheap hosting, add on scripts, merchant accounts and a wealth of other features. Most small companies find that their needs can be meant conveniently through one company. That way, they only need to contact one company for any problem they have with their website.

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