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Getting the most for your money.
For all Small Business and Non-Profit clients we strongly suggest getting
your own virtual domain (i.e. http://www.yourcompany.com) with one of the
many very affordable services now available on the Internet.
If you have Internet access you may already have Web publishing privileges
with your Internet Access Provider. The problem is that these web hosting
services are almost always for personal web sites only and are very limited
in the services they provide. Access providers charge a fee, a fairly stiff one, for
businesses. Moreover, the special services that businesses require are usually
up charges. Prices can vary over $1000/year from one provider to another
for exactly the same server space and options.
Internet Presence Providers.
A much smarter way to go is with an Internet Presence Provider.
Internet Presence Providers specialize in setting up Web sites. Unburdened
by the extra costs of providing individual user access they can offer substantially
better pricing for virtual domain service. Virtual domains (sometimes called
phantom domains) are a decided advantage to small business. They provide
an easily remembered site address. Because Internet presence providers specialize
in servicing businesses instead of individual users, your site will do better
with these providers.
What to look for.
Here are some of the things to look for from a presence provider in order
to successfully grow your business on the Internet. Making sure at the outset
that these services meet your needs will save you frustration and money
in the future.
- DISK SPACE -- How many megabytes of disk space do they offer?
Most virtual domain providers offer 15 to 50 megs. Fifteen megs is adequate
and fifty megs is a lot. Remember you can always rent out additional
space to others. How much do they charge for additional disk space,
should you need it in the future?
- DATA TRANSFER -- Throughput. How many megabytes of data transfer
per month is included? What is the rate per meg of additional transfer?
A popular site can generate a lot of throughput, especially if your
site is multimedia heavy or software downloads are involved.
- CONNECTION SPEED -- How are they connected to the internet?
Speeds can range from 56kbps to 45Mbps(T3). But connection speed is
only one factor. Existing traffic, server software and architecture
are others. Try out their site. Does it seem fast or slow? Speed is
critical to a business Web site. There is no point in optimizing your
pages for snappy delivery just to have a sluggish server dole them out.
- USAGE STATISTICS -- You are going to need detailed Web traffic
statistics in order to understand who is visiting your Web site, why
they visit and how long they stay. With this information you can make
decisions on how to update and improve your site. Many presence providers
have excellent systems in place which analyse your daily, weekly and
monthly usage data. Ask questions. It is very important. At the very
least you must have access to the server log files for your domain.
- EMAIL FORWARDS -- How many email forwards are included in the
basic service? What is the cost per month for additional forwarding
setups? Email forwards allow you to use your domain address for your
email (e.g. bigboss@mycompany.com) and have it automatically resent
to your existing email account, an email POP account on the server or
any other email address.
- EMAIL POP ACCOUNTS -- POP (Post Office Protocol) accounts are
mail boxes that reside on your presence provider's mail server. In conjunction
with email forwards they offer a convenient way to organize your company
email. For instance, your service department could have one POP account
that they could access and your sales department could have its own
separate account. How many, if any, email POP accounts come with your
domain? What are the extra charges for additional accounts?
- AUTO EMAIL RESPONDERS (MAILBOTS) -- Auto-responders are email
addresses at your domain that automatically respond with any text message
that you specify. They also send you a message containing the email
to which they have responded. Auto-responders are an essential part
of low cost Internet marketing. Are they included? How much are extras?
You may want plenty of these.
- ANONYMOUS FTP -- Anonymous FTP is a directory in your domain
that allows access by anyone logging in with the user name anonymous
(the password is usually the users email address). This facilitates
upload and download of files between you and your customers or associates
without allowing access to all your server files. If file transfers
are part of your business plan, make sure your provider can set up anonymous
FTP within your domain.
- CGI -- The Common Gateway Interface is most commonly used to
access programs on the server that process user input from forms
filled out on your Web Site. These programs can store the information,
manipulate it and return information to the user's browser. The programs
are called CGI Scripts. Without getting into detail, let's just say
that CGI scripts are extremely important to a successful business Web
site. Many providers will not allow CGI and others will only allow the
use of their own "proprietary" scripts. Be sure your provider allows
custom CGI scripts via your own CGI-bin.
- SSL SECURE SERVER TRANSACTIONS -- SSL (Secure Socket Layers)
provide encryption of information passed between the client browser
and the server. If you are going to use your Web site to process credit
card transactions your customers are going to require encryption security.
This can get expensive in terms of obtaining encryption keys from companies
like VeriSign, as well as store front software, etc. There are low cost,
secure, third party alternatives to using SSL on your server that should
be explored before taking on the expense Authentication keys. Nonetheless,
SSL is something you may very well need as your business grows. Does
your provider include it at no extra charge?
- BACKUP -- How often does your provider backup your files? Daily
is best.
- TELNET -- Telnet lets you remotely log on to another system
and browse its files and directories. Because you can issue commands
through telnet many providers don't allow it. For security reasons,
they insist that you use FTP to access the system directories. If this
is the case with your provider make sure they have systems in place
for tasks that are normally performed through telnet. Things such as
programs to validate your CGI scripts. If this is the case, you should
be alright.
- DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION -- It is not a necessity to register
your domain through your presence provider but if they offer this service
for free, all the better. If they want to charge a fee, explore registering
it directly with InterNIC.
If you have read this far you now realize that there is a lot to keep track
of when finding a provider. It really isn't as complicated as it seems.
Tiptoe can recommend good presence providers that meet all the above requirements.
What is important is that the process of finding an appropriate domain host
be started early on in the development of your site. -- Just another plug
for good pre-production.
Thumbnail Guide to Domain Hosting Costs
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