Ok, well I will start with this one. This is the question Im asked the most from clients who want hosting. This explains Bandwidth, and Transfer. If there are questions jsut ask.
Steve
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Too often web hosts talk about bandwidth and data transfer in the same breath but truth be known they are different although very closely related. Bandwidth is how much data can be transferred at a time and data transfer is how much data is being transferred.
Think of it this way. If bandwidth were a bridge, then the bigger the bridge is the more vehicles can pass through it. While data transfer is the number of vehicles allowed on the bridge in say a month. In essence, data transfer is the consumption of bandwidth.
How It Affects Your Site
The less bandwidth you have, the slower your site takes to load regardless of the visitor�s connection type. If you have more visitors, some of them will have to wait their turn. The least data transfer you have, the more often you�ll find your site unavailable because you�re reached the maximum allowed until a new month rolls by or you upgrade your account.
Determining Your Requirements
Usually when a host talks about bandwidth, they are referring to your transfer. So you need to figure out what is sufficient for your site to function. You�ll need to gather some information; fairly easy if you already have a site. Most of this information is available from your traffic history. If you don�t have an existing site, provide an optimistic estimate if you intend to heavily promote the site. Then get ready for some math.
Find out the daily averages of: -
- Number of visitors / expected number of visitors
Page size including the graphics of the page
Page views / expected pages viewed by each visitor[/list:u]
Then, multiply them as follows:
Visitors x Page size x Page views x 30 days = Monthly Website Transfer
You should also throw in a small margin or error there to take into account email traffic and your own uploads to the server. If you offer downloads, then you should add the following:
Average/Expected downloads x File Size x 30 days = Monthly Download Transfer
Unlimited Plans
Bandwidth is very expensive. All hosts are limited by their own allocations. Thinking back to the bridge. What happens is each visitor to your site will be given a smaller lane to transfer the data, creating many tiny lanes therefore unlimited. The more visitors you have the smaller each lane will be, which makes each visitor wait for the page to load.
More often than not there is little choice over your bandwidth as your host controls this. Some hosts may limit the number of simultaneous connections so in affect slowing down your site and refusing some visitors. This is called throttling. If you're concerned about this, you should ask the host how they control bandwidth usage or purchase a package with more data transfer.
Reducing Transfers
On the other hand, you can reduce your transfer amount by building simpler, more efficient websites and optimizing your graphics. Refrain from fancy flash presentations or streaming audio. Use CSS, call JavaScript externally instead of embedding in every page. Remove unwanted tags, white space and comments. Limit your META tags to those absolutely necessary. Having too many keywords is not search engine friendly. Besides many search engines will only review the first few and ignore the rest.
Another good idea is to cache your website but you might want to set an expiry date in the HTTP headers so the browser will refresh the content after a certain time. Use mod-gzip. It could save you as much as 40% of your bandwidth. Out of control robots can also suck down your bandwidth like a black hole. So use robots.txt to keep spiders in check.
This is another one, I use for information to prospects. Again if there are questions please ask me.
-Steve
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The call of low hosting prices is like a siren. There are reasonable budget-hosting solutions and there are outrageously low budget hosting almost guaranteed to become a nightmare. If the price makes you wonder
how they make money then you can look forward to an extremely slow site or even denial of service because they maxed out the bandwidth.
Let's cover some examples and give some specifics.
First off, remember a hosting company no matter who they are is a business. Now they could be one of the larger ones like A+, EV1, 1&1, GoDaddy etc. They might be a slightly larger reseller who leases servers from places like Managed or EV1. No matter the size they are a business. To run a business you need money, to run a large business you will need a lot of it.
There is a cost to lease a server, pay your staff; pay for advertising and other misc. expenses that can ware a company down over time if the cash flow is not managed. If the cash stops, the servers are offline, the staff leaves, and the customers that come in from ads are gone.
One of the oldest methods of marketing and sales is called "bait and switch". At one point in any customer?s life, they have fallen for this. The gimmick is simple, offer something and when the something is sold or ordered switch it with something else of lesser value or higher expense.
For example:
You see an ad that says 90 days free. You order the service and are charged the cost for one year. That's the switch. The company gives you 90 days after your paid year is up, or they will offer you the 90 days first but you still paid for the year. This is a small tactic used by almost everyone so often that people accept it. It may seem fair, but if you wanted 90 days free then you need to get 90 days when you don't pay a dime. The fact is, if they are going to host you the need some sort of money collected to offset the cost of having you as a client. The cost is broken down into the terms mentioned before; staff, servers, and advertising.
Another example:
High set-up fees. These fees are seldom used, unless there is a valid reason. In the case of the reseller they are added to offset the cost of the service they resell. In the case of a Datacenter they are there to cover the cost of the server, and the cost of the main power to install it.
More often than not you do not need a set-up fee when ordering hosting. Shared hosting is an account that exists on a server that is already configured to host a website. When you order shared hosting, why pay a set-up fee? If you do that is just extra padding in the host?s pocket, and you were again the target of bait and switch.
Domain registrations are another way that a host can make money. The cost of a domain these days is about 4.95 up to 34.95 based off of www.godaddy.com who is the largest seller of domain names as of this articles publishing date. Some domains are expensive, and some like the big three (com, net, org) are on average about 7.95 each. Knowing this why do some hosts charge 35-40.00 per year for them? This again is another example of bait and switch and another example of extra padding for the host.
Using these examples will help you be warned if you might be paying for something that is too good to be true. Remember that more often than not a cheep host are just that cheep, and the service will suffer because of it. The old adage of no such thing as a free lunch is true here. No hosting can be free with out some sort of cost. In the end you will pay it.
So what have we covered? We learned no matter what, there is a cost to running a hosting company, and in one way or another you the customer will pay for it. We listed some methods used by various hosting companies to grab attention, and then offset the offer with hidden costs.
Now that you know that, what can you do to protect your self?
1. Read the fine print. Each host, even cookie-cutter sites have a link to a TOS or an AUP. Sometimes they mention the fees, and other extras you might end up paying for when you start service.
2. Look at the whole page, and look for asterisks (*) that sometimes tell you that there are conditions that you must meet. The best known example of this is a host that says ?Host for as little as $2.95 a month.? Read the fine print and see that the $2.95 a month is what it equals if you pay for one or even two years upfront.
3. Ask about set-up costs. What are they? Why are they used? How are they used?
Any host that wouldn?t answer those has something to hide. They wont get into technical business practices with you, but they should at least give you some examples of how the funds are used. WARNING: Any host that says they are there to keep site jumpers (people who change hosts month after month) are not being totally honest. This means that they rely on the set-up cost to offset the fact that they can?t retain clients. Ask yourself why do clients come and go on their services?
4. Ask to talk to clients, this is a big one here. Don?t go by testimonials
written on the site alone. Talk to clients who are not listed. Ask them about
fees they paid, and ask about service.
With luck this will save you both time and money. Until next time??
Ive seen mention of Resellers, so I will add this one, as the last post for today that covers Resellers in a little more detail.
Steve
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Hosting with a reseller is not a bad thing. In fact sometimes resellers give you very good support. But you need to do your second layer research. Sometimes a reseller is very good all around but inexperienced especially when it came to scripts and server environments.
Some resellers also couldn't accommodate customer requests because the server administrators wouldn't work with them under any circumstance. This usually happens when the server administrators are bulk sellers who are disconnected from the end customer.
If the server administrators are not reliable or cannot accommodate you, don't hope your reseller can. Resellers should also have done their homework and know their servers as if their own.
What is a reseller?
Remember in part one when we mentioned the different types of hosts?
??one of the larger ones like A+, EV1, 1&1, GoDaddy etc. They might be a slightly larger reseller who leases servers from places like Managed or EV1?.?
Let?s start with a simple definition of a reseller. Resellers are persons or companies who resell services of other companies, at either a discount to themselves passing savings on to customers or at a markup keeping the difference. Seems simple yet kind of harsh doesn?t it? It isn?t supposed to sound harsh profit and bottom line remember is a major part of business today. Some will get a discount from a company and sell the exact same services to their customers at exactly the same price, but still making a profit in the process. Others will sell the service to customers and add to the original cost keeping the extra as profit, this is not always the case. Most resellers use the first method in the webhosting market because several larger providers offer discounts in exchange for reselling the services.
Resellers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are large and well known, and others are small start up companies who will offer anything to get clients. The issue with that is can they back up what they promise and keep their word, if they tell you they can do something with the site you wish to host, or the server it will be hosted on.
Things like adding GD to the server to allow you to host Gallery or changing PHP to turn global on or off. If they have access to the server, then if they know how they can do this. However smaller resellers do not have this option, and are hoping that the main provider will work with them on the issue. In most cases this can be bad for you because if they can?t comply with your needs, you wither have to live with it or pay the costs involved to more to a new host.
Again it is important to stress that just because your host or potential host is a reseller does not mean they are bad or invalid in the market. Infact you will find that some resellers offer a good deal of extras that their competition does not. They might offer things like design, training, or other valuable services. They can do this because hosting might not be the main focus of their business. Infact most companies that are well known use hosting as a way to offer more to the client than just the normal services.
Big or Small resellers?
We talked about this briefly but let?s explore it in depth. A large reseller is a hosting company who leases the servers they use, and manage them on their own. They lease space in a Data Center (Think large warehouse of networks and servers used for several reasons not just hosting. A Data Center is a place where ISP?s link land lines, and other equipment to allow access to the internet.) most will lease from places like EV1 or Managed. EV1 for example is an ISP, and they own the Data Center. Leasing a server from them means that the hosting company you come from is able to manage the servers themselves, and that if they need to change something they can do it on the fly. If something breaks, or if something goes bad, they have the option to have EV1 and the 24 hour staff correct it. This is a plus for you; however it does have a down side. Sometimes there are charges for work done in the Data Center. This can be passed on to the client so be careful what you ask for, because if the host is charged, you will be too.
Small resellers will lease, or buy small amounts of space on a server and sell this space to the clients. They are limited to the options they offer, because they do not have full control over the server. They will also have to contend with the fact that they are limited to the support offered by the hosting company they resell for. This means that even if they know the issue and know how to fix it, if the company they resell for refuses the change, then there is nothing they can do to help their clients.
Who are the better ones, and who should you avoid?
This is where the work comes in. You have to do your homework on the topic and make your best judgment on the choices. There are several ways to do this, search the internet for the company name. More often than not you will see reviews about them and the quality of service they provide. Contact them and see how long it takes to reply, and how detailed they get with the answers they give. Ask them if they resell, and if they will tell you who they resell for. Ask what the difference with services are between them and the parent company. Check the WHOIS databases on the web and see if the name servers used by the potential host is owned by them or someone else. Resellers with a solid reputation are just as good and viable with the major hosting companies. The best way to pick the top is to do as much research on the company as you can.
Until next time??..
Thanks. 🙂 That was very informative.
Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
url: https://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction
php: 7.4.33 msql: 5.6.51-community GPL
efic version: 3.5.5 latest patches: yes
bridges: none mods: challenges, tracker, story end, beta, word
Oh your welcome, I have more but I will add them every so often. I will write some too. One that crosses my mind is what to look for in a host for your eFiction realted site. How much is too much, when you get too many site options. Hosting directories, can they be trusted? How to run a hosting business and ruin it in 30 days. These are all articles I have written or helped write over the last few years. While some need updated to make them current, others still play with todays hosting market. I could also take questions, and answer them from a hosts prospective too. Heh, I know many hosting owners who will hate me for it, but hey, you ask I'll answer. 🙂
-Steve
Any chance you could post these in a topic all their own? Perhaps called "Advice on Webhosting" or similar?
Yep I can do that. If you want too, you can moce the 3 that are here over into what ever topic you choose, and I can add others there, or when I post another I can just repost.
Steve
As an ongoing process you should keep a list of what resources your site needs and add to that list as you grow. One Webmaster was changing their static HTML pages to dynamic, which meant scripts were going to be used. Since the Webmaster didn't have a clear idea of what he would like to install and what these scripts required, they only found out after moving, the host servers were not compatible with the scripts. They lost months of work moving the sites in and out again.
Making a list of options seems simple enough. Most webmasters know exactly what their site runs on, and how it?s used. Even better some know how to code the scripts and tools used to make the site work on any platform.
What if that is not you, what if you know your site has a few main pages that are HTML and a forum that is PHP driven.
What does that tell you? If you are familiar with web servers, and hosting it shows you are on a Linux or Windows server with some form of SQL and PHP installed.
How did that information stand out? The forum is PHP driven, that is easy, PHP driven forums, require PHP to use, so that?s covered. SQL is needed for the forum because that is how data is stored. Linux or Windows server is mentioned because both platforms offer the services needed in this example.
Ok so you know you need PHP, SQL, and either Windows or Linux servers. Congratulations you just narrowed the search for a new host down to 100% of the hosting market. Frustrating isn?t it? This is where a complete list will come in handy and where knowledge of your host is needed.
To keep things simple a detailed list of questions to ask any host is provided below to help you determine what they offer and compare it to your list.
First however lets make your list. Ask your self what you have now. Just a plain site with a few images and a few pages. That?s a solid site, but do you want to grow it and expand it? If so how? What will it take to set your site apart of the billions of others on the web?
Here is an example list:
Site: 4 pages of information. 1 page of pictures. 1 guest book. 1 contact form in html that emails me.
Growth: Add more pages of text, more pictures, and better forms and guest book.
Needed: Gallery Script for pictures, Forum to replace guest book, and better contact forms.
Required: PHP for forum and Gallery scripts. SQL for forums and Gallery, PHP for faster email or contact forms.
So now you have a simple list. You know you need SQL and PHP but that will not help you narrow the field down, it only helps you map out your sites growth.
You want as many options as you can, and in all reality Windows or Linux hosting is just a personal choice. But remember that some scripts require a certain platform to operate on. Always check the script requirements first.
Here is a list of questions to ask a potential host broken down with reasons and examples.
1. What sort of control panel do you offer clients, and what options are with it.
* Cpanel, Cpanel+, Webmin, H-Sphere, and Ensim are all known control panels that hosting companies offer clients. Each has a set of options offered inside them for users to better manage their websites. Pre-installed scripts like forums, and guest books, database management that allows you to make and manage all of your SQL databases.
* The more details a host offers here the better.
2. What server modules such as ASP, PHP, CGI etc. do you offer as standards for clients.
* Please note that ASP will not run on Linux servers. This was added here to allow them a chance to explain what server system they use.
3. Do you allow request for customer server installs such as GD, CURL, Movable Type etc.
* This allows you the chance to see if they can grow with your site, should a script, or need require things like this that are not already installed on the server.
These three questions will better allow you to judge a host on its options and what they do or do not offer. The best advice is to ask what ever pops into your head at the time, and get as much information as you can before you spend your money.
Happy Hunting!
Steve
Q: I want to use eFiction what do I need from my host to run it?
A:
Well my first bit of advice on this is something others will agree with me on or hate me for it. You need a paid host, and one who is willing to help you with this script. While it is user friendly with management, and even the install portion, if you do not know what you are doing or what the errors you see mean it will get frustrating. I?ve always said hosting people was like having more kids, because there are times they cant grow without you, and there are times they need their hand held. It is all apart of the package when you host peoples websites. You have to know the users, and you have to know what they do with their sites at all times.
You need a host who can explain errors related to PHP and SQL, even if they say ? The error is with dbconfig.php and we don?t support that, you will have to ask the authors of eFiction.? How does that help you? Instead of posting to the support boards with I cant install the script, or I get PHP and SQL errors you can now post the whole error, and say I have an issue with dbconfig.php. You host gave you that info, and you learned a little something because of it.
Sadly hosts like this are few and far between. Infact as I have posted about before some are in it just for the fast buck, and others are too big to notice the little people. If you have a solid relationship with your host, you will have no issues getting some basic help for eFiction even before you come here. I can talk in depth later about relationships with web hosts, and clients if anyone is interested.
Lets talk tech for a moment so you can run eFiction with little to no problems.
First, does your host have a lot of clients? Do they have lots of servers? If you didn?t answer yes to both of these, you need to ask a few questions form your host.
1. What is the load avg. on the server my site is hosted at normally?
2. How many sites are on the same server as my site?
3. If my site grows and needs more Ram or less resource sharing can you move me to a better server with the same plan costs?
You ask these questions because if you have to fight for CPU, RAM, and SQL usage on your server, then your site will be slow because of it. The more sites on a server the harder the server works. If it works too hard, it just quits working, because imo its underpaid, and doesn?t like people much. In reality its because resource usage can kill a server if its overused.
You need at least 200+MB space and about 10GB a month in bandwidth for a eFiction site that is small but gets a decent amount of traffic. However your usage may vary, you could need more or less depending of your archives size.
You will need access to a FTP account, and PHP and MySQL. If your host is a Linux Host, you will have this, however ask first because not all hosts are equal. If your host is Windows Hosting, you need to talk to them, most charge for SQL usage.
MySQL and MSSQL both will run the script, if you know your host offers either one your good here. PHP 4.x is needed, anything less and you may have issues.
Please note PHP 5.x is still very new, and very buggy. eFiction may or may not run on PHP 5.x. I personally have ran eFiction on it, but that is me, and I do not recommend it, at least not yet.
Google SmartFTP and download one of the best FTP programs on the web, its free and easy to use. This is how you will connect to your FTP server. See your host for details on how to connect with a username and password.
Learn what CHMOD means. Learn how to use it in SmartFTP, they have wonderful help files, and it is explained on this site and all over the web. Google it for more information.
If asked nicely (giggles) I can explain all sorts of tech and hosting related terms to anyone who wants to know what something means. I am a geek after all :-p
Once uploaded and CHMOD?d on your server, eFiction is ready to install. Read the files in the DOC?s folder and your good to go. Remember if you get stuck, post in the support forum, and someone might be able to help you.
Recap(what you need):
200-500MB + Space
1-10 GB monthly bandwidth
FTP access
PHP Support
SQL (MSSQL or MySQL)
FTP Program (Any one will do, but SmartFTP is awesome)
Support(how best to ask)
Give details, and examples. What is wrong, what you did or were doing when you noticed something wrong.
What if any are the error messages displayed?
What is the sites address? If there is no address why? (Keep in mind we need to sometimes see the error to attempt to fix it, I know I do anyway. If it is on your PC then that?s another matter.)
How log has the error existed?
Is your copy of eFiction current, with all patches to date?
Be patient, all of us are willing to help where we can, and as often as we can, but we are not on the boards 247.
Regarding FTP programs, I don't think just any will do, we're known to have users that have problems caused by FTP programs. The FTP program must be able to CHMOD/change permissions. I suggest including the list of FTP programs that I checked out in the installation FAQ. Great job though Stveve, it's help, thanks for sharing.
Indeed, that is true with the FTP programs. Some time soon, I will flush out those programs, and test them. When I do I can report the findings and offer tips, and howto's on using them.
Steve
Indeed, that is true with the FTP programs. Some time soon, I will flush out those programs, and test them. When I do I can report the findings and offer tips, and howto's on using them.
Steve
I can write a detailed article/tips on Filezilla, it's my prefered FTP program, it's not so much on the graphical side, but very simple and efficient.
Badda Bing!
That would be nifty. The only downside for me is I have to manage my free time wisely as the contract I have with Verison requires I work 40-45 hours a week. So I have about 5 hours a day to code and script. Weekends are better for me so I will try to get something for SmartFTP this weekend up.
Steve
Auctions:
Auctions might be a good place to get a great deal on things, but hosting is not one of them. Remember the first article and the rule that if it is too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. Lets look at an auction running on EBay at this moment on hosting services. The company will remain undisclosed, however other parts of the ad will be covered.
Offer
$3.49 a month for hosting. This EBay auction is for the monthly fee of $3.49/mo. They list some features here too: Unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Space, Unlimited Email, Unlimited Subdomains. There is more to the auction however its all redundant listings, and hype.
The word unlimited should worry you. Now or days its not listed as Unlimited because so many places on the web warn consumers about that trap. After clicking on the link, and going to the hosting companies site, the plans offered there, are not the same as the auction listing. This is another red flag. Looking at the TOS AUP on the site shows:
??Oversized storage of any files that would be unreasonably large?.using the web space to store images for auction descriptions, flash or any other files used on another site but stored on our server??
That is just an example of the terms you must agree to. Ask yourself, how is it unlimited space and bandwidth if you cant use it for anything you wanted? Clearly there are limits, and those are in the fine print. Odds are this host is an over seller, we will cover that term in detail in another article.
Directories:
Hosting directories are a recent growth in the hosting community. The list several businesses and allow users to rate them on several categories. Service, Price, Value, Uptime, Options, and other specs are some of the examples that prospects can search for online. There are several to choose from too a Google search for ?Web hosting Directory? returns over 104 million results.
With that in mind you also need to be aware. Several ?Directories? list sites in top ranks because those companies have paid for the placement. They are not leaders in any of the categories or subjects, just businesses with the marketing capitol to buy a top rank. It is always best to research any company found on a Directory completely.
-Steve
When you narrow the lists of hosting companies down to a final few, take the time to explore and look at the site. How does it set its self apart from others? Does it look like other company sites on the web? Adding exception to content, is it an exact clone of a site on the web? Is it simple to navigate and find the information you need? These are just some basics, there are other questions and methods, but let?s look at some major red flags as an example.
Cookie Cutter Web Sites:
Cookie cutter websites, aside from annoying most people on the web, offer no originality. When I created MP3Q Hosting, it wasn?t flash and glamour or glitz but it offered the information in an easy to find manor. When I went to redesign the site, I hired a professional designer to make a simple yet updated version of the site. Today upstarts and fly by night companies will go here:
http://www.templatemonster.com/category/hosting/
Does the company you want to host with use something that looks almost exactly like a template listed here? I don?t mean similar, I mean almost exactly down to the graphics, and text? If so they are on a cookie cutter site, and that is something you should worry about. Can you trust your site to a company who can?t design their own?
What about a site that is a cookie cutter site, but is almost completely changed, however looks like one of the templates listed? If that is the case, it?s a better sign, because at least the hosting company can edit and change PSD files and CSS layouts. However are there grammar and spelling errors for common used words? Are technical terms misused and incorrect? If you are unsure about the technical term, Google it, or goto Dictionary.com and check it out. Most terms are simple to use, and understand but if they throw a ton of buzz words on a site, take the time to see if it?s just that, a big blob of buzz words.
What about a site that has a design and links that are wacky, and seem to fall all over the page? An example would be links to sales plans you need to highlight to read because the box they are in overlaps them.
What about contact information? Is it there? Is it complete? You want to look for a host that has complete contact details on the site that are easy to find, and easy to use. Emails are good, but for business you need email, and phone 247. IF a phone is listed but mentions clients only that?s ok, but the emails most often used should be there. Sales, support, technical, and general contact links are a must for any solid business.
