| Internet marketer or the owner of a company who | | | | factors may NOT be included in this figure. |
| runs an e-commerce business, you are probably | | | | 2. More complex sites require additional support |
| always looking for ways to get an edge on the | | | | services: |
| competition. And, you should be. After all, with | | | | Beyond the hosting of very simple websites, some |
| hundreds of millions of websites and billions of Web | | | | hosting providers offer more sophisticated services, |
| pages out there to compete with for traffic, it only | | | | such the availability of programming and software |
| stands to reason that the smarter marketers' sites | | | | protocols such as PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, |
| rise to the top of the rankings. | | | | ColdFusion, and ASP.net. These protocols allow Web |
| Fortunately, you don't actually have to be a | | | | developers to install scripts for applications like |
| marketing genius in order to be able to compete | | | | forums, content management, etc. Also, SSL can be |
| successfully online. Rather, you just need to align | | | | made available for secure e-commerce applications. |
| yourself with the best tools, techniques and practices | | | | Of course, these services are not free add-ons, but |
| for doing well online. | | | | they may be required for you to run your site |
| For example, take Web hosting. It can be tempting | | | | correctly. |
| to look for the cheapest hosting provider out there | | | | 3. Control panel access for managing Web server: |
| and to sign up for an inexpensive or even free | | | | Another option to consider is a control panel that |
| month-to-month hosting plan. And, unless you knew | | | | allows you to login remotely to manage your Web |
| the difference between the various available hosting | | | | server. Management includes the ability to install |
| solutions, there really is no reason why anyone would | | | | scripts, as well as other services such as e-mail. |
| pay more for hosting. | | | | 4. Dedicated hosting: |
| However, once you can get a handle on the real | | | | All of the cheapest Web hosting plans involve your |
| differentiators between your various hosting options, | | | | site sharing a server with multiple other sites - up to |
| you will start to see how accelerated hosting | | | | 20 or so. However, for maximum site performance |
| services and Internet marketing strategy go | | | | and control, dedicated hosting is the preferred option |
| hand-in-hand. | | | | for strategic marketers. With this option, you get full |
| A web hosting service, of course, is simply one that | | | | control for items such as root access for Linux and |
| website owners to have their sites be accessible via | | | | administrator access for Windows. |
| the World Wide Web. Hosting providers do business | | | | 5. Co-location Web hosting: |
| in a variety of ways, including providing space on | | | | Another option is co-location (colocation) hosting. This |
| their own servers (or servers that they lease) for | | | | is very similar to dedicated web hosting, but in the |
| use by clients. | | | | case of co-location the hosting company provides |
| If you would like to get an Internet marketing | | | | physical space for the server, environmental controls |
| strategy shot in the arm through better hosting, here | | | | (e.g., power backup, fire suppression), and physical |
| are 5 hosting features and options to consider: | | | | server maintenance. Levels of support provided for |
| 1. Uptime and connectivity: | | | | the machine vary by provider. In many cases, you |
| Uptime refers simply to the percentage of time in a | | | | would have your own administrator visit the site |
| given month that the sites hosted with that provider | | | | directly to do hardware upgrades or other changes. |
| are guaranteed to be up and available. You will want | | | | As you find ways to scale up your online business |
| a solution with at least 99.9% uptime, which | | | | and differentiate yourself from the pack, consider |
| translates to about 45 minutes per month of | | | | some of these accelerated hosting options for better |
| downtime. Note, however, the maintenance items like | | | | Internet marketing strategy. |
| server restarts and other unplanned maintenance | | | | |