POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol (version 3) and comprises of mailboxes for email systems
so that a user can retrieve email from a central location where the email is stored. Depending on the type of hosting package preferred, most of the quality web-hosting providers offer their customers with POP3 accounts. With the POP3 accounts, users can have mailboxes on a server with their domain name. So if for example, you own a domain name (yourdomain.com); then you can receive and send emails through yourname@yourdomain.com. With POP3, users can access their mailboxes and download messages their computers in the most simple and standardized manner.
Most e-mail applications also known as an e-mail clients use the POP protocol, although some can use the newer IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). The user needs to ensure that their domain is hosted on a server, which has nameservers in order to facilitate setting up of POP3 email accounts for their domains. Since POP3 allows a client computer to retrieve electronic mail from a POP3 server via a (temporary) TCP/IP or other connection, it does not provide for sending mail, which is assumed to be performed via SMTP or some other method.
The major features of POP3 and IMAP protocol include:
• Both handle mail access only. Sending of emails is handled by SMTP.
• Both Support persistent message identifiers for disconnected use.
• They have freely available implementations (including source) available.
• They rely on mail delivery to a, usually shared, "always up" mail server.
• They allow access to new mail from a variety of client platform types.
• They have client implementations available for PCs, Macs, and Unix.
• They have commercial implementations available.
• They allow access to new mail from anywhere on the network.
• Fully support the offline (download and delete) access model.
• They both are open protocols, defined by Internet RFCs.
• They both are native Internet protocols; no mail gateways required.
Once the user has understood what exactly are the functions of POP3 email accounts and its uses, he can choose a hosting package that offers POP3 email accounts with their respective support. It is equally advisable to first check with the web host whether these POP3 accounts are offered within the hosting package or come at an additional monthly cost. For most web masters, POP3 accounts are indispensable and therefore it becomes imperative to opt for a web hosting service that offers this feature. The company’s support needs to be of high quality as well in order to ensure smooth web hosting. Any kind of laxity or errors can cost you hundreds to millions of dollars, which is highly undesirable. Some hosting packages may include "unlimited POP3 accounts" or perhaps a set number of POP3 accounts. It is advisable therefore to first determine your requirement before selecting the hosting package with its corresponding POP3 account allowance. Lap up on ample knowledge and then select a package that would befit your website requirements.
If you are like most everyone right now you are thinking of ways to save money. If you have a web based business you may have looked into web hosting. There are company’s that offer this for a very low price and even sometimes for free. You better make sure that have a complete understanding of the process first.
Many companies offer unlimited bandwidth at a relatively low price. It is best to have unlimited bandwidth because this will insure that no matter how big your site gets or how much information you add, the host you are using will suit all of your business needs.
Easy to use design tools and support for use of outside design tools as well. This will insure that you can effectively design your site without restrictions and limitations. From the beginning when you may find it necessary to use the design tools that the web host provides until you learn enough about website design to add more bells and whistles to your site.
Those free web hosting guys don’t mention that they will be charging you for the domain name in the beginning of their sales pitch. They go together. So that’s why you need to check carefully because you will be paying for something and you might as well get the best deal. One thing you certainly want from your web host is to be able to contact them when you need them. It is so annoying to be in the middle of something and get stuck, and there’s no help for hours.
Gotta have unlimited data transfer. Data transfer is important because this is the information exchange that goes on between your website and each unique visitor. Offering unlimited data exchange means your site can support as many unique visitors as come to your site.
Downtime can be a killer to business. That is when the site is closed. They will say that when someone tries to get on. It is frustrating to say the least. Customers are fickle beasts. The shopping mood comes and goes with them. If they run into trouble shopping online it is just too easy to go elsewhere. A company will or should give you an estimate of their annual downtime ratio. You have to hope that it is accurate and not exaggerated.
when you think you have everything in place for a successful online business but you just couldn’t figure out what went wrong, there’s in fact, another "thing" you could have neglected - your web host.My friend, Allen, is an outstanding marketer. When he got his feet wet the first time on the Internet years back, he told me he’s going to bring his prior offline marketing experience into play and make it a quick success online.
He did almost everything he was told on a guidebook and he started to put them into action. But as he was new, other than those tasks like copywriting and web designing that he can hire pros to help him, web hosting is something that you have to go get it yourself.
He did so-called a research on the web (maybe not so thorough as far as I know) but he ended up with a web hosting provider JG (alias - to protect the guilty). He thought it was good so he signed up with it straight for a one-year plan.
Now, here’s the kicker.
As Allen wasn’t able to monitor his website 24/7, even if his website goes down he wouldn’t have noticed. To make matter worse, once he upped the site, he never really went often to visit his own site to see how it was running.
He decided to conduct a frequent random check on his site after heeding my advice. To his astonishment, sometimes his site appears, sometimes not. Sometimes his design got distorted due to his CSS file not getting loaded. Sometimes his site crashes while loading.
About 40% of the time his site ran into some funny issues here and there.
As JG didn’t provide live chat and phone support, Allen can only send his infuriating query over email, and waiting anxiously for a response.
Now I won’t go into details about Allen’s case because it was apparent enough to teach you a lesson - DO NOT get a web hosting service that gives you hordes of problems, and worse, makes you lose more money than you can imagine. You don’t deserve that.
Reliable web hosting serves as a solid foundation to your online business. Without it, no matter how compelling your sales letter is, how great your website looks, how many thousands of traffic go to your website, you just couldn’t earn the amount of money you deserve because… your site has gone down.
1. Devil is in the details: Is your broker asking the right questions? Has he determined the adjusted net income and valuation of your business and provided you with his recommendation on asking price prior to asking you to sign a listing agreement? Ask him about a cash price vs. a price with terms involved. 70% of all small businesses put on the market never sell and the number one reason is that the price is usually too high and the deal structure is unrealistic for potential business buyers. You want to work with an honest business broker who is not afraid of loosing your business by telling you what he thinks is the realistic asking price for your internet business.
Ask for samples from us of completed Executive Summaries of businesses we have sold. Every detail of your business will be analyzed to find relevance in preparing your business for sale when you work with us. At the end of our detailed business appraisal process, we will provide you with a time table of goal and expectations that we will use as a blue print in the process of selling your business.
2. Most of the buyers who are looking for internet businesses are not interested in regular brick and mortar and retail store front type of business. If you decide to work with a broker who sells all kinds of businesses, you may miss on a big advantage internet business broker can provide you with their existing buyer pool. In addition, ask about the sites they have sold and ask for seller references. If you were not happy with your broker you will not give him a good review.
We have been selling internet businesses since 2003. We have large pool of buyers who have come to rely on us for quality of our listings, honesty and preparedness. Most of the businesses we sell are sold to one of our existing buyers from our buyer database.
3. Convey your expectations: Make sure you discuss and convey your expectations to the intermediary you select. Direct and open communications about expectations and other issues with your business broker is critical in selling your internet business.
Every business owner has a story that needs to be understood fully before business can be completely evaluated. For many business owners primary motivation for selling business is seldom money but a desire in change in life style. We take the time to understand your motivation behind your desire to sell your business and ensure your expectations are met.
4. Confidentiality: Internet consumers are savvy internet users and you don’t want your customer to know you are selling your web business. you need to know how the broker is going to keep the sale of your internet business confidential in nature. Ask your broker to see a copy of a Non-Disclosure Agreement they are using and ensure you are comfortable that it sufficiently protects you as a seller.
We do not disclose any confidential information prior to receiving signed NDA.
5. Preparedness: Make sure the internet business broker you select to sell your business has prepared your business for marketplace - are all the financials and tax returns on file and ready for possible due-diligence. Do you have all documents ready for review like business history document, shopping cart data, monthly sales comparison year to year and contracts with vendors, etc? If the business broker doesn’t have all your material ready to go for a possible review by business buyers, the interested party may walk – be ready to go upfront with all your material for the sales process.
We are told by our buyers that many sellers follow a strategy of Fire ( List the business) , Aim ( Advertise and create maximum exposure, attract buyers, obtain offer ) , Ready ( Prepare for a closing ) instead of Ready ( Determine optimum value, develop a profile of the ideal buyer and transaction structure, ratify timeliness of selling ) , Aim ( Prepare company for sale and develop a marketing plan designed to attract ideal candidate, assemble due diligence materials ) and fire (Begin selling activities maintaining utmost confidentiality, attract appropriate buyer, negotiate contract terms, co-ordinate closing activities). By following Ready, Aim and Fire strategy, we are able to sell your business with Best price and in shortest amount of time.
6. Responsiveness: Make sure the broker you choose is good about getting back promptly to potential buyers. This goes back to volume v/s quality. If you don’t ask for references and speak to the references provided by the broker, you will not know how to differentiate between good broker and an average broker.
Many buyers have told us how delighted they are with our responsiveness. Business for sale Market is saturated with buyers and there are lot more buyers than sellers. It is very important to get back to buyers in timely fashion and we always make sure we get back to buyers in timely fashion.
7. Communication: Constant communication with your broker is important. Ask your broker to keep you in loop of buyer inquiries, response rate and buyer feedback. Find out if your broker has gathered any data for the businesses that he has sold so he can update you once your business is listed with his historic response for the businesses that were sold. Businesses that sell have active broker-owner co-operation and harmony. Good broker will insist on frequent communication with seller. Remember, broker needs your continuous help during the business selling process and you should be prepared to spend time to understand the issues that are being brought up by potential buyers.
We have developed a solid model from years of selling internet businesses that gives us a pretty good idea of what rate of response should a listing get it were to sell and we use this information to guide seller to recommend changes and adjustment in terms of business offering.
8. How Long Does it take to Sell Internet business: Businesses on average typically take six months to eighteen months sell. If your broker does his job correctly your internet business should sell within two to six months. Make sure your broker has a game plan to make this happen!
Our typical listing is sold in first 6 month of list date with a very high satisfaction rate from sellers. If you are in the market for selling your internet business or even considering to sell your internet business and wants to learn more about selling process, you must read this Appraisal Primer !
A lot of hosts provide about a half dozen e-mail accounts initially. The host will enable you to utilize your browser to process all e-mail, besides allowing your e-mail application passage to it through the POP and IMAP protocols. Like with public e-mail accounts, hosts can offer such things as e-mail aliases, auto-responders and much more to keep the flow of e-mails going.
it is a good idea to make sure that your site works well on the host server. It is ideal to work with your web designer first before choosing the host, since the designer knows which applications and operating systems work best with those of the host. The designer may - as part of his or her services - shop around wisely and choose the host for you. Of course, be sure that the service contract term lengths are short in case you are unhappy, and confirm that the price is reasonable for you and your business.
Take a look below at the kind of good support services that any web host should make available to you when you sign up with them.
A big one is memory storage space. Some websites are more sophisticated than others and require more space to stay active on. Some low-cost service plans may start with about a 100MB of storage, but it doesn’t cost much anymore to get an account with unlimited storage. This is not an area where hosts are competing much anymore, given how cheap storage media has become.
Every month, a host provider allows a certain amount of information to be transferred between users of your site and the server. Most offer at least several gigabytes (GB) of transfer information, or "bandwidth" - sort of like a fixed number of minutes used on a cell phone plan.
Then there’s what is known as web statistics. These are tools that help you figure out what has transpired at and through your website, like numbers of visitors, which pages were looked at, which links clicked on, etc. The host will allow you to review your log files easily. The host can provide you a software service that actually helps you analyze all of these important statistics, too, when online.
Let’s say that you run your business from your website - as do many people in this day and age - and you need to communicate regularly with a number of clients by sending mailers, etc. A good host should be able to provide you a list service so that you can manage newsletters or other crucial information and broadcast it to a large number of people in just a few steps, without it being treated like spam or being blocked.
An important support service that a host should provide is the maintenance of your database. In fact, you need to make sure that the database you use is supported by the host. Depending on the type of server, such as Windows, you may pay no fee, or a nominal one for, say, SQL.
Hosting and registration of your domain name is something to think about also. Some hosts charge as little as $10 a years for this, others as much as $35. Be certain that you have direct access to the host and that you are the name assigned to it so that you are not beholden to a web designer or other person who has left the business.
While your web designer can provide you a good shopping cart for your website, the host can also provide this service. Some hosts provide shopping cart software. In addition to working well with high-volume web traffic and long sales item databases, it is important that the shopping cart software support the particular payment processor that you work with.A really big question that you have to ask (and have answered, of course) is what happens when the host’s power goes out or the server’s hard drive takes a nosedive. The host should be backing up your site regularly. Of course, you should have you a complete set of up-to-date site files, too. When your business depends on being visible and active, you absolutely need to back up the site to keep customer data and order information in - well - order.
There are many hosting companies available to provide service, and the pricing and service packages vary as much as the technology - which is to say quite a bit. While it is good to save money, nothing in this world is free, so you have to shop with your thinking cap on.
Remember the basics. The technical terms you should understand before choosing a web hosting provider deal with just a few general functions. Here is the whole concept boiled down to one, simple statement:
You need to upload the web pages you’ve created to a server where you rent disk space, and confirm that the amount of data transfer is enough to get x amount of your content to y number of monthly visitors.Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and never enter into any deal (signed contract or not) if you are unclear about anything at all. Read a few more online glossaries or introductory articles on building your own web site after finishing this one, but keep referring back to this article (print it out if that makes it easier) as the "central location" of your "web education."
Bandwidth:
Usually measured in bits per second (bps), this is the amount of data that a device can send (or that a connection can support). A 56K modem can theoretically send up to 53Kbps (53 Kilobits, or 53,000 bits) per second, although actual throughput is always less (oddly enough, by law). The term is sometimes used as a synonym for "data transfer."
CGI (Common Gateway Interface):
This set of rules describes how a web server interacts with other software on the same machine.
CGI-Bin Access:
This term refers to the customer’s ability to write special programs that reside in the "CGI-Bin" and manipulate data on their site.
Data Transfer:
This is the amount of data (images, media files and text) that you can transfer with your account. Your hosting plan might come with "3GB of data transfer," with each 1GB of data transfer good for about 50,000 page views.
Disk Space (Storage Space):
This is the amount of hard disk space you get to store your site’s pages, HTML, CGI-bin programs, images, sound clips, e-mail, log files, audio, video, etc. One megabyte (1MB) is approximately one million bytes, and a 100K file is 100,000 bytes.
Domain Name:
The unique names identifying Internet sites are called Domain Names, which always have two or more parts separated by "dots," or periods.
Domain Name Registration:
This is the process of registering a name that is then used for hosting a domain, such as www.yourdomain.com.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP):
This is a way to transfer data to/from web servers using a different method than web browsers, which use the http (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) method. You use FTP software to upload files to your site.
Home Page:
This is the first page in a domain’s public directory, usually "index.php" or "index.html," and thus the first page that loads from a site.
Hosting Provider:
A company that provides server space for hosting sites.
HTML(Hyper-Text Markup Language):
The basic "language" for creating web pages. It is much simpler and easier to use than many people realize, but it does grow more complex in newer versions that support frames, tables, floating layers, style sheets and other evolved features.
HyperText:
This is text that links to other content, and is the core of the original text-only web page structure. Any word can link to another page, image or web site, with the actual link being called a "hyper link."
ISP
(Internet Service Provider):
An ISP is the service provider that connects your home or office to the Internet. Your ISP is not necessarily your hosting provider, or vice versa. The ISP is how you access the Internet with your computer.
POP (e-mail):
POP is a way to retrieve e-mail from your mail server. Most e-mail programs can use the POP protocol as well as the newer IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). POP stands for "post office protocol."
Server:
When multiple computers are connected together as a network, they fall into one of two categories. The "server" is the one that provides data and acts as a central repository and gatekeeper between and among the "client" computers. A server is also a "host" as it hosts data that is "served" to "clients."
UNIX:
This is an operating system (OS) used on many business computers, and commonly used on "servers." UNIX has a number of variants, descendants and derivatives, including Solaris (Sun), Linux (RedHat, Ubuntu), Apple’s Macintosh OS X and others.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator):
This is the standard means of giving the address of a particular resource (or site) on the World Wide Web (WWW) portion of the greater Internet. A URL looks like this: http://www.vpshosting.net
Web Site:
A web site is a collection of interconnected web pages that reside together on the World Wide Web.Amy Armitage is the head of Business Development for Lunarpages. Lunarpages provides quality web hosting from their US-based hosting facility. They offer a wide-range of services from linux virtual private servers and managed solutions to shared and reseller hosting plans. Visit online for more information.
Many people wonder why reseller hosting when there is free hosting or shared hosting is available. Before we go in to deep we must understand reseller hosting properly. After that, we will discuss about some other types of hosting. When you buy from an intermediate user who is already using the service then you can get the hosting service in quite a cheaper price. This is known as reseller hosting. When you buy from an existing user you actually become a second level user of reseller hosting.
The main reason behind the popularity is its cheaper rate. Otherwise, if you buy as a first hand customer you need to pay much more. If you go for shared hosting then also you can get the service in cheap rate. But reseller is cheaper than even shared hosting and many beginners who do not want to invest much they are opting for reseller hosting happily. If you wish you can go for dedicated server. But everyone wants to make profit fast and that too without spending much. Reseller and shared hosting actually provides you that opportunity. Yes, in case of dedicated hosting you can manage the server, but initially you need to attract your clients first and when your business starts growing you can then shift to different web hosting plans too.
You can later shift on to VPS hosting too. Do not get confused with the name. VPS hosting stands for virtual private server hosting service. Virtual private server or VPN works in an interesting manner. There are several separate machines on the server and each of them has their own virtual separate server. That is why the concept has come up. They run on their private and dedicated machine independently, without depending on some other machine or server. Each of them has their own internet connection, and their customers can visit their websites separately without creating any trouble to the other private servers. This is indeed a huge step in web hosting services.
Direct admin control panel, cPanel hosting and many other web hosting service providers can guarantee you great service in VPS hosting. But before investing in to any of the available web hosting services you must survey the market and prices bit carefully. There are huge differences you can find in the rates from one web host service provider to another.
You can read various reviews available in different websites and blogs. You can get quite a fair idea about various types of hosting. You must opt for a web hosting provider who can provide you 24 hours support via mail and phone. Uptime and downtime is also very crucial. Try to experiment a bit and opt for reseller web hosting. Once you become the shining star then you can easily shift to VPS hosting or dedicated web hosting for your website.
You are new to this web hosting world and you have just made your first website. Now as you are searching for a web host to host the site, you came across two types of web host - shared and dedicated. And this confuses you further; what differentiates these two and which one you should choose?
Basically what separates these plans is that how the server is used. For a shared plan, as the name points out, you are actually sharing your server with many other websites that are using the same plan. This means you have to share the bandwidth and other web resources with the websites on the server. Dedicated plan on the other have gives the lease gets full ownership of the server.
There are more to these plans that the definition above. The details will be discussed below.
First and foremost let us go into shared plan. The main highlight of the plan is its price. As you are sharing the hosted resources as well as the running costs incurred with hundreds of other websites it brings down your monthly rental fee. This in turn makes it affordable. Because of high competition in this niche you can really get good bargains in terms of web space and bandwidth.
Besides, shared web host solutions have a ‘what you see what you get interface’ or WYSIWYG which can be really user friendly. Most of the web hosts provide Graphical User Interface (GUI) such as windows which allows you to upload and delete files easily. Besides that the GUI also gives easy access to webmaster tools such as site visitors statistics.
Last but not least shared web hosting plans are fast, wastage free and easy to maintained. You can focus more on building your website as shared web hosting plans are maintained by web professionals. As you will only use what your website needs you tend to have less wastage of web resources unlike dedicated web server host. Just in case you have reached your web plan limit, you can always purchase more.
Moving on to dedicated host plan, the main advantage of using dedicated host plan is that you get to control what is uploaded into your server entirely as you do not have to share the resources with hundreds of other websites. This means you can have all the web resources at your disposal. This plan is ideal for high traffic websites. As dedicated web hosts usually offer unlimited bandwidth, it is a better choice if your website attracts heavy traffics.
Dedicated servers would not have the risk of being blocked by search engines as shared servers do. This is because dedicated servers have their own unique Internet Protocol or IP addresses. Shared server on the other hand has to share it’s IP addresses among all the other websites in it. Therefore if one of the websites are carrying out illegal activities such spamming and so on the entire server will get blacklisted and so your website will be blocked or listed as ‘high risk’ site.
In summary, before deciding which plan to choose consider your web site’s basic need. Whether it will need all time high bandwidth, or will it consume a lot of web space. Do not forget that growth impact of your website over time. Do a rough forecast of how much of web resources such as memory, web space and bandwidth that your website is likely to use with time.
Do you own a small business or currently managing one? If you do, then you will require an affordable business web hosting plan specially catered to your needs. It can be tough finding the right web hosting service provider. You need to identify your personal requirements and support them with the right web hosting. And this is what this article is all about - specially written to equip you with the necessary knowledge and to sail you through the whole process smoothly!
Generally, most of the plans for a small business web hosting are affordable as they are reasonably priced. Therefore, it makes it easier to start an online business. You may question on the quality of services provided. Well, just because it is reasonable priced doesn’t mean its quality and package options are compromised. There are many types of packages that can contribute to the success of your company. For comparison purpose, you can search through the directory listing for small business web hosting service providers and check out the various options offered online. There is bound to be a cost-effective hosting provider that will suit to your requirements.
While selecting a good hosting company, you have to keep certain facts in mind. Here are the basic tips on how to get started. First of all, you need to plan and prepare the marketing strategy for your site. After you have identified your requirements, list them down clearly. Then proceed to monitor your progress after choosing your domain. Get to understand about search engines and the difference between them and directories. Equip yourself with the knowledge of meta tags and site maps. You can also check the procedure of using another domain name with your current website.
Next check on email options, virtual space and bandwidth. Don’t forget that more bandwidth means higher charges for your web hosting. However, if your site has heavy graphics, then you need to obtain a lot of bandwidth from your web hosting company. You also must to look into sales service seriously, as it is just as important as administrative accessibility. And lastly check out on the security features.
Apart from the information provided above, do check carefully on the companies first, especially when you have a low budget. There are various low budgeted packages, which do not give good service. This is the reason why it is important to deal with a reliable and reputable company. These types of companies will generally provide fantastic deals and offer extensive features to you, as they need to maintain their image and reputation.
Nowadays technology is yours for taking and therefore, getting web hosting for your business is a sure way to gain the winning edge in business. Do not hesitate longer. Get started now and entice visitors to your site.
The best web hosting solution is not the same for everyone. Some prefer to keep the money and go for a free service while others are ready to invest in a reasonable amount of money to use a shared hosting or go all the way with the use of a dedicated server. Depending on your specific needs, there are specific types of web hosting and certain types of individual or business that can work well with each other.
By looking at the different types of web hosting available, you will get a better idea of the best service that will suit the specific needs of your personal needs or business needs.
A free hosting service does not require any payment to be made. At one point, this free service can be good enough but for the majority of webmasters, this is not the smartest option. If running a serious online business website is what you have in mind, using a free hosting is not really a practical alternative. The simple reason lies in the fact that you have lesser total control over your website, since the terms and conditions of the free service tend to be on a quite restrictive side. You will not be able to have a control over the website design and even on the types of advertisements that you can place at your website.
A shared hosting is the ultimate choice for the majority of webmasters. It is now available at a good price and is considered the best alternative for many serious online businesses’ usage. As a user, you are allowed to have a full control over the site development. As compared to a dedicated server, it is available at a lower price and you need not have to worry about issues regarding site maintenance. Shared hosting also allows you the benefit of having more than one domain to be hosted by using a single account. The only problem that you will encounter with this service is the limitation in the size of bandwidth offered. This is only considered to be an issue if your website attracts extremely high traffic.
A dedicated server on the other hand is most suitable for a large website that has very large amount of traffic. If you or your company affords to spend the money to invest in a dedicated server, this would then be the best choice. The greatest deal with a dedicated server is that you will have the total control over the server. However, this benefit can actually pose as a problem if you have no experience at all with server handling that takes some learning time to master. If you do not have a dedicated server, a shared hosting is good enough as you can save some money and upgrade to a dedicated hosting as your money grows as well as your experience with web hosting.
In conclusion, the best web hosting solution for many webmasters is the shared hosting type. Get to know more about your goals and preferences before you make up your mind on which web hosting that you need. With the information supplied above, you will have a better understanding of the type of web hosting that will work best for you.