Top 5 Reliable Web Hosting Companies

Reliable Web Hosting Providers

In your quest to find the perfect and Reliable Web Hosting solution for your business, all hosting companies start to blend together. How can you sort out which company is best? Not just in terms of price. Yes, you are looking for cheap web hosting. But at the same time, you want to make sure it is a reliable web host. How do you know which company will provide the best of both worlds: reliable and affordable? Reliable Web Hosting

We've discussed how to search for the best web host before. One of the most important steps you can take is to read reviews and find customers you can contact directly to inquire about their experience. After all, who better to ask about the reliability of a web host than another company that relies on their hosting services?

Top 5 Reliable Web Hosting Companies

Web hosting professionals .org compiled this handy list of the best and Reliable Web Hosting companies of this year, selected based on customer reviews and overall reputation with other hosting review websites. Use this list as a starting point, ultimately leading you to not only the most affordable web host but reliable too.

1. iPage

ipage

Besides offering customers a low price for hosting services, iPage also offers many features that other hosting providers don't at this price point. Many hosting review sites have given iPage the ranking of top hosting provider thanks to its ease of use and an amazing number of satisfied customers.

iPage offers one of the easiest to use control panels, full of tools customers can use to modify and maintain their page. Offering unlimited bandwidth, disk space, and email addresses, free domain registration, security tools, online store, and credits for marketing and search engine services starting at just $1.99 per month, it's safe to say this is a great hosting company for the startup or individual mindful of budget.

2. InMotion Most Reliable Web Hosting

inmotion

InMotion web hosting offers its customers excellent performance. It has been awarded the title of top and Reliable Web Hosting company, and with one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings around the Internet, it's easy to see why.

It's a bit pricier than other hosting companies, but its high level of performance makes it worth every penny. This is a great option for business websites, where performance and reliability are crucial. If your site is expected to receive heavy traffic, this web host can handle it! Get yourself a business hosting account starting at $4.19 per month.

3. Web Hosting Hub

hub

Web Hosting Hub is yet another in this list of web hosting companies that has received praise on numerous review sites. This host brings the small business a high-quality web hosting experience. Individuals can find value in their services as well as they are affordable and reliable at the same time.

Users will love how easy it is to use, and it is perfect for those just starting out in the world of building websites. If you are looking for a host that is both reliable and affordable, this is a great choice. Sign up for as little as $3.99 per month.

4. Bluehost Reliable Web Hosting

bluehost

Bluehost brings its customers all over the world quality services at a low price. This company is perfect for the small- to mid-sized business or individual looking to pay a little for a lot!

At just $4.95 per month, you get unlimited domain hosting, bandwidth, storage, and email accounts along with the free domain. Bluehost will have you up and running quickly and is an excellent choice when you want to host multiple websites on the same account. $4.95 per month visit

5. GreenGeeks Reliable Web Hosting

greengeeks

GreenGeeks is new on the hosting block, based in Los Angeles and offering customers reliable service that is eco-friendly! They rely on wind power, a carbon-neutral company. Since their inception, they host over 100,000 sites in 150 different countries.

This is a great option for beginners, as it is extremely easy to use. The control panel is user-friendly, allowing customers to feel more in control when building their blog, website, email accounts, and shopping cart. For $4.95 a month, they may not be the cheapest, but they are definitely reliable!

Do you rely on any of these top choices for your own website?

Attention AWS: Here Comes Azure

Attention AWS: Here Comes Azure

Look out, Amazon Web Services, there's a new kid in town. Microsoft just released its own cloud-computing service, and plans to match the lowest prices of Amazon Web Services in an attempt to compete for the title of the best cheap web hosting services.

Hello, Windows Azure

Attention AWSWindows Azure Infrastructure Services is its name, a cloud hosting option for enterprise customers looking to bring their applications and data to the cloud. Bill Hilf, the general manager of product marketing for Microsoft's Windows Azure Infrastructure Services indicated in a blog post “a commitment to match Amazon Web Services prices for commodity services such as compute, storage and bandwidth. This starts with reducing our (general availability) prices on Virtual Machines and Cloud Services by 21-33%.”

Microsoft announced on April 16 that both Linux and Windows Server VMs on Azure are ready to give users the ability to run both Windows Server and Linux apps in the cloud without the need to totally rewrite them.

With the announcement came the news of additional Azure VM offerings just for those customers who are looking for a system to handle their heavy workloads. They also revealed that Microsoft-validated instances would be added to its VM packages, so that customers may run applications such as SharePoint Server, BizTalk Server, SQL Server, and Dynamics NAV among others.

Microsoft also made available its Azure Virtual Network technology, otherwise known as Brooklyn. This is created to offer secure site-to-site IPsec VPN connectivity between Windows Azure and the enterprise in order to extend the networks of business users. This means users have better connectivity for their hybrid cloud and on-premises system.

Attention AWS: Here Comes Azure, Pricing

When discussing the release, Microsoft said they plan to match Amazon Web Service pricing for all of their “commodity” services, which include bandwidth, storage, and compute. Customers must commit to using Azure for either six or twelve months to be able to see any savings.

This all comes a week after Amazon announced price cuts on its own AWS. It seems the two companies are duking it out for the title of the best cheap web hosting services. With prices dipping lower and lower as time passes, it's certain that small businesses, startups, and developers are keeping a close eye on both parties to find the best value.

Attention AWS: Here Comes Azure, What About Google?

In a ZDNet interview, Azure general manager Bill Hilf states that they aren't really concerned with what Google does with the price of their cloud service because they don't consider them competition in the battle to offer the best cheap web hosting services. Microsoft doesn't see Google as a “full-service cloud player” even though it was announced they intend to offer both IaaS and PaaS.

The new Azure pricing will begin starting June 1. Hilf was asked how Azure Connect, the cloud-networking technologies that Microsoft has been working on, and Hilf said that their plans have changed a bit. Eventually, Azure Connect, a.k.a. Sydney, will be integrated into the Azure Virtual Network. When that is, only time will tell.

What do you think about Microsoft jumping into the cloud computing ring? Would you consider them as the best cheap web hosting service? Do you think enterprises will be interested in what they have to offer?

Microsoft has launched a new cloud service named Azure App Service that enables developers to build web and mobile apps for any platform and device. This service is an integrated solution by Microsoft to help developers streamline development and enable integration with SaaS systems. This service brings together the capabilities from Azure websites, Azure BizTalk Services and Azure Mobile Services into an integrated offering during addition of new features. App Service gives facility of the development of web apps, logic apps, API apps and mobile apps.

With the Azure App Service anybody can:

  1. Install web, mobile and API apps in seconds using language choice includes Java, .NET, NodeJS, Python and PHP.
  2. To build one app backend that works across native Android, iOS and Windows clients.
  3. To automate business processes using a new visual design experience.
  4. To connect enterprise systems such as SAP, SQL and Oracle and cloud services like Office 365, Salesforce.com, Dynamic CRM, DropBox and more.
  5. To build and consume cloud APIs from an ecosystem of connectors and templates.
  6. To perform sophisticated DevOps functions with continuous integration using Visual Studio Online and GitHub.

Web Apps

Web Apps is offering a set of developer centric capabilities such as support for multiple languages and frameworks, cloud debugging and continuous integration. It provides specific capabilities like hybrid connectivity and Active Directory integration while making sure compliance, auditing and data retention requirements. It can auto-scale to meet any requirements any need and is offering high availability through installation in several geo-locations with Azure Traffic Manager.

Mobile Apps

The Azure App Service offers the ability to create mobile apps through a mobile application development platform with many set of capabilities. On the basis of Azure Mobile Services, Mobile Apps provide developers with a set of clients SDKs include Windows, iOS and Android as well as multi-platform environments such as Cordova and Xamarin.

Logic Apps

Logic Apps provide the ability to automate business process execution through a visual designer. Logic Apps is accompanied by a marketplace of API App connectors and it can integrate data and services from SaaS apps like SalesForce, DropBox and Office 365 to Azure .

PaaS Services and others such as Twitter and Twilio. The Apps connectivity is built on the foundation of API apps means anyone can bring his own services and functionality. For enterprise-grade integration the connector library has capabilities from Microsoft Azure’s integration platform-BizTalk Services.

API Apps

API Apps provides the ability to host, discover and manage API’s and SaaS connectors in the cloud. With the help of API Apps, developers can select from a library of existing on-premises and cloud APIs. It offers versioning capabilities for APIs to manage new versions and automatically update the applications that use them in real time without any downtime. APIs can be consumed in a variety of programming languages with tool that generates SDKs in all the languages which are supported by Azure App Service.

Azure App Service Enterprise Benefits

Azure App Service is backed by common management, development and billing model that is easy to understand, allow users to develop, install and scale web and mobile apps. As a platform the service provides:

  1. Fully managed infrastructure.
  2. Secure cloud platform that is SOC2, ISO and PIC complaint.
  3. Built-in staging, roll-back, backup and testing-in production capabilities.
  4. It is built in auto scale, load balancing and performance monitoring.
  5. It access to on premises data with VPN and Hybrid Connections.

Celebrity Website Or Fan Site: Where To Begin

Celebrity Website

The MTV Movie Awards were held last night. Were you watching? Of course you were. You live, sleep, eat, and breathe movie stars and celebrities. In fact, you know so much about your favorite celebrity, you could probably be their stunt double in their day-to-day life.

mtv logo Celebrity WebsiteHave you ever thought about creating a fan site, or are you a celebrity looking to create an online presence? In both cases, start with managed hosting services from a top hosting company.

Celebrity Website: The Whole Shebang For The Busy Celebrity

If you are just too busy being stalked by the paparazzi to work on designing your celebrity website, you can rely on a graphic designer who offers complete services, even website hosting.

For example, CL Web Studios specializes in celebrity website, offering web design, maintenance, marketing, hosting services, domain security, SEO, photo editing, and more. They dub themselves the “all-in-one website provider,” offering anything you might need to get your website up and running, and keeping it fresh for your fans.

If you go this route, you'll want to assure you find the best option to suit your needs, likely a company who has dealt with celebrities and their specific needs in the past. Read through reviews, or visit the sites of other celebrities to see who's hosting their sites.

Additionally, if you are looking for the complete package, you'll want to find a company that integrates Flash movies into your site, as well as a message board and/or blog. Fans want a place to discuss the latest gossip!

Celebrity Website: Things to Consider Before You Create One

Ok, so you probably aren't a celebrity reading this. It's more likely you are a die-hard fan of so-and-so, and you want a place to show your love of everything so-and-so. There is a lot to think about prior to creating your site, and it goes far beyond who you'll choose to provide your managed hosting services.

  • Watch what you're posting as content. When it comes to the law, you are able to infringe on the copyrights and trademark of a celebrity to a point if you are a fan site. You should try to stay away from any logos, product names, slogans, etc. This could be misconstrued as being an “official” celebrity site, and could land you in hot water.
  • Don't push the limits when it comes to copyrighted material. For example, you love The Hunger Games, so you start a site devoted to the series. You could post your favorite excerpts here and there, but you should not post the entire book word-for-word. This would be a blatant copyright infringement, and a great way to find yourself in a courtroom.
  • Do your homework. Research your subject, and see if there is information as to their feelings on fan sites. Star Trek, for example, links to fan sites in their community, and fans of World of Warcraft can take advantage of the “official fan site kit” which includes legal terms to lay out ground rules for the kind of content you can and can't use under their name. Want to create a DeNiro fan site? Email his publicist, Google his name to see what others are getting away with, etc. All of this research is to keep you out of legal trouble, so be diligent.

Celebrity Website: Ready To Create Your Fan Site?

So you did your homework, and you're ready to begin. Whether you choose a full service web design company to do everything for you, a site like Fan Sites Network (fan-sites .org) to host your site (they take applications, and only accept the best design), or a top hosting company like Hostgator, as long as you play by the rules.

Have you ever considered creating a fan site? Do you think the rules are too lenient for fans posting content about celebrities? Let us know by commenting!

Reseller Web Hosting: More Than Meets The Eye

Reseller Web Hosting

Reseller Web HostingLooking to start a web hosting company? You'll definitely want to do your homework and plan for the unique challenges this type of business faces.

But isn't it as simple as purchasing a reseller plan and going for it? One might think that, seeing how many reseller plans are being offered all over the internet, but there's a lot more to consider before diving into the world of web hosting.

Here's a list of things to consider before making your decision:

1. Reseller Web Hosting: It's all in the name.

As with any type of product or business, you'll want a name and domain URL that is both easy to remember and unforgettable, as well as search engine optimized. There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, so be sure you choose something that makes you stand out in the sea of options.

2. Reseller Web Hosting: Choosing a hosting platform

With a few different types of accounts (reseller accounts, VPS accounts, and dedicated plans), which is right for you? Just starting out, you'll most likely want to go with the reseller account option as it is the most cost effective. If you already have a long list of clients, this might not be the case. Research each option extensively before choosing the reseller option to assure it is the best direction for your future web hosting company.

3. Reseller Web Hosting: Find a domain reseller provider.

It is highly probable that once clients come to your web hosting company to select a hosting plan, they'll also want the ability to register a domain through your site. Most companies offer complete domain name services, allowing you to not only use the domain name you've chosen for your web hosting company at a discounted price, but also resell domain names to your customers along with web hosting plans. They take care of all of the registration legwork. Be sure the provider you choose is ICANN accredited.

4. Reseller Web Hosting: Choose client management and billing services.

To manage accounts effectively, you'll want to ensure you choose some form of automated system to handle billing, order processing, register domains and transfers, and other aspects of client management for you. Just as with domain reseller provider services, you'll find numerous companies out there to help. Research them carefully to assure you're paying for exactly what you need.

5. Reseller Web Hosting: Don't have server experience? Get some.

It is safe to say that there will be problems that arise with your server. If a simple problem crops up, will you know how to correct it? It's best to have some background in server administration. If you have no experience, you might want to brush up on your knowledge of this subject before taking on this incredible task of starting up a web hosting company.

Reseller Web Hosting: The Best Place To Start

It should be evident that this decision should not be made blindly. There is a lot to consider, and the best place to start is the bookstore or library. Numerous books have been written addressing the issues startup web hosting companies face, as well as challenges that arise for the seasoned web hosting companies. Some are even offered free of charge on the internet. It is advised you get your hands on anything you are able to and learn all you can before acting.

In this way, you've prepared yourself for any obstacle to ensure the success of your business. You should, however, read reviews on books prior to purchasing them in today's age of self-published “how-to” e-books.

And as with any business, the only ones that survive and thrive are those with passionate, dedicated leaders. There is quite a bit of work involved, and unless you're all in, you probably aren't going to make it very far.

Best Reseller Web hosting Providers

Most Popular Windows Web Hosting Platform

Windows Web Hosting

Linux Versus Windows Platform Windows Web HostingAre you running a Windows platform? Windows  is one of the most popular platforms (second to Linux). The difference between the two is the software. Let's take a look at Windows web hosting, and go over the pros and cons.

Windows Web Hosting: What Is It?

Web hosting is essentially the uploading of your content to a server. The Windows web hosting environment runs on the same server as your content is stored, taking care of all required actions involved in your website running smoothly. Not only does this environment process requests from site visitors, it also calls  up additional programs used to keep the site functional.

Pros

  • Windows web hosting is very reliable when it comes to hosting solutions, and it is just as versatile as Linux. It allows you to host multiple websites from a single account, create subdomains, run websites that are database-friendly, and develop server-side utilities on your website.
  • Probably the biggest benefit of Windows web hosting is that it is highly compatible with Windows operating systems, which means you are able to work with .NET framework and ASP. This adds up to an engaging website that more people enjoy visiting and find useful. An added advantage: your site performs faster, and is less complicated to develop.
  • If you use Windows web hosting, you can rely on the server to run your small business online. You are also able to manage various aspects of your business through the server as well.
  • Unlike other hosting options, you don't need to learn a new programming language. It is just simpler and easier to understand, which makes it great for small business owners.
  • Windows web hosting gives you the power to run sites with included Access or SQL databases. While it's true that other operating systems will work with these programs, you don't need to know as much in terms of programming languages to get the job done. Just rely on the Windows developer tools to integrate an Access database into your website. This gives visitors to your site easy access to the data contained in the database, which might be products you have in your storefront, different types of services you offer, or general information pertaining to your business or industry.

Cons

  • Certain content management systems and programs are not Windows platform-friendly, and are Unix- or Linux-exclusive. It isn't a big list, though, so you'll just have to assure that you aren't running anything on CGI or Perl.
  • Sometimes, it isn't as stable as it should be. This leads to unwanted downtime, slower speeds, and the much despised rebooting.
  • It is not free-licensed software, so the cost can seem a bit higher than other web hosting solutions. However, keep in mind that it is leagues easier to build and maintain, which could mean lower costs.
  • Do some research on options, and see if you'll actually realize cost savings in the long run. Rather than hiring a team of techs, maybe you can rely on those already in-house to keep things under control.

For most companies, the pros outweigh the cons. The number of Windows-based websites is on the rise, and numerous web hosting sites have added Windows OS servers or converted servers on the network to Windows to respond to this shift. As with any decision you make for your business, do some research before you decide if this hosting option is right for you.

Best Windows Webhosting Providers