There are so many different options for web hosting, so how do you know where to begin? Just one simple search performed on a single search engine returns an overwhelming number of results for web hosting, cloud hosting and all kinds of other options. How do you know which option will be right for you? Here are some factors to consider when thinking about web hosting:

• Price. Whilst low-cost options might seem like a good idea, check what the costs you’re paying will cover and whether they will go up at any point. You don’t want to be caught out further down the line.
• Services included. Is there a support service? If so, is it the host themselves or do they outsource support? It’s worth knowing – if your website goes down, you need to know whether you’ll be able to speak to someone directly who can help. This is an especially important consideration if you rely on your site to make you money and you’ll struggle without it.
• Hardware. Whilst you may not be an expert yourself, if you find out the kind of hardware the hosting company uses, you can do some research and work out if this will be the best option.
• Reviews. Read up on the company and read recent customer reviews. These will give you a good idea about the levels of service you can expect.
• Bandwidth. You’ll need to think about how much traffic you’re expecting on your site and whether or not the server will be able to support this.

If you’re considering starting up a blog, planning in advance is essential. One of the joys of blogging is that it can take any direction which you want it to – perhaps even directions which you hadn’t anticipated. This can be governed by your audience or customers and ideas from other people as well as your own imagination and ideas. However, it’ll be quite a while before you have enough content for your blog to be well established. Here are 3 important tips for start-up bloggers:

• Decide which site you’re going to use. There are a number of popular options around which won’t cost very much at all. Blogs can be available free but you won’t be able to choose your own domain name so it’s probably worth paying for your own.
• Make a decision about the overall tone of your blog. What kind of topics will it cover? What kind of language will reflect these topics well? Once you’ve chosen your tone, stick to it.
• Have a list of topics in mind. You’ll come up with plenty more as you get into it but it’s important to have a good starting point so that you don’t get stuck after a few posts.

One of the most important tasks an IT administrator has, is making sure regular maintenance is carried out on the computers under his or her management.

Over time computers accumulate things such as spyware, malware, cookies, temporary internet files and disk fragmentation. These are a handful of items that will need to be cleaned up and managed by the admin and there can be a lot to keep on top of.

A widely used method of making sure maintenance is carried out is to make a weekly or monthly maintenance schedule. The maintenance schedule will include all of the maintenance tasks required and for them to be done in a regular pattern.

The regularity will help the admin to get into the habit of carrying out the maintenance. It will also allow the PC users to work around the scheduled maintenance, as it’s common maintenance routines require full, uninterrupted use of the computer.

It may seem like a strange concept, to ignore the fact that you have an end user. But ignoring the fact this is eventually going to be used by a human can allow you to see the development of the website in a new light.

Ignoring the end user works as a thought experiment. Without an end user to worry about you and your development team can ask questions such as:

• Do we like how this looks, in our opinion? To our personal standards?
• Does this fit with other websites we’ve designed and if not, how can we make it fit in with their styles?
• What else can we put into the website that we like?
• What could other potential end users make of the website and how might they receive it?

Of course, ignoring the end user as a default business plan is not going to allow you to do the job you are being paid for. But nevertheless it can yield some useful creative ideas.

A web design project can be a long and strenuous process. From the planning stage to execution, a project can quickly become an immense undertaking. Then there is the fact that you are dealing with an end user in mind. Your client.

First and foremost, the client is a human being. This is an obvious statement but it can’t be stressed enough. Its all to easy to forget that the client you are working for has emotions and ideas of their own. These may seem like trivial things, but taking them into account can make a huge difference in the way you approach web design projects.

Considering the client as variable human being from the get-go will relieve some of the inevitable headaches that are sure to occur when creating their website. After all they want the project to go well in the same way as you do.

SSD’s or Solid State Drives are becoming increasingly common in web design. A new technology and the current fore runner in storage devices. The SSD is a replacement to the traditional hard drive and is looking to replace it entirely, eventually.

Its major advantage over a standard hard drive is its speed. The ability to load a computer from off to being work-ready in several seconds gives SSD’s a unique selling point. One that is functional and pretty cool in comparison to older technology.

The speed of use will allow someone to save a great deal of time when using a computer, in every area. The near instant access of data will shed hours over the course of a month of computer work. Increased efficiency leading to increased work output a great thing indeed.

Design programs like Photoshop will also function much more effectively. Allowing a user to create designs more efficiently and easily.

Internet memes have become a sort of indie music of the internet. Like indie music, internet memes are usually misplaced and hard to look at, but some are legendary and amazing, securing a place in our memories and culture.

It’s because of the all or nothing nature of memes that makes them so hard to use in blogs. It is possible, but to take a meme out of its context is to take a fish out of water. It just doesn’t work.

But if you are going to do it the best way is to use light references. Those that get the reference will appreciate it and those that don’t won’t even realise it. Going too heavy on light references can be bad though. It’s best to only do it if you really feel it adds to the content you already have. Definitely don’t write blog content about memes, you are asking for trouble.

There are many valuable traits that a good domain name has. Ease to write, ease to remember, catchiness. But an important quality is the theme of the domain name. It’s in maintaining the consistency between the theme of the business and the theme of the domain name, that it can work in your favour to bring in the right customers.

Your entire website can be based around a domain name. It goes without saying that ‘Books.com’ could potentially be a website about books, but it’s in the simplicity of ‘Books’-‘.com’ that you could further structure the website. The entire website could have a minimalist theme, or an air of ease and simplicity around it, all connecting to the initial domain name.

Considering the domain name for an existing business can also work in maintaining a theme. Your business may be a well founded welding company, called Central-West Fabrication as an example. A straight forward and functional domain name like CWFabrication.com could work to capture clients that need a job done with no hassle.

Outsourcing backups is not something that usually comes to mind when managing a website. Backups are commonly carried out, in-house, by the website developer.

However outsourcing your backups can be a great way to give you peace of mind, another buffer against un-predictable events, and a level of professionalism towards an important part of webhosting data management.

Outsourcing the backup procedure, in simple terms, is the process of allowing a 3rd party to manage the backed up data of your website or any IT based program. They will not edit or update the data in anyway. A backup company’s job is to simply hold onto the data that is given to them.

With data backed up regularly and in a separate location to your IT base of operations a host of advantages are opened up. For one, the data is safe from any adverse natural disasters or theft of the IT hardware, as it is in a different location.

If you’re attempting to create a successful website, then hosting is usually the second item on the agenda – after buying a domain name. You may see prices vary considerably when you look at different hosting packages, but you should aim to understand what’s included before you decide on a deal.

You may not be expecting a lot of traffic to start off with, and if your website grows quite quickly you can always add more bandwidth with a different package or an upgrade – so check this feature out when you start search for a company.You should always check out the reviews of a hosting company first too, and test different live sites (using that specific hosting provider) to see the typical speeds for small and large websites.

It’s usually wise to choose a provider close to home, no matter how cheap deals are in other countries, and we’d always recommend that you choose a provider with customer support, and possibly a live chat service.