Posted: 16 Dec 2012 09:05 PM PST

Web Hosting Providers in San Diego

Whether you are a start-up, small business or large enterprise in the San Diego area, you can find San Diego hosting solutions that will enable you to obtain the bandwidth and storage you need as well as be PCI compliant.

What Does PCI Mean and Why is it Important to your Business

PCI, which is short for Payment Card Industry, is especially important if you operate a business of any size. Complying with data security standards (DSS) for payments enables you to operate on a level where customers can fully trust you with their payment details.

As a result, by relying on a hosting company that features compliance, the reputation of your business is enhanced. Compliance is designed to prevent breaches in security and the theft of payment information. Therefore, the customers you attract to your site become more confident about conducting business with you, which, in turn, also makes them repeat customers too.

Why Compliance is a Necessity

Besides its direct advantages, compliance also enables you to identify ways to enhance you IT infrastructure and comply with other regulations as well. Indeed, PCI compliance is a necessity today if you want to avoid the unfavorable consequences resulting from:

Legal actions or law suits
Fines issued by the government
Insurance claims
Fines from payment card issuers

Hosting Features

Therefore, regardless of you business' size, a hosting company should provide you with both high security and continual support. Start-ups, small businesses, and larger enterprises all should receive support that features:

The necessary bandwidth and storage, with the resources to add more storage and bandwidth if necessary
A dedicated IP address
SSL certificate authentication
PCI compliance

What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL certificate enforces security for a hosted site as it protects the information sent to the site. Any website that requires a log-in for its users or requests their financial data should be hosted by a provider that offers encryption of the information.

Colocation: An Affordable Solution for Smaller Companies

Colocation is also a good hosting solution for smaller to medium enterprises as you enjoy the same type of IT advantages as a large company but at a far more affordable price. However, colocation does cost more than standard web hosting. However, you also have more control as you actually own the server hardware.

Benefits of Colocation

Many SMEs are choosing colocation today as they have access to a larger amount of bandwidth and storage, enjoy more security if a power outage occurs, and are able to outsource the management of the server to the colocation company.

Standard Services: What a Hosting Company Should Provide

Server companies that provide hosting should be manned 24/7 and feature facilities that supply optimum redundancy and security. Surveillance monitoring, fire suppression, and climate control should all be available.

Types of Hosting

In San Diego, hosting for businesses is available in a number of forms, including:

Shared hosting plans
Business web hosting
VPS (Virtual Private Server)
Managed Dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting
Cloud hosting
Colocation

The Differences in Some of the Services

Colocation is closer in nature to dedicated hosting. However, the user owns the server rather than leases it. In dedicated hosting plans, the customer takes responsibility for the server maintenance and security although he is not offered this type of control in a managed hosting plan.

Cloud hosting, which is decentralized, reduces the chance for business disruptions due to local power losses or weather extremes. In addition, recipients of cloud hosting are only charged for the services they use versus a flat fee. However, because cloud hosting is decentralized, there can be more concerns regarding security.

Create a Website: The Easy Way

Posted: 16 Dec 2012 11:46 AM PST

Using a Website Service

There are a lot of reasons to need to make a website. You might want it for informational purposes. You may need it to post something academic in nature. Usually, people start business to either promote them, or the ad revenue is a business in and of itself.

Whatever your purposes are for building a website, there are different ways to go about it. There is no one set way to do it, but people tend to think it is harder than it really is.

How you set up your website will largely depend on what you want to do with it.

For Simple Purposes

Many simply want their website to help them create a base of information. A website is an excellent place to keep information about your business, special cause, or hobby.

For instance, if you are simply looking to create business cards, and then have a web address on the card, that would prevent you from having to dispense flyers or brochures. Also, if you have a particular hobby or academic subject that you need to constantly have a place to go in order to display your information, a simple website is a great way to accomplish this task. From there, you can post videos, text, sound bytes, and other media options that will prevent the need for you to carry it on your person or on your hard drive. This can be a place that anyone can go to in order to be informed. Because of this, you might not necessarily want to put a whole lot of effort into your webpage, as the subject matter should speak for itself.

This method is the easiest way to go, but it is not necessarily the cheapest. Keep in mind that there are other cheaper ways, but this will take the least amount of web knowledge and work. This method on how to create a website will run you roughly $30 USD per month if, depending on certain services and extras.

The First Step

Your first order of business will be to register your domain name. A domain is basically carving out your own space on the World Wide Web. This is the place that people will type into the search bar or URL bar in order to find you. For instance, it is the ".com" or ".org" that is what you will be setting up for this step.

In order to make a website, you will need to go to a service such as, GoDaddy.com or Register.com. From there, all you need to do is go to their domain registration part of the webpage. Once you are there, you can choose from several options on how you want to register you domain name.

Do keep in mind that in "the easy way" you will want to stick to the same service for your domain name registration as you would in your hosting and website creation. The same company providing all these services might not only give you a deal on a bundle, but you will also be able to take advantage of ease of use. In addition to that, you might be able to receive extra promos and coupon codes.

In order to register, you will have to provide various information about choosing your domain name, information about the entity under which you hope to register, and last, payment information.

Arguably, you domain name is the most important part about your website. If you have a domain name that is not connected with your subject matter, then it will be more difficult to find it if you want to make a website searchable. Also, if you have a good website name that is a ".com" in mind, and that is taken, you can also chose from ".org", ".biz", ".info", etc.

Overall, the domain registration will cost you roughly $10 USD per year, as this will always be the cheapest part of creating a website.

After Your Registration

Once you've registered your domain name, in this step on the "create a website" tutorial, you will want to then follow the steps on hosting and ultimately website creation.

This part is still very easy, as a service like GoDaddy.com will walk you through all the steps.

Hosting is simple, as it is basically using a part of a server that will be a space for you to work on your website. Now this has a tendency to run you about $10 per month, if you don't receive any extras. This part is simple, as it essentially just gives you a space where you can upload your info and codes.

It is important to note that they will be providing you with a PIN, and a Username and Password. You need to keep this information secure, as this is the most important information you can retain in creating a website.

Website Creation

If you are creating a website the easy way, you can utilize many services that will make it a snap, and you will be able to have the whole thing up and running within the course of an afternoon, if you have all your info readily available before hand.

All that is necessary in creating your own website this way is that you need to use their website wizard option. This will give you a program whereby they will provide a website builder that you can utilize with simple design tools. You don't have to know any codes, html, or other technical data, as it is basically just text entering, cut and paste, and drag and drop actions that are required for the building process in creating a website. For instance, GoDaddy.com's Website Tonight program is very simple to use and you can even easy drag drop in YouTube videos. This means that you don't even have to know html, but you can include the YouTube URL, and past it into their program. Simply place where you want the video to sit in on the page and there you go.

Using this service might cost you an additional $10 per month, but the ease of use may be well worth it. Not everyone needs an elaborate setup for creating a website, and this provides a simple option.

How to Make a Website for Free

Posted: 16 Dec 2012 11:27 AM PST

It has always been said that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Indeed, with economies crashing down, unemployment rates rising, and people running out of cash, freebies are just too good to be true these days. However, it is also true that free websites can be obtained and it is possible to create and maintain a site without having to spend anything on domain name registration and monthly hosting. One can sign up for free web hosting and free web pages can be updated any time with new information.

Free Website hosting is applicable to the following basic websites which can be completely free:

Personal Websites – web pages created by individuals showcasing personal information and often used for entertainment purposes.

Family Websites – usually created by families to keep members connected through sharing of family photos, keepsakes, and genealogy to preserve family history in the process.

Special Occasions or Announcement Websites – websites for special occasion announcements such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and the like.

Hobbyist & Special Interest Websites – websites created by people sharing the same hobbies and special interests.

Clubs, Organizations and Associations – websites dedicated for various organizations mentioned.

Word of caution against free websites and free web site hosting

Alas, there is, indeed, no such thing as a free lunch. When somebody offers you a free website, you will be required to sign up before you can start building yourown website. Once you sign up, you may find yourself committed to extra costs and hidden charges imposed by the provider. Here are some other problems you might belatedly encounter:

Intrusive pop-up windows and banner ads
The free website does not include a free domain name
The good features are a part of a premium package you have to pay for
The need to use the online point and click tools provided by the free service in creating your own site
Unreliable technical support
Difficulty in switching to other host service providers

Since free websites are not really free in the real sense of the word, it is best to register your own domain name to get your own web address. This way, your website will not be at the mercy of the company which provides your free website. When the provider decides to implement changes, your website will be safely intact.

Create Your Free Website

The first thing to do in creating a free website is to choose a free web host. In choosing a free web host, you need to consider the following:

The purpose of your website should be compatible with the capabilities of the free web host.
Does the free web host offer an easy builder system for beginners?

Most site builders of hosting companies work only on that company's server making it impossible for your site to be moved to another host without rebuilding it from scratch.

Will the free web host allow you to get email through your website's domain name? It's best to choose a host which provides unlimited autoresponders so you can stay in touch with your visitors or potential customers.
Does the free web host provide enough space for your website's growth?
Does the free web host provide enough speed for faster loading?
If you're planning a website that will generate a lot of traffic, free hosting is not advisable.

You should be able to choose a web host that would suit your needs and provide the technical support you need.

The next step is to build your website.

The simplest way to build your website is to use your web host's free website builder, that is, if they have one. If not, you will need some type of web building software available from outside sources.

In building your website, you need to keep in mind some reminders:

Keep your web site simple but eye pleasing. Avoid clutter and unpleasant fonts and color.
Avoid blaring music or sound on your site that might startle people away.
Avoid slow loading graphics on your page. People will not stick around to wait for the loading.
Show your visitors what your site is all about in a glance.
Avoid annoying pop-ups on your site which tend to annoy people.

The third step in creating your free website is to upload your website to your web host account. Some call this "publishing your website". If you are using your web host's website builder, your website files will automatically be on your web host's servers. You can do this just by clicking a button.

If you're using an independent software website builder, just log on to your web host account and click the upload button.

Now that you have created your own website for free, you may want to use it now to start a small business, or to start a blog. Whatever you decide to do with it, always remember to evaluate your web site periodically. Make the necessary improvements to update it.

Remember the purpose you had in mind when you created it. Make sure your web site has personality so as to attract visitors. Design is just as important as the content. Make it simple yet elegantly attractive. Always remember that a great website shares meaningful and useful content that gives information, entertainment, and satisfaction.