CMS makes the process of updating and uploading your content much simpler and easier, plus it gives you the added bonus of being able to easily create a dynamic, automated website.

Choosing the right content management system to use is probably one of the best things you can do for your website, but you have to know what factors you need to take into account before making your final decision.

The important questions

It probably sounds like a wise move to integrate a CMS into your Web management activities, but don’t make your decision based on that detail alone. You would need to figure out various things first. Ask yourself

Do I really need a CMS?

What kind of website will I be putting up/do I already have? Is it a blog, an online shop, a news website, or an image gallery?

What is the website updating and maintenance process like at the moment and how could it become more efficient?

Will further improvements and upcoming features on the site, such as interactivity tools, message boards, or even Flash movies, work well with a CMS?

What other elements of my website should my CMS be capable of handling?

The important thing is to know how your website can benefit from a CMS and how the CMS can streamline Web management for your group. Once you’ve established what kinds of capabilities you’re looking for, then you can start actively choosing your CMS.

Commercial vs. open source vs. custom-made

One of the first issues Web developers have to face is what kind of CMS they should select, and the first question is whether to go with a commercially-produced CMS, a free open-source CMS available for downloading online, or to have in-house programmers create a CMS from scratch. Each one has its own unique set of features and advantages, but also comes with its own problematic issues.

Commercial content management systems tend to make developers shrink back because of their thousand-dollar price tags, which is why only the biggest names in business tend to opt for a commercial CMS. The New York Times, JP Morgan Chase, ScotiaBank, and Sun Microsystems are just a few of the companies whose websites are working with a commercial CMS. The best part about a commercial CMS is that you can get regular updates, new plug-ins, and have regular tech support working for you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t lend itself easily to any modifications you might want to have done on the system.

Open-source CMS tend to be a heavy favorite with individual website developers because they’re easy to download, install, and run. There are open-source CMS out there that fulfill a particular function, such as those which target blog sites or online stores.

The main challenge of using open-source CMS is the fact that they don’t always tend to be very stable systems. Programmers are usually developing them on the side, and this doesn’t guarantee that the system will be regularly updated or repaired because it’s possible that software development can be halted or resumed depending on the creator’s whims.

Many companies also choose to have their own CMS developed in-house, or they may hire a development company to build it. This is favorable because it allows for flexibility and can integrate the very specific needs of a website. You will also be able to freely access the source code, make needed changes, and integrate additions to the CMS. However, it may prove to be much more time-consuming than simply buying or installing one, plus you might also need a dedicated team to fully develop and test its functionalities and conduct the site migration.

Other CMS factors

It doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve figured out for what purpose the CMS will be used, what kind of features you need, and what kind you want for your website, you would then have to determine other factors. These factors may include how user-friendly it would be, which people in your team will be using it, its simplicity of use for the non-technical members of your team, its capability of handling your website’s load, and its capacity to provide ample support and documentation, among other considerations.

CMS hunting grounds

Now that you’ve figured out what kind of CMS you have in mind, it’s time for you to get out there and start looking for the perfect one for your website. There are many sites offering CMS advice, comparisons, tips, and news about upcoming products as well as updates to systems currently out in the market.

Sites like Builder.com and CMSWatch.com provide more than adequate information on the subject which The CMS Matrix (www.cmsmatrix.org) allows you to do a search for the right CMS for your needs, and you will even get to see an exhaustive list of presently active CMS on the website.

You might also want to go straight to the CMS developers themselves to learn about how their system works and check out their demo pages, too. You can also look through the sites of Web design and development companies, since a lot of them also build content management systems bearing their brand and usually offer extensive how-to guides and support.

Making the right CMS choice in itself can be a long process, but it is undoubtedly worth it to take the time to understand everything a CMS can do for your website.

If you are a business owner then you need to have a website. The first thing for you to do is learn enough about how the internet works, and how having a website will benefit your business. There are more than enough customers out there to benefit from.

Remember that you have to be careful when choosing the designer that’s going to portrait your business image online. Once your web site is up and running you need to be able to react to market changes and sales opportunities and you need a professional that will be there when you need it.

1. Is the company offering telephone support or 24/7 email support?

It is very important to have 24/7 Email support and one should always get reply within 1-2 hours. Not only is that telephone support also a must.

2. What is the history of the company? Since how long is the company been in existence?

One must very carefully read the company’s profile from their web page. It is important to check for the existence of the company in business. One should also check for the number of users of the company .The way to obtain all this information is by having a look on the host’s website as large number of host providers posts their customer testimonials on their site to reinforce the message.

3. What is the type of software that the company is offering?

The most important tool for a user is control panel which includes statistic, web mail, adding email account, file manager, Database management etc.

Free Scripts Provided – There are several webhosting provides offering free scripts to users. User can install these scripts through control panel. Some examples of Free Scripts are- Oscommerce, Phpnuke, Phpbb, Moodle, Phpwebsite, Xoops, etc.

4. Fees.

One should also check the provider’s service plan carefully before signing up. This service plan is usually made available by all the providers and by comparing them one can find the suitable provider suiting his/her needs. It is necessary to read the provider’s “terms and conditions” and refund conditions as well.

5. Marketing Service

There are several web hosting providers providing search engine submission to their customers. Not only that they use to provide paid per click service to their customer.

The following are the lists of 11 most essential questions before choosing a web host-

Q1. On which platform is the web hosting built i.e. on windows or UNIX or Linux etc.

Q2. What about the reliability of the service of the web host?

Q3. What is the kind of performance one is expecting?

Q4. How is the quality of email and phone support?

Q5. How expensive is it?

Q6. How much is the bandwidth available?

Q7. What is a type of control panel available?

Q8. What about a POP3 account?

Q9. What about protection i.e. anti spam and viruses features?

Q10. What about running one’s own online store?

Q11. What kind of Online Marketing Support is made available?

Answer is no, not at all as the maximum saving would be in some dollars only. If one is running a business site, saving $5, $10 or even $15 per month is not considered a big saving. There is not a single company whose survival is dependant upon 15 dollars but if the wrong web host is chosen by mistake then surely it can destroy the business.

Given below are 3 main reasons to ignore price issue while selecting web host: -

1. Usability. Confession time: Besides other issues usability holds an important place while selecting a new web host. Especially for a beginner it is important to have at least good control panel. There are example where one in the beginning opted for cheap web hosting and there after faced the problem of operating the control panel and often found him/her self traveling in circles trying to enter it.

Thus if one consider this factor of usability and just know little bit of CGI can easily manage his/her emails and can edit html files right on the server. What more is required for a beginner who was earlier not even able to find files on the previous host’s server?

2. Service. Second factor to consider is service. There are cases where in the beginning users were quite happy with their cheap web host as were even getting all the responses via email on time. Problem occurred when some guy with a chip on his shoulder filed a phony Spam complaint. Now the response was suddenly missing from the host when complaint was made. Infact no one was interested in speaking over phone. The remedy came when the user’s ISP responded to the same phony complaint immediately, sharing with user a copy and giving a chance to deal with it. Thus it is again recommendable to pay more but one must look for this feature.

3. Reliability. One must also look for the good uptime and should also check for reliability. There are many problems that occur when one ignores this factor like a form not functioning thereby resulting in lost sales. More worse is that Google comes crawling just when site is down and search engines don’t like sending people to unreliable sites.

Thus it can be concluded easily that paying little more is better than paying a lot more in lost sales and increased stress. One should keep in mind that his/her whole business is dependant upon website and so one must consider all the factors not just price while selecting a new web host.

There are web-hosting companies on the web, which are running successfully for at least 2 years and are usually handled by experience and IT savvy network engineers. The biggest advantage of such companies is their perfect support and services to their customers. However there is yet another world of hosting which is handled by amateurs who are into this business just to extract money. For them providing support is just a joke as even they don’t know the fundamentals of the business. Thus one must be very sure to check the credentials of the web-hosting firm by either reading their profile or by looking on the technology they use for their server farm. One must make sure to select a company, which is in existence for at least 2 years with successful track record with 95% up time for all its servers. If a company is providing 95% its quite enough as 100% is just impossible.

2. Availability of storage space.

There are web-hosting companies offering space ranging from as small as 20 MB to as big as 2GB or even more. But this largely depends upon the user. One must make sure that his/her budget should not get fail by asking for unnecessary space than required. This trend is quite common among beginners, as they are unable to estimate the amount of space their web site requires and so asks for bigger space in order to play safe which is mere wastage of money. Thus one should be very careful while selecting the storage space for his/her website. It should not be less than required but at the same time should not be very much wasting money.

3. Availability of bandwidth space for transferring data each month

Its always required to transfer data to website and update its content often in order to stay afresh and also to keep ratings high up on the search engines right. There are several web hosting companies offering a certain bandwidth or “transfer window” to enable their clients to transport their data from local computer hard disk drive to the web server. But this transfer window has a limitation of limited space in order to prevent the bandwidth overloading from user’s repeatedly transferring large amounts of data to and fro. Therefore a bandwidth space is allocated to enable one to manage the amount data he/she wants to transfer each month into the storage space allocated. One should note that the data that one transfers is constantly kept track of until one has reach the transfer limit for that month. Now on this ground most web hosting companies tend to be mean so as to provide so called “high speed data transfer” to their clients and restrict bandwidth off at 1GB.

4. Support-Online as well as offline.

Support is an area often overlooked by the beginners while signing up for a web-hosting contract. However it should be noted that support is the most important feature one should check while selecting a web hosting company. It is very important for 24 hour successful running of a website that there is always any technical fellow from the hosting company to answer the calls and ensure the website staying up and running even at odd time. Thus it is important to have 24 hours support everyday of the week and also relevant safety measures implemented in the data center at which one’s server resides. Not only this it is also important to find out more about the location of the data center about the power supply facilities, its location and also the safety measures that have been put in place such as fire protection and relevant data backup facilities to a remote location as a safety should a physical destruction occur that literally wipes out the whole data center.

There are two types of servers, one is Virtual Web Hosting and the other is Virtual Private Servers.

Since several years Virtual Web Hosting has been the only way to go when selecting a web server. One of the reasons for the Virtual Web Hosting’s popularity is that they supports the necessary files and allows one to have more freedom than any other conventional web hosts. But now one can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. However, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, as they both are entirely different from each other.

In this article the difference between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server is explained. Moreover the advantages and disadvantages of both the servers are also explained in order to give understanding as to which server should be chosen for business.

Virtual Hosting

Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared web hosting, where one can share the physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting was very popular in the past due to features like fast deployment, strong resources, and attractive price. Another advantage offered by Virtual Hosting is that it provides a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server and it can be easily handled without having to have advanced technical skills, thus making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a fresher webmaster.

The greatest disadvantage of Virtual Hosting is that the server is shared with other users, which are configured and even controlled by an administrator, not user. Thus there is no control in the hands of the users and in case of adjusting or setting configuration one have to contact the administrator every time. Even if one manages to get a hold of the administrator, then also they may not fulfill the request. It’s all up to them as they are the administrator. Thus these are the limitations faced by users when control is not in their hands.

Virtual Private Servers

Virtual Private Servers are very popular now days for giving the good and satisfactory results. A Virtual Private Server is a single server that is partitioned at the root into multiple dedicated servers. This enables one to share the cost of the network connectivity, hardware, and system maintenance with other hosting customers, with maintaining the flexibility and freedom.

The most important advantage of Virtual Private Servers is that they allow complete control to users and they have security advantages of a dedicated server at very low cost. Thus one can have access to the virtual root, Telnet, web configuration files, and full CGI-BIN access. Not only that, they also provide access to one’s password and send mail configuration files to their users. Thus after considering above advantages it can be concluded that a Virtual Private Server is an excellent solution for small to medium size businesses having complex requirements.

However, there is one disadvantage with Virtual Private Servers, i.e. one need to have some program knowledge in order to control and configure the settings. But this advantage is also evaded by most businesses that offer Virtual Private Servers as they provide detailed manuals making them easier to configure and control. Thus no need to learn the programs as well.

Now one can decide which server is right for him/her. However it all depends on user’s requirement as well as the size of your network.

If one plans on having just one web site and have absolutely no programming knowledge, for him/her Virtual Hosting serves as a best as its quite economical as well. A Virtual Host costs around $20 to $50 per month for an account, as against a $100 or more charged by a Virtual Private Server.

On the other hand, if one is having a larger network requiring multiple web sites and user is having some programming knowledge, then a Virtual Private Server can serves a best. One can host up to 50 web sites on a Virtual Private Server account, instead of having multiple Virtual Hosting accounts, which is quite expensive.

Thus one must make sure while selecting a server that it is as per requirement and it supports essential software for a flourishing online business.

If one wants to put his/her web site online, Web hosting offers the opportunity. For making a site go online, no matter it is having large or small content one has to go onto a web server. Thus a web server is simply a larger and much more powerful computer than user’s own computer. On these servers one’s Internet content simply sits for people to access and view the information available. These web servers are stored within data centers; all what is required is simply renting some space on the server.

Why to use a web hosting service?

The first reason to choose is its affordability. The work of the web hosting companies includes looking after and updating all software required to maintain one’s site, adding security patches making sure that one’s content is safe from hackers/viruses and unwanted Spam. The first step after registration of web site’s name is hosting it with the web server. In case there comes any difficulty with the web site, full technical support is supported by the hosting company. In chases one chooses to host by own, it will cost too much on hardware, bandwidth and ongoing software updates.

What is shared web hosting?

While searching for a web host Company one will find that many are offering shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is simply a server that has a number of different web sites sitting on it simultaneously. In case of shared web hosting one will be allocated a certain amount of disk space on the server and this allows user to have a number of web sites hosted on one server. It is a very secure service even though one is sharing the server with many different companies, as no other company will have access to other’s files. There are many people having wrong opinion that using a shared service will make the web site act slowly. In case of shared web hosting the information will be displayed and downloaded equally as fast as if it where on the server on it’s own. The concept used by Web host companies is that they offer shared hosting simply to use up all the space on the server, there is no benefit to user or them having empty hard disk space.

Why good hosting is required?

If one has developed a web site for business opportunity or to sell merchandise online what all is needed is reliability as downtime costs much money. Therefore less downtime means the better chance of making money by the user. One is required to compile a whole list of questions to ask the web host company when it comes to hosting his/her site. It is necessary to have a guaranteed response time if any problem occurs with the site or if it goes offline. One needs to have 24-hour access to his/her files with 24-hour support if the site is in business of selling products online, as most of the sales could be made in the evening or nighttime. Thus it is very important to have support all time for any issues that could arise. Not only that to check the effectiveness of site it is also important to look for Statistics i.e. how many unique hits (people visiting one’s site) one is getting so that one can see the trend of people just visiting to those who are buying. Thus one should check in advance the stats offered by different companies as some web host companies offer very substantial stats while others can be less informative, so one should always ask for a demonstration before finalizing any host.

Mouth publicity is a great way to hear as to who are a good host and a bad host. One should ask his/her colleague or who is already taking the experience of that host. There are several good as well as bad hosts in the market, therefore one should ask the questions and make sure that he/she is confident with the replies before signing up.

Will hosting in own country or another, effects the web site?

It is quite interesting to know if the company is providing 24 hour support to allow for time differences, then one should have the same level service as if the web host company was based just down the road. Thus it makes no difference if the host is of same country or of another. There are many people thinking hosting their website outside of their registered country will lead to losing their domain identity, which is totally wrong example if one is based in Ireland and is having a computer website it would be something like www.computerparts.ie The. I.e. is the identity of Ireland but if one wants his site hosted in the US then he/she would still keep the. I.e., and there is no need to change to. Com. Thus the great thing about web hosting is that the world is oyster and one can shop online globally until one is satisfied with the service.