Here are the top ten most frequently asked questions regarding on Internet domain name registration:Q1. Which characters are allowed in Internet domain names?A: For normal ASCII domain names, the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9, and one special character, the hyphen or dash "-". Note that domains cannot start or end with a hyphen. For the new tested IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names), the full range of Unicode characters are available. This allows nearly all of the languages on the planet to be represented within domain names, including Thai, Arabic, Lao, Hebrew, French, German etc.Q2. How many characters can a Internet domain name have?A: Generic domains (gTLDs) can have 63 characters in the second level, plus the top level domain, .com, .net etc.Q3. How long can I register a Internet domain name for?A: In most cases, you are allowed to register a Internet domain name for period of one to ten years. Longer periods are not currently allowed by the registry.Q4. How long do Internet domain registrations take to make & process?A: Typically ten minutes or so. Once you have chosen the name and paid the fee, most registration systems will register your name in near real-time.Q5. Do I "own" a domain name I register?A: Not really, it is more like a rental agreement. But importantly, you have the exclusive right to renew the agreement with the registry at the end of the initial registration period, so effectively you can keep the name as long as you want.Q6. Why does my Internet domain name still show as unregistered in a WHOIS tool?A: WHOIS tools are meant to show the nameserver / contact information for domain names held by a particular ICANN registrar. They are typical not updated in real-time and thus are not good indicators of current domain registration status.Q7. How will I know if a Internet domain registration attempt has been successful?A: WHOIS tool takes anything up to 48 hrs to be updated so can't be relied on. A better indicator is whether you receive a confirmation e-mail from the domain registrar. You could also try registering the name again. By doing so, the registrar will do a "live" availability check on the name, which will indicate to you whether the name has been registered or not. This is not the same as a WHOIS look-up.Q8. How long do domain names take to be active after registration?A: Approximately 24 - 48 hrs, though because nameservers work as a distributed network, it can take up to 72 hrs or more before your domain name is accessible to all Internet users worldwide.Q9. Can I register a Internet domain for later use?A: There is no problem in registering domain names first, and using them later on. In fact, it is estimated that among 80% to 90% of all domain names are "idle".Q10. Can I get a refund if I make a mistake & register the wrong name?A: Nearly all domain registrars operate a strict no refund policy. This is because they are charged a non-refundable fee by the registry to perform the registration.
As a business owner you pride yourself on delivering a great product or service to your customers. You have put together a great website and now you are expected to learn about how to use your web site and online marketing to grow your business further. The Trouble is, the downtime you get in your online business. It is just like closing the business every now and then due to some problem in the locality. The un-stability in your email services and hosting services that keep you off site from your contacts who want to do business with you. How can you earn if the business is closed? It doesn't have to be this way.
The Past and Future of Free Hosting Finding the Best Free Web Hosting Web Hosting Categories
Over the past decade, the number of completely free web page hosting services has diminished drastically. There are still some good free web hosting services, but the quality of most free hosting providers is limited and shakey at best. Almost every free hosting company requires you to place ad banners/popups/or links on your web pages, except for a select few who require forum participation, domain registration, or set up fees in return instead. While completely free web space is becoming a thing of the past, the good news is that if you are willing to pay as little as $3.95 a month you can get the best web hosting, with no ads, plenty of storage space, php web hosting, bandwidth, mysql hosting, and decent customer support from a top web host service provider.
We've listed a few of the free and paid web hosting providers here as selected by our readers and actual users. Our editorial staff has personally reviewed every web host provider listed for specs. If you use the free hostingservices listed on this site you will receive better-than-most service and features. The low cost hosting providers we list on this site are the best of the best. You can't go wrong hosting with one of our listed budget hosting providers. Also, check out our free host blog.
To find the best free hosts and the best cheap web hosting available - first you need to decide which type of hosting you will need for your website. Are you going to use free website templates to build a website? Are you going to design it your self in Microsoft FrontPage or code it in PHP/MySQL? You'll need to think this through before you signup for a web hosting service. The free hosts have limited functions so you take what you can get there, but with cheap web hosting - you get to decide what type of host you'd like from tons on categories. Make sure you find a web host that will support what you need.
First things you have to choose with web hosting plan is web hosting operating system. It could confusing to choose which is the best. Here is list of web hosting operating system and information about the performance.Linux Linux, a version of UNIX, is a very versatile platform that serves a number of functions well. It is particularly suitable for meeting your Internet requirements, such as mailing, streaming, Web serving, and fileserving. Linux is a very cost-effective choice it uses hardware efficiently, and allows for more web sites per server, thereby lowering the cost of hosting per account. Linux servers are compatible with certain Microsoft extensions and applications, for example, MS SQL (a database program) or Microsoft Front Page (a web authoring tool). Many engineers prefer the flexibility, security, and control of Linux servers. Linux is Open Source (free) software and a host of free programs are available to users of Linux.Microsoft Windows NT/2000 Window's 2000 graphical user interface makes it user-friendly and provides a familiar interface for most IT teams to work with. It integrates well with other Microsoft applications and there are a wealth of commercial applications available for this platform. Particularly attractive is the integration with Microsoft Application Server (ASP) which allows the creation of dynamic web pages linked to SQL databases, and other Legacy back office systems.Sun Solaris Sun Solaris servers offer the highest level of resources and power - these are the most robust servers! Sun has a proven track record and is deployed in many large Fortune 500 corporations. It is a mature platform and there are a large number of applications and development tools available. Because of Sun's capacity and stability it is ideal for high-traffic functions, such as database servers, high-traffic Web servers and mission-critical servers.Cobalt RaQ The RaQ was designed for virtual (shared) hosting of multiple Web sites. It's simple administration makes it a great first Web server. Its flexible administration interface also allows you to share administration responsibilities among your staff.FreeBSD FreeBSD is a version of BSD that was designed for the X86 processor. FreeBSD is a very stable open source operating system, and a good alternative to Linux. It is an extremely well-integrated and tested system, and is inexpensive. There are a large number of free applications available for use with it.
1. 24/7 reliable tech support
Here's you should always look within the hosting plan :Disk SpaceEstimates your disk space, one html page usually +- 150 KB, 25MB Disk Space = 166 pages.Bandwidth/Data TransferHow to easily calculate bandwidth you need. First take size of all pages and images/multimedia in your web site. Let's say it 50MB then how many visitors to your web site? Maybe you estimate it would be 10000 visitors per month, then bandwidth you need for is 50 x 10000 = 500 000 MB = 500 GB Data Transfer/month. There're a lot of web hosting plan with unlimited bandwith package :).Domain NameIf you don't have any domain name yet for your web site, you should see if web hosting package include domain name registration. Usually they include it in their plan. Average cost to register a domain name is between 8$ to 12$ per year.E-mail AccountYou need it as identity for your website, ex. you. You should see how many e-mail accounts provided for your web site. Additional features on e-mail account is E-mail Forwarding, E-mail Autoresponders, E-mail Aliases.Control PanelIf you don't like FTP to upload your web sites, then you could upload it with control panel upload menu. It's easy and simple job to upload. Control panel is a web page to control your hosting account, add e-mail accounts, see statistics of your web site etc.DatabaseDid you need database? If you're using built-in script/CMS like mambo, joomla, PHPNuke, Forums like VBulletin, phpBB, or shopping cart, etc. then you need database for your web site. How many database you need? for all scripts above usually you just need 1 database account. Another consideration is how many space is for your database. I found two kind of database space offered by web hosting company, first they include it in your web space (web space = web space + database space) other is they specify space for your database.