Newbies usually think that if they will choose their hosting on linux Server and if their visitors using windows operating system will not be able to see their site. But the truth is that your website is independent platform, there is no difference which hosting will you choose, your visitor’s browser will read it in the same way. There are strict programming standards used to create network platforms. Your visitors will be able to browse your website with any operating system. There are some slight differences between programming languages used to maintain windows hosting and linux hosting. This issue important only to webmasters and software application developers.

Now the questions comes which hosting platform shall I choose ?

The answer for this is simple, and it depends on your website requirements.

1. It’s always  depends on your requirements. Most of the windows hosting company will provide you support for programming langauage like ASP and database like MsSql and you will be able to install ASP based applications only whereas most of the linux hosting companies will provide you support forprogramming language like PHP and database like MySql.
So if you want to use ASP than choose windows server whereas if you want to use PHP than use linux server.

You can use html, dhtml, javascript, flash, real audio, video, cgi, pop mail ids, ftp, frontpage etc on both servers.

2. Security and reference guides -  Windows hosting  ASP programming platform has much less documentation and sometimes their documentations are paid.  We prefer Linux hosting also because security reasons and stability. Windows hosting security usually fails in seconds when it is infected with troyan horse or viruses.

3.  Budget – Linux hosting is always cheaper as compared to windows hosting because most of the sofwtares used on linux servers are open source that is free whereas on windows server most of the softwares are paid and need to be licensed by Microsoft.

So how can you benefit from this?

At the bottom of your website, you most likely have a link that says, website design by:(website company name). They are usually in the right hand side of your websites footer. Well what if you inserted a link saying’Hosted By: (Hosting Company Name) and link to their websites.

Almost every website hosting company has  an affilaite company. For example, my host (Host Gator) pays me $50 for each new person that signs up as a result of one of my links. What if you could make an extra $50-$100 a month. That would be nice wouldn’t it?

Well all you have to do, is sign up for their affiliate program. There is usually a link to it from their home page, but if you have trouble, just shoot them a quick email. And they will give you a website link that will include your personall affiliate code. This lets them know that it was you who sent them the new customer – so they know to pay you!

All you have to do know, is change the link in your footer from your web hosts url, to the url that they gave you, and everyone who clicks on that link will have a ‘cookie’ attached to them, and if they buy hosting – you get paid. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

Today the hosting business seems to have matured a lot, weeding out a lot of unprofessional, small-time hosts. Does this mean that you can no long make money starting a hosting company? Not at all. With the amount of new people starting websites everyday and the rate the internet is growing, this is definately an industry to watch. Here are a few tips if you are looking at starting a profitable hosting company

Be Unique

You need to have a point of difference. If you are just like all the big hosting companies, why would people use you over someone else? Think about what sets your company apart from everyone else.  One point of difference I would never target is price. You will always find someone who can charge less then you, so make your point of difference an expertise – and charge more. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking.

• Church Hosting
  A lot of churches are starting to make their way online. What if your website hosting company focused specifically on hosting church websites? The benefit is, since they are offline organisations, you are not competing with the rediculously low priced hosting companies.
• Local Hosting
  Be a hosting company that only hosts companies websites from your city? Market by flyers or align yourself with a couple of website design firms in your area.
• Add Value
  Include special bonuses with your hosting packages. Instead of focusing on lowering your price, focus on adding more value. Whether it be a discount for SEO, or a free ebook on how to get a flood of traffic to your site. The more value you can add to your hosting package, the less people will want a discounted rate.
• Niche Hosting
  This could be either topical niche, or product niche. How about targetting only blog hosting. Or Arcade sites? What benefits could you offer to add value to that a generic host couldn’t?

It is all about thinking creatively, instead of generic, low cost. People pay for value, and if they believe that you can give them a better service they will pay for it.

I have been with my current host for over 18months now, and while they are not $1 or $2 a months, they are still very well priced, but they have been well worth the money. If you are looking at changing website hosts, then here are a few things to look for:

1. Uptime Guarantee

   Any website host can say that they have 99% uptime, but make them put their money where their mouth is. Only choose website hosts that have some form of guarantee if they do not meet their promised uptime. Most will either refund all or part of that months hosting cost.

2. 24hr Instant Customer Service

   There is nothing worse than your website being down, or some other type of problem, only to find that you have to submit a tick – and may get a response in 24 hours. This may have been good enough before, but a lot of hosts now have chat support -where you can get instant support for your problem. Isn’t that in itself worth an extra couple of dollars a month?

3. A Large Quantity Of Positive Customer Reviews

   It is easy for hosting companies to write nice things about themselves, but it takes a lot more to get other people to write posititive things. There is power in testimonials, and before I would even consider moving to a new website host I would do a google search of ‘Host Name Reviews’ or ‘Host Name Testimonial’. This will give you pages of Google results of exactly what people think about that company. The good, the bad and the ugly.

If you use these simple tips, you are sure to find a quality website host, that you will host with for a long period of time.

First a little background on the company. IX Web Hosting has been in business since 1999. They have several offices around the world, over 160 employees, and a whopping 170,000+ web sites, all hosted and supported out of their Kentucky-based Data Center and Call Center facilities. Comparatively speaking, these are very strong numbers that bode well for the tech-giant that is IX Web Hosting.

Although it was a brief visit (I was only in town for about 2 hours while waiting for a plane transfer), I was glad I stopped by IX Web Hosting. I had the opportunity to meet personally with Mr. Fathi Said, CEO and founder, to discuss some of the advantages of hosting with his company. He was equally as excited to meet with me as I was him, so it turned out to be a very interesting meeting.

“IX Web Hosting’s plans give you an excellent value — regardless of your needs, our plans allow you to save money right away. Where else can you get 300,000 MB of web space for $3.95/month, or unlimited disk space and multi-domain hosting for $12.95/month, paired with a zero-risk 100% money back guarantee?” Mr. Said explained.

And he’s right, it’s one heck of a bargain! Great features and excellent prices, one of the major reasons I currently rank IX so high.

Furthermore, while on my little visit, I was able to tour their new dedicated call center, a new facility recently opened in April 2006. In my entire career as professional web master, I have never seen more responsive and technically sound support staff. I am thoroughly impressed by the technical skills of the IX Web Hosting customer care team. Featuring a plush 60-seat call center, excellent amenities and a strong office community spirit, it was quite a site to see such dedicated persons who truly enjoy helping others!

Being a customer of theirs for over 3 years now, I feel confident in IX Web Hosting. Albeit, my tenure with their service hasn’t been flawless, it’s good to know what’s going on behind the scenes. Sometimes a web server goes down, or some times email gets lost, but such things are only expected on the Internet. What makes it livable is that every problem I’ve ever had, IX Web Hosting has quickly corrected the problem and provided me with excellent communication and support along the way, oftentimes with the very people I’ve met while visiting!

All in all, IX Web Hosting has proved itself to be one of the better choices for web hosting services. If you’re considering a new web host and value feature rich packages, top-notch service and excellent guarantees, I strongly recommend IX Web Hosting.

Hostgator Review

Hostgator, founded in 2002 is one of top shared hosting companies. They are consistently ranked among the best by most of the review sites. What makes hostgator stand out from the crowd is their excellent support and customer friendliness. If you are not satisfied with the support, you could even get hostgator president Brent Oxley to personally take a look at your problem.

Hostgator Price Value

They have three hosting packages starting from Hatchling ($6.95 pm) to Swamp ($14.95 pm). The price is reasonable for the features and space/bandwidth provided. Recently Hostgator increased the space and bandwidth to unimaginable levels. They also reduced the price of all plans, by introducing 24 and 34 month pre-payment options. The monthly payment now have a small set up charge and is costlier than 12 month rates. Our advice – don’t get excited by the unlimited space and bandwidth. They do have limits on file numbers(inodes) and CPU usage to make sure that only reasonable sized accounts remains in the shared servers. But for any site with a reasonable traffic, hostgator plans are more than sufficient. You obviously can not expect a site with few million page views a month to run on a shared host, no matter what bandwidth they offer.

Overall, hostgator is fair priced and provides enough resources for a shared web host.

Hostgator User Reviews from different sources.

1. I’m using hostgator and I recommend their customer service , server uptime and every thing.
2. I bought hosting from hostgator last month and its the best host known to me works great. I am previously on free hosting at http://www.yfchost.com Though the free host was great but there was a downtime like 2 to 5 hours in complete 30 days. And sometimes it affected my site. I am happy with hostgator and I am working on my new site again.
3. I have hosting with them and they are fairly good. Unfortunately all 5 of these top web hosts are massive over sellers.
4. I’ve been hosting websites on a variety of different providers over the past 14 years, and Hostgator has been consistently good in the past 2 years I’ve been using them. I would strongly recommend them to anyone looking for 100% uptime, combined with friendly and reliable service.
5. very good provider honest and fast uptime, support is excellent careful of the 50,000 files limited.
6. We needed to find a host that would allow direct access to the MySQL database. Not sure why, but most hosting companies don’t offer this.
   For us to be able to set up real time reporting from the database using php we had to be able to connect an ODBC.
   Hostgator was there for us. Their customer service was efficient and in no time the site was up and running. We’ve had no down time.
   PLUS! We found a Help Desk php program that we’ve started to use called Hesk. There are tons of great resources in the Cpanel; even a OS “Live Chat” service that is FREE! to use. And Live Person wants $20/month or more per user?
   Only good things to say. And I have to admit, I was reluctant at first. Not only do I have no regrets, but I’m getting ready to load another new project on Hostgator this weekend.
   With the Rebate Coupon, it’s a win win!
7. Excellent web hosting company, uptime 100%, fast support team, fast servers, cPanel, price is just right and better than other companies. Needless to say I have had to contact them on a several occasions and I have never been kept waiting. I’m thinking of switching to their dedicated servers now =D