Hosting rates have become increasingly competitive, confusing and even controversial as more and more companies vie for a share of the web hosting consumer market.  Gone are the days when only a few hundred different hosting companies jockeyed for a dominant position in this industry.

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Now, there are thousands of web hosting companies that range from the mom and pop variety all the way to companies Like Godady.com that host over 15 million domains.  Throw in all the discounts, new software options and different bonus features offered by all of the different hosting companies and you have what looks like a free-for–all on the World Wide Web.

Essentially, hosting rates should boil down to how much disk space and bandwidth you get per month.  So, it would make sense to base hosting rates on how much disk space and bandwidth a customer wanted to purchase.  This used to be the case, but now, with the explosion of much cheaper shared hosting packages; some larger web hosting companies are offering unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domain registration, and unlimited email accounts for less than five dollars per month.  Of course, you don’t get the same customer service that you do with dedicated or managed hosting accounts, but with free site building tools, tutorials and software wizards, more and more people are fine without it.  Virtual hosting, which is also very popular, further complicates rates when companies try to use it as a cheaper alternative to dedicated hosting.

Software also comes into play with regards to hosting rates.  While with many operating systems, software and scripts are free and considered public domain, Microsoft continues to charge licensing fees for all of its internet products.  This means that if you decide to go with a Windows based operating system for your web site as opposed to Linux or Unix you will be paying more per month, even with companies that offer both options.  Web hosting companies hesitate to disclose this on their websites and can also be a bit elusive about included features that will cost more down the line:  like exactly what it will cost to take that free domain name with you if you change hosting companies. 

So, how do you get the best web hosting rates and still maintain a quality web site?  Be realistic.  Pay for the right amount of disk storage and bandwidth that it will take to make your site function properly.  If you don’t know a lot about the internet, don’t be self-reliant.  Look for solid customer service and technical support.  If you are looking more at price, the best deal out there right now is Ipowerweb.com.  For $4.95 a month, you get 1,500 gigs of disk storage and 15,000 gigs of bandwidth.  HostRocket.com runs a close second with fewer features, and Dotster.com gets left behind with only 5 gigs of disk space and 250 gigs of data transfer with their basic package.

You can create and host a flash website at both bluehost and host monster.com. Check out our special pricing deal to save you money with Hostmonster coupon code.

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For $6.95 $4.95 (through the link above) a month you get 1,500 gigs of disk space, 15,000 gigs of site transfer and Streaming Video/Audio, Flash and Macromedia Shockwave.

Shared web hosting flash features can make your website stand out from the rest of your competitors for obvious reasons.  This is because flash technology can do a lot of things to enhance your website appeal.  It can manipulate vector and raster graphics and also supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video.  Simply put, using flash technology can make your sight memorable and entertaining.  Let’s face it, when anyone does a Google search for a specific key word, they may browse through the top ten results, but they only stop at the interesting sites. It’s always a shame for someone to get high rankings for a key word only to find out that potential customers spend about fifteen seconds on their site and move on, simply because there isn’t anything visually interesting about their web design.

Think about your own browsing habits.  It doesn’t matter whether you are shopping or just looking for information or the internet, you still want to be entertained.  You know yourself that you will spend more time on a website that has multimedia presentations for you to enjoy while you are looking at merchandise, booking a trip, or buying a service.  Static pictures and pages are boring and can’t even compare to a web design that integrates animation, interactivity, and video.

The question is, though, how does anyone with little artistic and technical ability work effectively with flash technology to create a dynamic website?  The answer is fairly simple.  Most cheap hosting companies offer free site building tools, which is a great place to start for a finished and professional looking web design.  Shared web hosting flash features are basic, but they are easy to use and add the extra visual and interactive elements that will make your product or message more appealing.  Once you learn the basics of flash technology, you will be ready for software like Adobe Flash, which can be purchased separately and integrated into your web design at a later date.

The one thing to watch out for however, is the amount of bandwidth you have available.  You may create a really impressive interactive site, but if no one can download it because there is too much flash without enough bandwidth, they won’t get the effect of the flash elements you have integrated in your web design.  So make sure that while your site is engaging for your customers, it should also be easy to download.  Bluehost.com has the bandwidth, disk space, and multimedia features to put it ahead of the rest.  Hostmonster.com runs a close second, and EasyCGI.com is worth checking out for comparison.

Looking for a super deal on website hosting  promo that offers both php and cgi? Hostmonster.com (sister company to blue host) has provided us with a deep discount link for visitors of 1SourceHost.com. While most hosting review sites recommend bluehost (rightly so as they are a fantastic hosting company) you can get the same set up, same great offer from Hostmonster.com and save!

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Plans start at $6.95 $4.95 a month and include 1,500 gigs of disk storage and 15,000 gigs of site transfer.  Adequate CGI and PHP features.

To get the most out of CGI hosting, PHP web scripts are being used to address the various issues with CGI when it comes to server side problems that occur when creating complex and dynamic websites.  CGI, or Common Gateway Interface is a specification that allows data to be transferred between a web server and a CGI program.  These programs are usually stored in a CGI bin or directory and are usually written in a basic programming language like Visual basic, C, Java, or Perl.

CGI is very commonly employed as a means for users to dynamically interact with web servers because of its ability to handle information submitted to users from servers via HTML pages. The main problem with CGI, however, is that every time a new request is made to a page served by a CGI program, the process of running the program starts again.  Because the use of CGI technology is a server side solution, this repetitive process can slow down the server of a busy web site considerably.  Also, because CGI allows regular programs to be run within the server system, it opens up the opportunity for security breaches.  Debugging CGI programs can take up a fair amount of a programmer’s time because the programs also usually have to be compiled at the same time.

This is where PHP comes in to take the load off the server.  PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor is also a server side scripting language for producing dynamic web pages, but it is easier to work with because it is an object oriented, lightweight and a consistent interface for accessing data bases. Originally written in the C language, PHP works like other server-side scripting languages such as ASP.Net, JavaServer Pages, Mod Perl, and Ruby on Rails.  In effect, all of these programming languages and frameworks were created to improve upon CGI to provide dynamic content from the server to the user in the simplest and quickest way possible.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of CGI hosting/PHP Web will help your customer’s web browser download pages from your web site faster, which is the whole idea behind the scripting programs.  Don’t be worried if you don’t understand everything about CGI and PHP.  If you purchase a monthly web hosting plan, you will notice that in the control panel, they are side by side under the software section.  All you have to do to get started is click on the icons after you watch one of the tutorials and you will get a better feel of how the two programs work.  BlueHost.com is the best place to start because they offer Fast CGI, which allows a server to handle more web page requests at once.  Hostmonster.com has only adequate CGI and PHP features and while Ipowerweb.com is the cheapest per month, it has less PHP and CGI features.