Managed hosting is one of many types available on today’s web hosting market, geared towards businesses that require more personalized care for their web presence. As the name suggests, the provider takes on a great deal of the management aspects, freeing the client of grueling responsibilities and thus allowing them to be more productive. There are numerous advantages that come along with managed hosting and below we have listed the top nine.

1.) Simplified Administration – Managed hosting gives you an additional level of support that stems beyond what the typical hosting service can offer. This often includes server administration and various other management tasks.

2.) Cost Effective – Though it is more expensive than most types of web hosting, managed hosting can be a very cost effective option due to the fact that it can free up time and help an organization be more productive.

3.) Enhanced Security – In the ideal arrangement, managed hosting provides an added layer of security with features such as critical system updates, disaster recovery, and data backup. Companies that are truly reliant on their web presence will benefit tremendously from a service that takes the necessary measures to ensure they are protected.

4.) Extensive Monitoring – Managed hosting typically provides an environment that is monitored 24/7. This often includes monitoring of the hardware, systems and the network itself. With such extensive monitoring, you can better assure superb performance and availability as any problems will be addressed as soon as they are detected.

5.) High-Performance – The hardware you get from a managed hosting provider usually towers over what is provided in a shared hosting arrangement. This is because you normally receive high quality dedicated equipment and are not forced to share with other customers. In the ideal environment, managed hosting can deliver performance that puts its shared counterpart to shame.

6.) Increased Reliability – Many new customers who upgrade to a dedicated server incur a significant amount of downtime because of all the technical challenges. Managed hosting can help you elude these crucial periods of downtime by putting the technical burdens on the shoulders of trained IT experts.

7.) Guaranteed Resources and Features – While all types of web hosting tend to offer great feature and resource allotments, managed hosting tends to give you significantly more. For example, you get more disk storage and bandwidth as well as more flexibility with features like programming languages, web applications, and services.

8.) Cost Savings – Managed hosting can be so advantageous that it eliminates the need for a full-time system administrator. Since the web hosting company is taking care of the bulk of administration, you can save the money that would normally be needed to pay someone to maintain your systems.

9.) Personalized Support – Because managed hosting is modeled around the concept of dedicated support, this sort of arrangement often makes it much easier to obtain the assistance you need. Almost all managed hosting services offer 24/7 support, ensuring that you can reach the IT experts when you need them.

Source: http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/12/01/nine-unique-advantages-of-managed-hosting/

Having a fantastic web site available on the web will do nothing for one’s business if no one can find it.  Once built, an essential part of having a web site is optimizing it so that search engines can easily locate it.  This requires a bit of expertise with regard to keywords and phrases, good content copy that reflects the chosen keywords and even knowing which page URLs will work or not with search engine spidering.

Don’t do it yourself

Instead of attempting to do this on one’s own, it is prudent and recommended to seek out and hire an SEO consultant.  A professional SEO consultant will be able to determine which services are needed to make one’s business web site optimized for search engines and how to incorporate SEO marketing.

There are dozens of specific tasks and elements that go into good SEO and going the “do-it-yourself” route may end with one’s web site not showing at all in the major search engines.

Check their previous work

The first thing to ask for when looking for the perfect SEO expert is previous examples of SEO content as well as web sites they have helped optimize in the past.  Check the rankings of these web sites with the major search engines – Google and Yahoo are perfect examples – and use the Alexa web site to view overall rankings.  Alexa is a free web traffic metric analyzer that will give one a good overview of how well a web site or company is doing over time.

A good showing with increased rankings over time is an indication of how effective an SEO consultant can be.  Rankings that are dropping or maintaining an unchanged level would indicate locating another SEO expert would be in order.

Look at rates

Check the rates of the SEO consultants one is considering.  Very low rates can mean the person in question is just starting out and is trying to build up their portfolio.  Very high rates but with a less than stellar portfolio can also indicate a novice in the SEO field or one that isn’t terribly good at what they do.

Alternatively, as the world economy has taken a beating lately, many professionals have dropped their rates accordingly.  This is an important factor to keep in mind when researching rates.  Check to see if the SEO professional in question has recently dropped their hourly or project rates – one may get a bargain out of this.

Cheaper isn’t better

Don’t attempt to take the cheapest route.  While initially it may seem like a good idea and cost effective, a low rate SEO consultant can mean poor work produced for one’s business web site.  This, in turn, will mean ineffective search engine optimization, low rankings (if at all) within the major search engines and pretty much a loss of money overall.

Careful research should be done when looking to hire an SEO consultant.  Look at their previous results, experience and rates.  Remember that great search engine optimization can mean more customers and hiring a professional to do it correctly can only bring about a return on one’s investment.

With the economy hitting not only the individual but also businesses, many are looking toward free web hosting services to house their online site.  For monetary reasons, this looks great on the surface.  But going free is not always the best choice and may, in fact, cost your business money in the long run.

Ads

While a company may offer hosting at no cost, they are by no means not making money off of your site.  Nearly all free hosting offers will involve advertising placed on your pages.  These will be completely out of your control.  Some companies try to gear ads toward being relevant to the site topic but this isn’t always guaranteed.  Add in the very real fact that your competition may be placed on your web site and this can equal a loss of revenue for you.

No control

Another downside to hosting for free is a severe lack of control.  Most free hosting companies do not offer a control panel or an ftp access account to allow administration of a web site.  This means you cannot make page changes on the fly or add in programs that may be needed by your business.  If you are a retail business, this means no ability to add in a shopping cart or software that helps you control your inventory.  Putting a bit of tracking coding is not an option unless you can have access to the page coding.  Even attempting to change the look of your web site can be an issue.  Some free hosting sites will give you access to templates and a few will even allow some minor changes made to backgrounds.  But, all said, you are very limited to what you can do within your own site.

Support

Support is another problem with free web hosting.  You’ll be limited to perhaps some online forum areas to ask your questions but you won’t have numbers to call, ticket support systems or one of many options offered by paid hosting.  If your business site isn’t working, this can end up costing you a lot of money.

Affordable solutions

Paid hosting these days really doesn’t put a huge dent in your pocketbook.  Some hosting companies run specials on a regular basis and you’re sure to find one that will fit your budget.  You can find hosting from as low as $3-$5 a month, depending on what your business web site requires.  Many of these companies also give a lot of great features for your money – including unlimited web space, unlimited bandwidth and a huge assortment of easy to install programs to get your site up and running quickly.

What it boils down to

When all is said and done, you need to ensure your business is hosted with a company that you can rely on for support and also one that gives you the needed tools to ensure your online site is a success.  This is one time when you do not want to “tighten your belt” or “pinch pennies.”  Do a bit of research and find a good, solid hosting company with a price you can afford.

Source: http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/10/12/free-hosting-is-not-always-the-best-choice/