Head Resist

So, you have decided to switch web hosts. It is recommended you start the process at least a few days before the time runs out on the account with your present host. This will keep your website from experiencing any downtime between the move.

The first thing to do, after you have searched and found a new web host, is create a backup of your website. Make a new folder somewhere on your computer. Using your favorite FTP program, such as WS_FTP or Cute FTP (these and other FTP programs can be obtained at download.com), download all the files and folders on your website to the new folder you just made on your computer while maintaining the same folder and file structure (this will be important when uploading your files and folders onto your new host’s server later). Make a note of any special chmod permissions you have set on any file or folder (look in your FTP program’s help documents for information on checking a folder or file’s chmod permissions). You will need to reset the permissions after you upload your files and folders to your new web host’s server.

If you have any scripts or programs that you made a database for, make a backup of each database. If you have a database other than MySQL, check with your present web host for instructions on backing up your database. If you don’t have any databases, you can skip these instructions. If your web host offers phpMyAdmin, log in to your control panel and go to the database section. Look for a link to phpMyAdmin and click on it. If required, log in using the username and password you gave for your database. If you assigned a different username and password for each database, you will have to repeat this process for each database. After you log in, click on “databases” and then click on the database you want to backup/export. Click “Export” on the top menu.

If you are using phpMyAdmin 2.4.0, highlight all the tables under “View dump (schema) of database.” Make sure the “Structure and data” radio button is selected. Check “Save as file” and select either “zipped” or “gzipped.” Click “Go” and save the file (it would be a good idea to create a new folder in which to save all your databases).

If you are using phpMyAdmin 2.6.0-pl1, highlight all the tables under “Export.” Check the “Structure” and “Data” boxes and select “SQL” under the tables you highlighted. Check “Save as file” and under “Compression” select either “zipped” or “gzipped.” Click “Go” and save the file. (it would be a good idea to create a new folder in which to save all your databases).If you don’t have phpMyAdmin, you can backup your database using mysqldump.

Next, setup your databases.

If you have MySQL databases, log in to your control panel. Go to the database section and create databases. Also, assign usernames and passwords for the databases (if you have a database other than MySQL, check with your new web host for instructions on creating and importing databases). Now, find the link to phpMyAdmin. If required, log in using the usernames and passwords you just created. If you assigned a different username and password for each database, you will have to repeat this process for each database. After logging in, click on “databases” and select a database by clicking on it. From the top menu, click “SQL.”

Go to the folder you saved your databases in and select the database that corresponds to the one you have open in phpMyAdmin. Open the file and copy and paste the database in the large text area in phpMyAdmin. Click “Go” under the text area field. You can also use the browse button to find the file on your computer and click “Go” below the browse field. If you don’t see any errors, with whichever method you chose, you have just successfully imported the database. If you have more than one database, go back and repeat this process for each one, starting with logging in with your database username and password. If you don’t have phpMyAdmin, you can use this method to create your databases.

You may need to edit some files before uploading them in the next step, by changing MySQL database name, username and password settings within the files, if any information has changed. If you don’t remember which files contain MySQL settings, check the installation instructions for each script/program.

Next, upload the files from the folder in which you saved your website content onto the new web host’s server, maintaining the same folder and file structure, using your FTP program. The only difference in structure may be the location of the cgi-bin. Some web hosts have your cgi-bin inside the www or public_html directory and some have it placed outside. If you had any programs or scripts on your website, you may need to edit some files by changing paths within them. If you don’t remember which files contain paths that may need to be changed, check the installation instructions for each script/program. Also, change any file or folder permissions as needed (look in your FTP program’s help documents for information on changing a folder or file’s chmod permissions).

The final step is to point your domain name to your new web host’s name servers. This information probably came in an email from your new web host soon after you registered with them. If not, send them an email asking them what the name servers are for your domain. Once you have this information, go to the website where you have your domain name registered. Log in to your account and set the name servers for your domain. Please note that changes to name servers may take as much as a couple of days to take effect. If you still have a few days left on your old account, your website shouldn’t experience any downtime. Once the name servers change has taken effect, cancel the account with your old host (this is so you don’t get charged for another term). That’s it. You have successfully switched web hosts.

Believe it or not, you may be searching for Hostgator tutorials soon enough.

 

Supposing you have decided to use WordPress as your blogging platform of choice.  Whether you’re planning to use it as a conventional blog or as a simplified content management system, you have indeed made the right decision.  WordPress allows for dynamism and convenience in publishing content, and it is customizable enough that one blog won’t have to look like others built around the same platform.  Plus,  WordPress blogs can be monetized very, very easily given that search engines love them and that there is a plethora of plugins that can immediately transform your pages into moneymaking digital machines.

Additionally, you’ve also chosen Hostgator as your web hosting service of choice, given the fact that Hostgator is one of the web’s most reliable web host.  Truly, an excellent choice!

 

There’s just one problem: you don’t know how to install WordPress to your Hostgator account.

 

You may have searched the web for Hostgator tutorials on the matter, but all that greeted you were complicated instructions that presumed that you knew a lot of things of HTML, FTP, cPanels, DNS servers, and the likes.

 

Well, your search for Hostgator tutorials on how to install WordPress ends here.  Below are a set of easy-to-follow instructions that will make this piece the simplest, least complicated of the Hostgator tutorials available on the internet today.

 

 You need a domain name.  Get one from Namecheap or GoDaddy.

 

You need a Hostgator account, of course.  The first thing you should do is to register Hostgator’s name server to you domain name.  This way, every time a person types in your domain name, it will redirect him to your Hostgator account, and Hostgator will pick up your files and load them on that person’s browser.

 

You need to download the WordPress installer.

 

You need to upload the WordPress installer on your Hostgator account.  If you want your domain name to point directly to your WordPress blog, upload WordPress on your public folder.  If you want a specific page of your URL to point to your WordPress blog, upload WordPress on that page’s folder.  You can upload WordPress using an FTP client (I suggest Filezilla as it is very easy to use) or via your Hostgator account’s cPanel.

 

Once uploaded, create a MySQL database for your WordPress blog using your Hostgator account’s cPanel.

 

Search for the wp-config-sample.php file and simply rename it to wp-sample.php.

 

Now go to http://www.yourURL.com/wp-admin/install.php or http://www.yourURL.com/subpagewherewordpressisuploaded/wp-admin/install.php and WordPress will be installed automatically.

 

Voila!  It’s as easy as that.  Hostgator tutorials on how to install WordPress need not be complicated, especially when you will be dealing with a web hosting service that is friendly for novice webmasters and a blogging platform that is as intuitive as riding a bike. 

Don’t be fooled by the name. Today’s shopping carts allow customers to do far more than select and purchase items. When signing up with a web host, you will more than likely have a number of different shopping cart applications to choose from. Some of the programs you might encounter are Agora, osCommerce, CubeCart and ZenCart. To help you decide which is the right program, I’ll go over each shopping cart and detail what they have to offer.

Agora



Agora is a popular shopping cart that offers design integration for templates, HTML, Perl, JavaScript and CSS. It also includes the basic features that allow you to manage products and inventory along with the ability to create unique product pages, add unlimited options for individual products, add unlimited categories and subcategories, list best selling items and display discount codes. Agora simplifies the ordering process and management tasks as you can easily generate custom order notification messages, order forms in HTML and utilize multiple payment gateways. Granting the ability to view orders by date or status and support for numerous shipping options, Agora is the preferred shopping cart for many business owners.

osCommerce



Currently serving more than 12,000 online stores and over 150,000 website owners, osCommerce is a leading shopping cart program and an ideal choice for e-commerce. What most webmasters like about this software is that it runs flawlessly on any platform be it Windows, Linux or Apple’s Mac OS X. osCommerce is a template-based system, meaning that it can easily be integrated into your website. This structure also enables the software to be updated with ease. Similar to Agora, osCommerce offers support for unlimited products, invoices, categories and subcategories. It also makes it simple to add, remove or modify any of the shopping cart features. osCommerce allows you to create newsletters, send out invoices or packaging lists and even backup your data right from the interface. This program is very secure and supports multiple payment gateways including Authorize.Net and PayPal.

CubeCart



CubeCart is a professional shopping cart program that makes a perfect solution for e-commerce. The program is completely template-based, allowing you to generate HTML content entirely independent of the PHP it’s coded in. CubeCart is a favorite of many webmasters because of its clean interface, ease of use and minimal maintenance requirements. This software offers a number of layouts and supports unlimited products, multiple countries and languages, various shipping options and tax classes and much more. With tons of self-help resources posted on the web, you will find that CubeCart is one of the easiest shopping carts to use.

ZenCart



Catering to the new webmaster, ZenCart is a popular shopping cart application that offers the customization and ease of use needed to quickly set up an online storefront. This software requires no knowledge of HTML as products can be added, deleted or modified via a simple template-based system. ZenCart supports multiple product catalogues, pricing and payment options, numerous sorting methods, customer authorization keys and more. The WYSIWYG editors enables the easy customization of your layout, making this one of the most user-friendly shopping carts around.

The best thing about all of these shopping carts is that they can be installed in one click with the Fantastico script installer. To find out which program is right for you, I recommend learning more about the level of support they offer and what other webmasters are saying about them. In the end, it is up to you to determine which shopping cart best suits your customers.

Before rushing for a web hosting account, you need to check the following features which are important for any web hosting account. Many people overlook this features and pay the price later. So here are the important features you need to check with your hosting company before paying for it.

Technical Support

Technical support is one of the most important factor you need to consider when a choosing a web host. Test different companies before you sign up by sending them an email with a question or two. If they respond quickly, this is a good sign.

Uptime

The more uptime they guarantee, the better. 99% uptime is the minimum acceptable standard. Look for 99% plus guaranteed uptime. 1% of uptime is about 87 hours in a year.

Disk Space

Decide how much disk space you will require. A basic web site with few images and about 10 to 20 pages will not take up much web space . If you require a lot of graphics or multimedia or you need to store a lot of information, you will need a bit higher disk space. Again you can increase your web space as required with almost all the hosts by paying the extra charges.

Data Transfer

This factor is usually overlooked until the data transfer limit is reached. If you go over your alloted data transfer, you will get a hefty bill. If you are running a site with lots of downloads, or a site with lots of images such at a photo post site, your data transfer will be higher than a site with mainly text. The average website uses less than 200MB of bandwidth per month.

Scripting Languages support

If you using a scripting language to output your html, you need to check whether the plan has support for that script. You will need a windows hosting plan only if you are using microsoft scripting languages like asp and asp.net.

CGI Bin

This is now standard feature with almost all hosting companies. If you do not have access to your own CGI Bin, you cannot install your own cgi scripts and programs.

Perl

If you do not have Perl, you cannot run Perl Programs. Many good scripts that you buy or get for free are written in Perl. In my opinion, it would be a limitation not to have the latest version of Perl installed

SSI

Server Side Includes are great if you want to spend minimal time updating your site. Again this feature is provided by many hosts.

FTP Access

Unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site is essential. You will need an FTP program to transfer files from your computer to the server.

Statistics Program

A good stats program is handy if you want to keep an eye on how many visitors you are getting, where they are coming from, referrers, top entry and exit pages and so on. Some companies offer excellent stats programs as standard while others offer basic stats but you have to pay extra for advanced statistics.

With the many web programming languages available, it should come as no surprise that there’s a lively discussion about which is the best. Of course, there is no easy answer to that question, but programming in php can be an excellent skill if you plan on working with a database like MySQL. Working with such a dynamic language like php scripting can enable you to create interesting and professional php web applications even if you’re using free web hosting or cheap web hosting, as almost every web host will include PHP hosting. These php web applications can interface with the database to enable users to do anything from entering their information to playing games, if your ability for programming in php is advanced enough.

Some people may worry that if they have free web hosting from free webspace hosts, or even if they have cheap web hosting, that they will not be able to use php scripting. This worry is unfounded, because hosts realise that php web applications are such powerful tools that they will make sure to include it. PHP is entirely free and open source, as well, so they won’t have to charge extra for people to use it like they might with proprietary languages. It’s fairly easy to learn php scripting and the use of object oriented php if you’ve used other languages in the past, as it shares many of the same ideas and patterns.

Even better, since it’s an open source movement, there are plenty of php IDE toolkits you can use to further implement this powerful language. Eclipse, Netbeans, or Zend are all examples of a php IDE that further enhance the abilities of object oriented php.

Here are just a few of the things you can accomplish easily with php scripting:

* Make a php web application that connects to a MySQL database so users can input data and collate it from one central location.

* Allow users to send e-mails with a web-based form and protect yourself from spam.

* Allow users to upload files in a secure environment.

* Keep track of downloads for your files.