Factors to consider when choosing a host service provider.(techpreneurs)

Factors to consider when choosing a host service provider.

To be on the safer side when making a choice of where to host your website it is advisable to look for these basic requirements and features before going ahead  to purchase an hosting plan.

1. Cost

You get what you pay for! The hosting for your website is the foundation of your website and it goes a long way to determine the success or failure of your website even before hosting the choice of a bad host service could cripple a good web design project so. So before calculating the cost, try to calculate the value. You need to invest in good hosting. The cost of hosting is something that should be calculated into your entire website budget. Host service providers that offer “cheap” and “unlimited” accounts should be approached with caution. Because most of them do not last long in the business and when they pack up so also will your website.

Look to see what you are getting with the cheap host and what features are included in the cost. Do they charge for additional domains, support, backups, etc.. Call them. Ask questions. Tell them what you envision your site’s needs to be. Just don’t take it for granted that they take your site as seriously as you do.

2.  Compatibility

Take a moment to understand the technologies that are being used within your website. For example if you are building a WordPress site, your hosting provider should be familiar and compatible with WordPress(the same goes for every other CMS you may choose to use). Find out if it is a Linux or Windows based server. Also find out if they are running the most current version of PHP and databases such as MySQL.



3.TECH SUPPORT

One of the most important requirements that you should consider before choosing a host company is its tech support, how soon do they respond and how helpful are their response.

In my own opinion, this is most important issue to consider. When a site, for some unknown reason, goes down, can I call up and get a real, live person(not a computer program or an answering machine) on the phone? And, more than that, can they find out what’s wrong and fix it, or at least tell me what I need to do to get my site back online?

It is very dangerous and uncomfortable to host with a host company that does not have an effective and live tech support. when your site is down?

You are supposed to be able to reach your host company’s tech support or customer service within 30minutes and book your complaint.

Before purchasing any hosting plan, you are supposed to be able to reach the customer service of your host service provider to inquire about the pricing and billing procedure.



4.ADDED INCENTIVES(optional)  area of consideration comes down to the following question – What makes this hosting company special? What extra incentive do they provide to make hosting your site with them just a touch more attractive? Whether it’s multiple data centers, energy-saving practices, or additional features such as regular data backups or free domain privacy, hosting companies often offer more than just servers. If you see one that offers something you need or find important, that can be a good indicator that you should look into using that company.

I know some host service providers that give free custom emails and free domains.

5.Customers Reviews / Satisfaction / Reputation

This is one of those factors that you’ll have to get a little creative to get the real story on. Do a Google Blog search for a particular hosting company, or look them up on Twitter – whatever you have to do to see what their current (or former) customers are saying about them. Are they easy to contact for support? What’s the average time it takes to respond to a ticket? When they find a problem with a site, what’s their course of action?

This is one of the great things about social media – ask a question about a company, and you’re more likely than not to get a few answers.

6.Control Panel / User Interface

Even if you’re new to web design, there are some things like installing WordPress, setting up email, setting up FTP accounts  that you should be able to do without calling your hosting company’s support line. Does the provider use cPanel or Plesk to make updates and modifications easier, or do they use some clunky interface that no one can figure out? You’ll most likely be the one working with it, so if you can’t figure it out, then that’s going to be a problem.

7.Scalability / Room to Grow

Finally, an important thing to consider about your hosting provider (and the plan you choose) is whether or not they fit into your plans for the future. In other words, what you consider adequate hosting now might not meet your needs two years from now, once you start selling your products online and getting some good traffics to your site.

Any web-based enterprise should have its eye on growth, so if a hosting company might have difficulty accommodating that growth it could pose an issue. Will they be able to easily upgrade your account? Transferring from one host to another takes valuable time and effort which could be avoided if the company can scale their solutions for growth. As with all these factors, do some research, get some opinions, and make an informed decision.

8.Storage and Bandwidth
Unlimited bandwidth is a usual advertisement slogan of most host service. Many hosting providers that claim to offer unlimited bandwidth have restrictions outlined in the “fine print.”

Make sure you read the terms of service carefully to understand exactly what you are purchasing. Make sure the allotted space that comes with your purchased plan would be enough to accommodate your sites programs.

Unlimited bandwidth is a myth. Many hosting providers that claim to offer unlimited bandwidth have restrictions outlined in the “fine print.” Read the terms of service carefully to understand exactly what you are purchasing. Reputable hosting companies will often outline the costs for going over your allotted bandwidth and storage.



9.Uptime and downtime

Before choosing a web host company to use you must make sure it provides up to 99% uptime in reality and not just by its claim, search for complaints and issues being raised by its customers with google. Ask their customer support person to verify some of this complaints, ensure that you are guaranteed of your sites 99% uptime before going ahead to purchase a plan with any hosting company.



10. Quick Install(newbies)
For newbies it is always better to choose a web hosting platform that provides its customers with a very easy to operate hosting structure take for example a newbie with no knowledge on how the to upload and install wordpress on his hosting account might find it easy to use the quick install option provided by some host service providers e.g Godaddy and hostgator that provides users with a quick install option for some CMS like wordpress, drupal, joomla, woocommerce and phpbb right from the Cpanel, without having to go through the ardious process of first downloading the wordpress installer package and uploading it to your hosting account  after which you will have to create a mysql user.  So i think it would be easier for newbie who are “non tech inclined” to look for host service providers provide something like that.

Note: mylastkobo.com is not recommending any host provider listed in this article

This article was written for www.mylastkobo.com here. feel free to re-use it but please retain this ownership statement as credit to the author steve azuka @ mylastkobo.com

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Connecting your filezila FTP to a remote server(techpreneurs)

 
Although most web host(e.g godaddy,hostgator,sitegrounds) now supports an automatic direct online installation of wordpress into your host server through your Cpanel.
  there are still very many host service provider that will require you to download and upload your wordpress installation files to your host server and in this case it is recommended that you use an FTP client to upload this file and to do any future direct upload into your host server(e.g your sitemap file) this tutorial will show you how to connect an FTP client to your host server and make changes to files in your host directory.

download filezilla ftp client here

install the executable file you downloaded from the download link above. the file is supposed to look like this







[fig 1]

after installing the filezilla open it and you are supposed to see something like this:

[fig 2]

put in your accurate details where applicable.

Enter the hostname into the quickconnect bar's Host: field(1), the username into the Username: field(2) as well as the password into the Password: field(3). You may leave the Port: field empty unless your login information specifies a certain port to use. Now click on Quickconnect.


Note: If your login information specifies a protocol like SFTP or FTPS, enter the hostname as follows: sftp://yourhostname or ftps://yourhostname respectively.


FileZilla will now try to connect to the server. If all works well, you will notice that the right "column" switched from Not connected to any server to displaying a list of files and directories.

Navigating the Filezilla windows.
The next step is to get familiar with FileZilla's window layout.

[fig 3]

Here is a quick introduction: Below the toolbar (1) and quick connect bar (2), the message log (3) displays transfer and connection related messages. Below, you can find the file listings. The left column (local pane, 4) displays the local files and directories, i.e. the stuff on the PC you're using FileZilla on. The right column (server pane, 5) displays the files and directories on the server you are connected to. Both columns have a directory tree at the top and a detailed listing of the currently selected directory's contents at the bottom. You can easily navigate either of the trees and lists by clicking around like in any other file manager. At the bottom of the window, the transfer queue (6) lists the to-be-transferred and already transferred files.

Transferring files

 -uploading files.

First - in the local pane(the part labeled 4 in fig 3) - bring the directory into view which contains data to be uploaded (e.g. index.html and images/). Now, navigate to the desired target directory on the server (using the server pane's file listings). To upload the data, select the respective files/directories and drag them from the local(the part labeled 4 in fig 3) to the remote pane(the part labeled 5 in fig 3). You will notice that the files will be added to the transfer queue at the bottom of the window(the part labeled 6 in fig 3) and soon thereafter get removed again - since they were (hopefully, if nothing went wrong) just uploaded to the server. The uploaded files and directories should now be displayed in the server content listing at the right side of the window(the part labeled 5 in fig 3).


Note: If you don't like using drag-and-drop, you can also right click on files/directories (in the lower local pane) and select Upload to upload them - or simply double-click a file entry (this does not work for directories).

Note (advanced): If you enable filtering and upload a complete directory, only the not-filtered-out files and directories inside this directory will be transferred.

-Downloading

Downloading files, or complete directories, works essentially the same way as uploading - you just drag the files/directories from the remote pane(the part labeled 5 in fig 2) to the local pane(the part labeled 4 in fig 2) this time, instead of the other way round.

Note: In case you (accidentally) try to overwrite a file during upload or download, FileZilla will by default display a dialog asking what to do (overwrite, rename, skip...)

Using the site manager

Now that you are confident in transferring files (if not, practice a little bit), you might want to add the server information to the site manager to make it easy to reconnect to this server. To do this, select Copy current connection to Site Manager... in the File menu. The site manager will be opened and a new entry will be created with all the important information already filled in. You will notice that the entry's name is selected and highlighted - you can enter some descriptive name so you will later on find your server again (enter something like domain.com FTP server for example - you can rename it later if you wish).    Now close the dialog by clicking on OK.

The next time you want to connect to this server, you can simply select it in the site manager and click Connect.
this same process can be used to upload your wordpress installation files to your host server.

note: this post was posted as an aside for web design newbie's using the www.mylastkobo.com web design tutor ebook.

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MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE FOR YOUNG UNEMPLOYED NIGERIAN GRADUATES

MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE FOR YOUNG UNEMPLOYED NIGERIAN GRADUATES PT1

So today is another day in your life, another day to walk around town in search of vacancies,
another day to spend countless hours searching the internet for job openings, another day to expectantly scrutinize every sms on your mobile phone for job interviews notifications, another day to check your nairabet results and place new bets, another day to go on facebook, twitter and nairaland to complain about the Nigerian Economy, another day to weep helplessly to God for a Job, any job.

 Well, for those of you who chose to pray, God just answered your prayer, in fact he answered it long ago from the day you were born as a physically and mentally healthy human being.
 you only need to be in the shoes of an handicapped or disabled person to understand the amazing gift that you are enjoying being able to perform any physical task, but despite that. there are even some disabled and handicapped people that have put your idle legs and hands to shame by achieving goals you cannot achieve, by realising dreams that you may have thought would be humanly unachievable.

all i am trying to say is that while you are at home laying in bed using both hands to chat all day on watsapp, bbm and facebook there is an handicapped person with one hand somewhere using his only single hand to create things, lift things, repair things and contribute to Human development.
 while you are still on the Bed holding your phone with your two complete God given Hands typing “lol,yolo,lmfao,smh” there is an handicapped man out there without limb trying to use his legs to work to contribute his own quota,

while you are laying back in bed to continue sleeping in the morning there is a Blind man somewhere directing himself to work with just a stick.
The world around you is filled with so many problems that you were specifically created to solve, come closer a bit and look at Africa, Africa is filled with so many problems that even if 20million Graduates were to be getting employed every year, there will still be enough problem for another 120 more million Graduates to solve, ok lets come home to Nigeria.
Nigeria is like the capital of Africa in terms of Populations, we have so many people and problems in Nigeria that even if  500,000 Graduates get employed every year there will still be enough problem for others to solve, thereby creating Jobs for themselves and employing others.

Have you ever wondered why we wait in long lines in banks before getting attended to? Have you ever wondered why there are so many mechanic workshops in town but you will almost always have to wait when you bring in your car for service? You take your cloths to the Tailor and he tell you he has a lot of work to do.

this is because there can never be enough supermarkets, enough shops, enough mechanic workshops, enough Tailors. to serve a country this big and still yet in this same country many are still saying there is no job. How can there be no jobs?
There are Jobs all around you, but the truth is that you ve chosen not to see them. All you want to see is the Job opening of Big companies and government ministeries, The only picture that comes into your head when you hear the word job is the logo of Chevron,NNPC,TEXACO,SHELL.
Delete those pictures from your head and start planning on something realistic.

For more post about Starting off as a Nigerian Graduate visit www.mylastkobo.com

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How to Set-up a Lucrative Mini Importation Business with Less than 10,000 NAIRA( entrepreneurs )

INTRODUCTION
What I want to talk about is how you can use your smart phone to start a Mini Importation Business with as small as N10,000. (your last kobo).
Remember this blog is dedicated to helping you and Thousands of other Unemployed young Nigerian Graduates to Setup something for themselves at the lowest capital cost, we source for this informations online, from already made businesses,personal testimonies and ensure they are Authentic before bringing them to you for free. hence the name http://www.mylastkobo.com. In this Tutorial we will be Providing you with all the knowledge you need to setup your own Mini importation business Right from the comfort of your home with just your mobile Smartphone( preferably android)

THE CONCEPT is to start small with your last kobo, importing and selling something very cheap that people need here and then sell for a reasonable price.
If you are looking for kind of business then this is not for you.

 STEP 1. THINGS YOU WILL NEED/TOOLS
In order to use your phone very well to do this Business, you will be needing some software to be able to run this business effectively on your phone.

those who are waiting till they get a laptop before going into online businesses should stop wasting their time and try this one with their smartphone

Below are the software you will be needing to download ( click on them to go to download page)

Aliexpress
Mozilla
Skype
Whatsapp
OLX

MORE INSIGHTS ON THE TOOLS

ALIEXPRESS
I don’t need to tell you much about this cause there are many free article on the internet about how to use Aliexpress.com click here to know more about aliexpress
For those who don’t know it is used to source for products in China. Visit the site to get the mobile app here aliexpress

MOZILLA FIREFOX
this will help you to send and receive mail from your Chinese contacts also to help you do your research before importation. Download here firefox download page

SKYPE & WHATSAPP
this is what you will use to communicate with your china suppliers after contacting them. Some use Skype while others use whatsapp. But all you need to do is ask them for their contact and they will give you the one they are using.

OLX
Me and you know that OLX is a classified Ads site where buyers and sellers meet to advertise their product for sale.

Now that you can afford N10,000 and you are waiting for your savings to get to N1,000,000 before you can start importation business.
Let me tell you why importation business is a very lucrative business that is capable of turning N10,000 into N300,000 if done properly.

• In a country of over 170,000,000 people that more than 85% of what they use on daily basis is imported.
• Look around yourself now and count 10 things you can see then check to know where they are produced from, you will be surprise to know that more than 7 are imported.

So you can see why I said that this is a sure business any one can venture into with as little as your last kobo and make cool cash if done well.
Back in the days importation business was the business for the high and mighty. if you are recognized as an importer then you must be a big man. No wonder you see these importers ride exotic cars in Nigeria.

But thank God today,  technology has made it possible for ORDINARY people like me and you to be able to tap into this lucrative business.

Now off to Step2 shall we?

STEP 2. HOW TO GO ABOUT IT.

Like me, what I did was to look for small products that has lite weight and I know will sell here which also the cost of importing it and price will not be more than N250 so I sourced and saw this product.

FIX IT PRO (Car Scratch Removal) see picture bellow….

The total price for the product for both importation and shipping was N250 so I placed an order for 40pcs and within 3days I got my order here in Lagos and sold it online and to neighbors for N1,500, which took me 5days to sell up and I made N50,000 within 10days from this single one alone.

Imagine if you do this for 3 times in a month that is sure N150,000 every month.

Now tell me is this not a lucrative business that has a high returns? or is the price in dollar affecting my returns?
I laugh when people tell me they will not import anything until they have up to N100,000…. If you keep waiting for the Big capital before starting anything as a graduate then you may end up not starting up anything at all.
STEP 3. HOW TO SOURCE FOR PRODUCT TO IMPORT

When sourcing for product, I regard it as the 70% Job needed to be done in order to be successful in importation business.

I will do my best to give you the Formula for this Concept.

Formula = (Find a PROBLEM + Make sure the Market is Big enough and CAPABLE) / Import The SOLUTION.

STEP 5 HOW TO FIND A PROBLEM
Use the forum and other social media and also watch TV and listen to Radio Programs where they discuss real life issues, ask questions; a friend of mine started meeting and making friend with new mothers with babies just because she wanted to go into that line of importation.Be Observant too.
 STEP 5. HOW TO SELL

Selling is simple when you have a ready market that is capable of spending to get what you are offering as long as it will help them by solving their problem. thats why step 4 was the most important step. if your product does not solve an available Nigerian Problem, then you will find it difficult to sell that Product in Nigeria.

Below are places and tools you can use to sell.
• Konga
• Dealdey
• OLX
• Your Neighbors
• Retail Shop Owners

create your own makeshift shed to display your products in the neighbourhood

drops adverts in social networks like Facebook, twitter,instagram and watsapp,

Go to offices during lunch breaks to show them your products. (pls ensure you take adequate permissions from the necessary authorities, it is better if its a place where someone you know works, so you can call him/her to show you in. )

picture of a typical makeshift shop.you could try something like this and invite people to see it.

the above is all the info that you will be needing for a start. drop your questions and suggestions in the comment box.

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