In the world of internet, stats are plenty about how India is at the cusp of website boom. For long years we’ve been fed this information, X million SMEs in India, X million people online, so there is a great potential for websites. Despite these numbers the one thing that most web designers and developers experience is strong resistance from people to go online. Which brings us to this topic, in India, selling website is very difficult and most SMEs do not believe in taking their business online. They rely on age old modes of marketing to get new business and spread the word; some of them actually believe going online is damaging for their business. We’ve met jewelry makers who are afraid that a website will mean competitors stealing their ideas. This is the state of things in our country in context to selling websites.

This situation needs attention, it needs understanding but most of all needs Web Designers & Developers to get involved. At Hostgator we believe that web designers and developers are not just our customers but enablers for people who choose to go online. We’ve cooked up this article to help you enablers get people online, it’s where all the action is and is where they should be:

1. Share more information: Most customers don’t ask questions and that’s because they don’t know what questions to ask. You can change this by sharing more information. Inform them about the components of a website and the ways they all come together to create a complete website.

2. Meet deadlines: One of the most heard reasons behind not going online, is the perceived fraud a lot of people claim to have faced. Customers do not understand the nitty-gritty of website creation, they don’t know the efforts involved in creating the most simplest of functions. It’s up-to you to communicate this to the customers, set clear deadlines for projects and strive hard to meet them. Don’t oversell and under deliver, instead set a deadline and finish the project before. It’ll do wonders for your reputation.

3. Get invested: Most designers and developers limit their scope to just creating a website and supporting it. If you are more invested in the actual selling, it will boost your business significantly. Think of it as converting customers, carry case studies of successful online businesses, online v/s offline business expense comparison charts, presentations etc. Basically wow the customers with information that is indisputable.

4. Understand the reason to be online: In some ways, web designers/developers act as sales folk who deal with the end customers. It’s up-to them to convince the customers that they need to go online. One of the key elements in this is to understand the reasons yourself. Internet is a whole new world of opportunities, where information is freely available, which more and more people are adopting by the day. There are only a handful of businesses online today to serve these customers, the early movers are at a great advantage and this needs to be communicated with your customers.

5. Be Online: We wrote an entire article about this so we’re not going to repeat the whole story. Cutting to the chase – how can you convince customers to get online if you’re not there yourself? A very important part of selling any product is to believe in it yourself. We see tons of web developers/designers without their own website, if you’re serious about selling a website you need to have one of your own.
We’ll end the article at that note, we’ll admit that selling websites is difficult, but together we can convince everyone about the value of being online. We call on you to join us in our efforts to take India Online.

Source : http://blog.hostgator.in/2014/11/06/selling-websites-is-hard/

Being a web designer in todays times can be a tough task. Expectations are high and time is always against you. This makes for a perfect recipe for design blunders. In one of our previous articles, we’ve talked about tips to churn out awesome designs and we think it’s prudent we talk about things to avoid while designing a website. Also, may we point out, not only will this make your site look better but also improve customer conversions. So without wasting much of your time lets begin:

1] Watch your Fonts: We understand the urge to make things look pretty but font is one area where you’re probably better off with something that is legible. When it comes to fonts, you only get points to make your content readable. Whether you’re designing a personal blog or an ecommerce website, you need to make sure all information is easily readable

2] Make navigation simple: Help people navigate your website with ease. Clear titles/subtitles are a must. There is no value in confusing the visitor to stay on longer. On the contrary, you may actually lose the visitor out of sheer frustration. This principle applies 10x if you’re an ecommerce site. Gone are the days of confusing the customer to buy more. You can win that 1 sale but you’ll lose a lifetime customer if you’re website is confusing

3] Don’t be Flashy: We can think of more than 1 reason why you’re better of avoiding flash. But our key point to you is the potential load time of your customers website. A beautiful site that loads slow is literally useless. In todays times, people want things fast, at lightning speeds. Your goal should be to diseminate information as fast as you can on every page of you website

4] Help customers find help: Make sure the Contact or Support section is easy to find. All trusted websites have contact details clearly visible. Inculcate this in your design principle. The customer may or may not know about this but a hidden Contact/Help link is just a bad idea.

5] NO Pop-Ups: 90’s are gone and they took the dreaded pop-ups with them, need we say more?

6] Mind your Language: A lot of designers get content from the customer and a lot of them have copywriters who draft it. Eitherways, it’s critical that there are no typos, no grammatical errors or other such mistakes. Nothing is shabbier than a website with typos. We say Mind your language is a good rule to have.

7] No Horizontal scrolling: It goes without saying that a web page needs to fit all major screen resolutions. This means in most cases a view should not be required to scroll horizontally. We come across such sites every now and then and trust us we hate it!

8] You may not enter: A website is like a book, anyone should be able to have a peak. Unless, the site has confidential (or some inappropriate) information we cannot think of good reason to have a “Click here to enter”. These interstitial pages are a dead trend and we say let it be so.

9] Watch the color: Steer away from using garish colors and weird combinations. This makes a website look shabby and the text difficult to read. Here’s a some cool resource to make sure you get your color combos right: Paletton

10] Ditch the audio: It’s been a while since we’ve come across a site that had background music and we’re happy about. It was a trend that was tried but failed miserably. Music or other ambient activity could be distracting to the visitors, it could have serious impact on the conversion rates of the website.

11] No Research: This is criminal, it’s a mantra every designer should follow religuously. Before starting any project invest time in researching the vertical, competitor websites and such. It offers a ton of perspective and makes you look super smart for coming up with awesome suggestions :)

12] Stay Lite: Image heavy sites are an all round bad idea, they take time to load and cost a bomb. Stay away from the temptation and use images only where necessary. Explain this to client if they ask for it, they’ll thank you later. A heave site only leaves the viewers frustrated, never to return to your website.

There you have it, these are some of the most common mistakes and also the ones that are easy to avoid. Steer clear from these to get an edge over others in your design output. We hope this article was of a little help in making your work a tab bit easier.

Source : http://blog.hostgator.in/2015/02/04/12-web-design-blunders-to-avoid/

Web Hosting Plans provided by Hostgator

Shared Web Hosting: This is the basic type of hosting which most people will want. You will be able to host more than one website and enjoy HostGator's award winning 24/7/365 support available through phone, email and live chat. Our support agents are never outsourced; everyone you speak to works in the United States of America.

Reseller Hosting: This type of plan is designed to make you your own hosting company. If you want to sell hosting services for profit, then you want to be a reseller. We also recommend this type of hosting if you have more than one e-commerce website, and need more than one SSL certificate, because each SSL requires its own cPanel. You will still be able to host more than one website and enjoy HostGator's award winning 24/7/365 support available through phone, email and live chat.

VPS Hosting: The main point of upgrading to a VPS from a shared or reseller account would be for flexibility in software installations, Apache configurations, and other custom software (ventrilo, ffmpeg, etc). A VPS also provides more freedom to send emails and stream media. A VPS is not a solution to an overly resource-intensive account.

Dedicated Hosting: This is the most powerful type of hosting, which meets the requirements and needs of big businesses. Dedicated server owners are allowed to sell hosting services for profit, and you can choose the server specifications and environment. If you have heavy traffic, a very popular site, or a large customer database, then consider Dedicated Hosting. A dedicated server also provides more freedom to send emails and stream media. You will also be able to host more than one website and enjoy HostGator's award winning 24/7/365 support available through phone, email and live chat.

Hosting comparison chart

All fully managed plans include a cron job scheduler.

SOURCE : http://support.hostgator.in/articles/hosting-guide/hosting-plan-comparison/hosting-comparison-chart

Shared Web Hosting - Linux Affordable and basic hosting Hatchling, Baby, Business Linux server only - perfect for WordPress 1 cPanel but no WHM Limited to 1 IP and 1 SSL Private name servers not allowed No branding LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (includes mod_rewrite) Limited to 25% use of server resources 25 simultaneous processes HTTP video and audio streaming only Maximum of 500 outgoing emails per hour per domain (Addon domains count as separate domains) 30 POP/IMAP checks per hour for your connecting IP address HostGator creates weekly backups (Rs.750 to request) Jailed shell access (SSH)

Shared Web Hosting - Windows Affordable and basic hosting Personal and Enterprise Windows server - perfect for ASP.NET Latest version of Plesk Private name servers not allowed No branding Limited to 25% use of server resources 25 simultaneous processes HTTP video and audio streaming only Maximum of 500 outgoing emails per hour per domain (Addon domains count as separate domains) 30 POP/IMAP checks per hour for your connecting IP address HostGator creates weekly backups (Rs.750 to request) No Remote Desktop (No RDP)

Reseller Hosting Be your own hosting company Use as basic hosting or host others for profit Perfect for multiple e-commerce websites Aluminum, Copper, Silver, Gold, Diamond Linux server only - perfect for WordPress Unlimited cPanel's and 1 WHM Unlimited potential for IP's and SSL's Private name servers allowed Branding available for cPanel, but not WHM LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (includes mod_rewrite) Limited to 25% use of server resources 25 simultaneous processes HTTP video and audio streaming only Maximum of 500 outgoing emails per hour per domain (Addon domains count as separate domains) 30 POP/IMAP checks per hour for your connecting IP address HostGator creates weekly backups (Rs.750 to request) Jailed shell access (SSH)

SEO Hosting Separate C class IP addresses for search engine optimization Use as basic hosting or host others for profit Perfect for multiple e-commerce websites Plans for 5 to 125 IPs Linux server only - perfect for WordPress Limited cPanel's (1 per IP address) and 1 WHM Unlimited potential for IP's and SSL's Private name servers allowed Branding available for cPanel, but not WHM LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (includes mod_rewrite) Limited to 25% use of server resources 25 simultaneous processes HTTP video and audio streaming only Maximum of 500 outgoing emails per hour per domain (Addon domains count as separate domains) 30 POP/IMAP checks per hour for your connecting IP address HostGator creates weekly backups (Rs.750 to request) Jailed shell access (SSH)

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) - Linux Very much like a dedicated server, but costs less and share the resources Root access Install advanced software Customize anything (flexibility in software installations / apache configurations / other custom software like ventrilo and ffmpeg) Use as basic hosting or host others for profit Perfect for multiple e-commerce websites Plans with cPanel or Plesk are managed Plans without cPanel and Plesk are unmanaged Linux server only - perfect for WordPress Unlimited cPanel's and unlimited WHM's 1 root WHM (allows selling of reseller accounts) Unlimited potential for IP's and SSL's Private name servers required Branding available for cPanel and WHM LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (includes mod_rewrite) Limited to 100% use of container/plan resources (VPS is still limited to a specified percentage of the server, this is not a solution to overly resource-intensive accounts and heavy traffic) Unlimited simultaneous processes Live video and audio streaming allowed (webcams, radio, television) UNLIMITED outgoing emails per hour per domain No POP/IMAP checking limits HostGator creates weekly backups (Rs.750 to request) You can schedule your own automated backups Normal shell access (root SSH)

Dedicated Servers - Linux Control your own hosting server Root access Install advanced software Customize anything (flexibility in software installations / apache configurations / other custom software like ventrilo and ffmpeg) Use as basic hosting or host others for profit Perfect for Fortune 500 companies and sites with heavy traffic Perfect for multiple e-commerce websites Basic, Standard, Elite, Pro Linux server - perfect for WordPress Unlimited cPanel's and unlimited WHM's 1 root WHM (allows selling of reseller accounts) Unlimited potential for IP's and SSL's Private name servers required Branding available for cPanel and WHM LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (includes mod_rewrite) Get 100% use of server resources!!! Unlimited simultaneous processes Live video and audio streaming allowed (webcams, radio, television) UNLIMITED outgoing emails per hour per domain No POP/IMAP checking limits No weekly backups by HostGator You can schedule your own automated backups Normal shell access (root SSH)

Dedicated Servers - Windows Control your own hosting server Full Administrator Access Install advanced software Customize anything (flexibility in software installations / configurations / other custom software) Use as basic hosting or host others for profit Perfect for Fortune 500 companies and sites with heavy traffic Perfect for multiple e-commerce websites Basic, Standard, Elite, Pro Windows server - perfect for ASP.NET Unlimited potential for IP's and SSL's Private name servers required Branding available for Plesk Get 100% use of server resources!!! Unlimited simultaneous processes Live video and audio streaming allowed (webcams, radio, television) UNLIMITED outgoing emails per hour per domain No POP/IMAP checking limits No weekly backups by HostGator You can schedule your own automated backups Remote Desktop (RDP)

What is the difference between Reseller and Shared?

The Shared Web Hosting plans are for a single owner; we provide one control panel for all of your domains. We do not support reselling on the Shared plans.

The Reseller Hosting plans are intended for an owner who wants to sell hosting; we provide an unlimited number of control panels, one for each domain. If you need multiple SSL certificates or multiple IP addresses, you must choose a Reseller account. If you want WHM and control over DNS zones, you must choose a Reseller account.

Why does shared have more space than reseller?

We are offer a reseller package so you can sell your own hosting plans; remember we do not allow anyone to resell the basic webhosting plans.

Most sites don't need unlimited disk space, and you can offer other services to your clients - like webdesign or advertising.

The technical reason is because of our inode limit. An inode is a count of every file and folder. Shared plans have one primary user that adds content. Reseller plans, however, can have many users, all adding content and creating more files and folders. The higher the inode count, the higher the file system overhead and more resources are used.

What is the difference between Linux and Windows hosting?

Linux and Windows are two different types of operating systems. Linux is more secure and more efficient than Windows. Linux also has more of the features web designers expect, so unless you have websites which need specific Windows applications, Linux is the preferred choice.

Windows applications which require a Windows server:
ASP.NET
MSSQL
MS Access
Visual Basic development
Remote Desktop (dedicated servers only)

One other difference is that Linux files are case-sensitive and Windows files are not.
Example:
On a Linux server, home.html and Home.html are different names.
On a Windows server, home.html, Home.html, and HOME.HTML are the same name.

Why should I use VPS instead of a shared or reseller package?

It's an ideal upgrade for a shared client to move to a VPS; however, moving from a reseller to a VPS is only recommended if the you need more control of the box.
Otherwise, reseller hosting is preferred for 99% of resellers because you get all the reseller tools (including WHMCS for free), and you have managed hosting for your clients.
Here are some specific needs which will require a VPS or Dedicated Server.

• Office emails - If you have multiple email users working from the same office (same connection IP address), then you will want a VPS. The reason is that shared and reseller plans limit POP and IMAP connections to 30 per hour per connecting IP.
• Mass emailing - If you advertise through email or have a large contact mailing list, you will want a VPS. The reason is that shared and reseller plans limit each domain name to sending 500 emails per hour.
• Custom installations - If you want to develop a custom hosting environment, or want to install something which is not compatible with our shared servers, then you will want a VPS. The reason is that shared and reseller plans do not allow you to change the included server hardware and software; we must provide a stable and consistent environment for every one on a shared server, and allowing changes will inevitably affect the other users.

Compatible Technologies

Does HostGator support what I need?

Important Notice: This page doesn't mean that we install these programs for free. Some programs on this list are already on the server or can be installed for free, but some of these programs require installation or administrative fees. Feel welcome to email support@hostgator.com about a specific program and possible additional fees. (The best place to find what comes with the plan is to check that section of our website, instead of the knowledge base.)

Key:
	=	Compatible.
	=	Not compatible.
	=	Only compatible with a Microsoft Windows server.
	=	Only compatible with a Linux server.
	=	A HostGator agent must enable this for you. Please, email support@hostgator.com or contact us via phone or live chat.

Service	Shared/Reseller	Dedicated/VPS
3rd Party cPanel Skins
Ad Server
Adspy Sites
Ajax
Alias files , aliases
aMember Pro
Apache 2
Apache Flex
Apple , iWeb , Mac Mail
APS Valult , Application Vault (included)
ASP classic (included)
ASP.Net 1.1 (available only with Server 2003)
ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.5 (included)
aspell , pspell
Autolearn , autossh
AWstats (included)
AWstats includes
browscap , browscap.ini
C, C++, GCC, C Compiler
C# , C sharp
Cake CakePHP
Clam AV
CentOS 5 (included)
Clip Share / File Sharing
Cold Fusion (You purchase installation and License) Please email sales@hostgator.com for a quote.
Colo, Colocation Services
Compressed Files (.rar* .zip .tar.gz .bz2)
concrete5
cPanel
cPanel Pro
CRE Loaded Sites
CRE Loader (Not Included, but you can install it)
Cron jobs (included)
Crypt SSLeay
CS-Cart
cURL, libcurl, PHP/CURL (included)
Cyberduck FTP
DBI Module
Delavo
dimdim
disabling PHP open_base dir
Django (shared requires fastcgi)
dl() function
Dolphin 7 (You provide installation and License)
Ray, Orca, & older Dolphin versions (Boonex.com)
DotNet, dot net, .net
DotNetNuke
Drupal (included)
Dundas
e107
eAccelerator
eGroupWare
elgg
emacs , vi (requires SSH)
Email Piping
ExpressionEngine
Fantastico De Luxe (included)
fastCGI
FFmpeg - http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu
Flash FLV (Browsers must have MacroMedia Flash Player Installed)
Flash Media Server FMS
Flash remoting using AMFPHP
Flv2tool - http://inlet-media.de/flvtool2
formail
formmail
fopen
FreeBSD , Debian , Ubuntu (all at your own risk)
FrontPage extensions (included)
fsockopen
FXP
Game Server , gaming
GCD Google Cash Detective
GD2 Library (included)
GET, WGET
Ghostscript
Git client
Git server
gnome / kde (You provide installation)
GnuPG
Google Adsense & Adwords
Google Apps & Email
GZip
HTTP Digest Authentication
HTTP streaming (audio/video)
If-Modified-Since HTTP header
ihtml
IIS
ImageMagick , Image Magick (included)
IMAP
imap_open
innoDB
ionCube Loader
IRC
Java , .jsp , tomcat
javascript , JSON
JIRA
Joomla (included)
JRE , JVM
Kayako
KVM
LAME MP3 Encoder - http://lame.sourceforge.net
Latex (but we do not support the binary)
LDAP, openldap
lib_curl
Libogg + Libvorbis -http://www.xiph.org/downloads
Linux with Oracle XE (We do not officially support Oracle 11 since it requires an X windowing system, but it can be done.)
Live streaming , web cam , radio , tv broadcast
Load Balancing
lynx
Magento
Mail - Exim
Mail - any other MTA (postfix)
memcached
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Exchange (no longer Requires AD)
Midnight Commander , MC
MING PHP Module
Miva empresa
mod_layout
mod_mime
mod_pagespeed
mod_perl, mod_python, mod_gzip, mod_sql_auth, mod_deflate, mod_ruby
mod_rewrite, mod_speling (must enable in .htaccess)
mod_security, mod_sec
Mono
Moodle
mpeg2enc
Mplayer + MEncoder -http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
MSSQL (included)
MySQL 5 (included)
MySQLi
MySQL Clustering
nginx
NNTP / Usenet
nulled scripts (forbidden per our TOS)
Online Chat Program
openSSL 0.9.8o
paFileDB
Payment Gateway / Merchant Provider
PCI Compliance (included)
PCRE Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
PDFlib (requires commercial license)
PDO or pdo_mysql
Pear MDB2
PEAR modules - full list
PennyWize
Perl 5 , Python 2 , CGI , CPAN (all included)
PHP 5 (included)
php APC
php iconv
PHP and PECL modules - full list
PHP shell_exec
PHP tokenizer
PHPArcadeScript , phpas
phpFox, php fox
phpmotion, php motion
PHP Multibyte String
phpMyAdmin (included)
Pinemail / Pine Mail
Plesk
podcast
POP3 (included)
PostgreSQL , Informix , Oracle , Sybase Solid , Generic ODBC
postini
PrestaShop
procmail
Proxy Server, Socket Server, SOCKS 4, 4a, &5
Push Email
quickbooks
QuickInstall (included)
Rapid Leech, rapidshare
Red5
Remote Desktop , RDP
RHEL Red Hat Enterprise Linux
RoR / Ruby on Rails (included)
Round Robin DNS
RSS Feeds
rsync
Safe Harbor Certified (included)
sem_get
server clock adjustments (other than Central Standard Time) , Day Light Saving dst
Server Redundancy
session_gc, probability, divisor, maxlifetime
SetupTools
shared SSL
sharepoint , share point server (requires license)
Shopping Carts
shtml , SSI , server side includes (all included)
ShoutCast , Icecast
SimpleXML
Site Builder , SiteBuilder (included per request)
Site Studio , SiteStudio (included per request)
Smarter Bundle, SmarterBundle (included)
Smarter Mail , SmarterMail (included)
Smarty
SMF Forum Boards
SMS Gateway , MMS
SMTP (included)
SOAP php
SourceGuardian decoder
SoX
SpamAssassin , spamd
SQLite
SSH2 (included)
SSH Tunnel
SSL Wrapper stunnel
streaming Flash
Subversion SVN Client
SVN / CVS Repository
Tom Cat
tmpfs (configuration requires bill for admin time)
Urchin Stats (please include your root pw in the ticket)
vBulletin
vBSEO
Vidscript
Virtual Machine vmware
Visual Basic Development
Visual Studio
VirtualEnv
VNC (You provide installation)
Voice Servers (TeamSpeak / Ventrillo)
VPN / VPS		VPS =  Dedi =
vTiger CRM , sugar CRM (You provide installation and License)
WAP
Webalizer (included)
Webdav Class 1
Webdisk Class 1
WebMail Access: Horde, SquirrelMail, RoundCube (all included)
WHM
Wiki ( MediaWiki , PhpWiki , TWiki )
wildcard SSL , multi-domain SSL
Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2003 (included)
Woopra
WordPress (included)
WordPress MU
WSGI , mod_wsgi
X Windows
XAMPP (Linux already has LAMP, so this shouldn't be needed. Windows dedi can install this for yourself.)
XCache
xdebug
XML , xml-rpc
XMPP (You provide installation)
Xoops
XSitePro (http://www.xsitepro.com/)
xslt
XSSI (extended server side includes)
Yamdi
Zend Core
Zend Framework
Zend Optimizer 3.2.x
zip_open
zlib compression Library
Zope / Plone

If you are wondering about a program or software that is not listed here, feel welcome to email support@hostgator.com and ask us directly.

SOURCE : http://support.hostgator.in/articles/hosting-guide/hardware-software/compatible-technologies