Cody Moya’s article “Important Considerations for the Paid Membership Web Site” is reprinted here. [Article]


Cody Moya’s article is reprinted here.

Important Considerations for the Paid Membership Web Site

One of the most vital parts of any paid membership web site is the database that is used to store and retrieve the information contained on the site. The two most commonly used database programs used for small and medium sized web sites are Microsoft Access and MySQL. The database design you choose for your own web site will depend both on your needs and what your web hosting company can support.

In addition to Microsoft Access and MySQL, there are a number of other database programs that can be used, including Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, Sybase and Oracle. It is important to work out the selection of a database platform with the developer and designer of your web site.

Important factors to consider in choosing a database program are its compatibility with other web applications, compatibility with your host platform, reliability, scalability and of course cost. If you have already decided on your preferred database platform, it is important to be sure that your web hosting company is able to support it.

It is also important to make sure that the web hosting company you choose be able to provide technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. After all the Internet is an always on medium, and your paying customer base will demand access to the information they are paying for, no matter when they may need it. It is important that any problems that are detected be repaired as soon as they are detected, before they have had a chance to negatively impact your customer base.

Remember that when there is a problem with your paid membership web site, your customers will not blame your web hosting company; they will blame you. They will also demand that the deficiency be fixed immediately, and so it is important that the web hosting company you choose be responsive to your needs, and that they have the technical skills necessary to fix the problem, whether it lies with the server hardware, the database structure, the operating system platform, or anywhere else.

For this reason, it is important to find out how long your proposed web hosting company has been in business, and to find out who some of their largest clients are. It is a good idea to get a list of clients, and to survey those clients and find out what they like, and don’t like about their hosting company. This kind of honest feedback will be invaluable when deciding between the many web hosting services on the Internet.

It is also important to know the length of the hosting contract you will be required to sign. Does the contract provide for month to month service, or does it require a quarterly, annual or longer commitment? It is important to decide which arrangement will work best for you, and to negotiate the contract accordingly. Remember that your web hosting contract is a business commitment, and it is important to approach it as such. If you do not understand a particular clause or piece of fine print, be sure to have it clarified.

When it comes to the cost of hosting a paid membership web site, the fees will vary greatly. For the most part, however, the phrase “you get what you pay for” is in play here. For instance, there are a slew of companies offering web hosting for $3 a month, $5 a month, or even for free.

For the most part, however, these web hosting companies are designed for individuals posting pictures of their family members, vacation pictures, or even photos of their pets. These low cost hosting services are not designed for running a business, and they may not offer the features needed to get a paid membership web site up and running. In addition, these low cost hosts will not be able to offer the scalability that will be needed as your base of paying members grows.

It is best, therefore, to choose a web hosting company that will be able to serve your company as it grows, and one that understands the needs and desires of those running a business on the web. The cost for such a high quality, business oriented web hosting company generally ranges from $20 to $35 per month.

One feature that will be very important to the owner of a paid membership web site is the availability of unlimited FTP access. The availability of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) will be important for your clients to have access to the information they are paying for. FTP is a method used to transfer files from a remote location (such as your server) to another location (such as the computers of your paid members). It is very important to shop for a web hosting company that offers unlimited, 24 hour access to files via FTP.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cody Moya writes about Profitable Memberships in his Free Courses on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his free Courses and get additional information at his website: http://FreeInternetMarketingCourses.com

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*IMNewswatch would like to thank Cody Moya for granting permission to reprint this article.

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