A Complete Guide For Newbies | Web Hosting Features | Part 7
Multiple Domain Names, E-Mail Forwarding Service, SPAM Protection, And Email Auto-Responders
Each of the above features is very important, especially if you have an ecommerce website.
Multiple Domain Names
Multiple domain names hosted on a single hosting account as add-on domains will save you a lot of money. As you are using only a single hosting account, you will be at a slight disadvantage because you will be using the same IP address allocated to your website. But it is especially useful if you compare the cost of hosting each new domain on a separate hosting.
For example, if you have 10 different domains which focuses on various specific niche topics, then you may have to buy 10 different hosting accounts, preferably on different hosting services and in different parts of the country. If each hosting account costs you, for example, £60 per year, including the purchase of the domain name, then these 10 web accounts will cost you a whooping £600 each year.
If you are using only one hosting account to host 10 domains as add-ons, then you will only have to pay for one hosting account and the cost of 10 domain names. All these costs will still save you almost 75 percent of the above figure! With 10 different hosting accounts, you will have to keep a watch on each hosting and will have to communicate with 10 different web hosts and their technical teams all the time. You will quickly find how unmanageable the whole process becomes.
So, it is better to host most of your new domains on a single hosting scheme. It is, therefore, important to have the ability to host multiple domain names with a single hosting plan. Normally, most web hosts provide this feature, but make sure that your plan includes this important feature before buying the web hosting scheme.
E-Mail Forwarding Service
E-mail forwarding service passes the e-mails received on your website to a different e-mail address. This is a very handy tool as you, as a webmaster, can control all your websites’ e-mail accounts from a central e-mail address that you regularly use. This feature all saves you much time and prevents logging to all your websites just to view your e-mail inboxes.
If you have this convenient feature of e-mail forwarding, then all your e-mails are automatically forwarded from your website’s e-mail address to another e-mail address that is used by you regularly, or to another e-mail address of your choice. This also offers much privacy and keeps your regular e-mail address private.
Please keep in mind that a hacker who breaks into your website can also have access to your e-mails, so it is prudent to have a separate e-mail account for your most private and very confidential online communications.
SPAM Protection
Spam protection is one of the most essential services that your website must have. If you are using cPanel, you can easily configure the spam protection (SpamAssassin) and SpamBox to filter the spam e-mails coming to your e-mail inbox. These 2 programs can identify any spam e-mails and then flag and prevent them from entering your inbox. The SpamAssassin is an automated e-mail filter system, and can identify spam messages. The SpamBox delivers the spam messages to the special e-mail folder called the “spam” folder. You can automate the deletion of these spam messages after specific time.
E-mail Auto-Responders
E-mail auto-responders are automatic functionality program that sends automatic e-mail message responses to any person who sends you an e-mail. This is especially useful to inform your customers and friends that you are not available at present or that you are on vacation, or any other e-mail notification or response that needs to be sent to anyone who sends you e-mails.
If you wish to send different e-mail responses at regular intervals to your list members, then you will have to use third-party specialized auto-responders that have variety of features, ranging from double or single opt-in, sending e-mail campaigns, or sending e-mail marketing messages and e-mail newsletters. These are specialized e-mail auto-responders and are vastly different from the cPanel’s e-mail auto-responder.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
The file transfer protocol (FTP) is a very important option that your web host can provide you. Using FTP, you can very easily transfer files from one web server to another web server and also to your system. The FTP is also a secure way of transferring the files over the internet.
You can also use specialized paid and free versions of third-party FTP programs or softwares. These are widely used by most of the webmaster and are very powerful. These FTP softwares can be setup on your desktop and can be used to manage many websites at the same time. They are usually much faster in uploading and downloading and many of the tasks are automated. The FTP program can handle the transfers of graphics files and text files differently and there are many such wonderful features.
Anonymous FTP Accounts
Using this function, you can create a separate FTP account through which you can allow people to download the files. If you have some huge files or content that you are providing for free to the people, and if you have this option available on your website, then the web users can easily make use of this tool and download the content that they need. The FTP programs are also used to for making uninterrupted downloads.
That means that if someone is downloading some files from your website and his connection is cutoff, then they can easily download the file from that point itself, without having to re-download it once again from the beginning. This option works great for heavy downloads.
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