What Web Host To Use For Big IM Launch?

I was wondering if anyone can recommend a web host and dedicated server requirements for a big Internet Marketing launch?

I know in the past some people have experienced server problems on launch day.

Any ideas?


Craig

Hi Craig

I would host all the video and images on Amazons S3 Storage locker. If you want I post a video on how to do it if you have any trouble.

I use https://www.bocacom.net/ with mine for what it is worth. These are my specs

Dell Dual Xeon Dual Core 3.0GHz
2 GB Ram
2 x 160 GB SATA Drive
1500 GB Transfer
5 IP Addresses
The server is $199 per month plus I have to pay for support for it.

Mike Filsaime recommends Kiosk Web Hosting, and I have heard a lot of good stuff about there support.

www.wwkiosk.com

But I think the beg key is to make sure you have the bandwidth and the other files hosted on Amazon.

Thanks
Charles Kirkland

Hi Craig

I recommend http://www.hostgator.com
they have a good support and service.

Thanks
Mohamed Mnafeg

Mohamed

I do like host gator.

They have managed servers so they take care of everything plus you get a number to call and talk to a real person anytime of the day.

Thanks
Charles

Didn't Frank Kern use Amazons S3 Storage locker and still have a server crash when he recently launched his latest product?

Yes, but if he would have hosted the files on his own server it would have crashed sooner.
By hosting the file on a different server you free up bandwidth.

But the problem is a single dedicated server will on handle so much traffic...it's like when you have to many programs open a one time your computer is slow. The same thing happens with servers. It's like moving a watermellon through a water hose. Only so much can and will go through at any given time.

Thanks
Charles

Thanks for the tips.

I have also seen videos hosted on You Tube.

I may put my download page on another server as well.

I will have a few videos and audio interviews so it may be
bandwidth intensive.

A video showing how to set things up would be awesome.

You could probably turn it into a Warrior Special offer.

I am sure quite a few of us would benefit from a video.

Thanks Charles.

Craig

Dedicated hosting is kind of pricey.

I suppose you could move your site
after all of the launch day traffic dies down.

It wouldn't make sense to pay $200 a month
if you were only making $100 in sales a month
after the launch dies down.

Lets hope I don't have to worry about that.

$100 in sales a day would be sweet.

$200 a day would be even better.


Craig

You could use a shared dedicated host. This is when you only a few people on the server, so maybe 4 people are sharing a host instead of 1,000's

Thanks
Charles

Craig

I will make the video for you on Friday..sad to say I have never done a WSO. But that could be my first.


Thanks
Charles

Thanks Charles.

Keith Wellman recommended LunarPages to me so I swithed over on his recommendation, but I've been having some problems getting my split analyzer working on that server. If you aren't using any programs that require Zend Optimizer to decode your php, it would be another option for you to look into. They have both dedicated and shared hosting, so if you wanted to switch to shared after your launch, it should be an easy switch over.

Jennifer

Hi Craig,

The good thing about a dedicated server is that you can run as many sites as you want on it.

I know you don't want to spend $200 a month if you're making only $100 in sales, but there's no reason why you can't launch a new site and have it on that server later on too.

If your first site has died down completely, it'll probably be using a minimal amount of resources, so for your next launch you've essentially got all the resources of that dedicated server again.

So it only takes a couple of small sites earning a $100 a month to cover the cost of the server - and if they don't get that much traffic, you've still got most of the bandwidth for a launch anytime you want.

I started off with a few shared accounts but upgraded to a dedicated server almost 2 years ago.

Sure, I may not need it all the time, but it's good to have it there whenever I want to put up some bandwidth-intensive video or something, and know that it'll run ok.

I use hostgator and have never had any problems with it. Incidentally, I have used Kiosk for shared hosting and I had quite a bit of trouble with my shared server being down (like 3-4 times a month for a few hours at a time). I don't know if that was an isolated case and I'm sure their dedicated servers are different.

Hope this helps,

Richard

I have over 400 domains on my dedicated server and I have never had any problems. But you need to know how your host is getting the bandwith.

Make sure your host has datacenter located around the US this will make it faster for people all across the US to load your pages.


Also DON'T get a windows box, make sure you have a Linux server.

Plus you need to have your server load balanced to handle that kind of traffic.

Thanks
Charles

I use to use LunarPages awhile back, I did not like them at all. If you ever want to change to a different host they make it very difficult for you.

I would recommend singing up for hostgator.com shared hosting plan. For $4.95 per month you get 3000 GB of bandwidth. That’s more than your going to get with any dedicated server. If its just video you are concerned about you can iframe them all on this plan and put the rest of the site on your normal hosting service.

Hey Charles, how come you don’t like Windows box? I ask because all the programming I am doing now is in asp.net, which requires Windows.

Hi Chris

How is the luanch going?

I have just not had luck with windows box's so far. But I always want some funky things done and I allways have trouble in the end. Most people could use them with out any trouble.

Thanks
Charles

I've had trouble getting some php scripts to run on windows too.

When I first started online I did the usual thing ... went to GoDaddy ... and seeing as I didn't really know what Linux was back then I opted for a windows machine.

Luckily they have the option of switching OS so within a few hours I had my site on a Linux machine and the php script ran perfectly :)

Richard

Thanks for all the great tips everyone.

I think I will go with a dedicated server
with Hostgator.

I have a babygator plan now and I am familiar
with how everything works.


I am not sure which dedicated server package to
choose.

Standard?

Elite?

Pro?


Also, any tips on which split testing software to use
I want max conversions for all my JV partners.

Although I have confidence in Vin's copy writing
split testing headlines is a good idea.


Thanks again, this is a great post.

Craig

Hey Craig,

For the dedicated server I've had a standard one though I've not really put it through it's paces to know if you'd need a better one. It's been fine for me the whole time I've had it though.

For split testing, I'm a big fan of just using Google's website optimizer which you can get through your Adwords account.

If you're getting a decent amount of traffic, you could easily set up a multivariate test and let Google keep track of everything for you. They also make it very easy to analyse the results - "Green" means improvement, "Red" means worse performance :)

I have this up and running on a few sites. The great thing is that Google wont give you a definitive result until the test is statistically valid - a lot of people using regular split testing seem to forget this point and can end up making a judgement too soon.

Hope this helps,

Richard

Launch is not going as well as I had hoped. A lot of affiliates who signed up just did not come put to bat for me. Ewen Chia, Michael Cheney, and Shawn Casey all put out products the same week, which I am sure didn’t helped.

But yes I would not run php on a windows server. I run all my php on Linux and all my asp.net applications on Windows.

Chirs

I know the feeling, my last launch was 3 days before
Frank Kerns Mass Control was launched. A lot of people
who I had called and were commited backed out the last
min.

They all stated that they needed to mail for Frank.

Thanks
Charles

Yeah, there really is no way to prevent that from happening. Its just a role of the dice.

I use several hosting companies, the one I'm most impressed with is myriadnetwork.com.

The support is great and they offer dedicated servers with advanced options of monitoring.

Quote:

---

- Premium 24x7 Level 3 Technical Support
- 24x7 system monitoring of applications (Apache, Bind, MySQL etc)
> Your services are checked every 90 seconds. If something fails, we login and fix it.

---

There's also a great pre-sales support. They answer all your questions in detail.
Main web site is here:
http://myriadnetwork.com/

The offer for dedicated servers is a bit harder to find:
http://forum.myriadnetwork.com/showt...dicated+server

Ralf

In reference to an earlier post, it is hard to compete
with the big guys that is for sure.

You can always re-launch your site.

Use grid hosting for your sales page, amazon s3 for your images/videos, and then have your order pages on their own dedicated server. Try to use as little dynamic php/mysql as possible and you should have no problems with crashes. For grid hosting I like mosso http://www.mosso.com/

Can you go into a little more detail.

I have a dedicated server so far, a
Standard package with Hostgator.

Charles is supposed to put a tutorial video
together for Amazon S3 but could you explain
grid hosting a little more.

Craig

I use ResellerPanel.com for all my hosting needs. The plans are all at wholesale prices. I would not recommend using GoDaddy...Many of my clients from wholesale-portal.com have many problems with this hosting company.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chris Douthit

Launch is not going as well as I had hoped. A lot of affiliates who signed up just did not come put to bat for me. Ewen Chia, Michael Cheney, and Shawn Casey all put out products the same week, which I am sure didn’t helped.

---

My mailing didn't go to well unfortunately. My list likes your WTM though :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Craig Beckta

Can you go into a little more detail.

I have a dedicated server so far, a
Standard package with Hostgator.

Charles is supposed to put a tutorial video
together for Amazon S3 but could you explain
grid hosting a little more.

Craig

---

Grid hosting is basically just load balanced hosting, what happens with launches is that so many people are trying to get in to read the sales page or whatever and the server gets clogged up with too many connections. Even if you shoved 8 cpu's and 16gb of ram in your server apache still won't be able to handle 15,000 connections at once.

But apache is able to handle 3,000 connections a lot easier, this is where the grid hosting steps in. What it basically does is allow you to take your site and then distribute it among 5 other servers or however many you need so that there aren't too many connections to each one.

You guys should also check out this post about how "Diggproof" a wordpress blog to handle large amounts of traffic. The same tweaks could be applied to any other web application http://blog.circlesixdesign.com/2007/01/22/diggproof/

For those who are just starting out I recommend you get a reseller Hostgator account
because it allows to exceed bandwidth limits. Then on the launch data just watch your
bandwidth. If you feel like you are going close to your limit then chat live with Hostgator
and let them know. They will make sure you don't have any downtime. I have done it with them
before.

If you have videos and other big files then host them on another hosting account. But just for your
salespage and thank you pages this will do just fine. Of course if you are expecting huge surge of traffic
and have a lot of JVs where you know you will make over 100k in sales then you want to set up a dedicated
server.

I would recommend having your own dedicated server if your launch is going to be fairly large. I have one that was set up/maintained by my "technical" partner. It seems the Jeff Walkers of the world may be able to survive the dreaded "my server crashed" moment, but for me it would be a disaster.

JIm