Typical scripts are blogs, and forums. These save the information including weblog post content in a database, and PHP scripts are utilised to extract the information, and construct the web page.

Considering that PHP is server-side scripting language, it’s installed on the web-server of the host, and you install or upload scripts to run on the server.

PHP hosting is most likely to be discovered on the Linux platform which is also have the cheapest cost, with some hosts even being free, but supported by Ads.

Cool functions to search for when choosing a PHP host include cPanel, mod-rewrite, MySql, Fantastico, and Curl.

cPanel is a quite effortless to use, but effective control panel for all of the internet hosting functions for example e-mail, file administration, database administration, checking stats, plus backup.

mod-rewrite is utilised to create search-engine friendly URLs but requirements to be enabled by the internet host. Yet another word for this is fairly URLs.

MySQL is the well-liked database engine utilised by many scripts. But, some free hosts may not offer this virtually crucial component of PHP hosting features.

Fantastico makes it simple to install common scripts on the server. Otherwise you need to set up a database, upload and unpack the script, and enter settings. With Fantasico, you are able to significantly simplify, and speed up script installation.

Curl is utilised to pull information like RSS feeds from other servers, so it might be really valuable to have.

Ideally, decide on hosting which has the latest version of PHP like PHP5. This gives you far more potent functions including file_put_contents which simplifies the job of writing files to storage.

Learning PHP is very straightforward with a lot of online tutorials and code examples. The code itself is similar to C, and might be edited in a text editor, nonetheless 1 with syntax highlighting will make it less difficult to write and debug the code.

Just before uploading PHP scripts to the internet, it is wise to test them locally on your computer. In this case, it is possible to set up a test environment by installing the Apache web server on your pc together with PHP and MySQL.

Apache is among the most well-known web server engines, and is discovered on what folks refer to as LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL, PHP) servers.

Even in case you know nothing about Linux, you are able to quickly manage your web hosting utilizing cPanel. PHPMyAdmin is a beneficial tool for managing your databases. This tends to come as regular with cPanel.

So hopefully this gives a perception of what things to consider when selecting a PHP internet host. PHP hosting supports dynamic websites where it is possible to run scripts to develop the web page content based on data stored in a database or in reaction to the conditions at the time of a web site visitor.

Selfless Mind Hosting offers the most up-to-date version of PHP hosting features.

How much space does your package offer?

While most shared hosting providers will have a clause in their terms & conditions stating you cannot use the space to store audio and video files, most don’t enforce this for small amounts but if you intend hosting your own photo gallery and you link to your hi-res images, you’ll start eating into your allowance so check if there is any charge for going over and what the difference is between the next package up. At Selfless Mind Hosting our hosting packages come with either 2Gb, 8Gb or 20Gb and if that’s not enough we can tailor a package to suit you.

How much data transfer does your package offer?

Some shared hosting providers offer unlimited bandwidth, very often there is a catch in the small print, so check it carefully as often going over even by one Megabyte or two can be very expensive.
At Selfless Mind Hosting our packages come with 20Gb, 80Gb and 200Gb per month as standard but if you think you might go over, let us know and we can work something out.

Will your shared host offer Unix or Windows?

Nowadays more and more people want to run a Windows server, usually there’s not much difference in price but you’ll find things like database add-ons are chargeable, this is down to a licence from Microsoft being required, Windows isn’t open source!

At Selfless Mind Hosting we understand everyone’s needs are different, that is why we offer both Unix and Windows environments.

Do you use in-house servers and tech support?

At Selfless Mind Hosting our servers are housed in one of the UK’s most state-of-the art data centres. There, a dedicated team of engineers and technicians monitor things 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to ensure that when something goes wrong, which it has a tendency to do, they can spring into action ensuring that any downtime is minimal.

Once you have the answers to all the questions above, you can confidently compare hosting providers and choose the one that offers the best value for your money.

How do I find out how fast my website is the first place?
To see how your site is performing and to get a list of recommended changes I would start with looking at “Site Performance” within the Labs section of your Google Webmaster Tools.
To check out your site on spec you can also install Google’s page speed plug-in for FireFox here http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/download.html. This site within Firebug (also required) and gives a page a score out of 100 along with what you need to improve.

Before we get started, a word of warning.  BEFORE you make any changes to your site you must make a back up to cover yourself in case anything collapses. It literally takes a couple of minutes to do and will save you some serious heart ache!

1 – Bring multiple files in to one
Every single item on a page generates a separate request to the web server, this includes the HTML page, the CSS page(s), JavaScript, image etc. For example, every plug-in has a PHP file, and a lot have their own CSS and JavaScript files and each one must then be called before the page can be loaded. To reduce the number of requests look at collating all the CSS in to one CSS file and all the JS in to a single file as well.

2 – Install WP Super cache
This plug-in will create a HTML cache of your pages so repeat visits don’t require WordPress to call the server for the PHP files WordPress is built around. In their own words “This plug-in generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your web server will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts.” The plug-in can be downloaded here http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/

3 – Disable or delete unused plug-ins
Some plug-ins can have a ton of scripts and code so if you’re not using a plug-in disable it and consider deleting it. Decide which plug-ins are necessary for your site and then do-away with the ones that aren’t needed. You’ll see the benefit very quickly.

4 – Remove dynamic social media icons
Do you really need that dynamic social media icon that shows the number of time it has been shared, bookmarked or forwarded? Every time your page loads the icon calls home to update the figure often noticeably slowing down the page. Your best approach is to use static images that allow people to share your ideas but don’t have to call home.

5 – Use excerpts on your home page
Rather than showing all the content of your 10 most recent blog posts on the home page with all the text and images (and the load times that come with that), display snippets to make sure only a small amount text is shown and no graphics. This will noticeably speed up your home page’s time instantly. To display an excerpt on your home page, edit the index.php replacing…

<?php the_content(__('(more…)')); ?>

With…

<?php the_excerpt(__('(more…)')); ?>

6 – Optimise your database
Like your home PC’s hard drive, as your database grows it can start to become a bit messy and need the equivalent of a defrag. You can choose to do this manually using phpMyAdmin using the ‘Optimise tables’ option or install this plug-in to do it for you http://yoast.com/wordpress/optimize-db/

7 – Reduce the size of your image files
The web works fine at 72dpi you don’t need to push it up to print quality 300dpi. Super glossy hi-res images are lovely to look at but they can take an age to load, especially if you have a lot on one page. The reality is you don’t need eye bleedingly hi-res images on a website and lower res images are just as effective.

If there are any you use on your site and you’d like to share them leave a comment below and we will get them added to the list.

Twitter
Make it easy for your visitors to retweet your website/ articles with a retweet button. Also set up your own account to push news items, blog articles, and special offers to engage with your site’s users on a one to one level. Twitter exclusive offers or resources are a good way to build your follower base quickly.

Social bookmarking
Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Reddit, Sphinn, Design Bump… there are dozens and dozens of social bookmarking sites, some broad others targeting specific niches, and they have the potential to be major traffic drivers for your website. Submit your site yourself and provide visitors with the ability to submit directly from your website as well.

YouTube channel/ videos
A marketing tactic long used by savvy affiliates, this is starting to enter the main stream for small budget websites looking for free traffic. Create a short video about your target subject using your keywords in the channel description, title, video name etc. Make sure your URL is used in your description and is visible in the video. Your video will then be shown in searches on YouTube and viewers can then follow through to your website.

Community
For every possible subject imaginable there is a community online supporting it. Sign up with related forums and engage fellow members to raise awareness of your website amongst your target audience. This will drive traffic and help generate incoming links from related websites. Leaving comments on related blogs is another tactic that helps to achieve the same end goal. In both cases use your domain name in your signature and become genuinely involved with valid comments, don’t just leave comments that simply state your URL and special offers you have on, it will have the opposite desired effect.

Google universal search
Google is much more than just web search, and for many keywords they will show results from blogs, images, video and product searches on the web search results page. These are often ignored by webmasters when it’s comes to SEO and can be a back door method to getting on to the first page. As with 99% of all SEO, it is all about your use of keywords, here are some quick tips (these are by no means exhaustive).

• Images:  Alt tag, file name, anchor text
• Video: Channel’s title and description, video title and description
• Product: Product title, product type, description, URL destination, image file name.
• Blog: Specify it is a blog in the page title, link from home page, update weekly
• News: Submit a news sitemap, keyword in news title, opening paragraph, outbound links, regular news items

Purchase Email list
Despite the current rush towards social media, Email is still a cheap and effective method for marketing your services. As long as it is well designed, timed and targeted, an Email campaign will provide a positive ROI. Suppliers such as http://marketingfile.com/ will provide you with clean lists at around 20p per record. Services such as www.mailchimp.com will help you build your newsletter and send it out with full tracking services.

Write articles for peer sites
Very labour intensive and you will need to pick a subject that they feel deserves to be covered, but if you have the time, idea and writing skills, submitting an article to your industry’s leading news/ blog sites has many positive effects (e.g. raise your profile, incoming link and referral traffic). For example if I had a web design service or blog I would approach sites within the smashing network to write an article.

Buy low cost advertising
Purchasing advertising directly from appropriate websites can be cheaper and is often much more effective in driving converting traffic and developing your brand. Contact sites your own visitors are likely to visit for their media packs and advertising costs, for example, if you sell vitamins, websites that write about well being and healthy eating would be ideal targets.

If you are looking for a quick intake of visitors without having to wait for your SEO efforts to kick in, if you have the budget, Search Engine Pay per Click (SEPPC) is a good option. Each industry is very different and the costs involved vary a lot so you will need to research the CPC involved and whether you can afford it.

Another option available through Google is to advertise on their content network using text ads are banners. This is traditionally a lot cheaper than the search network but if poorly thought out and/ or left unchecked it can burn through a lot of money quickly.  Go here to read more about advertising on their search network and content network.

1 – Random colour palette
With all the free website colour tools available there is no excuse not to have a consistent and pre-planned colour palette throughout your website. Even subtle differences such as a slightly lighter blue in the .gif logo than you used in your <H1> tag can create a sense that something is off and be uncomfortable to look at.

Aesthetically pleasing, easier to read, more professional, clear branding… there are dozens of reasons why you should maintain a consistent colour scheme and only one why you shouldn’t;  laziness.

2 – Link to pages that don’t exist
Pages can come and go but it is important that your internal navigation reflects this. Linking to a 404 looks unprofessional and is a sure fire tactic to losing that visitor.  To avoid this set up a 404 redirect to a special error page. Avoid redirecting to your home page as the visitor will not know there was an error, only that he’s not where he thought he would be.

Create a .htaccess file (using that exact name) and put it in your root directory with something along the lines of…

ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

3 – Don’t check it is compatible across the browsers
The days of designing a website with one or even two browsers in mind is long gone, and even with the movement to kill off IE6, that still leaves IE8, FF3, Chrome, Safari and Opera to think about. If your site breaks in Opera because of the 1,000 visits you get per month ‘only’ 5% of those are using Opera, that is still 50 visitors per month, and if you have a conversion rate of 10%, that’s a potential 5 sales you have missed out on. Designm.ag has a great list of resources for cross browser testing here http://designm.ag/resources/cross-browser-testing/

4 – Intrusive advertising
Too many adverts on the page, pop-ups and pop-unders, and adverts that illicit an epileptic fit no longer have any place on any website. Advanced internet users certainly won’t put up with it and will be quite vocal about it but the more casual internet users are passively annoyed by it too. Integrated text links and clean banners near the content both increase visibility and click through rates without impacting on user experience.

5 – SEO takes priority over your visitors
In all honesty, an unnatural over use of keywords can help a site’s ranking in the search engines. The paragraph below is taken from a real site but with the keyword they are targeting replaced and highlighted with the word ‘Hosting’.

“Hosting services are offered by most hosting providers and are an affordable way for most users to get started with hosting services. Hosting services are the cheapest form of hosting available and it is important to remember that a premium hosting service is always going to be more expensive than a regular hosting service.”

The search engines clearly love it, but a human being and potential customer it’s just plain odd, tells me very little and is boring to read. It’s not going to convert me.  Use of keywords is absolutely vital to be ranked high in the search engines, but using them in your title, a couple of times in the content, and in some anchor text is enough. SEOMoz’s SEO guide for beginners offers some basic tips for writing search friendly text: http://www.seomoz.org/article/bg4#4c

6 – Irregular navigation from one page to another
People don’t want to be made to work out how to navigate your site. They want clear consistent navigation that allows them to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible. Navigation on the “home page” running along the header suddenly snapping to the left on the “about us” page and then back again in the product pages is going to confuse, frustrate and anger your visitors and drive them away pretty quickly.

For quality UK hosting consider Selfless Mind Hosting where we aim to offer you a better than best service.

Backing up your website is really quick and easy and completely free through your eXtend control panel. To make sure you always have the latest version of your site we strongly recommend you back up your website using this facility whenever you make a change to your website.

Backing up your website files:
- Log in to your eXtend control panel
- In ‘files’ click on ‘backup/ restore’
- Follow the on screen instructions

Backing up your database
As with our web files back up service through eXtend, you can also back up your MySQL databases in eXtend with just one click!
- Log in to your eXtend control panel
- In ‘Web tools’ click on ‘MySQL Databases’
- In ‘Manage MySQL Databases’ choose which databases you want to back up and click ‘Now’

You can also download and store a local copy of your database through phpMyAdmin using the ‘Export’ function.

Backing up your website and databases literally takes a couple of clicks of the mouse and can save a lot of pain and heartache down the line!

Why not setup a reminder on your phone or in Outlook so you don’t forget to run a backup?

Each of our 4 new packages from Basic to Extreme submits your site every month for 12 months, giving your website the best chance to be in all the major search engines.

All new and existing packages will be charged at 2009 rates for the duration of 2010.

Selfless Mind aims to provide it’s customers with a better than best service.

We have released a list of some of the Word Press plug-ins it thinks are worth considering together with an HTML option that can be used on any website (The Word of Mouth Tool we featured recently).

Click Now to download the Selfless Mind Word Press Social Media Tool round-up.