When sending email, you receive an immediate bounce such as the following:
Subject: RE: XXXXXX – October 21, 2010
Sent: 10/21/2010 11:40 PM
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
‘John Doe’ on 10/21/2010 11:40 PM
503 valid RCPT command must precede DATA
This means you must check your email before trying to send mail meaning that our mail server requires authentication, which can be achieved using one of these methods:
A) Pop before smtp — check your email for new mail before trying to send email. This adds your IP address to a relayhosts file and allows any email to be sent from that IP address for up to 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you have to authenticate again.
B) Configure your email client to authenticate automatically by checking the “my server requires authentication” box in your email configuration. You will be able to send mail without having to “pop” your mail box first.
If using MS Outlook, please try the following:
1) Open outlook
2) Go to Tools/Email Accounts
3) Select the Account with the trouble and click Change
4) Click on More Settings
5) Click on Outgoing Server Tab
6) Click “Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) requires authentication” and make sure “Use same settings as incoming mail server” is selected
7) Click on “Advanced Tab”
8) Set outgoing Port (SMTP) to 587.
9) Click Ok and then Test Account Settings
If it fails on send then repeat starting from 7.
7) Click on Advanced Tab
8) Set outgoing Port (SMTP) to 465
9) Check the box Beside “The server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)”.
10 ) Click ok and then Test Account Settings
1) Login to GoDaddy.
2) Hover over Domains and click My Domains.
3) Click on the domain you want to update DNS on.
4) Locate the Nameservers icon at the top.
5) Change the option to Custom and replace the first two nameservers with the ones you received in your account welcome email.
6) Click OK and you should be set. It can take 24-48 hours for the update to resolve across the Internet.
There are a few things that need to be cleared in terms of terminology:
1. Hits – this simply refers to the number of ‘elements’ loaded on your site. If one page has five images in it, viewing that page once adds 6 hits (one page + five images).
2. Impressions – the number of times all the pages on your site are seen (also simply called pageviews). Impressions are sometimes referred to as ‘hits’ which can cause confusion.
3. Uniques – the number of people that visited your site.
So to clarify, if I visit your website, look at two pages, and each page has 5 images on it, then your stats increase by one unique, two page views, and 12 hits. Tracking on your site can be either done server-side or remotely. With server-side statistics, log files are used to generate visitor information. This is usually much more accurate than remotely hosted solutions. In such cases, you usually have to add some javascript to your site. This javascript is then used to track visitor data. If your host provides it (and many do), server-side statistics are a good solution. Otherwise, companies like Site Meter can be used to remotely track your visitors.
You could, but that’s definitely not recommended. First of all, most ISPs have clauses that do not let you use your internet connection for web hosting – doing so will result in termination of your account. Second of all, think of the headaches it can provide: making sure your system is secure so that no one can hack into it, having your computer on 24/7, and other such problems. Third of all, think of the performance. Most good web hosts use powerful servers with lots of RAM and high performance hard disks. Furthermore, they have multiple internet connections at speeds far higher than what residential DSL or cable service can provide. Lastly there are all the issues of support. If something goes wrong, it will be your job to fix it – you will not have a professional to correct the problem.
A host has to make a profit to continue operating. Some hosts do not properly understand the market, and may be pricing themselves too cheap. At times you will come across deals that are almost too good to be true – cheap web hosting with amazing features! There are hosts that while offering cheap prices do back that up with excellent performance and service, but there are things to be noted:
1. Look very closely to what is written in their terms of service (TOS) and acceptable use policy (AUP) documents. Some hosts try to limit the activity of the customer through these two.
2. Unlimited bandwidth or space. As explained on our scams page, offering either of those two as unlimited is not possible.
3. The quality of bandwidth and the overall performance. Some hosts scrimp on these to give you cheaper prices. Do a self test – visit the host’s website multiple times in a day to see that it remains fast loading.
4. In general, Windows Hosting is more expensive than Unix hosting.
5. Test out the support, and take a look over the online documentation. If you are paying less than $10 a month (which is roughly 30 cents a day), do not expect to receive an answer right after email the host. Many hosts now offer flash tutorials online which can be an excellent way to learn how a feature works.
6. Do some research – visit Google and WebHostingTalk and look up feedback on a host.
Just because a host is cheap does not mean that you will receive ‘cheap’ service, but you must be careful.