1&1 Hosting Review

1&1 Internet Ltd is a leading web host that provides a huge expanse of features and a range of services beyond the hosting of your website.

Purchasing a domain name is a simple procedure and with prices starting from as little as £1.95 per annum for a .co.uk domain and £4.99 per annum for .com prices are more than just reasonable.

Email Services
If you have your own domain but no email accounts then 1&1 Internet offers two different email packages. The Internet Mail account gives users 5 IMAP or POP3 email accounts using your own domain name. This gives a feeling and image of professionalism to any service or website and is priced at £0.69 per month. The Microsoft Exchange service is a much more comprehensive email package that is designed more towards large businesses than individuals or small organizations. As well as 1GB of email storage users also receive the benefits of using Microsoft Outlook’s online access package and Symantec virus scanning for every single account.

Shared Web Hosting Packages
There are five levels of Linux web hosting available.

The beginner package allows eight free web pages and also offers a free site builder making it perfect for the first time website owner. 20 email accounts are also included in the package along with 250MB of web space and a monthly allowance of 3GB data transfer. £57 of traffic booster credit is included (more details on the traffic booster service are available below).

The home package offers 5GB of web space and 15GB of data transfer every single month. You also receive a free .co.uk domain name, 350 email accounts and various tools to help build an online presence. This includes a pre-built photo gallery, dynamic content script, numerous interactive tools, and a chat module. £150 of traffic booster is also included.

The affordable business package includes three free .co.uk domain names. 3GB web space and 25GB of monthly transfer should be ample for the majority of websites and business sites and 750 email accounts are also included further compounding the business appeal of this package. As well as the bonuses that are offered with the home package users are also allowed 300 sub domains, 2 MySQL databases, a plethora of CGI scripts, and £250 of traffic booster credit.

The business pro package is geared towards large interactive websites. For this reason 5 free .co.uk domains are offered along with 6GB of web space, 60GB of monthly transfer, and 1,500 email accounts. Included in the bonuses are 1,500 sub-domains, 8 MySQL databases, an SSL certificate, and more CGI scripts. £300 of traffic booster cash is also included as part of this package.

The Linux hosting package is the professional package and gives a complete web presence to virtually any organization with any requirements. You receive 10 free .co.uk domain names, 12GB web space, 120GB monthly traffic, and 3,000 email accounts. Again, you receive £300 of traffic booster credits but you also receive all of the aforementioned bonuses as well as 3,000 sub-domains, 15 MySQL databases, an SSH secure shell, and toll free emergency help support.

Microsoft Hosting Packages
Microsoft hosting doesn’t need to be expensive and with 1&1 Internet Ltd the prices and packages are all very similar to their Linux equivalents. Home, Business, Business Pro, and Professional packages are available that match the features of Linux hosting except for the following:

Home Package – 1GB of web space and 15GB of monthly traffic.
Business Package – 3GB of web space and 25GB of monthly traffic.
Business Pro Package – 6GB of web space and 60GB of monthly traffic.
Professional Package – 12GB of web space and 120GB of monthly traffic.

Dedicated Server Packages
Using a dedicated server gives you a huge level of power over your Internet presence. You receive much more disk space and the amount of data transfer is also a lot better. 1&1 Internet Ltd also has several affordable dedicated server packages available you might want to consider for a truly professional online presence.

Value Server Plan - The first notable thing about this plan is that it costs just £29 per month. Using a Celeron 2GHz processor users are treated to 256MB RAM, a 40GB Hard Drive, and 25GB of monthly traffic allowance. As with all the server packages, free 24-hour support is offered as standard.

Root Server Plan – This is geared towards web professionals with a good technical understanding of servers and web hosting. An advanced recovery tool, full root access, a serial remote console, and Plesk8 are also included. The root server plan costs £59 per month.

Windows Server Plan – Costing £69 per month the Windows server plan offers the usual compatibility with Microsoft systems but with increased security and a range of other features. Firewall, SSL certificates, and a POP3 mail server are welcome additions to this package. Being .net frame ready, and offering ASP.NET 2.0 makes the Windows server plan one of the most effective available.

Managed Server Plan – Not all businesses or individuals that require the functionality and power of a dedicated server have the time or technical expertise to run one. The managed server plan from 1&1 Internet Ltd gives the perfect combination of ease of use usually offered by shared hosting and the power of dedicated hosting. Costing £69 per month this package comes complete with £298 of traffic booster credit, a firewall, and SSL certificate.

EShop Packages
More and more consumers are conducting their shopping in an online environment. To take advantage businesses need to utilize powerful e-commerce technology but still need to retain usability and functionality. As with all the 1&1 Internet Ltd services there are different levels of e-commerce store and hosting available. The one that you need should be determined not only by your current requirements but governed by any proposed or expected future growth or expansion.

The Business eShop package may be the lowest level of package and price (£9.99 per month) but it still offers a lot for the money. For beginners, it should prove more than adequate offering the capability to add 100 products to your e-commerce store. These can be included in up to ten categories making your store user friendly and easy to navigate. 100MB of web space and 10GB of monthly traffic is included in this service plan as well as over 30 templates and £400 in traffic booster credit.

The Professional eShop package costs £19.99 per month and as well as the bonuses offered for the business eShop package you receive an increase to 60 categories and 600 items. VAT can be automatically calculated making your life a little less mathematical. Every professional eShop package allows 500MB of web space and 30GB of monthly traffic. As well as £412 of traffic booster credit users receive a newsletter module that allows you to keep in regular contact with your customers.

The Developer eShop is the behemoth of eShop packages but costs only £39.99 per month. Unlimited items and categories can be entered meaning you can create a veritable online department store if you wish. 1,000MB of disk space and 60GB of monthly traffic further makes this possible. All design templates are completely editable so you can create an entirely unique presence and retain any company branding that might already be in place. FTP and SSH access are also included in this plan.

Collaborative Websites Using Sharepoint
A lot of businesses and organizations require the ability to collaborate in many aspects of the daily running of business. This necessitates the easy sharing and distributing of information, files, and much more. Sharepoint allows organizations to create up to 50 user accounts with 25 email addresses. 500MB of web space and 6GB of monthly transfer is more than adequate to create an online Intranet or a collaborative website. All users can gain access from any computer with Internet access and make changes, add files, or perform any other administrative action. Sharepoint costs £14.99 per month.

What Is Traffic Booster?
The traffic booster package contains several different elements. Depending on the hosting package you choose you will gain credits towards some or all of these:

EShop search facilities means that any eShop you create using the 1&1 Internet Ltd service is compatible and easily crawled by Pangora and Froogle. Pangora and Froogle are two of the very largest eShop portals and making your e-commerce store a success means you virtually have to be included in both of these.

1&1 search marketing is powered by the effective Yahoo Search Marketing service. The credits you receive towards search marketing can be used to purchase sponsored listings on the Yahoo search pages and on any websites that partner with Yahoo. This is guaranteed traffic and because you can gear your adverts towards very specific keywords, all traffic you receive is highly targeted.

In order to benefit from search engine traffic your site needs to be seen and indexed by the search engines. Google is considered the most important because of the simple fact that it receives the large majority of all online searches conducted. By submitting a compliant sitemap to Google sitemaps you can inform Google of your new site and update them when any changes or additions are made to your site.

Some webmasters may overlook banner advertising in preference for PPC advertising but banners do still hold some value. A number of 1&1 Internet packages include a GIF animator that let you create your own animated banner. You will also receive a number of page impressions for free depending on the hosting service you choose.

1&1 Internet Ltd Conclusion
Your web hosting is vital to your popularity and success. 1&1 Internet Ltd offer one of the most comprehensive lists of hosting accounts available, all at very reasonable prices. Whether you are looking to establish your own online presence or one for a multi-page, multi-category e-commerce store 1&1 Internet undoubtedly has the package for you.