Phone:
1 877 877 2048
858 668 0874

Fax:
858 248 8444

Frequently asked questions

What is hosting?

“Hosting” or “Web site hosting” means that your Web site files (e.g. web pages, HTML files, stylesheets, scripts and associated images) are stored on a computer (known as a “host” or a “server”) that is continuously (except for hardware, software or communication problems and scheduled hardware and software updates) connected to the Internet via a high speed connection. Billy Fire hosting is backed by a state-of-the-art data center with multiple systems designed to ensure your site is available. This means, for example, that if there is a power outage, the server would be powered by an uninterrupted power supply with backup power generation. Similarly, the connection to the Internet also has redundancy. This means that if one communication line goes down, communication will continue via another.

What is a “Domain Name Server” (DNS)?

An important component of the World Wide Web (WWW) is the Domain Name Server (DNS). This is like a big electronic telephone directory of Web site addresses that is referred to by the Internet infrastructure. People find it easier to remember a Web site address (e.g. billyfire.com) rather than a string of numbers (or IP address, for example 72.18.141.130). The DNS server translates your Web site address into its IP address so that you can connect to it and view its contents. If you were to decide to host with Billy Fire, the first thing we would need to do is to change the Domain Name Servers to our domain name servers. This information then begins propagating through the Internet so that within a few hours all domain name servers are updated and anyone typing your domain name (e.g. your-domain-name.com) into a browser would be “served” your site from the Billy Fire server.

How do I go about registering a domain name?

Another important aspect of owning and managing a Web site is to secure a domain name (e.g. formatclick.com). This is done through a domain name registrar and is an entirely different process from Web hosting. For example, you could register your name through one company and host with an entirely different one (in fact, you could register a name and then not host it at all). Billy Fire offers very competitively priced domain name registration services.

Why do I need a daily backup?

A backup of computer files is mandatory in any data processing environment. Don’t ever think: “Will my hard drive fail?” Rather, ask: “When will my hard drive fail?” We make sure that your Web site data is thoroughly backed up every day. Should a catastrophe happen, having a good backup of data will ensure that your site can be back up quickly.

What are web site statistics?

Good Web site stats are a must in helping you to understand where your Web site visitors came from, what they looked at and how long they stayed around. We provide very comprehensive statistics,

What is an e-mail database?

Capturing the e-mail addresses of site visitors is a great way to capture visitor information. Your e-mail list can be invaluable as a way of inexpensively making offers to your client and prospect base, as well as informing them about changes in your business. We will install and configure the PHPList e-mail management software (see prices below). This software ensures that all e-mail addresses captured are done so using double-opt-in protocols. This means that when a site visitor enters their e-mail, they receive an e-mail from your Web server asking whether they really want to be included on your mailing list. Only when the prospects respond to this e-mail are they added to your e-mail list.This ensures that, not only do you both have people on your e-mail list who do not want to be there. It also ensues that you conform to CAN-SPAM legislation.

What are META and TITLE tags?

Meta and Title tags provide information to certain Web spiders about the content of your site. Ensuring that these tags are completed properly will help your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activities.

I’ve heard a lot about ‘blogs’, what are they?

Weblogs or “blogs” provide you with an easy way of adding content to your site. For example, you might use a blog to provide interesting comment on your industry or as a way of revealing new developments in your business. The great thing about a regularly updated blog is that it is a repository for fresh information and site visitors and search engines both love fresh content.

Weblogs are designed to make it easy to add content. The chances are that you have unique knowledge about your area of expertise and so a business blog can, potentially, bring you additional visitors to your site, Blogs also include technology such as Real Simple Syndication (RSS) which means that anyone with an interest, can be immediately notified when you make additions to your Weblog. Loyalty to your business is a good thing.

I already have a web site and domain name, how do I transfer them to Billy Fire LLC?

Already have a Web site and domain name?

[Graphics]

Information retrieval – get all the files in your current Web site.
We upload your files to our server
Change DNS to point to our server
On-going modifications and updates

To transfer your site to Billy Fire, we take you through a well structured transfer process that ensures that nothing is left to chance. In summary the transfer process is as follows:

Warning: To ensure uninterrupted availability of your Web site, do not cancel your current hosting until the site is up and running on our servers.

Once we have received your first subscription payment, we begin the process of transferring your site to our server.

In order for us to host and maintain your site we will need the current files, images and directory structure. We can often download this directly from your site, without your involvement, however we sometimes need FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your site so that we can download your content, particularly if scripts or databases are connected to the site..

When we have your content we recreate your content on our server and ask you to change the DNS (Domain Name Server) entries for your domain name to our DNS server addresses. This may sound complicated, but we will help you through the process.

If you decide to use our domain name renewal service, we will e-mail you a request to move your domain name to our registrar. Your domain name remains under your ownership at all times.

What if I want to register a domain and create a new Web site?

We register your domain name
Design 3 Web concepts
Create Web page
We upload your files to our server
On-going modifications and updates

We will discuss the domain name options with you and then register the domain name. We suggest that a ten year registration ( the maximum available) may be the best option as some search engine optimization (SEO) experts believe that a longer registration period implies permanence and is favored by search engine ranking algorithms. Our current pricing for domain name registration can be found here.

Our Web design service creates one or more design concepts (depending on the service option that you choose) for you to review. Once you have selected the design you like, we will make up to 2 hours worth of adjustments, send the design back to you for further review and after your approval we begin converting the concept into a Web page.

When the site is completed and approved we upload it to our server and your site is live.

Want us to maintain your site?

To begin maintaining your site, we need FTP access to the current host. Once we have this information we can begin maintaining your site.

My site has interactive functionality. Do you support such sites?

Yes, but please call us with your specific configuration so that we can advise whether we support it.

Do you guarantee 100% up time on your hosting servers?

We cannot guarantee 100% up time because hosting depends on many interconnected computer components that can fail, however we do guarantee 99.9% uptime.

What is the advantage of your service when I could get a template based site that I could easily update myself?

Two main reasons. Firstly, even a template based site takes time to update – and if you make a mistake and the page gets ‘scrambled’ in some way it could take a lot longer. Unless developing and maintaining Web sites is your core competency, your time is probably better and more profitably spent elsewhere. Secondly, you need to think whether using a design that is potentially going to be used by many other people, is really going to help differentiate your business.

Do you automatically update my site without my involvement?

No. All changes are made in response to your requests.

Why Billy Fire?

There are a lot of companies providing Web hosting, often at very reasonable prices. Or major differentiator is that we not only provide the hosting – but we also include services to maintain your site. Most low cost providers will provide support, but that support will go as far as making sure that the hosting service is working properly. We update your pages (depending on the hosting option that you choose)