Welcome to the Internet, where you can have your own website up and running in a matter of hours. You’re on your way to becoming a celebrity like Perez Hilton or Justin Bieber. Your company will go global, and all you need is to put up a few pages and the visitors and the money start rolling in, right? Of course, before you can do any of that, you need a host for your website.
Web hosting in a nutshell
A host is the company that owns the servers where your website files actually sit, and when people access your domain name, they’re able to see your pages, images and forms. If you or your designer has created files, you’ll need to upload them with a browser-based file manager or file transfer protocol client. This process is easy and it allows you to access files or update your website from any location.
Web hosting and domain names are related but not the same thing. Just because you have a host doesn’t mean that your website has a domain name. Many hosts allow you to purchase a new domain during the signup process, but you can also purchase your domain name through a third-party registrar. When you do this, you’ll have to enter the name servers that your host provides you into the name server fields in your registrar’s control panel. Once your domain propagates, files located on your host’s servers show up when visitors head to it.
Types of Web hosting
In 2013, more hosting options exist than ever before. While this ultimately means lower prices, it’s also confusing, so here’s a breakdown for you.
— Shared: This type of hosting combines multiple accounts on a single server. Your website is on the same hard drive as other customers of your host. While it’s by far the cheapest — you can pay less than $5 per month — you might see downtime or lag when someone else’s website is seeing peak traffic. Furthermore, your host will be unlikely to install specific software on the server, and your website could become vulnerable if a hacker gets ahold of other customer’s accounts.
— Dedicated: When you need your own server, dedicated hosting is one answer. You’ll pay a premium to be the only customer on the server, and this includes more hard drive capacity and bandwidth. Your sites won’t share the processor either. However, unmanaged dedicated hosts require you to keep up with software on the server.
— VPS: Virtual private servers are similar to shared servers. While it appears that you control an entire server, it’s actually a virtually-created image. You’ve got more potions than shared hosting, and it’s easier for your needs to expand than a dedicated server. VPS hosting is often cheaper, too.
— Cloud: Cloud hosting is all the rage, and it builds off of virtualization, so several servers power the hosting; however, you don’t wind up with a single server image for your own use. Instead, you share pooled resources with other consumers in a way that’s hardware- and cost-efficient.
The type of site and your potential for growth will help you decide between hosting options.
Kay Ackerman is a self-proclaimed tech geek and freelance writer, focusing on business technology, innovative marketing strategies, and small business. She contributes to www.technected.com and you can also find her on Twitter at twitter.com/kayackerman.
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Parker
April 20, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Hey Kay, nice psot valuable before reading this psot i didn;t know how many types of hosting available in the market.. thank you for sharing with us..
Rohit Kabdwal
April 21, 2013 at 10:56 am
thanks for sharing this great information kay..!
now a days i am seeing that the trend is now moving to the cloud hosting.., i don’t know much about this but as iv’e read about the cloud hosting in the internet it seems like it the future of web hosting.. 🙂
Julie
April 22, 2013 at 6:32 pm
When first started, I thought all web hosting was the same. Within a very short period of time, I learned the hard way and changed hosting companies.
Fatima
April 23, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for sharing the very useful insight about Web Hosting, Kay. I really appreciate the way you have explained it all this would help many in the field specially the newbies.
Aayna
April 23, 2013 at 4:04 pm
A very nicely written post!! I was aware about web hosting, but this post cleared all the clouds of doubts which were there in my mind. This is a comprehensive post which throws light on each and every aspect of web hosting. Thanks for disseminating the valuable information through the post. Much appreciated!!
Phil
April 24, 2013 at 2:53 am
Great!
I have gathered much information about web hosting by the help of this article . You have explained it very well. This article may also help in enlightening the minds of those newbies out there and they could be aware of what is Web hosting.
Donatus
May 17, 2013 at 6:20 pm
I have been using shared hosting and is serving me find. but due to my next project i will be moving to vps. Hope it serves me well
Pete
May 26, 2013 at 10:27 am
Nice tips for host web.Thank you for this blog..