A Novice's Guide To Web Hosting
By John Stacy
Anyone, these days, can build some sort of web site. You can even build one
using a simple word processing program. However, once you have built a site you
need to somehow get it on the world wide web where others can find it. For this
you need a web-hosting company.
Put simply, a web hosting service rents disk space to you and provides a variety
of other features that make it possible for others to see your site on the
internet 24/7.
Choosing a web host can be difficult because there are thousands to choose from.
With so many hosting options, choosing an appropriate company can be very
difficult. You can choose from free services to ones that charge hundreds of
dollars per month. Hosting services offer a multitude of services that can be
confusing , especially for a newcomer.
You can find plenty of free hosting companies, so why pay? The old saying "You
get what you pay for" is just as applicable in the information age as it was in
the last century. When you pay nothing you sometimes end up with nothing. All
your work will be for nothing.
Most free services offer very limited features. Even though they are not
charging you they still need to make money. Sometimes they do this by placing
ads on your site. You probably won't have any say in the kind of advertising
that appears . If you want the free hosting you don't have a choice.
Also, free hosts may restrict the content on your site. You may not be allowed
to sell things or to have music or videos. Most importantly, your web site could
disappear overnight. New companies offering free hosting pop up almost every day
and vanish with the same regularity. When your web host vanishes so does your
site.
For these reasons, you should ensure that you find a reliable host. There is a
wide range of prices- some companies charge only a couple of dollars per month
while others will charge $60.00 or more. Don't depend on price as the only
determinant though. High rates don't necessarily mean high service. Some medium
priced alternatives offer reliable, dependable and stable environments
that allow your website to be accessed day in and day out for many years to
come.
Make sure that you do business with a web hosting company that offers lots of
disk space for storage, more bandwidth to handle internet traffic and more
services such as databases, email accounts, mass mailers, and the ability to add
custom scripts. You should also confirm that the service you choose has a good
helpdesk so that you don't waste time on technical issues.
Whatever company you choose you should understand that each host has dedicated
servers or computers that connect to the internet and "serve" pages from your
site when they are requested. That is, whenever someone wants to to see a
particular web page by clicking on a link the request will be sent to your web
host's server where the page is stored. The server will then send HTML data
across the internet. It is important that the server has high speed connections
and reliable back up power supplies in case of power outages.
You should be able to find a hosting service that delivers these kinds of
features in the $20.00 per month range.
Good Hunting:
John Stacy
http://www.a1-webhosting-4-u.com
About the Author
John Stacy outlines for the novice what features to look for in a webhost and what you should expect to pay for reliable service. Be sure to check out his site on web hosting.
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