Thursday, January 8, 2009

Web hosting for beginners

By Sarah Harding

When a company or a person decides to have an online presence or other internet based project they will use a service called web hosting. Simply put, and for the majority of people and companies, this means allowing their website to be seen by others around the world; some of these services are actually free. The data center or server used for by the hosting company is able to store all kinds of digital media which can be accessed (if allowed) by visitors, this includes all website files.

Many beginners start by using the free hosting services that are provided by many internet service companies; while they will have access to email facilities, basic websites and blogs, they will have to pay for a full service provider. Many restrictions exist with free web hosting but that is to be expected and for some it is an ideal situation but for only a few dollars per month, a paid web hosting service is far superior. Paid hosting packages vary enormously so don't be surprised about the difference in prices; the best thing to do is sit down and work out exactly what your primary requirements are and then check out one of these hosting comparison websites.

Almost everyone starts out with what is termed 'shared hosting' where the server is used by many.This will enable you to see if you have chosen a very good company; then change to a dedicated server with your company when you're comfortable with their services. Before you can use your web hosting package you will need to register a domain otherwise it will be of no use, then once that is done your website and any other files can be uploaded to the server ready for viewing.

Another advantage of web hosting and your own domain name is that email addresses will include your own domain name and not that of those free providers such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to name a few of the thousands of providers whose services can be used. If you have a business presence online you cannot afford to have another company's name at the end of your own e.g. www.yourcompanyname.hostingcompany.com when it should really look like this: www.yourcompanyname.com. The more information that is transferred from your website over the internet, the more bandwidth is used so it is important if you have a great deal of information stored to ensure you have a hosting package that will easily cater for your bandwidth usage.

Web hosting also provides the facility to have your own email address unlike those supplied by Google and Yahoo for example, this means, your e-mail address is exclusive to your website. If you have a business presence online you cannot afford to have another company's name at the end of your own e.g. www.yourcompanyname.hostingcompany.com when it should really look like this: www.yourcompanyname.com. If you have a busy site with lots of visitors, downloads or video etc.

Files include web pages, images, audios, and videos, to name a few and normally, you will be provided with storage space of about 1Gb although the limit is continually rising as storage costs lessen.Initially, the majority of users decide on paying for a shared server with their hosting company.It is usually possible to upgrade to have a dedicated server for your files once you know the service provider is reliable; there is normally an additional charge for this facility. - 16890

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