Web Hosting Services Explained

If you have made a decision to set up your very own personal web site, but are not quite sure about what a website is and are unfamiliar with the expression "web hosting", this article is devoted to clarifying these concepts in plain terms.

What exactly is a website?

A website is a combination of webpages brought together in a systematic fashion. It has a unique address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A web site may include just one single web page and sometimes may even be comprised of as many as one thousand pages.

What is a hosting server?

A hosting server enables you to upload your web site onto it. In some cases, there might be even thousands of sites on a single web hosting server. The hosting server essentially is a computer with special hardware, which is housed in a datacenter facility with special cooling systems, whose task is to ensure the smooth performance of the hosting server and all the websites accommodated on it.

In brief, a hosting server will be truly a launching pad when the time comes for you to launch your web site. It could be any kind of website - a corporate site consisting of multiple pages, or a website, which consists of only several webpages and which you have developed just for your pals and family members.

You've made a decision about what your site will be, now what?

As soon as you have decided what kind of site you would like to make, the next step is to discover what kind of web hosting service you must select for your web venture. Basically, there are two types of website hosting services - free-of-cost website hosting services and professional paid website hosting services. The free website hosting solution is generally used by individuals that do not possess a business-related web site.

Pluses and minuses of the cost-free hosting solution

You will not obtain plenty of options with a free-of-cost web hosting package. Features such as web traffic, RAM memory and server hard disk space are limited and inadequate for a complex ecommerce web site or a business-related site, or even for a web site with lots of graphics. What's more, there are a lot of banner advertisements placed on your web site by the hosting packages provider. These advertisements occupy a lot of space on your web site and are very embarrassing.

Shared web hosting

The professional paid shared web hosting services are more reliable and offer many powerful features aside from the high-powered web hosting server that will host your site and its files. Nonetheless, it is important to find out which features your web site demands prior to selecting your web hosting package. You should not hurry and wind up purchasing something that your website does not require.

Select your hosting solutions provider

It is not difficult to find a hosting plans provider. You need to simply conduct an online search in order to find a web hosting provider that matches your web site's demands. Before you make your actual decision, take a glance at the specifications of the hosting plans supplied by the hosting companies that have seized your attention. We, for instance, are among the best hosting companies on the marketplace today. The vast assortment of web hosting solutions and our prices are what makes us an enticing option. However, you must determine what type of web hosting service you need and if the price fits your allowance. Furthermore, you must always remember to explore the hosting supplier's Terms of Service prior to signing up to verify that your website is not abusing them.

Signing up for a web hosting account

Once you have determined what features are most important for your website, the next move is to open an account with the hosting vendor of your choice. You will acquire all the essential tools for handling your website files and databases. With us, for instance, you will acquire a hosting Control Panel, which has domain, web site, database and e-mailbox account administration sections. You log in the web hosting Control Panel using a unique username and password, which grants you secure access to the part of the web hosting server where your web site will be located.

Uploading your website

You can either upload your site via FTP client software or, as is with most hosting companies, via an online tool that is included within the hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is pretty intuitive and offers features comparable to those found in Windows Explorer, which renders file manipulation very easy. We offer also a web site building tool and a PHP script installation tool, which you can utilize to develop your site if you have no programming experience and are making your very first steps in web design. The online website builder, called SiteStudio, will also save you the time and effort of creating a web site on your computer and then uploading it using an FTP software program or the File Manager interface.