Which Hosting Company is Right for You?
Thursday, August 18th, 2011The first step that you require to take after creating a website is to get it on the internet, and here you are faced with three alternatives. You could either host the site on your computer, or host it on a server. The third option is getting someone else to host it for you. The first two preferences are practical and suit those with fast connections or other business-oriented sites. Maintaining such a web server requires constant monitoring and attention and you need a very fast connection to keep running it.
Opting for a web hosting company would be a great option to fall back on. The web hosts host your website on their server and you are given access to it via FTP for the purpose of uploading files on your website. Web hosting services are available for free, for a fee, and also a dedicated web hosting.
It is often found that people are inquisitive about the need or role of paid web-hosting as there is the option of getting this service free.
But paid web-hosting does score over free hosting on several counts: There are better features provided in your hosting package, technical support is prompt, responsible and probably better, the net connection is faster as compared to free hosts, there wont be unwanted advertisements on your page and most importantly your needs shall be catered to as you pay for the services rendered.
If it is a paid web-hosting, you have fast connection (if compared to free web-hosting) and much more responsibility and technical support. Not only this, they live up to your requirements at the drop of a hat and you also don’t get any unnecessary advertisements on your page.
As far as the free web-hosting is concerned, they lack in the aspect of reliability notwithstanding having some brilliant features. Honestly speaking, their service is not up to the mark, although, there are some free hosts who do not put their banner on your website. You can consider these options if you have a small site or you are a beginner in this field. The web-hosts provide you with certain features and a list of such features is given below. This is not certainly an extensive list. Let me put it in this manner that in order to get your site hosted, you are expected to know about certain terms.
URL/ Address- If you have a domain name, it’s all right. Otherwise, you are in need of having a URL address. This is very important.
Space: Websites are built of web pages, which consume little space. For a small site of about a hundred pages, a space of 5MB is sufficient. But remember that graphics take more space than plain text, so if your website is one which has a lot of graphics, then go for about 15MB to 20MB space. Many web hosts offer unlimited space, but in most cases, you may not require it.
Bandwidth/ transfer- this is a monthly affair, and accounts for the total number of files transferred from your site in a month. The best option being unlimited bandwidth. You need no less than 1GB per month for average sites.
CGI-BIN- this is required when you run interactive scripts like guest-books, counters etc. These sites can be remotely hosted while they carry the banners from the site that presents them.
SSI- a special function feature, which lets you maneuver the server to include something on your page. It could be anything like simple text or CGI generated code etc.
My SQL/PHP/ASP Support- A database format like these is of immense importance in order to keep a database on your site. Interestingly enough, some key sites are generated by ASP.
Technical Support: Free hosts do not provide such a good technical support as paid hosts do. As you might know, monitoring the websites is constantly required, and upon encountering any problem, you might need technical support from the host, so this bit is an important aspect of a web host.
E- mail- It is always wise to have a POP3 mail service as it lets you receive any message from your web-host before they send it to you. Actually, it is very common to have such mails provided you have a domain name.
FrontPage Extensions- If you have Microsoft Frontpage for modifying your website, you need such extensions. Front page items are also possible to be had in your site.
SSL/Secure Server- this is essential to ensure secure ordering facilities on your web-site.
Statistics/ Log Files- this section provides you with information about your users, like what files have been downloaded and which of the pages have been accessed.
FTP Accounts- The users are able to download files from an area of your site with the aid of an anonymous FTP. As far as the FTP accounts are concerned, they let you upload files on your website.
Some Information About Paid Hosting: If you agree to spend some money in order to have an ad-free hosting and satisfactory technical support, it is possible to upgrade a free hosting. So, find out a better web-hosting and it cuts down the charge making it $5 to $75 per month (it is $150 per month with dedicated servers).
If you are paying your web-host you must enquire about certain things like, a list of the sites hosted by them. You could get in touch with some of these sites and verify the web-host details from the site-owners. And do ask about the technical support they are willing to provide you with as it the most important service they can render.
Thoroughly read the terms and conditions outlined by them. Some of the free web hosts claim to own the copyrights of our webpage which restricts you from publicizing your own website. So take care of all these issues before you sign the agreement and pay hem the amount.
About The Author : William MacMahon is a professional writer in the web hosting industry. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews on the top hosting companies each month.
