Choosing a Web Host: About Web Hosting and More

You must have worked very hard in creating your website, so don’t let the work go in vain by adopting half-hearted efforts in getting the website online. You have three options to choose from in this regard. First, you can host the site directly on your computer, second is hosting it on a server, and the third option is to get a third-party host it. The first two alternatives are mostly used in practice and are good for people with a fast internet connection, and even for sites that are inclined towards businesses. Monitoring regularly is required for the maintenance of the web server in this case.

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.

The general features that are offered by web-hosts are listed below, but by no means is the list exhaustive. These are a few terms you need to be acquainted with to get your site hosted-

URL/ Address- you need a URL address only if you do not have a domain name already.

Space- As far as the aspect of space is concerned, it needs to be said that usually a space of 5MB is enough for a small site and this much space is perfect for over a hundred pages. Normally, what happens is that the graphics occupy a space of about 35KB. Having said this, one must know that it requires a space of 15-20MB in case of a graphics intensive site or one featuring downloads.

The Aspect of Bandwidth/ transfer- This refers to a monthly account. This monthly account is of the number of files transported from your site in a month. Well, if you are thinking about the best deal of bandwidth, it is to have the facility of unlimited bandwidth because as far as experience goes, 1GB is the minimum requirement even for an ordinary site.

CGI-BIN: If you run interactive scripts on your website, such as counters, guest books, etc., then you will need this. You can remotely host the site while the banners are carried from a third-party website.

SSI: This is a special function which channelizes the server for inclusion of a given thing on your webpage. It could be text, or any other thing.

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- particularly if you have a domain name, most web-hosts will convey e-mails for you. A POP3 mail service permits you to connect to their server and get your own messages rather than have them readdress those to you.

FrontPage Extensions- these are some extensions that you require if you employ Microsoft FrontPage to construct your web-site. You can also include FrontPage components in your site.

SSL/Secure Server- It gives you the advantage of having secure ordering facilities as far as your website is concerned.

The Aspect of Statistics/ Log Files- This is responsible to let you view the usages i.e. the downloaded files and the visited pages.

FTP Accounts: Users get the option of downloading files by logging into an area of your website with anonymous FTP. Basically, File Transfer Protocol [FTP] allows you to upload files on your server.

About Paid-hosting: most free web-hosting can be upgraded to ad-free hosting for a minimal monthly fee and usually with better technical support. So you can search out a better web-host and dump those unwanted advertisements. It usually costs $5 to $75 per month, as compared to the dedicated servers which cost around $150 per month.

It is always wise to have a list of sites hosted by your web-hosting company. You have this right because you pay them. Once you get this list, it is possible for you to know about the ins and outs of the web-hosting company, especially their technical assistance. This is of immense importance.

Always bear in mind to go through all their terms and conditions. It is often seen that some free hosts do ask you for the ownership of the copyright of your page. This is an obstruction to advertise on your own website. So, be aware of all the restrictions to advance properly.

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.