Web Hosting Services Defined
If you have decided to launch your own web site, but are not quite sure about what a website is and are not familiar with the expression "web hosting", this article is devoted to defining these notions in simple words.
What exactly is a web site?
A web site is an amalgamation of web pages brought together systematically. It has a unique address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A web site may have only one webpage and sometimes may even include as many as one thousand pages.
What is a web hosting server?
A web hosting server permits you to upload your site onto it. In some cases, there might be even 1000's of sites on one single hosting server. The web hosting server basically is a computer with special hardware, which is stored in a data center facility with special cooling systems, whose purpose is to safeguard the smooth operation of the server and all the sites accommodated on it.
In short, a hosting server will be really a launch pad when the time arrives for you to launch your website. It could be any type of website - a corporate site having a huge number of webpages, or a site, which contains just a couple of web pages and which you have developed simply for your pals and family members.
You've reached a decision about what your site will be, now what?
Once you have made a decision about what sort of website you would like to build, the next step is to find out what type of web hosting service you must choose for your online project. Essentially, there are two sorts of website hosting services - cost-free web hosting services and professional paid website hosting services. The free-of-cost web hosting solution is typically utilized by customers that do not own a business-related site.
Strong and weak sides of the cost-free website hosting solution
You will not get lots of features with a free-of-charge website hosting plan. Features like bandwidth, memory and web hosting server disk drive storage space are limited and insufficient for an elaborate web store or a business-related site, or even for a website with a lot of artwork. What's more, there are a lot of advertisement banners put on your site by the web host. These adverts take up plenty of space on your web site and are quite embarrassing.
Shared website hosting
The paid shared website hosting services are more reliable and offer lots of powerful features beside the high-quality web hosting server that will accommodate your site and its data. Even so, it is essential to know which features your site needs prior to selecting your web hosting plan. You should not rush and wind up paying for something that your site does not require.
Select your hosting distributor
It is easy to find a hosting services provider. You need to simply conduct an online search in order to find a web hosting solutions provider that fulfills your site's demands. Before you make your actual decision, have a look at the parameters of the web hosting packages delivered by the web hosting vendors that have got your attention. We, for example, are among the best web hosting providers on the market today. The extensive variety of hosting services and our prices are what renders us an attractive choice. In spite of that, you must ascertain what kind of hosting service you need and if the price fits your budget. Additionally, you must always remember to go through the hosting vendor's Terms of Service before subscribing to ensure that your website is not abusing them.
Signing up for a web hosting account
Once you have found out what features are best for your website, the next step is to open an account with the web hosting plans provider of your choosing. You will be given all the needed tools for administering your files and databases. With us, for instance, you will get a web hosting Control Panel, which comprises domain name, web site, database and email account management sections. You log into the web hosting Control Panel using a unique username and password, which grants you safe access to the portion of the server where your web site will be located.
Uploading your web site
You can either upload your website through FTP or, as is with the majority of web hosting service providers, via a web-based tool that is included within the web hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is pretty easy to use and offers features comparable to those encountered in Windows Explorer, which renders file manipulation extremely easy. We offer additionally a website building tool and a PHP-powered script installer, which you can use to develop your site if you possess no programming knowledge and are taking your very first steps in web design. The web-based website builder, whose name is SiteStudio, will also save you the time and effort of creating a website on your personal computer and then uploading it using an FTP client or the File Manager tool.
| Individual | Small Business | Business Plus | Enterprise |
| Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage |
| Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth |
| 1 website hosted | 5 websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted |
| 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial |
| $4.17 / month | $6.00 / month | $10.33 / month | $13.33 / month |