The Basics of Web Hosting & How To Choose a Web Hosting Company

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Once you have chosen and purchased a domain name, the next step is to host your website. Hosting a website online can be compared to inaugurating a brick and mortar shop and putting up the “We Are Open!” sign. Web hosting involves uploading the website’s files to a web server and configuring the site so that it is accessible to Internet users worldwide. A web server is an ultra-fast computer with a high speed Internet connection that is always on.

Even if you have not designed your website and the files are not ready, it is a good idea to buy the hosting first and then tweak your website’s files as you move forward. This will allow you to see how the website will look for the end user as you complete each stage of development.

Types of Web Hosting

Theoretically, you can host your website from your own computer. Once you install and configure the necessary software, it can be accessed by anyone. The drawback of self-hosting is that you always need to keep your computer on, and your computer may not be able to handle the load if there is a sudden increase in the traffic to your website. Hence, it is always recommended that you host your website at one of the professional web hosting companies which rent their servers at a very nominal price. There are several types of web hosting, but the two major types are “shared hosting” and “dedicated hosting”.

Shared Hosting: If you are hosting a personal blog or a small business website, you may not get much traffic in the early stages of your website’s life span. In such a situation, you can buy a shared hosting plan from a web hosting company. When you do this, you will share the resources of the server with other website owners. Shared hosting plans only cost around $5 to $10 per month and are usually reliable enough for a small website. If you pay upfront for a long period (two to three years, for instance) you will get a good discount, but this is not usually recommended. One web hosting company which provides excellent service is HostGator. They have been in the hosting business for a long period of time and have excellent customer support.

If your website traffic grows to more than 5,000 unique visitors per day, you should switch to a dedicated hosting plan. Usually you need not worry about when you need to switch to dedicated hosting. If your website in the shared hosting server receives significant traffic and consumes enough server resources, the hosting company will inform you when the time is right to upgrade from the shared hosting plan.

Dedicated Hosting: As the name suggests, your website will be hosted in a server which is dedicated only to you. There will be no other websites hosted in the server. This is a safe option because other sites will not share the resources of the server and your website will deliver your visitors maximum performance and a smooth browsing experience. You can host more than one website of your own on a dedicated server. They are more secure and the possibility of your website crashing is very limited.

HostGator offers reliable dedicated hosting plans as well, which start at $174 per month. This may seem costly, but it is worth the price for the security and peace of mind it delivers. Dedicated hosting also comes with a dedicated IP address, which we will discuss in the later part of this article.

Factors to Consider While Choosing a Web Hosting Company

During the process of learning the specifications of web hosting and choosing a web hosting company, you will come across a lot of technical jargon. Unless you are a programmer or part of the technical field, you need not learn most of the complex words. However, learning some of the jargon may help you choose the right hosting plan.

Disk Space: Disk space is the amount of storage that the company will offer you for storing your website’s files on their web server. For static corporate websites and personal blogs, 100 MB of storage will be more than enough. Unless you are hosting a lot of media, like stream video and audio, you need not worry too much about disk space.

At one time, companies offered only a few hundred MBs of storage space. As competing companies fought with each other by delivering more space, it has come to a point where many of the professional web hosting companies now offer unlimited storage and bandwidth. This is theoretically impossible, but it is meant to attract and impress customers. Just like an average Gmail user is not going to use the 7 GB+ storage that Google offers, website owners will not use an exorbitant amount of server space. Hosting companies have come to the conclusion that the average storage consumed per user will be quite low, so they offer “unlimited” storage.

Bandwidth: Whenever an Internet user accesses your website, the files are downloaded from the server to the user’s computer. Each time this happens, bandwidth is consumed. When traffic to the site is high at a particular time, the bandwidth required to serve all the users increases. The shared hosting plan at HostGator offers unlimited bandwidth, but they will ask you to upgrade to a dedicated server if your website is consuming too much of the server’s resources.

Linux & Windows Web Hosting: There are two classes of software which power a web server. One is based on Linux and the other is based on Windows. Linux is the preferred option for most webmasters because it is open source and is more flexible than Windows-based hosting. However, this difference is independent of the operating system that Internet users have on their computer. The famous open source blogging software (Wordpress) is also based on Linux.

Add-on Domains: If your web hosting plan offers add-on domains, you can add several websites to the same hosting account. If you plan to host more than one website, it is recommended that you choose a hosting plan which allows add-on domains. This will allow easy management of your websites in a single account. Not all web hosting companies offer this option, and if offered, the number of add-on domains allowed per account will differ. Right now, the “Baby” hosting plan at HostGator offers unlimited add-on domains.

Dedicated IP: When you purchase a shared web hosting package, your website will be assigned an IP address. This IP address will be the same for all the websites hosted in that web server. When you share the IP address of your website with other websites, there are a few drawbacks. If one of the websites which shares the same server as your website publishes illegal content, or for some reason their website is blacklisted, ISPs and search engines may ban that IP. If your website shares the same IP, you will be affected too. To avoid this, it is a good option to get a dedicated IP address which assures that your website will be the only one on the Internet which has that IP. If you have a shared hosting account in HostGator, you can get a dedicated IP by paying an extra $2 per month.

cPanel: After you purchase your web hosting package, you will be given a login to a control panel where you can manage your account. The account includes databases, emails, traffic statistics, add-on domains, and so on. There are many types of control panel utility software on the market, so the software used by each hosting company may differ. Most of the leading web hosting solutions use software called cPanel, which is one of the best website management software options. It has a lot of features and is very user friendly. When you purchase web hosting, make sure the company uses cPanel for their website management (HostGator uses cPanel).

Fantastico: Fantastico is a script library that automates the installation of web applications to a website. Fantastico scripts are executed from the administration area of a website control panel such as cPanel. Fantastico saves a lot of time when you install blogging applications like Wordpress, forums such as SMF (Simple Machines Forum), and other opensource applications. When you buy your hosting package, make sure that it comes with Fantastico.

Additional Factors to Consider While Purchasing a Web Hosting Package

Domain Registration: Many web hosting providers try to convince you to register the domain with them. Some hosting companies even offer a free domain name when you buy a hosting pack for one year or longer with that provider. I do not recommend registering a domain name with the hosting company for the following reasons:

• The annual renewal cost of the domains will be higher than individual domain registrars.
• When you want to move your website to another web hosting provider, transferring the domain name is a cumbersome process.
• If you sell your website to someone else, the buyer would prefer the domain to be registered through a well-known registrar like Name.com or GoDaddy.com because of reliability and ease of transfer.
• Most hosting companies are not licensed domain name registrars; instead, they have a partnership with other registrars. When a hosting company goes out of business, it may be very hard to get back your domain name.

Location of Datacenter: It is a good idea to host your website with a company whose web server is in the country of your target audience. The closer the web server is to the Internet user, the faster the page will load. For example, if your website’s target audience is in India, it is recommended that you host your website with a provider whose web server is situated in India. You need to clarify this with the hosting company because many companies in different countries have their servers located in the USA or UK.

Purchasing for Long Periods: I do not recommend signing up for more than one year at a time with your hosting provider. While it is uncommon to move domain names from one company to another, there are reasons that you may want to move your website to another web hosting provider. Reasons may include lack of customer support, inability of the web server to run certain scripts needed for your website, frequent server down times, and so on. Web hosting companies often try to sell two to three year hosting packages with large discounts, but do not be lured in by these deals.