What Exactly is Web Hosting

You must have a web hosting company, or a server of your own to host your website. The World Wide Web is a massive collection of websites, all hosted on computers (called web servers) worldwide.

The web server (computer) where your website's html files, graphics, etc. reside is known as the web host. Web hosting clients simply upload their websites to a shared (or dedicated) web server, which the ISP (Internet Service Provider) maintains to ensure a constant, fast connection to the Internet.

Your website has an Address (your domain name which tells people how to get to you) Hosting (your web space) Design (your website) and Mailbox (your e-mail.)

You may have taken the time to learn web design software or graphic creation software in order to build just the right website. With a significant investment in your website, it only makes sense to make sure that you arm yourself with the right web hosting information. Selecting a trustworthy, yet affordable web hosting provider can be a difficult task.

Some Internet service providers offer general web hosting for all, while others focus on a specific industry or niche of hosting. For most business, a website represents a major investment and your Internet service provider needs to complement that investment, Hosting Comparison chart.

Free Web hosting

Are great for some things, but for a business, you can't beat paid web hosting for reliability, service, and support. Free hosting is probable the most appealing of all of them because, well it’s free. However, there are very many downsides to it being free that most of us aren’t aware of. Primarily are the advertisements. The companies that provide free web hosting have a nice little system in place that will place advertisements on each one of your web pages, no matter if you want them to or not.

The advertisements serve as funding for the free hosting companies so they don’t have to charge anything. Lack of live technical support or any support at all, can be a big head ache. Free website hosting can be one big nightmare. Please do your homework before going with free hosting. If you sill would like to use a free hosting service here's a nice list of free website hosting providers.

There are literally thousands of web hosting services available today. Here are some things to consider when choosing a hosting service.

24-hour support

Make sure your Internet service provider offers 24-hours support. Don't put yourself in a situation where you cannot fix critical problems without having to wait until the next working day. Toll-free phone could be vital if you don't want to pay for long distance calls.

Daily Backup

Make sure your service provider runs a secure daily backup routine; otherwise, you may lose some valuable data.

Traffic Volume

Study the provider's traffic volume restrictions. Make sure that you don't have to pay a fortune for unexpected high traffic if your website becomes popular.

Bandwidth or Content Restrictions

Study the provider's bandwidth and content restrictions. If you plan to publish pictures or broadcast video or sound, make sure that you can.

Email Capabilities

Make sure your provider fully supports the email capabilities you need.

Microsoft FrontPage Extensions

Make sure your provider fully supports Frontpage server extensions if you plan to use Frontpage to develop your site.

Data Base

Make sure your provider fully supports the database access you need if you plan to use databases from your site.

Money Back Guarantee

A quality web host offers a 30-day money back guarantee. You should insist on it! It is the sign of a professional company that will stand behind its service.

Secure Server

If you plan to sell anything directly from your website, you'll need, secure server capabilities. The best offer low or no additional setup fees, and a low or no monthly fee for SSL.

No Minimum Contract

Don't ever sign a long-term contract. It's not necessary. If something should happen and you decide to switch hosts, being locked into a long-term contract could be very costly.

Hosting Providers»»

Enter your search terms Submit search form