This Website Hosting Guide has been created for people who would like to have their own website, but are overwhelmed by the choices available for website hosting.
Basic Web Host Features
Basic Features That All Hosting Companies Should Provide
No matter what the purpose of your website, there are a few features that you should look for in a hosting account.
- Free Account Setup
There are so many website hosting accounts that provide free account setup that there is absolutely no need to pay for this service. - Technical Support
Look for a company that provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. - Money Back Guarantee
I would think twice about going with a company that does not stand by their promises. - Daily Backups
Hopefully there will never be a need to use the backup, but if the worst happens, it’s good to know that your hard work is protected. - Uptime Guarantee
This guarantee will help protect you from hosts that have substandard equipment. Any host with quality equipment and technical staff will be proud to provide at least a 99% uptime guarantee.
Website Hosting Companies
It is best to start out with a small list, eliminate the hosts that do not meet your requirements, and select the best option from the remaining companies. If you can’t find the right host from the first list, then move on to another small list and repeat the process.
Website Hosting Guide – Types of Hosting Plans
Shared Server Space
In this type of plan, you share server resources with many other websites. This is the most common type of plan and the most affordable. Some companies allow you to host multiple domains under one package.
Dedicated Server
In this case, the client leases the entire server for their own use. This type of plan offers more flexibility, but it can be very expensive and server administration is generally not included in the package.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS)
This type of plan offers much of the flexibility of a dedicated server at a lower cost.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting allows it clients to break up the resources provide and resell this space. A user interface is provided that allows the client to create multiple packages. Many companies have multiple websites and use this type of account to host them.
How Much Do You Need?
Disk Space
To be honest, with the massive amounts of disk space being offered by web hosting companies, this question is almost irrelevant. As your website grows, you may want to keep an eye on your available disk space and upgrade to a larger package when the time comes.
Bandwidth – Data Transfer – Monthly Traffic
These all mean the same thing when it comes to a hosting account. Most companies are offering huge amounts of bandwidth with their accounts. If you are planning a massive campaign that will send hundreds of thousands of visitors to your site in a short time period, you will need to look into this closely, but for the average webmaster, it is generally not an issue.
Website Hosting Guide – Free Hosting
Free website hosting generally offers the bare minimum of disk space and bandwidth. Often times a free hosting account is used to expose new customers for their premium accounts.
Free hosting accounts are great for personal accounts, but they are not recommended for any type of business accounts for several reasons.
- Ads
Most free web hosting accounts will require that you include banner ads on all of your pages. These ads distract from your message, and you have no control over the ads that will appear on your site. - Limited Features
Many of the common features in a hosting account are reserved for the paid hosting packages. - Domain Name
If you want to be taken seriously in the competitive world of online business, you NEED to have your own domain name. - Restrictions
Look closely at the Terms of Service. They may restrict what you can place on your site. They may also limit the number of pages and images that you can include. Some free hosts will also deactivate your account if you don’t update it as often as they require.
