Types of Web Hosting

Posted in Web Space Basics

Free hosting

If you have no budget at all, you can find free web hosts out there. Note, though, that they may offer limited resources, support only static websites, place unwanted ads on your website, and give little or no customer support. Generally, free hosting isn’t recommended except as a temporary solution.

Shared hosting

Shared hosting allows you to share bandwidth, disk space, and computing resources with other customers. This is the most popular type of web hosting, since it’s affordable, easy to use, and usually comes with all the features you need. Most of the small and medium websites online are using shared hosting.

Dedicated hosting

In dedicated hosting, you have a server all to yourself, so you will have more control and resources. However, you do need to have technical knowledge in order to manage your server. It’s also much more expensive than shared hosting.

VPS hosting

In VPS hosting, a web server is partitioned into multiple virtual private servers (VPS). Each virtual server runs its own operating systems, which means that it essentially acts like a separate machine. This provides more guaranteed resources and better performance than shared hosting—at a price that is less expensive than dedicated hosting.

Reseller hosting

A reseller hosting plan provides you with a specific amount of server resources, which you can then resell to other people. Try out reseller hosting if you want to earn income from web hosting, have enough technical knowledge, and are willing to provide customer support. Click here and choose “Resellers” for a recommended reseller plan.

But what’s right type for me?

If you’re just starting out online, we would recommend a shared web hosting plan. It’s the most affordable: shared hosting starts at around $5 a month, whereas the next tier, VPS, starts at around $20. Shared hosting provides all the features and resources that a normal website needs. If you ever need more resources, you could always upgrade later on.

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Web Server Space

Posted in Web Space Basics

Web servers are high-capacity computers that serve up websites and web content. Unlike regular home computers, they need to be up, running, and connected to the Internet 24/7 and require professional management. Web server space refers to the disk space on web servers.

There are two main categories of web server space: company-specific, and hosted.

Company-specific web server space

Company-specific web server space is provided by businesses in the web industry. As such, the company that runs the servers dictates how much space you can use and what you can use it for. Almost anyone who knows how to use the Internet is likely to be using this type of web server space. Some examples are:

  • Flickr lets you post photos and comment on other people’s photos.
  • DeviantArt lets you showcase your artwork.
  • YouTube lets you upload your own videos.
  • Gmail lets you use their web server space for your emails.

With company-specific web server space, you can only upload files within their infrastructure. Still, this has benefits that don’t come with regular old web hosting. For example, since these services have many users, there’s usually a thriving community involved. You can rate user-uploaded content, leave comments, and interact with the community. These services are also excellent for beginners who just want to blog, share files, or post media without having to deal with web hosting technology themselves.

Web server space through web hosting

This is a much freer type of web server space. You can upload the content you want, in the format you prefer, in whatever quantities you can afford—and you can present it however you wish. You can post text content, documents, images, audio video, code, applications—you name it. This type of web server space is ideal if you have a small business, since you want more control over your content. With this solution, you can design and build a website from scratch without the limitations of the usual services.

There are various types of web server space in this category. You can choose between Linux or Windows. You can also choose between free, shared, dedicated, or VPS. Whichever you choose, make sure that you select a good-quality web host. Your provider’s quality of service is the foundation for your website and can easily affect the success or failure of your business online. Visit this page for recommended web hosts.

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Buying Web Space: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted in Buying Web Space, Web Space Basics

Would you like to expand your small business? Show off your artistic work? Share your ideas with others? Having a website can definitely help you grow your business, showcase your talent, express yourself, and meet new people. If you feel overwhelmed by the technical issues of starting your own website, this guide is for you. Buy Web Space Today was created to help beginners learn the basics of buying web space, building their website, and growing their online presence. The first thing you have to do is buy web space. You can accomplish this in the following 5 steps.

Step 1: Learn how it works

Websites are made of data—computer code, images, audio, video, databases, and more. If you’d like your website to be accessible to people around the world 24/7, you’ll want to store this data in a computer that’s connected to the Internet permanently. A web server is a type of computer that’s suited to this purpose. You could buy and maintain your own web server—which would be expensive and time-consuming—or you could sign up with a web space provider, also known as a web host. This is a company that hosts your website, i.e., lets you rent space on their web servers for a monthly or yearly fee.

In addition to web hosting, you’ll want to register a domain, which is your address on the Internet. If you owned a business called Sarah Jones Bakeshop, for example, you might want your domain name to be sarahjonesbakeshop.com. So while web hosting provides you with “land” on the Internet, domain registration provides you with an official address. Most web hosts offer packages that include both web hosting and domain registration.

Step 2: Determine your needs

Before you choose a web host, think of what you need. Here are some things to consider:

  • Disk space. How much disk space you need to store your data will depend on the nature of your website. If the website will be mostly text, you will likely need less than 10MB of disk space. If it will contain music, videos, or high-resolution images, you will need a lot more.
  • Bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that your web host will allow you to have every month. Every time a visitor loads your website, the data transfer is subtracted from your total bandwidth. If you go over the limit, your web host might suspend your website until next month. When considering bandwidth, think about the size of your files as well as your anticipated number of visitors each month.
  • Customer support. Are you comfortable figuring out technical issues on your own? If you are, then this won’t be a huge requirement. But if you think you won’t be able to fix your website yourself if it malfunctions, good technical support is a must.
  • Email accounts. Most web hosting plans include email accounts, but some offer a limited number. Make sure to check. If you own a business, remember that you’ll want to give @yourdomain.com email accounts not only to yourself but also to your employees and business partners.
  • Programming languages, database systems, and other technical issues. If you’re looking to have a simple static website, you won’t need any server-side languages and databases. But you’ll need them for dynamic websites—blogs, forums, social networking sites, or basically all websites that you want to be able to update without having to edit and upload files from your computer. PHP and MySQL are the most popular programming language/database system pair, but there are many others available.

Other things to consider:

It would be useful to create a comparison chart to help you see the features of different web hosting plans.

Step 3: Decide on the type of web hosting

There are different types of web hosting:

  • Free hosting is generally unreliable in terms of server uptime, bandwidth, and company longevity. They also often place unwanted advertisements on their hosted websites. This is not recommended, unless you only have a personal website whose reliability and professionalism aren’t too important.
  • Shared hosting is the most common kind of hosting, where your website shares server space and computing resources with a few other hosted websites. This is recommended for anyone with regular needs.
  • Virtual private servers provide more guaranteed resources and better performance than shared hosting. It’s the middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting.
  • Dedicated hosting allows you to have a web server all to yourself, but still maintained by your web host. This can be very nice, but it’s expensive and difficult to set up. This is recommended for advanced users and websites which need a lot of computing resources.

Most individuals and small businesses choose shared web hosting. It’s an affordable solution that includes all the typical features websites need. You could always upgrade later if you want to.

Step 4: Choose your web host and hosting plan

There are lots of web hosts to choose from, and each web host usually offers several web hosting plans. Assess your needs and consider whether your potential web host and hosting plan will meet each of them. Look at the web host’s reputation, uptime, and customer support. Look at the plan’s disk space, bandwidth, performance, and additional features. If you’re not comfortable with manual configuration, choose a web host that will also do your domain registration for you. Compare, contrast, and choose carefully. If you’re in doubt, sign up for a month and try it out before committing to a long-term contract.

Just Host is a great choice; they have a good technical platform, uptime, and customer service. But there are many other good providers, and you can check them out here.

Step 5: Register your domain and get your web hosting

Register the domain you want for your website. Sign up with your chosen web host and pay for your hosting plan. If applicable, configure the domain and web hosting so that they work together. Congratulations! You now have a home on the web.

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