Web Hosting Services Unmasked

If you have made a decision to develop your very own personal website, but are not quite sure about what a website is and are unfamiliar with the term "web hosting", this article is devoted to defining these notions in plain terms.

What exactly is a website?

A web site is a combination of web pages assembled systematically. It has a unique web site address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A site may include only one web page and sometimes may even contain as many as a thousand web pages.

What is a hosting server?

A hosting server permits you to upload your site onto it. In some instances, there might be even 1000's of websites on one single web hosting server. The hosting server basically is a computer with specific hardware, which is held in a data center facility with special cooling systems, whose task is to ensure the smooth functioning of the web hosting server and all the sites accommodated on it.

To summarize, a hosting server will be indeed a launch pad when the time arrives for you to launch your web site. It could be any type of website - a corporate web site containing a large number of web pages, or a website, which has only a few webpages and which you have made just for your associates and family members.

You've made a decision about what your site will be, now what?

As soon as you have decided what kind of website you would like to launch, the next move is to find out what kind of web hosting service you must choose for your online endeavor. Essentially, there are two kinds of website hosting services - charge-free web hosting services and paid hosting services. The free web hosting solution is typically used by customers that do not own a business website.

Positive and negative aspects of the charge-free website hosting solution

You will not obtain plenty of features with a cost-free hosting package. Features like web traffic, memory and hosting server hard drive space are restricted and insufficient for an elaborate e-commerce site or a corporate website, or even for a website with plenty of graphics. Besides, there are lots of banner ads embedded on your web site by the hosting company. These ads occupy lots of space on your site and are quite frustrating.

Shared website hosting

The paid shared website hosting services tend to be more reliable and include a lot of powerful features beside the high-quality hosting server that will accommodate your website and its data. In spite of that, it is essential to know which features your website needs prior to choosing your web hosting package. You should not rush and end up buying something that your site does not need.

Find your hosting services provider

It is not difficult to find a web hosting supplier. You need to simply carry out an online search in order to find a web hosting solutions provider that answers your site's demands. Before you make your actual choice, take a look at the features of the hosting plans supplied by the web hosting suppliers that have got your interest. We, for example, are among the premier web hosting service providers on the market now. The large array of services and our prices are what makes us an appealing choice. However, you must verify what sort of hosting service you need and if the price corresponds to your allowance. In addition, you must always remember to go through the web hosting supplier's TOS before signing up to verify that your website is not abusing them.

Signing up for a website hosting account

Once you have found out what features are optimal for your site, the next step is to sign up for an account with the web hosting packages provider of your preference. You will get all the needed tools for handling your files and databases. With us, for example, you will obtain a Control Panel, which consists of domain, website, database and mailbox management areas. You log in the hosting Control Panel using a unique user name and password, which gives you safe access to the portion of the server where your website will be located.

Uploading your site

You can either upload your website files through FTP client software or, as is with the majority of hosting companies, through a web-based tool that is included within the web hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is rather user-friendly and offers features similar to those found in Windows Explorer, which renders file manipulation exceptionally easy. We offer additionally a web site builder and a PHP-based script installer, which you can use to create your site if you possess no programming knowledge and are taking your very first steps in web design. The web-based site building tool, dubbed SiteStudio, will also spare you the time and effort of creating a website on your PC and then uploading it via an FTP software application or the File Manager tool.