Website hosting is the process of renting out services and technologies to host websites on the internet. The website hosting process involves companies that enables users to access your website by typing in your web address or domain name in their web browser. In this scenario, their computer connects to the server your website is hosted on. As if on cue, their server sends the files you have stored on the storage to display the website to your web visitor in their web browser. To better familiarise yourself with this process, browse on below to have a better understanding of the basics of website hosting.
Ways of Website Hosting
Shared Hosting – This is commonly used by bloggers or start up small businesses. Shared hosting is the best method if you are just starting since it is the cheapest option among website hostings. It is also simple and convenient to use. As the name implies, shared hosting allows you to share your server space with other websites. The only downside to this is when there is an overload with other websites in your server space. Since you share your space with other websites, a compromise in one would result in a slower website among others that share the space. Thus, you have minimal control over the server.
Reseller Hosting – Opting for a Reseller Hosting is ideal for those in the website hosting industry. Reseller hosting gives you the ability to rent out or re-sell the same hosting services provided by the parent hosting company. Reseller Hosting also enables you to up sell every other web service offered by the parent web host.
Dedicated Hosting – With Dedicated Hosting, you have a complete administrative control of your server with full root access. Consequently, you can choose to install any software you wish to.
VPS Hosting – VPS hosting is considered as a higher, stronger more advanced form of shared hosting. Although, you share a server with other websites, you have the assigned resources that are not shared with the other properties. If you cannot afford a dedicated server, VPS is the way to go.
Choosing the Right Website Hosting
As mentioned above, there are several website hosting options to choose from. In order to know which is the best for your business, there are several things to consider.
Kind of Website – Whether you want a blog, an ecommerce portal, a news website etc, you have to first consider if the one you choose is the best for your website hosting. This will specifically determine how much web traffic you expect and the structure required to host your website must be.
Other Considerations
Among the other considerations for your website hosting are the website goals – this determines at what rate your expansion must be. Another aspect is the hand-holding that covers your storage space, bandwidth, control, and costs. You also need to know which web hosting provider to partner with. It is important to investigate their performance or claims in the uptime, years in the industry, customers, online reviews and testimonials, support, related products and security considerations. You should also take note of the backup services, and mobile access provisions.
