Hosting Definition

If you have decided to make your very own website, but are not very certain about what a website is and are unfamiliar with the term "hosting", this article is devoted to explaining these notions in plain terms.

What exactly is a website?

A website is an amalgamation of webpages gathered systematically. It has a special website address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A site may have only one single web page and sometimes may even contain as many as a thousand webpages.

What is a web hosting server?

A hosting server permits you to upload your website onto it. In some instances, there might be even thousands of sites on a single web hosting server. The hosting server basically is a computer with special hardware, which is stored in a datacenter with special cooling systems, whose purpose is to ensure the seamless performance of the server and all the websites hosted on it.

In brief, a hosting server will be indeed a launch pad when the time comes for you to launch your web site. It could be any sort of website - a corporate website having lots of pages, or a website, which is comprised of only several pages and which you have developed just for your comrades 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 web site you desire to set up, the next step is to discover what type of web hosting service you must select for your Internet project. Basically, there are two sorts of hosting services - free-of-charge website hosting services and professional paid website hosting services. The free-of-charge hosting solution is usually utilized by clients that do not own a business website.

Strengths and weaknesses of the free-of-charge hosting solution

You will not obtain plenty of features with a free-of-charge web hosting plan. Features such as web traffic, RAM memory and disk storage space are limited and insufficient for a complex ecommerce web site or a corporate web site, or even for a website with lots of graphics. What's more, there are a lot of banner ads embedded on your website by the web host. These advertisements occupy a lot of space on your website and are extremely irritating.

Shared website hosting

The paid shared website hosting services tend to be more dependable and include a lot of sophisticated features apart from the high-end hosting server that will host your website and its content. Nevertheless, it is important to find out which features your website demands before buying your web hosting plan. You should not rush and end up investing in something that your site does not require.

Choose your web hosting accounts provider

It is not hard to find a hosting vendor. You have to just conduct an online search in order to find a web hosting supplier that satisfies your web site's requirements. Before you make your actual decision, take a glimpse at the features of the web hosting plans offered by the web hosting vendors that have grabbed your interest. We, for instance, are among the best hosting companies on the market at present. The big assortment of web hosting services and our prices are what renders us an attractive choice. Nevertheless, you must verify what type of web hosting service you require and if the price corresponds to your budget. Also, you must always remember to examine the web hosting provider's Terms of Use before opening an account to ensure that your site is not abusing them.

Signing up for a website hosting account

As soon as you have found out what features are optimal for your website, the next move is to sign up for an account with the hosting supplier of your choosing. You will be bestowed with all the important tools for administering your web site files and databases. With us, for instance, you will get a Control Panel, which has domain, web site, database and e-mail administration areas. You log in the web hosting Control Panel using your unique username and password, which gives you secure access to the part of the server where your web site will be located.

Uploading your web site

You can either upload your website via an FTP client or, as is with most web hosting service providers, via an online tool that is included within the web hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is very intuitive and offers features comparable to those found in Windows Explorer, which makes file manipulation extremely easy. We offer additionally a web site builder and a PHP-based script installation tool, which you can use to create your site if you have no programming expertise and are making your first steps in web design. The web-based site building tool, called SiteStudio, will also save you the time and effort of making a web site on your computer and then uploading it using an FTP software program or the File Manager interface.