You must have worked very hard in creating your website, so don't let the work go in vain by adopting half-hearted efforts in getting the website online. You have three options to choose from in this regard. First, you can host the site directly on your computer, second is hosting it on a server, and the third option is to get a third-party host it. The first two alternatives are mostly used in practice and are good for people with a fast internet connection, and even for sites that are inclined towards businesses. Monitoring regularly is required for the maintenance of the web server in this case.
Opting for a web hosting company would be a great option to fall back on. The web hosts host your website on their server and you are given access to it via FTP for the purpose of uploading files on your website. Web hosting services are available for free, for a fee, and also a dedicated web hosting.
So the other alternatives are of course, free or paid. And the most common question asked is that why should I pay for something that I can obtain for free?
But paid web-hosting does score over free hosting on several counts: There are better features provided in your hosting package, technical support is prompt, responsible and probably better, the net connection is faster as compared to free hosts, there wont be unwanted advertisements on your page and most importantly your needs shall be catered to as you pay for the services rendered.
Paid web hosting provides you with more number of features, like faster internet connection, good customer support, absence of irritating advertisements from the webpage, and also, as you are paying for the services, your needs will be taken care of.
As far as the free web-hosting is concerned, they lack in the aspect of reliability notwithstanding having some brilliant features. Honestly speaking, their service is not up to the mark, although, there are some free hosts who do not put their banner on your website. You can consider these options if you have a small site or you are a beginner in this field. The web-hosts provide you with certain features and a list of such features is given below. This is not certainly an extensive list. Let me put it in this manner that in order to get your site hosted, you are expected to know about certain terms.
URL/Address: If you don't have a domain name, then you might need a URL address.
Space- as a web page most sites require very little space, and 5MB is adequate for a small site, which will take over a hundred pages. Most of the times graphics take up about 35KB of space, but if it is a graphics intensive site, or one featuring downloads, then you will need around 15-20MB. Unlimited space though offered by many web-hosts is not required as such.
Bandwidth/ transfer- this is a monthly affair, and accounts for the total number of files transferred from your site in a month. The best option being unlimited bandwidth. You need no less than 1GB per month for average sites.
CGI-BIN- this is required when you run interactive scripts like guest-books, counters etc. These sites can be remotely hosted while they carry the banners from the site that presents them.
SSI: This is a special function which channelizes the server for inclusion of a given thing on your webpage. It could be text, or any other thing.
My SQL/PHP/ASP Support- A database format like these is of immense importance in order to keep a database on your site. Interestingly enough, some key sites are generated by ASP.
Technical Assistance- As mentioned earlier, a paid host can endow you with better technical support than a free host and your site is in a great need of this. This technical assistance can be had through either e-mail, phone or fax.
E- mail- It is always wise to have a POP3 mail service as it lets you receive any message from your web-host before they send it to you. Actually, it is very common to have such mails provided you have a domain name.
FrontPage Extensions- these are some extensions that you require if you employ Microsoft FrontPage to construct your web-site. You can also include FrontPage components in your site.
SSL/Secure Server- this is essential to ensure secure ordering facilities on your web-site.
Statistics/Log files: You can have them to gain information about the users of your site, and get information about what has been downloaded from your website, which page has been viewed the most, etc.
FTP Accounts: Users get the option of downloading files by logging into an area of your website with anonymous FTP. Basically, File Transfer Protocol [FTP] allows you to upload files on your server.
Paid web hosting service: most web hosts charge a monthly payment for paid services, and they remove the advertisements present on your site, besides offering you good technical support as well. So if you can do some research work and get hold of a good paid web host, you can get rid of the unwanted advertisements. The costs range from $5 to $75 a month, though the dedicated servers cost about $150 a month.
However, if you are opting for paid web host services, then you must ask them about a list of all the websites which they host. By doing this, you can contact webmasters of those sites and get first-hand information about the web host. Also, enquire about the technical support, since this is a very important factor as far as paid web hosts go.
Always bear in mind to go through all their terms and conditions. It is often seen that some free hosts do ask you for the ownership of the copyright of your page. This is an obstruction to advertise on your own website. So, be aware of all the restrictions to advance properly.
Opting for a web hosting company would be a great option to fall back on. The web hosts host your website on their server and you are given access to it via FTP for the purpose of uploading files on your website. Web hosting services are available for free, for a fee, and also a dedicated web hosting.
So the other alternatives are of course, free or paid. And the most common question asked is that why should I pay for something that I can obtain for free?
But paid web-hosting does score over free hosting on several counts: There are better features provided in your hosting package, technical support is prompt, responsible and probably better, the net connection is faster as compared to free hosts, there wont be unwanted advertisements on your page and most importantly your needs shall be catered to as you pay for the services rendered.
Paid web hosting provides you with more number of features, like faster internet connection, good customer support, absence of irritating advertisements from the webpage, and also, as you are paying for the services, your needs will be taken care of.
As far as the free web-hosting is concerned, they lack in the aspect of reliability notwithstanding having some brilliant features. Honestly speaking, their service is not up to the mark, although, there are some free hosts who do not put their banner on your website. You can consider these options if you have a small site or you are a beginner in this field. The web-hosts provide you with certain features and a list of such features is given below. This is not certainly an extensive list. Let me put it in this manner that in order to get your site hosted, you are expected to know about certain terms.
URL/Address: If you don't have a domain name, then you might need a URL address.
Space- as a web page most sites require very little space, and 5MB is adequate for a small site, which will take over a hundred pages. Most of the times graphics take up about 35KB of space, but if it is a graphics intensive site, or one featuring downloads, then you will need around 15-20MB. Unlimited space though offered by many web-hosts is not required as such.
Bandwidth/ transfer- this is a monthly affair, and accounts for the total number of files transferred from your site in a month. The best option being unlimited bandwidth. You need no less than 1GB per month for average sites.
CGI-BIN- this is required when you run interactive scripts like guest-books, counters etc. These sites can be remotely hosted while they carry the banners from the site that presents them.
SSI: This is a special function which channelizes the server for inclusion of a given thing on your webpage. It could be text, or any other thing.
My SQL/PHP/ASP Support- A database format like these is of immense importance in order to keep a database on your site. Interestingly enough, some key sites are generated by ASP.
Technical Assistance- As mentioned earlier, a paid host can endow you with better technical support than a free host and your site is in a great need of this. This technical assistance can be had through either e-mail, phone or fax.
E- mail- It is always wise to have a POP3 mail service as it lets you receive any message from your web-host before they send it to you. Actually, it is very common to have such mails provided you have a domain name.
FrontPage Extensions- these are some extensions that you require if you employ Microsoft FrontPage to construct your web-site. You can also include FrontPage components in your site.
SSL/Secure Server- this is essential to ensure secure ordering facilities on your web-site.
Statistics/Log files: You can have them to gain information about the users of your site, and get information about what has been downloaded from your website, which page has been viewed the most, etc.
FTP Accounts: Users get the option of downloading files by logging into an area of your website with anonymous FTP. Basically, File Transfer Protocol [FTP] allows you to upload files on your server.
Paid web hosting service: most web hosts charge a monthly payment for paid services, and they remove the advertisements present on your site, besides offering you good technical support as well. So if you can do some research work and get hold of a good paid web host, you can get rid of the unwanted advertisements. The costs range from $5 to $75 a month, though the dedicated servers cost about $150 a month.
However, if you are opting for paid web host services, then you must ask them about a list of all the websites which they host. By doing this, you can contact webmasters of those sites and get first-hand information about the web host. Also, enquire about the technical support, since this is a very important factor as far as paid web hosts go.
Always bear in mind to go through all their terms and conditions. It is often seen that some free hosts do ask you for the ownership of the copyright of your page. This is an obstruction to advertise on your own website. So, be aware of all the restrictions to advance properly.
About the Author:
About The Author : William MacMahon is a professional writer in the web hosting industry. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews on the top hosting companies each month.
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