What Does Web Hosting Represent?

If you have decided to set up your very own personal website, but are not very sure about what a website is and are unfamiliar with the expression "web hosting", this article is devoted to explaining these concepts in simple words.

What exactly is a website?

A web site is a collection of web pages assembled in a systematic fashion. It has a special website address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A site may include only one single webpage and sometimes may even consist of as many as 1000 pages.

What is a hosting server?

A hosting server permits you to upload your website onto it. In some cases, there might be even 1000's of sites on one single hosting server. The hosting server essentially is a computer with specific hardware, which is physically located in a data center facility with special cooling systems, whose mission is to safeguard the smooth performance of the web hosting server and all the sites accommodated on it.

In short, a hosting server will be indeed a launch pad when the time arrives for you to launch your web site. It could be any kind of website - a corporate web site having a lot of webpages, or a web site, which consists of just a few webpages and which you have built just for your friends and family members.

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

As soon as you have reached a decision about what type of website you wish to launch, the next move is to find out what kind of web hosting service you must pick for your online endeavor. Essentially, there are two sorts of web hosting services - free website hosting services and paid hosting services. The free-of-charge hosting solution is normally used by individuals that do not own a business website.

Strong and weak sides of the free web hosting solution

You will not get lots of features with a free-of-cost website hosting package. Features like web traffic, RAM memory and server hard disk space are restricted and insufficient for an elaborate e-commerce website or a business-related site, or even for a website with a lot of graphics. Besides, there are a lot of banner commercials placed on your site by the web host. These ads take up plenty of space on your site and are very embarrassing.

Shared website hosting

The paid shared website hosting services tend to be more dependable and offer a lot of sophisticated features apart from the high-end web hosting server that will host your site and its data. Still, it is essential to know which features your site demands prior to selecting your web hosting package. You should not hurry and end up investing money in something that your site does not require.

Pick your hosting distributor

It is not difficult to find a web hosting vendor. You have to simply conduct an online search in order to find a web hosting company that meets your site's requirements. Before you make your actual decision, have a gaze at the features of the web hosting plans supplied by the web hosting service providers that have seized your attention. We, for instance, are among the top hosting vendors on the marketplace now. The large range of services and our prices are what renders us an enticing option. Even so, you must establish what type of hosting service you need and whether the price corresponds to your allowance. Furthermore, you must not forget to take a look at the web hosting vendor's Terms of Use prior to registering to make sure that your site is not violating them.

Signing up for a website hosting account

Once you have found out what features are optimal for your site, the next move is to open an account with the web hosting services provider of your preference. You will have all the essential tools for administering your website files and databases. With us, for example, you will get a Control Panel, which comprises domain, website, database and email mailbox account management sections. You log into the hosting Control Panel using a unique username and password, which grants you safe access to the part of the server where your web site will be hosted.

Uploading your web site

You can either upload your website files via an FTP program or, as is with most hosting vendors, through an online 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 encountered in Windows Explorer, which renders file management extremely easy. We offer also a site building tool and a PHP script installation tool, which you can utilize to create your site if you have no programming expertise and are taking your first steps in web design. The online web site building tool, called SiteStudio, will also spare you the time and effort of making a web site on your computer and then uploading it using an FTP software application or the File Manager interface.