How Does Hosting Function?

If you have made a decision to create your own site, but are not very certain about what a website is and are unfamiliar with the term "hosting", this article is devoted to clarifying these concepts in plain terms.

What exactly is a web site?

A website is an amalgamation of webpages gathered systematically. It has a special web site address, also known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A web site may have just one webpage and sometimes may even contain as many as one thousand web pages.

What is a hosting server?

A web hosting server permits you to upload your site onto it. In some instances, there might be even 1000's of sites on a single web hosting server. The hosting server basically is a computer with special hardware, which is situated in a datacenter facility with special cooling systems, whose purpose is to safeguard the smooth performance of the machine and all the web sites hosted on it.

In short, a hosting server will be truly a launch pad when the time arrives for you to launch your website. It could be any kind of site - a corporate website having a large number of pages, or a site, which is comprised of only a couple of web pages and which you have made simply for your mates 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 web site you would like to develop, the next move is to find out what kind of web hosting service you have to choose for your Internet project. Basically, there are two types of web hosting services - free-of-charge website hosting services and professional paid hosting services. The charge-free hosting solution is typically used by individuals that do not have a business site.

Pros and cons of the free website hosting solution

You will not receive many options with a free website hosting plan. Features such as bandwidth, RAM memory and disk storage space are restricted and insufficient for a complex e-shop or a corporate site, or even for a site with lots of graphics. In addition, there are lots of commercials incorporated in your site by the web hosting vendor. These adverts take up plenty of space on your web site and are very irritating.

Shared website hosting

The professional paid shared website hosting services tend to be more reliable and offer many powerful features apart from the high-powered server that will host your web site and its files. Nonetheless, it is important to know which features your website needs prior to purchasing your web hosting plan. You should not hurry and wind up paying for something that your website does not demand.

Find your web hosting provider

It is not tough to find a web hosting vendor. You have to just conduct an online survey in order to find a web hosting vendor that matches your site's demands. Before you take your actual decision, have a gaze at the specs of the web hosting plans furnished by the hosting providers that have caught your attention. We, for instance, are among the best web hosting vendors on the marketplace at present. The broad array of web hosting solutions and our prices are what renders us an enticing option. Even so, you must confirm what kind of web hosting solution you need and whether the price suits your allowance. Moreover, you must not forget to examine the hosting vendor's Terms & Conditions prior to subscribing to make sure that your website is not abusing them.

Signing up for a website hosting account

Once you have found out what features are best for your site, the next move is to sign up for an account with the hosting supplier of your choosing. You will acquire all the essential tools for administering your web site files and databases. With us, for example, you will acquire a web hosting Control Panel, which comprises domain name, web site, database and email box account management areas. You log in the web hosting Control Panel using a unique user name and password, which gives you safe access to the part of the web hosting server where your website will be hosted.

Uploading your site

You can either upload your files through an FTP client or, as is with the majority of web hosting suppliers, via a web-based tool that is integrated within the hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is pretty intuitive and offers features comparable to those encountered in Windows Explorer, which renders file manipulation very easy. We offer additionally a site building tool and a PHP script installation tool, which you can utilize to develop your web site if you have no programming experience and are taking your first steps in web design. The web-based website building tool, called SiteStudio, will also spare you the time and effort of making a website on your personal computer and then uploading it through FTP or the File Manager interface.