Web Hosting Explained
As I sat down to write this article I struggled with what to include. There are so many things to talk about and it would be extremely easy to over-complicate it. So, I decided to break it down and keep it simple. Today, I only want to go over what hosting is, why you need it and explain the basics of the type of hosting you’ll probably need. The rest can be discussed later.
Now that you’ve chosen your domain name, it needs a home. Web hosting services provide that home. Much like a brick and mortar store where you pay rent for a space to hold your inventory and house your business, a web server is the equivalent on the internet (but far cheaper). Web hosting is an online system for storing information, images, videos, or any content accessible via the Web.
There are quite a few hosting options from shared hosting to dedicated servers. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages unique unto themselves. Today, we’re going to focus on Shared Hosting simply because this type of hosting is generally good enough for most small businesses.
Shared Hosting
This type of hosting is an economical and convenient way of hosting your website. It’s perfect for small businesses where costs counts and minimum maintenance is preferred. Shared hosting is, as it’s name suggests, a single server hosting multiple website accounts. Sometimes, it can be in the thousands which is why hosts can offer such low monthly fees.
The servers used for shared hosting are monitored, operated and maintained around the clock by IT Professionals and they are always checking performance and security issues to ensure the best service possible. Most providers can boast a 99% uptime which means your website can expect minimum downtime.
These shared servers are usually run on Unix or other multi-user operating systems and each client is provided their own separate account and allocated a fixed amount of resources. The IP address provided is a shared IP but you should have the option of paying a little extra for a dedicated IP address.
Ok, so now that you have a basic idea of what shared hosting is, let’s talk about what you get for your monthly fee.
When you find a host you’d like to use, they will likely include several different plans to choose from. All will be broken down by the amount of web space, the amount of monthly bandwidth or traffic and then you may have other options such as unlimited sub-domains, x number of email accounts, etc. Once you have a general idea of what you need and what each of the features offered actually are, you’ll be able to make an informed decision as to which plan is best for you.
Here’s an example of what you might find for plans:
Disk Space 1GB
Bandwidth 25GB
MySQL Databases 15
Email Accounts Unlimited
Let’s break this down…
Disk Space is the amount of space you’ll have as storage for your files, images, etc. 1GB is huge and more than enough for a small website, definitely enough for hosting a more dynamic site such as a blog or content management system. Of course, it does depend on what you will be uploading to your web space so you’ll need to keep an eye on this from your control panel.
Bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed between your web site and the rest of the internet. The amount of bandwidth you’ll actually need will depend highly on your website, traffic and whether or not you will allow for downloads. 1GB is usually enough for most small businesses so 25GB is more than enough. To get a full understanding of how bandwidth works, I found a great article that lays it all out in laymens terms at Findmyhosting.com
MySQL is for use with web applications such as Joomla and WordPress and acts as data storage. If you want to use, for instance, wordpress as your website platform, you’ll need to set up a database from your control panel. Installation will then automatically write to your database and create all of the files it requires to dynamically run your wordpress site. If you chose to run more than one web application, each would need it’s own database thus the need for multiple databases is required. In our case, 15 MySQL databases is again more than enough.
Email Accounts are essential for the professionalism of your business. Instead of using a free email account such as gmail or yahoo for your business emails, you should create one based on your domain name (ie. sales@yourdomainname.com). In your control panel you can easily set up individual accounts then configure them in your email client (Outlook, Windows Live Mail or even your free online account) so you still receive your email to your favorite client, but your customers see you mean business.
These are just a few of the main features you want to check. A small website, or start-up site can probably get away with 100MB of space and 1BG of bandwidth, so depending on the hosting packages available and the cost comparison, remember you don’t have to start out huge as you can always upgrade when it becomes necessary.
One final note, I’ve tried many web hosting services over the years and all have had their good and bad points. Here are a few things you should look for and ask about:
- Make sure their support staff are always ready and willing to help (quickly) should something happen.
- Keep an eye on the number of times your site becomes unavailable and how long it takes to load.
- Do they contact you when issues arise so you are aware of any downtime.
- Back up your site often from your control panel, many say they do, but when it comes to crunch time and you need to move or re-load your site, you might find they haven’t exactly done as they’ve stated.
I hope I’ve covered eveything and made it easy to understand. If you still have questions or would like to share your own experience, please post a reply below.
Toresa:)
