Website hosting is the service that gives your website a safe place to live and be seen (and sometimes heard). More specifically it is when a computer is configured to store the data and files that make up a website and allows them to be downloaded over a network when requested. Computers configured for web hosting are called web servers. If you want your website to appear on the internet you must host it on server that is accessible to the internet.
What do I need to know about web hosting?
Configuring a computer to host a website can be very complicated. The operating system, services, applications, and scripts must all be set up properly. The server must be kept up to date and secure from viruses and hackers. Everything must be tuned to maintain excellent performance and reliability and the hardware and software must be monitored so you know when to fix anything that goes wrong. Fortunately there are many people out there that are experts at this and will do all this work for you. They work hard to make it very easy for you.
These days it isn’t too hard to get feature rich, reliable web hosting for very little money. Most services have wizards, automated setup scripts, and tutorials that make the chore of setting up a web server simple. In addition, most web hosting companies provide entry level plans that let you try them out and then upgrade to beefier plans as the need arises.
The bottom line is that you don’t need to know the nitty gritty details of configuring and supporting your server. You simply need to understand what you are paying for and how to use it effectively.
What do I get when I purchase web hosting services?
When you buy web hosting services, you are paying for space on a web server, the bandwidth your audience uses to download content, and the services, scripts, and other features available on that server. You are also paying for the support, maintenance, and reliability of that server. Some hosting plans allow you to host a single website. Some plans allow you to host a bunch of websites that share the allotted resources. Web hosting can be as simple as a small bit of storage space for static HTML web pages accessible on the internet. It can be as complicated as fault tolerant, fully redundant, enterprise class systems that host dynamic e-commerce enabled pages powered by massive databases.
Most entry level plans will include space for your website, a certain amount of monthly bandwidth your audience uses to download your website, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service so you can upload the files that make up your website, a number of email accounts, access to a database server, statistics programs, basic security, support for a number of programing and scripting languages, and scripts that let you build dynamic web content easily.
How do I get web hosting?
NetFlint offers fantastic website hosting deals. Start off with one of our shared hosting plans. We have a plan that lets you run a single website for less than $4 a month. Do you want to run a bunch of websites on the same account? Get a deluxe or unlimited hosting plan. When you you outgrow shared hosting, we have virtual and dedicated server plans that can handle the most popular websites.
Feel free to check out the competition’s prices and services. Here are some popular choices:
- NetFlint Website Services
- Yahoo! Web Hosting
- iPower.com
- ServerPronto.com
- Bluehost.com
- Host Gator Dedicated Server
