What Does Website Hosting Represent?

If you have made a decision to set up your own site, but are not very sure about what a web site is and are unfamiliar with the expression "website hosting", this article is dedicated to clarifying these notions in simple terms.

What exactly is a website?

A web site is a combination of web pages gathered systematically. It has a special address, also referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A site may have just one single webpage and sometimes may even include as many as a thousand web pages.

What is a hosting server?

A web hosting server permits you to upload your website onto it. In some instances, there might be even thousands of web sites on one single hosting server. The web hosting server essentially is a computer with special hardware, which is kept in a datacenter with special cooling systems, whose purpose is to ensure the smooth operation of the web hosting server and all the websites located on it.

To sum up, a hosting server will be truly a launch pad when the time comes for you to launch your website. It could be any sort of site - a business website consisting of many web pages, or a site, which is comprised of only a few pages and which you have created simply for your mates and relatives.

You've decided what your site will be, now what?

As soon as you have decided what kind of web site you want to establish, the next move is to find out what sort of web hosting service you have to pick for your Internet venture. Essentially, there are two kinds of web hosting services - free-of-cost hosting services and professional paid website hosting services. The free-of-charge website hosting solution is generally used by clients that do not own a business-related website.

Pros and cons of the free-of-cost web hosting solution

You will not obtain a lot of options with a cost-free website hosting plan. Features such as traffic, RAM memory and server storage space are restricted and inadequate for an elaborate online store or a business-related web site, or even for a site with a lot of graphics. Furthermore, there are lots of banner ads put on your web site by the web hosting accounts provider. These adverts take up a lot of space on your web site and are quite embarrassing.

Shared web hosting

The paid shared web hosting services tend to be more stable and include many powerful features in addition to the high-power web hosting server that will accommodate your website and its files. Yet, it is essential to find out which features your site needs prior to selecting your web hosting package. You should not hurry and end up spending cash on something that your site does not need.

Choose your hosting supplier

It is not tough to find a web hosting services provider. You need to just carry out an online search in order to find a web hosting solutions provider that answers your web site's needs. Before you make your actual decision, take a glance at the specs of the packages furnished by the web hosting distributors that have grasped your interest. We, for instance, are among the top-notch website hosting providers on the marketplace these days. The vast variety of hosting services and our prices are what renders us an enthralling option. Even so, you must verify what type of hosting solution you need and if the price corresponds to your budget. Additionally, you must always remember to examine the hosting supplier's Terms of Service before subscribing to confirm that your site is not violating them.

Opening a web hosting account

Once you have found out what features are most important for your site, the next move is to open an account with the hosting plans provider of your choosing. You will obtain all the needed tools for administering your website files and databases. With us, for example, you will receive a Control Panel, which is comprised of domain name, web site, database and e-mail box account administration areas. You log in the Control Panel using your unique username and password, which gives you secure access to the portion of the hosting server where your site will be hosted.

Uploading your site

You can either upload your website via FTP client software or, as is with most hosting suppliers, through a web-based tool that is included within the hosting Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is very user-friendly and offers features similar to those observed in Windows Explorer, which makes file manipulation very easy. We offer also a website builder and a PHP-driven script installation tool, which you can use to create your site if you have no programming abilities and are taking your very first steps in web design. The web-based web site builder, whose name is SiteStudio, will also save you the time and effort of creating a web site on your PC and then uploading it through an FTP client or the File Manager interface.