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Define: Web Hosting
What is web hosting and how to make use of it?
Web hosting is a generic term which we will explain in the context of the web services you receive. Such services include:
- Registering a domain name, such as example.org.
- Using this domain name for serving a website such as http://example.org.
- Having a website building tool or a blog or CMS application.
- Using email by your domain name me@example.org.
- Others - backing up your important data online, supporting chat / voice services and so on.
Free web hosting?
It is important to know that web hosting is not necessarily purchased. You can have your own web hosting for free - almost every computer with internet access can offer web hosting with a little technical knowledge on your end. On the other hand, reliable web hosting for busy / feature-rich web sites is expensive and would require complex setup. In other words, it all depends on your needs and abilities.
Fortunately most people have common needs, which include a relatively simple website (blog, CMS, forum or other mainstream software) and an email solution for their domain name.
Shared or Dedicated hosting?
Most people's needs fit in the popular shared hosting solution. It is quite affordable, fast and stable. However, resources are shared among users and this has drawbacks in terms of performance and configuration flexibility. For example, if your application has a specific server requirement you should not expect the shared server to be re-configured to meet your needs.
That's where the expensive dedicated solutions come - usually high end servers with dedicated resources which allow much faster performance and global server re-configurations.
Prices vary between $5 and $10 per month for a shared hosting to more than $100 for a dedicated solution. If you are not a very experienced user and your website needs a dedicated machine, it would be best to purchase managed dedicated hosting solution, where the hosting company would make all server settings and security protection for you. The managed dedicated solutions prices start from $200/month.
Web Hosting Guide for Begginers
In this article we have collected all important information you need as a new webmaster in order to plan and build your own website successfully. There are three main steps you should consider when creating a website: you have to choose a web host, a domain name, and an application to create and manage your website content with.
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You can use the graphic above for quick navigation between the three steps.
How to choose a web host?
Choosing a web host is the first step you should consider when starting a website project. In order to have your website available in the World Wide Web, you need a place where to host it. This place is provided by the web hosting provider. The web hosting as a service incorporates the space where your website files are stored, the traffic to your website, and lots of extra services such as firewall protection, technical assistance, email services, FTP access, domain name registration, website building tools and more.
In order to choose a web host for your website you have to consider a few important issues:
Price: Can you go with a free web host?
Many webmasters search for free web hosting providers, at least for their first web site. That is understandable - you do not know how to compare hosting services and you check their prices. Well, once you start a web site, you will see that there are several other things that also count, appart from the price. For example, free or very cheap hosts publish ads on your web pages and provide you with no technical assistance. Below we have listed some of the most important factors when choosing where to host your online project
Customer Feedback
When you compare a couple of hosting providers that meet your budget and tech requirements, go and check for customer feedback. There is plenty of information in Google, Yahoo or specialized hosting directories. You will surely see if the provider is reliable, if answers to tech issues quickly, if meets the uptime numbers promised on the index and if customers like it. So, go and check for hosting reviews about your man:
Technical support
Technical assistance is always needed from your web host, at least from time to time. When you start working over your web site questions will arise: How to get started; How to upload files; How to create an email account, etc.
Sometimes you will need those questions answered as soon as possible, or even immediately. That is why your web host must provide 24x7 tech support assistance. Your technical questions should be answered within 1-2 hours max. Besides the speed of responses, check if the support is technically competent. And do not go searching for phone support - the phone support lines are always busy when you need them. The most efficient companies use ticketing systems, where you deliver all technical details needed to have your question answered within an hour or less.
Hosting features: web space, bandwidth, CPU, PHP limits, etc.
The features of web hosting plans are constantly growing. In 2003, the max disk space quota per shared hosting plan was 5MB. In 2009 few providers offer less than unlimited of everything. However, make sure to check the Terms of use for more details about what might be limited.
Does the hosting provider support:
- Email, POP3, SMTP, IMAP, Autoresponders, Email forwarders:
If you have your own site you would probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, for example: info@mydomain.com. You can check for POP3, SMTP (and IMAP) in order to have web mail capabilities. Check our if you can set an email address to automatically reply to the sender with a present message (Autoresponder). See if you you forward a message from one email to another for example: all the emails coming to sales@mydomain.com to be forwaded to salesmanager@mydomain.com
- PHP, MySQL, Cron Jobs:
The PHP/MySQL capabilities are becoming more and more important for having a dynamic website. Cron jobs may be needed for programs that you need to be run periodically (e.g. once a day).
- Website tools - Blogs, CMS, galleries, forums:
Your host can provide you with free tools to create your website, such as blogs, CMS, galleries, forums. These tools will extensively faciliate your work on your website and you will save lots of money on web designers and developers.
- E-commerce option - Shopping cart, SSL (Secure Socket Layer):
If you are planning to run an e-commerce website, you might be needing SSL certifice and Shopping cart. These facilities normally involve a higher price package or additional charges. You will definitely need an SSL certificate if you plan to collect credit card information on your site.
- Control Panel:
This feature is especially important if you want to maintain your site or have someone else to maintain it. From the control panel you will make changes to your site, upload files, change passwords for your account, add/delete an email account, manage databases, etc.
- DreamWeaver, GoLive, Flash:
You may want to create your web site using a web site building software such as GoLive or DreamWeaver. It is good to check if your web hosting provider supports these tools.
If you follow these basic guidelines, you will have a reliable, efficient and satisfying hosting service that will contribute to the success of your business for many years to come.
SiteGround offers all resources you need to implement your website projects. Check out the SiteGround hosting account here.
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Web Hosting Guide for Begginers
In this article we have collected all important information you need as a new webmaster in order to plan and build your own website successfully. There are three main steps you should consider when creating a website: you have to choose a web host, a domain name, and an application to create and manage your website content with.
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You can use the graphic above for quick navigation between the three steps.
How to choose a domain name?
In order to make your web site accessible via the Internet, you should choose a domain name and register the domain. The domain name is the name a visitor types in the address bar of the browser in order to get the web site displayed there.
In this section you will find answers of the following questions:
Choosing an appropriate domain name is very important for the online appearance and promotion of your website. The domain name represents you, your personal and/or business web site. This is why it should be unique and memorable.
The domain name itself is an alphanumeric name which can be of any length up to 67 characters, and includes the 26 letters of the English alphabet, numbers 0-9, and hyphens (-).
The domain names have a suffix or extension, called also TLD (Top Level Domain), which is based on the type of organization it is associated with. Some common suffixes are .com, .net, .org, .us etc.
It is advisable to take your time to read all the tips on how to choose a domain name for your website.
After you have chosen a unique domain name for your web site, you will have to register it.
The domain name can be registered by a domain name registrar authorized by ICANN.
Note: It is not possible for the end user to register a domain name directly with ICANN - the user should choose a registrar to do that or take advantage of a indirect registration through a hosting provider.
Registrars set individually the costs of the domain registration. A domain name is usually registered on an annual basis.
With SiteGround you can easily check if your desired domain name is free and get it registered right away and for FREE with your hosting account.
To see how it works, just visit Domain Name Order Page and follow the instructions.
SiteGround works with accredited registrars like eNom and Tucows. Registering a domain name with SiteGround will bring you 1 year of free domain registration, easy domain name management and automatic yearly renewals of the domain name.
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Web Hosting Guide for Begginers
In this article we have collected all important information you need as a new webmaster in order to plan and make a website by your own successfully. There are three main steps you should consider when creating a website: you have to choose a web host, a domain name, and an application to create a website and manage your website content with.
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You can use the graphic above for quick navigation between the three steps.
How to create website with SiteBuilder?
The actual creating of your website is the last step to accomplish before you can go online.
In order to do that you have to decide what kind of website you want to create - a blog, online store, gallery, forum, etc. Check out our article which will provide you with 10 Great Ideas on Websites and will make this decision an easy one.
After you have decided what kind of website to create, you have to choose how to make your website. There are several ways you can go.
The easiest one is to use a site builder application, which offers you great looking templates and has a simple and yet efficient navigation.
At SiteGround there is a Zen SiteBuilder integrated in your hosting account, which you can use for free. You don't need any HTML knowledge to create your website and you can use our great video tutorial on How to create your Website with SiteBuilder.
How to create a website with Free Open Source Applications?
Alternatively there are many web applications such as Joomla, WordPress or Coppermine, which enable you to create great looking and functional websites. These content management systems are for more advanced users and offer much more features than the SiteBuilder.
SiteGround is compatible with over 250 applications:
- Content Management Systems (CMS) like Joomla,
- Blogs like WordPress and Drupal
- e-Shops such as osCommerce, CREloaded and Cube Cart,
- Galleries like Gallery2 and Coppermine,
- Forums such as phpBB, SMF, vBulletin,
- Wikis like MediaWiki, TikiWiki,
- e-learning management systems (LMS), etc.
You can also use a more advanced web development application like Dreamweaver to create your website on your computer all by yourself and upload it to the server. Here you will have to be an advanced HTML user, but you will also have the most control options and space for your creativity.
To decide which application is the right for you, read our Tutorial on How to start a new website, where we have selected some of the most frequently used tools suitable for the specific kind of website.
SiteGround offers you also free script tutorials on the installation and usage of the best open-source applications, knowledge base articles and free templates. And what is most important - you get a free installation of the most popular applications with your hosting account at SiteGround.
We wish you good luck with your new website!
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Web Hosting Revealed: Critical look at Web Hosting
Everyone wants his / her site to be fast, stable, easily managed while paying the lowest price. Naturally, that's what all hosting companies promise. However, when choosing your host it is important to know more about:
Hosting Features
Features are determined by marketing and are often tricky. Don't let yourself fall after unlimited and endless options. The most deceiving promise is that you will be able to host unlimited number of sites with unlimited bandwidth, disk space and support.
Hosting Prices
Lower prices are considered a warning by experienced users. The bet is too big to believe that a new revolutionary technology or organizational model has been invented allowing lower prices. In fact the most common reasons are:
- Risky business practices for short-term survival relying on long-term subscriptions. Surely you wouldn't like to pay for 3 year subscription with a host which is likely to bankrupt in a few months.
- Overselling and inferior service. It is possible to decrease the expenses by positioning abnormal number of users on limited resources. This leads to slower performance, frequent interruptions and unstable performance.
A common mistake is to purchase a cheap dedicated solution (dedicated server or virtual private server). Such solutions often lack a user-friendly management interface (cPanel for example), support is basic and resources are too low for the daily server tasks. This often makes cheap servers unusable because you cannot configure the server to manage your site and mail properly. Also, inexperienced server administrators often leave security holes which are easily exploited.
Technical support
Support is everything - this is what you will hear often. The fact is that the service is unusable if you do not receive competent support in a timely manner - your site is not opening and your mails are not delivered. Another warning is to avoid big promises such as 24/7 phone support - such support can tell you what your domain is in case you have forgotten it. But don't expect an experienced web developer, fluent in English, to be on the other end of the line and debug your PHP errors.
Hosting Technology
What technology is best for you? The most popular choice is based on Open Source and includes Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP or the so-called LAMP stack. The main reasons are:
- Fast and stable development. Almost all popular web applications are open source or rely on it - Joomla, phpBB, WordPress, Drupal and many others. In fact there is an Open Source application for just about anything. Furthermore, Open Source code is public and allows fast detection / fixing of security and development bugs.
- Strong community and commercial support. Open Source support is unbeatable - from helpful communities to dedicated support departments.
- Products are affordable if not free - For example Joomla, the Open Source content management system, is free in every way.
- Ease of use - Open Source products are developed for the average user with intensive user participation in the development process.
On one hand, Open Source is very attractive to developers because it allows full access and reusage of the code. On the other hand, Open source is actively sponsored by some of the biggest IT companies - Google, IBM, Sun, Novel and others. Recently Microsoft donated a large sum to the Apache foundation, which develops the Apache webserver, the best product in its class.
You should know that there are alternatives to the Open Source which, unfortunately, we cannot recommend.