Shared Hosting Definition
If you have developed a website and you would like other people to notice it, you must host your website on a publicly accessible server.
Where to host your website?
Even though you can use your own personal computer as a web server, it is a more conventional practice to let a hosting provider host your site. The prime reason for that is the bigger stability and the better visibility of your web site, since hosting providers have high-end hardware and allocate a much larger web traffic usage allowance, which guarantees the easier access to your website from all over the world.
Shared hosting solutions
Select a shared hosting service, which enables you to register domain names and to create email mailboxes. A lot of web shared hosting distributors, like us at PriceToHost, offer a free domain name registration as a bonus if you sign up for a hosting account.
Hosting your website yourself
Hosting your site on your own web server is without a doubt an option, but only in case you have time and the necessary expertise. There are some matters that you have to consider, among them the hardware and software costs. To develop a "real", proper web site, you will have to invest cash in some powerful server hardware, because you cannot count on a cheap computer to perform the task. You will also require an uninterrupted breakneck-speed connection without downtimes, which usually comes at a pretty high price. If you are using licensed software for your site, you will need to invest money in the license as well. You may also need to deal with bugs and viruses. You will need to keep your web server constantly running in an environment where "everything could take place". If you do not have the needed technical know-how, you will need to engage a sysadmin to tackle these things for you, which will make the price of hosting your site on your own even steeper than that of a dedicated server provided by a hosting company.
A dedicated web server offered by a hosting supplier
Renting a dedicated hosting server from a hosting vendor is an excellent option if you want to develop a resource-intensive website or a business web page that has very rigid security requirements. The prime advantages of using a dedicated hosting server are the high-speed Internet access, the uninterruptible power supply and the extremely powerful hardware. Some hosting providers, again like us at PriceToHost, furnish VPS hosting and semi-dedicated server web hosting solutions, which are based on extremely powerful web servers that can be shared by several users. You can also expect them to offer efficient load balancing services and the necessary data backup servers.
Security and reliability
Hosting vendors are specialized in furnishing hosting services and since this is what they do for a living, you can expect them to offer uninterrupted service uptime, the latest software updates and the best anti-virus software, as well as sysadmins available 24/7 to assist you in emergency situations.
Select your web hosting supplier
What you have to consider when selecting your web hosting provider is the reliability of the offered hosting services. Make certain that the hosting solutions provider of your choice offers a 24/7/365 customer service. Do not put yourself in a position where you cannot solve serious problems immediately because you must wait till the next working day. Also, if you choose a shared website hosting package, which features a 24-7-365 client support service, this suggests that there constantly will be system administrators available to solve any serious problems as soon as they turn up, which is a very desirable thing.
Daily data backups
Make certain that your web hosting plans provider offers routine backups with the offered web hosting services, or else you may forfeit some important data in the event of a hardware failure or because you have erased something unintentionally. The presence of routine backups is usually mentioned in the web hosting vendor's Terms of Service.
Web traffic and web hosting server disk space
When selecting your web hosting accounts provider, give specific attention to the traffic amount restrictions. Make sure that you won't have to overpay for unforeseen high volumes of bandwidth if your website becomes more popular. There are a lot of hosting vendors that offer unmetered bandwidth nowadays, so the most relevant step to take is to make sure that you have made the right decision prior to registering.
Content limitations
Give special attention to the hosting provider's content restrictions. If you want to post pics or to broadcast video or audio, make sure that you can accomplish that. Also, the majority of hosting firms set limitations as far as using their services for storage purposes is concerned, so if you upload too many files that are not related or directly linked to your web site, your website hosting account could get deleted. This is the reason why double-checking the provider's Terms of Use, no matter how time-requiring and annoying this might be, is very important.
Email capabilities
The majority of hosting providers today also provide e-mail services with all their hosting offerings. It is a good idea to verify if the hosting services provider of your choosing offers such options as well, so as to confirm that you'll avail of all the features that you need in exchange for your money.
Business | Starter | Enterprise | Corporate |
Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage |
Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth |
5 websites hosted | 1 website hosted | Unlimited websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted |
30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial |
$7.58 / month | $3.58 / month | $13.50 / month | $10.33 / month |