How Does Hosting Work?

If you have made a decision to launch your own personal web site, but are not quite sure about what a website is and are not aware of the term "hosting", this article is dedicated to clarifying these concepts in plain language.

What exactly is a web site?

A website is an amalgamation of web pages assembled in a systematic fashion. It has a unique web site address, also known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A web site may contain only one single web page and sometimes may even consist of as many as a thousand webpages.

What is a web hosting server?

A web hosting server permits you to upload your site onto it. In some cases, there might be even thousands of sites on a single web hosting server. The hosting server basically is a computer with special hardware, which is stored in a data center with special cooling systems, whose task is to safeguard the smooth operation of the hosting server and all the websites hosted on it.

To sum up, a web hosting server will be really a launch pad when the time comes for you to launch your site. It could be any sort of site - a business website consisting of a lot of pages, or a web site, which is comprised of just a couple of pages and which you have set up just for your chums and relatives.

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

Once you have decided what type of web site you desire to create, the next move is to discover what sort of web hosting service you have to select for your online adventure. Essentially, there are two sorts of web hosting services - free-of-cost website hosting services and paid website hosting services. The charge-free website hosting solution is typically used by individuals that do not own a business site.

Pluses and minuses of the free-of-charge website hosting solution

You will not obtain many features with a free-of-cost website hosting package. Features such as web traffic, memory and hard disk storage space are restricted and inadequate for an elaborate e-shop or a corporate web site, or even for a website with a lot of graphics. Furthermore, there are a lot of banner commercials incorporated in your web site by the hosting provider. These advertisements occupy plenty of space on your web site and are very annoying.

Shared website hosting

The paid shared website hosting services are more reliable and offer lots of powerful features in addition to the high-quality server that will accommodate your site and its data. Even so, it is essential to find out which features your site needs prior to buying your web hosting package. You should not hurry and wind up spending money on something that your web site does not require.

Find your hosting solutions provider

It is not tough to find a web hosting provider. You have to simply conduct an online search in order to find a web hosting company that fulfills your website's needs. Before you make your actual decision, have a peek at the features of the hosting plans furnished by the web hosting distributors that have seized your attention. We, for example, are among the best web hosting companies on the market these days. The immense selection of hosting solutions and our prices are what makes us an appealing choice. Nonetheless, you must establish what type of web hosting solution you need and if the price matches your budget. What is more, you must not forget to check the hosting vendor's Terms of Use prior to registering to make certain that your web site is not abusing them.

Signing up for a website hosting account

Once you have determined what features are best for your site, the next step is to sign up for an account with the web hosting vendor of your choosing. You will get all the necessary tools for administering your website files and databases. With us, for example, you will receive a web hosting Control Panel, which includes domain name, web site, database and email mailbox management sections. You log in the web hosting Control Panel using your unique username and password, which gives you safe access to the portion of the hosting server where your site will be located.

Uploading your web site

You can either upload your site through FTP client software or, as is with the majority of web hosting companies, through an online tool that is included within the Control Panel. With us, the File Manager is pretty easy to use and offers features similar to those encountered in Windows Explorer, which makes file management exceptionally easy. We offer also a site builder and a PHP-driven script installer, which you can use to develop your website if you have no programming skills and are making your first steps in web design. The web-based web site building tool, dubbed SiteStudio, will also save you the time and effort of creating a website on your PC and then uploading it using an FTP client application or the File Manager interface.