Web & Internet

To enable a person or company to host a website or other web based product, a web hosting company is required. The service they provide is normally chargeable, for obvious reasons but it is possible for personal websites to be hosted for free. Companies that supply hosting are able to save files to their system on what is called a server and it is this that other people access when they want to view the web site.A large number of companies even supply free hosting to individuals, not generally companies, where they are able to have websites and blogs without any charge. Many restrictions exist with free web hosting but that is to be expected and for some it is an ideal situation but for only a few dollars per month, a paid web hosting service is far superior. Hosting packages vary enormously and must be chosen according to the needs of the user and not based on price because certain requirements may not be available in the lower price range.

Almost everyone starts out with what is termed ’shared hosting’ where the server is used by many.However, it is often a good idea to see if the company is reliable before this more costly option of a dedicated server is taken. With web hosting you get your own web space, but you do need to have a registered domain before you can use it, then you are allocated with enough storage to keep all your files for online publication. All companies will allocate a certain amount of space for your website and any other files required to be stored there (photos and MP3 tracks, for example) and this can be anything from 500Mb or more, depending on the host and package you are paying for.

Web hosting also provides the facility to have your own email address unlike those supplied by Google and Yahoo for example, this means, your e-mail address is exclusive to your website. Such e-mail addresses are very important, especially if you’re truly serious in business as they provide you with a level of credibility that free email addresses never can. The amount of data that is viewed on your site each time someone accesses it is called bandwidth; it is an extremely important aspect to consider and the main reason why buying the cheapest hosting package is not always best.

If you have a busy website and you have a low bandwidth allocation then there will be times when potential visitors will be disappointed as they will not be able to access your site until the allocation has been re-set. This is extremely important if your website has many images, MP3 tracks or other large files like video clips; even a single web page can contain a great deal of information, all of which is considered as bandwidth. Some people use their own home computers for web hosting but there can be serious security and reliability issues here so it is best to look for a professional company to supply this service.