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Don't Make My
Mistakes!
What Is Web
Hosting
The URL & How It Works
Storage &
Transfer Explained
How to Choose a Hosting Plan
General Considerations
Linux vs Windows Hosting
Starting an
Internet Business
Getting Started: Keyword Research
Choosing Your Domain Name
Purchasing a Domain Name
Who Owns Your Domain Name?
Building Your Web Site
Track Your Website Traffic
Free
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What is Web Hosting?
By Vernon Sandel
An internet hosting service provider is a company owning servers (computers)
that are connected 24/7 to a network of other computers that make up the
world wide web. It stores web pages for clients and provides the technology
to send those pages out to browsers who request them. Each web page is coded
in a language called HTML, and each has its unique alphanumeric name/address
called a uniform resource locator (URL). The URL is the unique address of a
file on the internet.
In order to put a web site up on the internet a person must first register a
domain name. The registered domain name is the portion of the URL that follows the
"www." of the home page of a web site. The registered domain name of this site is "hostingplanscompared.com".
Next he must hire an internet hosting service provider. An internet
hosting service provider is a company that has many computers (servers) all
connected to the internet 24/7. When you put a web site on the
internet you have to rent memory space on one of these servers to hold your
site. The web host provides the necessary technology to present your
web pages to those computers requesting them.
There are a number of different types of internet hosting service
providers depending upon the services that they will be providing. For the
person who has little or no experience with computers and the internet,
there is the total internet service provider. They will build a web site to
your specifications which is optimized for the search engines, put it on the
web, and maintain the web site by making any changes that you may need to
keep it fresh and well positioned in the search engine listings. This type
of hosting is very expensive. The web site itself may cost several thousand
dollars depending upon its complexity, and hosting will generally run
anywhere from $100-$200 or more per month. Your success with this type of
hosting will depend strictly on the skill of the hosting company in carrying
out each step.
The next step down from that is the internet hosting service provider who
will build you a web site for considerably less money, put it up on the
internet, and maintain your site. You are strictly on your own as far as
optimizing your site for the search engines and getting
traffic. They may provide some instructions and/or suggestions, but your
success is strictly up to you. Usually you do not have control panel access
with this type of internet hosting service provider. You have to rely on them to make
changes and update your web site. They may
charge anywhere from 10-20 times the price per month of basic hosting. The
person with ordinary computer skills may find this type of hosting
frustrating since relying upon tech service to make every little change in
his web site can involve waiting on hold with the telephone as well as
delays in getting changes made that he could do himself with ftp access (a
file transfer protocol used for uploading web sites).
Basic internet hosting service providers are by far the
cheapest type of host. Their service is anything but basic in reality. A
good host provides their clients with web building software, training
instructions and videos, web statistics (number and source of visitors), and
access to the control panel to put up and maintain your web site. Control
panel access allows you to do practically everything yourself that the full
service internet hosting companies required tech service to do. Fortunately,
the basic hosts listed on this site also have 24/7 tech service to help you.
Basic hosting service is by far the most flexible of the hosting plans but
it requires computer and internet skills. Actually using basic internet
hosting service is a great opportunity to learn about hosting, search engine
optimization, web site building, etc.
Most of the internet hosting service plans offered on this
site include a free domain name with hosting service. When you go to
the web site of the host of your choice, you will be asked to choose a
domain name. This should not be a casual choice. Where you end
up in the search engine rankings will depend to some extent on the domain
name you choose. Before you choose a host, you should spend
considerable time thinking about an appropriate domain name for your web
site. See the article How to
Choose a Domain Name for further information.
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