If you are planning to host your own website, there will be many decisions that you will have to take. One of the most crucial decisions will be to select a web hosting solution for your website. This is a very important decision as it can influence the way your website performs. All the hard work that you put on the design of the site can go to waste if you do not choose the right web hosting solution to host your website.
With so many web hosts available in the market, it is not an easy job to select the web hosting that will best work for you. A few pointers that will help you make the right decision are listed below. Look into them and use them to find a web hosting solution that will be the best for your website.
Identify your requirements
It is important to know what the requirements of your website are. Only if you have an idea of what you need, you can look for them in the web hosting solutions. The requirements of the website will depend on the type of website and the features that the website will have. Find below a list of features that you need to look for while selecting a web hosting solution.
- Site builder option
If you have availed the services of a web designing company for creating your website, you can get the list of requirements from them. If you plan to create the website after you have decided on the web hosting, it will be a good idea to opt for hosting solutions that have a site builder system in them. Site builder tools will simplify the process of creating a website and will help you in hosting the site through a few simple steps.
- Control panel
Check if the web host provides you access to a control panel that will help you in managing the web space you have bought. If the web hosting solution has a control panel, you can create blogs and websites a lot easier than having to upload files using FTP.
- Upload options
Identify the various upload options that are available with the web host. If the hosting solution provides you a variety of upload options it will be a good option, as it will give you flexibility while maintaining and uploading your site.
- Security features
Identify the various security features the web-hosting package has to offer. If you are planning for a e-commerce website, a lot of importance has to be given to security features.
- Customer service
It is always ideal to select a web-hosting company that has good customer support. The support extended by the web host is not limited only to email or phone support. FAQs and that help members in managing their web space has to be present.
- Scripts and databases
Websites require various types of web components, scripts and databases to work. Select a web hosting company that will give you all scripts, web components and database support that is required by your website.
- Windows or Linux server
Websites are designed to be hosted in either windows server or a Linux server. Always opt for the server type that is required by the website to make sure that all functions and features of the website perform as designed.
Types of web hosting options available
Shared Hosting Services
Shared Hosting Services or Virtual Web Hosting Services is a type of hosting service, where many people share the space on a server. The number of websites that are hosted in a physical server depends on the configuration of the server. Some physical servers cater to more than thousand websites. This however raises the question on performance. Such shared hosting services are highly equipped to handle reasonable loads, but when overloaded, the performance of the server is an issue. Reputed Web Hosting companies will constantly review the load and performance of the server and act accordingly by adding more servers if necessary. Shared hosting services are cheaper, but the server response time will be on the slower side.
Dedicated Hosting Services
Dedicated Hosting Companies are the opposite of shared hosting companies. They assign a dedicated web server for just one customer. This ensures better performance when compared to shared hosting service. A customer will rent out the web server for a specific period and will have a variety of options of the web server. In a dedicated web server, the customer has the option of hosting more than one website. The customer will have greater control over the web server. Bandwidth and space provided will be much higher in dedicated hosting plans. This gives you the option of hosting a high traffic website. Websites that contain extremely confidential data will generally opt for a dedicated hosting service.
Co-location Hosting Service
Unlike dedicated hosting service, in co-hosting service the customer owns the web server. This gives the customer even more control over the web server. The web server will be housed in any of the secure data centers of Web Hosting Companies. This hosting service ensures that the customer will have full control over his web server. The web hosting company will provide 24x7 monitoring of the server to ensure 99.9% uptime. The secure data center will provide the customer with prompt maintenance. This will ensure maximum uptime of websites hosted in the server. Co-location hosting services are the most expensive of the hosting solutions that are available, but are considered the best option for highly secure websites.
Reseller Hosting Services
Reseller Hosting services are considered to be the cheapest of the Hosting Services and is becoming a hot favorite for small and personal websites. The web hosting company will offer its web storage space to a reseller at a lower price, who in turn then resells the storage space to his customers. Website designers, website consultants and system integration companies are usually the resellers. Price of such hosting services is quite low and with that comes the issue of service. Since a lot more people are involved in the hosting, it takes time to resolve any issues and hence reseller-hosting services are best suited for personal websites or blogs. Reseller Hosting Services is not an option for business websites that need prompt backend service. Cheapest of all hosting services, it is a good option for someone trying to find a personal space online.
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