Hosting Clarified

If you have created a site and you want other persons to notice it, you must transfer your web site content to a publicly accessible web server.

Where to host your website?

Although you can use your own PC as a web server, it is a more conventional practice to let a hosting service provider take care of your site. The prime reason for that is the greater reliability and the better visibility of your website, because web hosting service providers have top-notch hardware and apportion a much larger monthly traffic allowance, which guarantees the easier access to your site from all over the world.

Hosting solutions

Choose a hosting service, which enables you to register domain names and to create email accounts. Many web hosting companies, like us at Desk Top Hosting, offer a free domain name registration as a bonus if you sign up for a web hosting account.

Hosting your site on your own

Hosting your web site on your own web server is doubtlessly an option, but only if you have time and the required expertise. There are certain issues that you need to take into account, among them the hardware and software costs. To build a "real", professional-looking website, you will need to pay for some powerful server hardware, since you cannot anticipate a low-priced computer to accomplish the job. You will also require a permanent breakneck-speed connection without network downtimes, which usually is offered at a pretty steep price. If you are making use of licensed software for your website, you will have to invest cash in the license as well. You may also have to cope with bugs and malicious software. You will have to keep your server constantly running in an environment where "everything could happen". If you do not have the needed technical proficiency, you will have to hire a system administrator to cope with these issues on your behalf, which will make the price of hosting your web site on your own even steeper than that of a dedicated hosting server provided by a hosting vendor.

A dedicated web server supplied by a hosting vendor

Renting a dedicated web hosting server from a web hosting solutions provider is a fine choice if you want to develop a high-traffic site or a corporate portal that has very rigorous safety requirements. The most essential advantages of utilizing a dedicated hosting server are the high-speed Internet connection, the constant power supply and the very powerful hardware. Some web hosting distributors, again like us at Desk Top Hosting, deliver VPS hosting and semi-dedicated server web hosting solutions, which are based on very powerful servers that can be shared by several customers. You can also anticipate them to provide effective server load balancing solutions and the needed backup servers.

Security and dependability

Web hosting suppliers are specialized in furnishing hosting solutions and because this is what they do to earn a living, you can anticipate them to offer constant Internet access, the latest software patches and the best anti-malware software, as well as sysadmins available 24/7 to assist you in emergency cases.

Select your web hosting packages provider

What you need to take into account when choosing your web hosting services provider is the stability of the offered services. Make certain that the web hosting plans provider of your choice provides a 24-7-365 customer service. Do not place yourself in a position where you cannot solve serious issues right away because you must wait until the next business day. Besides, if you select a shared website hosting plan, which includes a 24-7-365 technical support service, this signifies that there constantly will be system administrators available to resolve any serious issues as soon as they materialize, which is a very advantageous thing.

Day-to-day data backups

Make sure that your web hosting plans provider offers routine data backups with the offered web hosting services, or else you may forfeit some valuable data in case of a hardware breakdown or because you have deleted something unintentionally. The availability of everyday data backups is usually mentioned in the web hosting company's Terms of Use.

Traffic and hard drive storage space

When choosing your web hosting solutions provider, pay particular attention to the bandwidth usage quota restrictions. Make sure that you don't have to overpay for unanticipated high volumes of web traffic if your web site becomes more popular. There are lots of web hosting suppliers that offer unlimited traffic nowadays, so the smartest step to take is to ensure that you have made the most appropriate choice prior to signing up.

Content restrictions

Pay specific attention to the web hosting service provider's content limitations. If you aim to publish pictures or to broadcast live video or audio, make sure that you can do that. Also, the majority of web hosting service providers set restrictions when it comes to using their services for file storage purposes, so if you upload too many files that are not related or directly linked to your website, your website hosting account could get terminated. So, reading the web hosting distributor's Terms of Use, irrespective of how time-demanding and dull this might be, is extremely essential.

Electronic mail capabilities

Most web hosting companies nowadays also provide email services with all their web hosting plans. It is a good idea to double-check if the web hosting solutions provider of your choice offers such features too, so as to be certain that you'll avail of all the functionalities that you require in exchange for your money.