Web hosting - it's clearly too much hype over too small a concept. So many new webmasters get caught up in this remarkably simple concept, mistakenly believing that it's a complex, hard-to-understand idea, whereas it really is one of the simplest parts of creating and maintaining a website. There are also numerous hosting providers to choose from, again causing many to waste valuable time deciding on the right hosting plan and provider for them. Here's a brief overview of web hosting, as well as a guide to purchasing the right plan from the right provider for you.
Your website has content. Content can be graphics (pictures) or text (writing, articles, magazines, etc.). Content takes up space.
The Internet is a collection of all websites. The Internet is only as big as required; if there are 1000 websites, it will only have enough space for 1000 websites. However, you want to add a website to the Internet. How would you go about doing that?
Enter web hosting service providers. Hosting providers create the space your website will require, and they reserve it for your website's content. Without that space, you have no place to put your website content on the Internet.
Hosting providers give the space in which you can place your website on the Internet.
Apart from creating the space, they also provide you with all the tools necessary to build your site. That's where site builders like Weebly, WordPress, Drupal and Joomla come in (but that's a discussion for another day). In essence, web hosting is a very simple concept.
Even if you do understand web hosting, there's still a huge sea of web hosting providers and plans that you can get lost in. Here's a brief guide to picking the right hosting provider and plan for you.
If you're a complete newbie and all you want to do is put up ONE blog/website, then you have very cheap options. Most plans for one website will cost $3/month or less. In that case, you will want to go with shared hosting. Shared hosting is a type of web hosting where multiple websites from different owners are all hosted on the same server. Typically, your website will not be able to handle very large amounts of traffic, but shared hosting is almost always enough for most personal blogs and/or websites. Shared hosting for one website starts at $3/month or less. If you want to host multiple websites on the same hosting account, you can also do that on shared hosting, starting at $4/month.
If you're not a newbie, and you know something about coding and you're planning to create something really big (like the next Wikipedia/Facebook/social network) then you're probably going to want a dedicated server. Dedicated servers, as you could probably figure out, are a whole server dedicated solely to your website(s). They can handle much more traffic than shared servers and will typically start at $100/month.
The best hosting provider in terms of customer support is undoubtedly HostGator. It has three channels of 24/7 support: live chat, phone and e-mail. HostGator is the best newbie-friendly hosting provider there is.
BlueHost, JustHost and InMotion hosting all have excellent dedicated hosting plans, although they do not provide live chat. These three hosting types are geared more towards those in the latter category; those who know websites and who are planning to make something big.
As you can see, web hosting is a remarkably simple concept. Use this as your guide to purchasing your web hosting plan, and your website could be up and running in a few short hours! Get started today!
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