Web Hosting Guide For Beginners

Many of them might have known the term web hosting, but still will not be sure about what to opt for between the shared and the dedicated hosting. 

Today, there are wide hosting services present in the market and every beginner is confused about which one they should opt for. Some might even end up choosing the one they may have heard or read somewhere online instead of getting the best web hosting they need.

If you have never heard about web hosting service, you are probably going to be confused when you want to pick your service provider. You may even run into several terms which you are not aware of and this can be hard for you in choosing the right plan.

Here is the complete guide for beginners getting started with website hosting. This will help you to know what web hosting is and its types in detail. Also, you can get to know certain terms associated with web hosting. Stay on the page so that you can learn everything as you go.

What is web hosting?

Understanding web hosting is simple. For instance, think of web hosting as a home where you will usually store all your essentials. Instead of storing the furniture and the goods needed you will be storing all the necessary files that help your website to function. It includes files like HTML and CSS files, media files, documents and more.

The web host you will choose is a company. It will sell server space for you. The servers are managed by the web hosts and make it easy for you in hosting your site. With this, your visitors all over the world can get accessed to these website files.

For your website to be there online you will need a domain name. Domain names can be compared to the addresses on houses. Without an address, it would be very difficult for people to find your house.

Web hosting: why do you need it?

 If you want to have your website, investing in hosting is what you need to do. Here are a few things that suggest why you need web hosting.

You have control

 Having a website on a free platform is taking a risk. For your website to be there online you will have to agree to its terms and conditions. So, if you want to build out your website and you are serious about it, then this is a risk you can’t take. When you are hosting your website everything will be in control.

More customization options

 With the free hosting platforms your website shares branding. This can impact your sites overall look and design. Also with the free option, you will not be able to expand or customize your site. You get limited access to the tools and all these will impact the growth of your site.

Your website is safe

When you are not hosting your website, there is no guarantee of the overall security of your site.

Web hosting types available

You can get to know various options related to hosting when you begin your research. Based upon the support, speed, reliability, storage and technical knowledge required the style of hosting will differ. Some of the most common types of hosting are listed below.

Shared hosting

The cheapest hosting option available among other hosting is shared hosting. With this, you are renting server space with dozens of other sites. The resources present in a single server will then be shared with all the sites hosted on the specific server. This is a great option for newcomers to get started online.

Cloud hosting

To host your site, cloud hosting offers a network of servers. For sites that receive a high volume of traffic, cloud hosting is the best option. In this, the server load can be distributed over a number of different servers. Therefore cloud hosting is meant to be very flexible and great for large websites.

VP hosting

In VPS hosting the private sector is divided into individual servers. This act is similar to a dedicated server. The resources of the server are shared with the other sites. This becomes a solid choice for the sites that require more control and server resources.

Dedicated server hosting

This type of server hosting provides you with ultimate control and customization options. In the given server only your website will be stored. This can give you more access to the server resources. This hosting is typically more expensive, but it is a must to have for high traffic sites.

When you are starting a business online you would choose to go with the free options, but if you are more serious about building a good site and offering great service, you would need to take hosting into your hands.

Web hosting terms you need to know

It is very important to know certain terms in web hosting. Knowing them all can help you in future. Some of the basic web hosting terms are listed below. All these terms given below will give you a basic idea of how hosting works.

• Servers: Computers used for hosting websites and web applications, almost always online.
• Domains: With the domain names the visitors can identify the websites. They can access them through browsers.
• Top-Level Domains:  This refers to the suffixes at every end of the domain. The most popular one is .com. Even there are hundreds of alternatives.
• Sub domains:  This enables you to set up multiple web sites and is done with the same domain name.
• Content management systems: This term is software-related. It has been built to help you in creating and managing certain specific types of content and websites.
• Bandwidth:  Web hosts generally restrict the data you can send and receive from your server. This is a way to limit how many resources you can access. Some plans will inform you about whether they can handle unlimited bandwidth or only up to a certain point.

All these terms discussed above are very important all the time. So make sure you understand them well.

The bottom lines

In theories, signing up for a web hosting plan is simple. If it’s your first time, it can be a bit confusing as you will get to know a lot of terms that you might not know already. However, you will start learning about creating a website on the go and you will feel easier than you think.