What to Look for in Web Hosting
When you find yourself ready to embrace the year 2010 and get your very own website going, you’ll notice about five hundred thousand hosts, and will be completely lost. Well, there are a few different types of hosting; I’ll go over the main ones.
Shared Hosting – This type of hosting is the cheapest you can buy. It usually includes cPanel (An industry standard control panel for modifying, managing and editing your website). Typically, these plans give amounts of space and bandwidth that are either unlimited or unmetered, or very high. Most companies offer shared hosting for fewer than ten dollars a month, many under five. You can get shared hosting from DreamHost. Get $50 off your order by using the promo code Kovich. (Disclaimer: If you use that code, I will receive a commission from DreamHost – but I do honestly recommend them. In fact, this blog is hosted with them.)
Reseller Hosting – Used for small hosting companies, reseller hosting is still fairly inexpensive. It provides similar features as shared hosting, however it adds the ability to host an unlimited number of shared hosting websites. Space and bandwidth are close to 10 times lower than shared hosting, because it becomes easier to use the space and bandwidth.
Virtual Private Server – These bridge the gap between dedicated servers and shared hosting, giving you dedicated quality service and a dedicated allotted amount of server resources for a fraction of what you would pay for a dedicated server. However, It costs quite a bit extra to add cPanel to a VPS.
Dedicated Server – A dedicated server is the Rolls-Royce of servers, giving you the best, fastest, and most dedicated of resources. When buying a dedicated server, it is essentially like renting a computer in someone else’s house, except normally quite a bit faster and made specifically to handle quick requests. A decent dedicated server will easily run you between 150-300 dollars depending on space, processor, ram, connection, and if it is fully managed.
Another thing to consider when ordering hosting is that many companies offer hosting for free. Google ‘free web hosts’ to acquire more information regarding this subject. However, all free web hosts have a drawback. Limited space or bandwidth can confine your website more than you can bear. Some don’t allow you to use email accounts attached to your domain and others even force ads on your sites. There are other premium options typically available, as well.
Post to host services provide premium shared or reseller hosting for free if you post x times per month. P2H hosting is valuable if you don’t want to pay monthly, but still need that great premium service hosting.
Reliability – This may be the most important part of hosting. When people visit your website you want them to be able to access it from anywhere, at any time, from any location in the world. When you have a web host, they must offer at least 99% uptime. If you’re receiving anything less, It’s time to make a complaint or switch hosts.
In summation, look for a well-laid-out web hosting company that has a reputable review and is established. Good luck!
