If you are building a site or having a web site built, or perhaps hoping to host a new website, then web site hosting is sure to have been mentioned. Several people are shocked that this is an annual cost on top of the price of the website. So, what is it, why is it needed and where do you find it?
Avoiding the technical complexities, every website is a collection of files. These files are files of code and images plus any other media required. Like all good computer files, they need to live on a computer somewhere.
All that the internet is boils down to a way of connecting lots of computers together round the world. Connect the computers of internet users to the computers the web site files are stored on and you have a network of computers - the internet.
DIY Hosting is possible, just not recommended!
Now if you really wanted to you could, at a push, store your site on your own computer and let people access the website there. It is impending to do, you only need the technical know-how to do it. But then you also need the security and backups that go along with hosting, to prevent hackers accessing the rest of the files, to prevent unauthorised access to the web site, to make copies of the website in case the computer crashes and backup telephone lines and power lines in case they fail.
Site hosting services and options
So we frequently use a good web site host to take care of all this for us and it is not actually all that difficult to find cheap web hosting if you start to look round.
There are loads of different options in web site hosting, from dedicated servers to shared hosting, Windows or Linux operating systems. But if you are merely running a basic website then a simple set up will possibly be all that you will need.
How to find a suitable host
Finding your future web host is not that difficult, you just need to find one that offers everything that you need at a cost you are happy to pay. Then check that they are reliable, have a good customer service record and are suitable for you. If you look through an online or magazine’s web hosting guide you will quickly and simply come across a whole pile of hosts and their average reliability. If you merely want to host a basic site look through the list and see what is on offer. If you could find one that has won several best web hosting awards in the field that you are wanting to be involved in, all the better!
There are several things to watch for. As for instance, if you are wanting to host WordPress then you will need to be able to add a MySQL database to the hosting, but this is simply a matter of pressing buttons and following instructions. You only need to be sure that the package you are signing up for can include this feature, either as a standard feature or an add on.
That’s our guide to website hosting and where to find it!
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://articlepile.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites