- What is web hosting?
In order for a web site to be available on the World Wide Web, it must be hosted on a server. This is referred to as web hosting. There are several different methods by which this is done. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), for example AOL, may make limited web space available as part of your subscription. There are also free web hosting services,...
- How does paid web hosting work?
Paid web hosting is available in three different ways. The most common, and cheapest, is shared or virtual hosting. This means that your web site is one of many that are all hosted on the same server. For the vast majority of sites this is more than sufficient for their needs, and a visitor will never know that your site is not held on its own server....
- Can’t I host my site from home?
In theory, it is possible to do this from home. However, there are many potential problems involved in this. Most ISPs will not allow a public server to be run from a home – they will insist you upgrade to a more expensive business plan, typically costing a minimum of 3 or 4 times your normal monthly fees, making this costlier than most web-hosting...
- How much is web hosting going to cost?
Prices vary, depending of what type of web hosting your site needs. The most common is shared web hosting, which means that your site is stored on the same server with other sites. This allows hosting companies to cut on their costs and charge less for their services. These days the average cost of shared web hosting is between $4-8 a month. Most of...
- How can I decide which web hosting company to use?
Let’s take a look at some of the different factors involved – maybe that will give you a better idea of which companies would better suit your needs. The two most important factors involved are how much disk space you will have available (often referred to simply as “space”), and the monthly bandwidth you will be able to use. These two factors...
- I’ve made my choice for a web hosting provider, now what?
The next thing to do is to open an account with your choice of web hosting company. Typically payment is made by credit card on a monthly basis, but some will offer a lower rate if you offer to pay for a year in advance. Other forms of payment may also be available, depending on the company and the plan you chose. Once you have an account set up, they...
- How much disk space will I need?
That depends on the type of web site you intend to design. All of your web pages will use space on the servers’ hard disk. A page that uses a lot of graphics, or maybe has video or audio embedded within it, will use more space than a simpler page. Similarly, if you intend to have some form of database available for your visitors that too will take...
- What is bandwidth?
Bandwidth is the amount of traffic that a site may use per month. As with the above section on space, the amount of bandwidth you need depends on the type of site you will be running. A simple web site, for example for a club with just few members, would not need the amount of bandwidth a commercial site would use. You can estimate the amount of bandwidth...
- What is a domain name?
A domain name is the method by which your site is identified on the Internet – the name that a visitor types to get to a web site. A domain name consists of two parts. The first part is normally the name of the business, institution, club etcetera. The second part, the “.com” for example, is called the top-level domain, and is normally used to...
- What is SSL?
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and is used to ensure the security of financial transactions on the Internet. If you’ve ever shopped online then you will have used SSL when you checked out and used a credit card to pay for what you bought. If you plan to sell using your web site then you will need to be able to offer SSL. You will also need to...
- Java? Perl? What are these?
There are many programming languages that may be used within a web site, if the host supports them. They can be split into two types, client-side and server-side. Java, JavaScript and Flash are examples of client-side programs. Although some web hosting companies claim them as featuring in plans this is misleading as in reality they run entirely on...
- I use a Window PC – should I choose a Windows-based
Not necessarily. The type of computer you use to design your web-site has nothing to do with the type of software that the server uses. Unix/Linux based servers will run web sites developed using Windows software without any problems. Having said that, you may need to run scripts on your web site, and it will be easier to write the scripts on a computer...
- You mentioned “intangibles”.What do you mean?
Intangibles cover several things. Look carefully at the web hosting company web site. Is it easy to navigate, and quick to load? Good-looking? Answer all the questions you may have? After all, if their own web site is poorly designed and maintained, and slow to load, do you really trust them to host your site? Read their terms and conditions carefully,...
- How do I know how many people visit the site?
Most web hosting companies offer a variety of reports that show a number of things. Apart from the actual number of visitors to the site, you will also be able to see how many different pages they looked at and how long they spent looking at a particular page. This can help you “fine-tune” the site to increase the length of stay. The reports should...
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