Shared Hosting
This is without a doubt the single most popular form of web hosting today. The main reason for this is most likely that shared web hosting is a very affordable alternative, only costing a couple of dollars per month. Shared hosting is cheap since you share the server with other websites. Some claim that this form of hosting lacks in quality but can not find this to be true. However, it is always advisable to do some research beforehand. For example, make sure that you get plenty of bandwidth, disk space and uptime, which thankfully is something that many of the shared web hosting providers provide their customers with. Checking the uptime of a web host can be done either via our web hosting reviews (LINK) or through a free uptime hosting monitor. Lastly, check up in advance that the web host offers the opportunity to work with a user-friendly control panel, as it will be a struggle if they do not.
Dedicated Server
If you are looking for the crème de la crème of web hosting you will be more than pleased with dedicated servers, also known as dedicated hosting. This form of hosting will provide your company, dedicated hosting is aimed at being a hosting solution for major online businesses, with an extremely powerful computer/server that will put all of its efforts on you and your site alone. It will only provide services for one account, hence meaning that you will not share the server with anyone else. Do not worry that you will have to make any physical room for the server at your office as it will be stored, maintained and under the security of the web host. We have already mentioned that dedicated servers are aimed at being a hosting solution for major online businesses and with this we mean a site that is sure to drive a substantial amount of traffic on a daily basis. Important to think about when deciding on dedicated hosting is whether you want it to be managed or unmanaged. Managed dedicated servers are good if you only want the basics and do not handle anything else than the onsite content. If you, or anyone else in the company, on the other hand have the necessary technical knowledge – you can pick unmanaged dedicated hosting. This way you will be more in charge of the server.
Virtual Private Server
What if you need something that is stronger than shared hosting but do not need it to be as strong as dedicated web hosting? The solution is VPS Hosting. This form of web hosting displays a virtualization of a server being split into several “virtual” servers. Next to shared hosting, virtual private servers are becoming the foundation among many web hosts. With VPS hosting you will get grass-root level access without having to think about the hassle (it can be a hassle if you are not technically minded) that can come with dedicated servers. Shared hosting can be kind of a “closed” environment and with virtual private servers you will get a more customizable solution. This form of web hosting is often utilized by medium-sized companies and it will most often cost around $30 to $40 per month.
Wait a minute…
We are not done yet! As with all businesses there are trends and the hosting industry is no exception. There are yet two other forms of web hosting that we feel are worthy of some recognition as they are very trendy at the moment, even though they are not as commonly used as the three mentioned above. We are of course talking about Green Hosting and Cloud Computing.
Green Hosting
As the earth is getting increasingly ill the web hosting industry is making an attempt in green hosting to do something about it. Green hosting is eco-friendly and is growing in popularity which has lead to more web hosts offering it to their customers. With eco-friendly means that the web host either purchase carbon offsets or use eco-friendly energy efficient servers. Green hosting is almost exclusively shared hosting which means that it can be a good alternative for you that want to do something for the environment and only require shared hosting for your website.
Cloud Computing
The other type of "it" hosting at the moment is called cloud computing. The easiest way of explaining cloud computing is in the way that it is different from the “traditional” hosting.
- Cloud computing is elastic which means that the consumer only use as much hosting that is needed.
- As a consumer you will only have to pay for the amount of hosting that is used. If you require a lot of hosting one month you will pay more that month and other months, when you require less hosting, you will also pay less.
The above mentioned qualities are also what make cloud computing as popular as it is today. Your hosting grows when you need it to and you only pay for the amount of hosting that you are using.
What is the next step when setting up a website?
Well, next you start think about what domain name to choose.
Commented by: Kristen, 30 September, 2009
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Commented by: Elune, 4 January, 2010
Great information about web hosting.
Commented by: uzair, 29 January, 2010
helpful information nice !!!
Commented by: James Afam orji, 3 May, 2010
great article...it's imperative that prospective website owners know the type of hosting that's best for their budiness.
Commented by: Real Estate and Properties, 6 December, 2010
this paper is very meaningful to me, because after reading this paper, I understand about web hosting, thank you for the information
Commented by: Ezeifedi Ugonna Julius, 9 September, 2011
I want to be an agent to the hosting company in my country-Nigeria-how do i register to be selling to people and what is the guarantee of the host company