What Is Web Hosting and How Does It Work – Ultimate Beginners Guide

The concepts of Web Hosting can be pretty confusing and daunting to understand, especially for someone who is new to the genre. By means of this article, I plan to address couple of questions: What is Web Hosting and How does it work. I have chosen to explain the topics by making use of real time examples. This journey is going to be pretty long, yet demystifying about the confusing concepts of web hosting, so hop right on and let’s get started!

What is Web Hosting

Definition of web hosting:

In very simple terms, web hosting is the process of serving your website files on a web server so that it is accessible to everyone via Internet.

What is Web Hosting and How does it work?

Meaning of web hosting:

The definition of web hosting may have made very little sense to you, if you are new to this field. So, I will try to explain the concept of web hosting with a simple analogy.

Analogy for web hosting

Publishing a book

Consider that you recently learnt about something, it could be about cooking or gardening or any other topic. Now you would like to share this knowledge with someone else. You can do this by visiting your friends and sharing your new experiences and sharing it with them. This will all be fine if you had free time on your hands. But let us assume that you have a day job or you go to school or have some other chores to attend to.

Making your work available to others

Book

So, you hit up on a plan! Instead of travelling manually to each and every person you know and sharing your experiences, you write a book.

You know a librarian who you know, will accept your book and store it in the library and share it with any person who asks for it. You approach the librarian and you request him to store your book and make it available for interested users. In other words, you have asked the librarian to host your book.

Library

Librarian’s Role

Bookshelf

The librarian agrees to host your book, so he makes a note of it along with your details and registers it against an ID. He does this so that he can:

• Serve the correct book to the readers and
• Whenever you come back again to the library to collect your book, you can always refer to your book using that ID.

Next, the librarian clears the shelf area for your book and stores it there.

Your Role

Promotion

At your place, you spread around the word that you have published a book and that the book is available for reading purposes. You also reveal the name of the book to your target audience and tell them the librarian is holding your book.

Readers ahoy

Now let us say that a new person has heard about your book and is interested in checking it out. Latest call this new person as Sam. Sam goes to the library, approaches the librarian and asks him about the book.

Website ID

The librarian then looks up the book and that returns its associated ID. This ID gives him an idea of the location of the book, such as the room that is holding the book, the rack and shelf numbers and other such details that could help him in locating the exact place and position of the book. The librarian then picks the book from the identified location and hands it over to Sam. Sam then reads the book and once he is done, he returns it to the librarian.

Let’s summarize the analogy

If you have understood the example above, I must say that you have understood what web hosting is. Yes, you heard me right! In the example above:

• You are the publisher, the author and the owner of the book.
• The librarian can be referred to as the book host i.e. he is hosting the book in your favor for others to read.
• Sam could be referred to as a reader of your book. If he likes your book and subscribes to reading more of it as you publish more volumes of the book, then he can be referred to as a subscriber or your audience.

How the above analogy fits in the concept of Web hosting

Referring to the example above, we try to understand what is web hosting and how it fits into our analogy. In terms of web hosting:

• The book can be referred to as your website.
• You can be referred to as the website owner.
• The librarian could be referred to as the web host.
• The bookshelf that is holding your book can be referred to as the server.
• The library itself could be referred to as the data center.

How does Web Hosting work?

Now let me put all of the above in the direct terminology of web hosting:

• You are the publisher of a website.
• You approach a web host and request them to host your website for a certain duration and you pay them a monthly fee or annual fee in return.
• When your target audience requests your website by entering your website name in the URL bar of the browser, the server looks up the corresponding entry in DNS and then serves your website to the requesting party.

In technical terms of web hosting, there is a lot more that goes in the background from the point of time your audience sends a request to view your website, to the moment it is actually delivered to them and displayed on their computer screen. We will see more of this as we go on. But I hope you now understand the concept of web hosting, your role and the role of your web host put together.

What is a Web Host?

Let us try to understand what a web host is, based upon our analogy above. In our example:

• We had a library (or a librarian) that agreed to provide the book to the readers, on request.
• As the library is holding your book and it is giving out to the readers as they need it, the library can be referred to as the book host.
• The library has many bookcases or bookshelves. Your book is placed in one of the bookshelves. So the library is basically providing infrastructure for your book.

Likewise, a webhost is generally a company that provides space and the necessary infrastructure for your website (files) and serves it to the visitors on request.

Example of Web Hosting Server

Web Hosting options

There are couple of ways in which a website or its files can be hosted. They are:

• Self-Host
• Web Host

Self-Host

In the Self-host option, you can host your website files yourself, by creating a server. Although this option is possible, it demands a lot of attention and work, in order to set up a self-hosted web server.

Web Host

In the Web Host option, you do not host your website files yourself. Rather, you would find a web host or a company that can host the files for you. This option is more feasible as a dedicated web hosting company serves the files for you as it has all the necessary hardware that it required to serve the website to your visitors. The hardware that is responsible for running your website can be referred to as the “Web Server” or in short “Server”.

General requirements for Web Server a.k.a. Server

In order to serve the website files using a web server, the following three things are required:

• Source of power – This is required so that server receives the power and is able to host the website by remaining online. Without the source of electricity, a server cannot work.
• Online internet connection – The server needs to be connected to the internet in order to serve the files.
• IP address – In our analogy, similar to the book ID issued by the library to your book, when it comes to web hosting, your website is referred to with numbers. These numbers can also be called as the IP address or Internet Protocol address of the website.

What happens behind the scenes when you request to view a website

Every website has an easy-to-remember domain name. When a domain name is entered in a browser and before the actual navigation to the website takes place, the entered domain name gets internally translated to an IP number by a Domain Name System or a DNS server. By using this IP number, the designated website is identified and then your website files are served to the visitor.

Self-hosting option versus choosing a Web Host

Self-hosting option

It is possible to host your own website by creating a server on your own. But this is not recommended due to the following facts:

• Your locality or your place could lose power for any reason.
• You could lose the internet connection for multitude of reasons and you have no control over it.
• If you choose to reboot your computer for any reason, the server will get disconnected and your website won’t be accessible any more, as it will lose the connection to the internet.

Web Host option

In order to solve the challenges faced in the self-hosted option and to be able to serve your website in an interrupted manner to your visitors, web hosting companies do the following:

• Purchase and operate their own machines or Web Servers. The sole purpose of these machines will be to host websites.
• These servers are located in specialized buildings that are commonly referred to as Data Centers.
• These data centers generally are equipped with the state of the art technology, the best labs and have all the infrastructure required to make your website available 24/7/365.

Getting started with Website Hosting

Building up on the analogy of publishing a book, we can deduce the following:

• Just like you have a name for the book, you need to have a name for the website, so that users can uniquely identify it.
• You can create your website files locally on your home computer but until and unless you sign up for a domain name you won’t be able to make your files available publicly.
• Although you pick up a name for your website, you have to make sure that it does not clash with any existing name, as it would be considered as a copyright infringement and you won’t be able to register it. For this reason, many web hosting companies offer domain name registration service.
• Using the domain name registration service, you can actually check to see if the domain name that you have in mind is already taken by someone else or is still available for your registration.
• If the domain name that you are looking for is already taken, then unfortunately, you will have to go with a revised or a new name for the domain, as no two websites can have the same name.
• It is possible to seek web hosting services from one company and register the domain name of the website with another company.
• There are companies who operate only to register domain names. Such companies are referred to as the Registrar or the Domain Name Registrar. There are advantages and disadvantages of going with a different registrar, instead of choosing your web host for the same. I will be cover them in a later section.

Why do you have to pay to the Web Hosting companies?

Any entity, individual or an organization that provides service to others, expects a return on their investment. For example, when you go to a store and you purchase an item, you pay them an amount equal to the value of the product that you are purchasing.

Likewise, a web hosting company provides their own servers, electricity and other infrastructure that is required to keep your website available online at all times. Due to the costs involved in the process, they expect a compensation which is generally referred to as the web hosting fees.

Your role in maintaining a website

Let’s try to understand your role by assessing your role of a writer in our analogy. Here’s what typically happens when you publish a book:

• It is very likely that you can publish a book for once and you are done with it.
• From the point of time that the publication is made and up until eternity, you can have the same book in place and you can expect different readers to read the same information.
• If you need any changes or modifications to the existing publication, then you might have to go to the book publisher and provide him with a revised content.
• You get the new updated version of your book and then redistribute it.
• You will replace all your old publication with a revised one, so that your readers can access the new content.

Based on the above analogy, your role in the concept of web hosting can be summarized as follows:

• It is possible for you to just get the website ready and upload it to your website and be done with it. This could be one-time process. This is typically apt for static websites that does not have too much content or does not deal in dynamic content.
• To cope up with everyday updates and to provide latest information to your visitors, it is required on your part to be able to update the website.
• If you need to update your users with latest information, you need to either update the website yourself or hire a dedicated staff that will do it for you.

Basic things required for your website to become fully operational

You will need the following basic things to be taken care of, in order to get your website ready:

• You Website content and design.
• Your Website domain name registration.
• Your Web Hosting Account creation.
• Mapping of domain name with nameservers of the hosting account.
• Backend or Control Panel access, including login credentials to both domain registrar and web hosting accounts (or as applicable).
• Content Management System (CMS) tools to update the content of your website.
• Backup and Restore system.

Responsibilities in the process of Web hosting

Responsibilities of a web host

When a web host company takes up the task of serving your website, they also undertake the following responsibilities:

• Providing uninterrupted source of power. Typically, web hosts claim 99.9 9% uptime. This means that in a year, your website could be inaccessible for 8.5 hours due to the server reboot, software update & other administrative tasks carried out by your web host in maintaining your server. We will review this in detail, later on.
• Providing and maintaining all infrastructure for the web server, that is responsible for hosting your website.
• Immediate repair in case of hardware, software and network issues.
• Offer you support for hassle-free web hosting experience. This support could be rendered to you in different forms such as email communication, online chat, phone support, knowledge base articles such as FAQ general troubleshooting tips and so. However, limitations to the kind of support that you receive, could be dependent upon the type of web hosting service that you are going to choose and this could vary from web host to web host.

There is a possibility that if you need any kind of technical support, your web host may have a technical team to respond to the emergencies. This service could be rendered to you for a fee such as monthly fee or on demand fee. This option may be made available to you either at the time of registration or as a separate add on after you purchase your web hosting plan from the web host company. However, provision of such a facility is totally dependent on the web host at their discretion.

Can we depend on the web host for solving all the problems that we might face?

Absolutely not! Web hosting companies usually have a team of network management professionals, hardware professionals, etc. These professionals are the reason why the servers are able to provide you with an uninterrupted power supply and ensure that your website stays online 24/7/365. Your web host can help you with your website in downtimes, but not necessarily with any technical issues with your website itself.

For example, if you are experiencing a problem with submission of a contact form on your website, they may or may not be able to help you out to determine what exactly went wrong because they may not have the exact resource to debug the problem, identify it and propose a solution.

But let’s say that the contact form is working fine on your end and the emails are not delivered to the intended recipients, then its highly likely that the web hosting guys can actually look into the headers that are being passed and other such things and maybe they can help you out with that.

List of common issues that I faced over the last many years of my web hosting experience

• Website could not be found error.
• Host unreachable error.
• Unable to deliver email address.
• Heavy bandwidth consumption errors.
• Other such technical errors.

How I solved the issues that I faced above

• In some of the cases, I just had to inform the web host and they were able to fix it.
• In some other cases, I had to upgrade my plan to the next best option as certain things were not covered by my existing plan.

Your responsibilities

• Everything related to the technical nature of your website.
• Regular backups and implementation of data safety strategies.
• Software to build your own website.
• The correct decisions in selecting the appropriate tools for building your website.
• Security of the login credentials of your website control panel, File Transfer Protocol information or the FTP information.

Domain name

What is a domain name?

In simple words, domain name refers to the name of the website that visitors type in the browser URL to open that website. This can also be referred to as the Website address.

What is a Domain Name?

Example of a domain name

For example, the domain name for Google is google.com. In this case, google.com is the name of the website. This name will be used by the whole world to identify that this website relates to Google. And by entering this website name in the URL location of the browser, a visitor can interact with the website.

Why do we actually need a domain name?

It is a very simple concept. Just like every human being has a name for identification purposes, similarly, even a website has a name for the purpose of identification. It is possible for some humans to share the same name but in case of websites, it is not possible for any two websites to carry the same name. Each and every website has a different name that makes it unique. And this unique name helps in the process of translation of the name into the IP address allocated to the website and this in turn helps in serving the correct website to the requesting user.

Why is a domain name important?

Although you can use any name for your website, I highly recommended that you choose a name that appropriately describes the nature of your business.

Example of an apt domain name

For example, if you have a business that deals in selling boats for fishing then if you can purchase a domain name that goes with the name fishingboats.com or buyfishingboats.com or something on those lines. This helps your visitors understand the nature of your business and it gives them an idea of what to expect, if they choose to visit your website.

Is it mandatory for a domain name to be apt 100% to the nature of business?

By any means this is not a rule. This is just a way of indicating to the users about what they can expect, when they visit a website with such a name.

We have different websites such as Google, etc. that have a unique name. The first time anyone hears about the names of the websites of these companies, they cannot get an idea of what the underlying business is. For this reason, if you are unable to find a domain name that is precise for your requirement or for your business, then do not worry too much. You can go for a domain name that relatively matches the theme of your business and as long as you can make it memorable and short, that will do more good for your business as it helps people remember and type the website name more easily.

What are the different types of Domain Names?

There are different types of domain names available for purchases and these are usually referred to as TLD. TLD means top level domains. In real time, what TLD or top-level domains refer to, is the extension of the domain name.

For example, if you want to visit Google’s website you can type in google.com, the “.com” is known as the extension.

Here are some of the other domain name extensions that you might generally find online:

• .net
• .org
• .gov
• .us
• and so on and so forth

Different types of Domain Names

What do the TLDs represent?

There is some meaning attached to every extension that you find available in the market.

• .com extension represents a commercial website.
• .org refers to an Organization in general.
• .gov refers to government websites

All these extensions are supposed to help you get a picture or an idea of the business that you are going to deal with, once you visit the website. It also contributes to the relevancy factor. For this reason, when you are trying to name your website, it is helpful to evaluate the nature of your business and select the right extension for the same, as that will help people relate to your business even more closely.

What is the “www.” Prefix?

What is the “www.” prefix?

When you are entering the website name in the URL box of a browser, you might have noticed that there is a prefix ”www.”. This prefix was added to the website’s name just as a convention, as there with other services such as:

• FTP – In case of using FTP service, the name would read as ftp.mydomain.com.
• Talking about the mail service of that website, the domain name would read as mail.mydomain.com.
• Likewise, the notation “www.” is used for the website. So, this would read as www.mydomain.com

[su_service title=”Tip” icon=”icon: lightbulb” class=”info”]
It is completely ok to skip using this prefix, as omitting them would not make any difference and the browser is smart enough to still find your website and serve it to the users.
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Most common domain name extensions with their meaning

• .com – commercial
• .org – organization.
• .net – network
• .int – international organizations
• .gov – national and state government agencies
• .mil – military

As we can see from the above, each domain name extension carries a certain meaning that represents the type of entity is going to get connected to. For this reason, it is advisable to think thoroughly about a domain name extension before trying to choose it for your business domain name.

11 Tips to select the best domain name for your website

1. Choose a name that is easy to remember and unique.
2. Try to keep the name as short as possible. Ideally, you can stretch the website name up to 15 characters and try not to go beyond that as that will create more pressure on your visitors to remember and to type it in.
3. Try to use abbreviations instead of expanding on the name, if you want to use your last name as a part of the website. For example, if a person’s name is Samuel Johnson Henry and he would like to use a domain name for himself, then he can opt for a domain name that goes with the name sjhenry.com.
4. Make sure that the name that you choose does not clash with the name of any existing website.
5. Try to avoid numbers in the domain name as it makes it hard to read it out to your visitors.
6. Avoid using plurals such as “s” and other such punctuation marks.
7. Avoid copyright and trademark issues by searching for the desired name before you plan to register it.
8. Check social network websites for the availability of the same name. This will help maintain consistency of your branding across different social media platforms and that will work in your favor in the long run.
9. Make sure that you strike a connection between your business and the domain name and your happy about it.
10. If it is financially possible for you, try to also purchase your domain name with different extensions as well. For example, if you try to register a website by the name mydomain.com, you might also be interested in registering the extensions such as mydomain.org, mydomain.in, etc. This can sound really good but at the same time, make sure that you don’t burn a hole in the pocket trying to register as my domain names are available.
11. If you happen to register multiple domain names or domain name with multiple extensions, there redirect the other ones to the main domain name with the main extension that you plan to use for the business.

What to do if your desired domain name is not available

If you have had any prior experience of not finding the domain name of your choice as available, then it can be an incredibly frustrating experience. It is very common to go through the stages and feelings, such as this:

It is very likely that the domain name that you are planning to register, may not be available anymore because some other person has already registered it. In this case, if you are really serious about buying the website with the same name, you can try visiting the website and visit the contact us page of that website and try to initiate a conversation with the website owners. You can also put forth a proposal for buying the website name from them.

If the website owner of the domain is interested in selling you the website name, it is likely that they offer you a price, that you may have to pay for transferring the ownership of the domain name to yourself. The chances for this to happen are unpredictable i.e. that owner may or may not be interested in selling you the website name. So, it’s worth a try, if you are really keen on getting a specific domain name and if you find that this already registered.

What is a Parked Domain?

In some other cases, it is possible that the domain name that you are trying to register has already been registered by someone else and at the same time, you don’t find the website live on the internet. The reason for this is that this domain name could be parked or stored passively for active usage in a future date or it is also likely that the owner of the domain name is holding the domain name back because he intends to sell it in the future. Such domains are generally referred to as “Parked Domains”.

What is a Premium Domain?

A premium domain is a domain name that is generally offered for sale. It does not have any connected website with it. The domain name owner buys a domain name with the intention of buying the domain name at a lower price and then plans to make a profit out of the sale of the domain name, by selling it at the higher price.

My experiences with trying to purchase a premium domain name

There have been times when I have found specific business names of much interest. When I tried searching for the availability of such domain names, I found that those domain names were already registered by someone else and were being offered for sale as premium domain names.

When I tried to purchase these domain names, I found out that the ask price that has been listed for these domain names were significantly higher than what I could possibly imagine. I have seen domain names for whom the price was $5000, $10000 and even more! Needless to say, my expression looked like this when I heard those prices:

Although there are metrics to calculate the worth of a domain name by using some specific tools, the owner of a premium domain name wants to make a profit out of the sale of this domain name. It is highly likely that they charge an excessive price on the sale of this domain name. Usually I found out that this will burn a hole in your pocket. For this reason, I have chosen to forgo such premium domain names and go with alternate domain names.

What are your options in purchasing a Premium domain?

If you find the ask price of the premium domain name to be fair and you are able to afford it, then by all means, go get that domain name.  It may not be financially affordable for everyone to buy a premium domain name. So if the ask price is pulling too tight on your budget, then take it easy and skip that domain name and look for an alternate.

Typical prices of a domain name

In the recent past, domain names have become relatively cheaper than what they used to be. Previously, a domain name used to cost around $15 or so but now the domain names prices have come down drastically and you can find a domain name for even $5 or even less!

It is possible for you to find a domain name for as low as $3 per year but such a deal might require you to purchase web hosting account as well. Or maybe that might include some sort of a tie up or an agreement of some sort, so that you will not leave that web hosting company for a pretty good time, typically for a year or more.

What are the available options when it comes to registering a domain name?

You have two options available when you would like to register a domain name:

• Register the domain name with a webhost, with whom you can also purchase a web hosting account.
• Look for a domain name registrar who specializes in registering domain names. A domain name registrar only focuses on registering domain names and it is very less likely that they offer web hosting services

Purchasing Web hosting package and the domain name registration from the same web host

Pros

• You get to keep everything under the same roof.
• All your account information of web hosting and domain registration can be accessed from a single place and that will not require you to spend your time looking elsewhere.

Cons

• If you ever find your web host as a problematic provider and you would want to switch away to another one, then based on the contract that you may have signed up at the time of domain name registration, you may not be able to do so right away.
• Some unethical web hosts can actually retain your domain name, especially if they offered it to you for free. They do this with the intent of retaining you as their customer.

For the above reasons, whenever you plan to purchase a web hosting service or register a domain name with any company, make sure that you read their terms and conditions and the offers that they are presenting to you.

It is very likely that a web host can offer you irresistible deals such as free domain name registration while purchasing web hosting services. Such offers generally have a contract of a year or two or even more, thereby locking you up with them. This is all good if the webhost has good ethics and if the service is flawless. Problem starts if the web host is unethical and they do not cater to the needs of the customers like you and me, in the right fashion.

For the reasons mentioned above, it makes sense to invest your time in doing research about the web hosting companies that you are planning to go with. You can read reviews of the web hosting companies and see what others have to say.

My Recommendation

I recommend that if any web host offers you a free trial, then take advantage of that. Try their services for whatever duration they offer and see how it fits with your business requirements. Then based on your conclusion of their services after the free trial, you may opt to go for purchasing their services or skipping them.

If you happen to choose someone as a web host for a free trial, also try out their customer service. Because at the end of the day if you are facing an issue, it is a customer service representative who you are going to deal with. Good companies invest in bringing forth efficient and productive customer service representatives who can solve business problems with relative ease and this will lead for overall customer satisfaction.

4 Tips for registering domain names

1. Make sure that you provide your own information when trying to register a domain name, if you are doing this for yourself.
2. If you are doing this for a family member, it is OK to register the domain name on your name, depending upon the situation that you are in. For example, if you want to register a domain name on your kid’s name, you can do that and at the same time, make sure that you are listed as the customer or the purchaser of the domain name.
3. Do not register a domain in that you intend to use for your own purposes on a different name or on the name of a person who is a relative or a friend of yours. This can cause problems with billing, verification and authentication later on.
4. If you plan to use a different domain name registrar for registering your domain name, then make sure that you always have your login credentials handy so that you can access your information whenever you need it.

Web Hosting plans

Were you able to find a domain name of your choice? Great! Exciting, isn’t it? And now you want to launch your website online. So how do you go about doing that? It is very simple. You just need to purchase a web hosting package of your choice from the offers made by the web host. When you visit a web host for a purchase, most likely, you would get to see a side-by-side comparison of their offers, something like the below:

Examples of Web Hosting Plans

Typically, a web hosting package or a web hosting plan consists of the following details:

• The type of hosting offered. Some examples are: Shared hosting, VPS Hosting, Managed Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Collocated Hosting, Cloud Hosting, etc.
• Hardware specifications such as RAM, CPU limits, bandwidth, etc.
• Typically, web hosting packages could start anywhere from $3.95 and up.

Why should we pay for the web hosting packages?

Let us see this with an example. From our analogy of book publishing, if you approach a library and ask them to serve your book to the readers, the librarian has to allocate some bookshelf space for your book and also spend some resources on its maintenance. You are profitable if any of your book readers read your book and order a copy of your book or order some of your services, from which you can generate revenue.

That’s great! But what about the costs that the library incurs in maintaining your book and making it available to the readers? In order to make sure that the library is able to store your book & provide it to the readers on demand, they might charge you a monthly fee or an annual subscription, as a part of their service.

Likewise, you pay the web hosting company monthly fee or an annual fee for maintaining the resources and the infrastructure needed for your website and for making your website accessible.

Myths about operating system: Exposed!

For someone who is new to the field of web hosting, there is a lot of confusion over what kind of operating system to choose, for web hosting purposes. Let us first understand the architecture involved in hosting a website.

As we have seen in the earlier examples, a web server is responsible for hosting your website and for serving it to the intended audience. This web server is nothing but a high-powered machine with dedicated RAM, CPU memory, disk space, etc. Servers come in many different shapes, sizes and colors. Here’s one for an idea:

Just as you would run a computer with an operating system such as Windows or Mac OS X and then work with the files and folders using the operating system, likewise the web servers will also have operating system installed on it. There will be additional software installed on the web server that will be responsible for making your website available via the internet.

As the website is being hosted by the web hosting company whose server is in a different location than yours, they have a separate and dedicated infrastructure for this purpose. The kind of operating system that they are using to host or serve the website is a little importance to you, as the hardware that you are using has no connection with the web host company’s hardware.

For example, you could work on a Windows based system and have all your web files on it whereas your web host could run a Linux operating system and run Linux compatible software and still will be able to host your website and run it.

Usually, there is a misconception that if you are working on a Windows based system, then you should look for a Windows based server or if you are working on a Linux based system then you should go for a Linux based web host. This is totally incorrect because of the fact that the operating system that is installed on the web server is totally different from the operating system that is installed in your own computer. So just for the fact that the web server and your own computer hardware are two different and separate things, the web servers can run any operating system they see as fit.

Role of operating system in web hosting

So now you must be wondering, if there is no direct correlation between the hardware and operating system ran by your web host company and your own computer hardware and operating system, then why don’t they all have the same software or why are there so many different software choices? Well, here is an answer for that.

The reason is that the web host will determine what operating system to run, based on the services that they choose to offer. For example, a web host might choose to provide only Windows based hosting server or Linux based hosting services or even a mix of both. This totally depends on the web host and their choices.

The reason that the choice of matters to you is that, if you are using Windows based services to build your website such as Microsoft Access or .Net or ASP platforms, then you might find that a web host who is running Windows platform on the server could be more beneficial. For the fact that you will need Windows-based service to run your application or the website in such cases, it is easy to cater to the needs of your website if your web host is providing the same.

Simply put, the different flavors of operating systems and software exist only to provide you more adaptable services for the needs of your website and business.

Is Linux Web hosting the right fit for you?

Simple answer is yes in 99% of the cases. If you are not aware of the technologies that your website is using and if you haven’t heard of any of the technical web-hosting jargon before today, then its highly likely that your website will just be fine with the Linux based web host rather than a Windows based web host.

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I would suggest that you go for a Linux hosting with Apache server, as that would be sufficient for most of the general needs. Also, there is a less chance that you may find any compatibility issues if you do so.
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Is Windows Web hosting the right fit for you?

If you do know that your website needs Windows based service then you are better off looking for a web host that provides you Windows based operating system for hosting, rather than a Linux based web hosting.

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The only time I would suggest that you go for a Windows based hosting system is that if you are using windows specific programs such as .NET, Access Database, ASP and other such Microsoft products.
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35 Tips for choosing the right Web Hosting company for hosting

Of the recent times, there are many web hosting companies popping up everywhere. But before you can decide which web host to go with, there are few things you should always consider. Here is the checklist:

1. What is the Web hosting company about?
2. Does it seem to be reliable and legal?
3. Where are the Web servers located?
4. Where is the Web hosting company physically located?
5. Do they have a local branch of their company in your locality?
6. What are the resources offered for web hosting such as CPU memory, bandwidth, RAM, disk storage space, etc.
7. What infrastructure do they claim to provide for the web service?
8. What kind of operating systems are they offering?
9. What is the uptime they guarantee?
10. What are the kinds of support they offer such as email, chat, etc.?
11. What kind of customer service support do they offer such as phone service, etc.?
12. Are they offering any emergency help and pay on demand support packages?
13. What kind of backup and restoration features are the providing?
14. What kind of different security measures are they providing?
15. How often do they upgrade their software to keep the services running smoothly?
16. What are the limitations of the software that they are running on the web servers?
17. Can you switch between the different hosting plans that they offer, based on your necessities?
18. Do they offer an unlimited plan? If yes, what do they offer under this plan? (Nothing is unlimited, really!)
19. Are they asking you to sign up for long term contracts? If yes, what are the benefits?
20. Do they have monthly billing plan? If yes, what are the benefits?
21. Are they the true hosting providers or are they providing white label services or just reselling?
22. What are the different payment plans they are offering?
23. Are they offering new discounts for new customers?
24. Are they offering a free trial?
25. What is the refund policy?
26. What are there renewal fees for web hosting, and domain name registration?
27. What are the terms for renewal of the plans?
28. What are the terms for cancelling the domain name registration?
29. What are the terms for cancelling the web hosting plan?
30. What are the terms and conditions in addition to their offers?
31. What is their privacy policy?
32. How do they store sensitive information, such as credit card details?
33. What are the current users reviews on the company?
34. How much rating do the actual users give to the specific web host?
35. What is the BBB rating of this company? How are they responding to user complaints on BBB?

How to choose the best Web Hosting Server for your needs?

There are different types of web hosting servers available and each of them cater to the different needs of customers and businesses. In this section, we will try to understand the options available for choosing a web server. We will also see how we can actually make the most out of them and also save some money in the process.

Let us see what these web hosting server types are:

• Shared server
• Virtual private server
• Dedicated server
• Cloud hosting server
• Co-located server
• Managed hosting server
• Reseller server
• Clustered server
• Grid server

When it comes to choosing web servers, there are a multitude of options available. The reason for multiple options is to serve you better. Each of these options offer different hardware specifications and features for the web hosting packages. Let us see what these options are and which could be right for you.

Types of Web Hosting Servers

Shared Server or Shared Web Hosting

• This is the most basic web hosting plan offered by any web hosting company.
• In this option, what generally happens is that the web hosting company uses the same server and the infrastructure for multiple websites. This means, basically the resources are being shared across multiple users at the same time.
• Due to this, there could be restrictions on how you are allowed to use the web space and the kind of programs that you can run. For example, if you want to host a personal portfolio website or something on a small scale, then a shared hosting might be good for you.
• You do not get root-level access. This means that you cannot install additional software as you need. You will have to go with whatever software is provided by your web host.
• Shared web hosting plants are the most inexpensive ones as they could vary from $5 two $15 per month based upon the web hosting company that you choose.

Virtual Private Server or Virtual Private Server Web Hosting

• A virtual private server can be visualized as a superset of a shared server. It is basically a shared server, with more resources that are dedicated to your account.
• When compared to a Shared web hosting, in Virtual Private Server web hosting your website will receive even more, but fixed amount of server resources such as CPU, RAM, disc space, etc.
• Websites of other customers may be hosted on the same server but they are separated by different sections. For this reason, it might seem like you are in control of the server which is true in some sense, but there is a limitation on the resources you can occupy on the server.
• You get root-level access. This means that you can install additional software as you need.
• Usually VPS hosting is a little bit expensive than a shared web hosting package, starting from $10 per month and above.

Dedicated Server or Dedicated Web Hosting

• Dedicated web servers, as the name suggests, are the servers that are dedicated for your own purpose. The server resources are allocated just to you and not shared with anyone else.
• This is really suitable for high-end applications and e-commerce web (such as Amazon etc.).
• You can host a single website or even multiple websites and that’s totally up to your discretion. You are in ultimate control of what happens on the server and you are free to install any programs or remove them as you feel like it.
• Because they are very powerful and offer you dedicated resources they are more expensive than the other types of web hosting services.
• A dedicated server could cost anywhere from $50 to $3,000 per or even more.
• You get root-level access. This means that you can install additional software as you need.
• The negative aspect of a dedicated server could be the fact that you may need a dedicated staff to work upon your server and take care of its maintenance and any technical updates.
• Another negative aspect is that it is really expensive and the ROI can be obtained only if your business makes more profit than the expenses incurred on maintaining the server.

Cloud Server or Cloud Web Hosting

• Cloud hosting is a fancy word that is being used at lot of places as of today. In cloud web hosting, what generally happens is that multiple servers are joined together to provide better web hosting services and for faster performance.
• In this type of hosting as the workload is balanced internally the websites tend to load faster.
• This is a very good solution for business that need to scale web hosting resources on the fly and on demand.
• Cloud hosting prices generally vary as per the “blocks” that you order. These “blocks” are nothing but a set of configurations that you can choose and customize for your server.
• Cloud Web Hosting has couple of variants. They are:
  • Managed Cloud Web Hosting – Your web hosting provider takes care of all the software and technical stuff related to your server.
  • Unmanaged Cloud Web Hosting – Your web hosting provider does not handle any software or technical stuff related to your server. You will be the sole responsible person for managing everything related to this server on your own.
• You get root-level access. This means that you can install additional software as you need.
• Pricing could start from as little as $5/month.

Collocated Server or Co-Location Web Hosting

• Collocated Server or Co-Location web hosting is very similar to the concept of Dedicated web hosting. You buy a server that you might need for your business and then simply hand it over to a reliable web hosting company.
• This web hosting company will provide space for your server in their datacenter and will maintain your server for you.
• In this way you will have a dedicated server that is just allocated only to you and with the configuration that you like but will be maintained by the web hosting company.
• This removes you from the limitation of running your own web hosting server from your home or office.
• You get root-level access. This means that you can install additional software as you need.
• Pricing generally starts from $100 and above. However, pricing info is generally not revealed by a co-location web host provider unless you contact them.
• The pricing can vary depending upon the location of the web host and their terms.

Manager Server or Managed Web Hosting

• Managed web hosting is similar to dedicated hosting but differs in the fact that unlike dedicated hosting, you do not maintain the technical aspects of the server. Rather, the configuration and the software are maintained by your web hosting company.
• This means you can run as many websites as you want and still manage your data, whereas the web hosting company will manage the technical nature of your server.
• You may or may not get root-level access. You will have to consult the web host for a clarification on this issue, if you would like to install custom software on the server.
• Pricing starts from $50 and above.

Reseller Server or Reseller Web Hosting services

• You can look at this option if you want to become a web host yourself.
• In reseller hosting, what you generally do is that you purchase the services from a web hosting company and sell them to a third party for-profit.
• In addition to this, you also have the option of including hosting services. But this will require that you are knowledgeable about providing quality web hosting services yourself or hire a dedicated staff that can do the management for you. So, you will be taking up on the role of a web host yourself and you will be responsible for providing quality services.
• You get root-level access. This means that you can install additional software as you need.
• Pricing can start from $5 and up.

Clustered Server or Clustered Web Hosting Service

• The clustered hosting services shine in the fact that multiple servers provide the same content to the users on demand.
• This provides the advantage of being able to provide uninterrupted service to your customers because in a rare event that your website goes down or has failed for some reason, another server will instantly detect this and it will start providing the content for your website and your services, from within itself. This way you will be able to run your business at all times without fail.
• You may or may not get root-level access. You will have to consult the web host for a clarification on this issue, if you would like to install custom software on the server.
• Pricing can start anywhere from $50 and above.

Grid Server or Grid Web Hosting Service

• In this type of web hosting, multiple server cluster that act together like a grade is used to provide web hosting. As it consists of multiple nodes, multiple servers operate on one cluster.
• This means that whenever your website starts demanding higher resources, the grid server will support the same via shared cluster of hardware and planned architecture.
• You may or may not get root-level access. You will have to consult the web host for a clarification on this issue, if you would like to install custom software on the server.
• Pricing starts from $20/month.

9 Tips on reviewing Web Hosting Companies and the services they provide

When you plan on choosing a web hosting company, it is very essential that you evaluate the company itself, the services that they provide and the compensation that they are asking in return for the services. You will be overwhelmed with a lot of questions such as the whereabouts of the company, the services that they provide, trustworthiness, ability to scale if you are website grows in the future, etc. Let us see what factors we can consider in order to select a webhost.

1. Check the reliability and trustworthiness of the web hosting company

Just like you would perform a thorough research before you plan to purchase a house, likewise you need to perform a thorough research about the company that you would want to wind up with. Consider visiting their website, read more about the services they offer and any other customer testimonials, their physical location, phone numbers, remote support options, general information about the founders of the company, etc.

You can also read online reviews about web hosting companies as that will give you a good idea about how the actual users feel when they purchased services from that web hosting company.

2. Consider the scalability and growth of your website

Let us say that you are starting up just now with web hosting and you wish to start small but at the same time, you would like to keep options open for growth of your website. Now in such cases, you need to make sure that you have such kind of options available in your web hosting company that you decide to go with.

For example, choose to get started with a Shared web hosting service. This way, you will cater to the needs of the small user-base that you might have the during the initial stages of the website and at the same time you will save a lot of money in web hosting fees.

Once you start to progress really well with your business and you see it flourish, then when you start feeling that the current server resources are inadequate, your web hosting company should provide you an option that lets you switch over to a better option such as a VPS or a Dedicated Server, for an extra cost. If you can have this flexibility of selecting a web hosting service as you need it that well be much more pocket friendly and more appropriate for your business and its growth.

3. Be careful about Terms & Conditions (T&C)

As a new comer to the world of web hosting, terms and conditions of a web host are the least things on your mind. But out of my personal experiences, I can tell you that I have actually read the terms and conditions of many web hosts, before I signed up for their services. In fact, there have been quite a good number of instances where I have actually even given up my decision to go with them, after reading the T&C. This is due to the fact that generally the T&C will have some hidden elements of surprise that will leave a sour taste.

My Personal Example

Sometime back, I happened to consider a web hosting company that offered unbelievable services at a great price. All through my review process, I was under the impression that the price mentioned was on a monthly basis and contract-free. There were no indications whatsoever that I had to sign a contract, on the product info page. So far, so good!

But things started to take a different direction, once I read the terms and conditions page. I understood that the price that was offered to me was a discounted price and I had to actually agree for a 2-year contract, in order to avail the offer. This meant that I have to lock in my business with this web hosting company for the next 2 years at the minimum, without even knowing the quality of the services. Now this was the reason that I backed out.

Basically, I don’t like to give heavy and full-blown commitments, especially spanning over multiple years without even trying their services initially at least for little time. For this reason, I highly suggest that you review the terms and conditions and make yourself aware of what you are getting into.

4. Pricing

The pricing for any web hosting service has to be right, in order for it to be pocket friendly. When you find a web host that you like, do not just blindly go with them. I do not mean to say that they are a bad web hosting company, but what I’m trying to say is that you do some more research before you make a decision. Look at what other web hosts are offering and their prices. This gives you an idea of what the current market prices are, for the kind of service that you are looking for.

Typically, a shared hosting service is available at around $5 or even $6 per month without any contract. There could be other web hosting companies that could offer the same shared hosting at a price of $25 per month. If you read their resource specification, you may not find any additional items of value. Even worse, you might find that they are offering the same resources or even less, as the web hosting company that is offering you more features for an economical price.

For this reason, knowing the current market price and the resources offered in each of those packages will help you a lot in determining the web host’s pricing.

5. Payment Options

Considering the potential growth of your business or website, I suggest that you look for a web host that offers you flexibility in the payment options. So, if you start with the shared web hosting service and you plan to switch to an expensive Dedicated Server in the future, then you should be able to do so without paying an additional fee for the switch itself. Let us try to understand this by means of an example below.

For example, let us say that a web host is offering Shared Web Hosting at $5/month and Dedicated Web Hosting services at $100/month. Let us assume that you have opted for the Shared Web Hosting service and you paid $5 for the first month. Before the start of the second month, you plan to switch to the Dedicated web hosting. In this context, your second month bill should just $100 and not more than that. You should not pay an extra fee for the transfer of the web hosting service, such as a transfer fee or anything like that so.

If your web host is asking you for a fee of $25 or $30 in order to move you up in the package, I strongly suggest to avoid such kind of web host and look elsewhere.

6. Be wary of Promotions

This is basically an extension of reading terms and conditions, that I mentioned in one of the points above. Usually web hosting companies offer promotions to attract you to their business and they offer a very compelling price that one cannot simply resist. At the same time, they do have a fine print that demands you to sign up a contract for at least one year or even more, to avail that promotional price.

I highly suggest that you stay clear of this, if you are very new to the field of web hosting as you simply do not have enough experience with this specific web host and the quality of the service that they provide.

You would never want to fall into a trap wherein, you sign up with the web host who is offering the lowest price in the market, just to realize that the resources that are being offered in the quality of service offered is pathetic. And once you are in a contract, most of the times, you will not be able to get out of them easily. In an event that a web hosting company is willing to cancel a contract, they usually demand a huge cancellation fee because they want to make money out of it.

The above is the main reason why I never sign up for a new web host that actually ask me for a contract. I tend go for monthly payments, especially when trying out a new web host for the first time. Once I try out their services and get a feel of what they offer, for a good discounted price, I am willing to go for a contract. At the end, I do not want to get duped by some random web host and I want to make sure that I get my ROI. So, I suggest you try my above-mentioned strategy, especially if you are new in this area.

7. Look for money back guarantee

Typically, web hosts offer money back guarantee when you purchase the web hosting packages from them. They give you some time to evaluate their services, typically anywhere from 3 days, 15 days, 30 days or even more up to 90 days.

Be careful about the money back guarantee policy as well. You must be wondering why I am saying this now. After all, what can beat a good old money back guarantee policy. Right? Well, there could be more catches associated with this. Following is the main reason:

If you are utilizing the services of the web host for some time, before you make a decision of moving away from them, then chances are high that when you ask for a refund, they give you the amount for the unused portion only.

For example, consider that a web host is offering you 30-day money back guarantee and you use their services for 10 days. After this duration, you decide to move away from them. In this case, the web hosting company may return you only the fees that you paid, for the unused portion of that month i.e. for 20 days only, instead of returning the fees for the entire duration of 30 days.

Even if you are slightly informed about what I am talking about, there may have been cases where you may have seen that usually such an offer has * (asterisk sign) right next to it and then towards the bottom of the page, they have a fine print that starts with the asterisk and then lays down the conditions for availing that offer.  These terms and conditions need to be met, in order to give you such kind of refund. You should read through all the terms and such promotional offers thoroughly before deciding to go with them.

8. Availability of technical support

In my experience, I have found out that there is no certain time at which things can go wrong. This means that anything can go wrong, at any point of time and if that happens you should be able to get it fixed right away.

For example, if your website goes down during a weekend because something nasty happened on the server, then your web hosting company should have adequate staff working on the weekends to fix the issue.

I say this because if you are planning to run an e-Commerce web site or any time sensitive website, you may have a lot of traffic, especially on the weekends. Typically, over the weekends, users plan to review the products they wish to buy and then make a purchase. Considering this, if your website goes down even for few minutes, then there is a possibility that you may lose lot of business. In order to avoid such losses, I highly recommend that you look for a web host that offers reliable and 24/7/365 support.

9. Be careful about the word “UNLIMITED”

When I initially started reviewing web hosts, I pretty much found that every web host claimed to offer unlimited plans. This made an impression that they were going to offer me unlimited CPU power, RAM, bandwidth, etc. but I was wrong. On further reading through their plans, terms and conditions, I found out that there was a catch!

The catch was that they would offer unlimited space provided I do not take up more than the allocated CPU resources. How the heck is this even possible? If I launch 10 websites and try to use them all at once, in that case my websites are definitely going to use more CPU resources than just a single website. What is the point of being able to host many files on the web server for multiple sites, when I actually cannot use them to their full potential and provide my users with the all information and services that they need?

So, simply put, there is always a catch of this sort. Some things might be offered to you as unlimited, but there would definitely be some sort of a catch that stops you from using the services to your full potential or the way that you see fit.

What do the web hosting companies do if you go over the limitations placed on your account?

• Typically, the web hosting companies could suspend or terminate your account for violation, with or without an advance notice.
• In some other cases they might send you an email or open up a support thread asking you to reply back to them. Generally, the contents of such kind of support thread are basically questions asking you about your usage and if you are overdoing it and how your using it.
• If they fail to reach you on your contact information or if you do not respond to their queries, they are more likely to suspend or terminate your account.

In simple words, although the word unlimited sounds great and fun, let’s not get carried away with it. Let’s be realistic, nothing is unlimited in this world!

Uptime and Downtime of web hosting service

Typically, most of the web hosting companies claim an uptime of 99.9%. This means that you can expect a down time of 0.1%. But what exactly is an uptime and a downtime?

Uptime

It is a measurement that shows us the time a server is available for usage and working in condition.

Downtime

It is a measurement that works the opposite of uptime. This measurement shows how much time a server is unavailable. The reasons of unavailability could be restarting the machine, making periodic updates, etc.

How are the downtime and uptime calculated?

The uptime and downtime of a server is calculated on an annual basis. Here is some math:

• Typically, as there are 365 days in a year, we assume the days as 365.
• There are 24 hours in a day.
• So, the total number of hours in a year is: 365 x 24 = 8760 hours
• Uptime claimed is 99.9%. That means the downtime is 0.1% per annum.
• We now calculate the downtime per annum, in hours, like so:
  1% of 8760 = (0.1 x 8760)/100 = 8.76 hours

Here, 8.76 represents the total number of hours in a year during which, your server might be unavailable.

Downtime Conclusion

We can safely conclude that for a claim of 99.9% uptime, over a course of 365 days, your server is going to be unavailable for almost 9 hours. This sounds pretty reasonable to me, considering that every server needs to be rebooted once in a while for optimal performance, software needs to be updated and system restarted to apply those updates, etc.

Location of the data center

It is preferred to have your server located in an area where you serve your customers the most. If you have most of your customers from the USA, it is advisable to pick a data center that is located in USA, rather than a server that is hosted in Australia or any other such foreign countries.

The reason why a location closer to your target audience is preferred is that, the data needs to travel over father networks if they are located elsewhere. On this basis, if the data stays in or around the same locality as the user accessing it, then the speed of access of that data will be marginally higher.

It also depends upon the kind of infrastructure that is being used. But for the sake of comparison, that let’s assume that all the web hosts are using the same kind of infrastructure and in this scenario, if your server is located in the same area as the user then the user will experience a marginal increase in speed.

A benefit of having a local server i.e. a server within your vicinity, although you are serving international customers, is that you will be able to cater to the local laws, rules and regulations that govern your business in a more effective manner. Also, the customer support could be just minutes away from your reach i.e. if you would like to visit them for any of your issues, then you can do so at your comfort.

Backups

I cannot over emphasize the importance of periodic backups. These backup sets could be either incremental or complete. Backups provide a peace of mind, knowing that all your data is backed up and stored securely in some place. In an unfortunate event that your server crashes or becomes a victim of any malicious attacks by online hackers, then by using those backups, you will be able to restore the content on your server in very little time.

For this reason, I highly recommend that you look for the available options in your web hosting plans about arranging for the periodic backups and possibility of any charges associated with them.

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Typically, web host companies do not charge additional fee for using such kind of backup tools but if a web host is demanding a fee then it will be advisable to approach such an option cautiously. Consider reviewing the pros and cons of using such a tool, especially when you have free tools available in the market and may webs hosts provide them for free.
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Website Control Panel or cPanel

A control panel or a cPanel is nothing but an interface that is used to carry on the administrative tasks associated with your account or even your website. This is your backend office wherein, you see the list of domains that you have registered with your web host, view all your databases, SSL certificates, install software such as WordPress, other such content management systems and many more.

The control panel comes in different flavors depending upon the web host and the services that they offer with the control panel. Some of the widely known control panels in the market today:

• cPanel
• Plesk
• Webuzo
• Open Panel
• ISP config

cPanel

It is the most popular control panel that ships pretty much with most of the web hosting companies out there. Typically, a license fee is associated with using a cPanel. Your web host might offer this for free or include this in the cost of web hosting for an additional fee.

Plesk

This pretty much works just like cPanel but has few layout customization options, so you get to experience a new look and feel.

Webuzo

This is a control panel that works pretty much like the standard control panel but it differs in its appearance and a bit of functionality.

Open panel

It is a very user friendly and open source control panel.

ISP config

This is a type of control panel that lets you manage multiple servers.

Regardless of the control panel that you choose or your web host chooses to provide you with, there is a little bit of learning curve associated with operating each of these control panels to their full potential. You have to get familiar with the different functions and the services offered by each of these control panels to make the maximum use out of them.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate:

Of the recent times, Google has tightened the security norms of the websites. The word is out that companies or websites that deal with secure data, such as accessing credit card information, accepting payments, etc. need to provide secure connections using SSL. In the absence of SSL certificate for such websites, they risk getting penalized and might experience drop in search engine rankings and overall less traffic.

So, if you are trying to offer services online, in the form of an e-commerce portal and plan to collect payments via credit card, debit cards, etc. I highly recommend that you purchase and install a SSL certificate to avoid getting penalized by Google. If you plan on collecting payments via third party accounts such as Stripe, PayPal then you don’t need an SSL.

Support for programming languages

When scouting through the countless web hosts, make sure that the web host supports a bunch of programming languages such as PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Java, Perl, FTP connections, etc. This is just to make sure that when you launch a website you have all the resources you need for your website to work flawlessly.

What else do you need to pick a reliable web host?

Having a clear idea of your business and what it requires is one of the most important factors. No one knows the nature of your business than you do. I cannot overemphasize the importance of knowing the products that you will be dealing with and the technology involved.

It would a very bitter experience to actually not know anything about the technology involved and then hook up with a web hosting company that you feel, could provide all the services you need, only to eventually find out that your requirements do not match with what your web hosting company provides.

On similar lines, if you have a knowledge of the technology that is involved in creating your website and its contents, then it becomes very easy to figure out if a web host is right or not for you based on the software and other tools they provide.

Conclusion

So, we finally made it to the end of the in-depth tutorial about web hosting and know more about what web hosting is. We have also seen in-depth how web hosting works and the different types of web hosting services available that you can choose from, their benefits and demerits. Hopefully this information has helped you in understanding the basics of web hosting and hopefully it will serve you in taking the right decision for finding the right web hosting service for your business.