With all
the features and options available in the web hosting industry today,
it comes as little surprise that many web hosting beginners feel a bit
overwhelmed. We were web hosting beginners not too long ago, and can clearly
recall thinking that we would never be able to gain the knowledge necessary
to create and launch a web site, however, after spending a bit of spare
time reading up on the industry, we came to the conclusion that web hosting
wasn't nearly as difficult as it appeared to be. After all, if some kid
can make a nice-looking, fully functional personal homepage, how hard
can it be? For the hosting beginner, mastering the technical terms of
the web hosting industry is nowhere near as important as understanding
what kind of host is the right kind for your particular web site.
Generally
speaking, web sites can be divided into one of three large categories:
Personal/Small Business Homepages, E-Commerce Web Sites, and Information
Providers. The type of host you choose depends a great deal on what category
your site falls into. The next section is dedicated to discussing each
of these three major categories, and which type of host is best suited
to each category.
Personal
Homepage/Small Business Website
A personal homepage or small business website is generally the smallest
and most basic type of web site, and does not require a lot of disk space
or bandwidth. As a result, you have one of two plausible options when
choosing the type of web host for your site, Shared Hosting or Free Hosting.
E-Commerce
Website
If you plan to offer goods for sale on your website, your site will be
far more complex, and also need to be able to handle more traffic and
data transfer. For E-Commerce sites, there are three viable solutions:
Co-location, Dedicated Server, and Shared Hosting.
Information
Provider
Information Providers are generally the largest types of sites on the
web, and must be designed to handle a lot of traffic. That being the case,
Information Providers usually must take a more serious, and more costly
approach to web hosting. If you are going to be creating a larger site
that will be used as a source of information to users around the world,
consider either investing in your own server equipment, choosing a Co-location
Server, or a Dedicated Server.
Shared Hosting
Shared Hosting is a type of hosting where you "rent" space in
a large server, and share that server with other web sites. The advantages
of Shared Hosting are that it is extremely cost efficient, and offers
a variety of functions and options to suit nearly any site. The disadvantages
of Shared Hosting, however, are that you are at the complete mercy of
the server. If you happen to pick a bad server, your site could be down
for long periods of time, costing you lots of potential visitors that
will not come back a second time.
Free
Hosting
Free Hosting is a type of hosting where you get space in a larger site
for free, provided that you allow the site to advertise on your homepage.
The advantages of Free Hosting are that it costs nothing, and therefore
requires no investment other than a little bit of time. Free Hosting programs
also do provide a number of good options for your site, and allow you
to create a fully functional, attractive web site for free. Although it
does have a number of advantages, Free Hosting also has an equal number
of disadvantages. With nearly all free hosts, users can not use an individual
domain name, but typically are forced to use something like this www.theirname.com/yourname.
In addition, Free Hosting packages offer limited space and file transfer,
and do not offer options like email.
Co-location
Co-location hosting is a type of hosting that uses your server equipment
located in a secure, state of the art facility in another location. The
most significant positive aspect of Co-location hosting is that it provides
you with the ultimate in control over the speed and reliability of your
site. With Co-location, your site is basically as good as you want it
to be. The most significant negative aspect of Co-location is that it
is rather expensive. Servers do not come cheaply, nor do the technicians
that you will need to look after it. As a result, Co-location is the least
attractive option based on the high initial cost, but is an excellent
alternative for extremely serious or financially-free webmasters.
Dedicated
Server
Dedicated Server hosting is a type of hosting where you rent an entire
server, and is a good solution for serious webmasters lacking the initial
startup capital to purchase their own server. Dedicated Server hosting
offers a high degree of control, and offers a lot of disk space and file
transfer. Because your site is the only one being served by your dedicated
server, you can also count on a fast connection. The advantages of Dedicated
Server hosting is that it offers everything you need to get top quality
service, without having to purchase a server. The disadvantages are that
it is significantly more expensive than Virtual Hosting, and does not
offer the same levels of control that are available with Co-location hosting.
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