Hosting

What Is Web Hosting (Types, Features of Web Hosting)

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By Susith Nonis

Today, every business is moving forward with cloud technology or relying on a third party for hosting their website or services. The demand for web hosting is increasing as hosting your business website will give you the benefit of being noticed by a broader audience nowadays.

Web hosting allows you to rent or buy a space that will store your website on the WWW (World Wide Web) along with the website content. To create a robust online presence, you require reliable web hosting services, well-suited to your business requirements and budget.

You can find several web hosting providers that offer you a range of services that can be useful for your business. These providers may be free or paid depending on the plan and services you subscribe to.

The right web hosting plan will provide you with various resources that will help your website load quickly and be easily accessible by the end-users. Many factors should be considered while choosing a web hosting provider.

The below article will help you get enough knowledge on web hosting, how it works, types of web hosting, the reasons to choose a suitable web hosting for your business, and the cost of web hosting.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is an online platform that allows you to host your website or any web-based application over the Internet. Whenever you subscribe to any web hosting plan, you are renting or buying the space online or on a physical server to book a presence for your website. This space will store all your files, data, and confidential log data of your website.

A server can be a physical data center that will keep your website up and running all the time without any interruption. Your subscribed web host will keep that data server running and protect it from hacking and other malicious online activities.

The web host will allow you to load all the stored details to the users whenever they search for your website. It ensures that all the data will be loaded quickly without creating too much overhead. Below are some salient features of a typical web hosting provider:

  • Various web hosting providers offer different subscription plans and charge you more if you exceed a certain number of requests and resources.
  • Web hosting providers offer some one-click installations that will make taking or migrating your website online quickly, such as the one-click WordPress install.
  • Web hosting services offer you various storage facilities to store large files covered under the subscription plan.
  • Having a web host provider lets you enjoy excellent customer support available 24X7.

How does Web Hosting Work?

A web hosting provider usually rents out the services and technologies that are required to host any website on the Internet. Once your website is ready, you can choose the domain name and the right hosting plan to fit your business budget.

Web hosting providers ensure that your server will be up and running all the time, making your website accessible to the end-users without any hindrance. Not only this, but a web hosting provider also makes sure that your website is safe and secured from external attacks by providing multiple security layers.

If you are not a technical person, you can consider choosing a web hosting plan just like selecting the right office for your business. You will consider office space, business center availability, and scalability as per changing business requirements.

Once you are satisfied with the services provided, you will go for that building while choosing an office space, or web hosting provider in the present case.

Types of Web Hosting

Web hosting service providers offer different types of web hosting as per the needs of your business website. Each type varies in its features as well as cost. The most popular types of web hosting are:

Shared Web Hosting: When a website is hosted on the same server along with many other websites, it is called Shared Web Hosting. This type of web hosting is provided by most web hosting companies. New small and medium-sized businesses that are not expecting huge traffic soon prefer this web hosting type as it is cheap and easy to set up. It’s best suited for personal websites as well.

Shared hosting is not recommended for large businesses with lots of traffic, eCommerce companies, and those who prefer digital marketing for the online promotion of their business.

Dedicated Hosting: In dedicated hosting or managed hosting, entire servers are rented out to businesses to accommodate a suitable amount of resources to ensure smooth website performance. This type of hosting is expensive when compared with shared hosting. Therefore, it is preferred by large businesses that have a lot of traffic.

Besides providing an entire server to a single website, dedicated hosting allows greater self-service server administration facilities. In other words, dedicated hosting allows total control over the server, its software, and security systems. The website owners are required to have the desired technical expertise on hand to manage the platform themselves.

VPS Hosting: In virtual private servers (VPS) or virtual dedicated servers (VDS), a virtual server is allocated to each client as a dedicated server even though it’s actually serving multiple websites. Due to this reason, VPS hosting is considered to be the stepping stone between shared hosting and getting your own dedicated server. Just like dedicated hosting, VPS hosting also gives users full access to configure the VPS.

Small businesses that want to keep open the option of getting a dedicated server in the future prefer VPS hosting.

Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is the latest type of web hosting that has become extremely popular in recent years. In cloud hosting, many interconnected web servers offer an affordable, scalable, and reliable web infrastructure. Cloud hosting plans are generally unmetered, with reliable bandwidth, and an infinite amount of disk space for unlimited domains. These are the reasons that many large businesses are switching to the cloud. Cloud hosting also comes with resource-intensive applications. However, all this comes at a price that is higher than other web hosting types.

Reseller Hosting: In this type of web hosting the account owner can use his or her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host a website on behalf of third parties. The ‘reseller’ in this type of web hosting is the account owner. Reseller hosting is beneficial when the amount of space purchased remains unutilized, and the allocated resources like disk space, bandwidth, CPU, etc. can be rented to another party.

Features to Consider While Selecting a Web Host

There are various web hosting providers available. Choosing the right one may be confusing and challenging. First, you must understand your business requirement and what you want to achieve from the subscribed hosting plan.

You can consider various features while selecting the right web host for your business. If all the offerings fit your business needs, then go for it. Below are the important features that you need to look out for while choosing a web hosting service:

1. Storage Space

The provided space must be enough for storing all your website files, databases, and media. If you have a small website, you will not require much space, and you can choose the plan accordingly. If you do not have enough space to handle your resources and services, it will not effectively load your website.

2. Bandwidth Limit

Bandwidth greatly impacts uploading and downloading content to and from, respectively, the hosted website. If this factor is well managed by the web host provider, you will get proper traffic to your website and enhance your website performance.

But if you have a limited bandwidth plan, it will restrict your viewers or charge you extra for additional services not covered under your plan.

3. Add-on Domain Features

If you are running multiple websites, it may be challenging to manage every website’s hosting account. So choose the provider that helps in hosting multiple domains to handle all your websites. Each provider has a limited number of domains to host. So make sure your provider allows add-on domain features for your changing business requirements.

4. Uptime Offered

You can define uptime as the server in-use time. It is usually defined in percentage. There may be a discrepancy in the uptime mentioned by the providers. To get the exact uptime, you can use online tools like Pingdom and Host-tracker.

Also, check the security features included within the hosting plan. Else your data may be vulnerable if the security features are not strong enough to protect your data.

5. Technical Support

While hosting a website, you may come across various issues. For this, you should have consistent support from the technical team, so that your website does not face any downtime during critical hours.

Every hosting provider claims to provide the best support, but to make sure, you should go through various forums to check which provider offers the best and most convenient support. If your provider offers live chat or assistance, it will be an excellent asset for your business.

6. Pre-installed Application(s)

Many web hosting providers offer various pre-installed apps, like widgets, that will help you to build your website. First, check how reliable the user interface is.

7. Database Support

Every business requires a database that stores all the files necessary to integrate new technologies. So, before opting for the web hosting provider, check what database support they provide. Not every provider supports all kinds of databases, so choose the plan as per your website database.

8. Supported Programming Language(s)

Before you opt for a hosting provider, make sure it also supports server-side languages as per your business preferences. If you want to shift from one language to another, you will be able to do that efficiently. Do not limit your plan due to budget constraints if it does not cover most of the language options.

9. Backup Services

There is no doubt that your web host provider may also be vulnerable. So check for the backup plans that are provided and included within your plan. Your data must be safe and secure with the hosting party.

Cost of Web Hosting

The cost of web hosting varies by provider. Free web hosting services are also available but we do not recommend them as you have to face unwanted advertising on your page and their domain name in your URL. On the other hand, paid web hostings offer you full control of what content goes on your website.

Now let’s have a look at other advantages of paid web hosting and learn why paid web hosting is better than free web hosting.

Why is a Paid-subscription Better Than Free Web Hosting?

Simply because many features are not covered in the free or the basic web hosting plans. If you want to thoroughly and professionally host a website then you require various features from the web hosting provider, and it, naturally, will come with a definite cost.

You can choose a specific web hosting plan that will fit your business budget. Below are some reasons why you should consider buying a hosting provider:

1. Bandwidth and Disk Space

If you opt for the free versions of the web hosts, you will receive a lower bandwidth and limited disk space. At the same time, a paid web hosting service offers you much – maybe, unlimited – bandwidth and disk space.

2. Content Limitations

Choosing the free version of a web hosting service will limit the number of images, videos, and other media that you can upload and download.

3. Security Breaches

Choosing paid web hosting usually offers you much higher security. While with a free web hosting provider, your data may be at a higher risk of a security breach.

4. Domain Name and URL

With a free hosting provider, you will get a domain name along with the URL. When you select the paid providers, however, you will get a custom URL and a preferred domain name.

5. Server Speed

Choosing the free web hosting servers may lead to server overload leading to hours of scheduled downtime. But with paid hosting services, you do not have to worry as they offer guaranteed uptime.

Conclusion

Every business these days emphasizes creating a robust online presence, for which a suitable web host is a must. To make your website efficient and quick, you need the right web hosting provider.

Different web hosting providers offer different services and plans. Thus, you have to consider a few points before you pick one. Once you figure out your expectations and requirements, you can make a smart choice based on the same.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How can my online business benefit from a web hosting service?

Your online business can benefit from web hosting services in the following ways:

  • Domain-associated email address.
  • Improved site performance resulting in customer satisfaction.
  • Improved security of your customer’s information and the data stored on the website.
  • High reliability and uptime to build trust with customers.
  • Outstanding technical support to resolve tech issues.

2. How to choose the web hosting best for your business?

Before choosing the web hosting for your business, consider the following points:

  • Verify the primary features claimed by the web host in their advertisements or official website.
  • Check for server reliability and uptime guarantees through reviews and feedback on various tech forums and other platforms.
  • Learn about and confirm the web host’s Refund Policy and Guarantees.
  • Check if there are any upgrade options available.

3. Why is web hosting needed?

For businesses of any size who want to promote their business online, it is very important to have good website hosting as it can be used for many applications, such as systems, virtual stores, blogs, and websites, with advantages ranging from better performance to greater security.

4. Can I host my own website?

Yes, you can host your own website. But first, you should know how to set up the WWW server software on your computer. This software allows Internet users to access the web files on your computer.

5. Which is the best web hosting company?

There are many good web hosting providers. Some of the best web hosting providers based on their offerings are:

  • Hostinger – Overall best.
  • HostGator – Best for simple websites.
  • Bluehost – Best for new WordPress websites.
  • DreamHost – Best value for shared hosting.
  • GreenGeeks – Best eco-friendly hosting.
  • SiteGround – Best WordPress-certified host for speed and security.

6. Do I need to pay for web hosting?

Although there are many free web hostings available, they are not going to offer the quality of service that you need for your business website. So, it is recommended to opt for paid web hosting rather than free web hosting.

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