To enable a person or company to host a website or other web based product, a web hosting company is required. The service they provide is normally chargeable, for obvious reasons but it is possible for personal websites to be hosted for free. The hosting company has a number of servers, or data centers, where each person is provided with varying amounts of space to store their digital media, including websites; others can then access these files (web pages for example). Hostmonster offering you php web hosting plan with unlimited storage space and unlimited transfer, come with cpanel with fantastico, and with mysql and email accounts
There are a great many services available; you even have free hosting where you won’t have to spend a single dime, this is ideal for absolute beginners. Many restrictions exist with free web hosting but that is to be expected and for some it is an ideal situation but for only a few dollars per month, a paid web hosting service is far superior. There will be a large number of companies offering paid hosting but the prices do vary and this is usually down to how much is actually supplied as part of the package; any confusion is normally quite easy to overcome by using one of the internet comparison sites that are becoming very popular.
You may settle for a shared server (where you share your space with other website owners) and it is a good tip is to go for the shared hosting first.It is usually possible to upgrade to have a dedicated server for your files once you know the service provider is reliable; there is normally an additional charge for this facility. A web hosting plan is no good unless you have a registered domain to use, then you can use this in conjunction with the storage space to save your files, website etc. All companies will allocate a certain amount of space for your website and any other files required to be stored there (photos and MP3 tracks, for example) and this can be anything from 500Mb or more, depending on the host and package you are paying for.
Another advantage of web hosting and your own domain name is that email addresses will include your own domain name and not that of those free providers such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to name a few of the thousands of providers whose services can be used. People who are serious about their internet presence will want to have their own identity and to prove the point; you will never see a company using someone else’s domain in their email address. Another problem to consider is called bandwidth which is essentially how much digital data is being transferred using your domain name and will affect the cost of the hosting package, this needs to be considered carefully.
If your company can’t offer you better bandwidth, then it will be very hard for your users to view your web page. Of course this won’t matter if you only have a basic website but as soon as you start adding large images, audio tracks, video footage and other big files, your bandwidth will be used up very quickly. Some people use their own home computers for web hosting but there can be serious security and reliability issues here so it is best to look for a professional company to supply this service.
