To set-up, control and run your own website or blog you need webhosting so that you can load the site on to a web server with a good internet connection. It is technically possible to run your own web server but there are a number of difficulties which make this impractical for most people (for more information look at Home Hosting). The best way to go is to sign up with a company providing webhosting services.

So What is a Webhosting Service?
A Webhosting service means the provision of a web server with a high speed internet connection on to which you can load your site. To do this you connect to the web server via an FTP client and transfer files as necessary. The hosting provider deals with all maintenance of the server and its connectivity so you don’t have to worry about anything other than maintaining your site.

Most hosts offer tools to help you build a site easily but you need to aware that these often lock you in because you cannot easily transfer the site to another host. Most also offer easy installation and set-up of third party tools like WordPress (if you are setting up your first website you are recommended to use WordPress).

Some hosts only offer Linux hosting but others offer a choice of Linux or Windows. This is the operating system running on the web server and is not related in any way to the operating system used by your computer. Often Windows hosting costs more than Linux and the package may be more limited. Actually Linux powers the majority of the internet and you should sign-up for Linux hosting unless you have a particular reason for needing Windows (perhaps because your site has been built for you using Microsoft tools and it requires Windows hosting).

Types of Web Hosting Available

Shared Hosting – This is the basic service that is used by most people. Here the webhosting provider hosts many customers on a single server. This does have its drawbacks but it has the great advantage that the service can be offered at a remarkably cheap price. Shared webhosting is often sold with “unlimited” resources (no limit on things like bandwidth, disk space, domains, databases and email accounts). This keeps it simple as when limits are set most users get nowhere near them.  However, “Unlimited” cannot be taken literally as the server has finite resources and the host cannot allow one user to adversely impact other users. Therefore the Terms Of Use will contain some restriction and if your site were to become very busy you would be asked to upgrade.

VPS Hosting – VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is a step up from shared hosting (and costs considerably more) but you might consider using it from the outset if you are running an eCommerce site and security is important to you. Here software creates virtual servers on a physical server. The users see their virtual server much the same as they would a physical server in that it has its own resources and much greater flexibility and security than shared hosting provides. You can specify the resources you require and upgrade if necessary.

Dedicated Webhosting – Here the user does actually rent a physical server just for their use. As well as providing more resources this means that they can have total control of the server as no-one else can be impacted. Alternatively many hosts offer a managed service where they perform some of the support and maintenance functions.

Cloud Hosting – This is the most recent type of web hosting in which a site is hosted in the “cloud” instead of on any particular physical server. Resources can be specified at the outset and can easily be increased or decreased as required. As the site is not tied to any physical server reliability should be better and this type of hosting is ideal for big sites which may have periods of high activity. The disadvantage compared to dedicated webhosting is that the user cannot have total control so there will always be third party staff who can see the data.

Reseller Hosting – A lot of the web hosts advertising are simply reselling the services of one of the big hosting companies. Normally the hosting service is provided by the large company but the reseller is responsible for things like billing and support. Resellers can offer cheap prices but often can’t provide the sort of 24/7 support that you get from a big hosting company (for people new to hosting that support is important).

e-Commerce Hosting – Sites that are selling something need additional features such as a shopping cart, payment system and the necessary security. Some hosts offer specific packages for this.

SEO Hosting – Where a user has multiple sites and wants to link them together for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes normal hosting is no good because if the sites have the same IP address, the links between them will be ignored by the search engines. SEO hosting enables the sites to be hosted with different IP addresses to avoid this problem.

Once you have decided on the type of hosting you want you need to chose from the numerous hosting companies which offer the service.

Web Hosting companies vary in the services they offer. Some such as Bluehost offer just one shared linux package. Offers such as HostGator offer a range of services which provides an upgrade path if your site becomes busy.

When choosing web hosting don’t forget to look at the host’s reputation for support, this often is the critical factor for users.

For more information on how to choose the best web hosting service for you click this link Website Hosting Services For New Users.

Alternatively you can go for our present webhosting recommendation which is HostGator.