Back To Basics: A 'For Dummies' Introduction To Web Server Hosting
Anyone can make their own presence online. You can write a blog or simply join the social networking sites using your computer or while using a terminal in an internet cafe. But, if you want to have your own site or web page - one that is entirely your own and not just a page on Yahoo or Blogger - then you will need what is called a web host.
A web host is like a publishing company. If you want your own blog site then imagine yourself writing a diary or a book. If you want your writing published, you go to a book publisher. A web host is like a website publisher. Web hosts will let you rent a space (they call it disk space) and they will provide you with services so that your blog or site becomes visible on the internet.
They will make sure that your work is out there for anyone anywhere in the world to see 27x7x365 (unless of course they have problems).
There are many web hosting companies you can choose from. Many offer free hosting and some offer paid hosting. There are also many types of hosting packages to choose from and you may get confused especially with all the techie words they use.
Should You Choose Free or Paid?
There are thousands of web hosting companies that offer hosting for free. You may ask yourself why you should even consider paying for something you can get for free. Well, the answer to that is simple. If you pay nothing, then you get nothing.
A vast majority of the free offers by the web hosting companies are just come-ons so that they can get you to sign-up and hopefully snag you into their net so they can get you to pay for other stuff. They will offer free hosting but they will set so many limitations.
Web hosts are businesses and businesses are in it for the money. They need a lot of fancy and expensive machines in order to do what they do. So they have to make money somehow. They may charge you nothing but they will make sure they earn money from what you put out on the internet. They do that by placing ads on your site or blog. Ads that just pop up out of nowhere and feature stuff you never even dreamed existed. They will put ads all over your blog or website that you have no control over.
And, free hosting plans won't allow you to sell stuff on your site. Most probably you can't have videos on it or music. Another thing is, your site can just disappear without warning because most of the companies that offer free hosting go out of business real soon. When they go out of business, your site disappears too.
If you do not want such hassles, you can choose a web host that charges some money.
Most of the paid hosting services are very affordable. Some are pretty expensive. Don't go thinking that the most expensive is probably the best. There are many affordable web hosting companies that offer great service at reasonable rates.
About the Author:
Shane Stafford is a writer for popular webmaster site WhoIsHostingThis.com, your destination to compare Wordpress hosting and dedicated server hosting.
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