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Web hosting is the backbone of any website.
When creating a website and developing a site’s focus and content, the web host has a lot of weight as to what you can do and accomplish with your domain.
Before picking out a web host, it’s important to decide what you plan on doing with your website.
If you just want a friendly blog for friends and family to read or you want to set up a business with a functional store, customer support, and growth options, you will want different types of hosting for your purpose.
There are free web hosts in addition to hundreds of hosting companies out there who will charge anywhere from $4 to over $500 a month for hosting.
Getting started with hosting is the first step to creating a successful spot on the web.
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Getting Started
Web hosts provide a service to those who want to create and build a spot on the web. They make your site available to eyes all over the world and provide Internet connectivity for people to access your web space.
Web hosts provide a myriad of services from simple hosting to website building and online store management.
At the smallest level, a web host will offer a web page and small file hosting, in which you can upload files from your computer to the web to display and use for your website.
Types of Web Hosts
As mentioned above, there are free web hosts. These types of hosts typically don’t charge anything for offering you a space on the web, but you may not be able to use the domain that you want and you also have to agree to host their advertisements on your web page.
This may be a good idea for anyone just getting started with an online blog or personal site, but it’s not ideal for anyone who wants to start a long-term business or prefers to have more control over the way that their site looks and interacts with visitors.
Some things to consider when picking any web host include the following:
*Do they have a site building system with templates or drag and drop building?
*Do they provide any type of support?
*Do they use cPanel, ispCP or ISPConfig to help with site setup?
*What are the hosting packages and pricing plans? Are any freebies included?
*How much bandwidth or storage does the host offer?
*Can you set up your own email through the domain name of your website?
Easy Site Building Tools
Many modern web hosts provide site building tools. This means that even if you have no experience building a website, you can easily create a site with the host’s drag-n-drop building tools or templates.
You can add images, sidebars, text, apps, widgets, functions and much more to your site all through these site building tools.
Some hosts require extra fees to be paid for their tools while other hosts include free site builder tools with registration and purchase of hosting.
You also want to look for some specific types of setup tools like cPanel, ispCP or ISPConfig.
These are standard amongst modern site builders and will help you to create dynamic websites.
Customer Support
As always, web hosts should provide a customer service number and a few different ways to get in contact with support staff.
If you have questions, need help with tools or simply don’t understand the package options, it should be easy to get in touch with a support member to walk you through any questions.
In addition, you want hosts with quality customer service who have proven to help customers protect their sites and the data stored for those sites as well.
Hosting Packages and Options
There will always be a lot of options when you choose a hosting plan, and deciding on the bandwidth that you need to run a website.
If you’re starting out small and just want to do something personal, you should go with a basic hosting package and small bandwidth storage.
For those who plan on big things or who are already established, you should plan for bigger storage and hosting requirements.
In addition, it’s best if you set up an email that is directly linked to your domain name.
Most web hosting services offer a certain number of email address with each pricing package. In some cases, you can add extra email addresses if needed.
Try Before You Buy
Many hosts will provide a free trial to check out their tools. This is a great way to set up a site and check out the uploading tools available for the web host.
You want to make sure that it will be easy to create a website as well as manage it later on.
In addition, this gives you an up close look into how you’ll be able to communicate with support staff wit any questions that you may have.
Generally speaking, web hosts should provide a FTP manager to make it easier for uploading data and provide educational tools to help you understand how to use the FTP system.
Monitoring Site Activity
There are some extra things to look for with web hosts like monitoring site traffic and activity.
You should be able to log into your administrator account and receive reports on how well your site is doing, as well as its Alexa rank and traffic geography.
These are great tools for planning content and site design.
In addition to these web hosting tips, it’s also essential to sign up with a host that is secure and trusted.
You should always look at reviews for any web hosting service before you purchase and make sure that you can verify features exist that you want in a website before putting in your credit card information.
You can start by looking at your favorite blogs and sites, check out their hosting providers and see which of these companies provide the most comprehensive services.
