Before going into any more detail, let’s look at some definitions:
Hosting service - A hosting service or company is an Internet company that provides hundreds or even thousands of computers like yours with service by “renting” you space.
With this service your web site is now on the Internet and can be viewed by millions of others.
Sure you could be your own host, but it would be very expensive because you would need to buy a server, house it in the proper environment, maintain it 24 hours a day, and put up with all the other headaches that come with hosting. Wouldn’t you rather concentrate on selling your product?
Server
A server is a large computer, which can service many other computers.
Sometimes a large software package on a host’s server (like a mail software package) is also referred to as a server.
Have you seen scenes on TV which show rooms wall-to-wall with big computers busily working and flashing their lights?
Now, let’s go back to the hosting service. When you surf the net and “go” to a particular site, you are not actually going to that site. The hosting company’s server (in this case your ISP) receives your request, searches the web, finds your requested site, and downloads it to your computer. So you see, you don’t go to a site, the site comes to you, courtesy of a server.
How do you go about choosing a hosting service?
It is pretty much up to you based on the size of your website, the number of visitors you expect, and, of course, the state of your wallet.
If you are just starting out, a free or low cost service is all you will need, but as your business grows you might want to consider a service that gives you more storage and more transfer room.
Storage is the amount of room your web site takes up on the hosting company’s server,
“Transfer” refers to network transfer space. If you have a large web site and a lot of visitors you will need more storage or disc space and more network transfer space. The more people accessing your site; the higher the volume of data being transferred.
How to calculate your disk space:
1.Count the number of pages in your web site and add a buffer for future expansion.
2.Determine the average number of characters per page – not the number of words.
The number of characters includes everything, letters, spaces, and, punctuation. Most word processing programs such as MS Word will count the number of characters for you.
3.Multiply the average number of characters times the number of pages in step 1.
4.Now: one character = 1 Byte, and 8 Bytes = 1 bit, so divide the total number of characters determined in step 3 by 8. This gives you the total number of bits.
5.1000 bits = 1 KB; 1000 KB = 1 MB, and 1000 MB = 1 GB.
Note: For the technical minded 1 GB actually equals 1024 MB, but there is really no necessity to get that picky in this case.
6.Divide the total number of bits by 1,000,000 and your answer will be the number of MB of disk space you need to rent from the hosting service.
Determining the amount of transfer space you will require is largely an approximation based on the number of visitors you expect per day. Most of the better hosting services provide you with about 3 GB, which is ample for the average web site.
If you expect more than a thousand visitors a day, you will, of course, need more transfer space.When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole lot of different factors that should go into your decision making process. One of the biggest factors should be:
1) Phone support. Email support is nice, but email occasionally falls in between the virtual cracks. Getting someone on the phone when your site goes down can take a lot of mystery out of the entire process. A lot of the bigger web hosting companies offer toll free support and weekend hours to boot. Phone support is a great benefit for any web hosting client.
2)Another factor to use in deciding whether to use a particular web hosting company is their history. How long has this company been in business? Web hosting companies that have been in existence for less than a year might not be the best choice. A hosting company with a proven track record and a ton of happy clients is certainly a good sign and might work well for you.
3)How about the company's software? This varies widely between web hosting companies. I am rather fond of Cpanel merely because I am used to it, understand where the buttons are and what the features do. It's much easier to stick with something you know than switching to a new User Interface. Some web hosts offer Frontpage features and others don't. Another specific area you might want to research are the statistics programs. What sort of web statistics software is included with your web hosting account? Is Awstats included? This is one area you definitely want to heavily research before signing up.
4)Fees. I'd rather pay a little more to get all the features than fight it out with a sub par web hosting company who I can't reach if my site goes down. I've found decent web hosting for as cheap as $4 per month but generally pay around $15 per month if I want all the bells and whistles that I'll need to host a larger site.
A lot of people worry about hosting fees, but I've had the experience that I generally get what I pay for.
Finally, I'd look carefully at the web hosting company's refund policy. Most offer a full refund if you aren't happy with your service. If you are paying for a full year of web hosting up frontComputer Technology Articles, you might want to examine the company's refund policy in detail.