Understanding the Fundamentals of Inexpensive Web Site Hosting

By Brad Morgan

You want to start a website on the internet but you're not sure where to begin? This is a common problem. The first place to start your journey is with web hosting. Web hosting is the term that is used to describe any business that is responsible for getting your website off of your computer and making it available to everyone on the internet.

When you start your journey, it may seem like it will be an easy one. However, most people get very confused when they start to look around at the different options. They seem terms like "data center" and "Linux hosting", as well as acronyms like, "FTP" and begin to be scared. These terms, however, should not scare you away from choosing a web hosting company. If you break things down and learn what to look at, you will realize that choosing the right web hosting company is not difficult.

First you need to know what you want out of a web hosting company. You must know exactly what you need. For instance, are you planning to create a business or a personal website? Each of these types of sites has different needs and will cost different amounts.

If, however, you would like to start a business website, you may need to have quite a bit more space on the server which, in turn, means that you will be required to pay a lot more for your hosting. It may seem a bit frustrating, but it makes sense when you remember that a business website will be bringing in income, whereas a personal website most likely will not.

What do you need to do to choose your web hosting company? First, take a look at the prices around you. There are many different options available and you need to make sure that you can afford to pay the prices of your potential web hosting company. Do not, however, just choose the least expensive web hosting company simply for the price. You always get what you spend and if the deal is too cheap you may wind up getting horrible customer service and shoddy service.

Next take a peek at their customer service. The best way to know if the company's customer service is decent is to look around online. If you do some searching, you will quickly see if other people have had good things, or bad things, to say about the company you are looking into. After all, if you have to call them and deal with technical engineers who have no idea what they are doing, you will not only waste time but get frustrated.

Next up? Bandwidth. Make sure that your web hosting plan offers adequate bandwidth for the website traffic you are expecting, and keep visitors happy. If you wind up with site that reaches it's bandwith allowances very early on each month, you will lose customers or end up paying more for the service when extra bandwidth charges start to come in.

Web hosting may seem confusing, especially if you are just beginning your journey, but remember one thing: if you find a good hosting company with excellent customer service, you will be able to get answers to any question that you may have.

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