For people who are just starting out as webmasters, figuring out how to choose a web hosting provider isn’t always easy. There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet, and there are dozens of hosting providers (if not hundreds) from which webmasters can select. It can be difficult to navigate through all of the information out there to try to determine what, exactly, is important in choosing a web host. So, here is some basic information about web hosting for beginners.
To begin with, there are two basic types of web hosting from which webmasters can choose–shared hosting and dedicated hosting. For most people, shared hosting plans will suffice. These hosting plans are generally reasonably priced, starting at around $5 to $15 per month. With shared hosting, the servers of the host are shared among all of the hosts clients. This means that all of the host’s resources are also shared. This is not typically an issue for most people; however, if your website has specific configuration requirements, a shared server may not be adequate for your site.
The other types of web hosting is called dedicated hosting. With this type of host, your website will have a server dedicated specifically for your site–no other websites will be hosted on your server. Obviously, this type of hosting is a great deal more expensive than shared hosting, due to the fact that the hosting provider must keep the server only for your use. These hosting plans can cost $100 per month or more.
After you have decided which type of web hosting your website needs, you will have some other decisions to make about your web hosting. Here is some more basic information about web hosting for beginners to help you out with those decisions.
Many web hosting providers offer very attractive packages that seem quite tempting. These packages may include “unlimited” amounts of disk space or bandwidth or domain names or email addresses–or even “unlimited” amounts of all of these. Sounds like an amazing deal, doesn’t it? Well, doesn’t it also sound too good to be true? Think about it…how could any web hosting company possibly afford to offer “unlimited” anything to all of its customers? They couldn’t. The likelihood of that really happening is the same as the likelihood of you being able to buy a hard drive for your computer that contains “unlimited” space. The lesson here–beware of hosting plans that offer deals that are TOO amazing.
When choosing your web host, the main idea should be to avoid the extremes. Stay away from the cheapest (and free) web hosts, as well as the most expensive hosts. Avoid the hosting providers that try to offer anything that sounds like it is too good; also avoid providers that are not offering enough. By sticking to web hosts that are of average price and that offer good, basic services, you will find that you can generally get good hosting and service.
