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About Web Hosting
What is web hosting?
What is shared hosting?
How does it work?
What can it do for me and my business?
What should I look for in a web host?
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is a service which allows users to upload web pages so that they’re
visible on the internet. Because buying and administering your own web server
and keeping it connected to the internet at all times can be time consuming
and expensive, most people find it more cost-effective to use a specialist
web hosting company with its own datacentres.
A web hosting company provides you with server space on which to store the
files that make up your website and the connection to the internet that’s
required to make sure the rest of the world can access the site itself. Because
they specialise in providing this service, you will benefit from faster and
more powerful internet connections, technical support services and experienced
engineers to look after your site. A good web host will also make sure that
the datacentre housing your server is protected by backup power supplies, climate
control systems, and stringent access controls to make sure your data is kept
safe.
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What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting, also known as virtual hosting, is where several customers
share the resources of one server. This type of hosting gives you the ability
to host your site in the secure, reliable environment of a professional datacentre
at a relatively low cost. Accounts can usually be set up almost immediately,
and offer the convenience of having all the services you’re likely to
need to create your site pre-installed, so you don’t need server administration
experience to get up and running fast.
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How does it work?
Your shared hosting account will give you access to a fixed amount of webspace
in which to store your files. It will also come with a certain amount of data
transfer to enable you to update your site as often as you need and your readers
and customers to access the information you put online. The account will come
bundled with a variety of services, such as PHP or ASP.NET, MySQL or MS-SQL
databases and anti-virus protection, and will include email management.
You will be able to manage your account through a web-based control panel,
which will give you the power to view your site statistics, manage and view
emails to your domain, and upload files to your site.
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What can it do for me and my business?
Using a shared web hosting account gives you the freedom to focus on the content
of your site without worrying about the hardware and internet connections behind
the scenes. It’s a great environment for novice web developers or people
who just want to get a personal website out there, as it gives you the security
of a reliable and powerful account in which to develop your technical skills.
It’s also a good place for businesses, interest groups and charities.
By taking good advantage of your web hosting account, you can create a website
that really grabs your clients. You could showcase your work in an online brochure,
include interactivity by encouraging customer feedback via email or forums,
improve communication with your customers by keeping up-to-date information
online or setting up opt-in mailing lists, or even tap into the millions of
pounds spent online each month by setting up your own e-commerce store.
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What should I look for in a web host?
The last thing you want is to spend time creating a strong web presence only
to find that people can’t access it because your web host has gone out
of business and taken all your hard work with it or is experiencing its fifth
bout of unexplained downtime this week. You need to make sure they have the
ability to support you and your business when you need them, so before you
select a web host, do some research:
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Financial stability – Has your company been in business for several years,
with a good financial track record? If so, it stands a strong chance of continuing
in the same vein for years to come, so not only will your site not suddenly
vanish from the internet but you should be working with a company with the
resources to invest in support and innovation.
•
Reliability – Does the company have enough confidence in its ability
to provide an uninterrupted service to offer service guarantees? A good web
host should have precautions such as back up power generators and multiple
internet connections to ensure it can continue to deliver your service even
if there’s a blackout or damaged fibre. And it should be able to guarantee
uptime of at least 99.9%.
•
Accessible support – If you have any issues with your account, you need
to know that you have someone on hand to help you resolve them as they occur.
Does your web host offer 24/7 support 365 days of the year? Can you contact
them by phone as well as email? Then you won’t have to lose time and
business waiting for them to get in on Monday morning if you have a problem
on Friday evening. It’s also worth asking if you’ll have access
to an online help resource – quite often customers in similar situations
have similar questions, so a forward-thinking web host will have created a
knowledge base to act as a resource for its customers’ most frequent
questions.
•
Experience – If your host is going to support your website effectively,
it needs to have experienced staff. If your company has been a successful web
host for some years, their staff will be experts at managing the network infrastructure
and hardware needed to run a smooth hosting operation. And their support staff
will be experts at dealing with the type of queries that you’re likely
to face.
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Network infrastructure – To keep your site online at all times, your
host needs to have invested in a powerful, ideally Tier 1, network infrastructure
and datacentre system, and to keep it protected by careful monitoring, climate
controls, backup power supplies and strict access controls. It should also
have staff on-site 24 hours a day, providing the extra reassurance of a quick
response if something does go wrong.
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