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Web hosting is the storing up of site files within a space on a physical server somewhere and making of site’s content accessible to people online. This is a specialised service within the information technology field. Web hosting services enable individuals and organisations to manage and use their websites to achieve their desired objectives without breaking their head about the details of where and how their website files are stored and how it will be accessible to the public. In this piece we intend to enumerate some of the web hosting sites and services available, and highlight some of the basic parameters, standards and features the consumer should consider when choosing a web hosting site/ services, if they must enjoy the benefit of good and efficient web hosting services. Before we proceed, let us to take a look at a few hosting types.
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Shared hosting: This is an arrangement whereby multiple websites do utilize a single server. A single server is divided up between these multiple users and this is why it is called shared hosting. Each user will get a shared amount of bandwidth. So the server that’s being split up between multiple accounts can sometimes end up hosting thousands of sites!
Users do not always have an idea of who or what websites they are sharing the resources of a server with. Each customer will usually have a limit on the total amount of server resources they can use, but this will be defined by their hosting package.
Shared hosting is unarguably the cheapest and most economical option for web hosting needs. However, the cheapness comes with limitations. Since most hosting companies will offer the same amount of space and storage, it is important to choose a company you can trust.
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Cloud Hosting: this allows use of the resources of multiple servers. So instead of having your site confined to a single server location, you can access multiple servers. This makes cloud services highly sought after. For website owners that expect more traffic or need more storage space than shared hosting provides, Cloud hosting can be a good choice. Cloud hosting promises faster load times, fewer storage limitations, and easier scalability than shared hosting. If you’re expecting (or hoping) that your website will grow in traffic soon after you launch, then it may be a better option than shared hosting plans.
Allowing for unlimited expansion is one of the main benefits of cloud hosting. It is also a must-have for heavy traffic sites. Cloud hosting also allows for greater protection from an overwhelmed server. If one server is overwhelmed, you’ll simply be switched to another cloud server.
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Virtual Private Server (VPS): By this arrangement a server is divided into fully separate hosting environments. In a VPS hosting, one of those environments is completely reserved or given to you. What this means is that you don’t have to share resources (such as RAM or CPU) with other customers and you’re less likely to be impacted by their activities.
With VPS plans, your website will operate in separated environment of the server. Because the servers are fully separated from each other, and you have fewer websites in a server than what is possible in a shared hosting, this makes it possible to get access to larger shares of the server.
VPS plans best suites websites that get too much traffic or need more storage than shared or cloud hosting plans provide.
Dedicated Server: Dedicated server plan makes the provision for your website to be hosted alone on the server, you no longer have to share with any other websites. You get all the resources, bandwidth, and storage the server provides for yourself . However the maintenance work and costs to your web site will still be handled by the web hosting provider.
Dedicated server plans are good for websites that have grown in leaps and bounds such that other plans may not suffice except the level of power that a dedicated server provides, at such times you should also be ready for the additional cost.
Some of the Available Web Hosting Sites/ Services Alternatives here
There are multiples of Web hosting sites/services but for time and space, let’s showcase just a few of these web hosting sites and what they offer.
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- Shared Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Dedicated Server Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Website Builder Hosting
- Resellers Hosting
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- Shared Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Dedicated Server Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Website Builder Hosting
- CDN Services
- Resellers Hosting
- SSL Services
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Basic Standards and Features to consider when choosing a Web Hosting site/ service.
Each of the numerous web hosting service providers usually have some identified features they can serve. However, for you to be able benefit maximally from any website hosting services, You must ensure that the following things are among the offered features while going through their hosting plans:
1. Loading Speed
Every web user cares about the speed of the website. Few seconds delay can cause your website to lose potential customers. People generally have very short attention span. These days on the internet, everything happens so fast, almost at the speed of lightning. Those who surf online expect every page to load in a few microseconds. This therefore makes it necessary that the web host of your choice must be able to provide speedy or instantaneous page load. Often, the providers mention the exact average loading time on their website. You should check for such information on their official site and other reliable sources.
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2. Uptime/Downtime Percentage
Yes, you need your website pages to load in the least time possible, but it will be of no value to you if your customers cannot even access the site because of downtime. Therefore, the uptime of a website is of great importance. It has to be at least 99.94% on average, whereas if downtime should occur at all, it must be less or at most 0.06% of the time . So any web host site/service who provides any lower uptime percentage than 99.94% or downtime higher than 0.06%, should not be considered.
Some serious web hosts often promise to compensate if the website ever goes down for longer than they promised. You should choose a provider who is confident and sure of their capabilities. Choose the one whose uptime history for other clients agrees with their claims.
3. Domain Registration Other Alternatives
As the one needing a web hosting service, it is your duty to choose your domain name and check if it is available. But most outstanding web hosts providers take care of the domain registration process for you. They can include this in their hosting plans which means you don’t have to pay any extra amount, they can offer you the registration at a discounted price or they can straight up charge you a few dollars. The first option works the best of course for site owners on a tight budget, but you may choose the others for transparency as well.
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4. Scale of Resources
Your need for a web site may require an unlimited amount of essential resources, the cost for this may be very high. However, there are many web hosts who are capable of providing such amount of resources at very affordable price rates. Even the hosting packages built on shared servers can provide you with unlimited bandwidth, websites, storage or email accounts. It will be good for you to choose a provider who can deliver an apt amount of resources without draining your pocket.
5. Email Accounts
Depending on the chosen domain name, your website may need an unlimited or a fixed number of email accounts, a good web host service provider should be able to let you have this. Besides, certain security measures also come with the package which ensures no spam can enter your inbox. Some of the providers include the privilege of auto-responders which prepare a default reply to particular emails.
6. Website Transfer
In case you have a reason to transfer your web site from one web host to another, you will need a web host who doesn’t charge extra to transfer your site from the previous provider to the new one. You can check out this advantage in the hosting plans of most providers. Moving a site from one host to another is a complex task by itself, adding the disadvantage of paying extra for the transfer could be an increment of the inconvenience.
7. Backups Frequency
There is need for data backup for your web site. The hosting plans should provide for data backups in weekly or daily basis though depending on the pricing. For the purpose of affordability, they may impose a fixed number of backups for a day or a certain number of days to deliver the backups. It can also be automatic or manual. Automated backups on a daily basis are the most convenient choice.
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8. Customer Support
Efficient and Proactive customer support is not negotiable when you are considering a web hosting service. Notwithstanding the kind of website you choose to run, it will surely encounter some form of challenge or issue at some point. If the support team does not respond to your call for help on time, it will cause huge losses for your business. If the team does respond immediately and yet fails to provide the required solution, it is still a bad one. So in choosing a web host you should be looking for a 24/7 efficient customer support.
9. Security Measures
Every hosted website should have a free SSL certificate, this is the most basic standard security measure. In addition to this mandatory feature, your chosen web host must also offer scanning of network and servers. It should also remove the detected malware and protect the site from cyber-attacks. While considering the choice of a web host site, these security standards must be properly scrutinized and ensured.
Wrapping it up.
Choosing a web hosting service provider could assume a complex posture considering the numerous and multiple service providers available in that space. But knowing the objective of the web site you have set out to run, and knowing the basic standards and features to consider in making this kind of choice, will melt the seeming complexity. The lists of available web hosting sites/services as well as the standards and features enumerated in this article are not exhaustive. It is our belief that adhering to these standards and features will provide a good guide to you our esteemed readers as you make the choice of your web hosting provider.
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