What is a Web Hosting Company? A web hosting company is a business that utilises a large number of computer servers to store and deliver websites to the internet.
Once you have decided what your new website is about and what you are going to call it, you then need to decide which web hosting company you are going to use.
People often think that their website is stored on their own computer, and yes a local copy usually is, but the main website itself is held in a specially configured computer at a web hosting company, where it can be easily accessed via the internet.
Choosing the right hosting company can be difficult as on the surface they both appear to do the same thing. However there are differences that you need to be aware of. The first difference you might be aware of is the Operating System that they use. The two most popular are Windows and Linux but to be honest for 99% of us either will do and as Windows tends to be more expensive Linux would be my reccommendation.
Web Hosting Companies charge a fee for their services. You sign up for a given period of time which can be from months to years. You can pay in one payment or regular monthly payments. Price is therefore a factor to bear in mind when you are choosing a web hosting company.
The amount of space allocated to your website on the hosting company’s server is sometimes limited sometimes not. Initially this might not be an issue but it could become one as your website grows in size. Some web hosting companies offer you a free website domain name with their hosting packages, but not all so make sure yours does.
The same goes for bandwith. This refers to how busy your website can be. If you only expect a handful of visitors then it doesn’t really matter but most website owners are looking for as many visitors as possible so, just to be on the safe side, always choose a web hosting company that provides unlimited bandwidth.
Something else to look out for are Add-on Domains, try to find a web host that allows unlimited add-on domains. This means that at a later date if you want to create more websites, you can just buy the domain name and add it to your hosting account without having to buy a new hosting account for each one.
If your website is going to use WordPress, Joomla or Drupal systems then you need to choose one that can automatically install and set these up for you. Look for phrases like one click install or fantastico in the features section as this means that they have this feature which can save you a huge amount of time and trouble.
The web hosting company that I have used for many years offers all of these features. Unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited add-on domains, free domain names and easy install software, including WordPress. They also happen to charge less than many others as well. If you want to see my reccommended web hosting company I have placed a link to them below.
Want to find out more about the web hosting company I recommend, or visit my site to find out more about What is a Web Hosting Company?.
