Web Hosting Defined: What It Is And Which Service Internet Marketers Should Choose
Now that you have set up a website and have the strategies necessary for running an internet marketing business, the next important component of your business is web hosting. A web page is rendered useless if it's not launched online and without a reliable web hosting service, this is just not possible. Understand what web hosting is and how it can be maximized to benefit your internet marketing business.
Web hosting defined
Web hosting refers to the process of providing a service to individuals, groups and companies in order to assist them in making their websites accessible on the Internet. The company who offers this service is called a web host. They provide the data center, the necessary space to contain information about the website and Internet connectivity. Their data center is called a collocation.
Web hosting service
There are several types of web hosting services that host providers offer. However, a basic service involves small scale file hosting wherein a company offers to host your web pages using Web interface or FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Files are uploaded using either of these. This type of web hosting service is often offered free of charge to subscribers. Files that make up the web pages are sent and used on the Web without any editing or undergoing a lot of processing.
For personal Web pages, a single page hosting service usually suffices. The subscriber (that's you, the internet marketer) can usually get this for free or at least for a small cost. Web hosting for businesses, on the other hand, usually are more expensive, primarily because most of these websites require more complex functions and features. These sites will require platforms for application development such as ASP.NET, Java or PHP and the like and more solid database support because of the extensive file collection and functions.
If you will be hosting a site that will process ordering and payment, for example, the applications available with single page hosting are just not enough. A web hosting service should be able to offer facilities you can use for efficient e-commerce. If your site will be handling e-mails from clients and customers, your web hosting service should be able to provide the services for that as well.
Types of Web hosting services used on the Internet
Free web hosting
This service is generally free, although there are some that are supported by ad sponsors. Although this is good enough for personal sites and blogs, services and features are generally limited.
Shared web hosting
This type of service offers a single server that will host multiple sites. Your site will share one server pool and all its resources, including processors and memory. Depending on that server's capacity, your internet marketing website could join a few hundred to several thousands.
Dedicated hosting
Your internet marketing website will have a Web server of its own and has complete control. If you have the experience and knowledge in handling servers, this is a good choice, particularly because you pretty much have the say on what to do with the server and how to use its resources. It's also quite affordable. Just make sure you're able to handle maintenance and security issues.
Managed hosting
For internet marketers who do not have the training or background in computers, this is an excellent web hosting service to choose. Your website will use it own web server with this hosting type. However, you will not have root access to it. Certain administrator functions are not yours to control. You can manage your data using the available management tools. Service quality is guaranteed since it's up to the service provider to maintain and modify the server, as well as provide for security and maintenance issues.
Virtual Dedicated Server
This type of web hosting splits one server into partitions called virtual server. That way, each virtual server functions like a dedicated server even if it's shared by several users.
Reseller hosting
In this type of web hosting, you become the host. The type of functions that come with this web hosting will vary, depending on who your provider is. You also have a choice on the size of your account.
Colocation hosting
In this type of hosting, you will own the colocation server but the service provider will physically manage and care for it. The service provider typically provides storage, electrical and Internet access and may or may not offer some type of support. If you have your own system administrator, he or she can physically visit the server site for maintenance, modifications and upgrades. For internet marketers, this is not a recommended web hosting service, particularly because it's much more appropriate for large companies and because it's also the most costly.
Which one to use?
If you're paying for Internet access, check with your service provider for a web hosting plan. Most of them offer both free and for fee hosting services. All your needs and requirements will be managed so there's no need to take care of the technicalities. Always evaluate your needs first and which applications you might use now and in the future before choosing your web hosting service. If you don’t plan for it, it could end up as an unnecessary expense.
