What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post/publish a website or web page onto the Internet.
A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for a website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet by users with the use of a web browser.
Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers. When Internet users want to view your website, all they need to do is type your website domain name example www.destrotech.com.ng into their browser URL. Their computer will then connect to your server and your webpages will be delivered to them through the browser.
Most hosting companies require that you own your domain in order to host with them. If you do not have a domain, the hosting companies will help you purchase one.
Some of the Features to expect From a Web Hosting Provider
1. Email Accounts:
As earlier mentioned, most of the hosting providers require users to have their own domain name. With a domain name www.destrotech.com.ng and email account features provided by your hosting company, you can create domain email accounts (e.g. Info@destrotech.com.ng).
2. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Access:
The use of FTP lets you upload website files/resources from your local computer to your web server. If you build your website using your own HTML files, you can transfer the files from your computer to the web server through FTP, allowing your website to be accessed through the internet.
3. WordPress Support
WordPress is an online website creation tool. It is a powerful blogging and website content management system, which is a convenient way to create and manage websites. WordPress powers over 25% of websites on the internet. Most hosting providers will tell you right away if their plans are WordPress-compatible or not. The simple/basic requirements for hosting your WordPress websites include: PHP version 7 or greater and MySQL version 5.6 or greater.
How can my online business benefit from a web hosting service?
In order to publish your website online, your business website requires a web hosting service. However, a web host gives business owners more than just web hosting services! For example, web hosting firms typically employ in-house technicians to make sure their clients' websites are up and running 24/7. Plus, when website owners are in need of help or troubleshooting (e.g. script debugging, email not able to send/receive, domain name renewal, and more), the web host’s in-house support are the go-to people. A professional web hosting service ensures a hassle-free experience for business owners, so they can efficiently focus their time and effort on their businesses.
What are Types of Website Hosting ?
Once you have successfully registered your domain, the next step is to learn the different types of website hosting and check which is the most suitable for your business.
Primarily the types of web hosting are in 6 category
- Shared Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Managed Hosting
- Reseller Hosting
- Dedicated Server Hosting
1. What is Shared Hosting ?
A shared web hosting service is a web hosting service where many websites reside on only one web server which is connected to the Internet. It is one of the most economical options for hosting. Many users (websites) utilize (share) the same resources (Ram, Hard drive, C.P.U etc.) on a single server. This keeps the costs low. Shared hosting is not advisable for sites where the traffic volume is high.
2. What is Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting ?
VPS hosting helps in creating a virtual environment that imitates a server where one can get a server, and all its resources within a shared hosting environment. It allows only fewer users to share allocated segments of hard drive space, memory, and processor power. This helps in improving the performance and stability of your website.
3. What is Cloud Hosting ?
The Cloud Hosting is the most recent trend for hosting your website on the cloud. i.e. purchase the space from AWS or Google Cloud and host the website there. The major benefit of cloud hosting is its “pay as you go” model i.e. you purchase the only resources you require and pay for the only used resources. This is most scalable model for hosting your website, but it’s also costly compared to other hosting’s and required specialized knowledge to work with.
4. What is Managed Hosting ?
It is a hosting company that handles the setup, administration, management, and support of a server and/or application. It’s the managed hosting company’s duty to make sure that their client’s websites and applications stay up and running at all times. These guarantees and services are backed by a Service Level Agreement. This agreement states the method of how the managed hosting company will serve the client if the website or application or any of its services goes down.
What is Reseller Hosting ?
Reseller web hosting involves one company commonly known as a hosting provider, renting bandwidth to another company which is a small and midsize business. This small and mid-size business then rents the bandwidth to third parties which are entrepreneurs and small businesses. In a Reseller hosting, businesses sell website space to other businesses or individuals. This helps in profit generation as they can decide their own price while selling spaces to small businesses.
What is Dedicated Server Hosting ?
It is a type of Internet hosting where the client takes an entire server which is not shared with anyone else. It is required for websites with high traffic. It keeps the website data secured. It reduces the website page loading time. It helps in having a control over your server.
Different Web Hosting Service Providers
Primarily there are two types of web hosting service providers, they include:
- Self-Hosted
- Hosted.
1. Self-Hosted
In this, the client or developer is allowed to upload their own source code to the server. In addition, The client have full control over the modifications in source code.
2. Hosted
In this, there is an already installed software with a dashboard which would be provided.
The website can be customize with the use of a dashboard.
Also, No specific expertise in web development is required.
Self Hosted Web Service Providers.
It is a cloud provider platform. It makes it faster, easier and cost effective to move any application to the cloud. AWS also has a community of active users and partners that run various use cases on AWS. It is also a secure platform to be used by the military, global banks, and other high-sensitivity organizations. Latest technologies and innovations are being implemented at a fast pace on the platform.
It is an internet domain name registration provider. It provides a domain name for your website. It is one of the world’s largest domain registrars. It also provides web hosting services. Their services include domain name registration, web hosting, website builder, SSL certificate, email hosting, and many more.
It provides web hosting services. Their web hosting services included several other services like shared hosting, reseller hosting, WordPress hosting, email hosting, dedicated, VPS hosting.
If you already have a hosting and want to change your hosting provider from start to finish then Namecheap provides free, fast, and easy migration. It also provides SSL certificate services.
It is a web hosting platform. Their hosting services includes managed WordPress hosting, woo commerce hosting, blog hosting, VPS hosting and WordPress migration. It offers features like a high performance stack, automatic core updates and automatic daily backups. It also automatically optimizes the online store so that load times become faster and transactions become more efficient.
Biggest advantage you get with github.io is that you can code all the HTML/CSS or other web software’s as you want and host for Free to give your own look & feel. github.io is currently mostly used by developers who wants to do some online experiments. Building website with GitHub is very easy since it hosts the code into your GitHub account.
Written by: Destiny Idika
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Published 3 Years Ago On Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Updated 2 Years Ago On Wednesday, April 20, 2022
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