Shared Hosting Definition

If you have set up a site and you wish other persons to spot it, you must copy your website to a publicly accessible web server.

Where to host your website?

Even though you can use your own PC as a web server, it is a more common practice to let a hosting provider host your website. The chief reason for that is the bigger reliability and the uninterrupted availability of your website, since web hosting providers have top-quality hardware and allot a far greater monthly bandwidth usage allowance, which ensures the faster access to your web site from all over the globe.

Shared hosting solutions

Select a shared hosting service, which enables you to register domain names and to create e-mailboxes. Lots of web shared hosting suppliers, like us at HostRoadway, offer a free domain name registration as a bonus if you sign up for a hosting account.

Hosting your web site yourself

Hosting your website on your own web server is by all means an option, but only in case you have time and the necessary experience. There are some facets that you have to take into account, including the hardware and software costs. To own a "real", professional-looking site, you will have to invest cash in some powerful server hardware, because you cannot count on an inexpensive PC to perform the task. You will also need an uninterrupted breakneck-speed Internet connection without downtimes, which generally comes at a rather high price. If you are availing of licensed software for your website, you will have to spend cash on the license as well. You may also have to deal with bugs and loopholes. You will need to maintain your web server constantly running in an environment where "everything could take place". If you do not have the necessary technical proficiency, you will need to employ a sysadmin to deal with these issues for you, which will render the price of hosting your site yourself even steeper than that of a dedicated server supplied by a web hosting provider.

A dedicated server provided by a hosting distributor

Leasing a dedicated server from a hosting company is a fine choice if you wish to run a high resource-consuming site or a corporate portal that has very strict security requirements. The primary upsides of using a dedicated hosting web server are the high-speed Internet access, the uninterrupted power supply and the extremely powerful hardware. Some web hosts, again like us at HostRoadway, supply virtual private servers hosting and semi-dedicated hosting services, which are based on extremely powerful web servers that can be divided among several users. You can also anticipate them to offer effective load balancing services and the needed backup servers.

Safety and dependability

Hosting distributors are specialized in supplying hosting solutions and since this is what they do to earn a living, you can anticipate them to offer constant Internet access, the newest software patches and the best malware protection, as well as sysadmins available 24/7 to aid you in emergency cases.

Select your hosting plans provider

What you need to consider when picking your web hosting provider is the reliability of the offered services. Make sure that the provider of your choosing offers a 24-7 support service. Do not place yourself in a position where you cannot fix critical predicaments right away because you have to wait until the next working day. Also, if you choose a shared website hosting package, which features a 24-7-365 technical support service, this signifies that there constantly will be system administrators available to fix any critical predicaments as soon as they arise, which is a very advantageous thing.

Day-to-day backups

Make sure that your hosting accounts provider offers routine backups with the offered services, otherwise you may forfeit some important content in the event of a hardware breakdown or because you have erased something by mistake. The presence of routine data backups is usually pointed out in the hosting provider's ToS.

Bandwidth and hard drive space

When selecting your hosting accounts provider, give particular attention to the bandwidth volume restrictions. Make sure that you don't have to overpay for unexpected high bandwidth volumes if your site becomes more frequently visited. There are plenty of hosting providers that offer unmetered traffic nowadays, so the most logical step to take is to ensure that you have taken the right decision prior to registering.

Content restrictions

Pay specific attention to the web hosting provider's content restrictions. If you want to publish pictures or to stream live video or audio content, make sure that you can accomplish that. Furthermore, the majority of web hosting distributors place limitations when it comes to utilizing their services for storage purposes, so if you upload too many files that are not connected or directly linked to your web site, your website hosting account could get closed. Therefore, examining the web hosting provider's TOS, irrespective of how time-absorbing and tiresome this might be, is extremely important.

Electronic mail capabilities

Most web hosting providers nowadays also provide e-mail services with all their website hosting packages. It is a good idea to check if the hosting services provider of your choice offers such options as well, so as to confirm that you'll receive all the features that you require in exchange for your money.