Explanation of Web Hosting

If you have created a website and you would like other persons to access it, you must host your web site on a publicly reachable server.

Where to host your site?

Although you can use your own personal computer as a server, it is a more common practice to let a hosting provider host your site. The prime reason for that is the bigger stability and the better visibility of your web site, since web hosting providers have special hardware and allocate a much larger web traffic usage allowance, which ensures the quicker access to your website from all around the globe.

Web hosting solutions

Select a web hosting solution, which permits you to register domains and to set up email box accounts. Lots of web web hosting providers, like us at Hermes Host, offer a free-of-charge domain name registration as a bonus if you sign up for a web hosting account.

Hosting your web site yourself

Hosting your website on your own personal web server is by all means an option, but only if you have time and the required proficiency. There are some facets that you have to take into consideration, among them the hardware and software costs. To possess a genuine, professional-looking website, you will need to spend cash on some powerful server hardware, because you cannot bank on an inexpensive personal computer to do the job. You will also need a permanent breakneck-speed connection without network outages, which typically comes at a rather high price. If you are using licensed software for your web site, you will need to invest cash in the license as well. You may also need to cope with bugs and viruses. You will have to maintain your server running all the time in an environment where "everything could take place". If you do not have the needed technical competence, you will need to resort to a sysadmin to cope with these things for you, which will make the price of hosting your site yourself even steeper than that of a dedicated hosting server offered by a hosting company.

A dedicated server supplied by a web hosting vendor

Leasing a server from a web hosting vendor is a good choice if you wish to set up a resource-requiring site or a corporate web portal that has very stringent security requirements. The principal upsides of using a dedicated hosting solution are the breakneck-speed Internet connection, the uninterruptible power supply and the very powerful hardware. Certain hosting vendors, again like us at Hermes Host, furnish VPS hosting and semi-dedicated web server hosting solutions, which are based on very powerful physical servers that can be shared by several customers. You can also expect them to provide efficient load balancing services and the needed backup servers.

Security and stability

Hosting vendors are specialized in providing hosting services and since this is what they do for a living, you can anticipate them to offer continuous Internet connectivity, the newest software updates and the best virus protection, as well as sysadmins available 24-7-365 to assist you in occasions of emergency.

Select your web hosting accounts provider

What you need to consider when picking your web hosting plans provider is the reliability of the offered web hosting services. Make sure that the web hosting provider of your choosing provides a 24x7 technical support service. Do not put yourself in a position where you cannot resolve urgent problems immediately because you must wait until the next business day. Additionally, if you select a shared hosting package, which features a 24-hour customer support service, this means that there constantly will be system administrators available to solve any urgent problems as soon as they materialize, which is a very advantageous thing.

Routine data backups

Make sure that your hosting accounts provider offers daily backups with the offered web hosting services, otherwise you may lose some important data in the event of a hardware failure or because you have erased something by accident. The availability of day-to-day data backups is typically pointed out in the hosting supplier's ToS.

Web traffic and web hosting server storage space

When choosing your hosting accounts provider, give particular attention to the traffic amount restrictions. Make sure that you don't have to overpay for unanticipated high volumes of web traffic if your website becomes more popular. There are lots of hosting corporations that offer unmetered bandwidth nowadays, so the smartest step to take is to make sure that you have made the correct decision prior to subscribing.

Content limitations

Give specific attention to the hosting provider's content limitations. If you want to publish pics or to broadcast live video or audio content, make certain that you can accomplish that. Furthermore, the majority of hosting suppliers impose limitations when it comes to utilizing their services for file storage purposes, so if you upload too many files that are not related or directly linked to your website, your website hosting account could get discontinued. Therefore, double-checking the hosting distributor's ToS, irrespective of how time-devouring and boring this might be, is very essential.

Email capabilities

Most hosting companies today also provide email services with all their website hosting offers. It is not a bad idea to double-check if the hosting accounts provider of your choice offers such functionalities as well, so as to confirm that you'll get all the features that you need in return for your money.