A basic Web hosting guide

You would certainly be needing a server to be able to host your website so that it could be viewed on the internet. The server that you would be using could either be your own or an internet service provider. A lot of websites are hosted using internet service providers, as they could easily provide high-speed connections, powerful server hardware as well as reliable server support.
Many internet service providers offer extremely fast online connections using a full T3 fiber-optic, which could give a connection of 45 megabytes per second. This would equate to 1000 high-speed modems, of 56 kilobytes per second each, combined.

For people who are planning to set up servers of their own and then host their own websites, then a personal computer might be the best way to go, as it could not be powerful enough to be able to do the job. This is because a personal computer is hardly able to handle the multiple visitors of your website. Servers may be needed to be able to simultaneously handle these visitors.
There are thousands and thousands of companies which all offer web hosting services for your website. It could be very confusing and challenging to be able to pinpoint which one would be able to give exactly what you require. This is because there are a multitude of terms and features in hosting plans, which could be puzzling particularly for a beginner.
Ultimately, the golden rule as you choose a company would be that nothing would beat a reliable web hosting service provider. Most web hosting plans give more space and more benefits compared to others. However, your final decision must be based on reliability. There have been a lot of disappointed webmasters and website owners who made the mistake of choosing space and benefits over reliability.

Introduction to Web Hosting

You'll need to find a company that offers Web hosting so that you'll have an online presence. You need to find a company that is going to be able to provide you with the following things:

• Technical support that is available when you need it (24/7).
  
• A good "uptime" or "availability" history so that you know your Web site will be available to potential customers (Web site availability should be in excess of 99 percent); you will also need this to ensure that when you make changes to your Web site, the changes will go into effect as soon as possible.
  
• A fast and reliable Internet connection (forget about dial-up service-go with high-speed broadband cable, DSL, or satellite).
  
• Technicians and staff that understand all aspects of e-commerce, including shopping carts and SSL certification.
  
• Compatibility with other providers of e-commerce on the Internet.
  
• Compatibility with your selected shopping cart product. This is critical as many companies invest in expensive shopping cart software that is rendered useless by companies that don't support essential features, such as Web scripting, executable files, or other dynamic content.
  Take your time when you're looking for a company. Keep in mind that you are going to be entrusting a large part of the success of your Web site to this company. One of the most costly things that you'll be paying for when you do business on the Internet is your service. You want to make sure that you choose a company that is reliable and reputable.

When you're looking for a company, there are several features you should also consider:

• Guarantee. Many good Web hosting companies will offer you a money-back guarantee that shows confidence in their ability to host your Web site at a high reliability percentage.
  
• Web hosting space. Choose a host that offers you a large amount of hard drive space for your Web site so that you have room to grow. Most sites use a minimum of up to 10MB of hard drive space; however, large e-commerce-enabled sites may grow to more than 100MB in size.
  
• Data transfer. Most Web hosting companies will allow you a certain amount of traffic to your site before they start charging you for any extra traffic. This is because the more traffic that you have to your Web site, the more their servers will have to work. Look for companies that have a low cost for high traffic to your Web site.
  
• Security. If you need to have a secure (encrypted) server space, you will have to pay an additional cost for the secure server certificate. If you are going to process personal data or credit card information on your Web site, you will need a secure certificate. A digital certificate is used to protect any communication that you have with your customers that contains private information. You'll need to have a digital certificate installed on your Web server so that you can take credit card orders in a safe and secure manner. You want to make sure that no one but you, your customer, and the bank receives your customers' financial and personal information. A digital certificate is going to ensure this privacy and security.
  
• Web site upload. Find out what method is used for you to hosting companies use FTP (file transfer protocol) for this upload. You'll want to make sure that if the company that you're using uses FTP, you have a good FTP program for your computers. Most Web hosting companies provide a free FTP application.
  
• Software. Find out what software or built-in scripts the Web host offers when you sign up with them. Some companies won't offer you any software tools, while others will have several free tools that can help you to operate your Web site easily and efficiently. Some of the software that you might be offered includes auto-responders to send e-mail to your customers, search engines so that visitors can find your business Web site, forms (guestbook, order forms, and questionnaires), bulletin boards and chat room access, file backup and recovery, an e-commerce shopping cart, and Web site management software. Microsoft FrontPage-hosted sites offer many advantages with built-in e-mail forms handlers, allowing you to create forms on the fly that will e-mail data result sets to pre-specified recipients. You do need to make sure that your hosting company offers and supports Microsoft FrontPage extensions, which enable most of these features.