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Web hosting for beginners

By Sarah Harding

Any product or service that requires storage or access on the internet will use the services of a web hosting company to do this. Anything that is stored or accessible on the Internet will require some form of storage; sometimes this is even supplied free of charge but is normally part of an overall package. The hosting company has a number of servers, or data centers, where each person is provided with varying amounts of space to store their digital media, including websites; others can then access these files (web pages for example).

Many beginners start by using the free hosting services that are provided by many internet service companies; while they will have access to email facilities, basic websites and blogs, they will have to pay for a full service provider. Many restrictions exist with free web hosting but that is to be expected and for some it is an ideal situation but for only a few dollars per month, a paid web hosting service is far superior. Paid hosting packages vary enormously so don't be surprised about the difference in prices; the best thing to do is sit down and work out exactly what your primary requirements are and then check out one of these hosting comparison websites.

You may settle for a shared server (where you share your space with other website owners) and it is a good tip is to go for the shared hosting first.Once you are comfortable with the service level then it might be worth upgrading to a dedicated server. With web hosting you get your own web space, but you do need to have a registered domain before you can use it, then you are allocated with enough storage to keep all your files for online publication.

All companies will allocate a certain amount of space for your website and any other files required to be stored there (photos and MP3 tracks, for example) and this can be anything from 500Mb or more, depending on the host and package you are paying for.

Another advantage of web hosting and your own domain name is that email addresses will include your own domain name and not that of those free providers such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to name a few of the thousands of providers whose services can be used. It always looks like the user is more serious about their internet presence if they have their own email and domain name, it increases credibility. The amount of data that is viewed on your site each time someone accesses it is called bandwidth; it is an extremely important aspect to consider and the main reason why buying the cheapest hosting package is not always best.

If you only settle for a package with a minimum amount of bandwidth then there will be times when visitors will have trouble viewing your web site or using its facilities. Of course this won't matter if you only have a basic website but as soon as you start adding large images, audio tracks, video footage and other big files, your bandwidth will be used up very quickly. In almost every case it is a wise decision to use a web hosting company and not consider using your own computer as a host due to the risks, especially for those unfamiliar with internet security.

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