Written by Greg Collett for DotComSecrets.com
There are literally thousands of web hosting providers, so choosing one that works for you can be a little daunting. If you tried to find and compare them all, you would quickly realize that your time could be better spent elsewhere.
It is well worth the effort, however, to make a qualified search based on your specific needs and then do a little research into the company itself.
A web host service provider is a company that uses servers to store the files that either constitute or generate a web site for their customers. Each server is connected to the internet and returns the content you see in your web browser when a request is made to the web site that is hosted on that server.
You will need to use a web host provider if you want to publish your web site on the internet but do not want to set up and maintain your own server.
Dedicated Server vs. Shared Hosting
There are many types of web hosting services, and as you search around the internet you will see terms like free, shared, dedicated, reseller, virtual, dedicated, managed, and colocation. To simplify your choice of what type of web hosting you need, you will need to determine whether your site requires the full resources of a dedicated server, or if you can use a shared hosting plan.
As can be inferred from the name, a dedicated server is a computer whose resources are only used for your web site.
Unless your site has rather high demands, you probably do not need a dedicated server. If you do need one, there are many types to choose from, including virtual dedicated servers (where an actual server is divided and shared with other users, but each one views the server as their own), managed hosting (where the hosting company owns and maintains the server on your behalf), or colocated situations (where you own the computer but it resides at the host site and is provided power and internet access).
Dedicated hosting plans are obviously more expensive than their counterpart but can be necessary for a high traffic or resource intensive site. Shared hosting, on the other hand, is quite common because typical web sites can easily share the resources of a single server with many other sites and thus reduce the cost of the actual hardware needed.
It is true that your site will experience problems if one of the other sites on the server has an issue, or if the hosting company allows too many sites to use the same server, but most companies have policies in place to guard against this.
Beware Free Web Hosting
There are a couple of options to be wary about with shared hosting plans – free hosting accounts, and reseller accounts.
Free accounts generally have limited capabilities or are supported by advertising over which you have no control. Often, you are not able to have an actual domain name and either have to use a subdomain or a directory off of the host domain.
Reseller accounts are ones in which a web hosting provider customer can become their own web host by using the resources of the parent company. This can sometimes lead to support issues.
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