Choosing the right web-hosting package can be a bewildering task.
With so many companies from a number of countries vying for your business, offering so many different prices, terms and conditions, it’s important that you understand what you need from a web-hosting company.
So here’s a list of the major types of web-hosting on the market, what they are and what they’re suitable for. And to make it a bit easier, we’ll follow the career of Dave*, a budding web entrepreneur making his first forays into the world of web hosting.
Free hosting
Free hosting is exactly that, and although the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ doesn’t exactly apply – as you are getting something, after all – free hosting is not recommended for anyone with serious aspirations for their site.
Of course, my company offers web hosting so we would say that, right? Well, the two main things to consider when looking at free hosting are one, someone has to pay for it, and two, what happens if something goes wrong?
Regarding the first point, your web hosting is often paid for by advertisements on your site, and as that is what makes the web host their money, they could well be as interested in advertising on your site as they are in getting you to use their service so they can have more adverts.
Web hosting is often paid for by advertisements on your site...they could be interested in advertising on your site as they are in getting you to use their service so they can have more adverts
This leads on to point two: what kind of support do you think you will get from a company that is giving you something for free? What kind of guarantees can you have that your web hosting is reliable or secure?
It is also common for internet service providers (ISPs), among others, to offer free hosting as part of a package with other services (such as broadband or digital TV). These are better solutions as they obviously come attached to a reputable company that will be able to provide support.
Again, though, remember that their other service is paying for your hosting; the hosting is an enticing extra. Support may not be the best if the provider specialises in other products and services.
Some companies, for instance Blogger start, will offer free online spaces for specific sites (in Blogger’s case, you get a free online blog). However, you’re limited to what you can do with the templates they give you, and you won’t be able to expand your site or even have your own domain name.
So, only go for free hosting if you’re completely satisfied that the company can give you what you want. We wouldn’t advise choosing free hosting for a business-related site in any circumstances!
In Dave’s instance, he has been given some free hosting as part of a deal with his ISP. Dave’s never made a website of his own before and he’s certainly never had any web hosting.
He’s interested but a bit lost, and manages to build a basic, personal site with only a few difficulties. He stumbles across Wordpress and finds that he doesn’t get any databases with his free hosting.
As the hosting is part of his package – and free – his ISP doesn’t have any facility to upgrade his account. Dave decides he wants his blog on the internet and, after talking to a friend on Blogger and thinking dreamily about starting an online business, contacts some web-hosting companies to see what’s out there.
Shared hosting
This is the most common form of web hosting available. A company sets up one or more servers to be used for web hosting and their customers in turn pay for a portion of that server and share it with other customers – so a server may be responsible for several hundred websites at a time.
Shared hosting has many advantages. It’s the cheapest form of commercial hosting as the cost of the server can be offset by the many customers who can use it at once.
They don’t require advanced technical knowledge to use and you only need to administer your account – at no point do you have anything to do with the server. As it is a paid-for solution you will have access to customer support, a contract, uptime guarantees and so on.
The disadvantage is that, as you’re sharing a server with other customers, you’re also sharing its resources. The server, just like a home PC, has only so much memory, CPU and disk space available, and if other customers are using it heavily, the web host has put too many people on the server, or even if the server isn’t particularly fast in the first place, you may well find that your website appears slow.
