Your website is ready to go and now all you need to do is show it to people. But the question is how do you get people to actually see your website? To start with you need a place to put your website online. This is normally referred to as Web space or website hosting. For those of you who are not familiar with the term Web hosting, a host is basically a server (a computer) that is permanently connected to the Internet to “broadcast” websites over the net. Unless you have your own Web server you can click here to get some web space on the server from a specialized web hosting company.
A good company will normally provide hosting services as well as other Web related services for people who do not have their own server. Getting web space from a company is a bit like getting an apartment in a large building. You can basically store any files that you like into the web space and tell people the address of the files by giving them a domain name so they can stop by and have a look.
So what do you need to look out for when you are selecting a web hosting package?
Some of the most important things include; the amount of server space that a web hosting company is going to offer for your website. In addition you need to consider how much bandwidth a company would provide for your website.
Server space refers to the amount of disk space your web hosting company provides to allow you to store your website files. Most web hosting companies provide at least 100 MB of web space and this is normally sufficient for a small website. However, check with your hosting provider and see what they are providing. If it is lower than 100 MB, that may not be enough.
Bandwidth on the other hand is a measure of how much data is transmitted over the Internet. Because bandwidth is rarely unlimited your web hosting company will normally dictate how much traffic you website can receive in a given time period. If your website streams video content or music then your bandwidth usage is likely to be higher due to the larger file sizes used for video and music. In these cases you are likely to need higher bandwidth limits for your website to work properly on your web server. So it’s important to ensure that you have enough bandwidth to cover your website needs. Usually though, the average amount of bandwidth is more than enough.
So how much would you expect to pay for web hosting?
For basic usage you can expect to pay a few dollars a month. However, if you have a larger website that requires more disk space and bandwidth as well as additional features then you can expect to pay more.
So if you’re ready to launch a website then take a look around at the various web hosting packages that are on offer to allow you to successfully host your website. As mentioned above determine whether you will need a basic, intermediate or an advanced web hosting package based on the size and type of your website.