Choosing a web hosting

Choosing a web hosting is an important step in creating a website. The entire operation of your web resource depends on this choice.

All hosting providers are divided into two major groups: free web hosts and shared ones.

First of all, let me say that many of the free web hosting providers are not exactly free, i.e. they can place their advertisements on your website in exchange for their services.

If your website is a homepage with your personal information or a small web resource where you share information on a certain topic, free web hosting is most likely enough for you. If your website is an information portal, service or a site of your company, you should definitely use shared web hosting services.

Difference between shared and free web hosting

As mentioned above, free web hosts very often place their advertisements in the form of banners or pop-ups. Visitors to your website will not be happy about it as it is well known that ads are annoying, especially the pop-up ads. Therefore, if your goal is to attract the audience that is willing to visit your website regularly, come back again and again in a day, a week, a month and not just close your source within 5 seconds after you click on your first page, then choose hosting without ads.

In addition, with free web hosts, you can only expect a domain like your_site.host.com. Such a domain will hardly positively influence the reputation of your website; rather, it will damage its image, especially if it is a company website.

"Why aren't the photos loading?" -SUPPORT SERVICE will give you answers to such questions. It is imperative to have one because good service support really speeds up the problem solving process. 90% of shared web hosting providers have adequate service support and only 10% of free web hosting providers have one.

Not every free hosting can boast services like its own CGI-BIN directory or support for Perl, PHP, MYSQL, Cron, SSH, Telnet and many others. And even if your web resource does not require any of these right now, such a need may appear in the near future with the growth of your website. Over time, you also need more and more disk space. Free web hosts usually give you 1-100 Mb while shared web hosts offer 1-5000 Mb for your website.

So the bottom line is as follows.

If you only have a homepage or a small website about your interests then go for a free web hosting without a doubt. But before choosing a particular hosting, you should:

• determine the disk space volume you will need, taking into account further growth of your resource;


• determine if you need script support, if you need to have a file manager or if you're fine with ftp access, if you need a site generator


• think about the domain name. It should be short and easy to remember.


• determine your attitude towards the host's ads: whether you are against it or not

Once you're done with all these things, eliminate any hosts that don't meet your requirements. I would recommend that you check out the loading speed of websites at hosting providers that suit your needs. And then you just choose the host with the least crowded channels.

Personally, I recommend freehostia.com. They offer:

250 MB disk space

6 GB bandwidth

5 domains hosted

+ 1 MySQL database

+ 1-click app installs

FTP access. Support PHP, Perl, Python, SSI and many more. There is also a catalog of ready-to-use scripts with the ability to customize the design for your website - the optimal choice for a novice webmaster.

Shared hosting

Some may say that shared hosting is expensive, but that's just a myth. Prices range from $1 to $50 per month, depending on the services and resources provided. Of course, shared hosting does not have the disadvantages of free hosting.

Nevertheless, shared web hosting providers differ according to the range and quality of the services. Here are some criteria that will help you choose the shared web host:

• A host may not impose strict restrictions on traffic. In any case, there should be a possibility to pay if you cross the border, but the wages should not be too high.



• If you need ASP, FrontPage Server, MSSQL then you should look for a web hosting on NT server and the host itself should provide these services. Otherwise, it is best to opt for UNIX hosting.



• It is desirable that a host Perl, SSI, PHP, MYSQL...



• Aside from disk space, a host must take care of mail. Make sure it covers incoming and outgoing mail services. Sometimes it happens that a host gives you email addresses and not email boxes. In this case, all your mail will be forwarded to the mailbox you specified, which hinders your work.



• A hosting provider must have their support service - working 24/7 via email and telephone (fax). Ask them some questions - a good hosting provider will answer you within 24 hours. If they keep ignoring you, or if there is no support service at all, stay away from such hosts.



• See what rights you will exercise with regard to the management of the server. At a minimum, you must have FTP access to your catalog - this will allow you to perform the necessary actions when forwarding, editing or deleting files. It is recommended that a host has a web interface to work with your server and your account.



• If you are an advanced user, it is desirable that a host offers telnet access - you will be able to work with the provider's computer almost on the same level as you would with your own computer.



• The daily archiving (making backup copies) of your website is also a great advantage.



• Good hosting is fast web hosting. The less busy the provider's servers and channels are, the better. Minimum bandwidth should not be less than Pentium III-800 Mhz with 512 Ðœb RAM



• It is good practice for a web hosting provider to have their physical address and some other information



• Get to know other users' internet reviews about this host before finally submitting the payment

It is by no means a complete list of all criteria by which one should choose a web hosting provider. But if a host meets all the above requirements, you can get started.