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Web Site Hosting is the service of providing space on a server to store web site files that are accessed via the internet. There is shared hosting, dedicated hosting and collocation hosting, as alternatives.
Choosing a hosting service may be easy or difficult depending upon the goals of the web site and budget. The hosting industry has a number of major well known providers; however, there are also hundreds of smaller providers offering very competitive pricing suitable for a range of web site requirements. Web sites that do not have high traffic or ecommerce services lend themselves to shopping for price, while more sophisticated sites require more scrutiny of the service uptime, service quality and the bundle of other services needed to support the site. KEY POINTS The most basic information to know about the hosting provider is the hosting platform upon which the web site is supported, either Unix or Microsoft. Both Unix and Windows platforms support most basic web sites, but do not support high end specific requirements that are associated with ecommerce and database driven features of a site. Examples of platform specific features are SSH, MySQL, and Miva which must have Unix platforms to function and ASP, MSAccess, MS SQL, Visual Basic Script which required Windows platforms. Many of the services and systems features listed below become important as the role of the web site to the business grows. Ecommerce sites that have significant downtime will result in lost customers and revenue and also serves as a poor reflection on your business. Checklist for Choice of Hosting Provider
Exploring the Hosting Relationship The development of a web presence takes time and during that time use the opportunity to explore a relationship with a hosting provider. Since traffic will most likely build slowly, choose an economical site package and learn how to monitor its performance for uptime, file transfer costs, email issues etc. Also, during this period it is critical to assess the technical support offered by the provider. Check the cancellation options of a provider, such as 30 day free trial or better yet, a hosting provider that offers a month to month contract. In instances of ecommerce, it is recommended that the initial hosting be with a local provider, as bugs will need to be worked out and close proximity to technical support will make things easier. Other Service Offerings Other services may include Site Management Tools, Free Software, and Web Design Services. |
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Web Site Hosting is the service of providing space on a server to store web site files that are accessed via the internet. There is shared hosting, dedicated hosting and collocation hosting, as alternatives.
