Web Hosting-The Essential Guide For Beginners!
© 2006 Moses Francis

Web hosting is a seemingly complex topic that small business owners can sometimes feel confounded by. When the techie on a message board offhandedly mentions IP addresses, domain names, and the type of hosting plan your business needs, you might be ready to head for the hills! Don't be overburdened by the unfamiliar jargon. It's really very simple.

Before you get any type of web hosting plan, you need to register a domain name. You can create a free account at one of the accredited domain registrars like Directnic, Moniker, or Godaddy.

Next, use their search box to see if the domain you want is already taken by someone else, or is still available. Most generic domain names, i.e., dictionary words and names are already taken. However, just because someone has registered the .com version of a popular name, doesn't mean that you can't get the same name without the .com. For instance, you might be able to get laptops.org or laptops.cc. When you run a search for laptops, it will tell you what extensions are available, e.g., .com, .net, .org, .cc, .ws, .name, etc. Each have different technical meanings, but you can use them interchangeably, at least for now. A .com is a company, a .org is an organization, and a .ws represents a website, etc.

Ok, so you've had to combine a few words or maybe even create a brand new word to find a good domain, now what? Now, you need a web hosting plan. In order to serve content on the internet, you have to upload that content. However, you have to upload it to someone else's server. A server is just like a computer, located remotely, that serves other computers in the network. If you're confused, don't worry, just hear me out. Each server has a unique IP address, just like your computer you have at home. That's how computers are identified on the internet. Domain names make it possible to identify computers, or IP addresses, as distinct alphabetical addresses that make sharing and communicating the websites you find easier.

It would be pretty odd to say that you really like 66.249.65.83, but it wouldn't be so odd to say that you really like Amazon.com The IP address simply corresponds to the domain name. How did that happen you ask? I just got a domain name, and it doesn't have an IP address you may say. That's right because only computers have IP addresses. However, your web host will give you a server IP address that you will "point your domain" to. When you buy a web hosting package from a company online, they will give you the IP address you're to use. Then you will login to your domain registrar, e.g., Moniker or Directnic (where you bought the domain name) and tell the registrar (by inputting some information into a simple form) what the IP address of your web host is. A web host is just a remote computer. After that, you just use a program called CuteFTP or SmartFTP to upload all your files (pictures, html pages, sound recordings, and graphics) to your web host. The FTP programs are very easy to use. However, unless you have pictures and HTML pages and text all put together, then you can't upload anything.

It's easy to pay writers to create articles by going to Elance.com, and it's easy to get cheap design through the same company. It's just a brokerage firm where you post your project and all the freelance workers bid on it. You might post one project that stated that you needed 5 articles on cabinet construction, etc. Then post another project with a description that said, "I need someone to make a website with a logo and navigation for cabinet-making. I have 5 articles for content, and I can provide the text for the homepage. I will also provide my company contact information." Then you could go up to the business card store and make 50 cards with your new website name and pass them out to people or pay a business 10% of your sales to have your cabinet-making cards in their storefront. You would simply need to make special cards with a referrer name for the business so you wouldn't be giving the business 10% of every sale :) Remember, too, there are different kinds of web hosting you can purchase when you're starting out, and it's important to know the differences. It wouldn't behoove you to waste money on unnecessary server space or a special kind of high-powered server. There are several kinds of web hosting. Free web hosting is always supported by advertisements.

The provider will place graphic advertisements, called banner ads, or text links, called text ads on the content you upload. A shared web hosting service is when your website is on the same server as hundreds, or even thousands of others. Most of the time the server resources, e.g., RAM and the CPU are shared. Virtual dedicated servers is kind of like a simulation of dedicated servers because each users feels like he has his or her own, but they're actually sharing a server with several others. In a dedicated hosting service, a user gets full control over his or her own server, however, they don't own the server. The really massive websites use clustered hosting, one step above dedicated hosting. In this case, several servers host the same content of a single website. This produces better resource utilization.

When picking out a web host, estimate how many users will be accessing your site. Do you have a plan to drive users to your website? If so, how many users will that bring? What is your growth plan? Can the hosting package accommodate it? Each web hosting plan offers a certain amount of bandwidth to you, and it's really just a measurement that parallels the number of users of your website. Generally, given the same number of users, you'll use more bandwidth if you have larger page sizes. Secondly, when picking a web hosting provider, decide how much storage you'll need. The needs are clealry different if you have thousands of big photos versus just a few. You'll also want to see if your site requires MySQL, Perl, or PHP. Most web hosts have these, and they're only useful if you have a site with dynamic functionality like a database or dynamic pages.

Finally, you'll want to see how many domains you can add to your account. If you plan on creating lots of websites, you'll want to ask your hosting service how many you can add to your plan. Some companies have a window of say, 10 domains. That should get you started on your road to understanding web hosting. If you have any further questions, look up the terms or visit a web hosting message board and post in the Newbies or Beginners section.

Moses Francis is the owner of Web Hosting Directory, a site containing reviews and links to web hosting companies.

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