Types of web hosting services

Web hosting service allows us to make our own website accessible via the World Wide Web. The companies that provide space on a server which are owned by them or another company for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity.

The web hosting services are of great use and their use varies greatly. The most basic use of the service is using a web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded through File Transfer Protocol. People can also obtain Web page hosting for free or from other, alternative service providers. Making a personal web site is generally free while Business web site hosting often has a much more costly as compared to the free ones.

Web hosting is generally supported and done through the application of development platforms like PHP, Java, ASP.NET, wordpress etc. These packages allow an individual to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management.

The hosting company also provides a control panel which is used for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other modules and service applications like e-mail.

There are different types of web hosting which are as follows:

Free web hosting service: It is offered by different companies for general use and it comes with limited services if we compare it to paid hosting.

Shared web hosting service: A website is generally located at the same server along with other websites, which can be hundreds or thousands.

Reseller web hosting: It is the type which allows clients to become web hosting service provider themselves. They functioning of this type can be for individual domains or different types which, depends on who they are connected with as a reseller.

Virtual Dedicated Server: It is the type of the server which is not shared by any other website and the users have their own separate server which may or may not be a part of other servers.

Dedicated hosting service: In this type of the service a person gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it but in reality, the person does not own the server. The person has full administration over the server, and that means the person is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated server.

Managed hosting service: The person is able to get his or her own Web server but does not have full control over it. In place of it they are allowed to manage their data through FTP. The person is not allowed full control so due to the reason that the provider could guarantee quality of service.

Creating An Effective Small Business Website

It can be quite confusing to set a small business website, and this goes for any merchant who is trying to make a foray in the online world. The first and main thing that the merchant will need to establish is the scope of the website. This should comprise key decisions such as the number of products that you would like to sell, the website’s size and whether the website should accept online payments.

Then, the merchant will need to find a web hosting company that will provide both hosting and coding facilities. The merchant will also be able to separate the two functions — that is the use of a design firm to design and code the site, and the use of a hosting company that will enable you to get the domain hosted.

Both ways, the first thing that you will have to do is to get the site designed. The next step is to get the site coded by using a professional programmer. The merchant can decide to hire a professional programmer to find a suitable web host or else the merchant can ask for help from family, friends and business associates, who might have websites of their own, to locate a hosting company.

It would be ideal to select a hosting service that can provide 24/7 support over the telephone. The service should be reliable and scalable. Also, it will be important to find out the server uptime. The majority of web hosts claim a server uptime of 99% but this might not always be true. We therefore advise you to speak to other webmasters to verify how precise the claims are.

The merchant must then meet with the programmer and find out what the different ways could be to make the site ready for search engine optimization. This is very important for new sites because the best method to get traffic is through search engines. Actually, research shows that eight out of every ten new visitors to a website are search engine referrals.

Likewise, the merchant will need to spend some time with the designer in order to explain the outstanding features of the site. This is another momentous activity because it is based on this that the designer will be able to draw up sections. The merchant mustn’t forget that the best sites will be those where the visitor can reach the products with less clicks. Further, the merchant should either write the promotional content himself or ask a professional writer to help him.

At last, the merchant must integrate such options as the shopping cart with a dependable payment gateway. This must also be clearly mentioned on the site so that the visitor feels at ease during the checkout process.


Norman Mather is contributing editor at WebDesignArticles.net. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.