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.

Domain Name and Web Hosting Services

Choosing an appropriate domain name can be quite important. Firstly, when it comes to domain names, you must try to stay away from the silly, stupid, ridiculous or clever people. Try to keep your domain name simple and make it something your customers can always remember if they lose the link to your business website.

Make sure you take note that though your domain name on Geocities or AOL might seem like the least expensive way to go, it might also get you dropped from certain search engines. Some search engines ignore domain addresses that might reside on these ‘free servers’ or on the ‘cheap’ servers.

Even if your site is recognized and well considered by search engines, a professional domain name that makes use of your primary company name or associated words is likely to get more attention and be considered as a stable business by your prospective customers.

Purchasing a domain name is not that expensive, with a cost of about $100 and there are several companies that can register the name for you, provided it is available and has not already been used by any other company.

Using one of your keywords in your domain name can increase your ranking on some search engines. For instance, solderingirons.com could be more effective as Electric-soldering-irons.com, if that domain name was available.

You might also want to decide to establish more than one domain name using keywords and then link your ‘doorway’ domain sites to your primary site. But you will however have to pay for each of the domain names and also the monthly hosting fees. It will all depend on the type and size of your business and your competition.

You must try to bear in mind that some search engines disregard ‘doorway’ sites. So put at least a page of content on the doorway site with some useful information and then try to link it to your primary site. But do not design it as an empty page. The other reason being, you can have one, three, five, or even more email addresses that might all contain your business name, and give your business a professional feel. When customers tend to get emails from they will feel as if they are dealing with a stable, clear and professional business operation.

There is clearly no need for customers to understand how you manage all your email boxes on your domain. They just need to feel that your business is dependable and very reputable.


James Reid 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.