Today’s Increasing Demand For Web Hosting Services

A hosting service provider also know as a web host provides web hosting services that can enable users to post web pages on the Internet. These services aren’t just limited to providing web space on a server but also comprise facilities such as connectivity to T3 lines, protection against nasty hacker attacks, domain name registration, design and coding of websites.

Good web hosts can even give web templates that make hosting a lot easier. This set aside, site owners can look for other facilities such as FTP (file transfer protocol) access, e-mail, e-mail aliases, mail forwarding, shopping carts etc. These services are just like one-stop hosting shops.

Most of these companies will offer you a range of packages that will meet the requirements of customers. Consequently, an individual might buy a starting pack that can make it possible for him to host a few pages. At the other end, hosting services can provide dedicated hosting with some unlimited web space and bandwidth.

Content creation is the only service that web hosts do not handle. This will be the site owner’s responsibility. The owner will be able to develop the content himself or outsource its development to a third party.

Hosting services can be found in many formats. There are some hosts that can offer free hosting but instead they serve advertisements on user websites. Nevertheless, there are very few users who actually make use of free services because they do realize that they cannot run long-term businesses by using this model.

Paid hosting is a more common form of hosting. This includes shared, dedicated, or managed services. Here also, the costing will decide the quality of service. Shared hosting is the most cost-effective. It entails hosting hundreds of websites on one single server.

Dedicated hosting also involves providing a server to the customer, who will have full control over the backend and operating system. The customer will also be responsible for all the upkeep and administrative work.

The most costly form of hosting is managed hosting. In this case, the web host is responsible for both hardware and software maintenance. These services are especially helpful to those customers who do not live in the same city where the server is located. They can leave server maintenance and all related problems to the web host, instead of hiring some expensive server personnel.

In the more recent years, there has been as sharp increase in the number of hosting companies. This is due to the number of websites that are being put up. The competition has decreased profit margins, and in some cases led to the services being downscaled. Nevertheless, most web hosts make great efforts in order to maintain their technology updated. Unsurprisingly, these are the companies which the customers seek the most.


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.

Importance Of Technical Support For Net Projects

An efficient web hosting service is one that can provide good technical support on a daily basis. This doesn’t just stop at hardware and software but also to other issues related to domain names such as integration with payment gateways, acquirement of SSL certificates, advice on newsletter software or RSS feeds.

Regrettably, very few of these web hosting services exist. Most of them only make tall claims but don’t actually invest enough on equipment and competent support staff. Some aren’t even hosting companies but just plain resellers, although they make huge promises. So it’s up to the webmaster to make the right choices.

The web master must make a sincere effort to find out how competent the technical and support staff employed by a web host are, because it is this staff that you will have to call, if there is anything faulty with your web site.

Hosting services are often quite happy to provide technical back-up 24 hours a day in their operation centers. Nevertheless, the truth is that most of them make a great effort to find staff trained in operating systems as well as network technology. Some companies however spend more on advertising and marketing than they do on customer support.

That is why you should try to call up customer support and enquire on their basic routines of maintenance, availability, training, certification, years of experience, years of working with the service provider, etc. Try to establish what their level of expertise is through asking pointed, technical questions about their skills as well as the hardware and software which is used in their offices.

You can also ask the support staff where you can find them and where the office of the hosting service provider is. You can also directly enquire to find out if the staff is employed by the host or if he is working on a contract. This will contribute to help you find out if the customer support services have been outsourced or not. If the customer support technicians tend to very often put you on hold, this might show that their presence is only to convey service requests to others.

Usually, a hosting service can give you a hard copy of its technical back-up documentation. It might also enable you to download a PDF file with all the relevant details presented in a style which is highly professional. But don’t let such documents mislead you. Make sure you do your own research first before you sign on the dotted line. Remember that you need some good technical support to succeed in your endeavours.


Michael Beattie 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.