Hosting Services

Hosting Services

Web hosting services allow individuals and companies to make their websites viewable online. Hosting services also provide domain name registration, domain parking, and e-mail services.

Companies may charge a fee for these hosting services. This charge could be a fixed amount that has to be paid on a periodic basis (monthly, quarterly, or annually). Some consumers might prefer a free option. If you are hosting a personal website or a professional website with low traffic, you should consider free hosting.

Evaluate the following factors when choosing a hosting service: space, security, and reliability. The service provider that you select to host your website should be secure and capable of protecting sensitive data. If you are planning to set up an e-commerce website, you should make sure that your host provides a secure gateway for financial transactions.

Domain Parking

With domain parking, you reserve a particular domain name, but you do not use it for a service. If you like a particular domain name, then you can reserve the domain name for yourself. You can even register a domain name prior to launching a website. In such cases, a default page with an "Under Construction" or a "Coming Soon" message will show up when you type the domain name. Some hosting services allow you to feature advertisements on your parked page, so you can make money with your domain. You could even choose to leave your domain as a parked domain.

Domain Registration

You need to register your selected domain through a registrar. All registered domain names from around the world are tracked by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). You can register a domain name for free, or may have to pay a fee to the provider. Domain names are allocated to websites on a first come, first-served basis and are not dependent on the location from where the website is hosted.

Domain Name System

Domain Name System(DNS) translates a domain name into its corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) address. This service is of vital importance as the Internet is based on IP addresses. An IP address for a domain name translates into a set of numbers. For example, www.domain.com directs you to the address 66.150.120.131.

Email Service

E-mail Service providers handle e-mail marketing and bulk email services. Most e-mail services include host features including personalized setup, free online storage, and easy-to-use interfaces. Security add-ons include spam protection, file encryption, user authentication, and more.

Shared Web Hosting

With shared web hosting, several websites are hosted on the same server. Each website has its own space on the server that is separate from other businesses. Small businesses tend to find shared web hosting more affordable. The speed of the server depends on the number of websites that are hosted on the server. Shared hosting services have a system administrator who manages and monitors the activities of each website.

Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting service, there is only one website on a particular server. The website owner can lease the entire server space for a particular period of time. Dedicated hosting services offer substantial flexibility. Dedicated hosting is expensive but ideal for websites requiring more space, bandwidth, and security.

Hosting Features

When you are researching hosting plans, evaluate features for control panels, reliability, up-time, free hosting, server type, and server size. Compare various features provided by different hosting service providers before finalizing your choice.