Cheap Web Hosting

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At times you will come across deals that are almost too good to be true - cheap web hosting with amazing features!
There are hosts that while offering cheap prices do back that up with excellent performance and service, but there are things to be noted:

• Look very closely to what is written in their terms of service (TOS) and acceptable use policy (AUP) documents. Some hosts try to limit the activity of the customer through these two.
• Unlimited bandwidth or space. As explained on our scams page, offering either of those two as unlimited is not possible.
• The quality of bandwidth and the overall performance. Some hosts scrimp on these to give you cheaper prices. Do a self test - visit the host's website multiple times in a day to see that it remains fast loading.
• In general, Windows Hosting is more expensive than Unix hosting.
• Test out the support, and take a look over the online documentation. If you are paying less than $10 a month (which is roughly 30 cents a day), do not expect to receive an answer right after email the host. Many hosts now offer flash tutorials online which can be an excellent way to learn how a feature works.
• Do some research - visit google.com and WebHostingTalk and look up feedback on a host.

Just because a host is cheap does not mean that you will receive 'cheap' service, but you must be careful.

Domains

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A domain is your identity online. It separates you from everyone else - once yours, as long as you keep renewing it, no one else may have it.

There are two parts to a domain - the domain name itself, and the TLD (top level domain) extension.

The most popular TLD is the .com extension - it is synonymous with online business. But due to its popularity, getting a good domain name with '.com' is hard - most have been bought and are not available.

Most TLDs have a meaning behind them - .EDUs are used by educational institutes, and .ORGs are supposed to be used by non-profit organizations. A domain with a TLD of 'co.uk' is very likely British-based. There are other TLDs too, such as .cc, .tv, and .tk. These are all associated with either a company or with a country.

Many hosts will register a domain for you if you do not have one (it must be available though). You need to be careful that the domain is registered in your name and not theirs. Also make sure that they are not overcharging - some hosts charge over twice the average.

There are quite a few companies that will register your domain for you. The biggest and oldest is Network Solutions, which is also known as VeriSign. Personally, we use and recommend GoDaddy. At $10.67 per year, they are much cheaper than Network Solutions ($35.00 a year), while offering better support and full features. We have a list of hosts that register domains for you.

For most domains, the minimum registration duration is one year. Some TLDs such as .US require a minimum of two years. However, most TLDs only require a one year commitment.

The information related to you when buying a domain is publicly available. It is illegal to put in false information, so your personal information can be traced back. If you are worried about that, some registrars like Go Daddy will register for you as a proxy - your information will not be public. Be prepared for some spam to be sent to that address.

Once you have registered a domain, as long as you remember to keep renewing it, no one will be able to take the domain. You may sell the domain to someone else (or even buy somebody else's domain), but no one will be able to just take the domain.

Having your own domain is very important for your business. It sets you apart from everybody else, and gives you a brand to work with.

Types of Web Hosting

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First of all we must determine the meaning of the word “hosting”. So, what is hosting?
Hosting origins from the word “host” which has different meanings that are familiar to you. Hosting means providing place for your website on the web hosting company’s servers and makes it viewable in the Internet
and floating it.
Why can you once need hosting?
Imagine that you have created a website and now you are wondering how
your friends and acquaintances can see it. You place it in your personal computer, but then you come to know that it’s dangerous for your computer’s safety and needs permanent Internet connection. So it causes a lot of inconveniences for you. To avoid them there is web site hosting.
There are different kinds of web site hosting. Let’s have a good look at them:

1.Shared or virtual hosting
2.Dedicated hosting/ server, Co-location
3.VDS/VPS –Virtual Dedicated Server/Virtual Private Server

Before choosing some type of web hosting it’s necessary to consider the way you are going to use it.
Free Shared hosting
If you want to host some non-profit-making or your personal web site it’d be more profitable to use basic shared hosting for no fee. This type of web site hosting is a rather logical choice if you are a junior in web site building or if you want to try some new idea and don’t want to pay. But of course you don’t have to suppose it to grant your site the best conditions, such as proper bandwidth and disk space. Some other features can also be limited, I mean MySQL, PHP support. It often also provides poor web statistics.

Paid Shared hosting

Almost all small businesses, intermediate and large professional sites use shared hosting, ‘cause they don’t need the whole server’s space and besides the whole server costs much. With shared/virtual hosting such necessary features, as multiply e-mail, MySQl, PHP, are supported. The main disadvantage is decrease of your site’s security.

Dedicated hosting /Server

This type of hosting is the best choice for those, who need much storage and bandwidth, and are good in server administration. You’ll be able to use all necessary software, but if you don’t have enough knowledge to administrate your server it will be a little bit difficult for you.
Co-location

It’s a sub type of dedicated hosting and can be compared with your own house which was built specially for you, with your favorite furniture and all. It’s built on your hoster’s (ISP) ground. This service is implied to fulfill only your tasks and is designed for your needs alone. And it’s cost is correspondingly high.

VDS/ VPS

Virtual private server is a type of web site hosting that is based on dividing a physical server into several virtual ones. It costs less though gives same possibilities as Dedicated server. Now, when we’ve examined different types of hosting services, you can decide which type of hosting is the most suitable for you.