Let’s say you want to purchase a plot of land to build a house. What is the most important thing you take care of when deciding the place? Location, beauty? No, you find how the foundation of the land is, is it good and strong or otherwise. Once you determine that, only then do you start building your house. 

Web hosting is just the same, in fact, for better understanding, you can call it the land you build your house on whereas, your website is your house. In this article, we will understand what web hosting is, its types and which one should you opt for.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the act of offering storage space to a website or an application over the internet by uploading it on a server. Once your website is available on the server, it is accessible to all the computers connected to the internet. 

A web hosting service provider or a web host helps you upload your website over the internet. Essentially, the web hosting provider rents out their services to host (upload) your website. Once the hosting is complete you can access your website by typing in the domain name (eg: www.mywebsitename.com) in the address bar of your web browser. 

Once you click enter, you are automatically connected to the server and redirected to your website. Remember, to view your website your computer needs to be connected to the internet otherwise you won’t be able to connect to the server. 

Choosing the Right Web Hosting

The choice of web hosting depends on: 

  1. The kind of website you want to host. Is it a blog, e-commerce website, a service offering website, editorial, etc. 
  2. The amount of traffic you expect on your website
  3. How much money are you willing to spend?
  4. The storage and bandwidth required 
  5. Do you want complete control of your server or not?

Different Types of Web Hosting 

There are several types of web hosting options available:

  • Shared Hosting

If you are just starting out your first blog or business website, then Shared Hosting is the best hosting to opt for. It is simple and affordable as you share the server space and resources with other websites hosted on the same server. Since you are just starting out your needs will be minimal hence, this is the best choice. 

  • WordPress Hosting

Made a blog or a website using the WordPress CMS? If yes, then WordPress Hosting is the best choice for you as it specifically caters to all needs WordPress.

  • Cloud Hosting

If you are a growing online business with low to moderate traffic then Cloud Hosting should be your choice for hosting your website. Cloud Hosting offers instant scalability and no single point of failure i.e if one server is down it doesn’t mean your website will be down, the control will be transferred to another server and your website will still be up and running.

  • Dedicated Hosting

With Dedicated Hosting, you get complete administrative control of your server with full root access. What this means is, that you have the entire server and resources to yourself and can customise the server as you see fit. This web hosting is ideal for mid to big business with heavy traffic.

  • VPS Hosting

A higher, advanced and better version of Shared Hosting with certain features of Dedicated Hosting. VPS Hosting is the ideal hosting for anyone who wishes to have complete control of their server, however, at a lower cost. Here you share the server (like in Shared Hosting) but have your own independent resources (Dedicated Hosting). This hosting is suited for growing businesses with moderate traffic.

  • E-Commerce Hosting

As the name suggests, E-commerce Hosting is the hosting choice for setting up your online store easily. Here you can easily deploy shopping cart platforms like Zencart, Cubecart, OScommerce etc. 

  • CMS Hosting

CMS (Content Management System) Hosting is a hosting type that helps you host your website based on the CMS you prefer using. It allows you 1-click install of the CMS of your choice Drupal, Joomla etc. 

  • Reseller Hosting

If you wish to start your own hosting business, then Reseller Hosting helps you resell or rent out the hosting services that are offered by your parent hosting company. Along with this, you can even upsell other web services to your clients.

The choice of the web hosting provider 

Here is the checklist you need to follow when deciding a web hosting provider:

  1. Uptime: Your website uptime is extremely important. Check if they give a 99% uptime guarantee and find out where are their servers located
  2. Round the clock Support: Customer care aka Support/Help is another factor you need to keep in mind. Do they offer 24×7 support? Calls, email, chats with trained professionals?
  3. Time in the industry: This can help you determine their credibility
  4. Reviews: It is important that you read ample reviews before deciding on a hosting company. There will be both negative and positive reviews, however, make sure you read many and on different websites
  5. Backup and Security: Make sure they provide these two essential services and also, their own website is ‘https’ secured
  6. Other web-related products: Do they offer web-related products like email services, backups, DIY builders etc? This could save your time and efforts in finding out different vendors for different needs

We hope this helped you gain an understanding of web hosting is, how it works and the different types of hosting available. We at BigRock, have been offering world-class services to our clients for over 10 glorious years with domain names, web hosting and other products with a guaranteed 99% uptime and trusted support. 

So, what are you waiting for? Choose a web hosting plan that will enhance your website and keep it up and running for the many years to come!