Where Should My Website Be Hosted?

If it is time for you to begin your own website, a decision that must be made early on is where your website will be hosted. This refers to where on the internet your website will reside. Just like a family or individual has a place to call home, a website needs a “home” too.

Websites have to sit on a computer somewhere, and the computers which keep websites are called web servers or web hosts.

One major decision is whether to use a free web host or use a paid service.

Going with a free web host is always a temptation, as along with the attractive price, they often include simple website creation tools. Although these sites have many advantages, you should not use one for your “main” sites. Along with the showing of ads, they might also remove your site without warning or might close their service. Even so, the use of one of these sites can be a great part of your marketing plan. You may want to take a look at Blogger.com and Weebly.com.

When you set up your paid web host, you have a few options. You can either purchase it yourself or in the event have engaged the services of a web designer, these professionals will often make web space available to you. Some of the criteria in selecting a web host include:

Price: what is it going to cost you to host the site, not only in base service fees but also for any additional services you may require?

Reliability: does the company have a history of problems with keeping sites up? Try and look beyond the actual out of pocket cost of hosting and gauge what it will cost if your site goes down for any period of time.

Administration: most web hosts today use “cpanel”, short for “Configuration Panel” to administer the site. Cpanel is an industry standard these days and you should not sign up with any host that does not offer it.