The Internet has become part and parcel of modern-day living. In fact, most people would find it difficult to imagine what life would be like without it. Most of the things that we normally do offline can be done online much faster and to a worldwide audience at that! From selling to buying to researching to working to keeping in touch to having fun, the Internet has become a world all its own that we find indispensable to our way of life.

In much the same manner as putting up a brick-and-mortar business or building your home, setting-up your own “home” in the Internet requires the services of certain providers. Offline, you’ll need to engage the services of an engineer, architect and a contractor to build your buildings or your homes. Online, you’ll need a Web hosting provider to build your virtual space.

Marketingterms.com defines Web hosting as “the business of providing the storage, connectivity, and services necessary to serve files for a website.” Simply put, it’s the process of making your website available to the multitude of users over the Internet. Individuals or companies who provide web hosting services are called Web hosts or Web hosting providers. Whether you want a personal website or a company website set up on the World Wide Web, these Web hosts give you space on their server and the Internet connectivity you need, usually for a monthly fee.

But not all Web hosting providers are the same. There might be thousands offering this service in the Internet, but choosing the best require a bit more effort on your part and lots of asking around. To get you started, here are a few tips:

1. Choose a company with a good reputation. Ask around because referrals will often lead you to the best. Check if they have a background of dependability, honesty and professionalism. If you hear a lot of complaints from previous customers or in forums on the web, that’s your warning sign even if they offer cheap services (that’s another red flag too).

2. Make sure that the Web host you choose offers good technical support. This means that you’re ensured that they know what they’re doing. This might seem a little too obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many providers out there hire people who lack the necessary technical knowledge when glitches occur. Factor in the support hours they’re willing to give- 24 hours, 7 days a week is ideal.

3. Choose a Web host that assures you little or minimal downtime. Most Web hosts aim for 99.5% uptime (percentage of time the host is accessible online). Look out for a company that promises to give 100% uptime. This could be a potential scam since legitimate Web hosts will always have downtime for site maintenance. Ensure that the service level agreement you sign includes a provision for refunds or reduced monthly payments if uptime goals are not met.

4. Make sure that their hardware is up to the challenge. If you expect large volumes of traffic for your site, you have to choose a Web host that have redundant connections to the Internet and have high-quality fast servers.

5. Opt for virtual hosting. This allows you to register your own domain rather than make it a sub-directory of a host’s site. You’ll pay more for your own domain but it will be well-worth the investment if you want your site to command credibility.

If you are planning to embark on your very first website, you would need a service in the internet industry called website hosting. A hosting service is actually a part of the internet because it is where individuals and organizations will be storing their websites and online information and connecting them to the internet. Web hosts are actually companies that offer space on their the servers to various clients for a fee.

In the World Wide Web, there are many types of website hosting that are available. The first one is the free hosting. This type of hosting allows people to upload their websites on a shared server without any form of payment. This means that the data center for the website is free to use and there would be no form of payment or lease involved. Free web hosting is not completely free though, web hosts will usually make you display their adverts or advertising on your site, this also looks a bit unprofessional and can deter people away from your site. With free hosting you will also find that you will share an older server crammed with other sites, and have limited bandwidth and uptime.

The second and probably most common form of web hosting is shared hosting. Shared hosting is a collection of many websites which share a single server. This server will house hundreds of different websites and will allocate a certain amount of resources such as web space, bandwidth etc to each website account depending on what web hosting plan they have chosen.

The other type is the dedicated website hosting service. This type of hosting requires users to pay for the full use of a server, usually by leasing it on a monthly basis. A dedicated hosting service is better than shared hosting service because of several reasons:

The first one is that all the dedicated servers resources are yours completely. In the case of shared hosting accounts, these servers are shared by several other websites. Having a dedicated website hosting service will provide you with extra security, your files will be protected since you are the only one who would be able to access the server and your files will not share the same server with other people’s website files.

Aside from security, the second reason is on bandwidth. Since no other websites would be competing for your bandwidth, your site will will have all available bandwidth at it’s disposal. This means that more users would be able to enter your site and you website speed and performance will be greatly enhanced.

The final reason as to why you should choose a dedicated website Hosting service is because of storage. In most shared servers the storage space is limited and some do not give you the ability to upgrade. In a dedicated website hosting service, you will easily have enough storage for maximum online growth.