Designing a Small Business Website

Website Hosting Information and how choose a
hosting package for your small business website

 

 

 

 

Web hosting package information and a basic insight into how websites are downloaded from the Internet to the user's local PC.

 

Business Website Information

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Website Hosting and Hosting Packages

After your website has been constructed it must be uploaded to its home on the internet called "hosting space". This is a similar to a folder on your hard disk this is basically an area on the hosting company's server that is allocated for you to upload the files that make up your website.

uploading to hosting packageStrictly speaking you could host it yourself on your own PC, but you would need a level of technical expertise to be able to do so. Also, when your PC was switched off no one would have access to your website.

The answer to this particular problem is to use an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or hosting company. Hosting companies rent out space on their own PCs (or “servers”).

These are computers designed and maintained specifically for this purpose. The deal is that the ISP provides the space and ensures that the service is up and running constantly.

You pay a fee to the provider for the use of the space. It's up to you to get your site uploaded or transferred onto this space and to update and maintain it from then onwards. The process used to upload the files from a desktop PC to this space is called FTP (File Transfer Protocol). The hosting companies also provide the Internet connectivity that allows people to access your website. When your site has been uploaded it can be accessed immediately via any web browser.

How Websites are Accessed from your Hosting Space with a Web Browser

Web browsers are the software applications that are used to access the Internet and to download websites. The most popular web browser is currently Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Other minority web browsers such as Firefox and Opera are gaining popularity but for the purposes of this exercise we can assume that they all do essentially the same thing.

When you log on to a website your web browser controls the download of the website's files from the space on the Internet where it is hosted. It then uses the files that have been downloaded to display the website on your PC monitor.

Some of these website files that have been downloaded may require that you have additional software installed on your local PC in order to use them. That is why you will have seen messages that inform you that you need such and such an add on to run a file.

Selecting Hosting Packages

selecting hosting packagesHosting companies offer hosting packages with a variety of features. You will need to choose the one that is most appropriate for your needs. Your website may have specific requirements for certain software applications to be installed on the hosting space. The servers that you choose must have these required applications installed to make some things work properly. Prices for basic, shared hosting start at about £2.00 per month.

Note that comparing the prices for various hosting packages can be very confusing. In some cases the prices can have a wide range for what looks like similar features. Quite often the price difference is determined by the level of support on offer. Higher priced offerings should have a readily available helpline that you can dial when you have problems. Many low cost hosting services offer only email support. This can be fine if you are with a company that responds to emails quickly. It could cause you lots of problems if they don’t. Do not assume that the large, well known hosting companies provide the best service. In our experience this is not necessarily true.

Most websites are on shared hosting. This means that they are uploaded to servers, which share their space amongst lots of websites. This is perfectly adequate for most situations but if you have a really high traffic website or a busy ecommerce website you may have to consider a dedicated server. This is a server that you rent exclusively for your own use. Dedicated servers are a bit more complex to control and they cost more. Typically you will pay from £40 upwards per month for this but remember that most standard ecommerce websites will sit happily on a shared server.

Similarly if you require a static website, which is one that just provides information about your company and that does not use a complex database or other interactive features, then low cost, shared hosting will probably be fine.

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