Web hosting is an online service that makes your website’s content accessible on the internet. When you purchase a hosting plan, you are renting space on a physical server to store all the website’s files and data.
Web hosts provide the technology and resources required for the effective and secure operation of your website. They are responsible for keeping the server up and running, implementing security measures, and ensuring that data such as texts, photos, and other files are transferred successfully to the visitors’ browsers.
In this article, you will learn what web hosting is, how it works, and what are the different types of web hosting available.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is an online service that enables you to publish your website or web application on the internet. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you basically rent some space on a physical server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to work properly.
How Does Web Hosting Work?
The server that hosts your website is a physical computer that runs continuously to make the site available for visitors all the time. Buying servers for web hosting will alow you to store all the data of your website in the those servers of your provider.
Once a user enters your domain name into their browser’s address bar, the web host’s server will transfer all the files necessary to load your website.
You can host a website yourself, but it requires extensive technical skills. Self-hosting entails setting up and configuring a web server from scratch, including the equipment, infrastructure, hardware, and software. Furthermore, you will also have to handle all the ongoing maintenance.
A web hosting service provider ensures that your website performs optimally and with better security protocols. In addition, it simplifies the many complex aspects of hosting a website – from software installation to technical support.
Types of Web Hosting Services
With numerous web hosting options available, it can be challenging to determine which one is best for your website.
Most web hosts offer different hosting packages for different types of customers – from business website owners to personal blog creators.
Ideally, you should start with the simplest hosting solution. Once your site gets more traffic, you can upgrade to a more advanced plan.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular types of hosting available.
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, multiple users share the same server resources, including memory, processing power, and storage space.
Because of its simplicity and affordability, shared web hosting is an excellent solution for small businesses and personal websites that do not require advanced configuration or higher bandwidth. Hence, shared hosting is an excellent choice for beginners that need affordable hosting to start.
Pros
- Cost-effective, ideal for small-scale websites
- Technical expertise is not required
- Pre-configured server options
- No need to take care of maintenance and server administration
Cons
- Minimal access to server configuration
- Increased traffic on other websites can affect your website’s speed
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting
With this web hosting type, your website also shares a physical server with other users, but the web host creates a virtual partition for each user. Thus, a site hosted on a virtual private server get an allocated amount of resources.
VPS web hosting is a great option for medium-sized sites, eCommerce shops, and large blogs with a rapidly growing number of visitors.
Pros
- Dedicated server space
- Increased traffic on other websites has no impact on your site’s performance
- Root access to the server
- High customizability
Cons
- Users need technical expertise to manage it
- Even though it’s relatively affordable, some users may have to hire a developer to manage the virtual server, increasing the overall costs
Cloud Hosting
This web hosting solution uses several virtual servers to host sites. Thus, if one server experiences high traffic or a problem, the remaining ones will take over and maintain the website operating.
Since cloud hosting relies on a cluster of web servers to function, businesses with multiple websites and large-scale sites like eCommerce shops can benefit the most from it, as it provides little to no downtime.
Pros
- Reduced likelihood of downtime and hardware failure
- Uses load balancing to handle high traffic and prevent DDoS attacks
- Scalability – your website is not limited to the resources of a single server
Cons
- Root access is not always provided
- It is more expensive than VPS and shared hosting
WordPress Hosting
This type of CMS web hosting service provides a WordPress-optimized server environment to help your site load faster and minimize potential issues. However, other types of web hosting still work for websites based on this popular content management system (CMS).
Typically, the best WordPress hosting plans come with features such as pre-installed themes, plugins for core functions like caching and security, and other tools.
Pros
- Low cost and beginner-friendly
- Optimized performance for WordPress sites
- Customer support team trained in WordPress issues
- Pre-installed WordPress plugins and themes
Cons
- Not an ideal type of web hosting for non-WordPress websites
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting designates a physical server for each website. By going with dedicated hosting, you can configure the server, choose your desired operating system and software, and customize the entire hosting environment to your specifications.
Renting a dedicated server is just as powerful as having your own on-site server, but with the added benefit of getting professional support from your web host. Thus, dedicated hosting is ideal for large online businesses that deal with heavy traffic.
Pros
- Complete control over the server’s configuration
- High reliability
- Root access to the server
Cons
- High cost, more oriented towards large businesses
- Technical and server management knowledge is required
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service Provider?
As your website grows, you might need additional storage space, bandwidth, and other types of resources. In that case, you may consider migrating to a more advanced hosting solution such as cloud hosting or VPS.
Therefore, make sure that the provider offers a variety of web hosting services so you can upgrade at any moment. Additionally, there are several factors to analyze when it comes to deciding between web hosting providers.
Control Panel
With a hosting control panel, you’ll be able to manage the hosting account without having to log in to the web server. Thus, it is best to go with web hosts that provide an easily manageable user interface for users of all skill levels to work with.
Our Hepsia & cPanel lets you manage your files, create a full backup and install associated applications to your website – quickly and efficiently.
Web Host’s Uptime
Due to poorly maintained or unstable web servers, frequent and unexpected downtime can seriously impact your business and customers’ trust. Hence, ensure the host you select meets the uptime guarantee they advertise.
An uptime guarantee and fair terms of service reflect the commitment of hosting companies to keep their systems up and running.
Technical Specifications
Apart from choosing hosting services with enough disk space, processing power, and bandwidth, you should look for other features that help your website run smoothly.
At HAW.Company , our servers operate on CloudLinux and we adopt LiteSpeed technologies to speed them up.
Online Reviews
Research website hosting reviews that provide in-depth information on different web hosting service providers. Most online reviews include information about uptime and speed, so you will be able to see how the provider’s servers actually perform.
Security
Ensure that the hosting provider is well-equipped with advanced security measures to help protect your site from malware or DDoS attacks.
They may include access management, malware detection, automated backups, and updates.
24/7 Customer Support
Round-the-clock customer or technical support comes in handy if your website encounters unexpected lags, crashes, or even security breaches. Check if the host also provides support resources such as tutorials and knowledge bases.
Additional Services
A great hosting plan offers excellent value for money if it contains free add-ons and features such as an SSL certificate a business email accountor a content delivery network (CDN).