Hosting a website simply means making sure your website is accessible on the World Wide Web (WWW). This is generally done in one of two ways: you can either:
- Pay for hosting with a web hosting company, or
- Host it yourself on your own server
We’ll examine both methods in this article.
1. How to host your website with a hosting company
Here are the five steps to hosting a website with a hosting service provider.
- Decide what type of site website is building
- Compare web hosting types
- Select hosting providers and plans
- Buy a domain and hosting plan
- Create or move your site to the server
Using a service provider is the easiest way to host a website. You can pay a small monthly fee and trust the service provider to take care of all your equipment, infrastructure, and other associated needs.
1. Decide what type of website you are building
There are two main types of websites; static and dynamic.
Simple static websites can be created using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) application and then transferred to the hosting account.
Dynamic sites are primarily application-driven and use scripts, databases, and other tools to generate some parts of the site on the fly. WordPress and Joomla are examples of common content management system (CMS) applications that are popular today. Others, like Magento and PrestaShop, are used for e-commerce websites.
2. Compare Web Hosting Types
What is web hosting?
A web host is a computer where people store their websites. Think of it like a house where you keep all your stuff; but instead of storing your clothes and furniture, you store computer files (HTML, documents, images, videos, etc.) on a web server.
What is the role of the web hosting company?
The web hosting company rents its computers/servers to host your website and provide Internet connectivity so that other users can access your website files.
As As there are many different categories of automobiles, website hosting also comes in various flavors. For example, shared hosting is the cheapest and easiest to manage – they are similar to the compact cars in the world.
As the type of web hosting increases, so does the cost involved and often complexity. to manage the hosting account. For example, in VPS hosting you need to manage not only the details of the hosting, but also the environment in which it is hosted.
Three Types of Web Hosting
In a nutshell, The most common types of hosting are
- Shared Hosting
- VPS/Cloud Hosting
- Dedicated Server Hosting
Shared Server vs Virtual Private / Cloud vs Dedicated Server Hosting
In terms of performance and management, each type of web hosting also has its own advantages and disadvantages, so choose yours at consequence.
What is WordPress? Accommodation? Or Prestashop / Magento / WooCommerce Hosting?
It is important to know that web applications and web hosting are not the same.
Some web hosts offer plans like WordPress Hosting, PrestaShop Hosting, WooCommerce Hosting, etc. These aren’t really types of hosting, but are meant to appeal to laymen who may not be familiar with actual web hosting terms. These hosting offerings simply lure users with the names of popular web applications.
For example, not many people may know the difference in hosting types, but many will recognize the term ‘WordPress’.
The type of web hosting you will need is generally defined by:
- The volume of traffic you expect to get to your website, or
- Any specific needs your website may have.
Most websites just starting out tend to have low traffic volume (meaning few visitors) and shared hosting accounts will be fine for you. they. Most shared accounts will also come with app installers (like Softaculous), but to make sure your needs are met, ask the host if the app you want can be installed on the account you’re looking for.
3. Choose and Buy a Web Hosting Plan
Even within hosting types, service providers often have a variety of plans available. The key difference in these plans often lies in the amount of resources each receives. The more resources your site has, the more visitors it can handle.
When it comes to web hosting resources, we generally mean three main elements: processor (CPU), memory (RAM), and storage (HDD or SSD). However, this does not always translate into good performance from a web host.
In the past, there has been no easy way to measure the performance of a web host. Most users had to rely on reviews which unfortunately usually only take snapshots of a host’s performance and rarely update it. To overcome this, try using HostScore, a site that constantly rates the performance of web servers based on continuous data collection.This means that your web hosting performance evaluations are much more accurate.
Also keep an eye out for value-added features such as free SSL, domain name, ad credits, an included website builder or other elements that can help you build or market your site.
After testing and reviewing over 60 hosting services in the past, I was able to narrow down some of the best hosting options for different use cases. Check them out at:
- Best Cheap Web Hosting: Less than $5 per month per month
- Best VPS Hosting: Suitable for users with larger websites or eCommerce
- Best Web Hosting with Free Trials (No Credit Card Required)
4. Buying a domain
What is a domain name?
When your web host is the actual space where your website files reside, you need a domain name to that users can access your site. The domain name acts as your address on the WWW. Just like real addresses, each one is unique.
The domain name is not something physical that you can touch or see. It’s a string of characters that give your website an identity (yes, a name, like humans and companies). Examples of domain names: Google.com, Alexa.com, Linux.org, eLearningEuropa.info, as well as Yahoo.co.uk.
How to have a domain name?
To own your own domain, you’ll need to register your domain with a registrar.
Many web hosting plans these days come with a free domain name, so be sure to check if that’s applicable with the Web. accommodation you intend to buy. If so, you can take care of the domain name at the same time you pay for your web hosting plan.
If not, you’ll need to purchase a separate domain name. This can be done from the same place where you bought the hosting plan or from another service provider. If you need to purchase the domain name separately, I recommend looking elsewhere.
Domain names are not fixed-price items and often go on sale. Some providers often have cheap domain name sales, and if you’re lucky, you might get a steal. Namecheap, for example, often offered domain names for up to 98% off.
The exception to this is if you’re a first-time site owner. In that case, buying a domain name and hosting from the same service provider might make it easier for you as a beginner.
5. Move/Create your website to the server
Once your domain name and web hosting plan are ready, it’s time to migrate. Site migration can be complex, so if this is your first time doing it, ask your new host for help. Some web hosting companies offer free site migrations.
If you’ve built your website locally (on your own computer), simply transfer our files to your web server. To do this, you can use the File Manager in your web host’s control panel or transfer using an FTP client.
The process is similar to copying files from one place to another on your own computer. . .
Summary
To summarize, here are the steps to host your website with a hosting company
2. How to host your website locally with your own server
Hosting a website locally means that you are essentially using your own location to set up a web server from scratch. This means that you are responsible for everything from hardware and software to providing bandwidth and other infrastructure needs.
Hosting a website on a local server is complex and can be very expensive. . It is also often less reliable than hosting with a service provider. If you insist, here are the three steps to follow.
1. Select equipment and software
The basic hardware of the server can be very similar to the hardware of your own PC with some minor differences. In fact, technically, you could take your own PC (or even a laptop) and turn it into a home web server if you really wanted to.
The key difference is how reliable you want your web server to be. be and the volume of visitors it can handle. As with service providers, you’ll need to keep an eye on processor, memory, and storage space.
If you go for high-end server equipment, such as a rack server, you’ll also need to make sure that the specialized needs of this team are met. This includes space, cooling, and power.
If you need your service to be more reliable, you’ll also need to consider hardware redundancy. For example, running your storage drives in RAID, plus active mirroring of backups to additional drives.
The rest of your infrastructure equipment, such as routers and modems, will also need to be able to handle large data loads. traffic.
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For software, in addition to your operating system, you’ll also need to focus on your web server platform (Apache and Nginx are the most popular on the market right now). This also means that you should be responsible for not only configuring the software, but also licensing it.
2. Ensure Sufficient Bandwidth
Internet bandwidth is also vital for running your own server.In many cases, most of us are fine with standard internet bandwidth since we are using limited internet connections. Imagine if 30 people were trying to use the Internet in your home at the same time; that, and perhaps more, is what you might be looking for.
What should also be taken into account is your IP address. Most home internet plans come with dynamically assigned IP addresses. To run a web server, you need a static IP. This can be handled by a service provider like DynDNS or by purchasing the service from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Learn how to calculate the bandwidth you need
3 . Developing and Deploying a Website
The next part is similar to the experience of using a web host, except you don’t get any support. Your web files need to be moved to your web host for your site to start working.
Which option is best for hosting your own website?
As you can probably guess Of the two examples here of using a hosting provider or self-hosting a website, the latter can quickly become incredibly expensive and complex. Actually it is (trust me, I’ve done it before).
Aside from the satisfaction of having done it, there are few real benefits to doing it unless you’re a business with very specific needs. for your site. Some of these may be legal or corporate requirements, for example.
However, today’s web hosting service providers have become very versatile and in many cases are open to discuss special needs with customers. However, in most cases, using a standard hosting plan is usually more than enough.
Managing Your Server Resources
Hosting a website, especially if you choose to host it locally, is never a set-and-forget task. Managing your server resources will become increasingly important as the popularity of your websites grows. This is especially true when you have multiple websites hosted on the same server.
Some time ago we interviewed Marc Werne, a staff member at Linux hosting provider Gigatux.com, and asked for his advice on server resource management. Here are some of his tips for making your resources last.
1. Choose a lightweight CMS
You may want to use Joomla or Mambo as heavily, but if your hosting storage is less than 500MB, you may want to reconsider your choice.
WordPress or Drupal, for example, would be a lightweight and flexible alternative that will save you MB of web disk and bandwidth. Less is often more and light weight does not equal less functional. Make a table of your alternatives and choose the CMS that best suits your needs and your hosting package.
2. For Forums: Use miniBB instead of SMF
MiniBB is only less than 2MB vs. SMF’s 10+MB, but it’s a complete forum solution with a substantial repository of plugins, extensions and plugins .
Don’t like miniBB?
There are several lightweight alternatives to the larger forum scripts. PunBB, FluxBB and AEF, to name a few. Also, plan the reach of your forum before installing any solution: if your goal is to reach thousands or millions of users, you may need to upgrade your hosting package. If you want to keep the forum staff-only or for a small number of users, use the resources available to you.
3. Use a third-party newsletter provider
Install newsletter software on your limited web hosting account and it will start eating up your disk and bandwidth. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about it, and the smallest newsletter script available, OpenNewsletter, is still 640Kb and you’ll have to account for all the storage issues as well.
By comparison, MailChimp, a complete newsletter solution starting at zero cost if your target audience is less than 2,000 subscribers and your goal is to send no more than 12,000 emails per month.
All templates can be customized so you don’t You need to host your own, and you can integrate the newsletter with Facebook.
A good alternative to MailChimp is Constant Contact, which is only limited by subscription options: people can only sign up from your form.
4. Use a caching system
Most personal and small business website owners on a low budget opt for shared hosting packages to save on investment. Sometimes an upgrade is absolutely necessary to increase performance and welcome a larger audience and the traffic it generates, but if you can’t, you can save server resources by using a caching system that doesn’t tax your CPU.
WordPress users can install Swift Performance, but if you don’t use WordPress, you should try optimizing your website’s cache with the tools your CMS provider offers. For example, Joomla can have Cache Cleaner or Jot Cache; while Drupal also has several cache performance tools.
5.Regularly empty spam content
Get rid of spam in the form of emails, blog comments, pingback URLs, and files that overload your servers and database quota.
Do it at least once a week to avoid memory issues (for example WordPress comment removal only works up to 64MB memory, after which you will get a fatal error and have to increase the memory size allowed in your PHP.INI file or in wp-config.php inside your WordPress root).
6. If possible, use external databases
If your host allows remote database linking, use it by all means. External databases help lighten your web disk usage because they store your content outside of your hosting account. However, keep in mind that remote databases can be quite expensive and a hassle for end users.
7. Use third-party file hosting services
Host anything downloadable on a third-party file hosting service, such as Photobucket, Vimeo, YouTube, Giphy, etc.
You should not allow their visitors, customers or readers to upload content to their servers if your resources are limited.
8. Download and delete log files regularly
Log files are created to keep you informed about the status of your website, but they are not used on the server: if not If you do download and delete them at least once a week, their size will grow to several megabytes per GB. This is especially true for two cPanel logs:
/home/user/public_html/error_log
and
/home/user/tmp/awstats/
The error_log file usually includes dynamic errors like PHP warnings, database errors (illegal checks, etc.), and spam comments that were not processed. Check this file weekly for errors and warnings, then delete it.
The /awstats/ folder, by contrast, contains all access logs and statistics records for your website. You should disable the AwStats software on your account to prevent increased web space usage, as the program automatically stores your statistics files, or if you can’t due to restricted privileges, you should contact your host and request that they disable all software. analytics software.
Frequently Asked Questions
After Your Web Hosting Is Ready
- How to Create Your First Website (3 Easy Ways)
- How to create an online store
- How to start blogging with WordPress
- How to install an SSL certificate on your site
- How to protect your website
- What affects the performance of your website
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