First element: Your Computer

Creating a Website

Creating your Website begins on your computer. It can be done offline, on your computer with a HTML software, or Online with Online Web Builder, provided by your Hosting Company.

Publishing your Website

Once your website is created, it needs to be published, so the whole world can see it. Website created on your own computer, needs to be uploaded to Web Server. It can be done with a FTP program, or with Web Interface. In case Website is built using Online Builder, there is no need to upload anything. You only need to click on publish button in Online Builder.

Managing your Website

Once you sign up for a hosting account, you get access to your own Control Panel. This is the place where you control everything about your website. You can configure email accounts, manage databases, install scripts and a lot more. Most popular control panels are cPanel, Vdeck and Plesk.

Second Element: Web Server

Web Server is a computer designed to serve web pages. It can run on Linux or Windows platform and serve hundreds of pages. Web Servers are usually located in data centers, which are power redundant, and connected to high-speed internet connections, also called Internet backbones. The whole point of data centers is to make sure websites are constantly online.

Third Element: Website Visitors

Interaction between Web Server and Surfers begin, when Surfers enter a domain name in their Web Browser. In just a fragment of a second, domain name is resolved in a domain name system (DNS) and Web Browser connects with a specific Web Server. Web Server returns request and sends Surfer data that is shown in Web Browser. Most popular Web Browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera.

As you can see, in each part of the process there is some Hardware and Software used for the system to work.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared Web Hosting is most popular and most affordable type of Web Hosting. It means that your website shares resources with other websites on the same server. That means you also share costs, and thats the reason why Shared Web Hosting is so pupular with Beginners.

Description of Shared Hosting Service

Shared Web Hosting includes administration of the server, installation of operation system and programs. It includes updating of programs, scripts and protection from security threats. In short, you have nothing to worry about, because everything is taken care of. You can calmly use your hosting account.

 

Shared Web Hosting should include support, but that depends on each hosting provider. Good Hosts provide extensive Knowledge Base, Forums, Free Online Chat, Email Support and more. To provide all that they need dedicated people, who like what they do. And that means costs. That`s why hosts with good support have higher prices than the ones with poor, on no support at all.

 

Many people complain about bad support, but they don`t realize that quality services cost money. You honestly can`t expect support from a cheap provider.

 

Core of the service is your hosting space, bandwidth, emails and other features that are controlled in a web-based environment called Control Panel. There are many types of Control Panels. They might differ by look, but they all share one common thing: They are used to control your hosting account. Most popular Control Panels on shared hosting accounts are cPanel, Plesk and Vdeck.

Benefits of shared Hosting

Main advantage of shared hosting is surely price, since costs of managing Web Server are divided among many users. That makes shared hosting very popular Beginner Hosting option who don`t want to spend a fortune for hosting.

Second advantage is that using a shared hosting is very easy and does not require a long learning curve. Good (not the cheapest) shared hosts offer excellent support, which is essential for beginners to have a positive hosting experience. I recommend not to evaluate your host only by price.

Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting

Sharing good things also means sharing bad things. Since all sites are on the same server, sites divide bandwidth and resources. If one site uses too much resources that means less resources for others. But since your site wont be receiving thousands of hits per second that shouldn`t be a problem.

What we recommend?

Shared Web Hosting is great for Beginners, because of small running costs opportunity to host your own website, while learning a lot of exciting things. For E-commerce or larger sites Virtual Private Server or Dedicated Hosting would be better.

What is Web Hosting?

Web Hosting is a Business, where a company (Web Host) offers Web space and other services for a small fee. They provide environment (hardware, software, knowledge and support) for hosting web pages.

How does Web Hosting Work?

Websites that you visit on Internet, are located on computers called Web Servers. They have a single task: They serve Web Pages. Web Servers can run on Linux or Windows, and can host from 1 to hundreds of Web Sites.

These Servers are located in data centers, which are exclusively built for hosting purposes. Data Centers are monitored and managed 24/7 by IT professionals, that take care everything runs smoothly. While larger companies operate their own data centers, smaller rent resources from the first ones to minimize costs.

One of the biggest Data Centers in the world, is located at ThePlanet . EasySiteGuide.com is hosted on HostGator, who uses ThePlanets data center. The Planet Data Center Chart (PDF document, 98 Kb).

What does hosting a website include?

When you buy a hosting package, you get your own hosting account. For a monthly fee, you are provided with:

• certain amount of web space
• certain amount of bandwidth (how much data you can transfer per month)
• certain number of emails
• access to Control Panel where you manage your hosting account
• optional features, such as Online Builder, Auto install scripts, e-commerce,…

Web Hosting Companies require that you have your own domain name in order the hosting to work.

Are all Hosting types the same?

No, there are many types of web hosting. Beginners usually try to find a free hosting provider, but after some time, they decide to go for a Shared Hosting Account, which is most popular and the most affordable. Other hosting types are Virtual Private Hosting, Dedicated Hosting and Colocation. You can read more about them in our article: Hosting types Explained.

How can I obtain Web Hosting for my first website?

It is very simple and it takes only a few minutes. Most companies allow you to pay with Credit Card or even Paypal. You register a domain name, select a hosting plan and provide them with email and your details. When the process is completed they will instantly send you an email with your account details.

Create a FREE website

Or better why not to create a free website? The intention of this article is not to scare you, but to tell you the truth about free website creation, which often ends in frustration and loss of many hours of your time.

Free hosting providers

I know! Things are just so tempting when they are free. But remember the saying: "There is no free lunch!". As in many cases it has proven to be true in hosting too.

Even though the hosting is free for users, someone has to pay hosting expenses. I mean, would you give money out of your pocket for hundreds of people you don`t even know ? I don`t think so.

Free hosting = Ads, Banners, Pop-ups

So how does a free hosting survive? They put ads on your site! That`s ok with me, you say. But what if these ads are making no money? Than owner will be forced to terminate free hosting. Along with your website. And sadly, you can do nothing about it. All of your content can be lost at anytime the owner says. That means he is controlling your site and your success. The fact is most free web hosting have a short life cycle. I don`t know for you, but I don`t like that.

Limits, Limits, Limits

If you read terms of service of any free host, you will see it is full of limitations. There is a limit of web space you can use, limit on bandwidth, limit on file size which is not very pleasant. Some hosts will even terminate your account for exceeding, no questions asked.

Free web hosting and personal websites

You might ask yourself why spend money for a personal site? Here is an example of two website addresses. One of them is free, and one of them is not. Can you figure out which one?

1. http://www.joeshobby.com
2. http://www.free-super-host/gests/~joeshobby/

Even if you are building a hobby website, why not have a stand alone domain that costs you as much as two cups of coffee? With your web address you also get your personalized emails like joe(at)joeshobby.com. And best of all, get rid of those spammy pop-ups and banners no one wants.

Free web hosting and business websites

Planning to start a business? Great idea? First you need a memorable domain that your visitors can remember in a snap, than a reliable web host, email and,…wait a minute. You are thinking of starting with a free host? Let me ask you something? If you were buying a new car would you buy it from

http://doeew-free.4site.com/brandnewcars or from http://www.cars.com? I though so.

There is one thing you have to know: Business on a free website is not exceptable. Here are the reasons:

• Reliability: Your website can be terminated in any moment and your customers will think your business is gone too.
• Search Engines: If you want your business to be found in Google, free websites have a problem – they will probably not rank at all. And that means no visitors from search engines.
• Sell Online: Another disadvantage of free web hosting is they do not allow interactive functions – forms, online ordering and others which may be essential to your website.
• Credibility: To be able to sell online you need reputation. It is very hard to do it on a free site. The problem is almost noone is going to link or recommend your site, because it will hurt their reputation.

Advantages of owning your own domain name

• Firstly a brandable domain name, which will get you credibility and reputation.
• Your own email: [email protected]
• No banners, pop-ups
• Total Control over the look of your website.
• Enough web space, bandwidth, advanced things like chat, forums, guest books, online stores and more.
• Guarantee your site will be online for more than 99% of time.
• You can place your own ads and make money!
• Help and Support, which is extremely valuable for beginners.

The right way to build a Website

Think what your goal is. If you are serious about creating a website, than build your website the way it should be built. Register a domain name and create a website plan .

Registering domain name is very easy and has become very cheap too. You can reserve a domain name for as long as you want.

Then your domain name need some space to be settled on. Choosing right Hosting company is very important. They will provide you with space, tools and top support.

 

Try the Freedom of paid Hosting!

Believe me, I have been through free web hosting and learned my lesson. I recommend you to start with our guide and create a website you will be proud of!

Online builders are the easiest way to create a basic website in less than 30 minutes. There is lots of Online Builders. Here are links to Online Web Builder Demo Accounts and links to Instructions on how to use them.

Check them out before you sign up for web hosting so you will know exactly what is waiting in the package you buy.

Online Web Hosting Builder Demo and Tutorials

BlueHost and Hostmonster

BlueHost and Hostmonster use PageWizard as their online builder.

Page Wizard Demo account

Page Wizard Frequently Asked Questions by BlueHost

Ipower

Ipower uses Vdecks integrated Online Web Builder.

Ipower Online Builder Support

IXwebhosting

Ix Web Hosting uses Site Studio as their Online Builder.

IxWebHosting Online Web Buider – Site studio Demo Account

Site Studio User manual

Lunarpages

Lunarpages uses Soholaunch Online Builder.

Lunarpages Web builder Flash tutorial movies

Lunarpages Web builder Flash Tutorial Movies 2

Lunarpages Web Builder – Soholaunch Online User manual

AN Hosting

AN Hosting provides their users RVSite Builder.

AN Hosting Online Builder Demo

Log in with this username and password:

user: rvsite
password: demo

Midphase

Midpase uses Site Studio for their Online Builder.
MidPhase Online Builder Sitestudio Demo

Midphase Support for Sitestudio Online Builder

1 & 1

1&1 uses their own Online Builder.

1 & 1 Online Builder Demo

1 & 1 Online Builder Frequently Asked Questions

Hostgator

HostGator uses Site Studio for their Online Builder.

Hostgator Online Builder Site Studio Demo

Hostgator Online Builder Site Studio User Help

Hostgator Online Builder Site Studio Support

 

If you like any of the Hosts above and want to find out more about them, check our Best Hosting Page. If you sign up with any of these hosts trough our site, some hosts will pay a portion of fee back to us. Thank you for supporting EasySiteGuide!

When I started my first website the best web hosts were determined by the size of disk space they provided. Everybody wanted to get as much space as possible. Things have changed. Nowadays space isn’t the crucial factor.

5 Most Important Hosting Features are:

1. Reliability:
The main function of a web host is making your web site available for other users of Internet all the time. Well, mostly all of the time. The best web hosts are operational more than 99.5 % of their time and they guarantee it. Stay away of web hosts that don’t give you such guarantee.

2. Support
This one is extremely important. Web hosts usually offer telephone support, live chat and email support. Make sure you have support available any time you need it. And I really mean anytime. If you can’t contact your web host during the weekend you have a potential problem. The best thing to do is to test them. Call them to see how responsive they are. If they don’t respond to your email in a timely manner consider choosing another host.

3. Price
You would be fooling yourself if this wasn’t an important factor. The thing is, price is connected with the first two factors. Higher prices do not make a good web host, but they raise the chance of getting good support and high reliability. I learned this lesson myself.

When I started my first web page I had a very low budget. I found a cheap hosting that promised me almost anything, but soon made my life full of painful moments. My web site was constantly up and down, without them even knowing that. My visitors were complaining they couldn’t send me emails. I tried to contact this web hosting company but they were unresponsive for several days. Soon I had nothing else to do than move my files to another host. That was the last time I had chosen a cheap web host.
Now best web hosts come with a money back guarantee which is great – don’t even bother with a web host that doesn’t offer you that.

4. Control Panel
Control panel is the page from which you control everything about your web site. You log in to control panel using your user name and password. You can edit your files there, add new email accounts, see usage of your disk space or statistics of your visitors to name just a few. There are differences in control panels among hosts so make sure your control panel can do what you want. You don’t wanna call your web host every time you want to know how many visitors you had last week.

5. Technical details
Disk space: is the amount of space you get. Most web hosts give you more space than you can use.
Data transfer: is the amount of data transferred from your site to your visitors.
Email: number of email accounts you can open.

To sum up – these are indicators of a good web host:

• 99.5% + up time
• 24/7 support
• price: what you pay is what you get
• powerful control panel
• Reasonable amount of disk space and data transfer

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Find out how to select a Web host with our Hosting Wizard.

Do you want to pay a lot of money for hosting just a few pages? Do you want to give your hard earned money away for some high-tech features you don`t even need? This is the time you should loudly say: No!

Hosting industry is so competitive that if smaller hosts don`t follow the leaders, who are constantly upgrading their plans, they soon have to face their end.

So You and Me, who are looking for a best purchase, check the prices and the size of hosting plans (100 GB, 300 GB, …) and go to the ones with best value. But we seldom ask ourselves if we are ever going to use that much space, that much bandwidth. The truth is: WE WONT!

So what should YOU do to save huge money choosing a Web Host?

Before even thinking of pulling credit card out of your wallet you should learn the basics of web hosting. That is about different hosting types, about Windows or Unix hosting, and what is important when choosing a Host).

Next, You should examine your needs and see what your site actually needs ( how much space, bandwidth, how many domain names, how many email accounts,…)

Now, after you have answered questions above, is time to go looking for a Web Host.

You can search for the hosting the old way – going to search engine, searching for hosting phrases or web hosting reviews sites or you can go one level higher. You can use our Hosting Wizard to choose it for you! All you have to do is follow a simple wizard and you will instantly have carefully selected deals from reputable hosting companies on your desk.

Go to their website and ask them anything you like about web hosting. Now you are ready to sign-up.

Remember: Even if there is something wrong with the host, you will have a 30 day money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to worry about!

Different needs – Different Hosting types

Free hosting – is what the name says!

Means that you don’t have to pay any money for hosting services. In practice it is not a very good option, I have been disappointed many, many, many, many times. But people just cant resist when something is free. Wrong! If you want a personal blog where you will just occasionally post some of your thoughts than go to Blogger . Its great! And its free! For everything else, especially for business get yourself a decent hosting provider. Look at our Best Hosts if you don’t have a clue what to choose.

Shared hosting

Means you share your files with other sites on the same server. This is extremely popular hosting type, since it is very affordable. You get your account packed with lots of space and bandwidth most users will never use. I have several shared hosting accounts for my websites and I recommend you to get yourself one of these .

Reseller hosting

Now if you want to make money in hosting industry, than Reseller hosting is just for you! You can start easily and with no costs. Just apply and set up a web host under your own brand, pricing structure and everything else. You will be provided with everything you will need and the money is also very good!

VPS

If you plan to have lots of domain names you should get yourself a Virtual Private Server – it is a extremely good deal, because Virtual Server is almost like a real one. Virtual means that you split hardware with other users on the same machine, and that cuts the operating costs. That way you get everything you need for a price just a bit higher than shared hosting. Oh, did I mention you can install your own software, scripts and stuff. However, if you don’t know what is root access, Apache or MySQL you should rather start with shared hosting.

Dedicated Server

Ah, that is a Dream of every Web master who starts doing business. Dedicated means that the whole server – machine – is reserved for 1 and only 1 website. Here is the deal: web hosts rents you one computer, software and a high speed Internet connection that is fast like a lightning. Dedicated servers hosting is the most powerful and most complex hosting. If your site receives a huge amount of traffic every day, you should get one of these.

Managed hosting

There is one drawback with dedicated hosting. If you are not a computer geek it could be hard to manage it. And that is exactly why hosting providers now offer Managed hosting – an expanded dedicated server hosting. Where with dedicated server you had to control the server 24/7, with managed hosting – the provider does that. So it is like a regular dedicated hosting with maintenance and monitoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Colocation

There is one other type of hosting which is not so common, but is pretty cool for clients who have lots of websites. It is called Colocation. It is a type of hosting where you bring your machine to a hosts data center. You are in total control of the server all the time. And the hosting company rents you rack space, high speed connection to Internet backbone, environment suitable for servers ( controlled air temperature, security, redundancy) and IT staff available for help.

Clustered hosting

Now that is it for regular websites. But what hosting types use the biggest sites and the sites with traffic of several thousands users an hour? I always knew there was something more…And there is! It is called Clustered hosting – This is a hosting type with lots of dedicated servers bonded together. It can be a minimum of 2 and up to several hundred servers and more (I believe Google has about 450.000 servers around the globe).Clustered means that the same page or service is served on multiple servers (often called mirrors). This enables high redundancy and great access speeds on different continents. Well if you are lucky enough to host a clustered website let me know!
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If you are not sure which hosting is right for you, don’t worry! Go to our Hosting Wizard and discover which host suits you best! If you still cant decide send us an email with your details. We will help you!