It doesn’t really matter if you’re a serial digital entrepreneur, a web designer, developer, or just a person who owns some sort of a professional website – I’m willing to bet that from time to time you tend to get asked about web hosting.
It happens. Especially if you’re in the business of creating new websites.
Your customers are surely interested in your recommendations in this particular department.
Why? – Well, because they already trust you with their project, so might as do with their web hosting. It’s quite natural that your customers ask of you to guide them in the right direction when it comes to choosing the right hosting package and provider for their online business.
They want something that’s cheap, but also reliable.
This is not a problem if you’re talking to people who have some experience running websites and working with hosting providers. But, on the other hand, if you’re conversing with individuals who don’t really know anything about hosting – things tend to get a bit cloudy.
Web hosting can be complicated for newbies. It’s something that doesn’t really seem all that simple to them, especially if they’re not really great with technology.
They just don’t get it. Web hosting is like quantum physics to them. There are just so many things to learn here, and no real time to spear on browsing through Google search results in order to acquire that much-needed knowledge. People need their website today! Not next week, not next month – Today!
That’s why I’m willing to bet that explaining to inexperienced clients how web hosting works, what type of deal would work best for them, and why should they avoid hosting their data on free hosting platform is a type of scenario that you’re probably familiar with.
If so, if you have been in this sort of situation before – you know that it can be quite challenging to explain the concept of web hosting to people who aren’t really tech savvy.
In fact, it can be a real nightmare.
Decoding the complexity behind a host computer, how he connects the dots in the network and allows the distribution of your data to someone who doesn’t really get how these sort of things can be quite exhausting.
I don’t know about you, but most of my friends who work with these type of clients wish they had some sort of solution that could cut help save them from wasting their time on deciphering such trivial things.
That’s why we at AltusHost have decided to cut out the middleman and do the dirty work for you. In this article, we’re gonna start with the basics. I’m going to explain the concept of shared web hosting. What it basically is, how it works, who’s it for – everything! So, let’s get down to business:
How Web Hosting Works?
Before I start to explain what’s shared hosting and how it works, we first need to cover the basics. You must first learn how to walk before you run. You cannot really understand the concept of shared web hosting if you don’t learn the fundamentals first.
So, what is web hosting?
It a service where a certain distributor makes it possible for you to host your business online. It’s his or her job to provide you with all the essentials that will keep your website up and running online.
This is the plain English explanation of web hosting, of course.
When we say web hosting, we usually refer to companies that rent out their server (computers) space with Internet connectivity to all type of different customers. It’s their job to make sure that your site, along with all your desired data, is constantly accessible online.
Think of web hosting a house where instead of your clothes, cutlery, and furniture, you store your data, like HTML, images, texts, videos, etc. Basically, all the files that are important to you and your online business. Everything that you want your visitors or admins to access online – you store there.
Without hosting, your website cannot function.
As I already wrote dozens of times before on this blog, There are various standard web hosting options available for regular users, like:
1. Shared web hosting;
2. VPS (Virtual Private Server);
3. Dedicated servers;
4. Co-location hosting.
If you want to learn the basics behind every single one of these options – visit this page. In this post, I’m only going to focus one – shared web hosting.
What is Shared Hosting?
Well, the term is quite self-explanatory really. Shared web hosting refers to a service where a certain person pays a chosen provider to allow him or her to host their site on their server that’s occupied by various other clients as well. This means that more than a few websites reside on that particular machine.
It’s divided like a piece of pie and shared fairly among the users. Everyone gets exactly the same piece, or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be.
It all depends on who’s hosting your site. If you pick a good provider, you’ll receive a fair peace. And if not – well, you’ll get ripped off.
Who and Why Usually Goes for This Type of Hosting?
Sharing web hosting is the most popular hosting option.
Why? – Well, because it’s the most economical one.
This type of web hosting solution is perfect for various types of small businesses and all those inexperienced website owners that are just entering this endless digital sea of opportunities.
If you’re just looking for space to express your ideas or run some sort of bakery, a food blog or something – shared hosting is perfect for you! This type of package is basically designed exclusively for those who run a small business and have no need for adding all sorts of flashy and complex features to their web presence.
It quite easy to manage a shared hosting account. It normally comes with an extremely user-friendly control panel that has various different tools that help you upload, update, configure, and edit your website and your files through your browser.
You don’t really have to be a tech geek in order to figure out how to move through your control panel and get things done.
The best part of this solution is that it can be upgraded. Choosing a shared hosting solution for your website doesn’t mean that you will be stuck with it forever. As soon as your business and needs grow, you can move to a VPS.
How Much Does It Cost?
Once again, it all depends on the provider.
Every brand has its own prices.
As an example, for just $4.95 per month, you can host your site on our secure and professionally managed server.
Yes, that’s correct. For less than $5 per month, you can secure a professional web presence for yourself or your brand.
That’s nothing. It cannot get any cheaper than that.
Basic Starbucks coffee costs more than that!
I’m not joking. It’s true.
So, having these prices in mind, I don’t really get why would anyone host their website on a free hosting platform, and expose their data to all sorts of different risks?
Poor maintenance, content ownership issues, no support, no customization, limited bandwidth, lack of control on which advertisements appear on your page – these are just some of the more common issues that come with keeping your site on free hosting platforms. You can avoid all that for just $5 a month. Totally worth it!
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
