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After reading this web page You should be able to go directly to hosts
page and chose the hosting that suits you most, We on that page have tried
to make it as easy as possible by using our own judgment and experience in
ordering them according to many variables, so what are you waiting for,
lets start understanding what makes a hosting service good.
Choosing a hosting service is not as easy a job if you are looking for
hosting to support your current and future plans, you might even not know
what you want at the moment, That's why i advise you to read everything on
this page so that you would not fall into issues and problems you are
better off without. Taking time to read now might spare you many many
hours later fixing your wrong choice of hosting.
Choosing a service that will run your code and
support the software you use to build your website.
If you already know what software you are going to use then read on, if
not, how about taking a look at (Implementation page)
and getting an idea on what software you might be using.
For example this website was built using Microsoft FrontPage, Tripod
servers have software called Front Page server extensions installed,
that's why this website was built at tripod in the beginning, this
enabled me to upload my files to the internet with no ftp client, it also
enables me to make forums, counters, and services in front page that i
haven't used on this website for demonstrative reasons so that the website
itself sets an example to the beginner (they are not hard to implement at
all, they only require a few clicks in a wizard), Either way if you are
going to use FrontPage to build your website i advise you to take at least
a free hosting with front page extensions (angelfire, tripod, netfirms),
Now that the guide has moved, we made sure we move it to a hosting service
with front page extensions and PERL support for the forum (Dynamic forum
check it out)
Upload methods available
Every hosting service must give you a way to upload your files, this
method will be one of the following.
Web upload: You open a file manager
page on the hosting site, you choose your files from your hard drive and
click upload, this is probably the most tedious way of uploading your
files
FTP Upload: This method is easy and
convenient, you download an FTP client and connect to your website
according to the websites settings, then it works just like moving files
on your hard drive, my favorite FTP client is a free one (WS_FTP)
HTTP Upload: This is also a very
convenient method, applications you build your website with like microsoft
FrontPage will allow you to just state your http address and then prompts
you for a password, then the w\files you want can be uploaded via http.
Site Copy: This works when you have a
website already online and you wish to moove it to a new hosting service,
i wouldn't consider this option a very important one since you can always
upload them again from your hard drive, and it is uncommon that you want
to move your website from one location online to another.
Size and data transfer limit
Most free web hosts will set a limit to the maximum file size that you
may have on your website, most of them will usually give you a maximum
file size of 256KB, Transfer limit is how many people can see your website
and download from it, on free hosting you usually get 1GB of transfer
Reliable Web Hosting
If you choose a hosting service that has not been reviewed on this
website, i would advise you to find a review of there service before you
proceed, You should look for 99.9% uptime and a fast service, Some hosting
companies like web1000 would give you a banner free website (Just the word
hosted at web100.com at the bottom of every page) but on the other hand
block all countries except the united states from viewing your website
when they have heavy access load on there servers. They also have problems
with search engine safety.
Search Engine Safety.
Let me start by explaining a few things, The internet works by giving
computers name, the names are really numbers, those numbers are in the
form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where any 3 x's have the range of (0, 255), i will
not get into the details of this matter but you probably found out that
the numbers that can be given out are limited. Every server on the
internet needs at least one to function, and since the numbers are limited
many websites are sharing IP addresses or IP ranges.
You might be wondering how does that affect my choice of hosting.
Simply speaking, when a search engine receives too much spam or
inappropriate activity from an IP address or an IP range, The IP/IPs are
banned, if your website shares a banned IP you would probably not be
indexed in search engines and thus making it very hard to succeed.
So now you understand why many hosting services will not host adult
only content and other content they may be penalized for, so what you have
to look for now is a hosting service that also has a strict zero tolerance
policy to spam and other illegal activities.
Upgradeability .
Even if you are using free hosting and like the facilities you are
being offered, you should always look at there paid services and upgrade
info, see what choices you have if you ever decide on upgrading, You
should always make sure you will get the services you need and the ones
you will probably need, How much do they cost, How does it compare to
other services.
Done understanding show me facts about
hosting
Comparison between free hosting and
paid hosting, domains and free subdomain
What is the advantage of getting a paid domain over the free subdomain
?
Well lets start by saying it depends on your website content and
intention, if you intent to make a professional website and want people to
keep coming back, you need an easy name... something like
http://www.myname.com, this helps people remember your website title if
they like it, while the URL http://mysubdomain.hostname.com is really less
likely to be remembered, Domain names are not as expensive as they used to
be, some of them are free these days (http://www.dot.tk)
they give away domain names like http://www.yourdomain.tk , i really think its a great idea since the
domain is free, but when you start getting really serious, you should get
a .com .net or .org, they are the most professional, The .tk free service
does not really make you the owner of the domain, they just forward
everyone coming to this domain to your website. For registering a real
domain you can check out this comparison of domain name providers (they are all sub providers since
the provider does not sell directly (organization))
Now that you have made up your mind on the type of domain don't rush
things, you have to make a website first and then get the domain and
forward it or upload your website to it.
What is the difference between free web hosting and paid web hosting ?
- Banner Ads - the #1 downside to free hosting, most free web
hosts add a banner to every page on your Website, usually at the top,
others use other techniques like a new browser window opens with an
advertisement, some even give you the choice and others use both at the
same time, You can not have a professional website with these banners
appearing, and second they are gaining from how good and popular your
website is, remember nothing is really free.
- Data Transfer Limits - Free web hosts may give you sufficient
space and bandwidth, 99% of them however have restrictions, like file
types supported, some don't allow remote access of graphics from other
websites and more of the like, add to that data transfer is something
that costs them money, they pay for it, so they will not be flexible
with your data transfer, for example, such hosts give you a daily limit,
if you don't use it you loose it, while in paid hosting, when you
approach the file transfer limit you will be notified to take measures
like remove some graphics from your website, or buy more bandwidth.
- Domain Names - Most free hosting companies do not give you
the ability to have an actual domain name. Most only give you a
subdomain under their primary domain, such as youraccount.tripod.com
or geocities.com/youraccount/, others do give you the ability to
host your website under your domain but you wouldn't want to host your
domain name with all those banners would you (some cases you would, like
our website for example, we
will discuss that later on)
- Custom CGI Scripts - Most free hosts do not allow CGI
altogether while other allow you to use CGI scripts they have on there
servers, few allow you to use your own, our guides pick provider does
allow you and supports PERL.
- Help / Support - Yet another difference, most free hosts are
limited to web page FAQs and very slow email replies. With a paid host,
you get guaranteed 24 hour email support and many will also offer
toll-free phone support during business hours, anyway the only host i
know of that has live support for free services is Netfirms
(New Window
 )
- Server side software and support - This is all about software
on the server installed for your account, Your Database, FrontPage
components, ASP, PHP, etc... There is no free host that i know of that
offers enough server side software to support a big dynamic website
- Priority - On high server demand hours both bandwidth and processor
time are given to paid hosted websites that means inaccessibility of
your website on rush hours and sometimes requests made at your website
are not don't, it usually gives the user a please try again later
message.
Most importantly you should note that starting with free hosting then
upgrading is a very good idea, one problem with that is you become
restricted (in a way) to the host giving you free hosting (not if you use your own domain).
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