Web hosting is a service that lets an individual or organization makes their website accessible in the World Wide Web. This service is made available by companies called web hosting providers. The web host has a server—where your website is run, which is connected to the internet, this way; anyone who has internet access can be connected to your website.

There are mainly two types of web hosting, free and paid hosting service. Under paid hosting service, there are several types, which will be discussed later on in the article.

Free web hosting enables the user to modify the content of his website by uploading the simplest kind of features in which capabilities are only limited to a certain degree. The web hosting provider makes money by advertisements displayed on the website. This type of web hosting doesn’t appear too professional since the site is under a sub domain or a directory, meaning, the website name is followed or preceded by the web hosting provider. This type of web hosting is advantageous for people who are newbie’s in the Internet and needing just a small site to get started especially with the upload tools that are very easy to use.

Paid web hosting, on the other hand, provides more space and more features but you will be required to pay the web hosting provider fees to maintain your website. An advantage for this type is that the ads that appear on your website are those that you prefer and the revenue from it goes to you. You also get to have your own domain name.

The different types of paid web hosting are the following:

• Shared web hosting – wherein you share the same server and all other resources like software with other people. You only manage the design and content of your site.

• Virtual Private Servers – here the idea is that a server is divided into small servers to enable the user to have their own. This is a cheaper alternative to dedicated servers and more expensive than shared web hosting.

• Dedicated Server – this is not too popular for the common companies as it entails a lot of money. The owner gets full control over it. This is ideal for high-traffic websites.

• Colocation web hosting – the individual purchases a server and passes it to the web hosting company for them to provide space, connection, and power. You must have your own administrator to check on your server.

Other web hosting companies provide specific hosting and these would include blog hosting, video hosting, image hosting, and file hosting among others.

When choosing a web hosting provider, consider the following:

• Your needs – what type of hosting do you need, how much memory, bandwidth, etc.

• How reliable is the web hosting company? Can they guarantee that your website is always up and running?

• Development – in the future, can this company still provide for what you need? Do they have the latest technology?

• Dependability – should there be any problems with your website and/or server.

John Mahoney is a freelance author who writes about various technology related subjects including website hosting. For more information about John visit his website: www.techstore.ie