- The kind of service that will best suit your website
- The kind of server that will suit your business
- A clear idea of your budget for web hosting
- A clear picture of the services offered by the web hosting service and how compatible it will be to your requirements
Free Hosting
Free web hosting is for the amateurs who use it for hosting a non-critical website. The disadvantages of free hosting include:
- Slow connection speed
- Frequent down time
- Automatic addition of advertisement banners
- Compulsory purchase of a domain name from hosting company to enjoy their free services
- You may have to make do with a free sub domain under the hosting company, say, "yourname.webhost.com". These sub domain names are difficult to remember and do not project professionalism. You cannot transfer free sub domains.
Shared Hosting
When a hosting service uses one server to serve several websites, you call it shared hosting, where you also share the software application of this server. The advantage is that shared hosting works out as a highly cost-effective option because you share the operation cost with others on the same server. The main disadvantage of shared hosting is that it is slower. Normally, in shared hosting, your site will get its own domain name, but you share space with many other websites. The benefits of shared web hosting include multiple software solutions in the form of email, database, diverse editing options and good technical support.
Dedicated Hosting
As the name implies you have a dedicated server just for your website and the advantages are as under:
- Faster connectivity
- Ideal for website that need multiple system resources
- Provides a superior security level
- You enjoy the advantage of a dedicated server
- Unlimited software applications
- Higher cost as you do not share your website with others
- This option is not suitable for small websites; it is ideal only for the larger websites with high a traffic rate
This is the most expensive method of hosting where you buy your own server and house it at the more convenient and dedicated premises of a web hosting company, and literally, it means co-location. Though the responsibility for the server is entirely yours, you have total control of it and you can install all the applications and scripts you want. This kind of hosting can use the advantages of higher security, backup power and dedicated net connections of the service provider.
