Shared Web Hosting Tutorial
From HostPedia
Shared Web Hosting is the most common form of web hosting available. Shared hosting account allows a client to host a web site on a web server which is being shared by you and other clients. Each client gets a portion of the server's disk space and bandwidth as well as other server resources. To know which type of hosting service is best for you go to the [Web Hosting Tutorial] to get to know with all the available services. The first important decision is choosing an operating system. The most common options are Windows and Unix based platforms. The choice between the two depends on the software (or script) you wish to install, some of those applications can run both on Unix and windows servers. If you are uncertain which operating system will be best suited for your needs, see the Linux vs. Windows Hosting Tutorial to know the advantages of each platform.
Contents |
General Tips
Make sure your hosting provider commits to the following:
- Uptime Guarantee
- Money Back Guarantee
- 24x7 Support
- Available by phone (and not just by emails)
Prices
Shared Hosting packages usually costs starts from $1 and goes up to $15 a month, depends on the package available features, web space allocated and bandwidth limits. Paying in advance usually credits you with a significant discount varying from 10% to 40% off.
Web Space and Bandwidth
The recent trend among the big hosting companies is to offer ridiculously huge amounts of space on their servers and practically unlimited bandwidth usage, local companies still tend to offer more modest packages. When registering for a shared hosting package one should realize that the real limits on each package are the CPU and the RAM usage. It is impossible to use hundreds of Gigabytes without crossing the CPU limit set by the hosting company (read the terms & conditions carefully).
Knowing the neighborhood
Another point one should look into is the number and the kind of websites which are hosted on your server, doing that is possible only after registration by performing a Reverse IP check. If your site is hosted with 1000's of other websites, it means that your server resources are being divided by too many websites. Also, if you share an IP address or a mail server with spam web sites (casinos, porno etc.) emails sent from that server will be sent directly to the spam folder. Some would say it has some affects on SEO scores but that is a bit hard to verify. Various companies offer a unique IP address with a shared hosting package, paying the two extra bucks might be worth it. See the Shared Web Hosting Tutorial to know more about shared packages and getting some useful tips before you make a purchase.
Gifts
Most Shared hosting packages comes with some incentives, see the common gifts:
- $50 in Google AdWords, Yahoo, Msn and sometimes even Miva.
- Free Domain name (only inclues .com, .net and .org tlds).
- Free website templates
- Multiple Private IPs (Rare, but cool)