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A web hosting service is a type of hosting service provided by web host companies that gives you the necessary space and allows you to upload and manage your website on the world wide web and also makes your website accessible to others in the Internet. This service is provided by companies having space on a server or on a data center, or a means of collocation, when they do not have their own data center. There are different types of hosting services available, like free, shared, dedicated, etc

Free hosting:

• Low cost/No cost.
• Good for sites having limited traffic, non-commercial applications.
• May have free email options.

• You cannot get domain names. Your address becomes cumbersome to type, to remember, or to refer.
• Few or limited software options.
• Limited security, technical support options
• Advertisement blocks in your website
• Your website will be hosted on a server which has thousands of other websites. This leads to bandwidth crunch and lower uptime
• Your website URL will typically look like a sub directory or folder inside the hosting provider's domain rather than your domain itself. For example, http://{free web host}/{your site} and not http://{your site}. This can lead to SEO issues as well.

Shared or Virtual Hosting:

• Reasonable cost (starting atas low as $2 per month) as the expenditure is shared.
• You can have domain name that looks professional and guarantees more business. It is good for a small- or medium-sized business.
• You can also have multiple software support like email or database and other useful features like options of editing.
• Good technical support from the hosting company.

• Security options are limited as many sites are hosted on one server.
• Sharing imposes serious restrictions on the volume of traffic.
• Database and software supports are limited. When your business grows, it may not provide the level of support you would need.
• Your IP address is shared by the numerous other websites that are hosted on the same server. If one of the other websites on the same server is banned due to spamming, then it is possible that the IP address of the server is blocked by some organizations or countries. In such a case, your website will be unreachable as well.
• Shared hosts have the limitations on memory, CPU and bandwidth usage. This can have a drastic impact on the website uptime, if you run scripts which are not optimized or memory efficient.

Many web hosting companies provide the concept of dedicated IP addresses for websites on shared hosts. This in effect means that, your website will have a unique IP address that is mapped to your website on the server. The Internet will identify you with the dedicated IP address and this protects you from being banned due to some other spamming website on the shared server. Usually this costs around $30 to $40 per year and its well worth the price.

1. Check if the bandwidth provided, will be sufficient for your website. This depends on your site traffic.
2. Good number of email accounts. If you are a medium or big sized organization, then you may need more than 500 to 1000 email accounts
3. If you are looking at running scripts like Joomla or Wordpress, then ensure that the host provides PHP 5.x and mySQL 5.x
4. Sufficient disk space to host your site and to hold your site data and content as it grows in the future
5. Check if the hosting provider gives a money back guarantee, if in case you are not satisfied with the service
6. Checkout the support options from the hosting provider

Dedicated Hosting

1. Self-managed hosting: Self managed or unmanaged type of dedicated hosting is least expensive in this category. In this you lease the entire server and NOT just a portion of it. You are exclusively responsible for the maintenance and security of the dedicated box. Additionally, you need to manage your server and perform administration activities as well. Normally those who go for dedicated hosting, hire a technical person to handle the administration tasks on the server.
    
2. Managed hosting: Managed hosting is another type of dedicated hosting, where you have full control on the server except that, the hosting provider gives technical support and basic system administration guidance. You will still have complete control over your server and the server is exclusively for your use only.

• Full control on the server
• You can choose the hardware, software and the operating system on your server
• You can have multiple domain names
• Powerful and secured system with unlimited software solutions with robust email solutions.
• Best for large business that needs high traffic.
• Higher database support needed for a big enterprise

• Expensive than shared hosting
• It demands higher technical skills from the users.

Collocated Hosting

• You can get good bandwidth with protection against fire or other hazards and high up time.
• Regulated backup power and dedicated Internet connections
• Unlimited software and technical support

• Expensive.
• Demands higher skills with difficulties in configuration and debugging.

Hosting Providers:

• Your current requirements and the one that is most cost effective.
• A system that can be upgraded with increasing demand.
• The system you will be most comfortable working with.
• Your bandwidth and uptime requirements
• Your application, scripts that you are planning to use and the support you would need

We hope this article at the least helped you get an insight into what web hosts are and what kinds of services they offer. Its more a beginners guide to web hosting and we suppose it is useful to you in deciding the right web host. We will be following this up with another article by digging deeper into Shared Hosting in specific. Watch out!

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