So you are a business owner who wants to get started with a web hosting site. But do you know the basics of hosting? Do you know how to begin a hosting plan?
Many small to medium sized business don't know about hosting and its elements. But there are a few terms you should know before contacting a web site host about a hosting plan.
Key Terms for Your Hosting Site
Web Host: The web host is exactly that--they "host" or set up your hosting for your website. They set up your domain name and determine how it will be accessed by. Web hosts are a key part of your hosting plan. A good hosting professional should be able to answer all your questions about your hosting plan, especially if this is your first website. They will offer technical support if your website goes down. Make sure you contact the web host you are using for your hosting site before you sign up with a company. This way you will know what their response time is and you can evaluate their service before you spend money on your hosting site. Send the web host an email and see how they respond.
Disk Space: All PC's have a hard drive that has a certain amount of disk space. It is the same with a hosting a website. The company that evaluates your hosting site will give your website a certain amount of space. This is usually measure in megabytes (MB) or in gigabytes (GB).
Bandwidth: Like disk space determines how much space you have on your website, bandwidth determines the amount of date you can retrieve from your site. Your hosting site provider will tell you how much date you can retrieve during a bandwidth period. Usually the bandwidth period is a month, and then the bandwidth is reset. Like disk space, bandwidth is measured in megabytes and gigabytes. Make sure you talk to your front page hosting provider about the amount of bandwidth on your package before you make a purchase.
Domain Name: This is how you or your company identifies itself on the Internet. It is what your potential customer will type in to get to your web page. Many providers that evaluate hosting plans will offer businesses free domain names. Others who offer hosting sites will charge a small fee.
SQL (MySQL, SQL Server etc.): This structured query language, or in layman's terms, it is how you retrieve information and store information in your databases. Your web host that evaluates your hosting plan can explain this to you.
HTTP: This is known as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is how web pages are transferred from your hosting site. Some computer professionals say this is how the Internet works.
HTML: This is known as Hyper Text Markup Language. This is the language you will use to design your website. This is an important part of your hosting plan.