Do you ever ask yourself, do I even need a space of my own in the Internet? Well, it depends. No one could give you an exact answer, perhaps the space would allow you to share your vacation to Hawaii, your Grandma's special Fried Chicken Recipe (yummy!) or even a platform for you to start your business.
Less Word and Let's starts !
Less Word and Let's starts !
Type of Web Hosting
When you ask me what do you need to start up your own website? Basically you will need a hosting plan, there are huge selection of hosting provider around the world. You would not want to pick up a provider that is very far away from your location your main audience or visitors. Let's say you are based in Singapore and you will know most of your visitor will be from Singapore, then you might as well start looking for provider based in Singapore.
Of course, there are few factors to be considered as well :
- Price
Yes, pricing is a huge factor in selecting your preferred web hosting provider. Hint: Do not pick the cheapest you can find out there, it is not always the most value for money. Instead, start looking at your own budget, how much are you going to spend to start up your own website. Then start choosing the one you can afford and find the one that best suit your need. There is no need to spend extra to buy more resources you don't need anyway, you will never noticed how much you have wasted if you have not utilize these resources. Get a minimal plan that fulfill your needs, that will be sufficient and you also saves your money ($$).
Remember: You will always have the chance to upgrade your server / hosting plan through special upselling offers or promotion. My advice, never take something that you will never utilize it all.
Pricing for hosting plan can range from 2 digits to 4 digits, so choose wisely and be wise.
Remember: You will always have the chance to upgrade your server / hosting plan through special upselling offers or promotion. My advice, never take something that you will never utilize it all.
Pricing for hosting plan can range from 2 digits to 4 digits, so choose wisely and be wise.
- Type of Hosting Plan
When you start picking up plans, you will noticed that there are so many terms out there stating their different type of servers. For instances, you will see the common 'Shared Hosting', VPS, Dedicated Server and blah blah blah. There are so many terms out there all stating to one thing, yes a hosting plan. Why make yourself confuse, remember if you have just start up you would even thinking of choosing any other than 'Shared Hosting'. They are the cheapest and the easiest to setup and use, you will need like near zero knowledge in web hosting to start it up.
Extra : Shared Hosting is basically an apartment (server) which holds up a numbers of residents (users) in it. One server will usually holds up to few hundred of client sharing on the same resources. Do not misunderstand how would it server so much at once, it will do not worry. Server are computers, they know how to manage resources well.
- Operating System
Windows 10, Windows 8, Mac OS .....
No stop, it is not the type of Operating System I am telling. The server you have choose does runs on major operating system we know today. The most common one would be Linux and Microsoft Windows. They both are basically offered by almost all hosting provider today, take note that both of the operating system does work differently so you will need to understand some basic knowledge which I will explains next.
- Website Files
All the website you see today are actually files running from a server in somewhere you would not need to know. These files are stored inside the server, so imagine whenever you type in some website such as : www.thefastest.website your computer will actually asks for the file from the server because these website are never existed first place in your computer. They will go through the vast web of Internet and eventually reaches the server. The server will then serve them the thing you would want to see which is the website. Then it all goes backward again to your computer and shows it in your screen. It all can be done in milliseconds or even in a blink of your eye, awesome right the power of Internet.
Majority of website now runs on PHP or HTML. These 2 are the most common one used by websites and they are also the one that is always preferred by the web hosting server today. So if you have a website developer and remember to ask them, is the website in PHP and HTML? If yes, then you may proceed with almost any web hosting plan you likes.
In some cases, there are website that actually runs on some special file type such as ASP, COLDFUSION and etc. You know you will have some basic knowledge if you are handling these file. They will usually required specific platform to operates and work, so pick the one plan that supports it. Remember to always ask before you proceed if you have an existing website or website files that are ready, asking is free but once you paid you might get a refund but the process will be lengthy and troublesome just like going to a fashion retailer and expecting a refund.
- Database
Majority of the website today do not run in static content anymore. Imagine static contents are just like poster or billboard, they will never change unless you remove them and place a new one there, that is why they are called static content. There used to be a time in the early Internet eras where almost all the website are running on static content and yes it does serve its purpose of displaying the content to the visitor but would it be sufficient if you are expecting your content to be changed dynamically like major online retailer E-bay?
That is where Database kicks in, you create marvels when you start putting in website files and database together. Imagine your website and running for business and have more than 1000 products for sale, you will then have 1000 static content files to be placed in the server. One day, you want to change the price of the product then you will have to go through all the files one by one to locate it if you have not done any proper documentation.
Database allows you to remove this problem, majority of website today does run with database because it makes the whole process of managing and maintaining the website to be much easier and much efficient. Furthermore, who would not want a simple page that shows all your products at once and then typing a keyword to search it and the modify it. All can be done in a few second.
The most common type of database engine used by website today is MySQL and MSSQL. They both will wounds alien to you but they are just the name of database engine and most of the website owner will need not to understand it at all unless you are the administrator.
* MySQL is the more common one and it is free
* MySQL is the more common one and it is free
* MSSQL is a Microsoft proprietary database engine and it is not free
Part 1 will ends here
Stay tuned for Part II
Stay tuned for Part II
We will cover more on starting up your first website and introducing the 'CONTROL PANEL' of web hosting in Part II.
Thank You.
