Computer Sales and Support

How I Got My Start with Web Hosting

Posted on 27. Jun, 2009 by Jack Spencer in Web Hosting

I have been on the Internet for a well over 13 years. For those of you who understand the Internet and have been around long enough, that is a literal eternity. Whenever I first started on the Internet, I decided it would be a good idea for me to have my own website. Although things were a little bit different online in those days, there were many things that were similar.

At that particular time, there was only one place that you were able to buy a domain name and that was through networksolutions.com. A domain cost about $35, but now they are available in multiple places and many times you can get them for well under $10 each. I purchased the domain name without really knowing what to do with it and I needed to take a crash course on Web hosting. It was amazing how an enhanced my life.

Whenever I first got started hosting a website, I was on a shared server and it cost me roughly $20 per month in order to own the service. Being on a shared server is one of the most popular options that is available to those who are hosting a website. You have your own little bit of space that exist on a physical server but you’re also sharing the server itself with hundreds or perhaps even thousands of other websites. Shared servers have come down in price in recent years and it is possible for you to get a reliable service for under five dollars a month.

My business eventually grew and the traffic that I was receiving to my website grew along with it. I needed a more robust server in order to handle the traffic that was coming my way and for this, I decided on a VPS. This stands for virtual Private server, and it is simply a way of saying that you are still sharing a server but that you will have a much larger chunk of the resources that are available. Most of these types of servers are only split among six or eight people.

As my business continued to grow, I started to purchase additional server space at various locations. At times, I would start a new website on a shared server and host it there until I got enough traffic that it could support itself on a virtual Private server. I also started hosting multiple domain names on the same server, even though I made sure each one had its own individual IP address.

Eventually, my business grew to the point where I could get a dedicated server and host many of my busier websites on it. Having a dedicated server opened me up to even more traffic as I was able to use all of the server resources for my business.

Is it going to take you a little bit of time to understand Web hosting? Of course it is, but the time that you spend understanding hosting and choosing a proper web host is going to enhance your business in a number of different ways. Don’t rush through this decision, as it is going to be a decision that you need to live with for the long term.

Tags: dedicated hosting, hosting, internet, server space, servers, shared hosting, technology, Web Hosting, webmaster, website, websites