Why do I need a Web Host and how to choose one

Congratulations, you've finally decided to start a website, now is the time to choose a good web hosting company to host your site on the World Wide Web. Before you can run your website, you'll need to find a domain name for your site that hasn't been already registered and taken by someone else. If you do not have a website name yet, click on the Domains tab at the top and find a suitable name for your new website. Once selected, click on the other tabs to find a good web hosting company that will work for you according to your needs. A professional hosting company is a good and realiable way to ensure that your website stays on the world wide web without any blackouts and is fast enough to keep visitors coming back. They have high-speed connections to the major telecommunications backbone systems and have diesel-powered generators to keep the servers running in case of power failure. All in all, a good hosting company is a good investment for your website.

Once you have found a hosting company that will work for you, you have to choose what type of hosting plan will work for you, or the scripts you may be running on your site. The most popular, and least expensive is alway going to be Unix Hosting. Unix, along with Linux, MySql, and PHP power some of the biggest websites in the world with a high rate of reliability. For many people, this will be the best route to follow. Another option is Windows hosting. This type of hosting runs on a Windows server and usually will cost more than a Unix plan. The other option is Cold Fusion hosting, and other than the fact that you are running some program that needs it, most likely you will not choose this option for your website.

Once your website grows into the thousands of visitors per month with thousands and thousands of pages and page-views, then you can look into a dedicated server or managed hosting to offer more features and a more robust service. Until then, a shared hosting plan will be adequate.