♥ Princessa's Royal Diary ♥ - Royalty has never been so PINK!

Not too long ago (although most would consider 9 years reasonably long), I was a newcomer (noobish one if I may add) to the whole web hosting thingy, and I can clearly recall the utter confusion and frustration I felt at how inaccessible the whole process seemed.

For most beginners, especially those getting a bit of a late start, the seemingly endless lists of specialized, technical terms and different options available are almost enough to make a person wash their hands of the whole thing.

With all of the options available in the web hosting industry these days, it is understandable that hosting newcomers often find themselves lost and confused.

Before you decide to give up, it is important to understand that web hosting is not an inherently difficult venture, but actually a relatively easy one.

What is web hosting?

Think about the files and folders on your computer. A web page is basically a file, just like the ones in your computer. And like the files in your computer, they require a "computer" to store them as well.

The difference between the files in your computer and that of a website, is that they are generally intended to be seen by the public.

To enable this, the computer on which they must be stored must be of a much higher specification than your PC or notebook, and must be connected to the Internet 24/7 (if you want your website/blog to be up 24/7 that is).

A computer on which web pages are stored is called a web server. Collectively a bunch of web pages is a website, and collectively all the web pages in the world form the World Wide Web (WWW). And the job of making websites and web pages available to many users is called... Duh. Web hosting.

Why do I need web hosting?

It is, of course, technically possible to connect your PC to the Internet and have it serve pages. But it is not practical since generally a home Internet connection is not powerful enough to serve many users at the same time.

(And even if it is, most of us wanna make use of that Internet connection for other stuff like playing games to begin with.)

For this reason, web hosting companies exist.

Web hosting companies maintain powerful web servers which house your files. They're connect their web servers to the Internet by relatively powerful connections, enabling many web users to access your websites/blogs at the same time.

Thus, if you want to run a website you may want to consider web hosting because unless you've got unlimited funds you would not be able to afford the web servers and connections necessary.

Make sense? (Maybe, maybe not.)

Saving Face and... Money!

How your chosen web host looks after the server that hosts your website/blog will reflect on you as the owner of the website/blog.

If the website/blog is frequently unavailable due to unreliable servers, or such, this will give your users the impression that you don't really know what you're doing.

This is bad enough with personal websites, but is of particular concern if you run a virtual store, or have potential employers trying to view your online portfolio.

Wouldn't we all like to think that once our site's up and running, it'll always be available to everyone who wants to view it, whenever they want to?

But as we all know, this certainly isn't the case.

There will always be those times when a website/blog that you're trying to visit isn't available for whatsoever reason.

Unfortunately as it may be, that is the unpredictable nature of the Internet.

Service Level Guarantees

While undoubtedly some downtime will be beyond our control, we can reduce the risks if we (the website/blog owners) choose the host that is most suitable for the needs of the site.

Any host worth their salt should inform you of any scheduled downtime before it happens via email, which will allow you to make alternative plans should you need to.

But, of course, there's like no way to predict any unscheduled downtime.

For that, many hosts will offer an up-time guarantee that compensates you in some way for any downtime over and above that scheduled.

It's one thing to think that you're covered by these up-time guarantees, but quite another when you think you actually have a claim for compensation.

It may be an idea to keep both a print and an electronic copy of the Terms of Service and any other important documents from the day that you purchase a new hosting plan.

(You'll never know when you may need it.)

After all, problems may occur simply because you aren't able to monitor the site yourself 100% of the time.

There are, however, products and services that can carry out various tests to check whether your site is live. But even if you can prove that your site was unavailable to you for more than the agreed acceptable level, you should always check the small print: if the problem wasn't your host's fault, they may not need to pay up.

After all,

what you pay for is often less then what you get.

One thing to remember is that there is a host for every website/blog. And...

My perfect host could be your hosting nightmare!

A server that is well suited for one of your sites may slow down another. And there's no right host, so don't even try to visit and assess them all.

Remember, it's in your best interests to find the most suitable host set up for your website/blog that you can afford, otherwise you can easily get a reputation for being unreliable, unresponsive and uncaring.

So now, if you're looking for the best web hosting company... You might want to look at:

1. Host Monster - Cheap, Cpanel. and Knowledgeable tech support
2. Host Gator - Awesome reputation, know for being a great reseller hosting service
3. Yahoo Host - If branding means anything Yahoo is in a class of its own.

^{As quoted by Kaushal Sheth.}

But ultimately, there's never "the best" to begin with, just the most comfortable one to stick with.