Hosting & Domain Names

This Page's Contents

Introduction

Domain names

Dedicated Hosting

Shared Hosting

Host Choosing Checklist

Paid Hosts

Adult Site Hosts

Hosting Services

Introduction - Hosting - Host - Web Site - Web Pages

In order to put a web page onto the World Wide Web (WWW) you require the services of other companies.

• An Internet service provider (ISP), to connect you to the Internet
• A Web hosting company i.e. a Host. A hosting company Hosts your web pages on it's servers. This is where your web site is stored and is available for viewing via the World Wide Web (WWW). Your web pages are viewed by users using a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and many others

Your Web Site will also require a name. If you use your ISP as a host or a free Web host, then the name may be incorporated into the hosts URL which may be suitable for a personnel website but not suitable for a professional site.

A professional site will need to obtain a Domain Name.

Domain Names

What is a Domain Name

A Domain Name is the name of a website. This Site's Domain Name is tutorials4u.com. Some of the worlds most popular web sites domain names are Google.com , youtube.com, facebook.com, ebay.com

Some more domain name examples

tutorials4u.com

leeds-uk.com

malta-info.co.uk

malta-info.com

and the URL for these sites are

http://tutorials4u.com

http://www.leeds-uk.com

http://malta-info.co.uk

http://malta-info.com

Note that malta-info.co.uk & malta-info.com are 2 different web sites and owned by different people or companies. Often some companies buy all the the different extensions to prevent there use by other companies. Google & ebay are excellent examples of this but they also use these these different extensions to provide country relevant results.

A domain name should be short and snappy, go.com is a fine example. Unfortunately most of the short snappy domain names have been already been used.

When I registered leeds-uk leeds.com and cityofleeds.com had already been registered.

Domain names have an extension. The common ones .com, and .co.uk, will be familiar with, but there are many others. The cost of domains varies according to the extension, and the company you obtain the name from. Most Web hosting services can obtain a domain name for you. Prices are usually between £5 - £20 pound a year. You may have to register for 2 years.

For your convenience you can either check on the availability or order your domain name from either of the 3 links below. I suggest that you purchase a suitable name before somebody else buys it.

Domain name Extensions

.com is the most popular

.co.uk Good if the user i.e. the viewer is from the United Kingdom. Most counties have there own extension.

.co The country of Colombia

.eu  European Union

.net

.org. Should be used by non profit organisations.

.tv

.adult For adult websites

.gov is a reserved extensions used by governments

.ac is a reserved extensions used by academic establishments such as universities & colleges

List of Internet top-level domains

Obtaining a Domain name

Anybody can obtain a domain name you do not have to be company or business.

The majority of Hosting companies can obtain and register a Domain name for you.

• It is less complicated if you obtain your web hosing & your domain name from the same supplier.
• If you think up a good domain name that is still available it is a good idea to obtain register the name as soon as possible.

To obtain a domain name Select one of our Hosting Sites

Web hosting

A Web host is a company that stores its customers Web pages on their Web Servers. The customer is given a password so that the web pages either, new or amended, for that customer can be uploaded. Although it is possible to host on your own computer, requiring a fair amount of expertise. The majority of people use the services of an hosting company.

Paid Hosts

A paid host would be needed for large and e-commerce sites. It is much easier to use your own domain names, especially if the host obtains your Domain names.

Faster connections are usually obtained from paid hosts.

Dedicated Hosting

Although handled by the hosting company, the Web site has its own server. Giving the site webmaster (you) more control over the choice of operating system and the back end of the server. More expensive than shared hosting.

Shared Hosting

This is basic but economic Web hosting method and numerous Web sites share the server. Usually limited web space and the amount of traffic may make the site slow for the servers bandwidth. Most personal and small businesses use this type of free or economically priced method.

Host Choosing Checklist

• Does the host service accept commercial site.
• Can your hosting service provide more Web space and services as your site grows.
• Does the host provide a 24/7
• Does your host charge for data transfer.
• Time the server is up and running. A good time is essential for e-commerce. This is often quoted as a percentage of 24/7, e.g. 99.9%
• Quality of Customer service, are expensive premium/national/local/free telephone charges charged for telephone queries.
• Cost of transferring Domain names.

Adult Site Hosts

Most hosting companies do not allow adult web sites to be hosted on there servers. This should be stated in there TOS (Terms of Service). If it is not listed assume it is not allowed. The hosts that allow adult content usually make it quiet obvious that they do and generally charge higher fees.
If you wish to set up an adult site be aware that photographs use a lot of bandwidth. Many hosts only allow a certain amount of bandwidth to be used per day or month. Additional bandwidth has to be paid for, so what appears to be a reasonable monthly charge may not be when additional bandwidth is taken into account.

If you are a reseller of Web space and your host does not allow adult sites, you must ensure that your clients do not wish to run an adult Web site.

Hosting Sites

Any Prices and details are only given as a guide, please check details, and read online terms on the hosting site before signing.

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