So you’ve registered your domain name and now you’re ready for hosting. What kind of web hosting company should you choose? The basic web hosting types are:
Shared Web Hosting (Free)
Free hosts offer few features and usually insert advertising on your pages.
Shared Web Hosting
This is the most popular type of hosting. Your web site is located on a server that hosts many other sites. This is the best option for your portfolio site. Good, reliable hosts can be found for well under $10/mo.
Dedicated Web Hosting (Managed)
Managed hosts are for sites that require lots of resources and bandwidth. These hosting packages include customer support and server administration is usually taken care of by the hosting company.
Dedicated Web Hosting (Unmanaged)
Similar to a managed setup, except server administration is left to the customer and there is little to no technical support.
Co-located Server
The most expensive option, co-located hosting is when your own server is physically hosted in an ISP datacenter. Since the server is yours, you are responsible for all hardware, software, and maintenance.
Web Hosting Contracts
For each of these web hosting types, billing can usually be setup month-to-month, semi-annual, or annually. Annual contracts are the cheapest and usually have no setup fee. Be sure you are confident in the web hosting company before you sign an annual contract. Once you sign, you will be locked in with them, even if you are unhappy with their web hosting service.
There are thousands of web hosting companies out there (and many levels of quality). How can you tell which ones are reliable, have good technical support, and are solid performers? Ask your friends who they use. Find out which web hosting company other artists are happy with. Spend a little time doing research to see how other people rate them.
Here are some features to look for in a web hosting company:
* Free domains – some hosts offer free domain names when you sign up with them.
* Tools – Control panel, visitor stats, webpage builders, gallery scripts, etc.
* Email accounts – Important for obvious reasons.
* Disk space – 500mb to 1,000mb is more than enough, as long as you don’t store lots of high resolution artwork.
* Bandwidth – 25gb to 100gb. Unless you offer large file downloads on your site, 25gb will be more than enough for a portfolio site. If you expect tons of visitors, play it safe and go with 50-100gb. Exceeding your bandwidth limit can be expensive.
* Site backups – If the server crashes or gets hacked, it is important that the host has recent backups. Make sure your web hosting company does daily or weekly data backups. Of course, you should always keep a copy of your website on your own computer.
* Scalability / Upgrades – Think about your future needs. Does your web hosting company offer you the ability to upgrade your web hosting package?
* Database support – Having access to a database is important if you plan to install gallery scripts, forums, blog software, polls, shopping carts, etc.
