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How to create a hosting account

Here are the five steps to host a website with a hosting service provider.

  1. Decide which types of website you are building
  2. Compare web hosting types
  3. Select web hosting providers and plans
  4. Purchase a domain and web hosting plan
  5. Create or move your site to the server

Using a service provider is the simplest way of hosting a website. You can pay a small monthly fee and rely on the service provider to take care of all your equipment, infrastructure, and other associated needs.

Advantages

  • Usually cheaper
  • Support is often readily available
  • No need for hardware maintenance
  • Higher reliability

Disadvantages

  • May be some service restrictions
  • Fewer choices in hosting locations

1. Decide which type of website you are building

There are two main types of websites; static and dynamic.

Simple static websites can be built using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) application and then transferred over to the hosting account.

Dynamic sites are mainly application-driven and make use of scripts, databases, and other tools to generate some portions of the site on the fly. WordPress and Joomla are examples of common Content Management System (CMS) apps that are popular today. Others such as Magento and PrestaShop are used for eCommerce websites.

Hostinger Pricing 2022
Your web host selection depends on the type of website you are building. A budget web host like Hostinger ($1.99/mo) would be sufficient for a simple static website; whereas dynamic sites will require more server resources.

2. Compare Web Hosting Types

What is a web hosting?

A web hosting is a computer where people store their websites. Think of it as a house where you store all your stuffs; but instead of storing your clothes and furniture, you store computer files (HTML, documents, images, videos, etc) in a web host.

Much like there are many different categories of cars, website hosting also comes in various flavors. For example, shared hosting is the cheapest and easiest to manage – they are akin to the compact cars of the world.

As the type of web hosting scales up, so too does the cost involved and often the complexity of managing the hosting account. For example, in VPS hosting you would need to manage not just the hosting details but also environment that it is being hosted in.

Three types of web host

In a nutshell, the most common types of hosting are

  • Shared Hosting
  • VPS/Cloud hosting
  • Dedicated Server Hosting

Shared vs Virtual Private / Cloud vs Dedicated Server Hosting

In terms of performance and management, each web hosting type also has their own pros and cons so choose yours accordingly.

Shared Web Hosting
Shared Hosting is often cheap and easy to manage but does not come with advanced controls and is not able to handle high volumes of traffic. You can get shared hosting services from A2 HostingHostingerGreenGeeks
VPS Web Hosting
VPS / Cloud Hosting is more expensive and very versatile. Users can install almost anything they will need on these accounts and be able to cope with varying volumes of traffic depending on how much resources are paid for. You can get VPS or Cloud hosting services from Digital OceanInterserverInMotion Hosting.
Dedicated Web Hosting
Dedicated Servers are the most complex to manage and cost the most. They are very powerful and can be managed right down to the hardware level by administrators. AltusHostInMotion Hosting, and TMD Hosting provide dedicated hosting services.

What is WordPress Hosting? Or Prestashop / Magento / WooCommerce Hosting?

It’s important to know that web applications and web hosting are not the same thing.

Some web hosts offer plans such as WordPress Hosting, PrestaShop Hosting, WooCommerce Hosting, and so on. These are not really hosting types, but intended to attract laymen who may not be familiar with real web hosting terms. These hosting offers merely entice users with the names of popular web applications.

For example, not many people might know the difference in hosting types, but many will recognize the term ‘WordPress’.

The type of web hosting you will need is typically defined by:

  1. The volume of traffic you expect on your website, or
  2. Any specific needs your website might have.

Most websites which are just starting out will typically have low traffic volume (i.e. few visitors) and shared hosting accounts will be fine for those. Most shared accounts will also come with application installers (such as Softaculous), but to ensure that your needs are met, ask the host if the application you want can be installed on the account you’re looking at.

3. Choose and Purchase a Web Hosting Plan

Even within hosting types, service providers often have a variety of plans available. The key difference in these plans often lie in the amount of resources that each gets. The more resources your site has, the more visitors it can handle.

When it comes to resources on web hosting, we are typically referring to three core items – processor (CPU), memory (RAM), and storage (HDD or SSD). These however do not always translate to good performance of a web host.

In the past there hasn’t been an easy way to gauge the performance of a web host. Most users had to rely on reviews which unfortunately, normally only take snapshots of a host’s performance and seldom update that. To get past this, try using HostScore, a site which constantly rates the performance of web hosts based on ongoing data collection. This means that their web host performance assessments are much more accurate.

Also keep a look out for value added features such as free SSL, domain name, advertising credits, an included website builder, or other items which can help you build or market your site.

A2 Hosting Pricing 2022
Some web hosts also offer other advantages on more expensive plans such as special optimizations or enhancements. A good example of this are the shared hosting plans on A2 Hosting. The most expensive plan on that series come 20X ‘Turbo’ speeds.
Hostpapa Welcome Email
Usually right after you purchased a web host, you will receive a welcome email with details on your login credential and name server. Keep this email in safe – you’ll need the information to configure your domain and login to your server control panel. Screenshot showing my welcome email from HostPapa.

After testing and reviewing more than 60 hosting services in the past, I was able to narrow down some best hosting options for different use-cases. Check them out at:

4. Purchase Domain

What is a domain name?

Where your web hosting is the actual space your website files sit on, you need a domain name so that users can access your site. The domain name acts like your address on the WWW. Like real addresses, each is unique.

Domain name is not something physical that you can touch or see. It is a string of characters that give your website an identity (yes, a name, like human and businesses). Examples of domain name: Google.com, Alexa.com, Linux.org, eLearningEuropa.info, as well as Yahoo.co.uk.

What is sub domain? What is TLD? What is domain name?
Domain Name explained.

How to own a domain name?

To own your own domain, you will need to register your domain with a registrar.

Many web hosting plans today will come with a free domain name, so make sure to check if that is applicable with the web hosting you intend to buy. If so, you can take care of the domain name at the same time as when you pay for your web hosting plan.

If not, you’ll need to buy a domain name separately. This can be done either from the same place that you bought the hosting plan or other service provider. If you need to buy the domain name separately, I highly recommend you look elsewhere.

Domain names are not fixed price items and often go on sale. Some providers often have cheap sales on domain names and if you’re lucky you can pick one up for a steal. Namecheap for example often had domain names on offer at up to 98% off.

The exception to this is if you are a first time site owner. In that case, buying a domain name and hosting from the same service provider might make things easier for you to work with as a beginner.

5. Move / Create Your Website to Server

Free website migration support - example.
Example: To initiate a website transfer at GreenGeeks, login to your user dashboard > My Services > Site Migration Request > Select a Service.

Once your domain name and web hosting plan is ready it’s time for migration. Site migration can be complex, so if you’re doing this for the first time, ask for help from your new host. Some web hosting companies offer free site migrations.

If you have built your website locally (on your own computer) then simply transfer our files onto your web server. To do this you can either make use of the File Manager in your web hosting control panel or make the transfer using an FTP client.

The process is similar to copying files from one place to another on your own computer.

How to Host a Site Locally

Hosting a website locally means that you’re in essence using your own location to set up a web server from scratch. This means that you are responsible for everything from the hardware and software all the way to bandwidth provision and other infrastructure needs.

Advantages

  • Extreme control over your hosting environment
  • Potential for faster service turnaround times
  • Your choice of equipment and service providers

Disadvantages

  • Can be very expensive
  • Not always possible in residential environments

Hosting a website in a local server is complex and can be very expensive. It is also often less reliable than hosting with a service provider. If you insist, here are the three steps to follow:

  1. Select equipment and software to build your server
  2. Ensure sufficient bandwidth
  3. Create and deploy your website to your local server

1. Select Equipment and Software

hosting a website at your own server
Sample of a HP SMB Server (source)

Basic server hardware can be very similar to the hardware on your own PC with some slight differences. In fact, technically, you could take your own PC (or even laptop) and turn it into a home web server if you really wanted to.

The key difference is in how reliable you want your web server to be and the visitor volume it can handle. As with service providers, you will need to keep an eye on processor, memory, and storage space.

If you opt for high-end server equipment such as rack server, you will also need to ensure that the specialized needs of this equipment is met. This includes in space, cooling, and power.

If you need the service to be more reliable you will also need to consider redundancy in hardware. For example, running your storage drives in RAID, plus active mirroring of backups onto additional drives.

Your other infrastructure equipment such as routers and modems will also need to be able to handle high loads of traffic.

For software, aside from your operating system you will need to also focus on your web server platform (at the moment, Apache and Nginx are the most popular on the market). This also means that you need to be responsible for not just configuring the software, but also for licensing.

2. Ensure Sufficient Bandwidth

Internet bandwidth is also vital to running your own server. In many cases, most of us are fine with standard Internet bandwidth since we’re using limited connections to the Internet. Imagine if 30 people were trying to use your home Internet at the same time – that, and perhaps more, is what you might be looking to support.

What also needs to be taken into consideration is your IP address. Most home Internet plans come with dynamic IPs assigned. In order to run a web server, you need a static IP. This can either be handled by a service provider such as DynDNS or by buying the service from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Learn to calculate bandwidth you need

3. Develop and Deploy Website

The next part is similar to the experience of using a web hosting provider, except that you don’t get any support. Your web files need to be moved onto your web host in order for your site to start functioning.

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