Web Hosting Guide

Anyone who intends to have a web presence will benefit from their own personal web hosting. Rather than relying on social networking sites, web hosting gives you all the tools you need to build a proper web presence.

Many web hosting companies exist specifically to help people new to using web hosting and building web pages while others have enough utility that they will work. When considering web hosting for your own personal project, finding a company that is user friendly and offers features that you will use as well as those that you may need in the future are important.

Templates

Many people who choose to build their own web site do not do so from scratch and most web hosting companies that cater to personal web hosting know this. Often times, they will include a group of decent looking templates as part of their web hosting package. On top of providing the templates, there is a template editor included to customize the web page. That customization may be as simple as adding text or as detailed as keeping the format but changing layout colors and adding custom graphics.

In some cases, basic templates may be supplied as part of a basic package and more detailed or fancier templates are offered as an add-on item that costs extra.

The allure of using a web hosting company's templates, even if they are limited, is that they are far easier to publish for the novice compared to creating a web page from scratch or using and modifying templates and then uploading them.

Some companies provide walk-throughs for how to do this, however other companies leave the user in the cold to a certain extent, requiring a third-party FTP program rather than allowing for the upload of web pages through the web hosting control panel.

However, the templates offered by many web hosting providers look so much like templates that most people will wish to have their personal web space look more customized and more like "their" personality.

Setup Support and Technical Support

Web hosting companies that focus on personal pages are, in general, aware that their customer base is going to be less technically inclined than the person tasked with securing and using web hosting for even the smallest of businesses. Because of this, they often offer extra support, especially during the beginning of the contract.

There are companies out there that will help setup someone's personal web page as part of their package or will charge a nominal fee to do so. Other people will simply pay for the web page to be created and will have the creator deal with getting it onto their personal web hosting account then do the maintenance work themselves.

Technical support for personal web hosting is also important. While uptime may not be the utmost priority for the person simply wanting their own home on the internet, getting quick responses to their questions and problems is. If an installed application, such as a calendar, or their email server stops working properly, this type of user is going to need assistance fixing what is broken more often than a web hosting expert who is used to tweaking applications and looking through email server logs to root out problems.

Finding a web hosting company with excellent customer support, even if the hosting costs more is incredibly important for the person needing web hosting but has little experience with server-side applications.

Applications

There are some common applications and features that anyone looking to host a web site would want and while better versed users know about them or know how to have them installed, the person seeking web hosting should focus on web hosts that offer these applications as part of their available services.

For example, WordPress is a free and incredibly commonly used blog authoring tool, as well as a way to setup dynamic web pages that are easier for the average person to edit and maintain after the fact. Of any single application, it is both the most useful and easy to use on a daily basis and should be one to make sure is at least available with any web hosting package. Mail servers, too, vary in flexibility and available options so finding a web hosting company with top notch mail server technology will become an important thing to consider.

Finally, there are other applications such as dynamic calendars, storefront applications and more that, while they may not ever be used, should be looked at as something that might be convenient in the future.

A person that creates a blog site today may end up selling t-shirts and other merchandise in a couple years because their blog becomes so popular. Having the technology available from their web hosting company to adjust to the ever changing needs of the client ensures that the client remains happy with their web hosting company and also maximizes their return of investment for web hosting.