If you are just beginning the process of finding a host for your website, you’ll probably be going through a steep learning curve when it comes to understanding all the jargon you need to know. To make things easier, we’ve put together a glossary of important website hosting tips that we think every website owner needs to know. We hope you find them useful.

1. Web Host

A web host, such as 4hostings, is a company that provides customers with the resources they need to broadcast their website over the internet. They provide the servers and software needed to achieve this and rent out space on those servers where clients can store their website files.

Web hosts also maintain their servers, keeping them up to date, optimized for best performance and secure from hackers and viruses. In addition, they also provide a range of other essential services, such as email hosting and backups.

2. Server

A server is a computer that is set up to deliver web pages to people’s browsers. It does this by using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to send the files needed to form a web page when someone clicks on a link or types an address in a browser. When you run a website, the files you use to create it are stored on a server so they can be accessed over the internet.

3. Linux Server

A Linux server is one which runs on Linux operating system software. Linux is the most common OS used on servers and most websites will be run on Linux servers. One of the reasons for its popularity is because Linux is compatible with many apps needed to run websites.

4. Windows Server

A Windows server runs on a Microsoft Windows operating system. Websites may need to use this type of server if they want to utilize some of the features of Windows. However, this means they might be restricted in some of the other website software they use too. Windows servers tend to be more expensive than Linux ones.

5. Shared hosting

Shared hosting is the most affordable hosting solution available to website owners and is ideal for small websites and personal blogs. It is called shared hosting because many different user accounts are hosted on the hard drive of one physical server and they share all the resources of that server, e.g., memory, CPU and bandwidth.

6. VPS hosting

The next step up from shared hosting, a VPS or Virtual Private Server is a single physical server on which several smaller, virtual servers have been created. Whilst you still share the underlying hardware with other users, your VPS is totally independent of the other VPS on the server. This means you have more resources at your disposal and much greater freedom over the software you can install and how you configure your virtual server.

7. Dedicated server hosting

When you purchase dedicated server hosting, you have an entire server for your own requirements and can install and run any application you need to run your business. You also have some choice over the hardware specification you need and how it is configured. Dedicated servers have very large storage space and offer massive resources. This makes them expensive to run. However, only those who run very big and busy websites will need a dedicated server.

8. Cloud hosting

Cloud hosting is where you run your website from the cloud. In other words, it is hosted on a virtual server which is housed on a network of physical servers rather than on a single physical or virtual server. Cloud hosting, like dedicated hosting, is best for bigger websites. It is especially helpful for those websites that have to cope with large fluctuations in traffic and need capacity to scale up and scale down the resources they need. Cloud lets website owners do this affordably by offering a pay as you go pricing option for using extended resources.

9. Domain name

A domain name is what most people refer to as the website name. 4hostings’s domain name is 4hostings.com. Domain names are a combination of two elements: the actual name ‘4hostings’ and the extension, ‘.com’. Provided the name you want has not already been registered, you can use virtually any name you wish (there are some exceptions).

As for extensions, there is now a wide range to choose from. These are used to help categories your website. For example, .com refers to a commercial business, .org is used by non-profit organizations, .edu is for education establishments, etc. You should choose the one that is most appropriate for your website.

10. URL

URL, which stands for ‘uniform resource locator’, is essentially a web address. This is what you click on or type into a search engine to open a web page in your browser. Each page, post and image on your website has its own URL. For example, our homepage address is   https://www.4hostings.com/, our blog address is http://blog.4hostings.com/

11. IP address

Besides having a URL address, all websites have an IP (Internet Protocol) address. This is a unique number (e.g. 91.103.208.163) that is assigned to a device on a network. A URL cannot be understood by a computer, so when someone types one in a browser, it points to an IP address that computers can understand.

12. Domain name server (DNS)

DNS is the abbreviation for ‘domain name servers’. It is the link between the URL and the IP address. When you click on or type in a URL, the DNS finds the server that hosts the website you are searching for so it can be displayed in your browser.

When you create your website, you will need to register your domain name. It makes things much easier if your domain registrar and your web host are the same company. However, it is possible to have them as separate entities.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ll find these twelve definitions useful in helping you understand some of the more technical aspects of setting up your website and choosing a web host.

If you are considering setting up a website and are looking for an affordable web hosting plan that comes with a range of useful features and 24/7 technical support, check out our range of hosting.

 

 What is Free Website Hosting?

As the name suggests, free website hosting is a free non-paid web hosting service. There are many web hosts who provide subdomains to anyone who want to make website. Some of such popular free web hosts include Blogger and WordPress. When you make your websites with these free website hosting services, your website gets such name as yoursite.blogspot.com and yoursite.wordpress.com. If you want to get a website with a domain name that doesn’t include any external site’s name. So you must buy domain and then get web hosting which is usually a paid service. However, there are many web hosting companies. They provides free web hosting with some or the other products/services that you buy from them.

Benefits of Free Website Hosting

There is this single biggest advantage of free website hosting and that is- it comes free without any cost. Now if you are amazed at why these free web hosting companies let you make a website free of cost then. You may rest assured that they do not make any loss in this business. When you make your free website with them, they use your websites to place advertisements, banners and other forms of advertising media to earn revenue.

Sometimes, the revenue from advertisement is shared with the owner of the website and sometimes it’s not. For example, when you get free web hosting from blogger and if you use their AdSense service. Then you get a share in the revenue generated from the advertisements that they place on your websites.  when you make a free website using WordPress, you do not have any control on the placement or revenue generated from your free hosted website. The situation is altogether different when you get website hosted through paid web hosting service.

 

Differences between Free and Paid Web Hosting

Here are some major differences between free and paid website hosting services. It will give you a better understanding about what is free web hosting service and whether it’s worth to opt for such free hosting for websites?

Advertisements on your website are controlled by the web hosting company that provides you with the free web hosting. It can use pop-ups, banners or any other advertisement on your site on which you do not have control. If also you have partial control, you may only decide what size of banner would be displayed where on your site. You won’t have control over what advertisement you will show on the website. If you avail paid web hosting.Then you have full control over your website and no outsider can decide anything for it.

Customer support is missing for free website hosting.  Something which comes free cannot be asked to come with value added services. If something goes wrong with your website, there’s no customer support for websites made with free hosting. On the other hand, paid web hosting services not only give technical support to the customers but they also provide them with help guides, tutorials etc.

Low bandwidth and lesser data transfer capacity makes free website hosting vulnerable to greater downtime. Whereas paid website hosting gives you optimum bandwidth and data transfer for maximum uptime. You also can’t upload more images or videos when using free web hosting service as you don’t get enough disk space.

 

 

 

One of the most important decisions in establishing an online presence is choosing a domain name. The right domain name for your website is important, for both your target audience and search engines.

Here are 10 tips to help you make a good domain name purchase.

1. Do your homework

A little bit of research can go a long way when buying a domain name. Browse available domains by keyword or domain name using Media Temple’s domain name search tool.

A popular domain may have more public resales. You can search by keyword, which helps provide the popularity of certain words in domain names.

2. Buy domains that are easy to type and remember

Even if you plan on optimizing the site for search engines, you still want a domain name that people can remember and type. Avoid odd spellings of words, multiple hyphens or other characters, numbers and so forth. Anyone hearing your name should know how to type it without you having to say things such as “the number 4” and “dash-dash.”

You should also avoid words that have more than one spelling if your visitors are likely to be confused and mistype the name. Alternately, you can buy both versions of the name and direct visitors from the one you like less to the preferred name. While you do want a short name (see below), don’t go for something so cryptic that people have a hard time remembering it. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool and you want to make it easy for people to tell their friends about your site.

3. Avoid slang terms

Try to avoid slang terms and instead pick a name that will still be meaningful in 10 years. This will also help your name be understood and remembered by non-native speakers. Whether or not you intend to do business internationally, this can help with your local audience as well.

4. Buy a domain that’s shorter rather than longer

The longer your domain name is, the harder it is for people to remember it and the more chance you have of someone misspelling one of the words. Most good single word domain names are long gone, but you can still avoid long domain names by getting a little creative. If you have a single word you really like that is not available, try adding an adjective or verb in front of it and seeing if those variations are available. Think of your domain name as part of your brand, and make sure it matches how you want people to think of you.

5. Stick with .com if you can

Most people assume a domain name ends in .com so if you buy a domain name with one of the other extensions (.net, .info, .org, etc.), you’ll have some extra work to get people to remember that your site has a different extension. Don’t automatically assume you should only buy domains with .com, though. Many sites have done quite well with other extensions.

6. Don’t buy trademarked domains

If your purpose in buying a trademarked term as a domain name is to try to confuse people, you’re opening yourself up to having a complaint filed against you and having to give up the domain name. Even if you’re not trying to create confusion, you’re likely to face some legal challenges by buying trademarked terms in your domain name.

7. Don’t buy a domain name that’s too similar to an existing site

Even if the term isn’t trademarked, don’t buy domains that are just a variation of another domain name. This means avoiding plurals if the singular is taken (mediatemple.net vs. mediatemples.net), hyphenating a phrase (media-temple.net), or adding “my” or some other preposition (mymediatemple.net). Alternately, you might consider buying these variations yourself and set them up so that if someone types one of the variations, they are redirected to your main site.

8. Hyphens are a mixed bag

Using hyphens to separate words in a domain name. It makes site easier to read and makes it somewhat easier for search engines to recognize the individual words. However, people often forget about the hyphens when they type domain names. If you do use hyphens in your name, don’t buy a domain with more than three hyphens. It’s just too messy.

9. Avoid numbers

Avoid having numbers in your domain name. People can get confused about whether the numbers is a digit (3) or a word (three). If you want a number in your domain name because there’s a number in your company name. For this reason, buy both versions (digit and word) and redirect one to the other. Be especially wary about using the number “0” in a domain name as people may see it as the letter “O.”

10. Check availability on social media sites

When you have a name picked out, go see if that word or phrase is available on social media sites. Social media like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and Tumblr. Even if you don’t plan on using social media right away, you’ll want to have the option when you’re ready, and it’s easiest if you can use the same phrase on each site.