What is required to get a website online?

A website is a collection of files and folders stored on the world wide web at a location online, like AlbanyAuction.com.

The Internet is huge, in fact there are literally billions of websites online, the way your website is located is by giving your website a domain name or an Internet address.

The place your website is located is much like owning or leasing a
small piece of Internet real-estate.

To get your website online you need two basic items.

1. A domain name or an address where your website may be found.

a small fee is paid to “reserve” your domain name each year, this fee varies from $35.00 yearly to less than $10.00 per year, there are a number of good alternative domain name registrars that offer a reliable service for around $9.00.

here are two that I use on a regular basis.

Godaddy.com

NameCheap.com

2. A hosting account , (Internet real-estate )

An account you rent or lease by the month or quarter, this is the place where you
put your website files and folders so that your website can be displayed on your visitors
computer.

A hosting account is an actual computer where your website will be stored.
The locations or Hubs, are usually located in large cities, like New-York or Atlanta or Los Angeles, these locations have hundreds of computers all hooked up to the Internet.

The monthly cost for a hosting account can vary from pennies a day to dollars a day.

In the end you get what you pay for.

There are some accounts that may be obtained for free, however the features and options you get from these free accounts makes it almost impossible to effectively use the account for anything.

There are also many low cost hosting accounts, you can find them on Ebay for next to nothing, consequently that is exactly what you get, almost nothing.

What makes for a good hosting account provider?

There are a number of service options available, one of the most important
considerations is how long it takes to load your web page on your visitors browser.

The longer amount of time this takes the less likely that your visitor will stay to see the next web-page, this is a problem many websites face.

You could pay anywhere from hundreds of dollars a month for a hosting account to pennies, the problem comes in when a hosting provider over sells the space they have for hosting web sites, there are ways to test a hosting provider to see what level of
service you can expect.

One method is to PING the account, below is an example of pinging.
this is from a host I recommend, Frogee.com

PING 216.67.225.254 (216.67.225.254): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 216.67.225.254: icmp_seq=0 ttl=51 time=51.863 ms

64 bytes from 216.67.225.254: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=45.032 ms

64 bytes from 216.67.225.254: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=51.594 ms

64 bytes from 216.67.225.254: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=43.635 ms

3.99 monthly

below is another ping from another host, the minimum cost for each host is included this is not an indication of the level of service you will receive from each host and you should consider your needs and budget before making any hosting decision.

PING inetrage.com (68.178.213.48): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 68.178.213.48: icmp_seq=0 ttl=50 time=67.886 ms

64 bytes from 68.178.213.48: icmp_seq=1 ttl=50 time=80.536 ms

64 bytes from 68.178.213.48: icmp_seq=2 ttl=50 time=90.899 ms

64 bytes from 68.178.213.48: icmp_seq=3 ttl=50 time=84.212 ms

64 bytes from 68.178.213.48: icmp_seq=4 ttl=50 time=70.801 ms

4.95 monthly

--- inetrage.com

Down Time,

this is the amount of time the host is “off-line” or not available.

Naturally you want your web page available all the time, however even with the most expensive hosts you will have some down time, there is nothing more frustrating for a website visitor than to go to a web page and find that it is not online.

This is one reason you will want to have the best hosting account your budget can
comfortably afford.

Features and options

When choosing a quality hosting account there are a number of options that you will want to consider, so many in fact that it can be a real task to find the best options at a reasonable price.

Types of hosting servers

There are many different types of hosting servers.

Unix, Linux, Red Hat, as well as windows and many more.

The control panel is perhaps one of the most important considerations, this is the area where the user interacts with the computer.

I recommend C panel since this is the easiest method of accessing an online server, however it is important to consider the level of service you get with your account.

All C panel are not created equally, C panel is a Platform that runs on a web server, this allows the average person to control and upload information to a web server, however each panel is set up by the hosting company and may not run the same way.

Over the last 10 years I have owned and operated several websites on many different hosting accounts, some were better than others, and some were just a waste of time and money, some start out fine but later develop may technical problems.

I have yet to find the perfect hosting account, however the most important part of choosing a good hosting account provider is to find an account provider that will allow you to grow as your website grows, this allows you to start out on the minimum account and move up to a better more functional account as your need for resources increases.

This is sometimes easier said than done, with C panel, it is much easier, but be sure to ask you provider how easy or hard it will be to upgrade your account and if there is a charge to upgrade, (some providers may charge a fee for this, most do not)

You will want to find out if they charge a fee, if they do I recommend to choose someone that does not charge a fee for upgrading, as well anyone who charges a “set up” fee is also to be avoided.

As well there are database issues to consider, if you plan on running a program that
requires a MySQL data base, some providers charge a fee to have a MySQL database, available, if this is the case avoid that provider at all costs, why? the reason is simple, the cost associated with using MySQL is minimal, anyone that charges a fee to rent a MySQL data base, is not the kind of web host you want.

Consider your choice with care, as it is usually a pain to switch servers later, since many times you will have to change your website to reflect the way it functions on your new host, always do as much research as you can to determine the best choice.