Web Host

Deciding to make money through the Internet is never easy, especially if you are starting your very own website from scratch. This may even frustrate you more if you encounter words that you have never heard before in your entire life. So it would greatly help if you familiarize yourself first with the most common terms in the web hosting world.

1. Web Server

A server is either an application (software) or a computer (hardware) that aids you in sharing content via the World Wide Web. Since it is not possible for you to hold your own server in your home due to the amount of electricity and high-speed Internet connection needed, web hosting companies are usually employed for this job.

2. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

An FTP account is needed so that you could effectively and easily upload content onto your website and users could download such content using their own computers. An FTP client, in particular, is an application that you utilize to transfer files from your personal computer to the web server that hosts your website.

3. Bandwidth

A bandwidth is the speed or the transmission capacity of the server as this exchanges information with your site’s visitors. It usually includes forms of data transfer, such as server to server transfer of data, Web page visit, upload of content and download of files.

4. Domain Name

This typically refers to your website’s name minus the ‘http’ part. So a domain name is basically the ‘yoursite.com’ reference.

5. Scripts

Scripts are usually applications that could be installed on the web server. They could be used by anyone, and it does not really matter where in the world one resides. Even if you are using an NZ Web server, you could still make use of blogging scripts that are found on helpful sites like WordPress. Without this predetermined scripts, you could just picture how difficult life would be if you manually start every detail, color, font and layout all in your own.

Whether the main purpose of your web server is to host Web pages, operate business programs or store data, changing web servers should not be done on a hasty manner. In general, there are a few factors you need to take into account prior to signing a contract with a different web hosting provider.

First of all, you must take note of the reasons why you are changing to a new web server provider. Since we are talking about the efficiency of your business here, you must ensure that the main reason of this particular change would not repeat itself with your next hosting provider.

An increased disk space or bandwidth, for instance, may be one of the things that you want your new web host to provide since your website is offering downloads of huge audio or video files. Due to the fact that online users become easily impatient with what they download online, you generally need to please them with a higher amount of bandwidth.

Nonetheless, if you do not research enough or if you did not keep in mind the main reasons why you are changing web servers in the first place, it is possible that you experience the same problem all over again or even suffer from worse technical issues ever than before. So ensure that you identify ALL the problems of your current hosting provider and determine if all of them could be addressed by your new web server.

Finally, it is vital that you verify if the software utilized by the web host provider is compatible to your own application. Just imagine the amount of time, effort and cash wasted because you did not confirm the compatibility of your software. For example, a web server that operates only with UNIX should not be considered if your website offers Windows-based features. After all, you do not want to lose the majority of your visitors and ultimately a big portion of your profits just because of a simple case of incompatibility.