Learning how to host a website
Learning how to host a website is simple contrary to popular belief. Many people find hosting a website a very complicated issue that requires technical knowhow however this is not the case. You do not need any technical knowhow on running servers to be able to host a website. It is possible to host a website by following simple steps which depend on the hosting options you want i.e. free web hosting, hosting your own website at home using your personal computer and lastly having a local host company host your website for you.
1. Free Web Hosting
You can choose to host your website for free. This option is however not recommendable most of the time because free hosting comes with more cons than pros thus it may not be favourable for you. For instance, free web hosting allows hosts offering the free hosting to add links and adverts on your website even without your consent. This basically means that you have no control over the kind of ads that are placed on your site.
Free hosting can also be very unreliable. This is because hosts offering the services have no obligation because they are not being paid for the services they are offering. By hosting your site for free, you are likely to suffer frequent downtime which can be costly for your website especially if it is a business website. If you are looking for a reliable web host, you should therefore avoid free web hosts because they are not as stable as regular hosts.
It is however important to note that there are exceptions when free web hosting may be ideal for you. For instance, if you have a simple website that is only being shared among friends and family, then a free host will be ideal for you. The only thing you need to watch out in this case is offensive ads.
2. Hosting your website at home from a your personal computer
This option is ideal if a free hosting is not an option for you. Hosting your website at home can prove to be a daunting task full of technical hurdles especially if you are not familiar with maintaining servers. If you are conversant with servers and computers, it is not as hard as it seems. Hosting your website at home from your computer for a person conversant with servers can be done by following the simplified steps below;
You need a high speed internet connection. You also need a host name for your internet connection. After setting up a host name, you need a static IP address for your computer. Once you have all this in place, you need to configure your router to forward connections to your web server which can be done by following readily available tutorials online. Once you have configured your router, you need a firewall to allow your web server to communicate. After you have all connections in place, you can use a web server program to test your server using your personal computer.
3. Using a local hosting company to host your website
If you are not conversant with servers i.e you can’t be able to host your website at home and you also don’t want free hosting, you can consider using a local hosting company. This is usually the best hosting option for many people. Local hosting companies offer you hosting services form their own servers or as resellers of larger company’s servers.
There are two potential issues associated with this approach. One is price and the other is technical support. The smaller the local hosting company is the higher the price and the lower the quality of technical support and vice versa. It is therefore advisable to do research on the available local hosting companies’ in order to ensure that you host your website with the best local host available. The best way of doing this is by looking online for customer reviews. If you find that a particular host has more negative than positive reviews, then it is always advisable to avoid such hosts.
In conclusion, you can host your website for free, at home using your PC or using a local host. You also do not need to know anything technical to host a website. The only thing you need to know is the above options to be able to weigh them and identify the best one for you. The question of how to host a website should thus not be difficult to address given the above options and steps.