It is of essence that you know what you are going into before you make a decision about getting a web host service provider. So you should first know what web hosting is.

What is web hosting?

After creating a website, the nest thing you will have to do is look for a medium whereby it will be uploaded on the internet. Your website is made up of files and folders; which contains audio files, video files and including typed documents just like you have it on your personal computer. But you website, will be hosted on a web server. A web server can be defined is a program that helps serves up web pages/web site contents when requested by a site visitor or client. The computers are of high specification and they are linked directly to the World Wide Web.

Through this medium, your web pages can be viewed as there is an internet connection link to the web server. It's in the web server that all the files and folders are stored. A web server can handle multiple views by internet users.

What does web space mean?

As discussed already, when you join a web hosting company, you will be giving an amount of space. This means that the web hosting company will give you a capacity for your site. Basically, the web hosting company gives about 50 MB size. This is usually more than enough for a website.

What is Bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the amount of information or data that you website can transmit to web users visiting your website. At times this can be a bit difficult to understand, but the basic requirement is usually about half a gigabyte (GB). You have to go after the chosen bandwidth known as bandwidth overage which will be charged at a premium rate.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a unique web address, some web host companies provide them free of charge and it costs around $7 - $12 per year. Example of a domain name is http://username.webhost.com, this is just the way it looks.

Do you need emails?

Most web hosting services provide an email service. This means that your web address can also be used as an email. This will look more professional than the usual free email service providers like Yahoo, Google or MSN, this kind of email accounts will be addressed to the free mail service provider. The web host service providers gives most times unlimited email accounts or limited, depends on the package you registered for.

Customer support

The web hosting firm should also provide its customers with 24/7 online technical support. This is very important because as time goes by, you will experience some problems.

The web host company should have a contact medium a way which its customers can contact them in case of problems or difficulty. Email, free-toll telephone are ways of contacting them.