The scope of hosting services varies widely and depends largely on the websites. People are often offered hosting services by the Internet Service providers free of cost or web page hosting services are purchased from professionals. It has been observed that hosting personal websites are always cheaper than hosting business websites. A professional hosting services provided by a company would include control panel for managing Web Server and installing scripts. There are several directories available over the internet that can be accessed for searching a service provider.
While selecting a hosting service provider, one has to carefully go through the services and packages that they are offering. Hosting service providers often offer discounts on packages which can be effective for those hunting for cheap services. Host Uptime is a big factor that has to be taken into consideration. Uptime refers to the total time the host is accessible through internet. If performance goals promised by the professionals are not met, the owner can ask for a refund or cut down of cost. These factors however depend on the company principles and hosting policies.
There are various types of web hosts such as:
* Dedicated hosting: When you have complete control of your website and the server that is dedicated hosting as it is available only to you.
* Managed hosting: When the user gets a separate server, for himself or herself but cannot access it independently, it is called managed hosting. Such servers are leased to clients.
* Virtual hosting: The server is separated as virtual servers. All the users feel that they are having a dedicated service but in actuality they are sharing the server with other users. The users have access to their own space.
* Free hosting: While this service is free to host a site, it is also accompanied by ads.
There are a few other types of hosting services such as grid, collocation, clustered, shared, and reseller web hosts.
The styles of service offered by all of the companies are usually general access plans. These packages include all of the services mentioned previously along with features like web design, email boxes, backup ability, billing information, content management and tech support for their customers.
You as a potential user should consider each host through several different parameters and make your decision based on these issues. The support provided, the amount of disk space available, Uptime, limits on bandwidth, SSL (secured socket layer) are a few of the most important needs to consider. A list of the top 5 web hosts are listed below based on these qualifications:
Top 5 hosting companies are mentioned below:
1. Hostmonster- Hostmonster has provided solutions on a large scale to its customers from 1996. They have a wide reputation for quality service at a cheap price. Their reliable backups and security give considerable comfort to their clients. Visitors to the website are provided with a wide range of information on the company and the performance it offers its clients.
This company offers customers large number of hosting features which include:
* Customer domain name
* Data Storage service
* Secure email support
* Add-on domains
* Domain parking capability
* Advanced technology
* e-commerce features
* Multi-media ability
* Promotional
* bonus features
2. Inmotion hosting: This world-wide service provider has clients that span the globe. They are flexible and reliable and enjoy many praises from their customers. They have won the Top Business Host Award 2008 and are listed in the top 10 hosting companies. They have awards for all of their specific services in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008. They have served the internet community since 2001 with dedication and diligence. They share a partnership with CNET as a certified service provider, the BBB, and as an SWsoft official partner. The services they provide include:
* Private Virtual server
* Dedicated server provisions
* Business hosting provisions
* Cheap personal web hosting
* Website management
3. Bluehost: This company is one of the top web hosts around and have been serving the internet community since 1996. Their high-quality service and reliable and wide-ranging Uptime are just a few of the many services this company offers. They have a superb server environment, easy to use control panel, quality security features and more for their customers. Their reliability is what their customers have come to depend on. Their clients benefit from their many services as much as they do.
Along with the basic services, Bluehost provides:
* Free plug-in scripts for your website including: a message forum, survey software, PHP nuke, moodle, and many more including Tikiwiki.
* A vast array of e-commerce features with shipping cart by Agora, a cube cart created shopping cart, password protection for their directories amongst others.
* Multimedia features and world class technology are also there in the list.
4. RackSpace Inc. : Rackspace is registered as Rackspace Ltd. In UK. The company started its operation in 1996 and since then there was no looking back. This company is known to be one of the top hosting services company based in Europe. Some of the large companies using there service include, Vue, Confused.com, OnSpeed, The Army, Renault. The Sunday Times included this company in the list of 2007 best companies’ award.
* Solutions for business of all sizes provided by
* Managed and green configuration service.
* Visualization
* Email access
* Email services
* Database services
* Storage backup
* Administration and reports
5. Godaddy.com: This is also ranked as one of the top rating hosting service providers. The services rendered by this company are simply authentic and flexible. This company also has a few awards in their list which signify their prominence in the competitive web hosting market. They lure clients with ample discounts that can always be of great help. The services rendered by this company are same as that of any other big web hosting company, but the specialty is the discounts and promotional offers.
A sample of the services offered by this company are:
* 20% discounts on packages
* Host server
* Easy to use site builders
* Easy to use Site Builders
* Reseller abilities
* Expanded websites
* Reseller services
About the author: Gregory Trune is a staff writer for WebHostingMadness.com and web hosting industry blogger. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews and ratings of the top web hosting companies each month.