Question about Web Hosting

As an instructor of Web Site Design, I often get emailed by students wanting some tips on getting started with a website. Whether they should get a host or build their own server. With so many options on hosting, which should they choose. I decided to post my response here so I could give students a concise answer to the topic.

First I would suggest always going with a hosting service because of their in the business of keeping the server up and running. Whereas if you host at home one trip of the plug or power outage will bring your site down. Also, this way you always have a backup somewhere else, if say your computer gets stolen or crashes.As for hosting services, there are a lot of options. I recently came across this article on hosting services that you may find useful http://www.consumer-rankings.com/hosting/

Personally, I use Media Temple (mediatemple.net) which is also what I’ve had the department purchase for our web courses. Media Temple sells servers space as opposed to hosting. Most hosting space is for a single site, while server space allows you to host multiple sites. On my personal account, I use the smallest package which allows me to host up to 100 websites, while our school account allows for more than that and is set up as a hosting resell (meaning you sell hosting space on your server).

If you plan on making money on building websites then servers space is the way to go. For example, my personal account monthly cost is $20 a month, thus if I can at least get 4 client websites hosted at $5 a month each, then I’ll break even if I have more clients I get a profit (each month). Really up to you, $20 a month might be too much if you just want to play around since there are other sites that offer domain and hosting at a much smaller monthly fee.