A common
question:
I want to buy a dedicated web server, that will provide web services to other users, across the Internet. I want to be able to have people connect to it with my Public IP Address. I want to be able to type in an HTML code, and get it on to the Internet. Where can I buy a web server that can do this? I know that Apache software can do this, but I do not want to leave my computer on all the time.
Answer: It is not your fault you are confused. Finding a web host should not be so complicated. Web hosting is the heart of your online presence and can mean the success and failure for your business.
Before we answer your question, let us review the 7 qualities to look for in a good web hosting. An excellent hosting:
- has excellent support and rated at least A+ by Better Business Bureau (BBB)
, - gives more-than-enough diskspace,
- offers no limit on bandwidth,
- gives multiple add-on domains,
- has easy-to-use Site Builder with thousands of unique templates,
- has QuickInstall to quickly install apps like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OSCommerce, ZenCart and more
- can be easily upgraded to VPS or one of the best dedicated server plans if and when your business require.
To answer your question, more than 80% of experienced Webmasters recommend to try Hostgator. If you are building your first website and needs a hosting plan, experts usually highly recommend going with Hostgator because they are the best hosting and domain registrar around.
With more than 4 million websites hosted, a “Hostgator sucks” comment cannot be avoided. See the drawbacks of Hostgator in the section below. Objectively, HG has an amazingly long, 45 days money back guarantee so you have ample time to test them out. They are rated A+ by Better Business Bureau which shows their commitment to customer satisfaction. You also do not have to pay for the first month. You can just try their fully functional hosting service – you pay only $0.01 (you need to use the special coupon code). Do you know any other hosting company that can give you that kind of assurance? Anybody can grab an account from Hostgator for almost FREE.
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Hostgator Complaints
No web hosting service is perfect. Some complaints about Hostgator plans include:
- No free domain name included – but you can easily get a domain name from the best domain registrar such as Godaddy or Namecheap for $10 or less. Would you agree that a website is not complete without a domain name?
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If you are still not sure if HG is right for you, or you have specific query about anything at all, try the Live Chat at HG. They are fast and knowledgeable. Just ask and you shall receive.
I agree with the post above.
You could set up a server at home and run it, but as you say you don’t want to leave the computer on all the time, so finding a dedicated web server provider is probably a good choice.
If you’re just getting started (which is sounds like you are), there are some very affordable dedicated web hosting options available to you. I’ve seen them start from as little ast $60/month. Also, to keep costs to a minimum I would recommend a Virtual Private Server, commonly referred to as a VPS. They can often start from $20/month. VPS is basically a shared physical server, however it is completely segmented into smaller parts, so your account would act like it’s own separate server. Only use a VPS if the website(s) you’re going to be running won’t be receiving a large amount of traffic.
If you’re thinking about buying a dedicated server or a VPS, feel free to check out SevenL Networks, which is the company I work for.
Dedicated Web Server page – https://www.sevenl.net/dedicated-server
VPS Page – https://www.sevenl.net/virtual-private-servers-vps
Get any spare PC and build it your self. Apache running under Linux server will work reasonably well with even older machines.
However, watch out for hackers and such, they search for web servers all the time, so they can hack into them and turn them into remote spamming machines. If you have no idea about web servers, educate yourself about good secure firewalls first, then try to run a Linux based web server.
Firewalls:
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Firewall&origin=All&basedon=All&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active
Servers:
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu8.04-lts
Management tools (better security…)
http://www.ispconfig.org/
The simplest thing to do is to actually sign a server agreement with one of the big webhosting outfits like GoDaddy. If you want, the server can be dedicated to you, although it’s cheaper to share of course.
It’s more trouble to go buy a server yourself and then arrange for everything. You’d have to install all the software, manage it, etc. And you still have to get it up on the ‘net full-time, which means either signing a co-location agreement with an outfit like GoDaddy, or doing itself if you have a fixed IP assigned to you by your ISP.