Website hosting services vary widely in their features and functions and depend greatly on their individual abilities. Often times a Internet Service provider will offer free web hosting to their clients. Many people, however, prefer to choose from the variety of professional hosting sites available online. There are statistics that show services provided to personal sites are cheaper than those offered to business websites. A professional web host will offer their clients user-friendly control panel access for site management and script installation. It is easy to locate the various hosting services using any of the web-based search engines.
It is important to carefully consider each web host provider for the various applications offered and the packages they provide. Some hosts offer values on particular packages for those seeking cheap and affordable hosting. One of the main considerations you need to be aware of no matter the cost of your new site is Uptime. This is the amount of time your host is available via internet connection. If your expectations based on promise of performance are not met you can request a refund in full, or in part for the inconveniences incurred. Your success will vary depending on the companys policies and their general principles under such circumstances.
There are various types of web hosts such as:
* Dedicated hosting: When the owner gets full rights on the server and has all the administrative accesses, it is called a dedicated server.
* Managed hosting: This is similar to dedicated hosting in that you get your own separate server, but the difference is that you cannot manage it yourself. This is a leased service.
* 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.
Other types of hosting include, Reseller web hosting, Shared web hosting service, Grid hosting, Colocation hosting and clustered hosting.
The most common type of service offered by web host companies is the general internet access plan. This package provides all of the services mentioned above as well as site design and email access, billing information available online, content management, technical information, and backup services.
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 - This web host service has been in existence since 1996. They have a reputation for providing great service at a low cost. Their backup system is secure and reliable their customers have a great sense of security. They provide a large amount of information on their use and procedure to give visitors a clear understanding of their performance.
This company offers customers large number of hosting features which include:
* Disc storage
* Domain name
* Email addresses
* Additional domains
* Domain parking
* World class technology
* e-commerce features
* multimedia ability
* site promotions
* web site promotions
2. Inmotion hosting: This is a web hosting company that is providing it services to clients all over the world. The flexibility and reliability of its services is praiseworthy. The company has won the Top Business Host Award 2008 and has been listed among the top 10 hosting companies. The company has been awarded for all its specific services in 2003, 2006, 2007 including 2008. Since 2001, the company has been serving its clients with dedication. The company shares partnership with CNET Certified Service provider, BBB reliability program and SWsoft official partner. Services rendered by the company include:
* Private Virtual server
* Virtual private servers available
* Business class provisions
* Cheap personal web hosting
* Website management capabilities
3. Bluehost: This is one of the top hosting companies that have been serving its client since 1996. High quality customer service and maximum uptime are just small parts of the huge range of services offered by the company. High quality server environment, control panel and security features add up to the services rendered by this company. The reliability offered by this company has provided beneficial over the time. Both company and its clients are benefited by the wide array of services.
Along with the basic services, Bluehost provides:
* Free website plug-in scripts like message forum, poll survey and software, moodle, PHP nuke, Tikiwiki and more.
* 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 a UK based company that began its service in 1996. They are registered as Rackspace LTD and are known to be one of Europes top web host servers. Amongst the many large businesses that use Rackspace are Vue, OnSpeed, Renault, and Confused.com. Rackspace was included in The Sunday Times list of 2007 best companies.
* Solutions for business of all sizes provided by
* Provides managed configuration and green configuration services
* Visualization
* Email access
* Email services
* Database provisions
* Visualization
* Administration and reporting
5. Godaddy: 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.
Godaddys features include:
* Exciting 20% discount on package deals
* Host server
* Hosting servers
* Functions for business and e-commerce
* Reseller abilities
* Privacy auction and
* Reseller ability
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Top 5 Hosting Companies
