Web hosting is a technology-rich service.  It is important that you have a basic understanding of the many different highly technical and somewhat confusing terms that come along with web hosting and web site building.  

You will most likely hear many of these terms sometime during the process of choosing a web hosting service and setting up your website.  Having some knowledge of the terms can help you  make sound decisions.

Secure server refers to how the data on your website is handled.  Secure servers encrypt the information before anything is transmitted, meaning that personal information is safe.  If you will be including online shopping on your website, then a secure server is a must. This will keep customer’s credit cards safe and keep you out of financial and legal trouble.

Many web-hosting services offer CGI Scripts.  Theses scripts are what create certain, already established tools that you may find useful.  Some of these items can include guest books, page counters, and forums.  Many of these scripts could come in handy, so make sure to investigate what is available from your web host.

JavaScript is a certain way of writing information to be included on a webpage.  It is used by designers to include interactive, sometimes called dynamic, elements to a web page.

Hypertext Markup Language is better known as HTML.  This refers to the actual language that a website is written in.  Your web browser then translates HTML into the actual, viewable page.

Domain name is simply the same thing as your web address.  A domain name has to be registered and unused elsewhere in order for you to use it.  You may want to look for a web hosting service that helps you locate and register your domain name.

FTP stands for file transfer protocol, and is a handy way of transferring large files through the Internet. Many web-hosting companies offer a certain number of FTP addresses that can be used to download and upload files.  Companies that have off-site employees may find this a useful service.

IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are specific numbers that each web connected computer include. Every computer or machine has a separate IP address that points specifically to it. This IP address is what allows you to access the Internet through your computer.

There may be other terms you hear that you may have to research, but the ones above are some of the most common words and phrases used in connection with web hosting and web sites.

 

If you are thinking about starting your business on a tight budget, one of the main things you need to do is to mark your presence on the internet using the most affordable tools.

So if your plan is to create a simple brochure site that gives information about your services, or you’re launching a full-blown e-commerce store, you’ll need a web host. For this, you need to find a good company that can give you the most out of your money. It today’s scenario where the economic marketplace is making it difficult for people to secure credit, affordable web hosting plans can be a life saver.

Web hosting service providers can help you create a matrix where you can effectively work, centralize your operations and streamline your processes. A good web hosting plan will offer benefits like plentiful disk storage, huge traffic allowance and user-friendly web site control panels using which you can build, publish and manage your web pages yourself. The Internet service providers rent space on their servers and allow visitors to access your web pages. To find a suitable web hosting service for your business, you need to choose one that fits your site requirements and your budget. Along with these, you also need to keep in mind the intangible factors, such as reliability and customer service.

Despite the potential cost savings, avoid free hosting. The so called free services routinely place irritating banner ads on your site, offer limited security, no database support and very seldom give you a unique domain name.

There are three other types of hosting services that are suitable for small businesses:

Shared

Here, you pay a monthly fee for a space in a powerful server to host your site, along with hundreds of others. This type of service is cost efficient and widely used. However, shared service does not guarantee optimum speed during the peak traffic times. There is also a threat to security due to presence of multiple sites on the same server.

 

Dedicated

Dedicated web hosting service is the costliest among the three. This includes a dedicated server for your website and can be used if you have an e-commerce site with thousand visitors every day and cannot afford to have a downtime of even few minutes.

 

Collocated

 You are the owner of your own server. It is placed in the data centre of the service provider which provides a fast Internet connection. High band width, regular up-time and security are some of the advantages of this service. As a buyer, you pay for maintenance and band width to the service provider.

You can directly contact Indigo if you are staying near North London area, Middlesex, Barnet, Harrow, Brent, Edgware,  Finchley, Borehamwood, Mill Hill, Colindale, Hendon, Canons park, Stanmore and Crouch End. Indigo Ideas offer you full hosting, email support, webmail, traffic reports, 24 hours monitoring and other features with this plan.