Instead of running your own web server, which has to run 24 hours a day and needs constant maintenance, you better use the services of a web host. These are special providers who offer you storage space on professional servers. You can set up your website on these servers and it is usually available around the clock.
Beside providers with costs there are also those who offer the webspace for free. What sounds tempting at first glance has a catch: In return, they usually demand to place external advertising on their own website. Of course, this is not an option for a serious online presence.
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Web hosters often also offer you an installation service for programs that you can install on the server. This includes CMS, blogging software, forums and the like. Regular backups are also part of the scope of services, at least in the somewhat more expensive packages, so that in an emergency the entire website does not disappear into digital nirvana. But more important is the choice of the size of the webspace, how much mega- or gigabyte the provider provides for your website. How much comes into question for you depends above all on the content you want to present on the web. Of course, text-heavy pages require much less space than high-resolution images or videos. But even if you need a lot of web space: 5, 10 or even 25 gigabytes are now available for less than 5 euros a month – and if required, storage space can usually be easily added.
Hosting for different requirements
So let’s stick with the offers with costs, which are already available for a few Euro per month. Especially so called static webspace without database and support for the programming language PHP is very cheap to have.
However: Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla or Typo3 don’t work with it as a rule (even if there are exotic CMS which run without database). The maintenance of the site is therefore quite cumbersome.
Webspace of this kind is rather suitable for a kind of online business card or other static presences. For modern web presences, so-called dynamic web space is needed; the web host allows the integration of one or more databases and supports PHP – a prerequisite for WordPress & Co.
Affordable Shared Web Hosting
Shared web hosting is best suited for your own website or blog. Several instances of a web server run on a server PC in the provider’s data center, which in turn are implemented using software. Every shared web hosting customer is entitled to one of these software web servers, so many users share the hardware. This is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized websites that do not require much computing power. However, if you want to offer many files for download, start a streaming offer, integrate complex web applications or simply expect a lot of visitors, choose a managed or dedicated web hosting package.
- Here you share the hardware only with a few other customers or you directly own a whole server PC alone.
- However, these web hosting deals are significantly more expensive.
Webhosting only with Traffic-Flat
By the way: The amount of data that the web server delivers to visitors to your site was often billed extra in the past – at least for a certain volume. In the meantime, web hosters offer this so-called traffic at no extra charge. When choosing an offer, pay attention to a traffic flat rate in order not to pay unnecessarily more.