Are you new to the world of Web Hosting? Ever wanted to host your own website? We’ll provide some starting points to help you on your journey.
What you will need:
- Plan
- What is the purpose of your website?
- What content do you want to publish?
- Who do you want to view your content?
- Web hosting provider
- Shared Web Hosting [easy] – hosts your website on a server among many other websites. Most providers provide control panels and auto-config tools. This is usually the cheapest option.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) [intermediate] – a virtual server that allows you to host specific services (websites, DNS, email, etc.) but requires full configuration. Can be managed or un-managed.
- Dedicated Server [advanced] – a physical host that allows you to host multiple Virtual Machines (VMs). You can customise hardware requirements and allocate an IP address pool to your Network Interface Cards (NICs). This is the most expensive option.
- Domain name
- If you want other people to connect to your website over the Internet, you need to register a domain name with a domain registrar. e.g. example.com.
- If you plan on hosting your website yourself, you can register with a Dynamic DNS provider at little to no cost. e.g. example.ddns.net.
- Some shared hosting providers will assign you a subdomain (mysite.example.com) or home directory (example.com/~user) at no cost.
- Software
- To develop a website, you will need to find a way to do so. You can write a website in Notepad (Windows), vi (Linux) or TextEdit (macOS). You will also have to read up on HTML and CSS for static content, and PHP as well if you want dynamic content. There are other languages, but these are the most popular.
- If you don’t want to get into the technical stuff right now, you can use a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, phpBB, Drupal or Joomla.
- Still too technical? There are dedicated websites like Squarespace and Wix that provide simple easy-to-use templates along with web hosting.
If you are interested in taking on one of the intermediate or advanced hosting routes, consider reading up on Linux and UNIX-based operating systems.