Web hosting is the service that makes your website available to be viewed by others on the Internet. A web host provides space on its server so that other computers around the world can access your website by means of a network or modem. There are literally thousands of web hosting services available today, ranging from free services with limited options to expensive, specialized business web hosting services. Which option you choose depends primarily on how you plan to use your website and how much you want to spend.
Let us understand how different types of hosting services are beneficial for all types of business
Free Web Hosting
Free web hosting is another good option for smaller, personal websites. There are many free hosting providers that offer all types of features; some include CGI access and more. The drawback to most free hosting services is that they are funded by advertising that appears on your site, so free web hosting so generally best for personal, rather than business, websites.
Paid Hosting
With paid hosting, you pay a fee for space and services on a web hosting provider's server. Monthly fees can range from a few dollars to several hundred dollars. Obviously, the more you pay the more features you should have at your disposal. Services can include CGI access, database support, ASP, e-commerce, SSL, additional space on the server, extra bandwidth, and more.
Domain Hosting
A good option for small businesses is to pay for domain hosting. Domain hosting allows you to host your site anywhere you like: on an ISP, a free hosting service, or even your own server. You buy a domain name and have the provider forward all requests for that domain to the actual web location. This is often less expensive than buying both the domain and the hosting service, and it allows businesses to brand their URLs.
Choosing a good domain name is very important for your online business. Without the good name, prospective visitors may have a hard time remembering what your domain is or misspell it.
Valid Characters for a Domain Name
The only valid characters for a domain name are letters, numbers and a hyphen “-“. Other special characters like the underscore “_” or an exclamation mark “!” are NOT permitted. Example: your name.com (not correct, no spaces allowed) Example: your-name.com (is correct) A domain name can be up to 72 characters long — including the 4 characters used to identify the Top Level Domain (.NET, .COM, .ORG, or .EDU). Do not type the www. before your domain name when registering.
Two letter domains, such as .uk, .de and .jp (for example), are called country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. The rules and policies for registering domain names in the ccTLDs vary significantly and some are reserved for use by citizens of the corresponding country. You should check with the registrar offering ccTLD registration services regarding the specific terms and conditions for registration. H-Sphere supports hosting of such domains.
Contact information available publicly
Information about who is responsible for domain names is publicly available to allow rapid resolution of technical problems and to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, and other laws. The registrar makes this information available to the public on a “Whois” site.