Web Hosting and Transfer or Bandwidth
by: Nabob Nosrep
So you have your domain name and you have designed a website or a website designed for you, now this. Of course you need hosting. Many people want to start a business online, but are not aware of some basics like how people are able to post or to visit your site.
What is web hosting? Currently, if you have already created your website, all of these files on your computer. People who surf the Web without access to your computer can not find your website. Advanced users know they can turn their computer into a server where people are sent to their computer to view their website, however, it is not recommended and is certainly not recommended for someone who is not very advanced as a computer technician.
There are computers that are set up to be servers. They are the hosts and simplify things. You need to upload your web files to the host computer so they can make available to others for display on the web. It is the service that we call web hosting.
Does any host do? No. It is a common misunderstanding about hosting. All web hosts are not created equal. There are many different levels of web hosting and many different plans and packages to consider. There are also many other things you have to consider when choosing a web hosting company. Let's go over one of the most important when choosing a web hosting plan to help you better understand.
Much depends on your individual needs. Does your website have great graphics and images? Will there be movies? Music downloads? Software or other downloads? Or is it a website very simple and compact, which is mostly text? Do not expect much traffic to your site?
The reason for all these questions is what is called "bandwidth" or "transfer". The amount of storage space for a web hosting plan offers is generally much less than the amount of transfer or bandwidth of the host offers.
Each time someone visits your website, all files included in this Web page is downloaded from your site on their computer. In other words, the host computer to the visitor's computer. This includes each graphic or image on the page, each icon, the same HTML page itself is downloaded by a user who comes to visit your webpage. The size of each file transferred to the visitor's computer is the amount of "transfer" or "bandwidth" that you use.
Say you get 100 visitors a day on your site. Let us say that your HTML page is around 15k and you have 5 images on this website are entirely around 50K. This means that every visitor to your web site uses up to 65K of bandwidth each time they visit this page. Let us say that your average visitor opens 3 pages in your site and these pages are the same size as your main page. This means that each visitor uses 195K minimum and that is if they do not return to the main page.
Multiply that times the 100 195K visitors per day you and you use 19,500 k or a little over 19 MB of transfer per day. Multiply this figure by 30 days and you get 585,000 k or 585 megabytes of "transfer" or "bandwidth" used per month.
Now, if your web hosting plan allows for more bandwidth than you think you need, then you know you're ok there. However, make sure you know in advance what the cost to go on your bandwidth is allocated. Some hosts pay dearly for every megabyte you use over the limit they set for you in the plan you have chosen. It's a good idea to choose a hosting plan that is just a step above the one you think you need to enable growth. You could become very popular as a rock star overnight!
D. David Dugan recommends the web hosting solutions offered by DD
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D. David Dugan recommends the web hosting solutions offered by DD