| esses need an Internet Presence, and that internet | | | | what services they offer. |
| presence includes both a web presence (where | | | | By far and away the most common "additional |
| customers can read about your products and | | | | service" a web hosting provider offers is usually email |
| services) but an email presence as well (where they | | | | hosting. This makes sense. Email hosting is, for most |
| can communicate with you directly.) | | | | online customers, an easily managed service and |
| Web hosting is the use of a specific protocol | | | | doesn't consume too much bandwidth, provided the |
| (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and its requisite | | | | service isn't being used to send out barrages of |
| services (called daemons, in UNIX parlances) to | | | | spam email. |
| display web documents (or Hypertext Mark-up | | | | However, that being said, there are a lot of options |
| Language files). The usual extension for this type of | | | | on email hosting as well, ranging from shared |
| file is .html. | | | | calendaring applications to managed mailing lists for |
| A web hosting provider charges you for disk space | | | | customers to reply on. You may be able to get |
| (which is usually minimal) and for bandwidth, which is | | | | filtering software up and running, and email |
| a cost that goes up as your web site gets more | | | | authentication going. |
| traffic. Most hosting providers do more than just | | | | One thing you should do early on when setting up |
| host static web pages; many also offer management | | | | email hosting is determine what, if any, sort of web |
| services (where you get a console that's much easier | | | | access to your email queue you want. If you are |
| to manage things than a straight UNIX terminal login), | | | | used to using programs like Thunderbird or Outlook |
| regular backups, domain name propagation services | | | | (or Microsoft Email), you may not be aware of all of |
| and more. | | | | the options for this, from very simple web email |
| Additional web hosting services include database | | | | readers to very complex ones that allow you to |
| management services, where you have access to a | | | | manage nearly everything email related on the |
| MySQL or PostGres SQL database backend. This is in | | | | server, from mailing lists to folders to automatic |
| market difference to prior eras of web hosting, | | | | sorting of email into boxes. |
| where you would be using a separate database | | | | The last decision you have to make regarding shared |
| server in most implementations. | | | | web and email hosting is what platform you want it |
| If you do have SQL access, you may also be able to | | | | on; there are two basic choices: Linux (which is an |
| get database driven web site hosting, by use of a | | | | open source operating system modelled off of Unix, |
| Content Management System (or CMS). A content | | | | and is the major player in this space) and Windows |
| management system can be as simple as a | | | | Server (which will usually be Windows 2000 or later). |
| WordPress blog, or as complex as a DruPaul | | | | Linux is more stable and more secure; it is generally |
| installation, or nearly anything in between. The trick is | | | | the default option and is less expensive to administer |
| that a CMS allows you much more unified and | | | | in nearly every way. The Windows option makes |
| complete control over how your web site looks. | | | | sense if you have specific applications that call for it. |
| Your web hosting provider can tell you more about | | | | |