Promote Your Website > Website Promotion & Internet Marketing Information > Hosting and Colocation

Selecting the Ideal Hosting and Collocation Option

So you created a website. There is just one major problem: you have no way to get it on the Internet! For that, you need to find a server and configure it to run. Fortunately, there are a variety of hosting options available for all budgets.

Using Free Servers

One of the most popular available options amongst non-professional site builders is the use of free servers. These servers can provide you with a limited amount of space and can allow you to access some non-critical configuration options.

Unfortunately, free servers are not practical for a business environment because of several major limitations. One of these limitations is the fact that free hosts only give provide a small amount of space, usually around 10 to 50 megabytes. For rapidly-growing sites, this presents a problem, as everything you post on your site – web pages, images, sounds, files, and more – takes up space. Even the servers that give you a large amount of space – upwards of one gigabyte – will quickly run dry if you perform major updates to your site on a weekly basis. Therefore, free hosts are oriented towards those who operate their site on a nonexistent budget.

The next drawback to free servers is the fact that they only provide a small amount of bandwidth. Bandwidth is data transfer. Whenever someone connects to your site, downloads a file, or posts a message on your message board, he uses up some of your bandwidth. Some operations take only a bit of bandwidth, but others use a lot. Most free hosts only give you a gigabyte of bandwidth a month, though some rare examples do give you unlimited bandwidth.

Finally, free servers offer only a few customization options. This is because your site shares a computer with several other sites. Being able to customize the server would hurt the other web sites because they might not need your features.

Using Website Hosts

Other website hosts give you more space and bandwidth, but charge for it. These hosts, while more flexible than free ones, still offer a limited amount of space and bandwidth and do not allow customization of software or hardware modules. This means you are still limited in what you can do and how far you can grow. These hosts, however, are usually cheaper than the third option because they usually charge only about $25 a month. Thus, they are ideal for those who are operating on a shoestring budget, but can afford some investment in their site.

Hosting Dedicated Software

The third option, common amongst corporations, is hosting on dedicated hardware that you have administrative access to. This can be managed in two ways. The first option is to buy and configure the server computer by yourself.

Unfortunately, buying a server computer is not cheap. A good computer can cost up to $3000 easily, and you will need a good one in order to keep up with a high-traffic website. A dedicated connection, which allows your computer to be connected to an Internet service provider without sharing your bandwidth with your neighbors, is essential for a server.

This can cost $100 per month minimum. You will also need physical space to store the computer, which must be kept at near room temperature, as temperature extremes can be dangerous for your computer and your building. This is clearly not an ideal arrangement for a low-budget project.

Taking Advantage of Collocation Services

Because of the expense involved, some hosting companies offer server collocation services. This eliminates the need to locate a server, configure it to specifications, and find a storage room. All you need to do is tell the company what you need installed on the computer, give them the discs, and wait until everything is set up. You only pay for monthly hosting services, but you are expected to drive over every month and check that everything works. Thus, this option is not ideal for those with limited time during the day.

The main advantage of collocation lies in its flexibility. Any software you need, you can install. This makes it the ideal remote hosting solution for those who need something a little more than just website hosting. For example, a popular online game uses this option to host their game servers. This game enjoys fairly constant up-time with minimal maintenance cycling, and the server can easily handle up to 64 players simultaneously.

The game owner also hosts the official website on the same server computer, and that receives thousands of connections daily. The owner is not a corporation. Rather, he is a working-class citizen who barely makes enough to pay the bills – a testament to the low cost of many companies that offer collocation services.