Web Hosting
Articles

How To Host Your Own Site

Description: Is it worth hosting your own site or are you better off letting someone else do it for you? Read this article to find out what's involved.

If you want to host your own website you will need the right equipment to make it possible. Most people find it easier and cheaper to go to a web host, but larger companies with the means and resources to do it themselves often opt for the DIY route.

You will need to be prepared to shell out a large amount of money to host your own website. Depending on the amount of traffic your website receives, you will need a high speed internet connection to make sure your website is available to your customers. This alone can set you back several thousand dollars, depending on the quality of the connection you opt for, and what you need.

You also need your own web server. These are available from web server vendors at a variety of prices; again, the one that will fit your needs depends largely on how big your site is and whether or not you want to host other sites in the future as well.

The same applies to the computer you will need to buy to run your web server. The bigger and more complex your website and server are, the bigger the computer will need to be. Don't use your current computer to run your website from; you need to make sure it's always available, always on and not at risk of being compromised in any way. If the kids get hold of it to play games on and it crashes, your whole site could go with it.

You will also need to get an IP address that is static. The main piece of advice here is to make sure your internet provider is happy with you running your own website from home. Ask as many questions as you need to in order to make sure you won't come up against any problems.

You also need to make sure your computer and internet connection will allow your website to be seen online. To do this you must make sure that port 80 is open. Some internet service providers don't allow this, so if you are seriously considering hosting your own site you may need to add a new ISP to your list of things to do.

Hosting your own website sounds like a great idea in principle, and if you have a natural passion for web hosting and you have a lot of time on your hands it can be a fantastic learning experience. But the upfront costs and the ongoing task of making sure everything stays safe and protected isn't always the best use of your time.

If you would rather be developing your website and seeking out new sources of traffic and customers, leave the web hosting to someone else. If you want to have the whole experience however, then maybe it's time to start looking into suppliers of web server equipment and high speed internet connections.