Because technology is making it easier for people to stay in contact, many people are starting to set up their own personal websites. Your website may contain details and photographs of friends and family members as well as a diary of what you do. In this way, contacts from all across the globe can keep current with what's happening in your life. The idea of having a personal website is great but when setting it up, there are number of important things to consider in terms of your hosting provider. Here are a few tips to help you through the process.

Types of Hosting Options Available

When looking at different hosting options, the two broad categories are shared or dedicated hosting. A personal website is not likely to be a very large or complex website. It therefore doesn't justify the cost of having a dedicated server. A shared hosting package allocates you a certain amount of bandwidth and usually a few email addresses. For a personal website, this is usually more than adequate. You will be allocated space on a server along with other websites and this keeps the costs of hosting to a minimum.

Are Free Hosting Packages Worth Considering?

There are many offers out there for free hosting packages and it is difficult to establish at a glance which are good options and which are not. The problem with free hosting is that generally the hosting companies still need to make money. If they are not making it off your hosting package, it's almost certain they are making it off advertising. This means that when you sign up for one of their hosting packages, you inadvertently agree to allow advertising on your website. The main problem with that is that you cannot define what type of advertising is placed on your website. You could end up with offensive advertisements on your site and be unable to do anything about it. In general, before signing up with any web host, you should check the terms of the agreement carefully. You should also try to establish if they are a reputable company.

What Makes a Hosting Company Reliable?

For most web hosting companies, you can search for online reviews of their service and get feedback from existing customers. Search for the reviews on independent websites rather than the company's website so you know they are more authentic. A reliable company is one that maintains and manages the servers well so that downtime is minimal. When you phone their support desk, you should get through to knowledgeable support staff who can assist you with your queries. Too often these are the areas where less reputable companies show their true colors. They claim to have a support desk but when you try to call it, there is no answer. If someone does answer, they often cannot assist you. These are the companies that you need to steer clear of. The last very important aspect that makes a hosting company reliable is the amount of effort and emphasis they place on server and website security.  The minute you go online, you are exposed to possible threats from viruses, spyware and other malicious code. You need to make sure that your web hosting company has up-to-date anti-virus software on the server to help you protect your website.

Other Considerations for Web Hosting

Having a personal site is a great way to interact with a broad audience. At the same time, it should be a site that is easy to maintain and update. You may use content management software to help you do this. It is therefore important to establish if the CMS you will be using is compatible with your web hosting platform.  You may also want to have additional social media plug-ins on your website. Many of the plug-ins have system requirements. Once again, you need to make sure that your hosting provider or the hosting package that you have selected is able to accommodate the plug-ins that you want to use. When planning your website, think of how large you would like it to be. Will you be updating information regularly and archiving or deleting older material or will your content simply grow on the website? This is an important consideration because it will affect the size of the hosting package that you choose. Initially, you may start out small but in time, your website might grow. You will want a hosting package that allows you to migrate to a larger hosting package without having to redesign your whole website.