What is web site hosting?

Once a web site is developed, hosting describes the provision for the site to be stored on a computer that is permanently connected to the Internet. This is required for others to see your production. This computer, known as a server, takes on the task of broadcasting your web site to the world wide web. It also assures that visitors from any place in the world can have immediate access to your site.

All servers are not created equal. For example, some servers may not have all of the resources required to utilize the latest features in Internet technology. This is especially true with the advent of Flash animation. Other servers limit the file size of your web content resulting in pixelated images. Still others may limit the number of visitors that can access a given site simultaneously. Another concern is down time. All servers periodically have downtime, but some more than others. You may not be able to monitor your site 24/7 but it's good to know that your data is connecting most of the time. Your monthly hosting fee covers regular maintenance to the server as well as periodic maintenance to your web site to keep things in good running condition.

We have Virtual / Dedicated web servers in Pennsylvania USA with very fast and consistent Internet connections. In fact, we are proud to announce that recently the servers used by Creative Business System were rated 8th in the world! (secured connections with minuscule downtime) With reliable hosting, we can guarantee a problem free and secure location as a home for your new web site.

Other Frequently asked questions about hosting:

What is a virtual / dedicated server and how does it differ from shared hosting?

Shared hosting is generally used for personal as opposed to business web sites. It can be likened to a public domain with space for unlimited traffic. Unlimited band width sounds good in a hosting advertisement until there is a traffic jam, which happens daily during usage peaks on the main server. Has your car ever overheated while stuck in traffic? Your web site does something similar with shared hosting. It may run very poorly if at all when the server is exceptionally busy. This is not the fault of the developer or web master. Rather, it represents a poor choice of hosting services. On the other hand, with a dedicated / virtual server, your hosting service functions independently of other accounts so that traffic and usage patterns of other customers do not adversely affect the performance of your web site. By being effectively isolated, you will enjoy consistent, high performance, even when traffic peaks during rush hour on the main server. Or to use another analogy -- when you put too many appliances on the same circuit, you trip the breaker.

A virtual dedicated server also offers administrator access to the server and a dedicated IP address. The customer has rights to their server's bandwidth, memory, and storage space. E-mail service is also more reliable and responsive and you are less likely to get blacklisted as a result of sharing the same e-mail platform with other dubious accounts.
Creative Business System offers virtual dedicated hosting at a very reasonable price. We do not use shared hosting for 3 reasons:

1) Our clientele consist of small to medium size businesses that depend on reliable hosting service.

2) Visit any of our web sites and you will see that Creative Business System not only builds on an all Flash platform but uses other complex applications that require the consistent performance, flexibility and bandwidth* of a virtual dedicated server.

3) Businesses need more customized support than what is offered by shared hosting. Personally owning your own hosting environment allows the web developer to configure the server to suit your needs. Our virtual / dedicated server allows the developer to load any customized application needed for your web site to look and perform on a professional platform.

Why such a wide range in pricing for web site hosting?

Use the search engine to research reputable web hosting companies such as hosting.com, networksolutions.com, etc. You will see fluctuating hosting packages ranging from $20 to $200 a month and up. Low end hosting companies may offer the same service for about $10 /month. The following is a simple explanation of hosting and what it provides dollar for dollar:
Even after your site is built, if it's not put on a computer that is directly connected to the Internet, no one will ever see your production. That computer is known as a server. Providers require monthly fees for keeping your web site on their server. This can be viewed as rented web space. The Service Provider's fee is governed by such factors as the reliability of the server, the number of developer programs that can be loaded to the server, the file size of a web site and bandwidth requirements.* As for reliability, the server used by Creative Business System has outstanding international ratings (8th in the world) with minuscule down time. Because we are building an all Flash animated web site, the file size is considerably more than what would normally be hosted. This should help you to see why we cannot use a 9.99/month shared hosting package. Additionally, web sites that we build require that the server itself have special features or programming abilities to run certain pages. These features are not available with economy hosting packages. Simply stated, when you attempt to install a state-of-the-art web site on an economy hosting server, it just will not run. Don't be fooled by cheap hosting plans. Dynamic all Flash web sites like yours, using advanced technologies must be powered by servers with adequate resources.

Some people speak of paying for maintenance to their web site. What is involved in maintenance?

Maintenance on a web site refers to the work involved in keeping a computer server running - like maintenance on a car. By the way, unlike most hosting companies, we guarantee 99.9% uptime on the server, meaning that when the server goes down for scheduled maintenance, it will only be for 1 or 2 min. once a year. The maintenance is done in the early hours of the morning when no one is likely to be visiting your site. If the server crashes, we employ emergency backups to immediately restore service without interruption. Any expense involved with maintenance to a web site is covered by the hosting fee. Maintenance also assures that your web site is updated to accommodate any upgrades to the Adobe Flash Player.

*(Bandwidth requirements are governed by the amount of traffic directed to your web site. For example, lets say you had a 10 page web site with monthly bandwidth requirements that allowed 100 visitors to view all 10 pages of your site. The same bandwidth requirements would allow each of 1000 visitors to view 1 page of your web site, or 500 visitors to view 2 pages, or 250 visitors to view 4 pages, etc. As this analogy shows, if you do not have enough bandwidth or if you run out of bandwidth during the course of a month, visitors will not be able to access your site even though it is "online". Creative Business Systems allocates bandwidth requirements generously, providing a more than adequate 10,000 megabytes/month for each hosted account)