Web hosting terms to familiarise yourself with : 

• Free webhosting- limitations to grow and expand your web site. Generally no database capability.
• Shared web hosting- many websites on a single server
• Paid web hosting- pay monthly fees for web hosting
• Collocated web hosting- buy a server from a web hosting service and install on a collocated backbone.
• File web hosting- used to host large files
• Reseller webhosting- resell service to others, high amount of bandwidth and space
• Dedicated webhosting server- used for millions of hits a day, expensive
• Virtual private web hosting server- enables one server to host multiple environments with the characteristics of individual servers.

Shared webhosting can be the ideal webhosting service for people looking for cheap web hosting. Shared web hosting is when many websites of the same service can be found on a single server. This is an economical way for a new website owner to get cheap webhosting and you can always upgrade your service when needed at a reasonable price.

A very important factor of a website is the amount of  bandwidth and space that a webhosting company allows you. When you are looking for cheap webhosting services, pay very close attention to this because your website can be closed down for going over the allowed bandwidth amount. This is the quickest way to lose both existing customers as well as potential new customers.

While there is no mistake by spending a pleasant amount of money for web hosting, numerous business owners find that shared webhosting serves the needs for their online business completely.  

Linux webhosting vs Windows web hosting

When choosing a webhosting service, many people are confused about which service is better to have, Windows or Linux. Linux web hosting is a webhosting service based on a server that is running the Linux operating system and is a new version of the Unix operating system. It is a popular choice for small to medium businesses because it's so cheap to install and has better features than Windows hosting. Unix is not as common because it is more expensive and the hardware is more specific.

Don't worry if you already have Windows on your PC and want to use Linux web hosting, as the operating system you use is irrelevant to what web hosting you use because the latter is run remotely on a web server. Therefore web hosting and operating systems are completely different!

Linux Webhosting
Downloading Linux software is free as there is no licensing fee because it’s an open source software product.
Windows Webhosting More expensive because you pay for software and maintenance fees.

Reliability
Linux  - Very stable and has more uptime for websites.
Windows - Is known to crash more.

Speed
Linux Webhosting - Slightly faster to process basic web pages.
Windows Webhosting - Takes a little longer to upload web pages.

Security
Linux Webhosting - A better and more secure type of web hosting
Windows Web hosting - Generally secure

Scripts
Linux Webhosting - Supports: most scripting languages. (.html, .htm, .pl, .php, .shtml, .xml, coldfusion, perl) and CGI which is free to download.
Windows Web Hosting - Supports: ASP (Microsoft), coldfusion.

Database  
Linux Webhosting - Utilises mySQL. Most Developers can program in PHP and relatively affordable to hire
Windows Web hosting - Utilises access and SQL server database – you will have to pay the fees of a Microsoft Certified Engineer for programming purposes.

Functionality
Linux Web Hosting - There are hundreds of Open Source Scripts out there for Linux Servers
Windows Web hosting -  Server Scripts are generally very pricey

Most businesses prefer to use Linux web hosting because it is more economical, simpler to use and provides free, open source software

Advantages of Linux web hosting

•     Cheaper than Windows web hosting
•     Supports most scripts, mySQL database and types of web files
•     More secure
•     Popular choice for web designers and programmers
•     Offers many configuration and customisation options
•     More stable
•     High uptime