How to host your website to grow your business?
Hosting. Ever wondered how confusing it is to choose the best website hosting provider?
In this article we discuss what it takes to find a trustworthy hosting provider to grow your business.
Hosting providers offer a multitude of different services with a range of different costs.
We aim to provide a comprehensive list of items to check when looking for a website hosting provider.
So if you’re lost, keep on reading and hopefully by the end of this article you will be able to find the best hosting provider for the needs for your business.
What is website hosting?
when we talk about website hosting it can often be a daunting phrase. in essence, a web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that host websites for clients and businesses. It offers facilities required for them to create and maintain sites and it makes it accessible to the worldwide web. Companies providing web hosting services are sometimes called web hosts.
The web hosts main job, is to make sure that a website is live on the Internet so that people can access it. Website hosting providers can offer many services and these services will be discussed below.
Is website hosting necessary?
The simple answer is YES! We believe that a hosting provider is required to make sure that your website stays online and is viewed by your potential users. A hosting company can deal with a number of different websites and host all these different websites which can then be accessible. This accessibility ensures that the information flows around the Internet in the correct way and can be accessed globally.
How to find a website hosting provider?
A simple Google search will show many different hosting providers out there. Hosting providers can vary depending on the type of services required.
A hosting provider can also be selected by looking at examples of other businesses or users websites. For example, if you would if you want to find out a hosting provider that is used for a specific website a quick search can show what hosting provider is being used. This can really help when trying to replicate a very similar business. The advantages of trying to find the hosting provider this way will mean that somebody has already thought about their hosting and there and how their business will scale in the future.
The location of your hosting provider is very important as you don’t want a very slow website due to latency. The latency slash lag can affect a user experience. Nobody wants a slow website!
Hosting providers, provide many features. For example the hosting provider can either have Linux or windows based servers. Depending on the type of website you would like to host or the preference of the technical expertise in your company. This will really depend which option you pick. Prices do vary dependent on the type of hosting used.
Architecture of a Web Hosting
Linux servers run with a Cpanel interface – this means that an Apache server is used with the MySQL server database. The setup and code for this type of server centers around PHP Python And Perl. For
Windows based servers use a Plex control panel. As these are windows servers all the applications and database run on the server will be Microsoft based for example the database will be SQL database and will run on Windows server and.net framework.
Other features of hosting include:
SSL certificates. These SSL certificates [secure socket layer] help to make sure your site is credible and secure with a certificate which the hosting provider can provide. This shows that your site is credible. This also helps with people browsing and knowing that your site is not untrustworthy.
Storage. Having the right amount of storage on your website is key. The web hosting company can provide different packages depending on the type of hosting storage that is required. For example, if your website is ecommerce you would require larger storage compared to standard five page website showing just information. Your hosting requirement would be a lot less than somebody of a large organisation.
Traffic. All websites have a certain amount of traffic. The traffic is dependent on the number of users coming to your website. The more users that come to your website the more load that is required on the server. Hosting companies provide options depending on the type of traffic coming through your website. For example, if your website is an commerce website you would require a server that can handle the load of users accessing your website.
Email accounts. Depending on the size of your organisation you may only require either one email account or multiple email accounts. website hosting companies can provide a number of email accounts depending on the size of your business. The email accounts can be used for each employee.
Domain. Domain name is the address that people type into the website browser the demand links your website and your name so that people can view and access your website over the Internet.
Location of your hosting
Speed is key when hosting your website. Having hosting which is in another country can affect the speed at which your website can be accessed by your users. Therefore having your web hosting in the location of where your menus is will access your site will mean a quicker more responsive website. That being said, many hosting companies offer infrastructure set up which is based around multiple geographical global locations. This means website traffic an accessibility can route through multiple locations in order to make sure the website remains fast and there is no lag.
Types of website hosting & Domains
Website hosting companies offer customers depending on the size of their business the option of different packages which suit the customer. Below we have described some of the pros and cons of each type of hosting package that would be offered. It’s important to note that depending on the type of hosting company you choose make sure that they offer great reviews, are reliable and there overall performance is what you need.
Here are the pros and cons of shared, VPS, WordPress and Cloud hosting.
Shared (web hosting)
Pros
- Affordable
- No need for any technical skills to get started
- Your hosting provider will manage all the back-end tasks
Cons
It doesn’t offer a lot of room to grow
Sharing a server with other clients means a higher potential for security and performance issues
VPS (virtual Private Server)
Pros
Complete control over the hosting environment
Handles traffic surges much better than shared hosting
Cons
It can be more difficult for non-technical users
Dedicated
Pros
Total control of the physical server
Full configurable according to your needs
Can host large websites with large amounts of traffic
Cons
Requires advanced technical skills or hiring a professional
Very expensive
Doesn’t always include professional customer support
WordPress
Pros
Improved performance and security
Automatic software updates
A dedicated expert team for solving WordPress-related issues
Cons
You have to use WordPress to build all your websites on the same hosting plan
Cloud
Pros
Less prone to downtime and hardware issues
Uses load balancing to handle high traffic and DDoS attacks
Easily scalable
Cons
Overall costs can fluctuate if you decide to use additional resources.
What are the extras of website hosting?
Everyone want to build their own website. Building a website typically involves skills such as coding and design. Most of which have to be learned. Many web hosting providers are offering their own options to ease the process and get users to do this themselves. Welcome the age of the website builder. Each provider may have their own interpretation of this. It typically involves a step by step process to guide you. You will find all the options to change or add themes. Customise every aspect of you r site without the need to add or amend any code.
The advantages of using these builders are great for the novice looking to save money on expensive developers and designers. In reality the site may look good but functionality is limited if you do not want to ‘add on’ the options provided by the web host. Some options include e-commerce functionality, booking forms and marketing options.
Customer support
We often find that hosting can be complicated and setting up websites and themes can be overly complicated for the non-techy. Having great customer support and online chat functions really helps eliminate the fears when we run into trouble. It is worth checking if the website package has additional support options if you need this. We tend to find most companies have a good level of 24/7 coverage for all aspects from technical, billing and upgrades.
Pricing – How much is website hosting?
So how much does web hosting cost. Simple! there are three parts to web hosting and its costs. Hosting, domain and extra services (themes, SSL, Extensions, plugins, Marketing tools).
Hosting is dependent on the need. For example, a simple five page website may not need hosting that is very expensive due to the number of users that would access their website. Something of this nature could be less than £10 per month. A website for example ecommerce, possibly would require much larger hosting package which could costs more than £10 per month but the advantages would be larger service space, better bandwidth and a more secure server.
It is also important to note that some hosting companies provide a free domain for each hosted package purchased. This in essence means you’re able to buy a name and host that name using the web hosting service they provide. At renewal this would mean it is an easier process as just the hosting and domain name are packaged and priced together.
The last point to note, is that hosting packages can have additional extra services which depending on your type of business could be required. For example extra services could include themes SSL certificates, plugins and the marketing tools. All these add ONS can help with the set up and running of your website. With a
With all these options, it’s also good to note that you can add and remove packages or upgrade packages depending on your need. As a business grows they may require more space and additional functionality that is not available on certain web hosting packages.
Hosting maintenance costs are included in the monthly package that has been taken out. This means that on a yearly basis any upgrades or system maintenance that hasn’t that is required at the server level is completed in downtime periods. This means there is no need to carry out any maintenance on the web hosting service itself. This then allows you to create and run your website without having to think about any specific things.
How to find out who is hosting a certain website?
So you’ve seen a website and you want to know how it’s hosted. The easiest way to find out, is to is to check a website called builtwith.com. The website provides information on demands and also provides information on what hosting companies are used to host the specific website. This specific information is valuable if you are trying to create a similar website and wondering what is the best hosting package for that specific niche. To point out here most hosting packages offer very similar items. So reviewing different packages for different companies and reading reviews will provide you with the information you need to pick the ideal hosting provider.
Website hosting for small business
Small businesses do not really require large hosting packages. A simple website package which can accommodate a 5 to 10 page website is sufficient. This ultimately means costs can be reduced on a yearly basis. Small businesses are then able to update and run their website and if required can scale up their hosting package accordingly.
Cheap website hosting and Free hosting
Depending on the on the need for hosting some users may want to seek cheap or free hosting. There may be many reasons for this it may be for example that the user has a tight budget or would just like to test and develop some skills or an idea.
There are many options to accommodate these type of users. On the market currently there are companies that can provide the hosting and the ability to build your website using their website builders. See the list below.
- WordPress.org
- WIX
- WEEBLY
- Squarespace
Conclusion
We hope this article helped you learn how to find out what is hosting and how this can help you decide on the types of hosting packages out there?
There are many providers and this sometimes is a little daunting. List the goals you want to achieve from your website and find a provider and package that will suit you. Remember you can always shop around, switch or upgrade if things change.
If you need help finding a great hosting service then please get in contact. We used many hosting providers for our clients. We typically use Bluehost.com as they offer really competitive packages with outstanding customer service.
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