A Guide to Web Hosting for Beginners
Having an online presence is a vital requirement for almost every business nowadays, and this is something that most business owners have realized. As a result, more and more businesses are establishing an online presence using websites and web hosting, which they can use to target potential customers all over the world. Unfortunately, establishing an online presence is not as easy as just building a website; your website needs to be hosted, thus allowing your target audience to view it. This is something that tends to confuse many new website clients, especially in situations where they do not know what hosting is, and who does it.
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What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows you to host (or to put it simply “house”) your website. The website is hosted on a server that is connected to the internet, thus allowing people to view your website. The hosting services are offered by web hosting service providers, which are usually large companies with a data center(s) that host several websites.
You might also want to read: How to speed up my WordPress site.
Can My Website Developer Host My Website?
A good number of people who are in need of websites are not very tech savvy, and thus, they expect that their web developer will do everything for them – creating their website and hosting it. Unfortunately, most web developers prefer not to host websites for their clients, which can be due to a number of reasons such as:
- Website Building And Web Hosting Are Two Completely Different Skills
One of the reasons why your website developer might not be able to host your website is because website hosting and Web Development are different career fields, with the former career requiring you to be trained as a system administrator. Therefore, even if your website developer was willing to host your website, he/she is not trained in the field of web hosting. Therefore, when various web hosting problems arise, he/she will not be of much help to you.
- Web Hosting Requires A Lot Of Human Resources
Good web hosting services include 24/7 customer support to ensure that the clients’ websites are never offline for long in case of any problems. Your website developer will, thus, need quite a significant amount of human resources to host your website. And since most web developers work alone or in small teams, he/she will have to hire additional staff or divert some of his/her resources to cater for your web hosting needs. Therefore, most web developers chose not to host websites for their clients to avoid these inconveniences.
- Hosting Websites For A Few Clients Can Be Quite Expensive
In additional to hiring additional staff, a website developer will need to install high-quality infrastructure – servers, software, dedicated internet link, etc. – when hosting your website. The equipment is quite expensive, and since it will be owned by your web developer, he/she will have to incur its cost. On top of that, the amount of revenue your web developer can generate hosting your site is quite low, and cannot cover the cost of the equipment.
Therefore, to avoid incurring expenses that are beyond what they can earn, most website developers simply chose not to host their clients’ websites. There are several web hosting providers available online, each one has a different cost structure depending on the plan you choose. If you are on a budget you can capitalize on discount vouchers listed on OZCodes for hosting providers like HostPapa and iPage.
- Website Hosting Is A Long-Term Relationship
Lastly, website hosting requires having a long-term relationship with your website developer if he/she chose to host your website. However, over time you might want to move to another web hosting provider to access better services. Unfortunately for your website developer, this will mean an end to a relationship he/she has sacrificed so much for – hiring new employees, diverting his/her resources, installing expensive equipment, etc. Therefore, to avoid this, most website developers simply opt not to host websites for clients.
On the same note, check Things you can’t miss after launching a site.
How To Choose A Web Hosting Company?
If you are in need of web hosting services, one of the best options that you should consider is hiring a professional web hosting service provider. This will help you to avoid several hassles that can come about due to your web developer hosting your site. Unfortunately, there are so many web hosting service providers, which can be quite confusing for you when you are trying to find the best company to host your website. Therefore, below is a look at tips on how you can choose the best web hosting service provider:
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- Identify Your Hosting Needs
One of the first things you should do when you are looking for a web hosting company is to identify your website hosting needs, for example, how much bandwidth do you need, how much server speed do you require, etc. After identifying these needs, you can then start looking for a web hosting company that can be able to meet them.
- Research Various Web Hosting Providers
As already stated, there are several companies that offer web hosting services. Therefore, when you are choosing a web host provider, you need to narrow down on these options so that it will be easier for you to chose the best provider. The best approach is to research several companies and select the best one based on:
- Reputation – Reputation is very important when you are choosing a web hosting company. A company with a good reputation can offer quality services with very few problems (if any). On the other hand, if you chose a web hosting company with a bad reputation, you will most likely be dooming yourself to poor and unreliable services.
- Web Hosting Server Reliability – Another important factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is the server uptime score. A good company should have a high uptime score to guarantee that your website stays online all the time.
- Customer Support – Regardless of how good a company is, web-hosting problems are inevitable, and thus, you will need customer support from your website hosting provider at some point. Therefore, the company you consider should have reliable customer support (24/7) to make sure that any hosting problems that arise are promptly taken care of.
- Scalability Options – When you are choosing a web hosting provider, you need to take into account your future online business needs – you might need to expand the functionality of your business website, which will also mean upgrading your web hosting. Therefore, the web hosting company you chose should offer a range of hosting plans, which will allow you to upgrade your hosting in the future if need be.
One thing for sure, Bluehost is a good hosting provider and you might want to read this article on reasons why.