Website Hosting is often overlooked. Like many other business owners, you’ve come to realize that your business needs a website. A website cannot function without hosting, so it’s similar to the foundation of a house, without a strong foundation everything else is compromised from the start. This is why we put together this guide to web hosting for small business.
A website is something you know you want, even if you are not completely sure what you want to do. You may find the digital world to be an unknown universe. Codes, programs, and processes can be confusing to beginners. All of the tech terms and acronyms certainly don’t help. Sometimes it can feel like a secret language that you were never exposed to.
When building a new site knowing what your needs are site is essential. Doing this before choosing what hosting provider will help the entire development and launch of your website go a whole lot smoother.
So What is Website Hosting?
Hosting a site is a lot like a real estate company. It is where your site lives on the internet. Here you will find folders that contain your website files (HTML, PHP, etc.), images, applications, etc. Website hosting also includes a connection that holds a database. The database stores the website’s content – comments, links, and text; it also is the connection used to make everything available online.
Deciding what server is best, would be like finding a good home for your website on the internet. This decision has to be made with all your needs in mind, to make sure each one is met and how.
Servers are what the site is hosted on. In short, they are powerful computers that run your website and keep it running smoothly. The website servers are located inside Data Centers, with perfect conditions to ensure optimal performance. When a hosting plan is hired, you would get space inside these servers.
Different Types of Website Hosting
Let’s say you need a new place to live, so you call a real estate company. There are several options for what type of housing you could choose from. Website hosting can be thought of in the same sort of way. Instead of choosing an apartment, a condo, or a house, your options would be one of the following:
- Shared Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Dedicated Hosting
All of these accommodations have varying characteristics, meeting different needs in the market. The types of hosting mentioned above can accommodate a personal website, an online store, a web system, a professional portfolio, etc. There are countless options available.
It’s critical to know what types of needs each hosting option can meet before choosing the one that will work best for your website.
Shared Website Hosting
For new website owners, Shared hosting is usually considered to be the gateway to the hosting world. If you want to obtain the maximum performance possible from a physical server, Shared Hosting is one way to do it. Different sites will reside on one machine, sharing different resources between them. Customers can achieve good performance as a result, while maintaining a lower-cost investment.
How Shared Hosting Works
Different websites can be hosted using the same Apache, MySQL, and messaging server instances. To define a number of sites, processor space and Specific RAM are granted.
Virtual hostnames are relied on with Shared Hosting keeping each site separate. Webmasters either choose to share the IP with other sites or choose a dedicated IP address.
Let’s say for instance you live in an apartment building (server) where one water tank (IP) is shared for all units (websites). Meaning the apartments are in the same building, which provides the same water source for all its units.
Shared Hosting; The Good and Bad
Shared hosting is popular for two main reasons: it’s cost-effective and easy to use. Aside from offering desirable prices, it also allows new users to launch a website easily. On the flip side of this, shared hosting sometimes offers little control in terms of development for website admins and limited resources.
Shared Hosting; Value and Performance
Domains, disk space, and unlimited broadband are usually offered with shared hosting. Keep in mind that if the offer is overly generous, you may want to be wary. There are services that limit users in some other way, or you could pay dearly on your contract renewal.
There are, in fact, limits on the number of files, sites, and accesses. In turn, making it profitable for servers, so be aware of service contracts. If the websites don’t require a large number of resources, shared hosting could be the perfect option for those who are just starting out.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is different from traditional hosting, Sort of like living in a gated neighborhood. By allowing access to websites and applications through cloud resources.
It differs from shared hosting by not interfering with other customers. Giving each customer resources that are exclusive, for their use.
Cloud Hosting; The Good and Bad
With cloud hosting, you can enjoy the autonomy, performance, and security of a dedicated server and a shared server, but at a lower cost. You could also have the same autonomy as a dedicated server if access to the configuration base is allowed.
Performance is also optimized in correlation to shared hosting, due to the server being virtually divided, and resources not being integrated with other users.
Even though the reality is constantly changing, the price may not be so attractive. One other potential downside to cloud hosting, your webmaster will need advanced knowledge of Linux, since, in relation to the online control panel, the functions are optimized in this operating system.
VPS Hosting
The term VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS hosting takes a physical server and divides it into several other virtual servers and or VM (Virtual Machine). Where each individual site is hosted in a dedicated way, although they are sharing a server with other users.
We recommend VPS for clients who need more control at the server level but cannot invest in or do not want a dedicated server.
VPS Hosting; How does it work?
In terms of pricing and options VPS can be the best of both worlds. With this technology, the server can adapt resources to meet the user’s needs- when demand is high, the server’s capacity can be increased without paying for it permanently.
If you look at VPS hosting like an electric bill, you pay for what you use, when you need it. If you’re someone who needs to store data online and doesn’t want it mixed with thousands of other users, then a dedicated cloud server is the right choice. Ensuring that the hosting service gets even more personalized.
VPS; The Good and Bad
As a company grows, maintaining a physical IT structure becomes more and more expensive. Because virtual private servers are not dependent on physical computers, the cost is much lower.
Aside from the difference in price, VPS hosting has great flexibility and adaptability because it adapts to the user’s needs. When a website receives a substantial amount of traffic all at once, the hosting can make more resources available to serve that traffic, temporarily. This means you won’t have to pay very much for space, that isn’t needed later.
On the other hand, in some companies access to basic server configurations may not be available-which is necessary for manual configurations and installations to be changed.
Dedicated Hosting or Dedicated Server
If we are talking about a server dedicated 100% to a user, it would consist of a web server, that can have the operating system the customer prefers. Generally, this is indicated for projects and websites that have higher volumes of traffic. This is due to a site requiring more room in the database, and greater performance.
Thinking again about a real estate company, a dedicated server would be a building with one resident. That single resident possesses all the resources, only available to them. This allows them to completely enjoy the housing.
Dedicated Hosting; The Good and Bad
Since a dedicated server has all its capacity available to one solitary user, it is difficult to find any negative points about it. However, the prices will be higher for this option, and developers will need some level of expertise, which may be a challenge to smaller companies and sites.
Consider both the advantages and disadvantages of living by yourself. You may have more freedom while living alone, but you are solely responsible for maintaining and cleaning the building.
Website Hosting Properties
- Domains
- DNS
- Operating System
- Storage
- Database
- Traffic, Bandwidth
- Safety
- Backup
- Uptime
- Support and Service
- Maintenance
Creating a Website and Hosting It
Now that we have covered the options that will influence what hosting service you choose, it is now time to consider how to develop a website that will meet the needs of both you and your customers.
Website creation is not governed by any set of rules, there are many platforms and services available. All with their own set of advantages and disadvantages, it all depends on the project and features you want to create.
With that in mind, we do suggest:
Use a builder when creating a website and build it on a CMS (content management platform) like WordPress. Invest in the help of a professional, freelancer, or agency when creating a website.
Having a complete website, including responsive design for all types of devices, is very important. More and more users are making buying decisions on their cell phone or tablet every day
So What is the Best Website Hosting Service?
Selecting the best hosting service for your business can seem like a huge decision, but with a little research and the help of a professional the whole process should be simple. Starting off your web project with a strong foundation will only make everything that you hope to implement down the road that much easier.
Call the web hosting pros at AcuTech Design and see what we can do for your business. We offer a variety of hosting and maintenance plans to keep your site running smoothly.
