42 Things You Need To Know About Web Hosting: Part 1

When it comes to online marketing and a company’s website, one particular function is often overlooked; the online hosting of the website.

Partly this is because many confuse web design with web hosting. While the former is all about the look of your website, the latter concerns where your website actually ‘lives’ on the internet.

Web hosting is an equally important consideration for a business as web design, as poor web hosting can severely jeopardise the performance of a website. Your business or organisation may have the most brilliantly designed website, but that in itself will mean nothing if your website takes too long to access or is often ends up offline, both of which is a sign of a poor web hosting service.

So what actually is web hosting and what do you need to know about it? The following 42 questions and their answers will make you sufficiently informed to make the right decision in regards to your own web hosting needs.

This is Part 1 of a four part article. Part 2 can be read by clicking here. Future installments will be published in the coming weeks.

1          What is Web Hosting?

Web Hosting is the activity and business of providing data storage space available on the internet, which is then used to make websites accessible via the World Wide Web.

Online data storage is provided by dedicated computers called ‘servers’. The companies or individuals who provide this service are known as Web Hosts, and they manage all the technical aspects in regards to the access and technical performance of these servers, on which websites and other online applications are hosted.

 

2          How does Web Hosting differ from Web Design?

Web Hosting is solely concerned with the storage space of a website.

Web Design is the name given to the actual production and development of a website, specifically in regards to how the finished website will look and how an internet user will  interact and operate that website.

The two processes are distinct but there will need to be some communication and understanding between your Web Host and your Web Designer to ensure that the technical configuration of the web host’s server is appropriate for the website that the web designer is trying to build.

 

3          Are there different types of web hosting?

Different types of web hosting services are available to host your website. Before committing to a particular web hosting service, it is important to understand what kind of web hosting service your website will actually need.  These consideration should concern your current and future business needs, your online marketing budget, and what type of additional services the web host offers (such as customer support). 

The typical hosting options available to companies and individuals include:

•  Free Hosting
   Free web hosting services are the ideal option when you just want to build a non-professional website for fun but they are often inappropriate or  insufficient for most businesses or organisations.Free hosting services are often characterised by a slower connection speed (it takes longer for your website to load in peoples’ browsers), website  outage (when your website is offline and not visible), and advertising banners that are automatically added to your website and over which you have no  control (these banners are how free web hosting services make their money).Some web hosting companies require you to purchase a domain name in order to  receive free hosting services, while others may offer you a free  subdomain under their own branding, such as [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][yourname.webhost.com]. Please note that often you will not be able to transfer these free subdomains at  a later date, which can prove problematic if it is for a professional website for which you want to change web hosting solutions.

 

• Shared HostingIn a shared hosting environment, your website is hosted on the same servers as other websites, either owned by yourself or by other people.Shared Web Hosting Services are typified by the sharing of an actual physical server and also standardised software applications for all users to access that server.Shared Web Hosting Services are affordable because the cost to operate the server is shared between you and the other website owners who are using the space. There can be some problems in using shared web hosting services, such as slower connections and the risk that the servers can be infected by viruses uploaded to other users’ websites if the web host themselves are insufficiently attentive to what is on the shared server.  
• Dedicated HostingIn a dedicated hosting environment, the website owner will have an entire web server to themselves.This allows for faster website performance, as all the server’s resources are your own without any drain from other website owners. It also provides a greater degree of online security for your website.However, Dedicated Web Hosting means that you will be responsible for the cost of the server operation entirely and this can prove to be expensive.Dedicated Web Hosting is a good choice for websites that requires a lot of system resources and which need to offer a high level of IT security.

   

• Colocating HostingColacating Hosting is when you purchase your own server but have it housed at a web host’s facilities. You, as its owner, will be entirely responsible for the server itself.The advantage of this type of hosting service is you have full control of over that server and you can install any software, scripts or applications that your business’ online presence needs.However, the significant downside is that you yourself are entirely responsible for the maintenance of the server itself, which will require the necessary technical expertise to successfully manage.

 

4          Do different types of hosting affect search engine results, such as Google results?

Google announced back in 2010 that website speed would begin having an impact on search rankings. However Google also stated that “While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal.”

As online marketing becomes more competitive with the ever increasing number of websites and other online applications, it is important that your online presence is backed-up by a robust hosting service.  If your hosting service is problematic or intermittent, it will impact on your search results as your website will simply not be visited as by many people and this in turn can impact your search engine results.

 

5          What do I do first if I need a website? Do I design a site or do I secure a web host?

The first step when setting up a new website is to consider what the website is actually for.  This function of the intended website should influence both your web design choices as well as those that you make for the site’s web hosting.

For example, an e-commerce site (a website that takes orders online/ sells products directly to those on the internet) will require a particular type of design and a more secure form of web hosting, especially if the website is taking online payment details.

A web designer or a web host will be able to advise you on the best approach and in which order you should tackle the process, the advice being tailored to your specific website needs.

Another important stage is buying the right web address (also known as the domain name or URL) for your website (see below).

 

6.         Does my website have to be designed by my web host?

No – you can purchase a web hosting package (including the domain name) before going to a web designer to have your website built. All you would need to do is to provide your web designer with some login details to upload your finished website onto the internet.

However, it is probably best to talk to either a web designer or a web host before committing to a particular web hosting package or web design service, as your website will need to be suitably tailored for your specific business needs.

Many online web host providers will actually offer their own website building software with which you can use to put your own site together. However, such software is often fairly rudimentary as well as a widespread, which can result in a website that is too simplistic for your business requirements and which will also have a generic look than can undermine the visual presence of your online branding/

7.         Do web hosts write/ design my website for me?

As I have already mentioned, web hosts look after the amount of space your website takes up on the internet, they do not write or design your website.

For the design of your website you will need a website designer and a website developer; the designer creating the look of your website while the developer makes sure that the website works (i.e. pages link correctly) – the website designer and website developer is often the same person.

However, neither the web host or the web designer will actually write the final content for your website. This has to be done either by yourself or a professional copywriter who knows how to adapt marketing content for websites.

Most web designers will know of a copywriter who would be appropriate for your website, or you can look to commission one independently if you so wish.

If you are planning on writing your own content for your website, make sure you talk to your web designer about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) considerations (see below). You may also want to hire a professional proofreader to check your website copy for any typos or other embarrassing errors.

 

8.         Can a web host store and maintain more than one of my websites?

A good web host will be able store whatever number of websites you own or require, although the cost of doing so will be dependent on the type of websites and will vary from web host to web host/

 

9.         When do I need to get a web address/ domain name/ URL?

‘Web address’, ‘domain name’ and ‘URL’ mean all all the same thing; it is the address of the website that people have to type into their web browsers to visit your website.

Web addresses usually start with ‘www.’ then feature a chosen name (i.e. the name of your company) and then finishes with a suffix such as ‘co.uk’ (which you can also choose). The suffix is important as it often denotes either your geographical location or the type of institution that your business or organisation is. An example of a web address is www.diamond-discovery.com.

You can only use web addresses that are available and have not been bought and used by someone else. There are many ways to buy domain names from different online vendors, but talk to your web designer or web host to see which vendor they recommend. You may also want to consult with the web designer and/ or a professional marketer as to which domain name would be appropriate for your business.

You may also want to consider buying multiple domain names with different suffixes to prevent competitors using or owning them. Just because you have bought www.yourcompany.com (to take a random example) does not mean you automatically have the right to own or usewww.yourcompany.co.uk; you will have to purchase both and then decide which address is going to be your primary address that will appear on your business literature.

 

10.       Does a web host buy my internet address/ domain name/ URL?

Many web host providers will provide the domain name for free when purchasing a hosting package so it can be cost effective to do it this way. However many that do this may actually be offering an inferior or restrictive hosting packing that may not be appropriate for your business so this is probably a false economy.

Talk to your web designer or a web host to find out what the costs are of them buying the required domain names on your behalf.

Alternatively, this is something you can do yourself independently of any web host and it may work out cheaper to do so; just make sure you know what you are doing and that you are buying the right domain name appropriate for your business or organisation.