Do You Need a Web Host?
Every business needs a website. Of course, online businesses require websites for marketing and selling products or services by definition. In the internet age, however, even local brick-and-mortar businesses need to at least be discoverable via the web.
Why? Because word of mouth only gets you so far in this internet-centric age. These days, people discover new businesses even local business via Bing, Google, and Yahoo, search engines that make it incredibly simple to find companies’ products, services, operational hours, and prices. If your business doesn’t appear in the search results, ideally on the first page, it’ll be difficult for potential clients and customers to find you via search. And if you don’t have a sharable link, your chances of building online word of mouth via social networking plummet, too. In other words, no website, no discoverability, no money. Of course, web hosting isn’t just for businesses. You may want to host a personal website or blog, too. Either way, the services here have you covered.
Shared hosting is web hosting in which the provider houses multiple sites on a single server. For example, Site A shares the same server with Site B, Site C, Site D, and Site E. The upside is that the multiple sites share the server cost, so shared web hosting is generally a good solution.
You could think of the sites that share your server as your roommates; there’s really not that much separating you from them. Sure, you can close the bedroom door, but they can still cause nightmares for you in the kitchen and the bathroom. In web hosting terms, all the sites share a single server’s resources, so huge traffic spike on Site A may impact the neighboring sites’ performances. It’s even possible that another site could take down the shared server altogether, if it crashed hard enough.
VPS hosting is similar to shared hosting in that multiple sites share the same server, but the similarities end there. A dedicated web host houses fewer sites per server than is the case with shared hosting, and each site has its own individual resources.
In housing terms, VPS hosting is like renting your own apartment in a larger building. You’re much more isolated than in the roommate situation mentioned above; it’s still possible that a neighboring apartment could causes annoyance for you, but far less likely. In web hosting terms, Site A’s traffic surge won’t have nearly as much impact on Site B or Site C.
Dedicated hosting, on the other hand, is both powerful and pricey. It’s reserved for sites that require an incredible amount of server resources.
Unlike shared or VPS hosting, dedicated hosting makes your website the lone tenant on a server. To extend the housing metaphor, having a dedicated server is like owning your own home. The means that your website taps the server’s full power, and pays for the privilege. If you’re looking for a high-powered site—an online mansion for your business—dedicated hosting is the way to go., That said, many dedicated web hosting services task you with handling backend, technical issues, much as homeowners have manage maintenance that renters generally leave to their landlords.
WordPress hosting is for people who want to build their sites on the back of the popular WordPress content management system (CMS) from WordPress.org. There are multiple ways to set up shop using this free, open-source blogging and site-building platform.
You gain the most web-building functionality if you create a self-hosted site. This typically involves transfering the free WordPress CMS to server or signing up for a web host’s optimized WordPress plan. With an optimized plan, the host automatically handles backend stuff, so you don’t have to worry about updating the plug-ins and CMS, and enabling automatic backups. In these instances, the WordPress environment typically comes pre-installed on the server.
When it comes to server operating systems, Linux is typically the default option. Still, some services offer a choice of Linux or Windows hosting.
If you have specific server-side applications that require Windows, such as SQL Server or a custom application written in .NET, then you need to make sure your web host has Windows hosting.
If you aim to have a web presence, you’ve got to have email. It’s a convenient way for potential customers and clients to send you a message, Word document, or other files. Thankfully, most web hosts include email in the price of their hosting plans. Some web hosts offer unlimited email account creation (which is great for future growth), while others offer a finite amount. You, naturally, should want unlimited email.
That said, not all web hosts offer email. WP Engine, for example, does not. In such instances, you must get email accounts from a company other than your web host. That might sound like a hassle, and just one more thing to keep track of, but there are actually some webmasters who feel that separating your email hosting and web hosting services is smart. That way, one provider going offline won’t completely break your business.