Website hosting is something that many people seem to forget about whenever they are browsing the web. The truth is that website hosting is a vital part of the structure that we see as the world wide web. Every website that you visit is being hosted on a server. They end up on a server by paying a server host to keep the website up and running.

Website hosting is a crucial part of the internet. That is why, as a company, you will need to choose what kind of hosting service to go with. You can host your own website, or you can have a company host it for you. It all depends on your needs and what resources you have available to you and the price.

What Does it Mean to Host a Website?

To host a website means to allow space for a new website on a server to make it viewable to others. More specifically, the company that wants its website to be hosted on a server pays a website hosting provider to do just that. This allows the website to be viewed by others, which leads to website visitors! 

Every website that you see whenever you’re browsing through the web is hosted on a server. Without web hosting, there would be no web pages to visit on the internet. Many of these websites tend to use the same web hosting services. This is why, if you are a company, you may want to look towards a web hosting service provider to get your website running.

Common Web Hosting Services

There are many different web hosting services. These web hosting services aren’t all the same. Some of them are more budget-based, while others target new websites. Some of them are even targeted towards all websites, no matter how new or old they are. It all just comes down to what you think your website’s needs are. Some of the more common web hosting services are: 

Shared Website Hosting

Shared website hosting is a service that is more appealing to companies starting their first website and has little to no traffic going to and from it. The reason it is more appealing to those websites is because of the relatively low price. You will probably only end up spending about $10 a month when using a shared website hosting service. The drawback to this is why it is relatively inexpensive. You are sharing your website on a server with hundreds and possibly even thousands of websites on it. If one of those websites sees a lot of traffic, it may affect your website’s performance. 

WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting is a popular web hosting service that many companies use for their websites today! Since WordPress is a rather popular website building tool, many people know about their website hosting service too. Their hosting service comes with some great benefits, such as helping to keep your WordPress website up-to-date. It also comes with SiteLock, which provides WordPress-hosted websites with daily malware scans and added security. These constant updates and security features ensure that your website is protected against all sorts of cyber threats. This is especially important if your company is more eCommerce-based.

WunderTRE can host your website on WordPress for a low monthly fee. Get started with us today!

Cloud-Based Web Hosting

A cloud-based web hosting service is ideal for websites taking that first step up from shared website hosting since it can better accommodate higher website traffic. It works by having individual servers working together to make it appear like one much larger server. It grows whenever the hosting service provider decides it is time to grow based on how many websites need the service. 

Dedicated Web Hosting

A dedicated web hosting service is more appealing to websites with a consistently high amount of traffic. With a dedicated web server, you have one server just for your website. That means your website doesn’t have to worry about any sudden performance lags. All of the server’s resources are directed towards your website. Of course, with the dedicated server all to yourself, the price is slightly on the higher side when it comes to web hosting services. 

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Going with a virtual private server to host your website is another step above shared website hosting. While not being as strong as a dedicated web hosting server, your website can operate rather efficiently. With a virtual private server, you are sharing a server with other websites as well. The main difference, though, is that the server operates as if it is separate from others. This means that the other websites hosted on the server won’t affect your website’s performance. 

These are some of the more common web hosting services that are used today. As you can see, there are differences between each of them. That is why it is important that, as a company, you research all of the possible web hosting services that you are interested in.

Should You Host Your Own Website or Have a Company Host it For You?

Having a company host your website for you is an easy and effective way to get it viewable on the internet. They may also come with many benefits, such as managed WordPress hosting, which provides numerous security features and performance enhancements. One other route you can also go with is hosting your own website. 

Hosting your own website can be a potential solution if you decide to leave your current hosting provider and are still looking for another. The only cons associated with hosting your own website are the difficulty of getting a server set up, as well as the pricing. The pros are that you have your own web server in the end, and you are now more familiar with the website hosting process! 

Whatever form of website hosting, you decide to go with, keep in mind what you are willing to spend and what features you are looking for. You want your website to have the best performance and the best security.