When you run a business, having a quality website is one of the most important things that you can do. However, your site needs to be hosted before anybody can access it. There are a huge variety of different hosting services to consider and a few different options. Here are some of the main ones.
- Free web hosting. These are companies who will offer you a place to host your website for no cost. Many people consider this option simply because it’s free. In many cases, however, the negatives outweigh the positives. Services are highly limited, as is editing your website, and the overall look and feel will be nowhere near as impressive as a paid-for website. Although you can usually unlock more features by paying for a “premium”, such websites will remain underwhelming.
- Shared web hosting. The next step up from free web hosting, this involves your website being placed onto the same server as other websites. Many hosts are turning to SSD (Solid State Drives) to boost the speeds at which your customers can browse your site. Features are often limited and services are not very flexible due to the number of customers that they host.
- Virtual Private Servers. For websites hosted on virtual servers, these offer excellent value for money and often boast impressive speeds. You will be able to have better reliability and stability on a VPS, and you can often host several sites using the same service. However, at this point, cost might be prohibitive for smaller businesses and space will still be somewhat limited. You may also be responsible for managing your own server, depending on the service offered.
- Dedicated hosting/managed hosting. Dedicated hosting gives you your own web server and full control over it. As you’re managing it yourself, there are endless possibilities. At the same time, you’re the one responsible for the overall security of the server. Managed hosting, in comparison, means that the provider generally takes care of the server. While you don’t have full control, this gives you peace of mind knowing that it’s in the hands of experts.
- Cloud server. One of the newest types of hosting, this is a quick and powerful hosting solution. Cloud servers often offer highly competitive costs, and as cloud hosting is decentralised, issues such as power disruptions aren’t as devastating to the web services. However, with cloud hosting, there may be concerns about privacy and if your connection to your ISP is slow or poor, then your site could be affected.
There are web hosts around the world who offer these services, amongst various others. When it comes to making a decision, however, there are a number of things to keep in mind that aren’t necessarily limited to the type of web hosting that is on offer.
Location is very important. Your website, when it’s created, will be hosted on a server and the web host will provide internet connectivity for you and your customers. The proximity of the server to your customers will dictate the overall speed at which they can browse your website. For a small business, this speed can be the difference between keeping loyal customers or frustrating your visitors to the point where they give up. Businesses should seriously consider purchasing space with a local or national web host.
You should also consider the security that the web hosts offer. As with the types of web hosting, there are numerous different types of security. These include Secure File Transfer Protocol and Secure Sockets Layer. Generally speaking, Secure Sockets Layer is the most suitable for those hosting ecommerce websites, while Secure File Transfer Protocol offers a good level of security. A good web host should make security a primary feature of their service.
Choosing your website host is a very important decision to make for your business. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you with secure, efficient web hosting based in the North East of England.