Baca juga, What is Website Hosting?
When asked this question, I always like to use an analogy! I usually tell a client that they should imagine themselves as the manufacturer of a car, they build the best car in the world, and now they want to show it to potential buyers. Well to do so, they need a showroom, so they rent a location as their showroom, and put their car on display there. So basically, in this analogy, your website is the car and the showroom you rent is the host. Simply, a website is a collection of files, and you want people to see it, so you will rent space on the internet so people can see it.
Okay Great, So Where Can I Host My Website?
So, in keeping with the analogy. The world wide web has many of these showroom suppliers with different types of real estate. You will likely have heard of some since they advertise aggressively such as:
- GoDaddy
- 1and1
- Network Solutions
There are several thousands more out there. Each target different users and each provide drastically different service levels, and at the end of the day a drastically different product, in my opinion. Now don’t get this confused with your domain name! That’s separate. The domain name can be analogized as the signage for your showroom. You will get that from the signage shop! In tech speak, the person who sells you your domain name is referred to as the registrar. Registrars usually sell hosting too, so you can get your signage from the guy that rents you the showroom. Practically this means you can buy domains at GoDaddy, 1and1, and Network Solutions along with several thousand more registrars and hosts. BUT, its important to note they do not have to be bought together. You can have Network Solutions as your registrar and GoDaddy as your host!
Why Is Website Hosting Important?
Well apart from putting your website online, there are several other VERY important factors that are often overlooked by business owners in deciding where to host. Here are three of the most important factors:
Website Hosting Affects The Speed Of Your Website
There are a few different types of website hosting. Generally the cheapest, which many people go with, is called “SHARED HOSTING”. This means that your website files are sitting on a server with website files from many other companies. Now depending on the hosting company, you might be sharing that server with several thousand other websites. This means that you all share the resources of that server. Just say one website on that server explodes with traffic…guess what happens? Every website sharing that server receives less in terms of resources and that means its sllloooooowwwww. So shared hosting is a gamble. It can work fine at times, and have lots of downtime at other times.
The real problem is, that you don’t know its down if you are not trying to access it. If you have a cheap shared hosting option, I would recommend setting up an account with Pingdom, and tracking when your site suffers outages. It will email you when the site is down and again when it is back up. Then you can make an informed decision as to whether shared hosting is serving you well.
Dedicated hosting, which is your website on your rented server ensures you are not sharing with all these other people. However, for some businesses this is not feasible. There are other options such as VPS hosting which is an affordable solution, and one that provides you with dedicated resources. There are certain restrictions, but for most people it will be a perfect solution. As a side note, we only offer VPS and dedicated options at Ag ConeXus.
To close out this point…you need good hosting to ensure your website is fast and speedy! Remember, for every second your site stalls in loading, customers are leaving….FACT!
Website Hosting Affects Security
Another big issue is security. Some hosts are prone to attacks more than others, and it can be very random. For instance, Network Solutions, one of the larger hosts, suffered an attack last week which shut down many websites worldwide. More importantly, if you are hosting with a good company, their security protocols should be sufficient to deter malicious attacks on your site from bots. In a shared hosting scenario, you also run risks of other websites sharing the server becoming infected with malware and it can spread like a bad dose of the flu.
Obviously, its important to keep your website secure, so this should be something you consider when making your purchasing decision.
Website Hosting Affects SEO
For most businesses, ranking well for your keywords is important. Well hosting, plays a part in determining where you rank. Specifically, speed (mentioned above) is important as Google really looks at the user experience. If someone searches slip and fall lawyer nyc and arrive on your website, but leave within 15 seconds, then that signal (which is measure and is referred to as a bounce) to Google may suggest that perhaps you are not relevant for that term. Also, one other factor is that if you are on a shared hosting plan, you don’t really know who you are sharing with! For instance, if you are on the same server as a “bad neighborhood” website then that IP address could be blacklisted by Google and your rankings are affected as a result!!! These “bad neighborhood” sites are adult sites with explicit content (aka porn sites), gambling, etc… Many hosting companies do go to lengths to avoid it, but you don’t know who you are sharing with in these scenarios!
Where Should I Host My Website?
With so many providers out there, it can be overwhelming. I specifically like Hostgator. I have found their techies and support team to know what they are talking about. I have had very bad experiences with GoDaddy, Network Solutions, 1and1, Dreamhost, MediaTemple, and Bluehost. So, I would recommend using Hostgator. (Note: I am not using any affiliate links here to make money from this article, this is just a shared resource for your consumption!). Whether you go with Hostgator or not, I highly recommend looking at using a VPS option, which will run more expensive than shared hosting.
How Much Is Website Hosting?
Again, each provider has their own pricing schemes so listing them all out here would be pointless. However, typically a shared hosting package will run you between $5 and $10 per month. VPS hosting ranges from between $30 and $150 per month depending on several variables. Dedicated servers can run you $150+ per month, again with several variables.
You will likely find that your website development company has a hosting solution for you and will manage that for you for an additional fee. At Ag ConeXus, we have a setup for VPS and dedicated hosting so that we ensure SEO is not affected negatively, site speed is fast, and your website is secure.
Conclusion: What You Need To Know!
Hopefully you now have an understanding of how hosting works, even if it is analogized with car sales! The cheapest option should not be the determining factor. If your business relies on a great web presence, and you are serious about it, then don’t apply a substandard hosting product to your brand and site! Run the pingdom tool on your site to see the speed you currently run at. Set up tracking so you know how much downtime your website has using Pingdom’s free account. Then decide if you should make the change to a better hosting product.
Do not hesitate to ask questions below!
