Website Hosting

Website hosting is a service that provides a place for your website to physically reside, making it possible for anyone with its address (domain name) to find it.

A hosting service provides all of the infrastructure (servers, software, etc.) required for a website to work.

There are three main types of website hosting:

• Shared hosting
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting
• Dedicated hosting

The type of hosting your business website should use depends on the level of service you need from your hosting provider as well as the amount of traffic your website is expected to see.

Shared hosting means that your website will be on a hosting server along with hundreds, or even thousands, of other websites.

• Extremely low cost. By hosting so many websites on each server, the cost to operate and maintain a hosting server is spread out among hundreds of website owners.
• No technical skills required. All of the technical aspects of maintaining a hosting server are handled by the hosting company.
• Very easy set up. Hosting companies make the set-up process about as hassle-free as buying something on Amazon.
• Great choice for small businesses just getting started. Also ideal for bloggers and personal websites.

• Potential for reduced website response time. If other websites of the server you are sharing are experiencing heavy traffic, it can bog down the server and reduce your website’s response time to your visitors.
• No control over features available in your hosting plan. You can shop around to see which features hosting companies have, but the companies recommended below will have all the features you need to get started with a WordPress-based website.
• No access to server admin features. This is only a con if you’re a real tech nerd and like to really tweak things.

Shared hosting is very low cost and is a great way to get started! If you’re launching a blog-based website or a small website to promote a book, or to support the launching of a small business, shared hosting is the way to go.

Virtually all hosting companies have options for upgrading your account as your business needs grow. See my website hosting company recommendations below.

Virtual Private Server, or VPS, hosting is a hosting environment that allows for resources such as the operating system, RAM and CPU to be dedicated to your account.

This is achieved by virtualizing a dedicated server and splitting the resources amongst the users on that server.

• Less expensive than a dedicated hosting server. You are still sharing a server, but on a different scale than with shared hosting and with more control.
• Guaranteed resources availability. Your account will always be allocated a set amount of RAM, CPU and Disk Space you’ve chosen regardless of what other users on the server are doing.
• Scalable plans. As your needs grow, you may be able to upgrade the resources available before needing to upgrade to a dedicated server.
• More control over server configuration. You’ll have more options for features on a VPS server and you’ll need to understand how to configure them.

• More expensive than shared hosting. VPS hosting can be three to four times the cost of shared hosting, but can still be a good value as your business grows.
• Still some potential for reduced website response time. Although, there are fewer websites hosted on a VPS server and you’ll have dedicated resources for your portion, if one or more other websites on that server are experiencing significant traffic, it can still affect your website.
• More technical expertise required. With more control over server set up, more technical knowledge is required.

For most small businesses, a VPS hosting account will be more than they need. But if a business grows enough, VPS hosting is there when you’re ready to upgrade!

See my website hosting company recommendations below.

Dedicated website hosting is a hosting environment that provides the highest level of resource allocation, privacy, and control.

Dedicated servers are completely isolated from one another, so users get full access to configure their server any way they want without affecting other users or being impacted by the actions of other users.

• Dedicated servers are not shared with any other users. Performance of a dedicated server customer’s website is stable and predictable.
• Faster website response time. Since your server isn’t sharing resources with any other websites; the server is truly dedicated to running your website!
• Ability to handle more traffic. Instead of handling the traffic of hundreds or thousands of websites, your server is dedicated to handling just yours!

• Very expensive compared to shared or VPS hosting. You bear all of the expense associated with a dedicated server, which can run into hundreds of dollars per month!
• Much more technical expertise required. You manage the server, so more knowledge and expertise are needed.

If your website has consistent high traffic or if you are running a serious ecommerce operation, dedicated hosting may be the best option for you.

See my website hosting company recommendations below.

There are many low-cost website hosting providers available on the internet today. Here are my recommendations for hosting your new website:

I have found Bluehost to be a very reliable web hosting company with access to all of the major tools needed to build and host a website:

• Free Domain included for the first year your plan (up to $17.99 value).
• Easy Website Creation for building a WordPress website.
• Domain Manager to make it easy to update, transfer, purchase and manage domains.
• SSL Certificates which are a requirement for e-commerce websites as well as to ensure listing on Google and other search engines.
• Google Ads campaign match credit to help you kick start a Google Ads campaign to promote your business.
• Google My Business features to help you get your listing created and help get your business found by local customers.

Disclosure: I have an affiliate relationship with this company. This means that if you click on one of my links to this company and buy their service, I may receive a commission.

I have also found HostGator to be a reliable web hosting company with access to all of the major tools needed to build and host a website:

• Free Domain included for the first year your plan (up to $17.99 value).
• Domain Manager to make it easy to update, transfer, purchase and manage domains.
• SSL Certificates which are a requirement for e-commerce websites as well as to ensure listing on Google and other search engines.
• Google Ads campaign match credit to help you kick start a Google Ads campaign to promote your business.

GoDaddy is well known as a place to get domain names, but they also offer many other website related services.

I have used GoDaddy to register many domain names over the years and still have some registered through them, however, I’ve never been a fan of their website hosting.

I think they have improved their hosting service over the years to compete with companies like Bluehost, HostGator and others, but I am not ready to recommend them for website hosting.

I can say that from the few times I’ve had to contact their customer service my experience has always been excellent and got timely resolution to whatever the issue was.