In one sentence, the reason people need to hire a web host is to ensure that their website functions smoothly, deal with traffic rush, and maintain uptime. In the past, individuals and businesses needed their own servers for hosting their websites.
Over time, the expansion of the internet has made it essential for hosting providers to cater to these services. Every website owner finds it untenable to have their personal server or data center and maintain it.
What does a website hosting provider do?
A web hosting service provider handles the server that powers your website. Small businesses find it a suitable solution because they don’t need to hire in-house IT staff for server management. The provider handles everything and even scales your needs associated with bandwidth and speed.
Why is website hosting crucial?
- It allows launching your website on the internet. There are other ways but come with a massive cost and are challenging.
- You get space on the server to store website files and images that comprise your site.
- You gain access to advanced website building & management tools. These are easy to use without any coding or programming know-how.
The website hosting services have already invested in servers, data centers, preventative measures for server protection [inclement weather & overheating], necessary bandwidth, skilled technicians for proper maintenance, and server management. They are covering the entire essentials, so it is sensible to leverage the benefits from their hardware.
Website hosting service provider types
Free hosting service providers
A free hosting plan has its limitations. You don’t have the leeway to create the website design you desire. You have to work with a pre-programmed structure. You can only change the background, colors, and page content.
Limitations can restrain your branding efforts and fewer storage options making it impossible to store large files
. Your website resides on someone else’s platform, so you may not own the domain – for example. If you are using WordPress.org then your URL looks like www.abccompany.wordpress.com. A branded domain name allows enjoying WordPress functionalities, but you need to upgrade the plan.
You need to partner with a hosting service that you can persist to use for a long time without the concerns of not getting tech support or poor security dilemmas. There are chances you will have to find a paid hosting service and restart from a scratch. To avoid such an experience it is better to partner with a reliable website hosting service provider.
Paid hosting service providers
Paid website hosting services cost is complex, but there are different plans and options.
- Shared hosting – It is an affordable option and great for new websites. You rent server space and share it with many websites. It works great for many, but as a business grows an upgrade to the hosting plan with more bandwidth or storage is essential.
- VPS – Virtual Private server allows you to have certain resources allocated to your website even though your site is on a single server.
- Dedicated server – You have a committed server as you will not share it with other websites. It comes with a huge price tag.
- Cloud hosting – Your website can scale down or up as needed. A great option for companies with fluctuating resource needs.
A good website hosting service offers speed, scalability, reliability, security, and great customer support!