What You Need To Know About Web Hosting
Whether you have products or services to sell or ideas to share, you need to have a website. The internet is everywhere and over 5 billion people use it regularly. A website puts you and your business in front of millions of customers, improving your visibility, credibility, and reach. The right website looks professional, loads quickly, and connects you to the right people. While having a plan for custom web development is important, one of the most important factors is how and where your site will be hosted. Here’s what you should know about web hosting.
Understanding Web Hosting
When you think of a store or other business you can visit, there will be products or services the owner wants to sell to clients or customers. That store or business needs a facility to conduct its business, including equipment to conduct transactions, spaces to display goods or information about services, and a building that houses operations. You can think of web hosting as the service that makes your site and its elements accessible to internet users. Web hosts provide the space and technology necessary for your site to operate according to its purposes.
Taking a Closer Look
A web hosting service provides the server, which is a physical computer that stores the data, images, and other elements used for your website. When a user types a specific address or URL, your web host transfers all the files needed for your site. Your web host is responsible for making sure the right elements are transferred each time. Web hosting also covers security for site use as well as the maintenance necessary to keep the site running. While you could build or operate a computer to act as a server for self-hosting, that could be a very expensive option. Many individuals and organizations use a third-party hosting service that takes care of the costs and responsibility of server maintenance and security.
Exploring Web Hosting Options
When it comes to third-party web hosting, there are different options available, each with its own advantages:
- Shared hosting: This option involves multiple users sharing the same server resources, such as storage, memory, and computing power. Shared hosting is usually quite affordable and requires no technical expertise; however, you don’t have access to server settings and your site performance is impacted by other website traffic.
- Virtual private servers: Generally more expensive than shared hosting, VPS hosting dedicates space and resources to your site’s files. Although you enjoy much more freedom to customize, you’ll likely need to hire a custom web development service to manage the technical details.
- Dedicated hosting: This web hosting option comes with dedicated server space and boosted functionality. While you do have root access to the server, this type of service is usually very expensive and better suited for large businesses.
- Managed hosting: This option comes with dedicated server space, but less control and responsibility than dedicated hosting. Typically you manage your site’s content using networked computer communication rules, also known as a file transfer protocol.
- Cloud hosting: Although more expensive than shared and VPS hosting, cloud hosting uses multiple virtual servers reducing the chance that your website will be impacted by hardware failure or high traffic. Depending on your provider, you may not have root access to these services.
Finding the Right Custom Web Development Solution
You may seem overwhelmed by what’s available for web hosting. The good news is that Unwired Web Solutions offers a full suite of services to make your website dreams a beautiful and functional reality. Not only do we help you develop a website, but we also specialize in search engine optimization, helping to ensure your site is visible and accessible by the users that are in most need of the products or information you provide. Contact us today to get started!