Hosting is the invisible foundation of the internet. Every website needs a ‘home’, a place where its files are accessible anytime, anywhere. That’s what hosting does. It’s a plot of internet land. If you want a website, it’ll need to be hosted somewhere.
Good hosting makes for a fast site that’s almost always accessible. Good hosting is affordable, low-maintenance, and scaleable. Bad hosting is the opposite. In the hyper-competitive, low attention span world of the internet, hosting is an essential foundation. Heck, you wouldn’t be able to read this if we didn’t have a good web host.
So, how do you host a website? That’s the big question, and the answer is simpler than you might think: pay someone else to do it for you or do it yourself. Or, to put it more technically:
- Use a hosting platform
- Host locally
The best method depends on your experience level. Hosting platforms are far, far more common, which is why we’ll be covering that approach first. Setting up your own server is a good learning exercise, but that’s usually as good as it gets. If you’re not the techiest type, signing up with a hosting provider is the sensible option. ‘Cheap and reliable’ is a golden combination in web hosting, and hosting companies provide that. They take care of the technical considerations so you can focus on your site.
This page will walk you through both methods of hosting a website, with some nods to which providers meet different needs best. By the end you’ll have all the information you need to get hosting.
Option 1: How to Host a Website with a Provider
Follow these four simple steps to host your website with a hosting provider:
- Step 1: Compare hosting companies.
- Step 2: Choose a website hosting company.
- Step 3: Choose a website hosting plan.
- Step 4: Register a domain name.
Step 1: Compare Hosting Companies
A hosting platform is a company that takes care of hosting for you. In exchange for a monthly fee, the provider houses your site’s data and manages the demands of its traffic. They are cheap, consistent, and (crucially) they take care of the technical considerations. There are dozens of hosting platforms out there, if not hundreds.
The first step to hosting your website is comparing providers. Size up the options and see which ones align with your technical requirements — and your budget. To help you along, we’ve conducted our own research to see how popular web hosting platforms hold up.
Step 2: Choose a Website Hosting Company
Once you’ve had a look at the top hosting companies, you need to pick one! There are a number of features you should consider when choosing a website hosting company. We’ve provided an overview of these in our rankings breakdown above. Below are some of the key factors to consider:
- Uptime
- Support
- Free domain name
- Value for Money
- Bandwidth
- WordPress integration
- Money-back guarantees
What features you should focus on depends on your priorities. Some, like uptime and value for money, are always important. Others, like a free domain name, may not matter if you have one already. Different providers shine in different areas.
Step 3: Pick a Website Hosting Plan
Once you have a host platform you like the look of, you still need to narrow your decision down to a plan. There are numerous types of hosting (shared, cloud, VPS, and more), and there is usually a selection of plan tiers within each type.
But first things first. Let’s be clear on what the different types of web hosting are and why it’s important to know the difference. Getting the best deal possible depends on you understanding your needs. There’s no sense in signing up to a $10 a month plan when a $3 a month plan will serve you just as well. Your site may grow to need that $10 plan, but why sign up earlier than you have to?
Step 4: Get a Domain Name
It’s all well and good having a plot of internet land, but without an address no one will be able to find it! That’s what a domain name is. It’s your digital address.
Conclusion
And that’s it. Simple right? Follow these steps and you will be signed up to a web hosting service ready and waiting for your site.
If you’ve made your decision with one eye on the future — which you should — the plan you have chosen will have excellent support and be easily scalable. Now you can focus on the really import thing — your site!
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