What is website hosting is a logical question from people who are completely new to the idea of working online.
The thought of having one’s own online business usually sparks excitement and an urge to learn more about it. Those who go beyond the ‘thinking about it’ stage and decide to venture further with their project will need to start with a business plan.
One of the major items in the business plan is a website strictly for this new business. So, where and how to start a website comes to the fore, and needs to be dealt with.
On researching how to start a new website it is found that not only is a website required but there are accompanying components to be considered. Without these components, a website would not exist.
Table of Contents
Two Essential Components of a Website
- Reliable Website Hosting Service
- Your Domain Name
These are the two main requirements to getting a website live on the Internet. Purchasing a Domain is the first step, but without website hosting there cannot be a website. So, this brings us to the question of:
- What is website hosting?
Website hosting is a service provided by a professionally qualified company equipped to host Domains of thousands of websites.
Web hosting companies are abundant, meaning there are many to choose from when you are ready to build your website.
The role of the Website Host is to provide secure and reliable hosting for your website’s domain. It is important to carefully research and consider a suitable Hosting company to provide the service you require for your website.
What to Look for Prior to Deciding on a Hosting Company
All Hosting companies I am familiar with provide a range of plans. Usually, they offer a Basic Plan, Standard Plan, and a Business Plan. These plans may have different titles, but most amount to a choice of 3 plans.
Six Important Features of Hosting Plans
- Number of websites able to be hosted: Basic Plans usually allow for 1 website
- Security: Is SSL Certificate part of the hosting plan?
- Backups: Does the company do daily website backups?
- Support: Is support offered. If so, how is the support provided?
- Email Addresses: Essential email hosting of your domain name. Is this offered free of charge?
- Cost of Plan: – Per Month or Yearly?
Consider Each Feature Individually
1. The number of websites hosted in a plan: It is common practice for a Basic plan to host 1 only website. More often than not, a Standard plan will offer to host for a greater number of websites. This is worth considering when taking out the initial subscription. Although, you may be able to upgrade your hosting plan if you wish to start an additional website.
2. Security: To ensure data security of websites it is now common practice that SSL Certificates are used. The most simple way to have SSL on your website is obtaining it through your website hosting plan. Some Hosting companies include SSL at no additional cost. Other Hosting companies will charge a fee for the SSL certificate on your website.
With an SSL certificate your website address will be https://as opposed to http: 
Each page and post of your website will show a green colored padlock in the browser bar, and this confirms the security of your website. The absence of a green colored padlock in the browser indicates an issue preventing security of your website. If this occurs you may need assistance from the Web Host company. Therefore, it is important to ensure that support is available. (See No. 4 below.)
3. Backups: It is advisable to ensure that the Hosting company operates a backup service. Also, the length of time the Host company retains the backup is an important factor. It is normal practice for website owners to back up their website daily. However, the additional backup by the Hosting company provides peace of mind.
4. Support: This is a very important factor. If support is by email it is usual to receive a response to a request for assistance within 24 hours. I consider this too long to wait for Hosting support. Hosting issues can arise from time to time, so it is essential to be aware of how and when you can expect to receive required support from the Host company
Some Hosting companies offer support by ‘Online Chat’. This type of support is usually immediate, and therefore of greater assistance.
5. Email Addresses: You will need to have at least one email address that includes your domain, e.g. admin@yourdomainname.com. There is the chance that you will require more than one email address related to your website. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the Host company of your choice provides for adequate email addresses.
6. Cost of Plan: Be aware that some Hosting companies promote their plans at a specific amount per month. However, often in small print, they state that the amount is payable annually. Therefore, rather than paying $5.95 per month, the initial outlay will be $71.40. Admittedly, the subscription is paid up for 12 months, and this is just a warning that it happens. Be sure to read the ‘Small Print’ before committing to a subscription plan.
Hosting Companies I’ve Experienced
This information is to provide a starting point for finding a Hosting company for your website. However, it is not a recommendation of any one particular company. In saying that I know that Dreamhost.com has an excellent reputation.
However, please do your research to find the Host company that is best for you.
- Hostgator.com
- Bluehost.com
- Dreamhost.com
Shared Hosting vs Dedicated Hosting
This information is just a little extra in the event of your wondering about Shared hosting and whether it will work well for you.
Shared Hosting is what most small websites, both personal and business, are hosted on.
Dedicated Hosting is for large sites and usually costs more than $100 US per month.
Whichever Hosting company you decide on, be assured that Shared Hosting is more than adequate for your new website.
Imagine Building Your First Website Within One Minute
I understand this sounds like a sales pitch, but that definitely is not so.
You can build your first website FREE of cost in less than one minute, and you can learn how to do that by reading an article I published on this website. The article can be found here.
When you take this opportunity to build your first site, FREE website hosting is included together with FREE website training.
You can build a second website if you choose to. Also FREE of cost.
For 7 days you will receive full access to the best affiliate marketing program available globally.
After 7 days you can retain your websites and host, together with minimal training, all FREE of cost.
In the event of finding this program exactly what you are looking for to build a business, immediate access is available to Premium membership.
Learn more about what this program offers by clicking on the link below.
I wish you all the best with building your new website.
Please leave your comments below.
Website hosting can be very confusing especially for people that don’t have a lot of computer experience to begin with. You really broke it down well and I wish I would have found your article when I first started out. I will have to refer my friends to your website when I get tired from explaining all of this. Cheers!
Thank you very much Shaun for your positive comment. It’s helps a lot to know you saw benefit from the article that could help those new to building their website.
Much appreciated.
Hey this was a really informative article, i didnt know websites needed a host before i started affiliate marketing. I much perfer Wealthy Affiliate as my host because there are not more levels of plans and i dont need to remember my password or username i can just sign in from WA. I did hear of some good other hosts though but you would have to go else where to get the training you need.
That is absolutely true, Justin. People who have never had a website prior to joining Wealthy Affiliate would not have experienced the need to choose a suitable web hosting company. Having a site hosted by WA is a huge benefit as it is something that happens automatically, with no effort required by the member.
This is really helpful to our new students. It explains the conditions and the aspects that what we need to be adjusted. It allows me to have a new direction in the webpage. But I have a problem in a language translation because of my English grammar. Not really good, generally speaking. I use google to translate Chinese into English , but I find that the words used in translation are not accurate, such as the question of ‘past tense’. When I wrote my blog, I mentioned that there are differences in Past tense. What can I do? Can you solve it?
I’m pleased to know you think this article is helpful for those new to website building, and thank you for expressing your thoughts in this regard.
With respect to the difficulty you are experiencing with translation from Chinese to English, I suggest you use Grammarly. If you don’t already know about Grammarly, this is a tool that checks for errors in written content. I’m not sure if it checks for correct tense but it is worthwhile trying it. Grammarly is a free tool so I recommend you give it a try by using it on your blog prior to publishing.
All the best.
This is really helpful to our new students.In explains the conditions and the aspects that what we need to be adjusted.It allows me to have a new direction in the webpage.But I have a problem is a language translation because of my English grammar .Not really good, generally speaking, I use google to translate Chinese into English , but I find that the words used in translation are not accurate, such as the question of ‘past tense’.When I wrote my blog, I mentioned that there are differences in Past tense.What can I do?Can you solve it?