Why do I need web hosting?

Website hosting is, simply put, a place to store your website and all its contents where the general public can find it. It is the destination that your domain name leads people to.

What is a web host?

A company that specialises in providing web hosting services. Websites are hosted on large computers that typically are part of a data centre or 'server farm' with associated infrastructure to support them.

Why can't I leave it on my sons/nephews/other associates computer?

That computer would need to:

• have a permanent, high speed connection to the internet
• have a fixed ip address
• be running a web server
• have robust security to prevent hacking and denial of service type attacks
• be on an uninterrupted power supply
• be able to handle large spikes in traffic without falling over
• be regularly maintained
• be backed up regularly
• allow you remote access any time you wanted to make changes
• not be used for anything else.

Doesn't sound like any standard home computer I know of, does it?

Why do I need a domain name?

Imagine the internet is like a huge apartment building with millions of apartments in it, and each one has a unique number to identify it. But these numbers are really big!

If you were looking for one of those apartments, it would be hard to scroll through all those numbers to find the one you want – assuming you (or your customers) could remember it.

A domain name is a short, easy version of this long number!

But if you have a domain name without a website hosted somewhere, you'll have an address that points people – nowhere!

How much should you pay for hosting?

It does depend on what you need. Generally it will depend amount of storage space , bandwidth use and service guarantees.

Much of what differentiates web hosting companies is the technical environment, facilities and support that only a qualified web developer would appreciate, so you may want to leave this decision to someone who understands this stuff.

But given this will be critical to the smooth running of your website, try and use someone who you think you can have a positive and professional working relationship with!

Why shouldn't I use the cheapest?

Good hosting comes with reliable, responsive service, flexible packages and good security. But it comes at a cost.

Imagine your website is like a real shop on some main street somewhere. It might have a pretty front window, but behind the scenes the shop needs to have walls that won't fall down, running water, power, a back door that doesn't allow thieves to walk in any-time, carpet that won't trip you up etc.

So like your shop, if you go for the cheapest rent in town, you'll get a run-down, badly maintained shop with poor security in a bad neighbourhood.

Some quite large web-hosting companies are located in areas with not insignificant environmental risks such as flooding, so hosting offshore in an unknown location isn't necessarily the best option!

It's the same with hosting. You are paying your hosting provider to regularly apply security patches and maintain a reliable service with responsive support when you need it.

Speaking from experience (we've been through a couple of providers ourselves) sometimes you have to sack your host if they're not up to scratch!