How to Host a Website? – Complete Guide

How to host a Website_

After designing a user interactive website with highly optimized content, the next main goal is to build an online presence on your website. To increase the brand awareness and reputation of your business it’s more important to let your user find your niche or organization profile online. Website hosting is the initial and mandatory way to launch your website online. Web hosting is like renting or leasing a space, here you utilize the space on the dedicated webserver to store all your website data or files provided by the web hosting company. Let’s discuss the website hosting, domain hosting, and types of domain hosting in a brief.

Website Hosting  

Both domain hosting and website hosting are more similar, but they are not the same service. Web hosting allows users to store the website content on internet servers. Domain hosting comes along with the domain name, helps online visitors to access the content on your website.

Domain Name: Domain name is like your home address, which directs the users to land on your website location.

web hosting services

Step- by-Step Guidance to host website.

Now it is time to make your website live. Here is our step-by-step guide to hosting a website.

Step 1: Choosing a web hosting provider.

 You need a dedicated space for hosting your website and make it live. Space is provided by the web hosting provider. Choosing a web hosting company is an important factor for owning your new website. There are more than hundreds of web hosting providers available online, choosing the best web hosting provider is one more challenging task like buying a new home. Here is the list of the top best web hosting providers.

  1. Seekahost
  2. Hostgator
  3. Dreamhost
  4. Bluehost
  5. GoDaddy

You can choose the best one based on its bandwidth, database, accessibility, security, customer support, and budget.

Step 2: Register a Domain name.

Before connecting with the domain service provider, choose a domain name for your websites based on your business. The domain name is nothing but the name of your website. Make sure to get the attractive one to get more online visitors to land on your website. Registering a domain name now becomes simpler, you can do it with single clicks.

Search for the domain names that have been chosen in the search box and check the availability.

Decide any one of the domain name extensions as its suffix. For example: .net, .biz,.org or .com

Pick the one from the suggestions and add it to your cart for payment.

Note: You permanently not going to own the domain name, you just keep it with you until the next renewal period. You should always track the renewal date of your domain before it gets expired.  You can also buy the expired domain to build the PBN blogs for building backlinks and guest posting.

Domain name registration

Step 3: Select the type of web Hosting. 

There are four types of web hosting. You can choose the best web hosting which is suited for your business and your budget. Decide what type of website you want from the list.

  • Shared hosting
  • VPS hosting
  • Dedicated Hosting
  • Cloud Hosting
  • WordPress web hosting
  • Reseller web hosting

Types of web hosting service

  1. Shared hosting

Shared web hosting the basic type and it is the best option for small business websites and bloggers. More than one website using a single server on a shared basis is referred to as shared hosting. Shared hosting is less costly and has only a limited resource

Shared hosting is like renting an apartment with other roommates. You have your bed, but you should share the other amenities like kitchen, bathroom, dining with your roommates 

  1. VPS hosting

VPS stands for a virtual private server. In VPS hosting, your website is still sharing a single server, but here the single servers are split into multiple virtual servers. Here your websites have access to the main server with the resource of the dedicated virtual server. Here the loading time will be a bit high when compared to the shared hosting.

VPS is for a medium business owner, where they can make changes to their server configuration.

VPS web hosting like renting an apartment on your own, not on s sharing basis. Here you will not use any common spaces with others. You can enjoy the freedom of living with more flexibility.

  1. Dedicated hosting 

Dedicated hosting is considered one of the best hosting services. Here the server is belonging to you and no one is sharing. Dedicated hosting has more benefits include.

  • More uptime
  • High speed
  • Privacy

Due to the high level of features, a dedicated server is for enterprise-level business websites and e-commerce websites.

Dedicated Hosting is like owning a house. You can renovate it, you can plant trees, it’s up to you.

  1. Cloud hosting

Cloud web hosting is like VPS hosting. Here the virtual servers are get replaced by the remote servers. If there is any problem with a single server, another server on slack will take over the responsibilities. The main advantage of using cloud scalability.

Due to the cost-effectiveness. Cloud web hosting suits those who running a large-scale business website. 

cloud Hosting service for website hosting

  1. WordPress Webhosting 

WordPress Webhosting is for WordPress website users. If you want to choose an optimized web hosting plan, then WordPress Webhosting is the best option.

There are two types of WordPress Webhosting.

  1. Shared WordPress Webhosting and
  2. Managed WordPress Webhosting.
  1. Reseller Webhosting

Reseller Webhosting is selling hosting services to people in need of Webhosting services. This plan is for those who have a mindset of building a website from scratch or for those who maintain a PBN site.

You can also purchase hosting from a provider and then resell the same service to your clients.

Reseller Webhosting is for website designers, web developers, and small agencies.

Step 4: Choose your Hosting Server.

 There are two basic types of hosting platforms for your HTML sites and web applications.

  •      Linux Hosting 
  •      Windows Hosting 

Best domain hosting service

Step 5: Choose a Hosting plan.

 Before you choose a hosting plan, take a moment and think about your business and your customers. Also, try to understand the features like data privacy, scalability, bandwidth, security, customer support.

Select the web hosting plan provided by the web hosting provider based on features and budget.

Start with a basic plan and upgrade to the next level once your business starts to grow.

Once selecting the hosting plan is done then go for the payment option.

Step 6: Change your domain name in the name server.

After hosting a website, the last step is you should change the domain name in the name server. Here you have to set the domain name on the name server to get redirect to your domain.

Bonus Session

Check out the video:- How to host a Website within 5 minutes using the SeekaHost App?

How to Choose a Web Hosting? 8 Things to Consider

How to Choose a Web Hosting_ 8 Things to Consider

How to Choose a Web Hosting_ 8 Things to Consider

Choosing a good web hosting for your business comes with a lot of pitfalls. While the foolproof solution is to buy a medium-priced hosting from a respectable brand, it doesn’t always cover all your needs. Whether you’re want to host your own website, or need a good article to show your clients who refuse to get better hosting for the project, we’ve got your back.

Here 8 things you need to consider when choosing a hosting plan.

  1. Type of Hosting
  2. SSD, RAM, and CDN
  3. Software compatibility
  4. Security
  5. Static vs dynamic content
  6. .htaccess vs performance
  7. Customization
  8. Scalability

1. Type of hosting

Shared hostings are super cheap. You can get one for as little as $15 a year if you come across a discount. Some even offer a free website builder features on top of that. If you feel that is something that’s going to suit you, your small website probably will be okay with the foolproof solution.

If you don’t think you can get a decent hosting plan for your business for $15, here are two more downsides: limited storage space and no root access. The price of shared hosting comes at the expense of your control over it.

how to choose a web hostingYou have no root access, which means your hands are tied. You’ll also suffer if your neighbor happens to be under a DDoS attack.

If you need maximum security and control, get a dedicated server to run. It can be pretty costly if it’s managed, so it’s a great choice for people who know how to run servers properly.

For those who want to get the golden mean, there are VPS hosting plans. The virtual privacy you get is enough for most commercial and non-commercial websites. You have complete control over the server and can fine-tune MySQL and tailor the server to your needs.

 

2. SSD, RAM, and CDN

Once you’ve settled on the type of server, you need to know the hardware basics. If you can spare the money, go for an SSD instead of HDD storage space. It’s way faster, and the unlimited HDD storage many hostings offer pales in comparison to speed. Then, get a decent RAM, at least 2 GB when your website is only growing.

If you cater to a global audience, consider compromising a bit of ownership to get a VPS with a content delivery network. A CDN is a set of servers in different locations that make loading time the same all around the world, or in your areas of interest.

If you don’t want to overspend now, don’t worry, you can always improve bandwidth a bit with software. But getting the bare minimum in hardware is a must if you want your website to run fast.

 

3. Software compatibility

Compatibility can matter very little when you don’t use many web apps save for a couple of WordPress plugins. If you own a more advanced website, compatibility needs a closer look before you decide to buy a hosting plan.

You can run an unmanaged server the way you want, but if that’s not an option, you need to pay attention to the software it runs on. Apache is the most common choice for servers, but it will handle .NET apps way worse than Microsoft IIS. You’ll need to do quite a bit of modification to make it run ASP pages. The same goes for Nginx.

Some content management systems will not run if you don’t have proper database software. For instance, the cheapest plans often don’t include PostgreSQL that is necessary to run Drupal or OpenCMS.

Make sure your core software will run on your hosting before you make an investment.

 

4. Security

Even big companies make securities mistakes. Facebook leaked a database with over 400 phone numbers because it simply didn’t have a password on it. While you’re probably nowhere near Mark Zuckerberg’s negligence when it comes to making your users’ data secure, you still need to check your hosting for security features. 

While you have to make sure you protect the database from SQL injection on your own, a decent hosting needs to have at least an auto backup tool. It’s even better if the server you own has DDoS mitigation software included in the yearly price.

When talking about WordPress privacy, there are several ways to do this. You can check this guide on how to make a single post private or close your site to the public altogether.

 

5. Static vs dynamic content

Does your website involve lots of dynamic content? If it does, you’d be better off choosing a hosting provider that runs on Apache because Nginx doesn’t handle it that well. It takes some work to make it run dynamic content well. On the positive side, Nginx has a slight edge over Apache when it comes to loading static content.

That’s not to say you should consider choosing an Apache server over the one run on Nginx if you have some dynamic content. However, if your website relies on thousands of dynamic requests, you just might do that.

 

6.  .htaccess vs performance

Here’s another thing to consider when you’re choosing between hosting software. Apache gives you the ability to use .htaccess files. It overdrives the main configurations and can be used to let each directory have its own rules and make the whole website a bit more decentralized.

The drawback of that is decreased productivity. The server’s computing power is lost on looking for .htaccess files in each directory. Nginx doesn’t have that feature, so it runs a bit faster than a .htaccess-heavy Apache does.

tips to choose the best web hosting

7. Customization

As you only start your website, it’s probably not going to require much attention. However, once the number of visitors starts growing or you start building more complex solutions, your servers may need some customization.

While Microsoft IIS is best when it comes to handling .NET apps, it’s a closed software and it won’t take your fine-tuning as well as Apache or Nginx can. Both of them are open source, so customizing them won’t be a problem.

It gets even easier because there are dozens of third-party apps that can do anything from MP4 streaming to robot mitigation. There are more of them on Apache, but that’s quicky evening out as Nginx is gaining more and more popularity.

8. Scalability

The last tip is both for software and hardware. You have to find a hosting plan that can be easily scaled once you feel the need to. You need to have the ability to get more computing power for your buck. If you can’t get more RAM or more storage space quickly enough, you’ll have to expose your visitors to longer loading time.

These 8 tips will give you a deeper understanding of choosing a hosting. Do you think the list is incomplete? What do you look for in a great hosting?